Niger: Policy Specialist Women, Peace, Security and Humanitarian action (WPS/HA)

Mar 19, 2024 | United Nations Women
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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 by the implementation of the National Plan of the UN resolution 1325.

Over the last decade, Niger, one of the four countries around Lake Chad, is facing an increasing triple crisis due to the deterioration of the security situation with repeated incidences of violence from the Boko Haram terrorist group, the socio-political instability, and chocks from climate changes. The socio-political crisis in Niger that followed the July 26, 2023, military coup will likely have dramatic impacts on the gender equality and democratic achievements such as the law on quotas, the women participation in peacebuilding processes and the increasingly number of GBV cases. The 2024 HNRP estimates that 4.6 million people need humanitarian assistance among which 51% are women and girls, 335,227 IPDs and 290,026 refugees who fled insecurity in neighbouring Burkina Faso, Mali, and Nigeria. Women and girls are particularly exposed to increased risks of gender-based violence, forced marriage, early pregnancy, female genital mutilation, and deprivation of education.

UN Women is taking measures to ensure gender is mainstreamed in the response led by different actors. There is a need to support key bodies such as the Permanent National Secretariat of the WPS Agenda, its regional offices, the focal points (DPF/PE), the Gender Unit within the HACP and the national gender observatory. Within the UN, (i) the Gender and Human Rights Group is co-led by UN Women and OHCHR, (ii) the Gender and Humanitarian group is co-led by UN Women and OCHA and includes UN agencies, national and international NGOs and gender experts from ministries of gender and humanitarian action, (iii) the “Friend for WPS Agenda” Working group led by UN Women, while the Technical and Financial Partners Gender group is co-led by UN Women and the European Union.

Therefore, Niger had been engaged in Humanitarian, Development and Peace Nexus approach for synergies between humanitarian, development, and peace actions. The Nexus approach aims to strengthen collaboration, coherence, and complementarity. The government of Niger has set up the Nexus working group in conjunction with humanitarian and development actors. In addition, an action plan on sustainable solutions for displaced people and refugees is being finalized. Taking gender into account in these processes as well as the positioning of women's organizations is a priority including strengthening the capacities of the various actors at the national and local level.

UN Women’s portfolio in Niger is guided by UN Women strategic note 2023-2027 aligned with the strategic priorities of the UNSDCF 2023-2027 and the PDES 2022-2026. The country programs aim to build the resilience of women and girls in the framework of nexus "humanitarian, development and peace":

Reporting to the Country Representative, the Policy Specialist: Women Peace and Security and Humanitarian action (WPS/HA) will oversee the development of the programme by prioritizing the Humanitarian, Development and Peacebuilding Nexus approach, provide capacity building of the country office and WLO-WRO, establish and strengthen partnerships with UN agencies, national and local actors as well as donors and develop relevant knowledge products on gender, humanitarian, development, and peace. The incumbent will be scaling up UN women work with Government, the National secretariat of UN Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security as well as UN and Civil society partners.

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Provide substantive technical support in the area of women, peace and security:

  • Provide Technical advice on strategies and opportunities for building women's participation and influence in conflict prevention, resolution, and peacebuilding, with a particular focus on implementation of National Women peace and Security agenda action plan in Niger, strengthening the ongoing collaboration with Peace and security organizations in this area.
  • Provide technical support and advice for the UN Women's programmes and initiatives on peace and security, through strategic partnerships with regional and sub-regional organizations (AU, ECOWAS) and civil society groups, and training of relevant stakeholders.
  • Provide technical advice and tools on strengthening women’s role in fighting against radicalization and violent extremism.
  • Develop technical documents, vision of taking gender into account in the dialogue process and political transition and promote the effective participation of women including participation in elections, decision-making positions at national and local level.
  • Advise, support, guide and provide input to ensure the formulation of relevant, high quality, results-based and rights-based peace and security programmes and projects.
  • Prepare policy documents, briefs and other strategic papers and materials for use in the development and presentation of a coherent UN Women country perspective on women peace and security (R1325);
  • Provide strategic and specialized technical advice to the peace and security team on the development of systems, processes, and mechanisms to support effective program planning, implementation, monitoring, and timely progress reporting.

2. Provide substantive support to the design and implementation of Programme strategies in the area of humanitarian action interventions under the CO SN and AWP in line with IASC principles and commitments, including on HDP nexus and addressing climate crisis

  • Contextualize the training package for Gender in humanitarian action for humanitarian cluster and sub-clusters in Niger and lead training/capacity strengthening sessions.
  • Develop/adapt the key indicators for each cluster to integrate gender commitments in their response and follow up on its implementation.
  • Support the realization of Rapid Gender analysis and the regular production of Gender Alert to inform HNO, HRP prioritization as well as well decisions around humanitarian funding and allocations across the cluster system, including in support of localization principles and commitments. Similarly, this analysis will inform partnerships, program development and resource mobilization in support of UN Women’s contribution to the
  • Produce regular Gender and Humanitarian analysis based on the existing reports, data and actions made by various humanitarian partners.
  • Support drafting of Gender and Humanitarian talking points and key messages.
  • In link with Norcap/UN Women capacity building staff, support the advocacy for Women civil society organizations participation into a Humanitarian coordination mechanism at the national and local level including design and roll out of training/orientation sessions.
  • Coordinate gender and humanitarian working groups and ensure the establishment of 4 regional working group (Diffa, Marradi, Tillabery and Tahoua) with the action plan to enable implementation and tracking of the new IASC Gender Policy at sub-national level.
  • Provide capacity building for the government's gender and humanitarian focal points, particularly the Ministry of Humanitarian Action, for better consideration in intergovernmental responses
  • Support the development of a ‘localized’ accountability framework under HCT to track implementation of commitments under IASC Gender policy.
  • Develop partnerships with other actors under UNSDCF/HRP, including other UN agencies such as UNFPA, WFP, UNHCR, IOM in support of joint commitments to advancing GE in crisis settings

3. Lead on the implementation of the capacity development package and action plan for WRO/WLO participation in the humanitarian planning/decision making and peacebuilding processes, including access to funding.

  • Develop outreach and advocacy programmes to ensure women's voices are heard throughout main peacebuilding processes and forums, including through nurturing policy dialogue with the government, senior officials and staff of international and regional institutions, in close cooperation with the UN Women Peace and Security Section and the Regional Office for West and Central Africa.
  • Provide technical support and guidance for women's groups and women peace activists to develop common positions related to peace and security processes affecting Niger; Advise on capacity development of Niger women's organizations in the peace building process, humanitarian principles, and early recovery, response.
  • Work with civil society partners and other stakeholders to conduct awareness raising on transitional justice and to mobilize this constituency to document and advocate for gender sensitive transitional justice measures.
  • Provide technical support for the coordination of the peace and security result group of the UNSDF and other Coordination mechanisms dedicated to the prevention and response to internal displacement.
  • Set up the women, peace and security national coordination mechanism and strengthen its capacities to monitor the implementation of the UNSCR1325 and UN Women peace and security programme.
  • Work with civil society partners to conduct awareness raising on women’s participation in the peace process and to mobilize this constituency to document and advocate for gender sensitive peace process.

4. Provide technical support in strategic partnerships, resource mobilization and advocacy

  • Establish and nurture relationship with Government, technical specialists and financials partners, academia, research institutes, civil society and experts in transition and other women peace and security matters to expand and share knowledge, exchange views on latest findings, incorporate cutting-edge thinking in UN work on gender equality.
  • Support resource mobilization by integrating Gender perspective in the ERC Flagship initiative on AAP; CERF and develop a specific Gender and humanitarian proposal and engage with donors to secure resources in support of UN Women’s PSR and humanitarian programming (including potentially accessing humanitarian resources).
  • Work closely with the communication team to scale good practices, voices from the field and needs of refugees, displaced and host communities’ women and girls.
  • Convene or represent UN Women in relevant international and regional forums to enhance coordination and/or ensure increased attention to gender and mediation and other conflict prevention and resolution issues.
  • Build strategic partnerships with key stakeholders, regional organizations, NGOs and core international mediation institutions seeking to increase their presence and activities in Niger.
  • Develop and maintain networks with institutions and experts in peace building and women's peace networks.
  • Plan, organize and provide technical support to ad hoc expert group meetings, seminars, conferences, workshops, communities of practice and similar gatherings, including identification and determination of major issues for discussion and selection of participants, development of background documentation, preparation of reports and policy recommendations, and dissemination of results of such meetings

5. Provide inputs to knowledge management and technical support

  • Develop, implement, and monitor capacity development in the area of gender in Nexus humanitarian -peace and development capacity amongst relevant stakeholders including through information sharing and joint trainings with national stakeholders and relevant regional and sub-regional organization so as to build availability of regionally knowledgeable and rapidly deployable specialists in this area.
  • Ensure regular assessments of the country office peace and security programme, implementation plans and Mali’s national plan on 1325 implementation. Identify lessons learned and areas of emphasis to guide program improvements and future strategic development plan.
  • Identify areas that may require improvement and capture best practices/lessons learned, using corporate monitoring tools; and collect and analyze good practices.
  • Manage the process of collecting and sharing lessons learned on women, peace and security including humanitarian action in the nexus approach perspective to build knowledge and capacity of partners and stakeholders.
  • Identify and implement capacity building training activities to enhance skills and knowledge on women’s participation in peace building and all related matters: gender and DDR, gender and SSR, women’s early recovery.
  • Contribute to the development and maintenance of country program knowledge networks and practices, and development of knowledge products.
  • Review and evaluate proposals and oversee the preparation of donor proposals and reports.

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

Supervisory/Managerial Responsibilities: Describe the size of the team and levels of personnel under the position’s direct supervision. Include matrix management relationships and all affiliate personnel. E.g.: The incumbent leads a team of 20, which includes 5 direct reports (four P4 staff, 1 G7 staff), as well as 15 affiliate personnel (SC, consultants and interns).

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: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf

Functional Competencies:

  • Excellent knowledge of Peace and Security 
  • Strong knowledge of the region
  • 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

Required Skills and Experience

Education and Certification:

  • Master’s degree or equivalent in Peace and Security human rights, international relations, international humanitarian action, or other social science fields is required.
  • A first-level university degree in combination with five 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 7 years progressively responsible work experience in designing and managing programmes on peace, security resilience and humanitarian.
  • Experience in in conflict/post-conflict situations and humanitarian settings 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.
  • 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 working with the UN is desirable.
  • Experience working in the West and Central Africa is desirable.
  • Experience in the use of a modern web-based ERP System, preferably Oracle Cloud, is desirable.

Languages:

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

Application: