Programme Officer, Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE)

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 will lead and coordinate United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It will provide strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

UN Women South Sudan has developed a Strategic Note for the period 2023-2025 which is aligned with the South Sudan Development Plan and the United Nations Cooperation Framework (2022-2025). Within this plan, targeted gender equality and women’s empowerment interventions are undertaken to increase development effectiveness. To this end, UN Women supports an integrated community aimed at consolidating response, particularly at the state level. The integrated model combines, for example, functional literacy with economic empowerment and capacity building; and functional literacy and economic empowerment for peacebuilding and ending violence against women.  The integration of gender equality is intended to ensure that gender mainstreaming takes place in all areas of operations and programming, and real progress is made in supporting South Sudan in reducing gender inequalities and improving the lives of women and girls.

The key programmatic areas for UN Women South Sudan elaborated in the Strategic Note and annual work plan are as follows:

 1) Increase women's leadership and participation;

2) Increase women's access to economic empowerment and opportunities;

 3) Prevent VAWG and expand access to services; and

4) Increase women’s leadership in peace, security, and humanitarian response.

Women’s economic security is critical for the eradication of poverty and achieving sustainable development because when women have ownership and control over productive resources and access to productive work, they can ensure a better livelihood for their families and communities.  Furthermore, when women are economically empowered, they are more likely to attain political and social empowerment.

As part of the implementation of its Strategic Note, UN Women in South Sudan plans to recruit a Programme Officer to support the implementation of the Women’s Economic Empowerment interventions under the Strategic Note. Reporting to the Thematic Programme Manager,  the Programme Officer -Women’s Economic Empowerment and Humanitarian Action will continue to implement and provide overall oversight to UN Women’s South Sudan work in the area of women’s economic empowerment and women’s peace and security and humanitarian action.

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Contribute technically to the development of programme strategies in the area of Women’s Economic Empowerment.

• Provide technical inputs to the design and formulation of programme/ project proposals and initiatives related to Women’s Economic Empowerment.

2. Provide technical support to the implementation and management of the Women’s Economic Empowerment programme.

• Provide inputs to the annual workplan and budget as required;
• Coordinate and monitor the implementation of programme activities;
• Coordinate the call/request for proposals, including the organization of technical review committees, and capacity assessment of partners;
• Review and coordinate the submission of implementing partner financial and narrative reports;
• Train partners on Results Based Management.

3. Provide technical assistance and capacity development support to project/programme partners.

• Provide technical support to and technically oversee the implementation of programme activities with partners;
• Identify opportunities for capacity building of partners and coordinate and facilitate technical/ programming support and trainings to partners as needed.

4. Provide technical inputs to the monitoring and reporting of the programme/ project.

• Monitor progress on programme activity, results and indicators;
• Monitor the implementation of proposals by responsible partners;
• Provide inputs to quarterly reports, donor reports and other reports on outputs, results outputs and outcomes.

5. Provide technical inputs to the management of people and finances of Women’s Economic Empowerment programme.

• Monitor budget implementation and programme activity expenditures and perform budget revisions when required;
• Provide inputs to financial reports;
• Oversee the work of Programme Associates and Assistants as needed.

6. Contribute to building partnerships and resource mobilization strategies.

• Provide inputs to resource mobilization strategies; analyze and maintain information and databases;
• Provide inputs to relevant documentation such as project summaries, conference papers, briefing notes, speeches, and donor profiles.

7. Provide technical inputs to inter-agency coordination on Women’s Economic Empowerment to achieve coherence and alignment of UN Women programmes with other partners in t South Sudan.

• Provide technical support to the Deputy Representative on inter-agency coordination-related activities by providing inputs to background reports and briefs.

8. Provide inputs to advocacy, knowledge building and communication efforts.

• Provide technical inputs to background documents, briefs and presentations related to Women’s Economic Empowerment.
• Coordinate and support the organization of advocacy activities and campaigns events, training, workshops and knowledge products.
• Provide inputs to the development of knowledge management products on Women’s Economic Empowerment.

Key Performance Indicators:

• Timely and quality inputs to programme design;
• Timely and quality inputs to workplans and budgets;
• Adherence to UN Women standards and rules;
• Timely monitoring and tracking of programme results and finances;
• Timely organization of events;
• Number of knowledge products developed.

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.

Functional Competencies:

• Programme formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation skills;
• Knowledge of Results Based Management;
• Ability to gather and interpret data, reach logical conclusions and present findings;
• Good analytical skills;
• Good knowledge of Women’s Economic Empowerment. 

Required Skills and Experience

Education and certification:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in social sciences, human rights, gender/ women’s studies, international development, or a related field 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 3 years of relevant experience.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English;
• Knowledge of Arabic or other official UN working languages is an added advantage.

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.

Gender Sensitivity:

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.

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.