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 equal participation in politics in strong and stable democratic processes and inclusive societies. It is covered under the Entity’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.

The UN Women Haiti Country Office is based in Port au Prince, Haiti and works alongside over 20 other UN agencies in the country. Under its Strategic Note (SN) 2024 – 2027, UN Women Haiti focuses on delivering on four interlinked programme areas underpinned by UN Women’s Strategic Plan 2022 in line with international normative frameworks: i) Governance and Participation; ii) Women’s Economic Empowerment climate resilience; iii) Ending Violence against Women and Girls; iii) Women, Peace, security and Humanitarian Action.

The work includes, inter alia: supporting legal and policy reforms that facilitate women’s participation in public life; strengthened capacities of diverse women to engage in political life; support national institutions including transitional ones to deliver gender equality reforms; 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. UN Women works with a range of partners and stakeholders to ensure gender responsive planning and budgeting as well as more women of all ages fully participate, lead, and engage in political institutions.

Reporting to the Deputy Representative, the Programme Specialist, Governance and Women’s Political Participation (WPP) will support the development and implementation of WPP programmes in the country, especially during the transition period, provide technical capacities to the Country Offices (CO) and key stakeholders including the Ministry of women affairs and women’s rights (MCFDF) and the provisional election body, contribute in establishing and strengthening partnerships to ensure the constitutional reform and election process are gender responsive and protective against electoral violence.
Key Functions and Accountabilities

1.    Contribute to the development of a WPP strategy for the country

• contribute the development and implementation of an integrated strategy for the delivery of technical assistance, policy advocacy and programme support in Haiti
• Contribute to the development of a programme documents on WPP in collaboration with stakeholders at country level, at the regional and HQ levels
• Ensure the contextualization/ localization of programme documents, and ensure proper monitoring and reporting in WPP.

2.    Support capacity building support to Country Office teams and partners.

• Contribute in Providing substantive and policy support to Haiti to implement and localize corporate guidance, knowledge products and tools on WPP, ensuring policy and strategic coherence, and avoiding duplication.
• Develop, implement, and monitor capacity building initiatives on key priority topics in Haiti.
• Contribute in capacity building and substantive sessions through in-person trainings, induction, workshops,
• Contribute in Developing and strengthening policies, projects/programs and modalities to engage in key normative processes
• Implement WPP programmes aligned with corporate direction and messaging, and in compliance with UN System wide policies.
• Provide substantive support by strengthening national institutions of development of a gender profile and engagement on gender auduts and gender budgeting

3.    Support Haiti coordination mandate on Women’s Political Participation:

• Provide substantive support on WPP to UN entities in mainstreaming gender into joint programmes on electoral assistance and WPP more broadly (including Peace Building Fund projects) and strategic documents (CCA/UNSDCF).
• Guided by relevant UN policy frameworks, support gender mainstreaming into joint programming on electoral assistance.
• Coordinate national advocacy on WPP within relevant inter-agency task forces and support timely and quality inputs as needed to inform Senior Management’s participation in high leve meetings and other relevant task teams.
• Build, leverage, and maintain alliances and strategic partnerships for the advancement of WPP, the civil society groups and networks, academics, and other non-governmental organizations.
• Work closely with and provide advice to regional/ national bodies and interagency groups that influence national policies related to women’s political participation and where necessary represent UN-Women.

4.    Contribute in advocacy, knowledge building and sharing for WPP.

• Contribute in policy recommendations and guidance to strategic planning and positioning on WPP;
• Contribute substantively and lead existing thematic and gender equality networks to better connect UN Women and partners;
• Manage research, development, and presentation of analytical reports, research papers, briefing notes, background papers, summaries, correspondence on WPP;
• Identify promising practices, technical expertise, and strategic opportunities.
• Ensure technical skills and knowledge are shared within office
• Provide quality assurance of COs’ knowledge products in line with corporate strategies.
• Maintain up-to-date relevant thematic regional data; and integrate analysis to policy-oriented advocacy and corporate support (e.g., briefing notes, background papers, region-specific reports).

5.    Support partnerships building and resource mobilization for WPP in the country

• Contribute in Development and implement partnerships and resource mobilization strategies.
• Contribute in relevant documentation on donors and potential opportunities for resource mobilization.
• Provide technical support to colleagues in mobilizing resources for the implementation of WPP
• Research and analyze information on donors; prepare substantive briefs on possible areas of cooperation
• Manage donor relations on WPP and programmatic expectations.

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

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:

• Excellent knowledge of Women’s Political Participation (including issues related to democratic development, electoral assistance, campaigns, legal frameworks, political parties, legislatures, local government);
• Strong knowledge of the Pacific region
• Knowledge of the UN System;
• Excellent networking skills
• Ability to interact with donors, identify and analyze trends, opportunities and threats to fundraising
• Ability to perform qualitative and quantitative policy research
• Ability to advocate and provide policy advice
• Excellent analytical skills;
• Ability to write policy papers, speeches, briefings;
• Strong knowledge of programme development, implementation, results based management and reporting

Education and certification:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in political science, gender studies, law, human rights, international relations or other social science fields 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 progressively responsible experience in designing and managing programmes and advocating for gender equality and WPP, ideally with some experience in developing countries is required.
• Experience in programme, policy analysis, and strategic planning is required.
• Experience working with, and building partnerships with governments, donors and civil society organizations internationally and in the field is required.
• [For supervisory positions] Experience leading and coaching staff in international settings is required.
• Experience working with the UN is desirable.
• Experience working in the Pacific is desirable.
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and spreadsheet and database packages, experience in handling of web-based management systems is required.
• Experience in the use of a modern web-based ERP System, preferably Oracle Cloud, is desirable.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in French and working knowledge of English is required.

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.)

Level of Education: Bachelor Degree

Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: No requirements