Job Description

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.

UN Women’s Regional Office for Arab States (based in Cairo, Egypt) works across the humanitarian and refugee response in the Arab States to ensure a gender-transformative humanitarian action. UN Women ROAS works with national and international stakeholders to address gender inequalities and strengthen women’s empowerment in humanitarian responseproviding technical leadership to Country Offices and Multi-Country Offices across the region, in line with the UN Women’s Humanitarian Strategy key objectives:

I) Increase Gender Accountability in the Coordination and the Implementation of the Humanitarian Response.

II) Strengthen Comprehensive Protection and Livelihood support to Crisis Affected Women and Girls.

III) Advance Women´s Voices and Leadership in Humanitarian and Crisis Response and Recovery.

Under the general direction of the Regional Women, Peace, Security and Humanitarian Advisor (P5), and with considerable latitude on technical matters within established policy frameworks, the Regional Humanitarian Specialist leads the development of Humanitarian programmes, delivers capacity building to Country Offices (CO),Multi Country Offices (MCO) and Programme Presence across the region ,establishes and strengthens partnerships, and develops relevant knowledge products on humanitarian action. The incumbent exercises professional judgment on technical programme matters and consults the supervisor on strategic, politically sensitive, or resource-significant decisions. Within delegated authority, the incumbent makes decisions on technical approaches, partnership engagement, and programme design for humanitarian action.

Key Functions and Accountabilities

Lead the development of programmes on Humanitarian Action to Country Office/ Multi Country Office/ Programme Presence teams

• Lead the development of regional programme documents on humanitarian action.
• Review and provide technical guidance on programme proposals from country offices, ensuring alignment with humanitarian standards and organizational strategy.
• Advise on contextualizing/ localizing programme documents, country strategies, and knowledge products.
• Manage monitoring and reporting for humanitarian action in collaboration with programme teams.

Deliver technical and capacity building support to Country Office/ Multi Country Office/Programme Presence teams and partners

• Deliver substantive technical and policy advice to country offices and multi-country office programme presence programme teams in developing and strengthening projects/ programmes;
• Develop, implement and monitor capacity building initiatives.
• Provide substantive technical support to partners on implementation of humanitarian action.
• Advise technical policy advice to programme/ project managers/ specialists in the CO, MCOs, programme presence countries on technical and policy matters related to gender in humanitarian action.

Build and manage strategic partnerships with stakeholders, regional/ international actors and development partners

• Build and manage alliances and strategic partnerships for the advancement of humanitarian action, representing UN Women in technical-level discussions.
• Build and maintain close liaisons with relevant donors and other actors supporting efforts towards humanitarian action.
• Produce periodic updates and briefs on regional/country development situation to be used by stakeholders, CO and HQ.
• Liaise regularly with relevant staff in UN Women HQ.

Lead implementation of the resource mobilization strategy for humanitarian action in the region

• Lead the implementation, monitoring and periodic updating of the resource mobilization strategy on humanitarian action in the region.
• Advise field- based presences in the region on mobilizing resources for the implementation of humanitarian action.
• Research and analyze information on donors; prepare substantive briefs on possible areas of cooperation.

Guide the design of humanitarian action in the region and lead the development of relevant knowledge products

• Formulate policy recommendations and guidance for strategic planning and positioning on humanitarian action.
• Research, develop and present analytical reports, research papers, briefing notes, background papers, summaries, correspondence, and knowledge products on humanitarian action.
• Identify promising practices, technical expertise, and strategic opportunities in humanitarian action.

Lead advocacy for humanitarian action through inter-agency coordination

• Collaborate with and provide advice to regional/ national bodies and interagency groups that influence national policies related to humanitarian action and where necessary represent UN Women.
• Lead UN Women’s engagement in the regional Gender in Humanitarian Action (GiHA) Working Group (WG) and other relevant regional coordination groups, representing the organization's positions and building consensus on regional humanitarian priorities.
• Coordinate specific efforts in mainstreaming gender and protection in disaster preparedness, response and recovery efforts of other clusters and relevant working groups, including inclusion and participation of under-represented groups in accordance with Commitments on Accountability to Affected Populations.
• Advocate for the engagement and participation of local organizations and civil society networks in humanitarian coordination mechanisms.

Manage advocacy and communication for humanitarian action

• During emergency response, develop and implement communication and advocacy messages and strategies on key gender and protection concerns.
• Develop information, education and communication (IEC) materials, press releases, situation reports, alerts and contribute gender and protection-related inputs to documents prepared by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Coordinate knowledge building and sharing for humanitarian action

• Identify and disseminate lessons learnt and good practices in collaboration with country offices.
• Ensure technical skills and knowledge are shared within and among MCO/ COs.
• Serve as the regional focal point for knowledge management on gender in humanitarian action.

Strengthen linkages between the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) and HA portfolios

• Together with the WPS colleagues, strategize on how to create stronger linkages between WPS and HA and lead the development for HPD-Nexus programmes/projects.
• Conduct a mapping of donors interested in funding nexus programming.
• Review WPS project proposals that include a humanitarian component.

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:

Incumbent leads and manages a team of 2 personnel.

Competencies :

Core Values:

• Integrity;
• Professionalism;
• Respect for Diversity.

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 Values and Competencies Framework:

Functional Competencies:

• Substantive knowledge and experience related to current policies and practices in the fields of gender equality, protection and humanitarian action, including humanitarian coordination;
• 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

Recruitment Qualifications

Education and certification:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in human rights, gender, international relations, international development, international law 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 (such as PMP®, PRINCE2®, or MSP®) would be an added advantage.

Experience:

• At least 7 years’ progressively responsible experience in designing and managing humanitarian programmes, with a particular focus on gender and protection in emergencies is required.
• Substantive and technical experience in inter-agency coordination, preferably protection cluster coordination, and/or ProCap/GenCap in a natural disaster setting is required.
• Experience in 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 in the use of a modern web-based ERP System, preferably Oracle Cloud, is desirable.
• Experience working with the UN is desirable.
• Experience working in the Arab States region is desirable.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English is required.
• Knowledge of another official UN language is desirable (French, Arabic).

Statements :

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.)

Note: Applicants must ensure that all sections of the application form, including the sections on education and employment history, are completed. If all sections are not completed the application may be disqualified from the recruitment and selection process.