UN Women: Regional Director – East and Southern Africa

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 role of the Regional Office (RO) is threefold: (a) to empower and support country level capacity and processes to deliver on the UN Women mandate; (b) to oversee country and regional based mandate delivery across normative, policy, advocacy and UN Coordination roles; and (c) to deliver on the UN Women mandate at the regional level by leveraging regional coordination mechanisms and liaising closely with other regional bodies.

Reporting to the Deputy Executive Directors, the Regional Director is responsible for leading and managing the RO and for providing leadership and managerial oversight in the region on the direction, strategic design and planning of UN Women regional initiatives as well as contribution to and integration of UN Women interventions in the broader UN development framework and reform. S/he is also responsible for providing managerial support, guidance and oversight of the RO, Multi-Country Offices (MCO) and Country Offices (CO) programme implementation and operations (financial, human resources and administrative), and for political, advocacy, strategic partnership, resource mobilization and representation activities to promote UN Women goals, competencies, interests and objectives.

Duties and Responsibilities

Manage the strategic direction of the Regional Office and the region:

• Develop and manage the implementation of UN Women’s regional vision and strategy;
• Identify programme opportunities, approaches, and modalities; make recommendations on regional programme strategies;
• Provide direction in the formulation of high quality and relevant regional and country programmes and projects;
• Lead the establishment of the regional annual work plans in collaboration and discussion with the regional team;
• Lead the RO senior management team; contribute to UN Women’s senior management meetings in strategic planning and formulation of regional and global policy and strategies.

Oversee programme management and monitoring of the projects/programmes in the region:

• Oversee the overall management of the CO and MCO programmes;
• Lead the regional programme and project planning and review processes to ensure that financial resource allocations, organizational structure and staff planning are in line with programme needs;
• Lead and oversee the appraisal and approval of UN Women programmes;
• Lead and guide the RO’s consolidated and coordinated programme, policy and normative support and technical advisory services to MCOs and COs in the region;
• Monitor and ensure the appropriate utilization of resources of regional programmes and projects that are managed by the Regional Office.

Lead the management of human and financial resources of the Regional Office:

• Set performance plans and evaluation standards; ensure performance reviews are implemented;
• Lead and manage the regional budget preparation and submission process to ensure budget proposals are correctly presented and submitted;
• Establish and oversee the Regional Office security strategy, plan, and measures to ensure the protection and security of UN Women’s staff, eligible dependents, property and operations.

Advocate for UN Women’s mandate and lead UN Inter-Agency coordination and intergovernmental support:

• Consult and/or engage senior partners in the Regional UN Development Group (UNDG)/UN system, and Regional Development Team (RDT) and Regional Coordinator Management (RCM), in programming, policy discussions, agenda setting and to actively promote gender equality and women’s empowerment issues and its integration in UN programming processes;
• Coordinate and oversee the preparation of reports for presentation to inter-governmental bodies such as the Commission on the Status of Women, Economic and Social Council, the General Assembly and other policy-making organs;
• Review and endorse reports prior to submission to the Director, Programme Division;
• Represent, lead, coordinate and contribute to strategic and policy discussion on gender equality, and women empowerment issues within the UN system, intergovernmental, international, regional and national conferences and meetings and advocate for UN Women’s policy and initiatives;
• Represent UN Women with governments, UN agencies, NGOs, academia, media and the private sector to raise awareness and stimulate action to advance gender equality and women’s rights.

Lead strategic partnership building and oversee resource mobilization strategies:

• Maximize partnership opportunities to mobilize resources for UN Women programmes and initiatives;
• Oversee the development and management of regional resource mobilization strategies, plans and efforts in the region;
• Provide strategic direction, advice and guidance to Country Representatives in mobilizing resources for their COs/ MCO; Oversee CO’s/MCO partnership agreements including cost sharing agreements in line with the corporate Delegation of Authority; Provide COs/MCO with donor intelligence;
• Finalize donor reports from COs/MCO for quality assurance and compliance.

Participate in knowledge management and capacity building efforts:

• Ensure regular assessments of regional and country strategic and implementation plans;
• Lead the design, collection, and dissemination of knowledge products and promote knowledge sharing and building.

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:

• 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:

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES:

• Ability to envision and lead the strategic direction for UN Women in the region;
• Excellent programme formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation skills;
• Excellent knowledge of Results Based Management principles and approaches;
• Ability to lead fund raising strategies and activities and proactively engage with the multilateral and bilateral donor community;
• Demonstrated political acumen and technical capacity in representing the organization effectively in national and international fora to advocate and to promote organizational priorities, initiatives;
• Strong knowledge of countries in the region;
• Experience in oversight or managing programs in, or close to, emergencies and conflict situations;
• Strong knowledge of UN system.

Required Skills and Experience

Education: 

• Master’s degree or equivalent in development-related area, including economics, public policy 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.
• A [project/programme management] certification would be an added advantage.

Experience: 

• At least 15 years of progressively responsible development experience that combines intellectual, strategic and managerial leadership in development programmes some of which should be in the area of gender equality, preferably in developing countries within the UN system, Agencies, Funds, Programmes, or UN Mission is required.
• Experience with managing, supporting and overseeing development policy-making, programme and operations management, resource mobilization and partnership creation is required.
• Experience leading and coaching staff in international settings is required.
• 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.

Languages: 

• Fluency in English is required.
• Knowledge of another official UN language is desirable (Chinese, Russian or Spanish).

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.

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.)