Regional Coordination Specialist

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. Support for gender mainstreaming within the UN System through its coordination mandate remains integral to the work of UN Women as mandated in its founding resolution (GA 64/289, para.58).

Through the General Assembly Resolutions 75/233 on the Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review (QCPR) and 72/279 on UN repositioning, the United Nations Development System (UNDS) is presented with a mandate to respond to the ambition of the 2030 Agenda. The QCPR places strong emphasis on the fundamental importance of promoting gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls, noting the multiplier effect for achieving sustained and inclusive economic growth, poverty eradication and sustainable development. It calls upon all entities of the UNDS to continue to promote women’s empowerment and gender equality by enhancing and accelerating gender mainstreaming through the full implementation of the UNCT performance indicators for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE) (the “UNCT-SWAP Gender Equality Scorecard”) and calls on UN entities to draw on gender expertise, including in UN Women, to assist with gender mainstreaming in the preparation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework. As also recognized by the UNSDG Guidance for the Cooperation Framework, gender equality and women’s empowerment should be mainstreamed through UN programming, and it is identified as a priority for the Decade of Action. In addition, the UN Women Strategic Plan 2022-25 in its development results framework includes an explicit Outcome 7 which frames the coordination work of UN Women on which it is also expected to report to the Executive Board.

The UN “System-wide Strategy on Gender Parity” includes recommended actions to reach gender parity at all levels across the UN System by 2028. UN Women is committed to support the UN entities to reach gender parity, based on its mandate to lead, promote and coordinate efforts to advance the full realization of women’s rights and opportunities.

The Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region comprises three subregions: the Western Balkans and Turkey, Eastern Europe and the Caucasus, and Central Asia. UN Women has offices in 12 countries/territories and serves as member of UNCTs in 5 others as non-resident agency (NRAs). In line with the corporate Strategic Plan 2022-2025, the ECA Regional Office (RO) Strategic Note 2022-2025 aims to apply its triple mandate – normative, coordination and operational – to achieve structural and transformational progress on gender equality and women’s empowerment in the region. The intergovernmental focus is on Beijing (BPfA), CEDAW, Istanbul Convention, 2030 Agenda, UNSCR on WPS, etc., promoting engagement of youth, women’s human rights defenders, women’s organizations in national, sub-regional and regional consultations. UN Coordination is supported at the country level with gender mainstreaming of UN System planning frameworks (CCAs and UNSDCFs), regional coordination (RCP and IBCs), and through humanitarian mechanisms. The priority areas of programmatic focus are women´s entrepreneurship and economic empowerment (WEE), Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB), gender statistics/data, social norms change and gender-based violence (GBV), as well as policy and technical advisory support on women´s leadership and political participation (WPP) and women’s peace and security (WPS) and humanitarian response and its development nexus. Areas for further development and growth are gender and digitalization (gender-responsive governance, WEE and technology-facilitated violence) and gender and climate change. Increased focus will be placed on measuring and capturing the results and impact of UN Women’s interventions on the lives of women and girls, including through enhanced monitoring, evaluation, and reporting systems and capacities.

Under the guidance and direct supervision of the ECARO Regional Director with matrix reporting to the Director of the UN Coordination Division (PPID), the Regional Coordination Specialist is responsible for supporting UN Women country presences on the ground in their coordination roles within the United Nations Country Teams, in the identification of technical expertise for the implementation of corporate-level accountability tools; with an emphasis on the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) processes, the new Gender Theme Groups (GTG) Standards and Procedures, the System-wide Strategy on Gender Parity, Intergovernmental processes such as CSW, CEDAW, Beijing platform for Action and SDGs as well as other relevant Regional level normative processes. The Regional Coordination Specialist is also expected to work closely with the Resident Coordinators Offices and other UN agencies to support create enabling environments in order to achieve and maintain gender parity within UNCTs. The Regional Coordination Specialist will lead on capacity building related to gender mainstreaming and UN coordination in their region, including providing input and technical advice to other UN Entities’ gender mainstreaming in the development and implementation of programmes and policies. The Regional Coordination Specialist will seek regional opportunities for partnerships on coordination including joint financing initiatives for GEWE.

The Regional Coordination Specialist works in close collaboration with the Gender Equality Coordinator to the UN Resident Coordinator (where applicable), UN System Coordination Division, PAPDU/PPID, the Office of the Focal Point for Women in the UN System (on gender parity matters) and, on Inter-Governmental/GEF issues, the Regional Coordination Specialist collaborates with the Inter-Governmental Division and manages and implements activities to enhance UN system wide coherence on gender equality and the empowerment of women.

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Provide technical support to the Regional Director as well as Country Offices on inter-agency coordination.

• Provide technical support and guidance to the Regional Director, including through participation in regional groups and interagency coordination efforts and related technical bodies as well as the Regional Coordination Mechanism.
• Provide analysis and advice to COs and MCO on engaging United Nations Country Teams (UNCT) and Resident Coordinators (RCs) on gender responsive development assistance.
• Provide substantive support and representation at conferences, high-level meetings, joint programme development, joint advocacy, financing opportunities, and research.
• Provide technical support and ensure guidance to RCOs and UNCTs related to system-wide processes and requirement related to GEWE in countries where UN Women has no presence.
• Provide technical support to UN Women Country Representatives and offices, as requested, on inter-agency coordination – helping Country Offices to identity thematic strategic entry points, including inter-agency pooled funds, and partners to significantly advance GEWE through targeted coordination and technical assistance.
• Provide substantive support to UN Women Country Representatives and offices, as requested, to scale up their provision of technical assistance and sectoral specific gender analysis on gender equality and women’s empowerment across the UNCT, enabling UN Women to act as the UNCT ‘Think Tank’ on gender equality.
• Where humanitarian clusters exist, support UN Women Country Offices, as requested, to ensure that they are actively engaged in leading the promotion of gender in humanitarian action – providing quality and operational technical assistance, trainings, and gender analysis, as needed in the country context.
• Provide support to UN Women Country Representatives and offices, as requested, to monitor the work of GTGs to ensure that these are effective in bringing partners together around strategic actions on GEWE.

2. Provide technical advisory support on gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE) as a guiding principle during the development and implementation of the Cooperation Framework

• Provide advice and inputs on the UNSDCF Roadmap to ensure that the UNSDCF development process will ensure strong integration of GEWE, in line with the UNCT-SWAP requirements, and facilitate active engagement of women’s CSOs and women’s machineries.
• Provide substantive support in the development of a rigorous gender analysis in the Common Country Analysis (CCA) to explain immediate, underlying and root causes of gender inequalities and gender-based discrimination, and differentiated impacts.
• As Peer Support Group Member (PSG), and in close collaboration with DCO, review and provide technical guidance and inputs to each step of the UNSDCF to ensure the integration of gender equality considerations on the strategic prioritization, results matrix, joint programmes, and monitoring and evaluation.
• Provide technical advice to RCs/UNCTs for national GEWE policy and legal framework development and monitoring, especially in countries where UN Women has no presence.

3.  Provide overall coordination and quality assurance for the UNCT-SWAP Gender Equality Scorecard exercise

• Provide information and support to RCs and UNCTs on how to meet or exceed UNCT-SWAP requirements and track the implementation of the action plan and related recommendations to ensure coherence in application and implementation across the region.
• Ensure the action plan informs the GTG workplan and the UNSDCF process.
• Provide advisory support to UNCTs and UN Women COs to strengthen UNCT reporting and usage of the UNCT GEM, with the aim of increasing financial allocations for GEWE at country level.
• Support UNCTs and GTG capacities building by rolling out learning and training materials in collaboration with UNSCD on the UNCT SWAP and UNCT GEM.

4. Provide coordination support to GEWE intergovernmental and normative work of UNCTs and national partners

• Support initiatives related to the Commission on the Status of Women, including contributions to relevant global/regional reports and background documents.
• Provide technical support on gender related SDG consultations.
• Facilitate regular review of the progress on implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action.
• Provide coordination support for other regional and global GEWE processes.
• Foster collaboration and support joint action and coordination of the new Regional Collaborative Platform bringing regional expertise, capacity, and data to provide analytical, policy, and operational support to countries.
• Support Regional Economic Commissions (RECs) and Agencies Fund and Programs (AFPs) to deliver bolder GEWE solutions, with lasting, largescale impact.
• Participate in the Regional Collaborative Platform and Issue-based Coalitions and support Member States and stakeholders through these platforms to renew and refresh their relationships within the UN.

5. Provide coordination support to RCs and UNCTs on advancing gender parity, in cooperation with Office of the Focal Point for Women in the UN System

• Monitor the implementation of the UN System-wide Strategy on Gender Parity and UN Women’s implementation plan in the UNCTs in the region and report the progress and identified gaps to Office of the Focal Points for Women in the UN System.
• Provide coordination support, in cooperation with Office of the Focal Points for Women in the UN System, to RCs/UNCTs on advancing gender parity where UN Women has no presence.
• Promote communication products such as the UN System-wide Dashboard on Gender Parity, the UN System-wide Knowledge Hub on addressing Sexual Harassment.
• Contribute to developing and implementing capacity-building sessions to Gender Focal Points in the region.

6. Provide technical support and guidance to the development of partnerships and resource mobilization as it relates to coordination efforts

• Provide technical support and guidance to MCO and COs on managing activities and other promotional events to engage bilateral and multilateral institutions/donors, private sector and civil society to expand and/or sustain interest and resources for UN Women programmes and joint UN system programmes;
• As part of strategic planning, provide support and advice to MCO and COs in forging and implementing strategic partnerships to increase UN Women’s positioning in country;
• Liaise with key stakeholders from Government, academia, civil society, the private sector and key international actors to build and strengthen strategic alliances and partnerships on women’s rights and gender equality initiatives.

7. Facilitate knowledge building and sharing

• As part of UN Women strategic planning exercise, and in close collaboration with the Strategic Planning Specialist, support and oversee the reporting on outcome 7 and produce regional analysis including global trends and identifying challenges.
• Lead the development and dissemination of good practices and lessons learned on coordination and gender mainstreaming at the UNCT and regional levels; ensure they are incorporated into programme development.
• Provide capacity development support to regional and country level colleagues on coordination mandate and gender mainstreaming.
• Develop capacity development initiatives on gender-related issues and priorities as needed.

8. Lead and manage affiliated personnel under their supervision. 

• Provide managerial direction, guidance and leadership as well as performance feedback and coaching, where pertinent for affiliated personnel (consultants and interns).
• Ensure all personnel under their supervision are fully aware of UN Women’s workplace relations policies.

9. 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 does not have direct supervision of staff, however she/he might supervise affiliated personnel (consultants and interns) that may be assigned to this Unit.

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 equality and women’s empowerment issues
• Excellent knowledge of UN system and understanding of inter-agency coordination processes
• Excellent knowledge on UNDS reform content and its implementation at the country level
• Ability to promote and monitor inclusion of gender-specific objectives, indicators, targets and activities in the UN Entities’ programmes

Required Skills and Experience

Education and Certification:	Master’s degree or equivalent in international development, public administration, public policy, or other relevant social science field is required. 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 7 years of experience working in gender equality and women’s rights at the international level is required. At least 7 years of progressively responsible experience working with inter-agency coordination is required. Experience in supporting or developing UNCT-SWAP Gender Equality Scorecard and its action plan or other system wide processes on Gender equality such as UN System-wide Strategy on Gender Parity, CEDAW UNCT report, GTG and UNCT GEM is required. Experience in delivering capacity building activities is desirable. Experience working in developing countries within the UN system, Agencies, Funds or Programs is desirable.
Languages	Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language is desirable (in particular, Russian).

Application:

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.

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.

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.)