Special Representative in Ethiopia, Liaison for the African Union Commission and the Economic Commission for Africa

• Country: Ethiopia
• Vacancies No: N/A
  
• Salary: N/A 
• No of Jobs: N/A
  
• Education: Master’s degree
• Experience: 15 years
  
• Gender: Both

Duties and Responsibilities

Functions :

Lead and oversee the strategic direction on policy advice related to the African Union (AU)

• Provide substantive policy guidance and support to the Regional Director based on analysis of development and political trends (Regional) and their possible impact on UN Women’s work;
• Define UN Women’s role, priorities and strategies within various regional coordination mechanisms to which UN Women is active/participating including RCM and UNLT;
• Coordinate with the UN Women East and Southern Regional Office (ESARO), West and Central Africa Regional Office (WCARO) and Regional Office for Arab States on special initiatives and partnerships with African Union Commission (AUC) and UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), including on mainstreaming gender within AU/ECA processes; supporting Gender Pre-Events at Heads of States’ Summits and Pre – CSW events;
• Provide substantive guidance on priority issues for the AU to the Regional Offices;
• Facilitate the negotiation of agreements with the AU and UNECA;
• Provide substantive support in the promotion and integration of gender equality and women’s rights in select thematic clusters of the RCM Africa as designated by the Regional Director.

Lead and oversee the strategic direction on UN coordination

• Provide substantive and strategic leadership to policy development and implementation, monitoring and reporting, research and knowledge management on gender mainstreaming in the UN system;
• Provide ongoing and up-to-date analysis on inter-agency deliberations on the development, coordination and implementation of policies for gender equality and development issues;
• Represent UN Women in UN Liaison Team (UNLT) Meetings as necessary and as designated by the UN Women  ESARO Regional Director;

Lead the establishment and strengthening of strategic partnerships with stakeholders, regional/international actors and development partners

• Lead and strengthen strategic partnerships for the UN Women AU Liaison Office;
• Act as strategic interface with and build and strengthen close liaisons with relevant donors and other actors;
• Lead the development of resource mobilization strategies and manage the implementation of resource mobilization strategies, plans, and efforts;
• Manage external relations with donors and partners in the AU;
• Develop innovative strategies and set direction to enhance existing and new relations;
• Manage and coordinate high-level policy dialogues with donors, partners and other UN agencies;
• Produce periodic updates and briefs on regional/country development situation to be used by stakeholders, Africa Regional Offices (ROs) Country Offices (COs) and HQ;
• Manage the process of collecting and sharing lessons learned on gender equality and women’s empowerment to build knowledge and capacity of partners and stakeholders;
• Oversee the design and implementation of capacity building activities to enhance skills and knowledge.

Lead and oversee the strategic direction of the UN Women’s Coordination of the Africa Women Leadership Network (AWLN)

• Act as the focal person of the Africa Women Leaders Network ensuring timely coordination with all stakeholders including AUC, HQ, and relevant donor partners;
• Ensure effective implementation of the AWLN Plan of Action including the organizing of its key forums in Africa and elsewhere;
• Provide substantive and coordination support to Regional and Country Offices in establishment of local level AWLN Chapters;
• Provide quality assurance of all Publicity Materials produced by the Communications Team of the AWLN.

Lead and oversee the design and development of relevant knowledge products

• Lead the provision of policy recommendations and guidance to strategic planning and positioning;
• Lead and provide advice to regional/ national bodies;
• Represent UN Women in interagency groups that influence regional policies, strategies and programmes;
• Contribute substantively and lead existing thematic and gender equality networks to better connect UN Women and partners;
• Lead the research, development, and presentation of analytical reports, research papers, briefing notes, background papers, summaries, correspondences;
• Identify promising practices, technical expertise, and strategic opportunities.

Lead Knowledge Management and visibility of UN Women Liaison                

• Identify and disseminate lessons learnt and good practices in collaboration with country offices;
• Ensure technical skills and knowledge are shared within and among CO/RO/ HQ;
• Manage and monitor the regional knowledge platform and innovative approaches;
• Ensure all knowledge products and policy briefs from the Liaison Team are translated in French prior to dissemination;
• Oversee the development and dissemination of communications and visibility products.

Manage the Liaison Office

• Lead the office in the delivery of operational goals;
•  Finalize the annual work plan and budget; and oversee the implementation, including providing direction, guidance and technical support;
• Manage the performance of personnel under supervision; provide managerial direction, guidance and leadership to staff and provide performance feedback and coaching to personnel , ensure performance assessment are implemented on time and ensure personnel are fully aware of UN Women workplace relations policies;
• Promote teamwork to ensure harmonization, linkages, collaboration and synergy;
• Ensure a respectful, inclusive safe and healthy work environment for personnel;
• Identify learning and development opportunities of staff under her supervision and ensure support is provided to build their capacities.

Undertake any other duties as may be assigned by the Regional Director.

Key Performance Indicators:

• Timely and quality provision of strategic support and advice to the Regional Director;
• Clear UN Women Strategy for AU relationships;
• UN Women is well represented at high level meetings;
• Partnerships and engagements with other UN agencies;
• Quality and number of knowledge management and advocacy initiatives undertaken;
• Quality mentoring, training, coaching which affects performance of personnel, inclusive workplace environment;
• UN Women is seen as a reliable and trustworthy partner, providing substantial inputs to progress UN women’s mandate.

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

Functional Competencies

• Substantive knowledge or gender equality and women’s empowerment issues;
• Excellent partnerships development, networking and interpersonal skills;
• Ability to conceptualize and convey strategic vision;
• Excellent advocacy and negotiation skills ;
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills;
• Ability to lead strategic planning, results-based management and reporting;
• Ability to manage complexities;
• Strong oral and written communications skills, ability to convey complex concepts to different stakeholders;
• Ability to provide policy advice and support to partners;
• Strong leadership skills, ability to create and enabling work environment;
• Strong knowledge of the UN system;
• Strong knowledge of local country context.

Required Skills and Experience

Education and certification:

• Master’s degree in international development, public administration, public policy, or other relevant social science fields 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 15 years of progressively responsible experience for work focused on, or strongly involving a focus on gender equality at national, regional and international levels, including 5 years’ field experience with an international organization;
• Experience in managing and overseeing development policy-making;
• Experience working in the region/sub-region where the Liaison Office is located;
• Experience in partnership engagement with Africa-based RECs, AU Member States Permanent Delegations, parliaments in Africa, NGOs, networks and think tanks.
• Experience in leading a team.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English and French is required;
• Knowledge of another UN working language would be an asset;
• Knowledge of Portuguese would be an asset.

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