Program Specialist, Women's Political Participation at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) - UPDATED

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) helps developing countries attract and use aid effectively. In all our activities, we encourage the protection of human rights, capacity development and the empowerment of women.

We are recruiting to fill the vacant position below:

Job Title: Program Specialist, Women’s Political Participation

Location: Abuja, NIGERIA
Type of Contract : FTA Local
Post Level: NO-C
Starting Date: 01-Jun-2017
Duration of Initial Contract: 1 Year

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.
• In the context of funding of the Government of Canada, UN Women will implement a five-year program on Women’s Political Participation in Nigeria, in partnership with the Government of Canada.
• The project will seek to increase women’s full and effective political participation and representation by; promoting legislative reforms that ensure women’s fair access to political life; strengthening the skills of women to run successful electoral campaigns; building a bridge between women in politics and the women’s movement; and training elected women leaders to be effective legislators and to champion issues of gender equality.
• The project will support women political actors and women’s civil society organizations across Nigeria. UN Women will recruit a Programme Specialist to support overall for coordination of the project implementation.
• Reporting to UN Women Deputy Representative, the political participation Programme Specialist exercises overall responsibility for planning, implementing, and managing UN Women’s program on Women’s Political Participation in Nigeria and all UN Women’s interventions on women’s political participation and leadership in Nigeria. 
• She/he works in close collaboration with the programme and operations teams, UN Women staff at the regional and headquarters levels, Government officials, multi and bi-lateral donors and civil society ensuring successful UN Women programme implementation under the Women’s Political Participation portfolio.
• The scope of work of the Program Specialist for Women’s Political Participation requires experience in and in-depth understanding of gender equality and women’s political empowerment and leadership, as well good programming and budget management skills.

Duties and Responsibilities
Design and develop programmes on Women’s Political Participation:

• Design and formulate programme/ project proposals and initiatives;
• Draft inputs to country strategy documents, briefs, policy dialogue and other documents related to women’s political participation.

Manage the implementation and management of the Women’s Political Participation Portfolio:

• Finalize the annual workplan and budget and manage implementation of the Nigeria country programme on women’s political participation;
• Manage the technical implementation of the programme and ensure synergies with other programmes and cross learning in the sub region;
• Manage the submission of implementing partner financial and narrative reports, process partners’ advances;
• Organize Project Steering Committee, project review and/or evaluation meetings, as needed.

Manage technical assistance and capacity development of programme partners:

• Build and manage relationships with national partners to support implementation and expansion of the Women’s Political Participation program; respond to any potential problems;
• Identify capacity building needs of partners and lead the coordination of technical assistance, mentoring, training and capacity development initiatives to partners.

Manage the implementation of programme activities through monitoring and reporting:

• Manage the monitoring of programme implementation and finances using results based management tools;
• Oversee field missions and review reports on monitoring missions;
• Write quarterly reports and donor reports, focusing on results, output and outcomes and contribute to UN Women reports;

Manage the people and financial resources of the Women’s Political Participation Program:

• Manage the programme budget and draft financial reports;
• Supervise, mentor and coach staff and do performance assessments;
• Oversee recruitment processes, as necessary.

Build partnerships and support in developing resource mobilization strategies:

• Develop and implement partnerships and resource mobilization strategies for women’s political participation initiatives;
• Finalize relevant documentation on donors and potential opportunities for resource mobilization;
• Analyze and research information on donors, prepare substantive briefs on possible areas of cooperation, and identify of opportunities for cost sharing.

Contribute to inter-agency coordination to achieve a coherent and aligned presence for the Women’s Political Participation area:

• Provide technical support to the Representative and Deputy Representative on inter-agency coordination related activities by attending meetings, events, and participating in groups and committees as needed;
• Coordinate with other UN agencies, government departments, donors and NGOs to ensure the projects’ capacity development programme is harmonized and aligned with other in-country efforts.

Manage advocacy, knowledge building and communication efforts:

• Develop and review background documents, briefs and presentations related to women’s political participation
• Represent UN Women in meetings and policy dialogues on issues related to women’s political participation as necessary;
• Develop advocacy strategies for enhanced women’s political participation and oversee their implementation;
• Develop knowledge management strategies, products and methodologies on women’s political participation

Key Performance Indicators

• Timely and quality programme design and inputs to Strategic Note
• Timely and quality programme delivery in line with budget and workplans
• Timely and quality monitoring and evaluation of programmes
• Relations with partners and stakeholders
• Timely and quality of reports
• Regular communication with other agencies and partners
• Quality of advocacy, communication and knowledge management initiatives

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

• Strong programme formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation skills
• Strong knowledge of programming in the area of gender equality and women’s empowerment and Results Based Management
• Ability to synthesize program performance data and produce analytical reports in order to inform management and strategic decision-making
• Tracked experience in working on women’s political participation
• Strong organizational skills and ability to pay close attention to detail
• Good conflict resolution skills
• Ability to identify and analyze trends, opportunities and threats to fundraising and develop strategies

Required Skills and Experience
Education and certification:

• Master's degree or equivalent in Social Sciences, Political Science, Human Rights, Gender/Women's Studies, International Development, or a related field is required.

Experience:

• At least 5 years of progressively responsible work experience at the national or international level in design, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development projects
• Technical working experience in women’s political participation and gender dimension of programmes
• Experience in establishing relationships among international organization and national governments in the field of gender and human rights of women
• Experience working in the UN System is an asset
• Management experience highly recommended

Language Requirements:

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

Application Closing Date
26th May, 2017.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online