Programme Specialist Strategic Planning and Coordination Vacancy-Job Ref: WJMGUNWOMEN/0407/2025819

Programme Specialist Strategic Planning and Coordination Vacancy-Job Ref: WJMGUNWOMEN/0407/2025819

Antananarivo (Madagascar)

Job Description

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 UN Women Regional Office for East and Southern Africa furthers gender equality in the ESA region, including by addressing deeply embedded discriminatory social norms and practices. The Regional Office works across the following areas: Governance and Inter-governmental support (including Gender Statistics); Women’s Economic Empowerment (including Migration, Ending Violence Against Women; Women, Peace, and Security; Climate Change, Disaster Risk Reduction, and Humanitarian Action. The Eastern and Southern Africa region (ESAR) comprises 22 countries.

UN Women exercises its triple mandate and functions at a regional level and in support of UN Women’s offices and UN Country Teams (UNCT) in 13 countries and oversees and manages programming where there is programme presence and provides support on demand to an additional 12 countries where UN women has no physical presence (Non-resident Agencies – NRAs) within ESAR.

UN Women is currently looking for a National Gender Specialist for Madagascar. The Gender Specialist will work under dual supervision. The primary level is the Resident Coordinator Office (RCO), and the secondary level is the UN Women ESA-RO Strategic Planning and Coordination Specialist. The National Gender Specialist will be embedded in the Resident Coordinator’s Office of Madagascar and report directly to RCO Head of Office. The National Gender Specialist will be responsible for supporting country-level strategic planning processes on gender issues across the UNCT.

He/she will provide technical support towards building partnerships around women’s rights and equality with entities, inter-governmental bodies, UN agencies, the women’s association, youth groups, organizations of persons with disabilities, multi and bilateral donors. He/she will also support the Government’s engagement in intergovernmental processes. Additionally, he/she will provide technical and capacity development support in UNSDCF formulation and implementation processes, including supporting joint program development, implementation of normative frameworks (CEDAW, Beijing+30, CSO, SDG’s VNR, WPS 1325, etc) and UN inter-agency coordination, including coordination processes and accountability for the advancement of women’s rights and equality.

He/she will also support the UNCT with resource mobilization efforts in consultation with the UN Women Regional Strategic Partnerships Advisor, and other members of the UN Women ESARO team as relevant, as well as knowledge management

High-quality technical and policy advisory support to Resident Coordinator (RC), the Resident Coordinator’s Office (RCO) and the UNCT.

Lead analyzes on gender issues in Madagascar, including thematic analyzes in areas such as agriculture, industrialization, among others;
Provide advisory support to the RC and UNCT in their efforts to support the Government of Madagascar’s initiatives towards women’s rights and equality. Including, where relevant, advising on the development of gender-responsive policy and legal frameworks in-country;
Draft policy documents, briefs, and other strategic background papers for use by the UNCT to inform policy and programmatic positions, making the case for investments in gender;

Coordinate research and analysis on the social and economic situation in the country related to women’s rights and equality, including supporting the development and implementation of Country Gender Equality Briefs/Profiles.
Provide technical inputs in the development of programs, implementation, monitoring, and progress reporting with a gender lens;
Provide analysis and guidance to the RC, the RCO, the UNCT on key gender issues;
Coordinate the UNCT Madagascar’s contribution towards key normative processes such as periodic report of CEDAW, Commission on Status of Women, SDGs voluntary national review, 1325 and Beijing Platform for Action + 30.

Technical and advisory support in inter-agency coordination on Common Country Assessments (CCA) and United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Frameworks (UNSDCF) processes.

Provide technical support in mainstreaming gender concerns in the planning, development, implementation, monitoring, evaluation, annual reviews, and progress reporting of the UNSDCF, and briefings to the UNSDCF Steering Committee;
Coordinate and provide substantive inputs in the conduct of rigorous gender analysis to inform the Common Country Assessment (CCA), including its annual updates, analyzing root causes of gender inequalities and discrimination that results in differentiated impacts for men and women, boys and girls;

Support the preparation of analytical and regular progress reports on gender equality marker index through UNINFO, in close coordination with the RCO Data Management Officer, support the implementation of the UNCT’s gender financing plan;
Support the preparation of analytical and regular progress reports on UN Women’s experiences in support of its inter-agency coordination role.
Foster coherent inter-agency planning, analysis, and action for women’s rights and equality:

Coordinate and provide strategic analysis and advice to the RC and UNCT on gender perspectives and opportunities to support inclusive engagement of women in the development assistance provided by the UNCT where applicable;
Coordinate and provide technical support to strengthen UNCT’s commitment and accountability for gender equality including supporting the UNCT-SWAP Gender Equality Scorecard exercise and implementation of its Action Plan.

Provide strategic guidance and support to joint programs to ensure equality outcomes are central;
Support the implementation of relevant system-wide UN strategies and frameworks at the country level, such as the SG’s Gender Equality Acceleration Plan, the UNCT’s Gender Parity Strategy and the UN Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) strategy and support related monitoring and reporting;
Support capacity-building initiatives of GTGs, UNCTs, staff, government, and women-led organizations on mainstreaming gender concerns into UNSDCF, Gender Scorecard, Gender Markers, and others;
Support and coordinate partnerships with relevant UN Agencies, government institutions, inter-governmental bodies, bilateral and multi-lateral donors, private sector, civil society, media, etc., to support successful development and implementation of programmatic activities at country level.
Interagency advocacy and facilitation of knowledge building and management:

Coordinate interagency efforts to establish advocacy networks and linkages to international networks related to women’s rights and equality;
Coordinate the development of relevant interagency advocacy strategies and their implementation;
Lead and oversee the process of identifying and synthesizing best practices and lessons learned, according to priorities set by the UNCT; and contribute to their dissemination.
Coordinate technical support to strategic partnerships building and resource mobilization in close coordination with the RCO partnerships and development financing officer:

Coordinate the provision of technical and substantive inputs to partnerships and joint resource mobilization strategies related to gender issues and the Cooperation Framework;
Support interagency efforts to liaise with key stakeholders to build and strengthen strategic alliances and partnerships on women’s rights and gender equality initiatives;
Coordinate, review, and lead the development of interagency briefs on possible areas of cooperation, including the identification of opportunities for cost-sharing.
Support the UNCT in engaging in intergovernmental and normative work related to gender concerns with national partners:

Provide expert guidance and advice to the RC, UNCT, development partners, and national counterparts on the implementation of key UN frameworks and conventions on gender equality;
Coordinate UNCT’s preparation and follow-up on key inter-governmental processes for the advancement of gender equality, including contributions to relevant global/regional reports and background documents;
Advise the RC and UNCT on gender-related SDG consultations and outcomes of regional and global inter-governmental processes on the advancement of women.

Skills:

Core Values:

Professionalism;
Respect for Diversity.
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 Values ​​and Competencies

Framework: Functional Competencies:

Ability to support strategic planning, results-based management and reporting.
Ability to support formulation, implementation, monitoring and reporting of development programs and projects.
Ability to advocate and provide policy advice.
Ability to implement new systems and affect staff behavioral/attitudinal change.
Ability to build strong relationships with development stakeholders focused on impact and results for target beneficiaries.
Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude.
Ability to lead teams effectively and shows conflict resolution skills.
Demonstrates good oral and written communication skills.

Education and Certification:

Master’s degree (or equivalent) in Economics, International Development, Gender, Human Rights, or in other related Social Sciences;
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/program management certification (such as PMP®, PRINCE2®, or MSP®) would be an added advantage.

Experience:

Minimum 5 years of progressively responsible experience at the national or international level in the provision of policy advice and developing projects’ design, planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation;
In-depth contextual understanding, technical and practical expertise, and relationship building skills to define and deliver UN strategic ambition for advancing gender related outcomes in Madagascar;
Experience in setting priorities, budgets, work plans, participating in program development, and program writing;
Technical experience in the field of gender and/or human rights of women in the economy is preferred;
Prior experience in the UN System and working on UN System coordination is also desirable;
Experience in partnership building with development stakeholders including national governments, international organizations, and other UN entities;
Experience in leading teams effectively is an asset.

Language:

Fluency in English, French and Malagasy is required;

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