New Policy Specialist jobs in Rochester, NY

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, Programme, and Intergovernmental Division (PPID) supports UN Women offices in all regional and country locations to deliver results in line with UN Women’s Strategic Plan 2022-2025 and internationally agreed goals on gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, including the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Division provides intellectual and strategic leadership on normative support and the delivery of integrated policy and programme advice, including through policy analysis and gender mainstreaming. The Division leverages innovation, knowledge management, and cutting-edge technical expertise to support UN Women programmes and to strengthen the capacity of partners to deliver results on gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. The Division develops and implements UN Women’s programme of work across its normative, coordination, and operational triple mandate and provides policy advice and guidance and technical support to intergovernmental processes, UN system, and UN Women regional and country offices, among other partners and stakeholders. It is organized in thematic sections, which undertake policy research; analyze data on country, regional and global trends; and propose evidence-based options for global policy, norms and standards as well as for UN Women’s policy advocacy and global programme strategies, including Gender Equality Accelerators.

The Governance and Participation Section supports UN Women’s policy and programme work to ensure that all women are able to fully and equally participate in decision-making, and women and girls can benefit from gender responsive laws, policies, budgets, services, and accountable institutions.

Reporting to the Chief, Governance and Participation Section, and in a matrix management arrangement with the head of the Geneva Office or the Eastern and Central Europe Regional Office, the Policy Specialist will contribute to the development, implementation, monitoring and reporting of UN Women’s portfolio on gender responsive foreign policy. The Policy Specialist works in close collaboration with other sections in the Policy, Programme, Intergovernmental Division, as well as country, and regional offices to ensure successful implementation of Impact Area 1 of UN Women’s Strategic Plan on Governance and Participation in Public Life and Outcome 1 of the UAE-UN Women Strategic Partnership Framework 2024-2027; contributing to intergovernmental and global efforts on women-centered and gender-responsive foreign policy as well as technical support; knowledge management to capture analysis and trends related to gender-responsive foreign policy; capacity strengthening for country teams and partners; and strengthening partnerships and resource mobilization strategies relevant for gender-responsive foreign policy.

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Provide technical support to global initiatives on gender-responsive foreign policy:

• Provide high-quality technical support to Country and Regional Offices on gender dimensions of foreign policy design and implementation ensuring broad dissemination and exchange on promising practices and lessons learned;
• Lead the roll out of global initiatives on gender-responsive foreign policy in consultation with country and regional offices;
• Identify and analyze key trends relevant to gender issues across various fields of foreign policy;
• Provide recommendations on programs and initiatives of relevance to gender responsive foreign policy;
• Draft technical papers and briefing materials for various audiences including senior management;
• Participate in and/or represent the organization in various fora including inter-governmental, inter-agency task forces, and international technical and advocacy related to gender-responsive foreign policy as required;
• Develop research concepts, and work plans for various knowledge products.

2. Manage knowledge management efforts related to gender-responsive foreign policy:

• Facilitate the effective planning and exchange of materials and knowledge products related to gender dimensions of the design and implementation various fields of foreign policy;
• Contribute to the development and maintenance of a roster of gender experts who can develop/ provide technical support to UN Women offices, national partners, UNCTs or other UN system entities in various areas of foreign policy;
• Contribute to the production of knowledge products and knowledge dissemination including through new and/or existing communities of practice;;
• Coordinate systematization of lessons learned and South-South/North-North/North-South cooperation.

3. Provide capacity building support to Country Office/ Multi Country Office teams and partners

• Provide substantive technical and policy support to country office and multi-country office programme teams in developing and strengthening projects/programmes related to gender-responsive foreign policy;
• Develop, implement and monitor capacity building initiatives;
• Provide technical support to partners on implementation of a gender-responsive foreign policy
• Provide technical policy advice to programme/project managers/ specialists in the CO and MCOs.

4. Manage monitoring and reporting related to foreign policy:

• Contribute to monitoring and reporting of policy and program objectives, including their financial commitments in line with UN Women’s RBM standards and the Strategic Plan 2022-2025;
• Contribute insightful analysis related to gender dimensions of foreign policy in line with donor reporting requirements and;
• Assess and contribute to improving programme effectiveness related to gender dimensions of the design and implementation various fields of foreign policy.

5. Build partnerships and provide support in developing Resource Mobilization strategies:

• Develop analysis and material to support the engagement with national, regional and global partners;
• Formulate partnership strategies with UN Women and external partner institutions, including governments, private sector, academia, IGOs, and CSOs;
• Establish and nurture relationships with UN Entities, member states, academia, research institutes, civil society and foreign policy experts to expand and share knowledge, exchange views on latest findings and incorporate cutting-edge thinking in UN Women work related to gender responsive foreign policy ;
• Contribute to resource mobilization plans in line with corporate guidelines, including to fulfill corporate and donor reporting, advocacy and information-sharing requirements;
• Coordinate the identification and effective use of relevant data related to regional external partnerships

6. The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organisation.

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

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 Core Values and Competencies: https://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment/application-process#_Values

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES:

• Ability to provide high-quality policy advice and technical support;
• Ability to work effectively and harmoniously with people from varied cultures and professional backgrounds;
• Ability to produce high quality programme documents and knowledge products demonstrating analytical ability;
• Ability to manage for results, translate strategy into achievable plans, with established priorities, and monitor them, making periodic adjustments as necessary;
• Excellent knowledge and programmatic experience in gender responsive foreign policy;
• Ability to establish, build and sustain effective relationships with partners;
• Excellent communication and public speaking skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education and Certification:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in international relations, international law, political science, diplomacy, gender studies, public administration, human rights, social sciences, 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.

Experience:

• At least 5 years of progressively responsible work experience at the national or international level in design, planning, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation of development policies and projects, including on gender equality is required.
• Sound knowledge of international standards on human rights, women's rights and related instruments is required.
• Sound knowledge of foreign policy strategies to advance gender equality is desirable.
• Experience coordinating and liaising with local, national and trans-national civil society, academia, government agencies and/or donors is desirable.
• Experience working in the UN System at country level is desirable.
• 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 in the use of a modern web-based ERP System, preferably Oracle Cloud, is desirable.

Languages:

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

Application:

All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About Us/Employment/UN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form.doc. Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.

Note:

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.

Diversity and inclusion:

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.