Background

Important Note on Application:

UN Women has engaged SRI Executive Search to conduct search for this position. Candidates who are intersted in this particular role, should apply directly at the SRI website:

https://www.sri-executive.com/opportunities/programme-advisor-ending-violence-against-women-and-girls/

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 UN Women Pacific Multi-Country Office is based in Suva, Fiji and works alongside over 20 other UN agencies in the region and in 14 countries: Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Republic of Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

Under its Strategic Note 2018-2022, UN Women Fiji MCO focuses on delivering on four interlinked programme areas underpinned by support for intergovernmental and normative processes:

• Women’s Political Empowerment and Leadership
• Women’s Economic Empowerment
• Ending Violence against Women
• Gender and Protection in Humanitarian Action and Disaster Risk Reduction

Ending Violence Against Women and Girls / EVAWG

To respond to the rates of violence in the Pacific, UN Women has developed a comprehensive EVAW programme which takes a transformative approach to prevent violence against women and girls at multiple levels (regional, national and community), and to ensure survivors have access to quality response services.  The approach to preventing and responding to VAWG also takes into account the context of the Pacific, which requires an integrated approach to addressing VAWG across the humanitarian – development nexus. The Fiji MCO EVAWG programme is one of the largest UN Women EVAWG programmes globally. The most substantial programme under UN Women’s EVAW programme is the Pacific Partnership to End Violence Against Women and Girls which is an ambitious, five year joint programme, with UN Women, The Pacific Community, SPC and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, which brings together governments, civil society organizations, communities and other partners to change the social norms that allow violence against women and girls to continue; to ensure survivors have access to quality response services; and to support national and regional institutions to meet their commitments to gender equality and prevention of violence against women and girls. The Pacific Partnership Phase I is its final year of implementation (2023), with Phase II beginning in 2024 to 2027. The Pacific Partnership is funded primarily by the European Union (EU) with targeted support from the Australian and New Zealand Governments and UN Women.

In addition to the Pacific Partnership Programme, UN Women is the Technical lead on the Regional and multi-country Pacific Spotlight Programme, and supports implementation across the Regional and Samoa Country Spotlight programmes.  The Spotlight initiative in the Pacific focuses on Intimate partner (physical, sexual and emotional) violence (IPV) to address the continuum of gender-based violence in the Pacific region, and goes through to December 2023.

Reporting to the Fiji MCO Representative, the Programme Advisor is responsible for the leadership, substantive coordination and overall management of the EVAWG programme for results, working together with UN Women Country Offices in the Pacific region, and with the programme and operations units in the Fiji MCO.

The Programme Advisor is responsible for: a) providing substantive management and leadership in the thematic sector of EVAWG and related programmes (b) providing substantive programme coordination and management; (c) providing leadership in the areas of advocacy, donor relations and resource mobilisation and (d) providing high quality financial and human resource supervision.

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Provide programme development advisory services and manage the UN Women Fiji Multi-Country Office, Flagship Programme, Ending Violence Against Women and Girls in the Pacific  

• Working under the guidance of the MCO Representative to providehigh level substantive technical leadership to UN Women’s EVAW Programme portfolio which includes the Pacific Partnership Programme and Spotlight Programmes.  This includes technically leading the rigorous intervention research agenda, national and regional prevention strategy development, and innovative new approaches for decentralizing services, changing harmful social norms, and effective use of data to inform VAWG policy and programming and supporting the overall technical coherence and strategic coordination of EVAW in partnership with UN, CROP agencies and civil society.
• Identify and strategically position work in new/ cutting edge areas including through the initiation and/or developing regional modalities to support the scale up of national initiatives when relevant, lead in the development of regional concept proposals, This includes ensuring Pacific Partnership Phase II accurately responds to the new operating context of the Pacific post covid and adds value to the on-going initiatives led by civil society, national governments and other partners.
• Work with the MCO Representative and Deputy Representative to identify potential funding sources for scale up existing initiatives or advance new ones.
• Build and manage effective relationships with government and non-government partners and stakeholders and mobilize their support for EVAWG priorities through strategic partnerships and engagements.
• Advance strategic opportunities, in partnership with regional institutions, civil society, to mobilize, advance and support the Pacific region to meet its national and regional commitments on EVAWG.
• Provide strategic support on the integration of prevention of VAWG across other areas of UN Women’s programming, namely Gender, Protection and Humanitarian Action and Women’s Economic Empowerment.
• Lead the technical coherence of advancing GBV/GBViE in a way that supports localization and systems that can bend and flex, before, during and after emergencies.

2. Monitor the implementation and management of the Fiji MCO EVAWG programme, and the overall coordination and management of the Pacific Partnership Action.  

• Manage development and implementation of Annual Workplans and budget for the EVAWG portfolio.
• Manage and oversee high quality monitoring and evaluation, annual donor reporting, and agency annual reporting;
• Oversee and manage coordination and governances process related to the Pacific Partnership Overall Action, including representing UN Women  as the secretariat for the Programme Steering and Technical Committees and  the Program Coordination Committee; This includes managing the transition of management arrangements from Phase I to Phase II (2024-2027).
• Provide strategic oversight and management and ensure timely implementation of key projects within the EVAW Programme – including the Pacific Partnership, Spotlight, and other programmes as they come on board.
• Lead on partnership mobilization, stakeholder and partners relationships ensuring that the UN Women EVAWG programme is working logically, methodically and respectfully within all key partnerships, whether they by government, civil society, development partner and/or donor relations.

3. Manage the people and financial resources of the EVAWG programme portfolio.  

• Ensure that the EVAWG Programme, and its projects, has the human and financial resources and capacities needed to respond to requests for technical assistance and to deliver on programme commitments.
• Lead and supervise the programme teams (Pacific Partnership and Spotlight), and ensure all team members align to UN Women performance management systems;  create an enabling work environment; develop short term as well as long term perspectives on staffing issues, , increased possibilities of transition/staff development and staff capacity development

• Ensure all programme staff understand the Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning Frameworks which guide the programmatic work, and clear accountabilities for MELF data collection, storing and reporting are clearly set across the team. Directly support and supervise the MELF systems and processes within the team, in coordination with the Deputy Programme Manager.
• Manage the EVAWG Programme resources and administration, and provide strategic supervision to the Deputy Programme Manager, to ensure proper utilization of allocated funds and adherence to UN Women processes and procedures to ensure accountability;

4. Lead advocacy, knowledge building and communication efforts in relation to the UN Women EVAWG programme.

• Represent UN Women at EVAWG specific policy and programming technical and advocacy fora as requested by the Representative.
• Participate in international, regional or national meetings and provide programmatic/substantive expertise on the issue of prevention and response to VAWG. Participation in regional meetings is to be agreed in consultation with relevant Regional office
• Ensure UN Women’s strategic and technical support to government counterparts, civil society and UN agencies through direct involvement and provision of advisory services as needed, and building on women’s rights movement expertise in the region.
• Work closely with government and civil society partners to ensure ownership and delivery of programmes
• Lead and manage the preparation of UN Women knowledge products and dissemination strategies to contribute to the Pacific regional knowledge base on what works to prevent and respond to VAWG.
• Oversee the implementation of communications and visibility strategy across the EVAWG Programme
• Ensure a clear communications and branding strategy is developed and aligned with donor and partner communications and branding requirements and is negotiated and agreed upon.
• Manage and communicate across donors and programme partners to ensure effective communication and management of any issues that arise.
• Support the MCO Representative in  ensuring ongoing and substantive communication with partners as well as current and potential donors

5. Establish partnerships, donor liaison and resource mobilization in relation to the UN Women EVAWG programme

• Identify, develop and follow-up on strategic opportunities for resource mobilization to allow for EVAW Programme expansion.
• Liaise with donor partners to ensure clear communications and timely, high quality programme reporting in line with contractual agreements.
• Ensure joint approaches working in EVAWG with UN Agencies, ensuring clear frameworks for collaboration.

6. Lead interagency coordination on EVAWG to achieve a coherent an aligned presence for EVAWG in the Pacific region.

• Provide substantive technical support to the Fiji MCO Representative and Coordination Specialist on EVAWG inter-agency coordination related activities by attending meetings, events, and participating in groups and committees.
• Coordinate with the CROP agencies, UN agencies, government departments, donors and NGOs to ensure the projects’ capacity development programme is harmonized and aligned with other regional efforts.

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.

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf

Functional Competencies:

• Outstanding knowledge in the EVAWG thematic area; substantive knowledge on GBV/GBViE response and prevention, administrative data, intervention research;
• Ability to develop and lead in research and the development of global guidance notes and other practical tools;
• Strong inclusive leadership skills
• Excellent communications skills,
• Ability to write clear and convincing policy analysis and ability to advocate with senior representatives from government and other partners and provide policy advice in the context of global initiatives;
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills;
• Ability to conceptualize, develop and use strategies to promote effective decision-making and multi-stakeholder collaboration;
• Ability to establish and foster strong relations with government counterparts, UN agencies, donors, and NGO partners;
• Good knowledge of UN Women, especially in the Pacific and the UN system.

Required Skills and Experience

Education and certification:

• Master’s degree (or equivalent) in social work or development related disciplines, gender issues, economics, public policy, law, sociology, or other social science 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.
• A project/programme management certification would be an added advantage

Experience:

• At least of 10 years of progressively responsible experience in the prevention and response to violence against women and girls, including in the context of development, policy analysis, research or related areas;
• In depth experience in implementation of programmes and/or in leading the production of technical resources on prevention and response to VAWG, experience both in humanitarian and development settings.
• Experience writing reports and publications which have made a significant contribution to public policy, programmes or learning in the field of development practice and studies
• Experience working with, and building partnerships with governments, donors and civil society organizations internationally and in the field;
• Experience working with the UN system, especially UN Women, is an asset.
• Experience working in the Pacific is a strong asset.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English is required.
• Knowledge of the other UN official working language is an asset

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.)

Important Note on Application:

UN Women has engaged SRI Executive Search to conduct search for this position. Candidates who are intersted in this particular role, should apply directly at the SRI website:

https://www.sri-executive.com/opportunities/programme-advisor-ending-violence-against-women-and-girls/