Programme Officer, Women’s Political Participation

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.

Women’s political participation is one of UN Women’s primary areas of work, recognizing the role of women’s leadership in strong and stable democratic processes and inclusive societies. It is covered under the UN Women’s Strategic Plan 2022-2025 Impact Area 1 – Participation and Governance in Public Life: “Women and girls participate in leadership and decision making and benefit from gender responsive governance”; and across several Systemic Outcomes of the Strategic Plan, mainly: Outcome 1 on normative frameworks and policies, Outcome 5 on Voice Leadership and Agency; and Outcome 7 on UN coordination. UN Women works with various partners and stakeholders nationally, regionally, and globally to ensure more women of all ages fully participate, lead, and engage in political institutions.

The UN Women Liberia Country Office under its Strategic Note (2020 – 2025) focuses on delivering on four interlinked programme areas underpinned by UN Women’s Strategic Plan (2022 – 2025), in line with international normative frameworks, Governance and Participation in Public Life, Women’s Economic Empowerment, Ending Violence Against Women and Girls, and Women, Peace, and Security, and Humanitarian Action. The work under Governance and Participation in public life includes, supporting legal and policy reforms that facilitate women’s participation in public life; strengthened capacities of diverse women to engage in public and political life and peacebuilding mechanisms; support legal and policy responses to prevent, monitor and mitigate violence against women in politics; improve knowledge, data and statistics on women’s political participation; support women leaders in gender-sensitive political institutions including legislative bodies at national and local levels; and support initiatives aimed at changing gender norms so that women are accepted as legitimate and effective leaders. In addition, UN Women works to support gender and youth-responsive service delivery in County Service Centers (CSCs), promotes citizen inclusion and participation in local decision-making and development planning, including budgetary allocations by strengthening County Councils, and supports the implementation of the Local Government Act (LGA). UN Women collaborates with a range of partners and stakeholders including the legislature, National Elections Commission, Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, women’s rights organizations to ensure more women are actively involved in politics and public life and benefit from gender responsive governance.

Reporting to the Programme Specialist, Women Political participation, the Programme Analyst contributes to the effective management of UN Women programmes in the Country Office by providing substantive inputs to programme design, formulation, implementation, and evaluation. The Programme Analyst guides and facilitates the delivery of UN Women programmes by monitoring results achieved during implementation and ensuring appropriate application of systems and procedures and develops enhancements if necessary. The Programme Analyst works in close collaboration with the programme and operations team, UN Women HQ personnel, Government officials, multi and bi-lateral donors and civil society ensuring successful UN Women programme implementation under portfolio.

Duties and Responsibilities

Contribute technically to the development of programme strategies on women’s political participation

• Provide substantive inputs to the design and formulation of programme/ project proposals and initiatives;

• Identify areas for support and intervention related to the programme

Provide substantive technical support to the implementation of thematic area

• Provide technical inputs to the annual workplan and budget;
• Support the Women Legislative Caucus of Liberia  (WLCL) identifying strategic entry points and providing substantive technical support and in building staff capacity;
• Support the coordination of the call/request for proposals, including the organization of technical review committees, and capacity assessment of partners;
• Review, coordinate and monitor the submission of implementing partner financial and narrative reports;

Provide technical assistance and capacity development to project/programme partners

• Coordinate and provide technical support in the implementation of programme activities;
• support to develop technical knowledge products
• Maintain relationships with national partners to support implementation and expansion of the women’s leadership and governance programme;
• Identify opportunities for capacity building of partners and facilitate technical/ programming support and training to partners, as needed.
• Build the capacity of partners on Results Based Management and monitor implementation.

Provide technical inputs to the monitoring and reporting of the programme/ projects

• Monitor progress of implementation of activities and finances using results- based management tools;
• Draft reports on monitoring missions, programme results s, outputs and outcomes;
• Provide substantive inputs to the preparation of donor and UN Women reports.

Provide substantive technical inputs to the management of people and finances of the Leadership and Governance programme

• Monitor budget implementation and make budget re-alignments/ revisions, as necessary;
• Provide substantive inputs to financial reports;

Provide substantive inputs to building partnerships and resource mobilization strategies

• Provide substantive inputs to resource mobilization strategies; analyze and maintain information and databases;
• Prepare relevant documentation such as project summaries, conference papers, briefing notes, speeches, and donor profiles;
• Participate in donor meetings and public information events, as delegated.

Provide substantive inputs to advocacy, knowledge building and communication efforts

• Develop background documents, briefs and presentations related to women political participation
• Coordinate and organize advocacy campaigns, events, trainings, workshops and knowledge products

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

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FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES:

• Good programme formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation skills
• Good knowledge of Results Based Management
• Ability to gather and interpret data, reach logical conclusions and present findings and recommendations
• Good analytical skills
• Good knowledge of technical area
• Ability to identify and analyze trends, opportunities and threats to fundraising

Required Skills and Experience

Education

• Master’s degree or equivalent in social sciences, human rights, gender/women’s studies, international development, or a related field is required.
• 1st degree in relevant field with additional 3 years work experience may be accepted in lieu of the master’s degree

Experience 

• At least 2 years progressively responsible work experience at national and international level in design, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development projects
• Experience working in the area of participation of women in leadership and politics; including in Liberia.
• Experience coordinating and liaising with government agencies and/or donors is an asset.
• Experience in establishing relationships among international organization and national governments in the field of gender and human rights of women
• Experience working in the UN system is an asset

Language

• Fluency in English is required

How To Apply 

• Personal CV or P11 (P11 can be downloaded from: )
• A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page)
• Managers may ask (ad hoc) for any other materials relevant to pre-assessing the relevance of their experience, such as reports, presentations, publications, campaigns, or other materials.

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.)