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, peace and security.  Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, and in line with the ongoing UN Reform, UN Women leads and coordinates the United Nations system efforts in Uganda to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Uganda’s priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

With the enhanced role of UN Women as the leading agency on coordinating gender mainstreaming, a strong, flexible and versatile coordination function within UN Women Field Offices is required. This will be an important effort towards strengthened accountability for results on GEWE, enhanced efficiencies, improved coherence, and joint action through better coordination within and between UN agencies, the government, civil society, and private sector.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Strengthen Gender Coordination at the Field Level

• Contribute technically to the development of programme strategies in the area of Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE) in respective area of operation.
• Work closely with the Head of Field Office to develop strategic partnerships and support Gender Coordination in the UNACT and other parties including the District Local Governments, civil society, private sector, and cultural, religious institutions.
• Improving the connection between the field and UN Women Uganda Country Office on UNDAF/UNSCDF reporting and planning as well as roll-out key UN Women documents/policies in the field – such as the UNSG Strategy on Gender Parity and accompanying Enabling Guidelines.
• Supporting the implementation of the UN Wide-PSEA Action Plan, Gender and Equity Certification Score Cards at DLGs in line with the Equal Opportunities Commission guidelines; and Gender Statistics by government, civil society and private sector within the Plan for National Statistical Development framework of Uganda Bureau of Statistics.
• Support the Head of Field Office to ensure gender is one of the key items on every UNAC, and interagency coordination meeting.

• Support the development and roll-out of a strategy for the UNACT and GiHA working group Gender Mainstreaming Action Plans; and the implementation of the ANACT’s commitments to GEWE in the regions.
• Work with Head of Field Office to actively participate and represent the Filed Office in the UN Women Community of Practice on Gender, including on Gender in Humanitarian Action working groups and Interagency Coordination meetings.
• Identify and lead UN Joint Programming opportunities to deliver on the UNACT’s GEWE, including leading the coordination of the development of joint programmes on GEWE.
• Liaise with UN Women Country Office, Regional and HQ offices on developments related to UN Women’s coordination mandate.
• Contribute to joint UN and donor advocacy efforts for GEWE, including serving as the secretariat of the GiHA working group.

Capacity Building

• Work with UNAC Chair, DLG, OPM, Private Sector and Civil Society to identify capacity gaps on gender within the UN, relevant government, civil society and private actors; and make recommendations for capacity strengthening.
• Develop standardized training materials and share simplified user-friendly tools with all agencies and implementing partners in gender mainstreaming and women empowerment
• Support the harmonization of strategies in approaching common issues such as addressing negative social/cultural barriers, collection and use of sex disaggregated data and youth engagement.
• Build the capacity of UN agency staff in mainstreaming gender in their respective mandates, programming, budgeting, monitoring, reporting and evaluation including on the use of Age and Gender Markers.
• Offer on going support and monitoring for implementation of skills on gender mainstreaming in UNACT, DLG, civil society and private sector.

Joint Monitoring and Impact Assessment

• Support the development of a unified monitoring and impact assessment system to track performance of gender equality and women’s empowerment.
• Assess the combined impact of all agencies on gender equality and women empowerment.
• Conduct Regional gender profiling supported with evidence.
• Support the Head of the Field Office to produce reports on the area contribution to the implementation of Gender National Strategy
• Support the development and the adhesion to a common reporting mechanism on gender equality and women empowerment at field level
• Facilitate the assessment of the financial investment in gender equality and women empowerment at the area level

Knowledge Generation and Sharing

• Contribute to the production of policy notes, briefs, and undertake gender analysis of joint UN programming on gender and women empowerment
• Contribute the documentation of best practices including lessons learnt by UN System-wide gender coordination; as well as gender coordination with other actors.
• Support field research in the field of gender equality and women empowerment to inform planning, budgeting and evidence-based advocacy.
• Provide substantive inputs to building partnerships and resource mobilization strategies for activities related to GEWE.

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 

• Competency in promoting gender mainstreaming and women empowerment in both development and humanitarian situation including practical experience in the context of coordination, strategic partnership, and capacity building on GEWE
• Strong analytical, written and oral communication skills, including good presentation skills
• Ability to work within a team as well as carry out tasks independently
• Strong planning and organizing skills with ability to identify priority activities and assignments and to use time efficiently
• Ability to take decisions and manage political/cultural sensitivities
• Proficient IT skills

REQUIRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

Education

• Master’s degree or equivalent in social sciences, human rights, gender/women’s studies, international development, or a related field is required
• A first-level university degree in combination with five 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

• Minimum 5 years of progressive experience at the national or international level on Gender Equality, women’s empowerment and human rights   with a strong background on strategic management and coordinating Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment within the UN, with government, civil society and private sector.

• Experience in capacity building and training UN, government or private sector staff on gender-mainstreaming, including on GiHA and PSEA
• Experience in areas of Women Peace and Security and Humanitarian Action
• Familiarity with data, indicators and Sustainable Development Goals
• Experience in mobilizing resources
• Familiarity with results-based management and rights-based programming;
• Familiarity with UN system and UN Women gender coordination mandate.

Language Requirements

• Fluency in written and spoken English is essential
• Working knowledge of another official UN language is an asset;
• Knowledge of Uganda and the Great Lakes region is an asset

Application Procedure

Interested individuals should submit their online applications not later than 2nd June 2020.