Gender Specialist-Women Economic Empowerment and Resilience (NOC) Open for Moldova Nationals Only

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.

The work of UN Women in Moldova is guided by its new Country Strategic Note 2023-2027, aligned with the ), n, National Programs and Strategies and aims to contribute to the gender-responsive implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Strategic Note focuses on four main areas: 1) Ending Violence against Women; 2) Women’s Leadership and Governance; 3) Women’s Economic empowerment and 4) Humanitarian and Peace development nexus and UN Coordination on GE.  

Since March 2022, in the context of the war in Ukraine and refugee crisis, UN Women implements several initiatives aimed to support Government, local authorities and civil society organizations with response efforts to immediate humanitarian needs of women and girls and efforts focusing on GBV services and protection.   

The overarching vision of the is inclusive and sustainable growth with its promise to leave no one behind.  Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5, target 5.5. calls to “ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of the decision-making in political, economic and public life”; target 8.5 calls to “achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including for young people and persons with disabilities, and equal pay for work of equal value” etc. To achieve gender equality by 2030, is required urgent actions to eliminate the many root causes of discrimination that still curtail women’s rights in private and public spheres.

Contributing to the realization of these results, UN Women works to strengthen capacities of the Parliament and Government to develop, adopt and implement legal, regulatory and policy frameworks, as well as care service provision models that create decent work for women and that support the reduction and redistribution of unpaid care work and more equal sharing of care and domestic work between women and men. UN Women will also seek to improve women’s access to male dominated professions, notably in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and build their information and communication technology (ICT) skills and promote women’s increased access to economic opportunities through supporting best practices of the private sector. The cooperation with the private sector covers the work on promotion . Companies becomes more aware about the WEPs and knowledge products and tools to guide private sector institutions on WEPs implementation and monitoring in their workplaces and industries etc. were developed. Further work is required to continue promotion of WEPs within the private sector.

Reporting to Country Representative, the Gender Specialist-Women Economic Empowerment and Resilience exercises overall responsibility for planning, implementing, and managing UN Women interventions under their portfolio.  The Gender Specialist works in close collaboration with the programme and operations team, UN Women HQ staff, Government officials, multi and bi-lateral donors and civil society ensuring successful UN Women programme implementation under portfolio. 

Duties and Responsibilities

Design and develop programme strategies in the area of Women Economic Empowerment (WEE) and Resilience:

• Design and formulate programme/ project proposals and initiatives;
• Draft inputs to country strategy documents, briefs, policy dialogue and other documents related to Women Economic Empowerment (WEE) and Resilience.

Manage the implementation and management of the  programme:

• Finalize the annual workplan and budget and manage their implementation;
• Manage the technical implementation of the programme/project; ensure synergies with other teams;
• Manage the submission of implementing partner financial and narrative reports;
• Provide guidance to personnel and partners on Results Based Management tools and performance indicators;
• Organize Project Steering Committee, project review and/or evaluation meetings, as needed.

Manage technical assistance and capacity development to project/programme partners:

• Develop and manage the implementation of technical tools and initiatives, advice and guidance;
• Build and manage relationships with national partners to support implementation and expansion of the Women Economic Empowerment (WEE) and Resilience; respond to any potential problems;
• Identify capacity building needs of partners and lead the coordination of technical assistance, mentoring, training and capacity development initiatives to partners.

Manage the monitoring and reporting of the programme/ project:

• Manage the monitoring of programme/ project implementation and finances using results based management tools;
• Oversee field missions and review reports on monitoring missions;
• Write quarterly reports and donor reports, focusing on results, output and outcomes;
• Contribute to office donor and UN Women reports.

Manage the people and financial resources of the Women Economic Empowerment (WEE) and Resilience programme:

• Manage the programme budget and draft financial reports;
• Supervise Programme Officers and Programme Associates; Mentor and coach personnel and conduct performance assessments;
• Oversee recruitment processes, as necessary.

Build partnerships and support in developing resource mobilization strategies:

• Develop and implement partnerships and resource mobilization strategies;
• Finalize relevant documentation on donors and potential opportunities for resource mobilization;
• Analyze and research information on donors, prepare substantive briefs on possible areas of cooperation, identification of opportunities for cost sharing.

Contribute to inter-agency coordination on Women Economic Empowerment (WEE) and Resilience to achieve coherence and alignment of UN Women programmes with other partners  in the Republic of Moldova:

• Provide technical support to the Country Representative on inter-agency coordination related activities by attending meetings, events, and participating in groups and committees as needed;
• Coordinate with other UN agencies, government departments, donors and NGOs to ensure the projects’ capacity development programme is harmonized and aligned with other in-country efforts.

Manage advocacy, knowledge building and communication efforts:

• Develop and review background documents, briefs and presentations related to Women Economic Empowerment (WEE);
• Represent UN Women in meetings and policy dialogues on issues related to Women Economic Empowerment as necessary;
• Develop advocacy strategies and oversee their implementation;
• Identify best practices and lessons learned to guide programme improvement and strategy planning;
• Develop knowledge management strategies, products and methodologies on economic empowerment and resilience of women and girls.

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.

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies:

Functional Competencies:

• Strong programme formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation skills;
• Strong knowledge of Results Based Management;
• Ability to synthesize program performance data and produce analytical reports to inform management and strategic decision-making;
• Strong knowledge of gender equality and women's economic empowerment; 
• Strong analytical skills;
• Ability to identify and analyze trends, opportunities and threats to fundraising and develop strategies;
• Good knowledge of UN programme management systems.

Required Skills and Experience

Education and certification:

• 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 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 5 years of progressively responsible work experience at the national or international level in design, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development projects;
• Technical experience in gender equality and women economic empowerment is required;
• Experience coordinating and liaising with government agencies and/or donors is desirable;
• Experience working in the UN System is desirable;
• Experience in leading/managing a team is desirable.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English and Romanian is required;
• Knowledge of Russian is desirable:
• Working knowledge of another official UN language is desirable (French, Arabic, Chinese or Spanish).

APPLICATION PROCESS AND SUBMISSION PACKAGE 

Note: UN Women reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement.  We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UN Women at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.

Interested candidates are invited to submit applications with the following documents. 

• Motivation letter;
• Duly filled Personal History Form P11 including records on past experience in similar projects/ assignments and specific outputs obtained; P11 can be downloaded at  

Please note that only applicants who are short-listed will be contacted. 

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. 

The United Nations in Moldova is committed to workforce diversity. Women, persons with disabilities, Roma and other ethnic or religious minorities, persons living with HIV, as well as refugees and other non-citizens legally entitled to work in the Republic of Moldova, are particularly encouraged to apply.