The Gender Advisor will be responsible for providing strategic and technical advice to the Resident Coordinator and the UN Country Team, to strengthen the work of the United Nations in Kenya on gender equality across the result areas of the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) 2014-18.
Deadline: October 31, 2014
Location: Nairobi,Kenya
Organization: UN Women
Background
The UN Resident Coordinator’s Office (UN RCO) supports the UN Resident Coordinator in delivering on his/her roles and functions. The UN RCO in Kenya provides inter-agency coordination support to the UN Country Team and its various sub-groups. The support includes strategic planning, programme and operations management, policy guidance, as well as knowledge management, advocacy and communications, all seeking to enhance UN coherence and improve overall programme impact to better achieve results.
In March 2014, the new United Nations Development Assistance Framework in Kenya (2014-2018) was launched. This development framework is closely aligned with the national priorities of the Government of Kenya (GoK) as articulated in its second Medium Term Plan (2013-2017). Partnership building and resource mobilization will be key to the success of the new UNDAF as well as strengthening engagement with the private sector, Foundations, Civil Society and the promotion of south-south and triangular cooperation.
The UN Country Team (UNCT) in Kenya is composed of 24 agencies, funds and programmes. The UNCT has recently adopted with the Government, the Delivering as One (DaO) approach as the modus operandi for implementing the new UNDAF.
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, peace and security. Placing women’s rights at the centre of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates the United Nations system efforts in Kenya to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Kenya’s priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.
Duties and Responsibilities
The UN Resident Coordinator’s Office (UN RCO) supports the UN Resident Coordinator in delivering on his/her roles and functions. The UN RCO in Kenya provides inter-agency coordination support to the UN Country Team and its various sub-groups. The support includes strategic planning, programme and operations management, policy guidance, as well as knowledge management, advocacy and communications, all seeking to enhance UN coherence and improve overall programme impact to better achieve results.
In March 2014, the new United Nations Development Assistance Framework in Kenya (2014-2018) was launched. This development framework is closely aligned with the national priorities of the Government of Kenya (GoK) as articulated in its second Medium Term Plan (2013-2017). Partnership building and resource mobilization will be key to the success of the new UNDAF as well as strengthening engagement with the private sector, Foundations, Civil Society and the promotion of south-south and triangular cooperation.
The UN Country Team (UNCT) in Kenya is composed of 24 agencies, funds and programmes. The UNCT has recently adopted with the Government, the Delivering as One (DaO) approach as the modus operandi for implementing the new UNDAF.
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, peace and security. Placing women’s rights at the centre of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates the United Nations system efforts in Kenya to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Kenya’s priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.
The Gender Advisor will be under the direct supervision of the UN Resident Coordinator (RC) in close consultation with UN Women Country Director. The post will also closely work with other system-wide coordination groups including but not limited to UNDAF Strategic Result Area groups and Result (Outcome) groups and the UN Programme Working Group on Gender. Gender Advisor will be responsible for providing strategic and technical advice to the Resident Coordinator and the UN Country Team, to strengthen the work of the United Nations in Kenya on gender equality across the result areas of the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) 2014-18. The Adviser will also provide technical support and content expertise on mainstreaming a gender approach into key elements of the UNCT's planning and programming.
The scope of work of the Gender Advisor requires experience and in-depth understanding of gender equality and women’s empowerment issues, political acumen, coordination experience as well as programming expertise.
Key Functions:
- Coordination and Knowledge Management;
- Strategic Advice and Advocacy;
- Representation and Partnership Building.
Coordination and Knowledge Management
- Play a coordination role by supporting the UN system, in the development and implementation of programmes in support of international and national commitments on gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls as outlined in the UNDAF 2014-18;
- Provision of technical advice to the UN Resident Coordinator (RC) as required, in the coordination of emerging technical and development assistance to the Government of Kenya and civil society, ensuring emerging development support responds to women’s needs and national gender equality priorities;
- Contribute to mainstreaming gender equality and women’s empowerment into all programs related to the UNDAF implementation in a coherent manner, through close consultation with all UN agencies and the heads of the UNDAF Strategic Area Result Groups and Outcome Result Groups;
- Coordinate capacity building efforts on gender mainstreaming at all stages of the UNDAF implementation (bi-annual work planning, monitoring, reporting and evaluation) as well as other processes related to fulfilling the Delivering as One agenda in close consultation with UN Women and other UN agencies;
- Act as resource person in capacity building, knowledge sharing events and other relevant activities on gender equality and women’s empowerment in the UN System;
- Coordinate gender equality and women’s empowerment activities of the RCO in close consultation with other advisors (peace and development, human rights, monitoring and evaluation);
- Ensure knowledge sharing, documentation and dissemination of good practices on gender equality, women’s empowerment and rights within the UNCT and the broader UN system;
- Support in close consultation with UN Communications Group, the communication of gender equality and women’s empowerment results to external audiences.
Strategic advice to the UN RC and UNCT in promoting women’s rights and gender equality in the country:
- Provide analysis and strategic advice to the UNCT on current gender issues and opportunities to support inclusive engagement of women in the development and humanitarian assistance provided by the UN in Kenya;
- Identify and advise on entry points for new initiatives for the UN to strengthen national and local capacities for gender equality and to support the advancement of women’s empowerment and gender equality in the country in close consultation with UN Women and other UN agencies;
- Ensure the UNCT utilizes key accountability tools and processes (e.g. the Gender Score Card, Gender Marker) to ensure that the UN in Kenya tracks and is accountable for gender equality and women’s empowerment during the UNDAF implementation;
- Advise and support the UNCT in forging strategic partnerships at the national and local level to promote gender equality, women’s advancement and women’s representation
Representation and Partnership Building:
- Support inter-agency coordination on gender including support to gender technical team(s) in close consultation with UN Women;
- Represent the UN at inter-agency, intergovernmental, international, regional and national conferences and meetings and advocate the UN’s positions in advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment;
- At the request of the Resident Coordinator, represent the UN system on gender equality and women’s empowerment issues at conferences and meetings to present UN system efforts for the advancement of women in Kenya;
- Maintain active relationship/partnerships with National Government Counterparts, UN System, international community, inter-government and non-governmental organizations, institutes and academia on women’s issue to enhance collaboration, resource mobilization and share and influence agenda and priority setting.
Competencies
Core values and Guiding principles:
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.
Core Competencies:
- Excellent advisory, managerial leadership and partnership building skills;
- Aptitude to take initiative and to adapt to quickly changing environment;
- Ability to effectively communicate with a wide range of partners both orally and in written;
- Skills in effectively facilitating policy dialogue, knowledge sharing events, meetings involving a variety of stakeholders from Government, civil society and development partners;
- Ability to set priorities and accomplish multiple tasks consecutively.
Functional Competencies:
- Proven ability to advocate and provide policy advice in the area of gender equality, women’s rights and women’s empowerment;
- Ability to lead strategic planning, programme development and implementation, results-based management and reporting;
- Ability to develop and maintain strong partnerships;
- Knowledge of methodologies and best practices for promoting gender equality, equity and women empowerment in general and in the Africa region in particular;
- High degree of political acumen and sensitivity and demonstrated ability to achieve results in politically and operationally complex environments.
Required Skills and Experience
Education
- Master’s degree (or higher) in gender, women’s studies, social sciences, international development, international relations or other development related fields.
Experience
- A minimum of 10 years of progressively responsible experience in development, focused on providing policy advice, technical assistance and/or programming or coordination support to senior managers and decison makers on related to gender equality, women’s empowerment and women’s rights issues; part of which should include previous field experience with the UN or an international development organization;
- Substantive experience and record of accomplishment in the area of gender equality and women's empowerment issues at policy and programming level;
- Experience writing analytical documents, reports, speeches and preparing talking points;
- Experience with implementing gender mainstreaming agendas across a variety of sectors, including gender mainstreaming in government bodies and international agencies;
- Experience working with the UN and/or other international agencies in development and humanitarian contexts;
- Experience working with women’s movements, and civil society and familiarity with women's rights organizations and networks in the region and globally;
- Strong familiarity with UN inter-agency coordination would be an asset;
- Strong public speaking skills and representational experience
- Knowledge of and working experience of development and gender issues in Kenya;
- Good knowledge of the UN system would be an asset.
Language:
- Fluent in English.
