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.

Women’s Political Participation (WPP) is one of UN Women’s primary areas of work, recognizing the role of women’s leadership in strong and stable democratic processes and inclusive societies. It is covered under the Entity’s Strategic Plan 2022-2025 Impact Area 1 – Participation and Governance in Public Life: “Women and girls participate in leadership and decision making and benefit from gender responsive governance”; and across several Systemic Outcomes of the Strategic Plan, mainly: Outcome 1 on Normative Frameworks and Policies, Outcome 5 on Voice Leadership and Agency; and Outcome 7 on UN coordination.

UN Women works with various partners and stakeholders nationally, regionally, and globally to ensure more women of all ages fully participate, lead, and engage in political institutions. Within this framework, UN-Women has partnered with the European Union to one of the components of the European Union funded Women and Youth in Democracy Initiative (WYDE) Initiative. Launched by the European Union in 2023 WYDE seeks to strengthen the rights, empowerment, and participation in public and political life of youth and women as key actors of development and change. A multiparter initiative, WYDE includes five interlinked components,[1] which are aligned with the European Union Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy for the period 2020–2024 and the Youth Action Plan.

UN-Women, jointly with the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), and United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), will implement the WYDE/Women Leadership component through a three-year programme titled: “Advancing Women’s Political Participation and Decision-Making through Social Norms Change, Networking and Global Advocacy.” Over three years UN Women will leverage their convening power to facilitate feminist and women’s rights movements participation in global and regional advocacy spaces and access to decision-making fora.

The programme will be monitored, reported, and evaluated against the agreed Results and Resources Framework through a Monitoring, Reporting and Evaluation Plan ensuring the compliance with the corporate standard of RBM and the relevant corporate policy and procedures on monitoring and reporting. Ongoing monitoring data will be used for programme steering, annual progress reporting; donor monitoring missions; and the final external evaluation. It will also contribute to the corporate level monitoring and reporting requirements, such as the Executive Director’s Annual Report (EDAR) to the Executive Board on the implementation of UN Women Strategic Plan.

The WYDE/Women’s Leadership programme will cooperate with the Gender Equality Forum (GEF) global collective through enhanced partnerships with women’s organizations and networks to support the implementation of commitments made by the GEF Action Coalition (AC) on Feminist Movements (AC6) and Leadership. It will establish and manage a grant making mechanism for selected AC6 member organizations dedicated to advance women’s meaningful participation, leadership, and decision-making power, and with specific focus on young women.

Reporting to the WYDE Programme Manager, the Monitoring Specialist and Grants Manager and will monitor the programme implementation and manage all operational and project management processes related to the grants provided to GEF AC6 members as well as the completionclosure of at the grantees’ projects before the end of the programme. The Monitoring and Evaluation collaborate closely with the Headquarters, relevant Regional and Country Offices’ (RO/MCO/CO) colleagues; and WYDE/Women Leadership implementing partners, to ensure results-based monitoring. The Specialist also collaborates with WYDE/Women Leadership implementing partners.

[1] “Youth Participation in Public Affairs” (WYDE | Civic Engagement); “Youth for Freedoms of Association and Assembly” (WYDE | Freedoms); “Youth and women in Parliaments” (WYDE | Inter Pares); “Youth and Women in Political Parties,” (WYDE | Political Parties) and “Advancing Women’s Political Participation and Decision Making” (WYDE | Women Leadership).

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Coordinate results monitoring and reporting of the WYDE/Women Leadership Programme

• Recommend and establish programme monitoring standards, criteria, and other indicators for measuring and assessing progress/results.
• Manage the monitoring of mutually agreed results frameworks and performance indicators.
• Coordinate with programme implementing partners to ensure that the programme has all the necessary baseline data and set milestones and targets for results framework.
• Coordinate the process of gathering information and preparing progress reports on programme implementation; prepare technical reports.
• Manage documentation on results monitoring and reporting and contribute to audits, evaluations and other assessments as needed, including EU verification missions.
• Monitor and assess progress towards overall results based on results framework and monitoring schedules.
• Undertake monitoring missions as needed summarizing key findings and recommendations.

2. Lead the establishment and management of a grant making mechanism for GEF AC6

• Establish a grant making mechanism based on agreed ToR outlining eligibility criteria, templates for proposals, and implementation arrangements, including monitoring, and reporting requirements.
• Coordinate the call for proposals for GEF AC6 members and the selection process of the assigned grants in direct coordination with the Programme Manager.
• Lead the coordination on all aspects related to the assigned grants portfolio with the Grants making process, in coordination with operations staff and UN Women GEF Secretariat and Regional/Country Offices, and others, including as necessary to ensure the efficient oversight of the portfolio. This includes liaising with external stakeholders to ensure required documentation is received according to timeline agreed upon and consolidating the Programme Board’s feedback to the grantees in all aspects of the project.
• Manage and oversee all operational and project management processes related to the grants’ life cycle, including, processing of project modifications and no-cost extensions, budget revisions and disbursements and processing grant closure in close collaboration with Finance colleagues.
• Monitor and analyze financial situation on the portfolios and programmes to ensure adherence to delivery rates and utilization of resources to meet agreed upon targets and results.
• Maintain centralized portfolio matrix of grants and provide quarterly portfolio.
• Provide technical assistance to grantees throughout the project life cycle, including in the design of their Results and Resources Frameworks, clarifying proposed project outcomes, outputs, indicators of success, methods of baseline and data collection, activities, and budgets.
• Provide technical feedback to grantees to ensure results-based management and analysis and capturing of data as necessary.

3. Support partnerships building and donor relations.

• Build relationships with programme partners, as necessary.
• Prepare written contributions for various purposes, including inputs for the WYDE Steering Committee, annual donor reports, newsletters, and other reporting needs.
• Analyze and research information on other WYDE Community partners and grantees, finalize substantive briefs on possible areas of cooperation.
• Determine programmatic areas of cooperation, based on strategic goals of UN Women, country needs and EU’s priorities and support development of the relevant partnerships.
• Ensure effective information flow, communication, and coordination across the programme team and implementing partners, and with other UN Women units.

4. Provide technical inputs into Reporting and Knowledge Management:

• Contribute to tracking and synthesizing, on an ongoing basis, developments, tools, emerging or good practices that are directly linked to the implementation of the programme and contribute to their global dissemination, including capturing findings and lessons learned.
• Support the Programme’s communications efforts through direct engagement with grant recipients to gather information about the achievements and impact of the grant, knowledge products, media, etc. and ensure communications accurately reflect grant programmes.
• Keep systematic track of noteworthy AC6 grantees’ achievements and communicate to colleagues for possible visibility, such as special features on the website.
• Support and organize knowledge sharing events and identify good and promising models that can be shared widely across grantees and other key stakeholders.
• Identify challenges and lessons learned across the AC6 grants and contribute to a process of institutional learning through documenting lessons learned and contribution to modification of strategies and programmes.
• Support, organize and participate in knowledge sharing and capacity development events and trainings for grantees.

The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.

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: https://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment/application-process#_Values

Functional Competencies

• Excellent knowledge of results-based management and its application to monitoring and reporting work with data.
• Ability to develop detailed operational plans, budgets, and deliver on them.
• Ability to synthesize program performance data and produce analytical reports to inform management and strategic decision-making.
• Strong analytical skills and writing skills with use of qualitative and quantitative data.
• Ability to support others to strengthen their knowledge and skills in the areas of monitoring and reporting.
• Knowledge of women’s empowerment and gender equality.
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities.
• Familiarity with UN Women procedures, particularly regarding planning project management and monitoring and reporting and grants management, is an advantage.

Required Skills and Experience

Education and certification:

• Social Sciences, Statistics, Political Science, Development Studies, Public Administration, Gender, or another 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 (such as PMP®, PRINCE2®, or MSP®) would be an added advantage.

Experience:

• At least 5 years of experience in programme design, and monitoring.
• Experience in grants and project management is required.
• Experience in managing and/or preparing results reports at country, regional and/or global level is required.
• Experience in providing guidance and technical support to personnel and/or partners in the areas of monitoring and/or reporting is required.
• Experience in the use of computers, office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.), and web-based management systems, and up-to-date, advanced knowledge of data management tools and database packages.
• Experience in conducting RBM training, as a trainer, to personnel and/or external partners to support results-based monitoring and reporting is desirable.
• Experience in working on addressing issues related to women’s political participation is an asset.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English is required.
• Working knowledge of French is desirable.

Application:

All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form.doc. Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.

Note:

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.