USA: UN Women: Policy Specialist/Gender-Responsive Peacebuilding

Nov 13, 2023 | 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. 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 Policy, Programme and Intergovernmental Division develops and implements the UN Women programme of work on analysis, research and knowledge management that provides the evidence base for the advice and guidance UN Women provides to the intergovernmental process, the UN system, and to UN Women staff working at country and regional level on issues of gender equality and women’s empowerment.

The Peace, Security and Resilience Section of the Policy, Programme and Intergovernmental Division supports UN Women to fulfill its coordination mandate in the area of peace and security, UN system efforts to promote improved implementation, and monitoring and reporting of global commitments on Women, Peace and Security, including as set out in the Beijing Platform for Action and in Security Council resolutions[1], relevant Statements by the President of the Security Council, as well as related accountability frameworks established by the UN system. In the area of sustaining peace, UN Women supports Member States and civil society in implementing parallel resolutions of the Security Council and General Assembly (A/RES/70/262 and S/RES/2282 (2016)) on sustaining peace and together with the Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO) coordinates the implementation of the SG’s Seven-Point Action Plan on Gender-Responsive Peacebuilding. UN Women as well makes efforts towards ensuring that the voices of the WPS experts and activists are informing policy framing on sustaining peace. As a member of the Global Coalition on Youth, Peace and Security, UN Women, UN Women also contributes to mainstreaming gender in the coalitions efforts to advance the YPS agenda at the global, regional and country level.

Under the supervision of the Policy Specialist on Sustaining Peace, the Policy Specialist is responsible for contributing to the development and implementation of the organization’s policies in the area of gender-responsive peacebuilding, youth, peace and security, women’s economic security and gender responsive reintegration to achieve gender equality and advancement of women. The incumbent provides technical, policy and programme support for peacebuilding efforts of UN Women Country Offices.

[1] Security Council resolutions 1325 (2000), 1820 (2008), 1888 (2009), 1889 (2009), 1960 (2010), 2122 (2013), 2242 (2015), 2467(2019) and 2493 (2019)

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Provide Technical Guidance and Support:

  • Provide technical support to UN Women Country and Regional Offices on gender-responsive peacebuilding; youth, peace and security and climate security;
  • Provide capacity building support for peacebuilding priorities and the implementation of the Secretary-General’s Seven Point Action Plan on Gender-Responsive Peacebuilding and other related frameworks, in partnership with the Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO);
  • Provide technical support to Member States to implement the Peacebuilding Commission’s Gender Strategy;
  • Identify needs and provide support to high quality policy and programming in peacebuilding contexts, with priority to the projects funded and catalyzed by the Peacebuilding Fund (PBF);
  • Participate in, and provide assistance to, inter-agency joint assessments and technical support missions to fragile and conflict affected settings;
  • Ensure high-quality, results-oriented reporting on the Seven Point Action plan, contribute with analysis and background to SG’s reports on WPS, Peacebuilding and Sustaining Peace, Youth, Peace and Security.

2.     Provide Support in Policy Development:

  • Maintain an on-going watching brief of policy developments and major peacebuilding opportunities for women in conflict and post-conflict situations, such as peace talks and national dialogues, constitutional debates, donor conferences, recovery and UN system analysis and planning;
  • Provide technical support to UN Women Country Offices as well as UN Missions and select UNCTs in implementing gender-responsive peacebuilding programming and policy work, through regular exchanges, community of practice, commissioned research, networking and exchanges, conferences, training, and other relevant forms of support;
  • Provide inputs to public and internal communication of results and good practices of Seven Point Action plan and related results, including preparation of briefs, managing production of knowledge products, participation in appropriate global knowledge events. 

3.     Provide support to Partnership Building and Advocacy:

  • Participate actively to integrate gender in Global Coalition on YPS and in work of the Interagency Taskforce of assigned fragile and conflict affected country and keep the country representative and HQ Peace and Security Team updated
  • Provide technical contributions to the development of strategic approaches to policy dialogue, resource mobilization, partnerships, and outreach;
  • Provide technical support to UN Women’s internal network and partnership with inter alia Country, Regional and Multi-Country Offices, thematic sections, programme division and intergovernmental support division to capture and utilize internal capacity to engage in conflict prevention efforts, as well as sustaining the gains in peacebuilding.

4.     Provide support to development and dissemination of KM products:

  • Establish systems for documenting and analyzing the successful practices and lessons learned in the area of gender-responsive peacebuilding, youth, peace and security, women’s economic security, reintegration, including implementation of the Seven Point Action Plan (including contracting consultants for commissioned research);
  • Provide technical inputs to the development of policy and knowledge, as appropriate and under the guidance of the Policy Specialist and overall direction of Section Chief;
  • Produce knowledge products to meet UN Women needs and standards of quality, as requested'
  • Provide technical support to the development and implementation of training of UN Women staff and UN partners in gender-responsive peacebuilding, youth, peace and security, women’s economic security, reintegration as requested.

 5.     Provide any other functions as requested by the Supervisor.

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 

  • Good knowledge of gender related issues including in peacebuilding, statebuilding, youth, peace and security;
  • Ability to undertake policy research and prepare quantitative studies, utilizing statistical methodologies, knowledge of database applications for statistical analysis;
  • Ability to organize and complete multiple tasks by establishing priorities;
  • Ability to handle a large volume of work under time constraints;
  • Establishes, builds and sustains effective relationships with clients, demonstrating understanding of client’s perspective;
  • Ability to draft policy papers, speeches, briefings, etc.;
  • Ability to develop and maintain roster of experts, and a databank of research institutions;
  • Strong experience working in fragile and conflict affected contexts supporting gender equality and women empowerment efforts.

 Required Skills and Experience

 Education and Certification:

  • Master’s degree or equivalent in development related disciplines, gender issues, economics, political science, human rights, law or other social science fields, of direct relevance to women peace and security;
  • 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 5 years progressively responsible experience in designing and managing programmes and advocating for gender and peacebuilding, policy research and gender analysis, policy and programming;
  • Experience in programme, policy analysis, and strategic planning; 
  • Experience working with, and building partnerships with governments, donors and    civil society organizations internationally and in the field; 
  • Experience implementing gender-responsive peacebuilding initiatives at the country level is strongly preferred;
  • Experience working with the UN is an asset.

Languages: 

  • Fluency in English is required.
  • Working knowledge of another UN official language is an asset.

Application:

 All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form.doc. 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:

UN Women is 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 an applicant needs any reasonable accommodation to support their participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in the 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.)