Background Information – Job-specific
UNOPS supports partners to build a better future by providing services that increase the efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability of peace-building, humanitarian and development projects. Mandated as a central resource of the United Nations, UNOPS provides sustainable project management, procurement and infrastructure services to a wide range of governments, donors and United Nations organizations.
New York Portfolios Office (NYPO) supports the United Nations Secretariat, as well as other New York-based United Nations organizations, and bilateral and multilateral partners in the delivery of UNOPS mandate in project management, infrastructure management, and procurement management.
Sustainable Development Cluster (SDC) supports diverse partners with their peacebuilding, humanitarian and development operations. It was formed by combining the following portfolios: Grants Management Services (GMS), UN Technology Support Services (UNTSS), and Development and Special Initiatives Portfolio (DSIP). It provides services to partners’ programmes that are designed, structured, and managed with a global perspective and primarily serving partners that are headquartered in New York. The SDC has a footprint of approximately 125 countries.
UNOPS has signed an agreement with the United Nations Office for Counte-Terrorism (UNOCT) to implement the activities of the EU-UN Global Terrorism Threats Facility project.
UNOCT was established by the General Assembly in June 2017. The Office has five main functions: (a) provide leadership on the General Assembly counter-terrorism mandate across the United Nations System; (b) enhance coordination and coherence across the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Coordination Compact to ensure the balanced implementation of the four pillars of the Strategy; (c) strengthen the delivery of United Nations counter-terrorism capacity-building assistance to Member States; (d) improve visibility, advocacy and resource mobilization for United Nations counter-terrorism efforts; and ensure that due priority is given to counter-terrorism across the United Nations System and that the important work on preventing violent extremism is firmly rooted in the Strategy.
In April 2022, UNOCT and the European Union launched the EU-UN Global Terrorism Threats Facility (the Facility), with the overall objective to provide rapid and flexible support to Member States in building their capacities to detect, prevent, counter, investigate and respond to evolving terrorist threat, while ensuring respect for international law, including international human rights law, international humanitarian law and refugee law as well as the rule of law. The Facility delivers three types of activities: a) advisory and mentoring support through the deployment of experts, in a number of thematic areas determined by Member States’ requests; b) training activities or workshops; and c) limited provision of light, non-lethal equipment. It operates according to the following principles: 1) it is demand-driven, based on official requests from a Member State; and 2) it is complementary to other UN and EU support. Support delivered by the Facility takes in consideration the recommendations from the assessment visits conducted by the Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee, through its Executive Directorate (CTED).
Since 1 January 2022, UNOCT has a functioning Human Rights and Gender Section (HRGS), with the purpose of providing technical assistance, oversight and quality assurance across the Office’s policy, coordination and programmatic functions. UNOCT work on gender is guided by the Gender Mainstreaming Policy and Action Plan (approved in January 2022).
To support the Facility, UNOPS is developing a roster of advisors and experts (the Roster), members of which will deliver assistance across the four pillars of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, depending on the specific need and context of the requesting Member States or regional organizations. Duration of the assignment depends on the tasks and deliverables assigned.
These are positions in UNOPS for supporting activities of the Facility. The incumbents of these positions will be personnel of UNOPS under its full responsibility. The incumbents will become members of the Roster for the duration of the Facility, under a UNOPS retainer contract. He or she will be offered short-term assignments, with possible field deployments, depending on the needs of the Facility or of the requesting Member States.
Functional Responsibilities
Under the supervision of the NYPO Director, and in coordination with the Senior Programme Management Officer of the EU-UN Global Terrorism Threats Facility in UNOCT and the Gender Unit in the Human Rights and Gender Section of UNOCT, the Gender Equality Expert will be expected to perform various activities including:
- Provide strategic and technical guidance to ensure that gender considerations are mainstreamed in all the phases of a support package of the Facility for technical assistance to a requesting Member State, in line with the UNOCT Gender Mainstreaming Policy and Action Plan;
- Conduct context-specific gender analysis related to the thematic area selected by requesting Member States before the Facility’s intervention and provide recommendations on how to avoid and/or mitigate gendered harms and ensure the activity is gender-responsive;
- Provide expert advice, when requested by Member States, on the development of national capacities to conduct context-specific gender analysis, ensuring that national assessments are inclusive with concrete and meaningful gender components:
- Conduct capacity-building activities in the field of gender and counter-terrorism (CT) and prevention and countering of violent extremism (P/CVE);
- Provide high-level advisory services to governmental officials from requesting Member States to increase gender-responsive approaches in their CT and P/CVE activities, in line with the Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy;
- Advise on how to improve the monitoring and evaluation of support packages implemented by the Facility, with strong quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis tools, and methods to capture and analyze gender-sensitive, sex- and age-disaggregated data;
- Advise experts of the Facility on other subject matter areas and/or other relevant partners to include gender considerations in activities performed under the Facility;
- Review and conduct gender analysis of relevant legal frameworks and policy documentation of requesting Member States and provide technical advice to improve gender responsiveness if necessary;
- Prepare a variety of high-quality, written substantive outputs, including analyses, presentations, training materials, and summary reports, related to their assignments.
Education/Experience/Language requirements
*FEMALE CANDIDATES ARE STRONGLY ENCOURAGED TO APPLY”
*CANDIDATES WITH NO UNITED NATIONS OR UNOPS EXPERIENCE ARE STRONGLY ENCOURAGED TO APPLY
Education:
- Advanced University Degree (Master’s Degree or equivalent) preferably in gender studies, International Law, International Relations, Public Administration, or another relevant field with ten (10) years of relevant experience is required; Or
- First Level University Degree (Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent) preferably in gender studies, International Law, International Relations, Public Administration, or another relevant field with twelve (12) years of relevant experience is required.
Work Experience:
Required experience:
- Relevant experience is defined as progressively responsible experience in dealing with issues related to gender and counter-terrorism and prevention and countering of violent extremism;
- Experience in working on programmatic initiatives related to one or more of the following areas violent extremism and counter-terrorism, peacebuilding, women, peace and security, human rights, gender equality and the empowerment of women is required.
Desirable experience (the following experience is optional candidates who do not have it are welcome to apply):
- Experience in developing and conducting capacity-building workshops related to gender and CT and P/CVE, designing and providing technical assistance to a range of audiences, including to senior government officials, would be an asset;
- A minimum of two years of work experience with multilateral organizations is desired;
- Experience in working in diverse country contexts would be an asset.
Languages:
- Fluency in English (both oral and written), is a requirement;
- Fluency in either French, Arabic, or Russian, in addition to English, would be an asset.
How to apply
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