Programme and M&E Specialist, Women’s Economic Empowerment – P3

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.

One of the key areas of concern is the economic empowerment of women. It is expressed in targets and indicators of SDG 5 (Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls) and SDG 8 (Promote inclusive and sustainable development, decent work and employment for all). Progress toward it depends not only on the adoption of a set of public policies by governments, but also on the existence of an enabling environment and active engagement of the corporate sector. This is also relevant to the achievement of SDG 1 (Poverty Reduction), SDG 10 (Reduced inequalities) and SDG 17 (Revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development).

Women’s economic empowerment in the Asia-Pacific comprises a diverse and complex portfolio, including different thematic focus areas from social protection and unpaid care to SME private sector development and very different country specific contexts from the Pacific (highly informal working with predominantly low-income women) to China (middle-income country with a strong and growing private sector and limited bilateral funding). WEE has become increasingly of relevance in the region, particularly in the wake of the pandemic and economic recovery of post-crisis countries.

Responding to the diverse contexts, the UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific WEE & Migration Unit has been developing an overall strategic WEE & Migration approach that is strongly linked to the UN Women global Economic Empowerment Strategy, focuses on the key strategic priorities aligned with the SN ROAP Women’s Economic Empowerment & Migration for 2023-2025 and reflecting UN Women’s Global Gender Equality Accelerators (GEAs), namely Women in the World of Work, Transforming Care and Climate Action:
1. Advancing Gender-Responsive Business Conduct and Creating More Decent Work Opportunities (WEPs)
2. Accelerating Gender-Responsive Entrepreneurship for (M)SMEs (i.e. Gender-Responsive Procurement & strengthening women’s entrepreneurship)
3. Progressing Safe Migration to Decent Employment
4. Transforming the Care Economy
These thematic areas are not operating in isolation and are strongly inter-connected and under-pinned by cross-cutting principles, such as: sector-agnostic work (across the Green & Blue -, care, fintech and digital economy); embracing an intersectional and conscious social norms lens into programming, and nexus to thematic areas such as Climate Change among others.

Transforming care requires both action and investment. UN Women’s Transform Care Investment Initiative Asia-Pacific (TCII-AP) calls for catalytic investments to benefit at least 100 million women and girls, create 125 million new employment opportunities in the care economy by 2035, and reduce women’s unpaid care work by at least two billion hours. UN Women’s TRANSFORMCARE INVESTMENT INITIATIVE ASIA-PACIFIC (TCII-AP) will be able to leverage numerous existing networks, commitments, examples and tools created across the region in partnership with governments, UN agencies and other partners.

Reporting to the Regional Programme Manager and Technical Advisor – Regional Women’s Economic Empowerment in Asia (P4), the Programme Specialist exercises overall responsibility for planning, implementing, and managing UN Women interventions under their portfolio. The Programme Specialist works in close collaboration with the programme and operations team, UN Women HQ staff, Government officials, multi and bi-lateral donors and civil society ensuring successful UN Women programme implementation under portfolio. In particular, the Programme Specialist will also be responsible for Programme Management of the TransformCare Investment Initiative.

Key Functions and Accountabilities:

1. Design and develop programme strategies in the area of Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE)
• Design and formulate programme/project proposals and initiatives;
• Draft inputs to country strategy documents, briefs, policy dialogue and other documents related to Women’s Economic Empowerment

2. Manage the implementation and management of WEE programmes,
• Finalize the annual workplan and budget and manage their implementation;
• Manage the technical implementation of the programme/project; ensure synergies with other teams;
• Manage the submission of implementing partner financial and narrative reports;
• Provide guidance to personnel and partners on Results Based Management tools and performance indicators;
• Organize Project Steering Committee, project review and/or evaluation meetings, as needed.

3. Manage technical assistance and capacity development to project/programme partners,
• Manage the implementation of technical advice and guidance. Develop and implement technical tools, and initiatives;
• Build and manage relationships with national partners to support implementation and expansion of the WEE programme; respond to any potential problems;
• Identify capacity building needs of partners and lead the coordination of technical assistance, mentoring, training and capacity development initiatives to partners.

4. Manage the monitoring and reporting of the programme, and oversee M&E for the WEE unit
• Manage the monitoring of programme/ project implementation and finances using results based management tools;
• Undertake field missions and review reports on monitoring missions;
• Write quarterly reports and donor reports, focusing on results, output and outcomes; Contribute to office donor and UN Women reports.

5. Manage the people and financial resources of the programme
• Manage the programme budget and draft financial reports;
• Supervise Programme Analysts and Technical Specialists or consultants; Mentor and coach personnel and conduct performance assessments;
• Oversee recruitment processes, as necessary.

6. Build partnerships and support in developing resource mobilization strategies
• Develop and implement partnerships and resource mobilization strategies;
• Finalize relevant documentation on donors and potential opportunities for resource mobilization;
• Analyze and research information on donors, prepare substantive briefs on possible areas of cooperation, identification of opportunities for cost sharing.

7. Contribute to inter-agency coordination on Women’s Economic Empowerment to achieve coherence and alignment of UN Women programmes with other partners across the region
• Provide technical support to the Regional Lead, WEE & Migration on inter-agency coordination related activities by attending meetings, events, and participating in groups and committees as needed;
• Coordinate with other UN agencies, government departments, donors and NGOs to ensure the projects’ capacity development programme is harmonized and aligned with other in-country efforts.

8. Manage advocacy, knowledge building and communication efforts
• Develop and review background documents, briefs and presentations related to the WEE, Represent UN Women in meetings and policy dialogues on issues related to WEE as necessary;
• Develop advocacy strategies and oversee their implementation;
• Identify best practices and lessons learned to guide programme improvement and strategy planning;
• Develop knowledge management strategies, products and methodologies on WEE.

9. Provide policy guidance and Support to field offices
• Coordinate policy development, including the review and analysis of issues and trends, preparation of other political intelligence and briefs;
• Support field missions, provides technical guidance to external consultants, government officials and other parties;
• Maintain contact with UN field presences in the region and maintains and advances partnerships with respective regional organizations on coordination and policy matters relevant to the region.

10. The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.

Supervisory/Managerial Responsibilities: The incumbent will supervise up to 10 affiliate personnel (SC, consultants and interns) with possibility to supervise project staff based in countries where the programme is implemented.

Competencies :

Core Values:

• Integrity;
• Professionalism;
• Respect for Diversity.

Core Competencies:

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

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Values and Competencies Framework:

Functional Competencies:

• Strong programme formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation skills
• Strong knowledge of Results Based Management
• Ability to synthesize program performance data and produce analytical reports to inform management and strategic decision-making
• Strong knowledge of Women’s Economic Empowerment
• Proven expertise and experience supporting women’s economic empowerment projects including on the care economy
• Strong analytical skills
• Ability to identify and analyze trends, opportunities and threats to fundraising and develop strategies

Recruitment Qualifications:

Education and certification:

• Master’s degree in business, Management, Statistics, Political or Social Science, Economics, International Development Studies, Gender/ Women’s Studies or related fields is required.
• PhD in Business, Management, Statistics, Political or Social Science, Economics, International Development Studies, Gender/ Women’s Studies is an advantage
• 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:

• At least 5 years of progressively responsible work experience at the national or international level in design, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development and/or WEE projects or research is required.
• At least 2 years of experience on issues relating to gender-responsive procurement, care economy and/or women’s entrepreneurship is required.
• At least 3 years of knowledge in data collection methods is required.
• Experience planning, organizing and executing multi-country, multi-stakeholder events and/or dialogues, especially on the care economy is required.
• Technical experience in women’s economic empowerment, particularly care economy is required.
• Experience with UN Women and other UN agencies is required.
• Experience working in the Asia Pacific region is an asset.
• Design and delivery of capacity building and/or training for the private sector in Asia-Pacific is desirable.
• Excellent written communication and results-based drafting skills (including concept notes, analytical papers and donor reports).

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English is required.
• Knowledge of another official UN language is desirable (French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian or Spanish).
• Knowledge of another language from the Asia-Pacific region is desirable.

Statements :

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.

Diversity and inclusion:

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, 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.)

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