PROGRAMME COORDINATOR – WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP AND POLITICAL PARTICIPATION

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. Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

The UN Women’s Leadership and Political Participation (WLPP) Project in Tanzania is aligned with the UN Women Strategic Plan 2014-17 Impact area 1: Women lead and participate in decision-making at all levels. It contributes to the UN Tanzania UNDAP Governance Programme Working Group Outcome area 8.7. Key institutions effectively implement their election and political functions. These are defined as per the Tanzania National policy goals: Mainland (MKUKUTA): Ensuring systems and structures of governance uphold the rule of law and are democratic, accountable, predictable, transparent, inclusive and corruption-free at all levels. Zanzibar (MKUZA): Strengthen the rule of law, respect for human rights and access to justice.

The project is a multi-donor funded project related to the elections and the constitutional review process, led by UN Women and covers both Tanzania mainland and Zanzibar. The project is implemented by UN Women through strategic partnerships with a broad range of implementing partners and key stakeholders. Components of the outcome area 2 on capacity development of the electoral management bodies is implemented in partnership with the UNDP led Democratic Empowerment Project where UN Women is a partner and represented on the Joint Steering Committee. It is also aligned with the UNDP led Legislatures Support Project (LSP) for the outcome 1 on capacity development and political participation laws, engaging parliament and in particular the women’s caucuses in the Parliament (Mainland) and House of Representatives (Zanzibar)

Under the overall guidance and direction of the Deputy Representative the Programme Coordinator takes overall responsibility for coordinating, planning, implementing, and managing the Women’s Leadership and Political Participation Project. She/he works in close collaboration with the elections team, especially the Gender and Social Inclusion Specialist P4 and the Senior Advisor and Team leader of the Governance Unit. S/he is assisted by a programme management specialist and a finance assistant for the WLPP project, and liaises effectively with the programme and operations team at the UN Women country office, UN Women HQ and RO advisors on political participation, Government officials, multi and bi-lateral donors and civil society ensuring successful UN Women Programme implementation under the WLPP portfolio.

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of Key Functions:

• Technical advisory support and quality assurance on Women’s Leadership and Political Participation Project implementation;
• Overall Programme Coordination and Management;
• Partnership Development and Resource Mobilization;
• Knowledge Management and Communications;
• Staff Management and Capacity Development.

Technical advisory support and quality assurance on Women’s Leadership and Political Participation Project implementation.

• Establish, maintain and expand partnerships and alliances with various strategic partners from development organizations, EMBs, government, political parties, parliament and civil society to ensure active participation and promotion of the Women’s Leadership and Political Participation Programme;
• Provide technical support directly or through the provision of experts to the Programme partners implementing the Women’s Leadership and Political Participation Project, with a particular focus on capacity development of electoral management bodies, development of political participation laws and engaging with parliament;
• Provide oversight and coordination of the WLPP Project activities;
• Ensure the development/duplication, integration and application of gender sensitive tools to all Programme activities.

Overall Programme Coordination and Management

• Ensure individual project interventions are developed within the overall Programme document contributing to the achievements of both the immediate and overall WLPP Plan;
• Manage the Women’s Leadership and Political Participation portfolio for on-going and future Programmes in the country;
• Ensure overall Programme and individual work plans and budgets are developed and implementation modalities agreed upon;
• Initiate and lead capacity building Programmes for Women’s Leadership and Political Participation Partners;
• Oversee, monitor and assure quality control in the implementation of the Women’s Leadership and Political Participation Project;
• Supervise and assess work in progress to ensure compliance and delivery of high quality results and achievements of overall Programme objectives. This will include financial management, provision of overall guidance and problem solving, and identifying and utilization of lessons learned and best practices to ensure consistently improved Programming;
• Ensure that Programme reviews are undertaken and all reporting requirements are met in a timely manner;
• Provide input to UN DaO Governance PWG on substantive content and for the development of the Annual Work Plans and Regular Reports of these Groups in the context of UNDAP implementation.

Knowledge Management and Communications

• Collect, and share best practices and lessons learned from the country Programmes and in particularly on leadership participation and governance strategies for the purpose of scale-up and replication;
• Lead in the development and implementation of the communications strategy in line with the UN Women corporate communications guidelines that promotes the WLPP Programme;
• Ensure effective documentation of best practices and the lessons learnt;
• Produce knowledge products based on the implementation experiences and interactions with various stakeholders and players;
• Liaise with HQ and Regional Office on the identification and showcasing of good practices on promoting women’s leadership and political participation in Tanzania (including providing inputs and background documents for the Global and Regional Gateway on WLPP);
• Provide inputs in knowledge products and communication materials on issues related to WLPP coordinated by the relevant Programme Working Groups, Resident Coordinator’s Office and the UN Communication Group.

Support Partnerships and Resource Mobilization.

• Develop and maintain effective partnerships with various stakeholders at regional, national and local levels, for delivery of the WLPP Project;
• Identify and follow-up opportunities for resource mobilization for WLPP Project;
• Manage 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 the WLPP  Project;
• Represent the Programme in stakeholders forums and other key partnership meetings and events;
• Represent UN Women and provide technical inputs in inter-agency discussions on the participation of women, youth and people with disabilities in political parties and electoral processes and other relevant resource mobilisation efforts;
• Identify and follow up opportunities for partnerships with other UN agencies and development partners on advancement and promotion of women, youth and people with disabilities rights and gender equality in political participation;
• Perform any other duties as may be requested by the UN Women Country Representative.

Staff Management and Capacity Development

• Supervise and monitor the work of WLPP Project staff, interns and consultants including performance evaluations and appraisals;
• Lead and guide Programme implementation and foster collaboration within the team entrenching a client-oriented approach;
• Promote team work to ensure harmonization, linkages, collaboration and synergy and ensure staff members are provided with sufficient information, guidance and support to perform optimally and deliver results according to corporate and professional standards of efficiency, accountability and integrity;
• Provide capacity development interventions such as training, technical assistance, development of resources and accessibility of information, among others;
• Build entrepreneurial skills and competencies for a critical mass of women and youth;
• Provide close guidance to Programme staff, who perform adjunct operations functions, ensuring that such staff are knowledgeable of rules and procedures governing Programme finances, donor reporting, and personnel.

Impact of Results

The post has an impact on the overall effectiveness and success of UN Women’s interventions and activities in the thematic area of women’s leadership and political participation, which impact in turn on the overall effectiveness of the UN Women country programme in Tanzania. By helping ensure effective coordination and management of the programme and building networks and helping mobilize resources for the project, the incumbent enhances the organization’s capacity and credibility in implementation of highly effective programmes with strong impact.

Competencies

CORE VALUES / GUIDING PRINCIPLES

• Integrity: Demonstrates consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct;
• Professionalism: Demonstrates professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work;
• Cultural sensitivity and valuing diversity: Demonstrates an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrates an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity.

CORE COMPETENCIES

• Ethics and Values: Demonstrates and safeguards ethics and integrity;
• Organizational Awareness: Demonstrates corporate knowledge and sound judgment;
• Development and Innovation: Takes charge of self-development and takes initiative;
• Work in teams: Demonstrates ability to work in a multicultural, multi ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds;
• Communicating and Information Sharing: Facilitates and encourages open communication and strives for effective communication;
• Self-management and Emotional Intelligence: Stays composed and positive even in difficult moments, handles tense situations with diplomacy and tact, and has a consistent behaviour towards others; 
• Conflict Management: Surfaces conflicts and address them proactively acknowledging different feelings and views and directing energy towards a mutually acceptable solution;
• Continuous Learning and Knowledge Sharing: Encourages learning and sharing of knowledge;
• Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making: Demonstrates informed and transparent decision making.

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES

• Substantive experience and record of accomplishment in the area of women’s leadership and political participation;
• Ability to conceptualize and convey strategic vision from the spectrum of development to experience;
• Ability to lead strategic planning, programme development and implementation, results-based management and reporting;
• Ability to fully assist in formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development programmes and projects;
• Ability to formulate and manage budgets, manage contributions and investments, manage transactions, conduct financial analysis, reporting and cost control;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Ability to advocate and provide policy advice;
• Ability to formulate and manage budgets, manage contributions and investments, manage;
• Leads teams effectively and shows conflict resolution skills;
• Focuses on impact and result for the partners and responds positively to feedback;
• Ability to develop and maintain strong partnership and resource mobilization;
• Demonstrated negotiating, cultural sensitivity and diplomatic skills;
• Well-developed people management skills;
• Provides information, tools, resources to support work achievement;
• Effectiveness-orientation and pro-activity;
• Ability to leverage information technology, executive information systems, management techniques and tools for optimal office performance;
• Strong interpersonal, communication and presentation skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s degree (or equivalent) in Law, International Development, Political Science, International Relations or other related fields.

Experience:

• Minimum of 5 years of progressively responsible experience at the national or international level in design, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development projects and establishing inter-relationships among international organization and national governments, preferably in the field of women’s leadership and political participation;
• Familiarity with the role of the UN in elections; the global, regional and national normative framework on women’s political participation; development frameworks, institutions and strategies for gender mainstreaming;
• Documented work experience in the area of gender equality women’s rights and the empowerment of women, preferably in relation to gender and elections or gender mainstreaming in constitutional review processes;
• Previous experience of high level stakeholder coordination and engagement.

Language Requirements:

High level of fluency in written and oral English and Swahili.

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

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