Coordination and Standards Specialist Vacancy-Job Ref: JKMLUNWOMEN/0106/202641

Coordination and Standards Specialist Vacancy-Job Ref: JKMLUNWOMEN/0106/202641

Bamako (Mali)

Job Description

UN Women, founded on 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.

Its integrated triple mandate – supporting standards development, coordinating the United Nations system and operational activities – enables it to act globally to translate gender equality standards and rules into lasting and meaningful change.

Within the United Nations system, UN Women ensures more effective coordination and coherence of action in support of gender equality, as well as the integration of gender perspectives into the System’s initiatives. To promote and sustain these achievements, the Strategic Plan 2026-2029 includes objectives and indicators for coordination in the areas of intervention and results, and defines the areas in which UN Women exercises leadership, provides support, or drives action.

In line with these global guidelines, UN Women Mali remains committed to promoting coherence and harmonization in the integration of gender considerations across the entire UN Country Team in Mali, in order to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment. Specifically, UN Women supports the integration of gender equality into joint planning documents. The entity also provides expertise, analysis, and data, and facilitates partnerships, particularly with women’s organizations. UN Women also oversees the institutionalization of the gender equality marker in joint funding mechanisms, while emphasizing the development of joint programs to promote shared accountability, transparency, and the achievement of collective results for women and girls.

Under the authority of the Resident Representative, the Coordination and Normative Specialist is responsible for supporting the coordination roles within the United Nations Country Teams, in identifying the technical expertise needed for the implementation of accountability tools at the institutional level, with an emphasis on the processes of the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF), the standards and procedures of the Gender Thematic Groups (GTGs), the system-wide strategy on gender parity, intergovernmental processes such as CSW, CEDAW, the Beijing Platform for Action and the SDGs, as well as other relevant normative processes at the national level.

The Coordination and Normative Specialist will also work closely with the Office of the Resident Coordinator and other United Nations agencies to help create enabling environments to achieve and maintain gender parity within the UNCT.

The Coordination and Normative Specialist will lead capacity-building activities related to gender mainstreaming and UN coordination, including providing input and technical advice to other UN entities on gender mainstreaming in program and policy development and implementation.

The Coordination and Normative Specialist will seek partnership opportunities in coordination, including joint funding initiatives for gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE).

The Coordination and Standards Specialist works closely with the Coordination Unit and intergovernmental units at the regional office and headquarters levels. They will also play a key role as the technical focal point for the coordination mechanism involving partners, civil society platforms, and government institutions to institutionalize gender in national policies and strategies.

III. Scope of the work

1) Provide technical support to the Resident Representative and the country office regarding inter-agency coordination:

Provide technical support and guidance to the Resident Representative, including through participation in national groups, inter-agency coordination efforts and related technical bodies, as well as the GTG.
Provide analysis and advice to the country office regarding engagement with United Nations Country Teams (UNCTs) and the Resident Coordinator (RC) on gender-sensitive development assistance.

Provide technical support and ensure guidance to the RCO and UNCT regarding system-wide processes and requirements related to GEWE.
Provide technical support to the Representative to lead the inter-agency GTG.
Provide technical support to the UN Women Country Representative, as needed, on inter-agency coordination – assisting the country office in identifying strategic thematic entry points, including inter-agency pooled funds, and partners to significantly advance GEWE through targeted coordination and technical assistance.

Provide substantial support to the UN Women Country Representative, as needed and in close collaboration with relevant programme coordinators, to increase her provision of technical assistance and sector-specific gender analysis on gender equality and women’s empowerment across the UNCT, enabling UN Women to act as the UNCT’s “think tank” on gender equality.
Support the UN Women country office to ensure that it is actively engaged in promoting gender in humanitarian action, by providing operational and quality technical assistance, training and gender analysis, according to the needs of the national context.

Provide support to the UN Women Country Representative, as needed, to monitor the work of the GTG to ensure it is effective in bringing partners together around strategic actions on GEWE.
Provide technical support to the Country Representative in her active participation and contribution to the coordination mechanism with partners to ensure that GEWE is highly prioritized.

2) Provide technical advisory support on gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE) as a guiding principle in the development and implementation of the Cooperation Framework:

Provide advice and input on the UNSDCF roadmap to ensure that the UNSDCF development process ensures strong integration of GEWE, in line with UNCT-SWAP requirements, and facilitates the active participation of women’s CSOs and national mechanisms for women.
Provide substantial support for the development of a rigorous gender analysis in the Common Country Analysis (CCA) in order to explain the immediate, underlying and deep causes of gender inequalities, gender-based discrimination and differentiated impacts.
As Secretary of the GTG, and in close collaboration with the RCO, coordinate the work of the GTG to review and provide technical guidance and input at each stage of the UNSDCF to ensure the integration of gender equality considerations into strategic prioritization, the results matrix, joint programmes and monitoring and evaluation.

3) Ensure overall coordination and quality assurance of the UNCT-SWAP gender equality dashboard exercise:

Provide information and support to the RC and UNCT on how to meet or exceed UNCT-SWAP requirements, and monitor the implementation of the action plan and related recommendations to ensure consistency in their application and implementation throughout the region.
In close cooperation with the UNCT-SWAP Support Service, provide quality assurance and technical support for comprehensive and annual UNCT-SWAP country-level reports via the online platform, as required.
Ensure that the action plan informs the GTG work plan and the UNSDCF process.
Provide advisory support to the UNCT and the UN Women country office to strengthen UNCT reporting and the use of the UNCT GEM, with the aim of increasing financial allocations for GEWE at the national level.
Supporting the capacity building of UNCT and GTG by deploying learning and training materials in collaboration with UNSCD on UNCT-SWAP and UNCT GEM.

4) Provide support for the coordination of intergovernmental and normative work on the GEWE of the UNCT and national partners:

Support initiatives related to the Commission on the Status of Women, including contributions to relevant global/regional reports and background documents.
Provide technical support for consultations related to the SDGs in relation to gender.
Facilitate the regular review of progress in the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action.
To provide support for global coordination and processes related to GEWE.
Provide technical support for the institutionalization of gender in key national institutions, in close collaboration with the Ministry of Gender and the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

5) Provide technical support and guidance for the development of partnerships and resource mobilization related to coordination efforts:

Provide technical support and guidance to the country office on the management of activities and other promotional events to involve bilateral and multilateral institutions/donors, the private sector and civil society, to broaden and/or maintain interest and resources in support of UN Women programmes and joint UN system programmes.
As part of strategic planning, provide support and advice to the country office in establishing and implementing strategic partnerships to strengthen UN Women’s positioning in the country.

Liaise with key stakeholders from the Government, academia, civil society, the private sector and major international actors to build and strengthen strategic alliances and partnerships on initiatives related to women’s rights and gender equality.

6) Facilitate the development and sharing of knowledge:

As part of UN Women’s strategic planning exercise, support and oversee the report on Outcome 7 and produce country analyses, including global trends and identification of challenges.
Lead the development and dissemination of good practices and lessons learned on the coordination and integration of the gender dimension at UNCT and national levels; ensure that they are integrated into program development.
Provide support for the capacity building of colleagues at the country level on the coordination mandate and the integration of the gender dimension.
Develop, as needed, capacity-building initiatives on gender-related issues and priorities.

7) The person holding the position shall perform any other task within his functional profile deemed necessary for the proper functioning of the Office and the Organization.

Competencies:

Core values:

Respect for diversity
Integrity
Professionalism
Basic skills:

Awareness and sensitivity to gender issues
Accountability
Creative problem solving
Effective communication
Inclusive collaboration
Stakeholder engagement
Set an example
Please consult this link for more information on UN Women’s core values ​​and competencies:

FUNCTIONAL SKILLS:

Strong skills in program formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation
Solid knowledge of results-oriented management
Ability to synthesize program performance data and produce analytical reports to inform management and strategic decision-making
Strong analytical skills
Good knowledge of United Nations programme management systems
V. Minimum Qualifications.

Education and certification:

A master’s degree or equivalent qualification in international development, public administration, public policy, or another relevant field of social sciences is required.
An undergraduate university degree, combined with two additional years of qualifying experience, may be accepted in lieu of a higher university degree.

Experience:

At least 5 years of experience with increasing responsibilities in inter-agency coordination and strategic program planning processes are required.
Experience in conducting capacity-building activities is required.
Work experience in the field of gender equality and women’s rights is required.
Experience in supporting or developing the UNCT-SWAP Gender Equality Scoreboard and its action plan, or other system-wide gender equality processes such as the UN Parity Strategy, the UNCT report to CEDAW, the GTG and the UNCT GEM, is an asset.
Work experience within the United Nations system, agencies, funds or programmes is an asset.
Experience in using computers, office software (MS Word, Excel, etc.), as well as spreadsheets and databases is required.
Experience using a modern web-based ERP system, preferably Oracle Cloud, is desirable.

LANGUAGES:

Fluency in French and English is required.
Knowledge of another official UN language is desirable (Arabic, Chinese, Russian or Spanish).
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.

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