Policy Specialist – Gender – Madhya Pradesh (Local Post for Indian Nationals and Applicants with Valid Work Permit)

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 and the diverse gender as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.

All human development and human rights issues involve gender dimensions. UN Women globally focuses on key priority areas fundamental to women’s equality and can unlock progress across the board. UN Women’s priority areas include increasing women’s leadership and participation in political spaces, ending violence against women, enhancing women’s economic empowerment, engaging in all aspects of women’s peace and security processes, making gender equality central to national planning and budgeting through Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) mechanisms and advancing gender in intergovernmental processes.

UN Women’s India Country Office (ICO) based in New Delhi, India, works towards ensuring that policies and programmes at the national and state level are gender responsive. In the state of Madhya Pradesh, UN Women works closely with the Government of Madhya Pradesh to enhance gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE).  It works closely with the Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board and Police Department on women’s safety through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in the Tourism Sector.  It supports the MPTB, Government of Madhya Pradesh in the design, strategy and implementation and monitoring of gender responsive interventions towards meeting the above goals. Specifically, under the Board’s project ‘Safe Tourism Destination for Women in Madhya Pradesh’ to be implemented in a phased manner at 50 tourist destinations in the state in three years, UN Women will support key project interventions to build women-friendly tourism destinations through community participation, public awareness, ensuring enabling environment and generation of livelihoods through upskilling women and girls at tourist places. This will also entail capacity building of various stakeholders, generation of information, education and communication resources, self-defence training and safety audit of tourist destinations. It also works with Women and Child Development Department on gender equality, women safety and gender responding budgeting and economic empowerment of women through an MOU on skilling and employment.  

The technical expertise will focus on strengthening gender data and SDG monitoring, gender responsive planning and budgeting initiatives, prevention and response mechanisms for women’s safety, skilling and employment opportunities. Leveraging on the institutional capacity, past work and established networks and partnerships, the focus will be on creating an enabling environment by building capacities of key stakeholders to address gender issues and be instrumental in making the government plans and budgets gender responsive.

Within this context, UN Women seeks the service of a “Policy Specialist – Gender” to provide technical expertise and policy advisory support on gender responsive policy and governance to the nodal departments for gender equality and women’s empowerment in the Government of Madhya Pradesh.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the guidance and direct supervision of the Deputy Representative, UN Women India Country Office and day to day reporting and guidance and supervision of the Director, Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board (MPTB) the Policy Specialist – Gender will have the following specific tasks:

Leadership, Management and Coordination:

• Develop state level UN Women Action Plans for Madhya Pradesh in coordination with staff in Madhya Pradesh /Delhi and relevant government departments.
• Provide leadership to UN Women staff in other programmes/projects/departments in Madhya Pradesh for effective and coordinated state level engagement through regular interaction and facilitation.
• Provide technical assistance and capacity development to state level teams in support of implementation of the state level action plan.
• Maintain relations with state level partners in implementation and expansion of UNW engagement in the state.
• Identify opportunities for resource mobilisation, working with private sector and other related stakeholders.

Technical advisory to the State Government on advancing gender equality and SDGs:

• Provide policy support to the State Government on gender issues and integration of gender perspectives in policy documents.
• Technical support on gender mainstreaming, strengthening gender data, and tracking of gender indicators to the Sustainable Development Coordination Centre, and Planning & Development Department.
• Establish/strengthen effective coordination mechanisms within and among Social Welfare and Women Empowerment, Planning, Finance and other line departments to institutionalize and promote gender responsive budgeting in the state.

Strengthening Coordination and Gender Based Violence (GBV) Efforts at the state level:

• Establish/strengthen effective coordination mechanisms within and among Women and Child Development, Planning, Social Justice, Legal Affairs, Education, Police, Health Departments and other line departments to institutionalize and promote GBV in the state;
• Provide technical expertise and support to nodal department to set up/review and monitor institutional mechanisms and processes to adopt/advance GBV in the state including Inter Ministerial monitoring processes;
• Provide technical support for issuing advisory and necessary guidelines for line departments at the state level to create/strengthen and implement GBV initiatives;
• Provide support in developing proposals for obtaining funds under Nirbhaya Fund for prevention and response to violence against women and girls.

Facilitating Training and Capacity Development of relevant constituents on GBV:

• Compile/develop training tools, manuals, and other resource material on GBV for the state;
• Coordinate with the state nodal department and training institutions to conduct state-specific training needs assessment as per level of officials, develop capacity building strategy and training calendar for GBV;
• Monitor the outcomes of the trainings by undertaking pre and post-assessment, and developing quality training reports.

Programme implementation, Documentation, Research and Analysis:

• Provide inputs in documentation of planning, budgeting and auditing processes at the state level from a gender perspective in coordination with State Technical Coordinator- Gender Budgeting.
• Provide support in mapping and assessing prevention and response mechanisms with government budgets for women’s safety.
• Undertake state-specific situational analysis of gender indicators and state initiatives to map the current status.
• Document and disseminate resources and knowledge products on gender mainstreaming, such as case studies and good practices at the state level.
• Facilitate and contribute to conducting research on impact of state government schemes on women empowerment.
• Support Planning and Development department in integrating gender in Outcome Framework/Outcome Budgeting.
• Support IT specialist and UN Women project team in roll out and implementation of e-governance tool on GRB.
• Undertake mapping and documentation of state nodal Departments, CSOs and other stakeholders who are actively involved in the feminist ecosystem on GBV at the state level;
• Undertake state-specific situational analysis of GBV initiatives to map the current status;
• Support the state government in developing state action plan on GBV;
• Document and disseminate resources and knowledge products on GBV, such as case studies and good practices at the state level;
• Develop partnerships with feminist publication houses and provide support to gather short stories from potential writers;
• Support in organising creative labs for journalists, artists, and filmmakers to produce knowledge products to address GBV;
• Support in organising policy dialogues and development of policy briefs based on insights from policy dialogues;
• Facilitate curation of gender festivals;
• Facilitate convening CSOs and women’s groups to strengthen the feminist ecosystem;
• Facilitate conducting state and district-level campaigns focusing on arts, literature, film, and cultural events;
• Support in generating mass public awareness in vernacular languages on issues and the impact of violence against women and girls;
• Support in establishing a Community of Practice at the state level to design a robust project;
• Build capacities of state NGO partners on issues of gender and ending violence against women.
• Any other duties as assigned by the supervisor.

• Facilitate conducting state and district-level campaigns focusing on arts, literature, film, and cultural events;
• Support in generating mass public awareness in vernacular languages on issues and the impact of violence against women and girls;
• Support in establishing a Community of Practice at the state level to design a robust project;
• Build capacities of state NGO partners on issues of gender and ending violence against women.
• Any other duties as assigned by the supervisor.

Facilitate training and capacity development of relevant constituents on gender mainstreaming:

• Review and contextualize training tools, manual, and other resource material on gender mainstreaming, GRB and engendering SDGs for the state.
• Facilitate state-level gender budgeting and gender mainstreaming capacity development training programmes for government officials, relevant stakeholders and create a pool of local experts.
• Facilitate training of government officials on RESPECT framework on prevention of violence, safe cities and safe public spaces for women.
• Monitor the outcomes of the trainings by undertaking pre and post assessment and developing quality training reports.
• Develop and prepare gender sensitive as well as gender specific IEC materials that support gender sensitive campaigns to address gender norms.

Partnership Management and Networking:

• Identify opportunities for partnering with private sector, UN agencies, state partners, organisations on UN Women Strategic Action Plan and SDGs.
• Develop a resource mobilisation plan for the state, and support resource mobilisation initiatives to strengthen ongoing efforts on gender responsive policy and governance at the State level.
• Facilitate meetings and visits of senior management team in the state and represent UN Women in platforms and events.
• Coordinate with project team for timely completion of project deliverables.
• Preparation of monthly progress reports.

Any other duties as assigned by supervisor.

Key Performance Indicators:

• Development of state action plan with indicators for monitoring SDGs from a gender perspective.
• Proposals for obtaining funds under Nirbhaya Fund for prevention and response to violence against women and girls developed.
• Technical advisory to strengthen inter departmental coordination on achieving SDGs from a gender perspective.
• Facilitate training of government officials and its institutionalisation on gender budgeting and RESPECT framework.
• Develop and prepare gender sensitive IEC materials that support gender sensitive campaigns to address gender norms.
• Input and technical expertise provided to state nodal and line departments on GBV;
• Evidence-based state action plan developed with the state nodal department on GBV with monitorable targets and timelines;
• Institutional mechanisms and processes to strengthen GBV developed and implemented;
• Training and capacity development of state officials, and relevant stakeholders strengthened based on assessments and training calendar on GBV developed;
• Facilitating state-level training programmes on GBV, and documenting results;
• Manage state partnerships and resource mobilisation initiatives at the State level.
• Report on the assignment (4-5 pages) covering the documentation of practices, approach, methodology, limitations and challenges, and good practices to be replicated in other states.

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Leading by Example

Functional Competencies

• Excellent knowledge of Gender.
• Strong knowledge of the region.
• Excellent networking skills.
• Ability to interact with donors, identify and analyze trends, opportunities and threats to fundraising.
• Ability to perform qualitative and quantitative policy research.
• Ability to advocate and provide policy advice.
• Excellent analytical skills.
• Ability to write policy papers, speeches, briefings.
• Strong knowledge of programme development, implementation, results-based management and reporting.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s Degree or equivalent in Social Sciences/Economics/Social Work /Gender Studies/Public Administration/Policy or related fields.
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

• Minimum 7 years of experience at the national/state level working with development projects, including hands-on experience in design, implementation, and monitoring/evaluation of projects, preferably on Gender Equality and Women’s Rights.
• Experience working with national/ state governments, particularly on gender-responsive governance, is required. State-specific experience will be preferable.
• Experience in policy analysis, data analysis, gender statistics, and quantitative and qualitative research is desirable.

Language:

• Proficiency in English; good command over Hindi is desirable.

Application Information:

Interested applicants should apply to this announcement through UNDP jobs site: jobs.undp.org.

Application Information: Interested applicants should apply to this announcement through UNDP jobs site: jobs.undp.org.

• All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from 
• 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.
• UN Women will only be able to respond to those applications in which there is further interest.

Inclusion Statement:

•       At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits employ, trains, compensates and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity, and organizational need.

•       If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

•       UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority, and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)

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.