UN WOMEN: PROGRAMME SPECIALIST (HEALTH AND HIV/AIDS)

Background

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, 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.  UN Women is seeking to hire a Programme Specialist to support the organizations efforts in the areas of gender equality, health, and HIV/AIDS.   The Programme Specialist will be responsible for overseeing the effective implementation of UN Women’s policy and advocacy efforts in the area of women’s health as part of the UN Women’s effort to support the Secretary General’s Global Strategy on women and children’s health as well as commitments to the UN partnership under H4+. In addition, the Programme Specialist will support the organizations commitments in engaging with the Joint UN programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). The Programme Specialist is responsible for providing technical support for programming, policy, and advocacy efforts including research towards policy guidance and development; monitoring and reporting on programmatic results; communications and knowledge management; and partnership development.  The Programme Specialist will report to the Policy Advisor, Gender Equality and HIV/AIDS and work in close consultation with UN Women’s policy and programme sections, regional and country offices.

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of Key Functions:  Research, Analysis, and Policy Guidance Advocacy and Partnerships Programme Development and Technical Support Monitoring And Reporting Knowledge Management and Learning Research, Analysis, and Policy Guidance: Undertake research and analysis of global and regional trends, gaps, challenges in addressing gender equality issues related to women’s health including to identify strategic entry points for new initiatives or strengthening existing work to ensure women-centered health responses. Prepare technical guidance notes and briefing papers to support programming that responds to the root causes of maternal mortality, particularly gender inequality, and discrimination; and builds on lessons learned from programming as well as global and regional trends and analyses. Develop appropriate briefing notes, and advocacy messages related to women’s health highlighting the role of gender equality and women’s empowerment as key opportunities to promote greater access to health, improved knowledge and information, for women’s health and well-being. Engage with global research and knowledge forums to promote learning related to women’s health, HIV/AIDS, and gender equality Advocacy and Partnerships: Support the Gender Equality and HIV/AIDS Policy Advisor in backstopping and liaising on inter-agency related work, including representing UN Women in key inter-agency working groups particularly in relation to the H4+ partnership and UNAIDS; Facilitate building/strengthening networks of institutions, practitioners and experts in the area of gender equality dimensions of health. Ensure ongoing communication and exchange between UN Women (HQ, regions and countries) with key programme partners, including the national partners, UN agencies, multilateral organizations, women’s networks, and others involved in health and HIV/AIDS initiatives. Support the effective implementation of communications strategies particularly related to a) women’s health and b) gender equality dimensions of HIV/AIDS. Coordinate global and regional workshops and other global events relevant to gender, health, and HIV/AIDS. Represent UN Women at key global and regional venues where experiences related gender dimensions of health, as well as HIV, can be highlighted and influential.  Programme Development and Technical Support: Provide support to countries as needed and requested for programme development and actions on women’s health. Provide oversight, close guidance and direction to ensure strategic focus, result orientation and effectiveness and efficiency of the overall programming on a) women’s health; and b) HIV/AIDS. Provide expert review and advice to country plans and programmes related to women’s health; governance of the health sector; financing of health responses; and gender equality dimensions of HIV/AIDS; governance of the HIV/AIDS response; financing of the HIV response, with a view to promoting gender-responsive governance. Contribute to the development of new cross-thematic, cross-regional initiatives in the areas of a) women’s health and well-being; b) gender equality dimensions of the HIV and AIDS responses.  Monitoring and Reporting: Coordinate timely delivery of high quality programme and financial reporting to donors, inter-governmental processes, and inter-agency partnerships including reporting on UN Women’s progress and achievements in implementing UNAIDS Unified Budget, Results and Accountability Framework at global and regional level and support a consolidation of results. Ensure adequate monitoring and reporting of implementation of UN Women’s efforts under the H4+ partnership, including support to countries in reporting on workplan implementation, mid-term reviews, and evaluations, within efforts to address H4+ priority areas. Provide substantive and technical inputs internal reporting exercises and products relating to UN Women’s efforts on a) women’s health; and b)gender equality dimensions of HIV/AIDS Provide feedback and technical backstopping on UN Women’s portfolio of programmes on a)women’s health; and b)HIV/AIDS, through formulation, implementation and evaluation stages Monitor trends and issues related to gender equality and HIV/AIDS and support the development of strategic responses to opportunities and challenges. Knowledge Management and Learning: Ensure that best practices and lessons emerging from the programmes are shared across regions and with other relevant partners. Create and facilitate internal communities of practice in order to ensure cross-regional communication and learning. Document lessons learned and case studies related to addressing gender equality in the context of women’s health. Ensure adequate knowledge sharing through the UN Women Gender and HIV/AIDS Web Portal and UN Women website in close collaboration with the Communications teams. Impact of Results: The key results have an impact on the effective implementation of UN Women`s efforts in the areas of gender equality, health, and HIV/AIDS, and thereby the work of the Leadship and Governance Section and Policy Division as a whole. In particular, the key results will ensure UN Women’s effort to support the Secretary General’s Global Strategy on women and children’s health, as well as commitments to the UN partnership under H4+.

Competencies

Core values and Guiding principles:  Integrity: Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct. Professionalism: Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work. Cultural sensitivity and valuing diversity: Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff.  Demonstrate an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity. Core Competencies: Ethics and Values:  Demonstrate and safeguard ethics and integrity. Organizational Awareness: Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment. Development and Innovation:  Take charge of self-development and take initiative. Work in teams:  Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds. Communicating and Information Sharing:  Facilitate and encourage open communication and strive for effective communication. Self-management and Emotional Intelligence:    Stay composed and positive even in difficult moments, handle tense situations with diplomacy and tact, and have a consistent behavior towards others. Conflict Management:    Surface conflicts and address them proactively acknowledging different feelings and views and directing energy towards a mutually acceptable solution. Continuous Learning and Knowledge Sharing:    Encourage learning and sharing of knowledge Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making:   Demonstrate informed and transparent decision making Functional Competencies: Substantive knowledge and understanding of women’s health; gender equality dimensions of HIV; and governance of the health and HIV responses, with an emphasis on the provision of coordinated support and management of strategic programmes to advance gender equality. Substantive knowledge and experience in management of rights based programmes. Ability to carry out research, to contribute to the formulation of policies, procedures and guidelines. Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback. Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude. Leads teams effectively and shows mentoring as well as conflict resolution skills. Ability to conduct advocacy, and to support the development of programme communications strategies for sharing good practices and successful strategies. Ability to lead strategic planning, results-based management and reporting. Ability to lead the formulation and monitoring of management projects. Solid knowledge of financial and human resources management, contract, asset and procurement, information and communication technology, general administration; Ability to lead business processes re-engineering, implementation of new systems (business side), and positively affect staff behavioral/attitudinal change

Required Skills and Experience

Education: Master’s degree or equivalent in Public Health; with specializations on gender equality issues/women’s rights; HIV/AIDS Experience:  A minimum of 7 years of relevant experience in development work and particularly on issues of women's empowerment and gender equality, with a particular focus on women’s health, including HIV/AIDS. Experience in programme development, advocacy, management/coordination, monitoring and evaluation, as well as knowledge management . Language: Excellent written and spoken English. Working ability in another UN language is an asset . Application Information: All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded fromhttp://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. 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.

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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.