Programme Specialist, Women’s Economic Empowerment

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.

UN Women in South Sudan supports the government to implement commitments to international normative standards on gender equality and women’s human rights. The new UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) for 2022-2026 and the corresponding UN Women South Sudan Strategic Note (2022-2026), defining UN Women’s strategic engagement in South Sudan, focuses on strengthening the national structures and mechanisms for gender mainstreaming in policies, plans and budgets; supporting efforts to prevent and eliminate violence against women; promoting women’s economic empowerment ; promoting policies and government investment in women’s empowerment and resilience building in the context of climate change, humanitarian crisis as well as threats to peace and security. UN Women works with a range of stakeholders in South Sudan including the government, civil society and women’s organizations, youth, UN agencies and donors, to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Currently, UN Women in partnership with the Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare and the Office of the Vice President (Gender and Youth Cluster) is implementing a programme that aims at promoting the social economic empowerment of women and adolescent girls in South Sudan. The project called “South Sudan Women Social and Economic Empowerment Project (SSWSEEP)”, will be implemented in 10 states and 2 administrative areas in South Sudan focusing on promoting women’s access to economic opportunities, protection and access to GBV information and services and also strengthening the capacity of the Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare to effectively implement its mandate of promoting Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment. The project has four (4) components, namely: 1) Community Empowerment Support to Women and Girls, 2) Establishment of the Women’s Entrepreneurial Opportunity Facility (WEOF), 3) Scaling up services for Survivors of GBV and 4) Institutional strengthening focusing on the Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare, Gender and Youth Cluster, and related national institutions.

Under the supervision of the Programme Manager, the Programme Specialist is responsible for providing technical guidance on women’s economic empowerment and entrepreneurship development; as well as managing the development, implementation, monitoring and reporting of the women’s economic empowerment aspects of the SSWSEEP, primarily under components 1 and 2 above. This includes providing technical support to the implementation of the SSWSEEP programme and managing the monitoring and reporting, budget management for the programme team, building partnerships and providing support in developing resource mobilization strategies, and managing knowledge building efforts. The Programme 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

Coordinate the implementation of the Women’s Economic Empowerment components in the SSWSEEP;

• Finalize the annual workplan and budget and manage their implementation;
• Coordinate the technical implementation of the women’s economic empowerment interventions in the South Sudan Women’s Social and Economic Empowerment Project (SSWSEEP).
• Ensure synergies with other team members and components of the SSWSEEP;
• Ensure the timely submission and high quality of financial and narrative reports from implementing partners.
• Provide guidance to personnel and partners on Results Based Management tools and performance indicators;
• Contribute substantial input to the updates, briefs, and reports prepared for regular meetings of project stakeholders, steering committee meetings, and periodic reviews.
• Conduct field missions to monitor project implementation and provide capacity-building support as needed.

Provide technical assistance and capacity development to project/programme partners for Women’s Economic Empowerment aspects in the SSWSEEP;

• Provide technical advice and guidance to implementing partners on women’s economic empowerment aspects of SSWSEEP as required;
• Provide substantive inputs to address the critical constraints and barriers in the respective value chains and present strategic interventions;
• Provide substantive inputs to develop and deliver technical assistance to partners in the area of business incubation and development, inclusive finance services and literacy;
• Lead the development of resilient business practices and provide training to women entrepreneurs to mitigate the risks posed by inflation and currency depreciation on their businesses.
• In collaboration with partners, design and implement strategies to support the growth of women-owned businesses, including advisory services on market access, scaling strategies, and competitive positioning.
• Build and manage relationships with NGO and national partners to support implementation and expansion of the SSWSEEP; 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 Women’s Economic Empowerment aspects in the SSWSEEP;

• In close collaboration with the SSWSEEP team, manage the monitoring of programme/project implementation and finances using results-based management tools;
• Conduct/participate in field missions and review reports on monitoring missions;
• Ensure adequate data collection and analysis to support the implementing of the monitoring and evaluation framework for the economic empowerment components of the project;
• Regularly assess the impact of economic empowerment activities, identify challenges, and propose corrective actions to improve project outcomes;
• Review and quality assure responsibility party workplans and budgets as well as narrative and financial reporting;
• Write quarterly reports and donor reports, focusing on results, output and outcomes;
• Contribute to office donor and UN Women reports.

Contribute to the management of the human and financial resources of the Women’s Economic Empowerment components in the SSWSEEP;

• Ensure the timely disbursement of funds to partners and track the utilization of financial resources allocated to the women’s economic empowerment (WEE) components of the project;
• Oversee staff and consultants, as required;
• Mentor and coach personnel and conduct performance assessments as required;
• Contribute to recruitment processes, as necessary.

Contribute to inter-agency coordination on women’s economic empowerment to achieve coherence and alignment of the SSWSEEP with other partners in the country; 

• Provide technical support to the Programme Manager 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 for the Women’s Economic Empowerment aspects in the SSWSEEP;

• Develop and review background documents, briefs and presentations related to the women’s economic empowerment aspects in the SSWSEEP;
• Represent UN Women in meetings and policy dialogues on issues related to women’s economic empowerment aspects in the SSWSEEP as necessary;
• Advocate for women’s economic empowerment within South Sudan through participation in relevant forums, workshops, and policy discussions.

Develop advocacy strategies and oversee their implementation;

• Identify best practices and lessons learned to guide programme improvement and strategy planning;
• Develop and implement knowledge management strategies, products and methodologies on women’s economic empowerment aspects in the SSWSEEP
• The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.

Supervisory/Managerial Responsibilities:

• The incumbent has No supervisory role.
• The incumbent will work in close collaboration with 15 personnel (FTAs, SC, and consultants).

Required Skills and Experience

Education and certification:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in economics, entrepreneurship development, rural development, business management, development studies, development economics, 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 women’s economic empowerment projects is required:
• Technical experience in implementing women’s economic empowerment projects with a focus on women’s entrepreneurship development is required;
• Experience coordinating and liaising with government agencies, NGO implementing partners, and/or donors is required;
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and spreadsheet and database packages, experience in handling of web-based management systems is required;
• Experience working in the UN System particularly UN Women is desirable.

Language Requirements:

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

Source: https://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_job.cfm?cur_job_id=117386