UN Women: Country Programme Manager

The UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality as 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. Placing women's rights at the centre of all its efforts, the UN Women also leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. UN Women relies on a wide range of partnerships to fulfill its mandate, which include governments and intergovernmental organizations, civil society organizations, including women's NGOs and grassroots organizations, networks, the academia, multilateral partners and faith based organizations. Its support is aligned with commitments to gender equality and women's human rights as agreed in international and regional framework such as the MDGs, the Beijing Platform for Action, CEDAW, and the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa and the Protocol on Women Human Rights in the African People Charter. UN Women was established in the DRC in 2002/3 and its interventions has been focused on promoting gender equality; advocating against Violence Against Women and Girls; curbing HIV and AIDS; ensuring women's active participation in peace processes; supporting women's participation in governance. The necessity to advance gender equality and women's human rights in the DRC has been enhanced by the heightened incidences of sexual and gender based violence in conflict zones of the country, and the relatively low participation of women in politics and decision-making organs. UN Women will capitalize on this position and experiences to strengthen partnerships in the DRC with key national stakeholders as well as with donors to ensure the realization of women's rights in the DRC. In order to strengthen its presence in the DRC, UN Women seeks to recruit a Country Programme Manager. The Country Programme Manager will be the first line of contact between UN Women and its partners and will represent UNWOMEN in key policy discourse in the DRC. He/she will be responsible for ensuring effective execution of UN Women's mandate with respect to the advancement of women's human rights and gender equality in the DRC. Thus, the scope of work of the Country Programme Manager requires experience and in-depth understanding of the development context in the DRC, gender equality and women's empowerment issues, as well as sound management and programming expertise to translate UN Women's strategic plan into effective development initiatives and results. It also requires developing mutually reinforcing partnerships with the relevant Government counterparts, UN organizations, CSOs, and with bilateral and non-traditional donors in order to promote inter-agency partnerships, support for UN reform, and mobilization of resources to advance gender equality and women's empowerment.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the supervision of the UN Women Central Africa Regional Programme Director, and close guidance from the Chief of Africa Section, the Country Programme Manager will undertake the following functions: Summary of Key Functions: 1. Technical Leadership and Coordination at country level 2. Strategic Policy Coordination, Partnerships and Representation 3. Advocacy, Donor Relations and Resource Mobilization 4. Programme Management, Communication and Knowledge Management 5. Financial and Human resource management 1. Provides technical leadership and support at the country level Provide technical input into policy dialogue to increase gender equality issues in relevant discussions Carry out advocacy to maximize UN support towards the realization of policies on gender equality in line with international and national commitments Prepare technical background documents and briefs within the context of UN Womens' work in the DRC Lead the discussion with UN Women's sub-regional office for Central Africa on strategic opportunities for partnerships and new programmes in the DRC in line with the mandate of UN Women Monitor trends and issues affecting women in the DRC and develop strategic responses to opportunities and challenges 2. Ensures strategic policy coordination, partnerships and representation Enhance UN Women's participation in inter-agency and inter-governmental processes Participate in heads of agency meetings as well as in consultation meetings with donors to ensure that the principles of Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment are integrated in the UN and donors' programs in the DRC Ensure good coordination and collaboration with the UN on Gender Equality Support synergies between actors working on the same issues at national levels building upon each one's comparative advantage Position UN Women as the lead agency on Gender equality in the DRC Provide leadership and quality oversight over the efforts to strengthen government institutions, especially the Ministry of Women Develop strong partnerships with a wide range of constituencies, including NGOs and the Women's Movement 3. Advocacy, Donor Relations and Resource Mobilization Carry out ongoing advocacy to ensure that UN support towards the realization of national plans and priorities are undertaken in a gender responsive manner, and within agreed regional and international frameworks that promote and protect gender equality Identify, develop and follow-up on strategic opportunities for resource mobilization Coordinate a donor round table each year for mobilization of specific resources for the Gender Country Strategy 4. Programme Management, Knowledge Management and Communications Manage the country programme from design to implementation and assessment of programme effectiveness through course correction as necessary In consultation with government, civil society and UN partners and stakeholders, lead the management, implementation and evaluation of the country strategic plan based on UN Women's Global Plan, and in line with regional and national priorities Provide oversight, close guidance and direction to ensure strategic focus, result orientation and effectiveness and efficiency in all aspects of UN Women's operations and programmes in the DRC Coordinate UN Women's programmes and activities and ensure synergies and complementarity among programmes in diverse thematic areas related to gender equality in the DRC Oversee, monitor and assure quality control in the substantively and financially implementation of high quality, results-based, rights-based and relevant country programmes and projects in line with corporate guidelines and consistency with corporate policies and strategies Ensure UN Women's strategic and technical support to government counterparts, non state actors and UN agencies through direct involvement and provision of advisory services as needed Work closely with government and national partners to ensure ownership and delivery of programmes Lead UN Women's efforts to ensure ongoing and substantive communication with partners as well as current and potential donors Manage, coordinate and provide guidance for high quality reporting for those donors who have contributed to programmes in a timely fashion Contribute to UN Women's annual reports in consultation with relevant Programme Officers and the Regional Programme Director Lead a process of increased team building and internal communication to maximize synergy between programme areas Manage the process of collecting and disseminating lessons learned on gender equality and women's empowerment strategies and contribute to UN Wonen's knowledge management efforts Lead and manage the preparation of UN Women reports and knowledge products as required, ensuring relevancy, quality and appropriateness of content and presentation Lead the development/expansion of knowledge management strategies, networks and methodologies at the country, regional and global level 5. Financial and Human Resources Management Ensure that the Country Programme Office has the human and financial resources and capacities needed to respond to requests for assistance and to deliver on its commitments to support and advance gender equality and to participate effectively as a member of the UN Country Team Manage the Country Office resources and administration to ensure proper utilization of allocated funds and accountability Manage staff and office in an empowering and effective manner, paying particular attention to training and mentoring Provide clear direction and monitor performance of the teams working on UN Women initiatives based on specific benchmarks Develop short term as well as long term perspectives on staffing issues including succession planning where relevant, increased possibilities of transition to national staffing and staff capacity development

Competencies

Corporate Competencies: Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN's values and ethical standards Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UN Women and the UN Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability Treats all people fairly without favoritism Functional Competencies: Knowledge Management and Learning Promotes knowledge management in UN Women and a learning environment in the office through leadership and personal example Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development in one or more practice areas, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills Development and Operational Effectiveness Ability to lead strategic planning, results-based management and reporting Ability to lead the formulation and monitoring of management projects Solid knowledge of financial and human resources management, contract, asset and procurement, information and communication technology, general administration Ability to lead business processes re-engineering, implementation of new systems (business side), and positively affect staff behavioral/attitudinal change Management and Leadership Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude Demonstrates good oral and written communication skills Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities Leads teams effectively and shows mentoring as well as conflict resolution skills Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills

Required Skills and Experience

Education: A minimum of a Master's Degree in International Development, Social Sciences, Political Sciences, Law, Economics or related field Experience: At least 10 years of active participation and leadership in a senior position with gender-related development programmes, including 5 years of working internationally on women's human rights issues in Africa Excellent diplomatic and negotiation skills Excellent communications skills Previous experience working with the UN and intergovernmental bodies will be an added advantage Previous experience managing an office and programme resources Language Requirements: Mastery of written and oral French and English is mandatory 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. All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment 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.

UN Women: Country Programme Manager