Programme Specialist – Europe & Central Asia Portfolio

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Description

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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.

The duration of the assignment is until 30 April 2025. Whereas an external candidate will be offered a temporary appointment; subject to release agreements, staff members in UN Women may be administered as a temporary assignment and staff members in the UN Common system may be administered under a loan arrangement.

• 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. Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women will lead and coordinate United Nations 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 United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against Women (UN Trust Fund) was established through the UN General Assembly Resolution 50/166 in 1996 with UN Women as its Administrator on behalf of the UN system. The UN Trust Fund (UNTF) is a global multi-lateral grant making mechanism supporting national efforts to prevent and end violence against women and girls, one of the most widespread human rights violations in the world. The UN Trust Fund provides technical assistance and funding to advance the development of innovative models and strategic interventions in the area of ending violence against women and girls. To date, the UN Trust Fund has awarded US 215 million to 646 initiatives in 140 countries and territories.
• Under the overall guidance of the Chief and the direct supervision of the Grants Manager, the Programme Specialist will be responsible for coordinating and monitoring the Europe & Central Asia (ECA) portfolio of grants for the UN Trust Fund.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Lead the Monitoring and Grant-management processes of projects across the UNTF ECA grants portfolio.
• Provide technical advice to grantees throughout the project life-cycle, including through bilateral meetings, progress report reviews and provision of timely feedback to ensure results-based reporting and analysis.
• Monitor and assess progress towards overall results based on the results framework and monitoring schedules using results-based management and performance assessment tools.  
• Manage and oversee all operational and project management processes related to the grants life-cycle, including, processing of project modifications and no-cost extensions, budget revisions and disbursements and processing grant closure in close collaboration with the Operations team and UN Women Country Office focal points, where relevant.
• Coordinate all aspects related to the ECA grants portfolio within the UN Trust Fund Secretariat, and in close cooperation with the Country Office Focal Points in each country as needed to ensure the efficient oversight of the portfolio. This also includes liaising with external stakeholders to ensure required documentation and information is received and shared in a timely manner and archived appropriately.
• Undertake monitoring missions in collaboration with relevant Country Office focal points, where feasible, and draft mission reports in accordance with mission report template, summarizing?key findings and recommendations and ensure follow-up actions as required.  
• Perform a basic review of financial reports and flag inconsistencies between financial spending and project implementation in collaboration with relevant finance staff before final approval for grants and subsequent disbursements.
• Support the monitoring of delivery rates and developing strategies for accelerating implementation. 
• Monitor Audit Recommendations and update Action Plans in the system, in coordination with the Operations team, where applicable.

Provide technical support to UN Trust Fund grant-giving for the ECA region

• Participate in annual grantee selection processes including through review and substantive analysis of concept notes and full-fledged proposals, accompanying budgets and monitoring and evaluation frameworks submitted from the ECA region.
• Contribute to regional grant selection processes through provision of guidance and support to relevant UN Women Regional and Country Offices, Regional Programme Advisory Committee (RPAC) members and applicants and grantees to ensure adherence to UN Women policies, administrative and financial procedures, and escalate issues as needed. 
• Provide technical accompaniment to new grantees in the design of their project documents, work plans, and budgets, including through tailored support in the refinement of their results chains and Results Frameworks (indicators, targets, etc), data collection, activities and budgets. 
• Review implementing partner assessment forms and grant agreements prior to grantee selection and signature.

Contribute to Reporting and Knowledge Management :

• Maintain centralized portfolio matrix of grants, and provide quarterly portfolio and Partner assessment updates to the Grants Manager.
• Prepare written contributions for various purposes, including inputs for the report for the Commission on Status of Women, UNTF annual donor reports, newsletters, fund raising efforts, Regional PAC meetings and other reporting needs.
• Contribute to tracking and synthesizing, developments, tools, emerging or good practices in the field of ending violence against women and girls, including capturing findings and lessons learned from evaluations from the ECA region. 
• Keep systematic track of noteworthy grantee achievements and communicate to colleagues for possible visibility, such as special features on the website. 
• Identify strategies and opportunities to reach and support the capacities of community-based, grassroots and small civil society organizations, representing groups facing intersecting forms of discrimination from the ECA region. 
• Identify challenges and lessons learned across the grants and contribute to a process of institutional learning through documenting lessons learned and contribution to modification of strategies and programmes. 
• Identify challenges and lessons learned across the grants, and contribute to a process of institutional learning through documenting lessons learned and contribution to modification of strategies and programmes.
• Support, organize and participate in knowledge sharing and capacity development events and trainings for grantees.

Manage Capacity Development and Knowledge Exchange of grantees:  

• Coordinate, and participate in, knowledge exchange and capacity development events and trainings for grantees and other civil society organizations as needed, including through convening country-level exchanges between grantees and respective UN Women Country Offices. 
• Serve as liaison between UN Women Regional Office, Country offices and grantees where the projects are being implemented, and the UN Trust Fund Secretariat at HQ.  
• Support the production of capacity development tools, including training materials and packages, programme guidance notes and other related support specifically as it relates to EVAW programming, monitoring and reporting. 

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Advanced University degree or equivalent in Political Science, International Development Studies, Gender/Women’s Studies or other relevant field.
• 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:

• A minimum of 5 years of relevant experience in managing complex and multi-component interventions with various partners and multi-stakeholders.
• Experience in working on addressing issues related to violence against women and girls is required.
• Experience in grants and project management is required.
• Experience with Results Based Management is required.
• Experience with databases and data management a plus.
• Experience in the United Nations, a governmental, other multilateral or civil society organization in a developed or developing country is highly desirable.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English is required. 

Source: https://estm.fa.em2.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/CandidateExperience/en/sites/CX_1001/requisitions/job/20633

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