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 Policy Division develops and implements the UN Women program of work
on analysis, research and knowledge management that provides the
evidence base for the advice and guidance UN Women provides to the
intergovernmental process, the UN system, and to UN Women staff working
at country and regional level. It identifies emerging issues and trends,
and develops and proposes new strategies for achieving the agreed goals
through innovative approaches and lessons learned about what works in
practice. It also designs and oversees the training and capacity
development programs of UN Women, working closely with the UN Women
training facility in Santo Domingo.
The Policy Division staff is organized in Thematic Sections, bringing
together technical experts who: undertake issues-based research; analyze
data on country, regional or global trends; build a knowledge base on
policy commitments and their implementation; propose evidence-based
options for global policy, norms and standards and for UN Women’s
flagship programmes; and contribute substantive inputs to policy
advocacy and technical cooperation programmes.
Under the direct supervision of the Chief of Section, Economic
Empowerment, the Policy Advisor is responsible for developing the
organization’s tool kit to effect women’s economic empowerment through
engagement with economic institutions and the private sector. The tools
will be deployed in support of UN-Women’s normative role, coordination
function, and operational activities in the field and its policy-making,
knowledge generation and advocacy functions. The tool kit includes
policy recommendations and a collection of good practices on: the
implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in
particular the means of implementation; the discharge of States’
obligations under normative frameworks; and corporate responsibility in a
rights-based framework that promotes gender equality and women’s
empowerment, in particular in the context of the Women’s Empowerment
Principles. The programme of work delivers results through, inter alia,
flagship programs lead by the Economic Empowerment Section. The Policy
Advisor is responsible for the development of global public goods in key
areas such as training materials to build capacity to incorporate a
gender dimension into corporate policies; lending policies of
development banks; and government and corporate procurement. Special
attention is paid to women migrant workers. He/she also prepares
documentation for UN normative intergovernmental processes; studies,
reports and content for policy advocacy as agreed with Chief of Section.
Description of Responsibilities :
Summary of key functions:
Under the supervision of the Chief, Economic Empowerment the Policy Advisor is responsible for:
- Development and management of the work programme of the Unit under his/her responsibility to ensure substantive and technical quality according to standards and goals of UN Women;
- Development of global public goods and materials for UN Women’s flagship programmes in economic empowerment;
- Development of policy papers in key areas such as advancing gender equality and women’s economic empowerment through creation of decent work, public and corporate procurement, and strengthening the capacity of economic institutions to service women clients;
- Development of tools, provision of advisory services, technical guidance and programme support and implementation;
- Liaison with Economic Empowerment Advisors in UN Women’s regional officers to understand and respond to the needs of UN Women’s Country and Regional Offices;
- Substantive support to intergovernmental processes and policy development on women’s economic empowerment, including substantive input in the preparation of position papers and reports for presentation to intergovernmental bodies such as Commission on the Status of Women, Economic and Social Council, the General Assembly and other policy-making organs, as appropriate and prepare analytical summaries of debates, supporting negotiations and analyzing/compiling outcomes;
- Representation and advocacy;
- Establish and nurture relationship with academia, research institutions, civil society and experts to expand and share knowledge, exchange views on latest findings, incorporate cutting-edge thinking in UN Women’s work;
- Knowledge generation and capacity building; and
- Results capture and reporting.
Knowledge generation and capacity building:
- Contribute substantively to the knowledge management and development of capacity building of UN Women Programme staff in the Economic Institutions area of focus;
- Establish and lead global and sectoral communities of practice that promote collaboration, peer support, consultation and innovation, replication of good practices; and
Develop and maintain rosters of gender experts, who can develop
technical support to UN Women offices, national partners, UNCT’s or
other UN system entities.
Qualifications :
Education:
- Master's degree (or equivalent) in Economics or related field.
Experience:
- 10 years of extensive development experience that combines intellectual, strategic and managerial leadership in development, policy analysis, sociological/gender equality at least seven of which is in the thematic area of the post;
- Experience in drafting papers on the gender dimension of private sector engagement in delivering on the gender agenda.
Languages:
- Fluency in English is required;
- Working knowledge of another UN official language is an asset.