Job Purpose and Organizational Context

UNDP is the knowledge frontier organization for sustainable development in the UN Development System and serves as the integrator for collective action to realize the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UNDP’s policy work carried out at HQ, Regional and Country Office levels, forms a contiguous spectrum of deep local knowledge to cutting-edge global perspectives and advocacy. In this context, UNDP invests in the Global Policy Network (GPN), a network of field-based and global technical expertise across a wide range of knowledge domains and in support of the signature solutions and organizational capabilities envisioned in the Strategic Plan.

Within the GPN, the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS) has the responsibility for developing all relevant policy and guidance to support the results of UNDP’s Strategic Plan. BPPS’s staff provides technical advice to Country Offices, advocates for UNDP corporate messages, represents UNDP at multi-stakeholder fora including public-private dialogues, government, and civil society dialogues, and engages in UN inter-agency coordination in specific thematic areas. BPPS works closely with UNDP’s Crisis Bureau (CB) to support emergency and crisis response. BPPS ensures that issues of risk are fully integrated into UNDP’s development programmes.  BPPS assists UNDP and partners to achieve higher quality development results through an integrated approach that links results-based management and performance monitoring with more effective and new ways of working.  BPPS supports UNDP and partners to be more innovative, knowledge and data-driven including in its programme support efforts.

UNDP has achieved significant progress in making gender equality and women’s empowerment integral to its work on human development. UNDP’s Gender Equality Strategy 2022-2025, which built on the lessons of the previous strategies, established as the main goal to help governments to shift systems and power structures that generate gender inequalities and women’s disempowerment. UNDP works through its six signature solutions on poverty and inequality, governance, resilience, environment, energy, and gender equality; it promotes integrated approaches in each thematic area, stronger investments in data and analysis, and the implementation of innovative solutions to transform social norms, as well as stronger partnerships with UN agencies and with civil society. It also puts continued emphasis on institutional transformation for gender equality, including through continued implementation of its flagship initiative, the Gender Equality Seal for Development.

The Gender Team (BPPS) has the leading role in the implementation of the Gender Equality Strategy 2022-2025, including through the implementation of Gender Equality Global Program 2023-2025.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Coordinator of the Gender Equality Seal for Development, under the supervision of the Director of the Gender Team (New York), will:

1. Lead the implementation of the Gender Equality Seal for Development.

• Lead the implementation of the Gender Equality Seal for Development, launching the Fifth Round of the Seal for Country Offices and expanding it to Regional Hubs and Headquarters Teams, including coordinating the review and update of its methodology.
• Ensure effective management of the Seal initiative, including by budgeting and managing financial resources; and by recruiting/training personnel as needed.
• Liaise with key internal actors for the effective implementation of the Seal, including Central (e.g., BPPS, CB, BMS, BERA, etc.) and Regional Bureaus, Regional Hubs (RH) and Country Offices (CO).
• Provide strategic advice and oversight/quality assurance to the overall Seal offer, including to the technical support for participant Country Offices and Central/Regional Bureaus (e.g., assessments and missions), and to the learning and knowledge management plans.

2. Build and maintain strategic partnerships and strengthening resource mobilization.

• Represent UNDP and the Gender Team in UN interagency coordination spaces, as well as in other fora, to advance UNDP’s strategic thought leadership on institutional transformation for gender equality.
• Provide substantive advice and support to strengthen strategic partnerships to advance UNDP’s strategic agenda on institutional transformation for gender equality.
• Strengthen resource mobilization efforts for the expansion of this area of work, including by identifying funding opportunities, preparing funding concepts and proposals, spearheading donor briefings, etc.
• Attend meetings, prepare concept notes, presentations, briefs and talking points for Senior Management as needed, including to communicate and propel ambitious results of the Seal.

3. Ensure effective knowledge and capacity building, knowledge sharing and advocacy.

• Contribute to knowledge management on institutional transformation for gender equality, aligned to UNDP’s new global Knowledge Management Strategy and Framework for Action.
• Ensure synergies between the Gender Equality Seal’s Knowledge Management and Learning Plans and other Knowledge Management and Learning initiatives implemented by the Team, including to lead knowledge sharing and management in newer priority areas.
• Ensure that data and good practices collected from Gender Seal assessments is in accessible format and helps to strengthen the narrative of the implementation of the GES 2022-2025; prepare briefs and presentations accordingly.
• Keep the Gender Team and the GPN abreast of main advances on institutional transformation for gender equality.

4. Provide strategic advice and support for the implementation of the Institutional Transformation Section of the Gender Equality Strategy 2022-2025.

• Ensure the Gender Equality Seal continues to be the UNDP global initiative for operationalizing the Gender Equality Strategy.
• Provide strategic advice and contribute to the implementation of the different aspects of the Institutional Transformation Section of the GES 2022-2025, with a particular focus on integration and specialization (e.g., participatory portfolio reviews) and an equal and inclusive culture (e.g., mobilizing men for gender equality).
• Contribute to the design, monitoring, and implementation of the Gender Team’s Institutional Transformation Plan, to enable the internal changes needed for UNDP to deliver transformative results on gender equality.
• Attend meetings, prepare concept notes, presentations, briefs and talking points for Senior Management as needed.

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

Institutional Arrangement.

The incumbent will work under the direct supervision of the Director of the Gender Team.

Competencies:

Core:

Achieve Results:   LEVEL 3: Set and align challenging, achievable objectives for multiple projects, have lasting impact.

Think Innovatively: LEVEL 3: Proactively mitigate potential risks, develop new ideas to solve complex problems.

Learn Continuously: LEVEL 3: Create and act on opportunities to expand horizons, diversify experiences.

Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 3: Proactively initiate and champion change, manage multiple competing demands.

Act with Determination: LEVEL 3: Think beyond immediate task/barriers and take action to achieve greater results.

Engage and Partner: LEVEL 3: Political savvy, navigate complex landscape, champion inter-agency collaboration.

Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 3: Appreciate benefits of diverse workforce and champion inclusivity.

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies: 

• 2030 Agenda: People
  • Gender
    • Gender Mainstreaming.
    • Gender Issues and Analysis.
• 2030 Agenda: Engagement and Effectiveness
  • Effectiveness
    • RBM standards and practices for programming.
    • Performance and data analysis and sharing lessons.
    • Development Partnership Architecture.
• Business Direction and Strategy
  • SystemThinking
    • Ability to use objective problem analysis and judgement to understand how interrelated elements coexist within an overall process or system, and to consider how altering one element can impact on other parts of the system.
• Business Management
  • Communication
    • Ability to communicate in a clear, concise, and unambiguous manner both through written and verbal communication; to tailor messages and choose communication methods depending on the audience. Ability to manage communications internally and externally, through media, social media, and other appropriate channels.

Required Skills and Experience

Minimum education requirements:

• Advanced university degree (master’s or equivalent) in Social Sciences, Gender Equality and/or other related disciplines, OR
• A first-level university degree (bachelor’s degree) In the areas mentioned above, in combination with an additional two years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Minimum years of relevant work experience:

• Minimum of seven (7) years (with master’s degree) or nine (9) years (with bachelor’s degree) of progressively responsible professional experience in gender and development, particularly institutional development, and gender mainstreaming.

Required skills:

• Experience in providing technical and project management support, particularly in complex initiatives including different levels (global, regional, and country levels) is required.
• Experience in the use of computers, office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and web-based management systems, and advanced knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages is required.

Desired skills:

• Knowledge of UNDP operations and structures, particularly those related to gender equality and women’s empowerment; and of gender equality certification schemes is highly desirable.
• Understanding and experience on institutional transformation for gender equality is highly desirable.
• Proven experience in partnerships and resource mobilization is desirable.
• Proven experience in knowledge management and learning is an asset.
• Working knowledge of another UN language is an asset.

Required Language(s):

• Fluency in English, both written and oral is required.
• Working knowledge of a second UN language is an asset.