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UN WOMEN: HUMAN RIGHTS SPECIALIST IN THAILAND

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 Regional Programme "Improving Women's Human Rights in Southeast Asia" is a flagship programme of the UN Women East and Southeast Asia Regional Office. The programme covers seven countries - Cambodia, Indonesia, the Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), the Philippines, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Viet Nam - and focuses on advancing the implementation of Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in the region towards the goal of reducing discrimination against women in Southeast Asia. Through institution building, support to advocacy, knowledge generation and south-south exchange, the programme aims to contribute to the outcomes below:

  • Increased skills and knowledge of government officials and civil society gender experts on CEDAW compliance in development and monitoring new and revised legislative frameworks.
  • Increased awareness among formal and informal justice system actors of CEDAW commitments.
  • Strengthened monitoring and accountability mechanisms for implementation of CEDAW commitments.

The Programme is complemented by an associated project entitled "Regional Mechanisms to Protect the Human Rights of Women and Girls in Southeast Asia" which engages with the newly established Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) human rights bodies in promoting the rights of women and children among ASEAN member states and facilitating the realization of gender equality and women's human rights in the region as per the commitments to CEDAW, CRC and other international human rights instruments.

The Human Rights Specialist is responsible for providing technical guidance on women's human rights principles and its applications in the implementation of the above mentioned programme and projects to both UN Women internally and to external clients and stakeholders, in particular governments and non-governmental organizations. The Human Rights Specialist will also provide technical inputs and advice for the overall UN Women programme portfolio for the region upon request, to ensure a woman's human rights based approach in all UN Women programmes. S/he will provide technical support across the UN system on women's human rights upon request and contribute to UN inter-agency coordination on human rights issues. Based in UN Women Regional Centre for Asia and the Pacific, the Human Rights Specialist will serve as the lead expert for the provision of technical support on women's human rights normative standards and its implementation across the region.

Duties and Responsibilities


1. Technical advice and support in implementation and monitoring of the Women's Human Rights Programmes:
  • Provide technical advice to UN Women country offices for development of annual workplans and design and implementation of programme activities at the country and regional level.
  • Provide direct technical assistance and capacity building support to UN Women country offices and to a range of governmental, non-governmental organizations, regional inter-governmental bodies and UN partners on women's human rights by acting as resource person and trainer.
  • Mobilize technical expertise to support the implementation of the Programmes.
  • Contribute to building partnerships, communications, networks in the area of promoting gender equality and protecting women's human rights, improving access to justice for women, accountability mechanisms for women's human rights within governments, Civil Society Organizations and relevant inter-governmental bodies.

2. Technical support in programme and policy development and advocacy on gender equality and women's human rights in the region:

  • Keep abreast of the latest global, regional and national developments in the field of human rights and provide substantive inputs to governmental, non-governmental, UN partners to help shape regional and national strategies, policies, programmes and norms and standards in the area of women's human rights.
  • Serve as the lead expert on women's human rights and gender equality for UN Women Regional Office and provide technical guidance for the development of country and regional programmes, workplans and proposals, and promote synergies among regional and country programmes and projects of UN Women.
  • Contribute to the design of advocacy materials and promote initiatives for advocacy and policy dialogue.
  • Represent UN Women to advocate for women's human rights in various national, regional and international fora.
3. Knowledge Generation and Management:
  • Provide technical lead in the formulation of knowledge products, organize and undertake studies and production of technical papers.
  • Analyze and synthesize results and knowledge and evidence-base generated from the programmes into papers, lessons, guidelines, methodologies and other tools and new knowledge products.
  • Facilitate the exchange of strategies and experiences among Country offices, Programme partners and stakeholders towards achievement of the planned results for the realization of women's human rights in the region.
4. Partnership Development and Inter-agency collaboration:
  • Promote international human rights principles, norms and standards for human rights and women's rights among governments, CSOs, private sector and other stakeholders.
  • Contribute to substantive and content leadership of UN Women and inter-agency coordination and collaboration on women's human rights.
  • Nurture partnerships with academia, civil society, development partners and other stakeholders.

5. Monitoring and reporting:

  • Support the Programme Manager in link activities and results across countries to ensure regional impact and overview of results.
  • Support the Programme Manager in consolidating results and preparing periodic reports for UN Women and donors.
  • Undertake monitoring missions to review progress and support quality assurance.

Expected results:

  • High impact programme activities contributing towards expected outcomes of the programmes.
  • Enhanced policy advice and technical assistance services provided by UN Women on application of international human rights norms and standards for gender equality and women's human rights in areas of legal reform, access to justice, monitoring and accountability.
  • Increased number and quality of knowledge products developed and disseminated on women's human rights.
Impact of Results:

The results of the work of the Human Rights Specialist impact on the achievement of the goals and outcomes of the regional programmes on Improving Women's Human Rights in Southeast Asia and Regional Human Rights Mechanisms to protect human rights of women and girls in Southeast Asia, and fulfillment of UN Women 's mandate as a leader in gender equality and women's empowerment in the UN system.

Competencies

Core Values:
  • Integrity: Demonstrating consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.
  • Cultural Sensitivity/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.
Functional Competencies:
Development and Operational Effectiveness:
  • Ability to provide sound technical advice and guidance on applications of the CEDAW and other international human rights instruments.
  • Ability to design and conduct capacity building and training programmes for national and regional partners.
  • Ability to provide strong sound guidance on strategic planning, results-based programming and reporting.
  • Ability to lead formulation, implementation and monitoring of human rights based programmes and projects.

Management and Leadership:

  • Builds strong relationships with partners, focuses on impact and result for the partner and responds positively to feedback.
  • Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive and constructive attitude.
  • Demonstrates good oral and written communication skills.
  • Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities.
  • Leads teams effectively and shows mentoring as well as conflict resolution skills.
  • Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure.
Knowledge Management and Learning:
  • Promotes knowledge management and a learning environment in the office through leadership and personal example.
  • Integrate global knowledge with strategic, policy and operational objectives of UN Women.
  • Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development in one or more Practice Areas, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:
  • Master's degree (or equivalent) in international human rights, gender studies or relevant social sciences with focus on women's human rights.
Experience:
  • A minimum of 7 years of progressively responsible experience in the field of human rights, with focus on gender equality and women's human rights.
  • Sound technical expertise in policy and programming on application of international human rights norms and standards in laws, policies and programmes.
  • Familiarity with the East and Southeast Asian region, particularly familiarity with key government and non-government institutions, individuals and networks in East and Southeast Asia working on women's human rights at national and regional levels.
  • Experience in developing, implementing, monitoring and/or evaluating programmes highly desirable.
  • Proven experience in the UN or an international organization.
  • Experience in results-based management (RBM). RBM experience as specifically applied in the UN context an asset.
Language Requirements:
  • Fluency in in oral and written English.
  • Knowledge of other UN languages applicable to the sub-region is an advantage.
Note:
In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.

All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment

Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.
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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.