National Consultant- Project Officer (Technical Expert)- Seconded to the Ministry of Justice

The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (UN Women) mandate provides for support to catalytic and innovative programmes which promote gender equality, women’s empowerment, and human rights. UN Women’s Strategic Plan (2022-2025) sets out the global vision to ‘Achieve gender equality, the empowerment of all women and girls, and the fulfilment of their human rights’.  This goal frames UN Women ECO’s work and guides its contributions to Ethiopia’s United Nations Sustainable Development Framework (UNSDCF), and frames ECO’s program contributions to UN Women’s global outcomes and indicators, which are organized six thematic priority areas; Women Economic Empowerment, Coordination for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, National planning and budgeting; Women, Peace and Security and Humanitarian Action, Women in Leadership and Governance and Ending Violence against Women and Girls (EVAWG). 

Under the EVAWG Programme pillar, UN Women works with key partners from government, civil society and UN organizations in development and humanitarian settings to address legal gaps and strengthen policy frameworks with regard to protecting the rights of women and girls and survivors of violence ; to expand the provision of legal, social and health services to women; address negative and discriminatory social norms that perpetuate violence against women and girls (VAWG); strengthen coordination mechanisms on EVAWG as well as support the collection, analysis and use of VAWG administrative and prevalence data.

As part of national efforts to prevent and respond to VAWG, a National Coordination Body (NCB), was established in 2011 under the leadership of the Ministry of Justice (MOJ). The NCB comprises of members from government line ministries and departments, UN agencies, and civil society organizations with the aim of preventing and responding to violence against women and children in a coordinated manner.  Under the leadership of NCB, a Five-year national strategy (2023-2027) on prevention and response to violence against women and children along with a detailed action plan has been developed and approved. To enable and facilitate the roll out of the strategy, six thematic working groups were established where the working groups roles and responsibilities have also been defined.

Under the leadership of MoJ, UN Women has started a new project on addressing conflict related sexual violence (CRSV) in Amhara, Afar and Tigray regions. One of the focus areas of this project is to ensure that interventions are coordinated at regional and federal level where a number of stakeholders are expected to participate. The project aims to establish a steering committee at federal level and project working group at regional level. UN Women ECO will continue providing support to MoJ, MoWSA and regional governments in the development and implementation of strategies 

including the five-year VAWC Strategy and action plan. UN Women will continue to engage the federal and regional counter parts and partners to establish regional level coordinating mechanisms on prevention and response to VAWG.

Insert a paragraph on organizational setting, reporting and collaborators.

In this context, UN Women Ethiopia is seeking to hire a Programme officer who will be seconded to  the Ministry of Justice to support the overall rolling out of the five years. While the position is based in the Ministry in Addis Ababa, it requires significant liaising with UN Women ECO, federal level line ministries and regional stakeholders.  The role may encompass travel requirements to different regional states of Ethiopia. Under the overall contract supervision of the Programme specialist-EVAWG and the guidance of the line Directorate at the ministry of justice, the program officer is responsible for providing technical guidance and support to the implementation of the VAWC strategy and support the coordination of the CRSV project.

• Provide technical backstopping to the national coordinating body to roll out the five-year strategy on prevention and response to VAWC
• Actively engage member institutions of the national coordinating body to support the rolling out of the five-year strategy.
• Support and provide technical assistance to the already established six thematic working groups under the NCB: on awareness creation and life skills, legal and policy environment, Women and girls’ protection and social support, Evidence and data systems, multisectoral action and coordination, and Economic strengthening.
• Under the leadership of the NCB, support the organization of regular NCB steering committee and technical working group meetings, present progress on the strategy and action plan
• Lead the development of NCB annual work plan towards to facilitate implementation of the strategy
• Liaise with regional government counterparts to ensure the five years national strategy is well understood and implemented.
• Support regions to establish and strengthen coordination mechanisms on violence against women and children
• Identify capacity needs of NCB members and develop corresponding mentoring, training and capacity development initiatives
• Provide substantive inputs to resource mobilization strategies to support the strategy roll out across the country
• Monitor progress and implementation of activities and finances using results -based management tools
• Conduct field visits to supervise, coordinate and monitor field level activities of the Programme
• Draft reports on monitoring missions, Programme results, outputs and outcomes.
• Serve as a focal point monitoring the implementation of any partner agreement that UN Women may potentially have with the MoJ
• Any other responsibility which the MoJ may deem necessary and in line with the secondment mission.

Under the leadership of MoJ, coordinate the project on conflict related sexual violence steering committee and technical working groups:

• Ensure the establishment of the federal level steering committee that oversee the overall project execution
• Liaise with UN Women and other implementing partners in the establishment of regional level technical working groups in Amhara, Afar and Tigray regions
• Organize regular steering committee meeting at federal level and ensure regional representations during these meetings
• Conduct monitoring visits, capture learnings and share to the steering committee        

Core Value

• 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/en/about-us/employment/application-process#_Values 

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES: 

• Good Programme formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation skills
• Extensive experience on coordination work with special focus on government entities
• Good knowledge of Results Based Management
• Ability to gather and interpret data, reach logical conclusions, and present findings and recommendations.
• Good analytical skills
• Good knowledge of women’s rights and violence against women and girls/conflict related sexual violence as a technical area as well as familiarity with the national development agendas and gender equality.
• Ability to identify and analyze trends, opportunities, and threats to fundraising.

Education and Certification:

• Master’s degree (or equivalent) in Law, Human Rights, political science, gender/women studies, international development or in other related fields Support Functions 
• Bachelor’s degree in Law, Human Rights, Gender or a related field is an asset.

Experience:

• At least 5 years of relevant experience in development, Programme/project implementation, coordination, monitoring and evaluation, partners’ capacity building and donor reporting Proven experience on cross-cutting issues, including field experience on gender equality, women empowerment and violence against women and girls including in emergency settings as well as women’s rights issues;
• Experience coordinating and liaising with government agencies and/or donors is an asset;
• Experience in handling web-based monitoring and reporting platforms is an added advantage;
• Ability and willingness to travel to regions for project implementation and monitoring of activities;
• Demonstrated ability to build strong relationships with range of federal and regional level stakeholders, 
• Experience working in the UN System is an asset;
• Excellent computer skills including MS Office including Excel, Access, PowerPoint and Word.

Languages:

• Fluency in English and Amharic is required;
• Knowledge of local languages and other UN official working language is an asset;
• Knowledge of any other UN official language is an asset.

How To Apply 

• Personal CV or P11 (P11 can be downloaded from: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form.doc )
• A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page)
• Managers may ask (ad hoc) for any other materials relevant to pre-assessing the relevance of their experience, such as reports, presentations, publications, campaigns, or other materials.