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UN WOMEN: PEACE AND SECURITY SPECIALIST

11:15:00 AM
The UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations (UN), works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security. Placing women’s rights at the centre of all its efforts, the UN Women will lead and coordinate UN system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It will provide strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.
The goal of UN Women’s presences in Kenya is to ensure that gender equality and women’s empowerment are met and women’s human rights are protected and promoted and achieving equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security. In this view, the focus of UN Women’s Kenya Gender and Governance Programme is to “ensure that women enjoy their civil and political rights as well as participate actively in democratic governance”, by increasing the number of Kenyan legal frameworks laws and policies at national and local level that promote and protect women’s human rights, and by increased women’s participation in governance and decision-making at national and local levels and actively lobby for women’s issues.
The Government of Finland, via the Ministry for Foreign Affairs has funded UN Women Kenya to support a programme on women, peace and security, through its twinning process with the Government of Kenya. The aim of the programme is to support Kenya develop a National Action Plan on UNSCR 1325 and address the low implementation and weak accountability of the resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council on Women, Peace and Security (1325, 1820, 1888 and 1889). The implementation gap can be measured by the low number of women participating in peace processes and negotiations, increase incidence of sexual violence, the lack of financing for women needs in post conflict and the absence of monitoring mechanisms and instruments to access implementation and achievements.
In relation to women peace and security, the programme will strive to:
  • Develop a National Action Plans that would foresee the implementation of UNSCR 1325 in Kenya.
  • Enhance government and civil society understanding of the principles of normative instruments such as UNSCR 1325, 1820, 1888 and 1889, African Union’s “African Women Decade” and other relevant regional and international instruments that realize women’s human rights.
  • Build women’s capacity to engage in violence reduction and peace building initiatives at the community level (i.e. mediation forums, District Peace Committees).
  • Strengthen stakeholder’s participation, implementation, tracking and reporting of UNSCR 1325.
It is in this context that UN Women in Kenya seeks to recruit Peace and Security Specialist who, under the overall guidance and supervision of the Country Director, will be responsible for successful development, implementation and monitoring of varied initiatives that support women in line with UN Security Council Resolutions 1325 (2000) and other related resolutions on women, peace and security.

Duties and Responsibilities
Within the delegated authority and under the general supervision of the UN Women Kenya Country Director the Peace and Security Specialistwill ensure effective project planning and management as well as policy development and implementation by carrying out the following functions;
Summary of Key Functions:
  • Programme Development and Management
  • Provide strategic policy advice and coordination
  • Creation of strategic partnerships and advocacy
  • Facilitate knowledge building, management and knowledge sharing
Programme Development and Management
  • Provide ongoing support, coordination and oversight of activities for developing and implementing the National Action Plan on UNSCR 1325;
  • Design and formulation of project activities with partners in line with the priorities of the Kenya Programme on peace and security (UNSCR 1325);
  • Monitoring of project activities, including tracking financial aspects and provide operational services as per UN Women’s operational and procurement procedures and systems;
  • Internal and external reporting requirements (UN Women and Donors) fulfilled in timely manner using guidelines and focusing on outputs and outcomes rather than activities (Quarterly, six month and annual reports);
  • Ensure effective information flow, communication and coordination between UN Women and key stakeholders.
Provide strategic advice services and coordination
  • Provision of advisory services to Government, civil society organizations and development partners in areas of peace and security;
  • Provide guidance to UN Women Kenya programmes on integrating UNSCR 1325 and assist in monitoring achievements of related result;
  • Mobilize and coordinate members of the National Steering Committee on UNSCR 1325;
  • Coordinate project implementation with implementing partners.
Creation of strategic partnerships and advocacy
  • Develop partnerships and close collaborations with UN agencies, Government institutions, civil society organizations, multi-lateral and bi-lateral donors on matters related to the promotion of women, peace and security with a view of ensuring strategic partnership and strengthened coordination;
  • Initiate and coordinate strategic advocacy activities to maximize support of UN System, governments, CSOs, and other relevant partners on advancing women rights in line with UNSCR 1325, 1820 and other related instruments.

Facilitate knowledge building, management and knowledge sharing

  • Identification of key women’s human rights issues and challenges, best practices, lessons learned and recommendations to be integrated into UN Women Kenya knowledge management efforts;
  • Ensure timely and proper documentation of programmes implementation in accordance with UN Women documentation guidelines;
  • Participate actively and contribute UN Women’s perspectives at relevant conferences, workshops and meetings which address advancing women’s human rights and peace and security;
  • Organize local and regional cross-learning initiatives on women, peace and security (UNSCR 1325) and other international and regional instruments advancing women’s human rights for key stakeholders such as; National Steering Committee, CSO, relevant line ministries, local institutions, and grassroots and international organizations;
  • Identify and obtain relevant documents on women, peace and security, CEDAW, and other reports to enhance the knowledge of relevant stakeholders.
Impact of Key Results:
The Peace and Security Specialist will implement UN Women’s programming on; women peace and security, contributing to UN Women Kenya Gender and Governance Programme that aims to “ensure that women enjoy their civil and political rights as well as participate actively in democratic governance” and realizing the needs of women in Kenya during times of peace and conflict.

Competencies
CORE VALUES / GUIDING PRINCIPLES:
Integrity: Demonstrating consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions as well as values and ethical standards, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.
Ethics and Values: Promoting Ethics and Integrity / Creating Organizational Precedents
Commitment: Demonstrates commitment to UN Women’s mission and vision
Cultural Sensitivity and adaptability/Valuing diversity: Demonstrating an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrating an international outlook, appreciating differences in values and learning from cultural diversity.
CORE COMPETENCIES:
Planning and Organizing:
  • Ability to plan work assignments, establish priorities and to meet strict assignment deadlines.
Coordination and monitoring:
  • Ability to build strong relationships with clients and to focus on impact and results.
  • Demonstrated aptitude to build effective partnerships with a diverse group of stakeholders.
  • Capacity to coordinate monitoring activities in the field, to mentor project staff and provide guidance and support.
Communications:
  • Compelling communication (verbal and written) skills, including ability to prepare reports, formulate and defend sound recommendations and articulate options concisely conveying maximum necessary information.
  • Negotiating skills and ability to work at all levels with others to reach mutually benefiting and lasting understandings.
Teamwork:
  • Excellent interpersonal skills; capacity to recognize and respond appropriately to the ideas, interests and concerns of others.
  • Ability to establish and maintain effective working relations with people in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic environment with sensitivity and respect for diversity.
FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES:

Knowledge Management

  • Promotes a knowledge sharing and learning culture in the office.
  • Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development in one or more practice areas, acts on learning plan and applies new acquired skills.

Development and Operational Effectiveness

  • Ability to lead strategic planning, results based management and reporting.
  • Ability to apply conceptual models in support of formulations, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development programmes and projects and mobilize resources.
  • Knowledge in financial resources and human resources management, contract, asset and procurement, information and communication technology, general administration.
Management and Leadership
  • Build strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and results for the client and responds positively to feedback.
  • Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude.
  • Demonstrate openness to change and ability to manage complexities.
  • Demonstrate strong oral and written communication skills. Demonstrate good listening skills and responsiveness to the opinion of others.
  • Proven networking, team-building, organizational and communication skills.
  • Ability to build strong relationships with both internal and external actors-cultivates productive relationships with donors, partners and other important institutions and individuals.

Required Skills and Experience
Education:
  • Master’s degree (or equivalent) in Social Science; Gender Studies, International Development, Law, Human Rights, Political Science, International Relations or other related field.
Experience:
  • A Minimum of 5 years of progressively responsible experience working in the field of gender and development with a focus on the promotion of gender equality, women’s empowerment and women human rights.
  • A good understanding of normative instruments such as UN Resolution on Women, Peace and Security, regional as the AU Gender Policy and other international instrument such as CEDAW, the Being Declaration.
  • Knowledge of policies and programmes and the architecture of the government of Kenya on the advancement of gender equality.
  • Effectiveness in establishing and fostering good relations with government counterparts, UN agencies, donors, and NGO partners
  • Knowledgeable on programme management tools; Results Based Management.
  • Proven experience on results based reporting.
  • Experience working with and building capacity of national women’s machineries, national civil society organizations and similar institutions.
  • Familiar working with NGOs/CSOs working in the field of women, peace and security.
  • Strong diplomatic skills in handling counterpart relations.
  • Demonstrated ability to work in an independent manner; ability to organize work efficiently and deal with multiple tasks
  • Demonstrate strong writing, analytical and communication skills.
  • Proven facilitation and coordination skills.
  • Familiar with the work of UN Women and/or UNDP and knowledge of UNDP rules and procedures is desirable.
Language Requirements:
  • Written and oral proficiency in English is required.
  • Knowledge of another UN working language is an asset.


UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

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