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.

UN Women maintains a large presence in Africa with three regional offices covering East & Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO), West and Central Africa Regional Office (WCARO) and the Regional Office for Arab States (ROAS), a Liaison Office to the African Union and UN Economic Commission for Africa and country offices across the continent. Ending violence against women and girls (EVAWG) is a priority area for UN Women in Africa, which aims to advance integrated approaches to ensure that all women and girls live a life free from all forms of violence. This includes support to regional bodies and Member States, civil society, and coordination with the UN system and other partners to advance and monitor comprehensive, evidence-driven approaches to preventing violence against women and girls and ensuring coordinated multi-sectoral quality services are available to survivors, while promoting accountability to legal and policy commitments, and strengthening women’s rights and civil society movements, with attention to intersectionality and leaving no one behind. 

In support of these efforts, UN Women is partnering with sister UN agencies under the leadership of the UN Development Cooperation Office for Africa in partnership with the European Union (EU) and the African Union Commission to implement the Spotlight Initiative Africa Regional Programme (SIARP 2.0). The Spotlight Initiative¹ is a UN high-impact initiative to end all forms of violence against women and girls. The second phase of the Spotlight Initiative Africa Regional Programme (SIARP 2.0) is a continental collaboration led by the UN Development Cooperation Office for Africa, in partnership with the African Union Commission (AUC). It aims to strengthen engagement between civil society, the AUC, Regional Economic Communities (RECs), and the UN, ensuring systematic participation of civil society organizations (CSOs) in decision-making processes for enhanced accountability to women’s rights movements, youth networks, and feminist civil society. Recognizing Africa’s large youth population and the activism of young leaders in advancing gender equality, SIARP 2.0 will also proactively engage youth advocates to end VAWG. The Africa Regional Programme focuses on four key pillars: laws, policies, and institutions, prevention, response and strengthening women’s movements and will be implemented over a three and a half-year period by UN Women, UNDP, UNICEF, and UNFPA. The programme will provide technical assistance and support partnerships with regional and sub-regional inter-governmental bodies, CSOs, bilateral donors, and multilateral UN entities. 

Under the overall guidance of the UN Women Special Representative to the AU and UNECA, the Programme Coordinator is responsible for coordinating and implementing UN Women-led activities for the SIARP 2.0. This includes programme and partnership management, monitoring and reporting, as well as oversight of financial and personnel management, in close collaboration with UN Women’s Africa regional offices, global team and sister UN agencies. 

Key Functions and Accountabilities:

1. Lead the overall coordination of UN Women’s component of the SIARP 2.0 and implementation of the Programme Workplan: 

• Coordinate the overall Programme implementation according to the programme document; 
• Liaise with the Programme Steering Committee, counterparts, donors, UN Women and partners to ensure the Programme results are achieved and resources are managed;  
• Prepare and present work-plans, periodic narrative progress reports and expenditures status reports to the Programme steering committee and UN Women and other stakeholders as necessary; 
• Establish systems for programme planning, implementation and monitoring in collaboration with partners; 
• Record and maintain documents on relevant Programme activities, issues, and risks. 

2. Manage coordination with AUC, the regional partners and other stakeholders: 

• Manage relationships with regional implementing partners to support implementation of the UN Women SIARP 2.0 components, raise potential problems and provide solutions; 
• Provide substantial guidance to partners on establishment of performance indicators, and monitoring achievement of results; 
• Identify capacity building needs and support partners through technical assistance, mentoring, training, and cross partner learning and sharing, and capacity development initiatives; develop training materials and workshops, as necessary.  
• Reinforce partnerships with key stakeholders including women’s rights organisations, youth groups, religious, traditional leaders, and other civil society across the region to ensure inclusion of perspectives and collaboration with the programme. 
• Oversee programme liaison with the Civil Society Regional Reference Group (CSRRG) ensuring timely communication of programme developments are shared and recommendations from the reference group are reflected in programme implementation.

3. Oversee the monitoring and reporting on the UN Women SIARP 2.0 component: 

• Gather and compile all information necessary for monitoring, evaluation and reporting on the programme; 
• Monitor the implementation of activities and the expenditure of funds by partners;  
• Finalize annual and quarterly reports; finalize the submission of implementing partner financial and narrative reports; 
• Provide inputs from UN Women’s work under SIARP 2.0 to AU Liaison Office reporting; 
• Ensure the delivery of baseline, monitoring, evaluation plans and reports (flash, progress and final) based on information compiled from colleagues and stakeholders. 

4. Manage financial resources and supervise staff:

•  Supervise and manage a team of professional and administrative personnel, review performance and mentor/ coach personnel;
• Develop and prepare of financial resources of the programme including budgeting and budget revisions, and expenditure tracking and reporting; 
• Oversee and monitor the allocation and disbursement of funds to participating partners; 
• Ensure appropriate actions are taken to optimize use of programme funds.  

5. Build partnerships and support in developing resource mobilization strategies: 

• Coordinate the development of partnerships and resource mobilization strategies;  
• Determine programmatic areas of cooperation, based on strategic goals of UN Women, LO needs and donors’ priorities and develop the relevant partnerships; 
• Participate in on-going coordination mechanisms to ensure coherence of the programme with other LO and regional processes. 

6. Advocate and facilitate knowledge building and management and communication: 

• Develop briefs on programme achievements;  
• Ensure documentation of the programme implementation process and products produced are in accordance with UN Women guidelines; 
• Coordinate exchange of information and knowledge products internally and externally of the programme; 
• Organize major advocacy campaigns, events, trainings, workshops and knowledge products.

7. The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organisation.

Supervisory/Managerial Responsibilities:

The incumbent leads the SIARP 2 Programme Team, which is composed of five core personnel. This includes — Programme Associate, Finance Associate,  M&E Specialist, and Civil Society personnel, and Communications focal point.

Competencies :

Core Values:

• Integrity;
• Professionalism;
• Respect for Diversity.

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 Values and Competencies Framework: 

Functional Competencies:

• Strong knowledge of EVAWG; 
• Excellent programme formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation skills; 
• Excellent knowledge of Results Based Management; 
• Ability to lead the development of detailed operational plans, budgets, and deliver on them for development results; 
• Excellent analyticla skills and ability to synthesize programme performance data and produce analytical reports to inform management and strategic decision-making; 
• Strong knowledge of UN programme management systems.

Recruitment Qualifications:

Education and Certification:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in public administration, law, human rights, gender equality, management, social sciences or other related areas 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 would be an added advantage

Experience:

• At least 7 years of progressively responsible experience at the national or international level in managing complex and multi-component programme interventions with national partners, preferably related to thematic area is required.
• Experience in coordinating, implementing, monitoring and evaluating development programmes and projects; specifically with different UN agencies is required.
• Experience leading and coaching staff in international settings is required.
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and spreadsheet and database packages, experience in handling of web-based management systems is required.
• Experience in the use of a modern web-based ERP System, preferably Oracle Cloud, is desirable.

Language:

• Fluency in English is required; 
• Working knowledge of the French language is an asset 
• Knowledge of another UN language (Arabic, Russian, Spanish and Chinese) is preferred.

Statements :

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.

Diversity and inclusion:

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.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

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. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)

Note: Applicants must ensure that all sections of the application form, including the sections on education and employment history, are completed. If all sections are not completed the application may be disqualified from the recruitment and selection process.