Organization: UNWOMEN – United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women
Location: Nairobi
Grade: Level not specified – Level not specified
Occupational Groups:
Women’s Empowerment and Gender Mainstreaming
Managerial positions
Closing Date: 2024-12-31

An overview:

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.

The scope and depth of work of the Deputy Regional Director requires experience and in-depth understanding of gender and development issues in the East and Southern Africa region as well as Programme and management expertise, to provide Country Offices (CO), Multi-Country offices (MCO) and programmes with the support they need to translate UN Women’s strategic plans into effective development initiatives and results and build strong partnerships. The Deputy Regional Director will support effective coordination and integration of gender perspectives in UN Development Assistance Frameworks (UNDAF) to promote coherence in the UN system’s work on gender equality and the empowerment of women with colleagues in UN organizations.

Reporting to the Regional Director, East and Southern Africa, the Deputy Director oversees the strategic development of the portfolio and oversight of programme implementation in the region, to ensure delivery results as planned in UN Women’s Strategic Plan, regional strategies and accountability framework. At the country level, where UN Women does not have a presence, the Regional Office (RO) will provide integrated policy and technical support to United Nations Country Teams (UNCTs) so as to ensure a stronger, more coordinated response to advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment at the national level. At the Regional level, within the UN’s regional coordination mechanisms and UN Development Group (UNDG) regional interagency mechanisms, the Deputy Regional Director will   manage the regional programmes and monitor regional programme and project implementation, oversee the operations of the office and build strategic partnerships at the policy and programme level.

Responsibilities :

Provide advisory and specialized strategic support to the Regional Director and Regional Office:

• Advise, guide, and provide substantive inputs to the regional strategy and to the formulation of relevant, high quality, results-based and rights-based country programmes and projects;
• Prepare policy documents, briefs and other strategic papers/materials for use in the development and presentation of a coherent regional strategy;
• Assess the country level and sub-regional level annual work plans and present and make recommendations and conclusions to assist in development planning;
• Serve as a member of the RO senior management team.

Manage programme management and monitoring of the projects/programmes in the region:

• Manage and monitor the development of systems, processes and mechanisms to support effective programme planning, implementation, monitoring and timely progress reporting; Finalize reports for HQ on progress of programme implementation;
• Oversee the implementation of regional programmes;
• Lead the monitoring of progress on mutually agreed results frameworks and performance indicators and timely action/decision and/or provide timely support; Identify areas that may require improvement and capture best practices/lessons learned;
• Manage the timely allocation of funds to offices in the region. Monitor and ensure the appropriate utilization of resources approved and allocated to regional programmes and projects;
• Review and evaluate proposals submitted to the RO and finalize donor proposals and reports.

Oversee the Regional Office’s operations:

• Oversee the operational services and ensure delivery of- financial, procurement and IT services– of UN Women regional and country programmes and projects;
• Ensure compliance of all services according to rules, regulations, processes and procedures and UN Women accountability framework;
• Provide technical support to preparation of the regional budget preparation and submission process.

Advocate for UN Women’s mandate and lead UN Inter-Agency coordination and intergovernmental support:

• Collaborate with inter-agency partners/colleagues on UNDAF development planning of programmes;
• Finalize reports for presentation to inter-governmental bodies such as the Commission on the Status of Women, Economic and Social Council, the General Assembly and other policy-making organs;
• Provide technical inputs and support to the Regional Director and Country Representatives in establishing and maintaining effective consultations with governments, partners, stakeholders and donors to achieve active collaboration, cooperation and alliances on program development and implementation, resource mobilization and sustained partnerships;
• Represent UN Women in UNCTs in countries where UN Women has a programme presence as required;
• Act as Officer in Charge and represent Regional Director when requested.

Provide strategic partnership building and resource mobilization strategies support to the Regional Director:

• Provide strategic support to the development of regional resource mobilization efforts to the RO and COs/MCO as necessary;
• Review donor reports from COs/MCO for quality assurance and compliance with commitment met and accountability framework established and to ensure that donors are duly informed on a timely basis.

Participate in knowledge management and capacity building efforts 

• Ensure regular assessments of regional and country strategic and implementation plans. Identify lessons learned and areas of emphasis to guide programme improvements and future strategic development plan;
• 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;
• Design and implement capacity building training activities to enhance skills and knowledge in Results Based Management, results based budgeting, and systematic quality assurance.

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 team comprises 55 staff members under various contract modalities. The incumbent oversees a range of thematic leads, including four direct reports (P4-level staff). This role also encompasses the management of the Somalia Office, which includes supervising the P5 level (Country Programme Manager).

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:

• Excellent programme formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation skills;
• Excellent knowledge of Results Based Management principles and approaches;
• Ability to develop detailed operational plans, budgets, and deliver on them;
• Demonstrated political acumen and technical capacity in representing the organization effectively in national and international fora to advocate and to promote organizational priorities, initiatives;
• Knowledge of country and/or region;
• Knowledge of UN system.

Requirements:

Education:

• Master’s degree (or equivalent) in a development-related area, including economics, public policy or other 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.

Experience:

• At least 10 years of progressively responsible development experience that combines intellectual, strategic and managerial leadership in development programmes some of which should be in the area of gender equality, at the international level, preferably in developing countries within the UN system, Agencies, Funds, Programs, or UN Mission is required.
• Experience with managing, supporting and overseeing development policy-making, programme and operations management, resource mobilization and partnership creation 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

Languages:

• Fluency in English is required.
• Knowledge of French is desirable.
• Knowledge of the other UN official working language is an asset.

How to apply

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