UN Women: Special Assistant, Directorate, PPID, New York, P-4 (Temporary Appointment)

Background

JOB DESCRIPTION

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. Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women will lead and coordinate United Nations System efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It will provide strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

PPID is accountable for UN Women’s Strategic Plan (SP) implementation through effective and efficient inter-governmental, policy and programmatic support, including for the delivery of the UN Women programme results as outlined in the Strategic Plan. PPID ensures that UN Women offices and stakeholders receive high quality technical policy and programme guidance, substantive support and strategic direction, knowledge, and data in all contexts (development, security, humanitarian, and disaster/post-disaster) to contribute to the achievement of SDGs. Furthermore, PPID leads the work on data, evidence and knowledge on gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE) and tracking progress on the SDG by collecting, analyzing, and disseminating evidence, data, and knowledge internally and externally. PPID enables UN Women to function as a globally networked and matrixed development organization that is equipped to deliver results as part of a repositioned UN development system where they are most needed in the field, including across the Humanitarian-Development-Peace nexus in protracted crises, conflict, post-conflict, humanitarian and disaster settings.

Under the supervision of the Director PPID, and working closely with the Deputy Director, the Special Assistant to the Director is responsible for providing: (1) coordination and management of strategic engagements, (2) effective technical support (3) support for effective management of the Division, (4) support identification and execution of strategic priorities, and (5) knowledge management and innovations in his/her area of work for efficiency and effectiveness. The Special Assistant will have a proven ability to work and act under pressure and with discretion in a sensitive and challenging environment. S/he has to have excellent communication and organization skills to manage the substantive and normative agenda of the division.

Key Functions And Accountabilities

• Coordinate and manage the Director’s strategic engagements:
• Oversee the management of the Director’s agenda; evaluate and keep track of important events and meetings, and advise on priorities;
• Keep the Director informed of incoming requests, correspondence and all matters requiring her attention, provide sound input as appropriate to facilitate decision making and ensure follow-up action, as directed;
• Provide technical and coordination support for the Director’s participation in meetings and key events, including the preparation of background documents and dissemination of relevant minutes and notes to support follow-up;
• Manage the planning and organization of the Director´s official travel, including the timely preparation of official travel files, background documents and briefing notes, working closely with relevant staff, and support preparation of official travel reports;
• Provide effective policy and advisory services to the Director:
• Provide relevant policy inputs and advice on issues as appropriate, to facilitate the Director’s engagement within UN Women and with external partners;
• Provide specialized technical support to the Director in his/her interactions, representation duties, exchanges and relationship cultivation with Member States, other UN agencies, and other external entities.
• Identify, research, analyze, prepare and/or organize information and briefing materials for the Director to facilitate decision-making and leadership in management strategic planning/review;
• Draft speeches, talking points, briefing notes, background papers, and/or design presentation materials for delivery by the Director in key events and meetings, working closely with relevant staff, to ensure that UN Women thinking, goals, objectives, strategies and/or policies on gender issues and UN Women programmes are appropriately reflected in these materials.
• Provide support to the Director and Deputy Director for effective management of the Division:
• Manage the tasking of briefing notes and reports assigned to the Division and ensure quality and timely submission to Senior Management;
• Support the timely review and clearance of requests and documents by the Director;
• Provide administrative support for the Director to manage performance of staff, including implementation of timely performance reviews and adherence to UN System values and principles;
• Support effective information sharing and communication with Division leadership and other staff within the Division;
• Support effective communication with Senior Management, including through close liaison with Executive Director and Deputy Executive Directors’ office.
• Support identification and execution of Division-wide strategic priorities
• Provide coordination across different internal and external sections, divisions, and stakeholders, for the achievement of Division-wide priorities and/or cross-cutting areas of work;
• Support Division-wide initiatives of the Director, including provide technical support and direction towards their implementation;
• Support the maintenance of strong partnerships with key actors related to the Director’s deployment of her functions;
• Coordinate development of Division or corporate engagement strategies as directed.
• Lead knowledge management and innovations for efficiency and effectiveness:
• Lead the management of a repository of briefing notes and presentations for easy retrieval and referencing;
• Lead the standardization of workflows for preparation and quality assurance of documents for Director’s review
• Share good practices, innovations and lessons learned across the Division for continuous improvements.
• Perform other official duties and special assignments which may be requested by the Director.
  
  
  

Supervisory/Managerial Responsibilities: Supervises Executive Assistant, Consultants and Interns

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

• Affinity with and knowledge of gender equality and women’s empowerment
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Strong communication skills, both written and oral
• Strong inter-personal skills, communicate effectively with staff at all levels of the organization
• Ability to work in a highly pressured environment
• Strong sense of responsibility, confidentiality and accountability
• Strong partnership building and networking skills, client-oriented
• Skilled strategic thinker and excellent analytical abilities
• Good knowledge of, and work exposure to UN Women's goals, corporate policies and country offices programmes, operations, challenges and reporting
• Proven track record of success in policy and strategy development and implementation
• Solid and proven IT and presentation skills including the use of spreadsheets, databases, Word, presentation software, etc.
  
  
  

Recruitment Qualifications

Education and Certification:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in gender, social sciences, public administration, business administration or related field;
• 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

• A minimum of 7 years of professional experience in international development, preferably working on gender equality, and women's rights is required;
• Experience in policy and programmatic work in gender equality is required;
• Experience in supporting the management of complex units and situations is required;
• Experience working within the UN System at both a country/field level and in a headquarters setting is highly desirable;
• Experience working at a senior level in a front office is desired.
  
  
  

Languages

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

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.