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.

Afghanistan is one of the world’s most complex emergencies, and one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises. Afghan people are grappling with the impact of insecurity, poverty, economic decline, and natural disasters. Since the takeover by Taliban in August 2021, Afghanistan has witnessed a progressive erasure of women’s rights and freedoms, through over 70 formal and informal edicts, messages and practices. It is essential that Afghan women and girls continue to shape the development of their country, and that their gains are protected. UN Women remains fully committed to supporting Afghan women and girls and to putting them at the center of the global response to the crisis in Afghanistan. In the evolving context UN Women continues to reconfigure and adapt its programming to be responsive to ensure the full spectrum of rights of Afghan women and girls are met.

UN Women’s programming approach in Afghanistan is informed by analysis of the political, economic and humanitarian situation, risks to, and capacities of, partner organizations, and needs of Afghan women and girls. UN Women Afghanistan currently has five key programme priorities: (1) Gender in Humanitarian Action, (2) Ending Violence Against Women, (3) Women’s Economic Empowerment, (4) Contributing to Rebuilding Women Civil Society Organizations, and (5) Women, Peace and Security. Given the operational context in country, UN Women has also strengthened its 5 sub offices to ensure a more localized approach to its programming.

The 2024 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP) identified 23.7 million people in need – 53% of the entire population- and it requires USD 3.06 billion in funding. In addition, the 2023-25 UN Strategic Framework for Afghanistan (UNSFA) stresses the acute basic human needs that vulnerable populations across the country continue to face – in terms of access to services, livelihoods and social cohesion/human rights. The (immediate) humanitarian challenges, as well as the (longer-term) basic human needs situation, compound each other, making the crisis in Afghanistan particularly complex.

Engaging women’s organization has a catalytic impact on promoting Humanitarian-Peace-Development nexus. Women-led/focused CSOs play a pivotal role in ensuring meaningful delivery of services to women and girls in any context but the role of these organizations is even more critical in gender-segregated societies like Afghanistan. Women CSOs have a catalytic effect in reaching people in need as they are deeply embedded in the communities where they work. The presence of women-led and women-focused CSOs is paramount to navigating the constrained operational environment and facilitating gender-sensitive programming. Further, addressing the needs of women is at the forefront of women focused CSOs’ programming, rather than just one component of their operations.

In Afghanistan, to ensure a gendered response to a worsening humanitarian situation, the UN Women Afghanistan Country Office is working actively to provide strategic leadership and technical support to ensure the humanitarian response fully responds to the specific needs and priorities of women in girls through elevating support the humanitarian response architecture as well develop targeted programming. Within the worsening humanitarian context in Afghanistan and multiple restrictions on women’s rights and movement, additional emphasis is being placed on the gendered impacts of the crisis, such as gender targeted security incidents further impacting space for women humanitarian workers or the impact on women’s access to humanitarian services, amongst others.

Under the Gender in Humanitarian Action (GiHA) Unit, UN Women is partnering with the Special Trust Fund for Afghanistan (STFA) and with the Women, Peace and Humanitarian Fund to support women organizations to deliver gender-responsive, results driven programs linking the humanitarian response to basic human needs programming and to influence the aid coordination structure to increase the accountability of the humanitarian response and its connection with basic human needs programing.

Reporting to the Head of Field Office, with dotted line reporting to GiHA Programme Specialist, the Project Coordinator is responsible for coordinating the implementation of UN Women GiHA programmes in the field, specifically the engagement with women-led/focused partner organizations.

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Coordinate the implementation of the GiHA projects relating to women-led organizations in the field:

• Provide support to GiHA Unit in terms of (i) dissemination of expression of interests/call for proposals to women’s organizations in the field (ii) review and (iii) selection of project partners.
• Provide support to GiHA Unit in terms of collecting the required information and supporting documents from applicants.
• Provide support to GiHA unit to finalize the risk-based capacity assessments and partner agreements.

2. Provide technical assistance and capacity development support to project partners:

• Provide technical inputs to learning tools, best practices and innovations in business operational practices and management for staff, partners and women organization partners.
• Conduct capacity development workshops for partners and missions.
• Coordinate and facilitate technical/programming support and trainings to partners as needed; in particular, support with relevant trainings to enhance their management and operations processes and reporting.
• Provide technical support to and oversee the implementation of programme activities with partners.

3. Provide technical inputs to the monitoring and reporting of the project:

• Monitor progress on project activity, results and indicators, as well as review narrative reports prepared by partners to monitor the implementation of their proposals.
• Share regular ad-hoc observation and updates the Head of Field Office on any concerns, challenges, successes, impact and opportunities in project implementation.
• Provide monthly monitoring report to GiHA Unit at national level.
• Provide inputs to internal quarterly reports, external donor reports and other reports on outputs, results outputs and outcomes, as requested by GiHA Unit and Head of Field Office.

4. Provide advanced administrative support to the financial management of the project:

• Monitor budget preparation of partners and prepare periodic reports to finalize FACE forms.
• Review financial reports prepared by partners and ensure alignment with workplan and budget.
• Maintain expenditures tracking tool for partners.

5. Provide inputs to advocacy, knowledge building and communication efforts

• Provide technical inputs to background documents, briefs and presentations related to the WPHF and Twinning Projects
• Coordinate and support the organization of advocacy activities and campaigns events, trainings, workshops and knowledge products.
• Provide inputs to the development of knowledge management products on the CSO Twinning Project.
• Contributes to knowledge networks and communities of practice.

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

Supervisory/Managerial Responsibilities:

The Project Coordinator works under the direct supervision of UN Women Head of Field Office with guidance from the Programme Specialist in Kabul.

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/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES:

• Good knowledge and understanding of the local (Eastern or Western region of Afghanistan) humanitarian and/or development context service delivery.
• Good knowledge of monitoring, reporting and results based management.
• Good budget and finance skills.
• Ability to gather and interpret data, reach logical conclusions and present findings and recommendations.
• Good analytical skills.
• Strong interpersonal, communication and coordination skills and experience with developing working relations with government, civil society, and other development partners.
• Knowledge of UN programme management systems.

Required Skills and Experience

Education and Certification:

• Master’s degree (or equivalent) in Political or Social Science, Economics, International Development Studies, Gender/Women’s Studies or similar relevant degree 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 (such as PMP®, PRINCE2®, or MSP®) would be an added advantage.

Experience:

• At least 2 years of progressively responsible experience at the national or international level in managing complex and multi-component programme interventions with national partners, preferably related to thematic area is required. Experience in partnership management is required.
• Experience in humanitarian and/or development organization is required.
• Experience in coordinating, implementing, monitoring and evaluating development programmes and projects 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.
• Experience in using online communication tools is desirable.
• Experience in civil society and women advocacy area is desirable.

Languages:

• Fluency in English required.
• Fluency in Dari and/or Pashto required

Application:

• All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from Application and recruitment process | About us: Careers at UN Women | UN Women – Headquarters 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.

Inclusion Statement:

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits employ, 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.)