UN WOMEN seeking Policy Specialist (Gender Responsive Peacebuilding)

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.

The Policy Division staff is organized in Thematic Sections, bringing together technical experts who undertake issues-based research; analyze data on country, regional or global trends, build a knowledge base on policy commitments and their implementation, propose evidence-based options for global policy, norms and standards and for UN Women global programme strategies, and contribute substantive inputs to policy advocacy and technical cooperation programmes.

• Technical Guidance and Support;
• Policy Development and Support;
• Partnership Building and Advocacy;
• Knowledge Management.

• With the PBSO (Peace Building Specialist Office), identify cross-regional needs and provide (where available) capacity building support for peace building priorities and the implementation of the Secretary-General’s Seven Point Action Plan on Gender-Responsive Peace building;
• Under the guidance of the supervisor, ensure high-quality, results-oriented reporting on the the Seven Point Action plan, for internal and external audiences (e.g. UN, donors), including providing guidance to UN Women Country and Regional Offices and partners in the submission of timely, quality reports and contributions;
• Backstop gender and peace building processes managed by the Peace building Contact Group and the Senior Peace building Group through preparation for meetings, research, and preparations of post-2014 and post 2015 forward actions in this area including researching viable targets for the next iteration of system planning on gender and peace building and for the post 2015 agenda;
• Under the guidance of the supervisor, establish systems for documenting and analyzing the conditions enabling successful implementation of the Seven Point Action Plan (including contracting consultants for commissioned research). Regular field missions are an essential part of this. Ensure information flow between field and HQ on lessons learned, promising approaches, and good practice.

• Maintain an on-going watching brief of policy developments in the fields of peace building, state building, fragile state governance, public service delivery, including via monitoring of debates in the Security Council, PBC, regional organizations and other relevant forums;
• Under the guidance of the supervisor, develop guidance and knowledge on public service delivery, fragile state governance and related issues;
• In partnership with the PBSO, manage the working level coordination of the implementation of the Secretary-General’s action plan for gender-responsive peace building (October 2010, A/65/866-S/2010/466), and provide the secretariat for the UN Women/PBSO senior Steering Committee on Gender-Responsive Peace building;
• Support UN Women COs as well as UN Missions and select UNCTs in implementing the 7 point action plan via the targeted provision of short-term technical assistance (including through personal missions), commissioned research, networking and exchanges, conferences, training, and other relevant forms of support;
• Maintain a rolling calendar of major peace building opportunities for women in conflict and post-conflict situations, such as peace talks and national dialogues, constitutional debates, donor conferences, post conflict needs assessments, PRSPs, etc. Negotiate with relevant partners support for women’s direct input to these processes or for the provision of gender analysis and expertise;
• Support UN, Government and CSO partners with technical support on gender-responsive peace building, as requested;
• Organize expert preparatory meetings, panels and other interactive events on gender and peace building as
• requested by the supervisor and in close coordination with Section Colleagues;
• Support the 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.

• UN Women demonstrates global leadership on gender-responsive peace building and women’s participation in transitions and improves the responsiveness of the UN’s peace building efforts to engage women and respond to their needs. High quality technical assistance on gender and peace building  is made available via knowledge products and hands-on advice to UN Women COs/MCOs/ROs. The incumbent contributes to the smooth and successful implementation of peace building priority interventions that support the 7 point Action Plan. The greatest error the incumbent of this post would impact negatively on the Peace and Security Section but not on the Organizaiton as a whole as the post is supervised by a Policy Specialist and a Chief of Section both of whom would be accountable for allowing errors such a magnitude to happen.

Integrity:

• Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct;

Professionalism: 

• Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work;

Cultural sensitivity and valuing diversity:

• Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrate an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Ethics and Values:

• Demonstrate and promote ethics and integrity by creating organizational precedents.

Organizational Awareness:

• Build support for the organization and ensure political acumen.

Development and Innovation:

• Support staff competence development, and contribute to an environment of creativity and innovation.

Work in teams:

• Build and promote effective teams;
• Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.

Communication and Information Sharing:

• Create and promote an environment for open and effective communication.

Self-management and Emotional Intelligence:

• Stay composed and positive even in difficult moments, handle tense situations with diplomacy and tact, and have a consistent behavior towards others.

Conflict Management:

• Surface conflicts and address them proactively acknowledging different feelings and views and directing energy towards a mutually acceptable solution.

Continuous Learning and Knowledge Sharing:

• Share knowledge across the organization and build a culture of knowledge sharing and learning.

Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making:

• Ensure fair and transparent decision making processes and manage risk.

• Good knowledge of gender related issues including in peace building, state building and transitions;
• 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 institutes, academics, civil society experts, etc. of direct relevance to the Focus Area.

• 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.

Experience: 

• A minimum of 5 years of increasingly responsible professional experience in gender and peace building/state building, policy research and gender analysis and at country and international international level. Experience working on gender equality programming in peacekeeping or peace building contexts is highly desirable.

Language Requirements: 

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