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.

UN Women in Bangladesh supports the government to implement commitments to international normative standards on gender equality and women’s human rights. In line with UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) the UN Women Bangladesh Strategic Note (2022-2026), defines UN Women’s strategic engagement in Bangladesh. The country strategy focuses on strengthening the national structures and mechanisms for gender mainstreaming in policies, plans and budgets; supporting efforts to prevent and eliminate violence against women; promoting women’s access to decent and safe work; promoting policies and government investment in women’s empowerment and resilience building in the context of climate change, humanitarian crisis as well as other threats to peace and security. UN Women works with a range of stakeholders in Bangladesh including the government, civil society and women’s organisations, youth, UN agencies and donors, to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment.

UN Women in Bangladesh is supporting the Government of Bangladesh with the Rohingya humanitarian crisis response. In 2017-2018, UN Women developed its humanitarian response programme in partnership with the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs to meet the specific needs of the most vulnerable and marginalized Rohingya Refugee Women and Girls and the women and girls in the host communities affected by the refugee influx in Cox’s Bazar. The objective of the programme is to ensure protection, as well as equitable and safe access to and benefit from life-saving humanitarian assistance and information to the most vulnerable, and marginalized Rohingya and host community women while assisting them to live with dignity, regain resilience and overcome restrictive gender norms. The programme promotes women’s participation and leadership in the camps and host community, peace and social cohesion building activities, and gender-responsive policing. UN Women is an active member of the Protection Sector and the Gender-Based Violence Sub-Sector (GBV-SS) and chairs the Gender in Humanitarian Action Working Group (GiHA WG) for the Rohingya Refugee Response to promote gender-responsive humanitarian action across humanitarian agencies in Cox’s Bazar.

UN Women is seeking to recruit a team of three (3) highly motivated and experienced female Gender Field Officers (GFO) in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. The role of the GFO is to work in close collaboration with humanitarian actors in the camps for ensuring gender equality and women’s empowerment considerations are mainstreamed across the response, supporting related sensitization, capacity development, assessments, information dissemination, partnership building and advocacy efforts of women’s networks and groups within assigned Rohingya refugee camps.

Reporting to the GFO Coordination Analyst, with a matrix line to the GiHA Coordination Analyst, GFOs are members of the Gender Responsive Governance and Protection team of the UN Women Sub-Office in Cox’s Bazar. The GFOs work in close collaboration with the programme and operations team within the Sub-Office, UN Women Country Office Disaster Risk Reduction, Climate Change and Humanitarian Action team to ensure successful implementation of camp-level initiatives.

Description and Responsibilities:

1. Support technical assistance and capacity development initiatives on gender mainstreaming and gender in humanitarian action:

• Support humanitarian actors at the camp level to implement capacity building initiatives on gender responsive programming and gender mainstreaming principles, facilitating these on as needed basis;
• Support access to capacity building initiatives for female leaders, including female Majhis, religious leaders and leaders of self-organized Rohingya women’s networks and groups, to build their leadership skills and meaningful participation in humanitarian efforts, facilitating trainings on as needed basis.

2. Support camp-level coordination and partnership building on gender in humanitarian action:

• Conduct/support coordination meetings on GiHA issues at the camp-level according to the IASC GiHA Handbook guidance and IASC Gender Equality Policy, taking minutes and ensuring action points are implemented;
• Coordinate daily with humanitarian actors, government officials and Rohingya women’s groups and WROs to promote gender equality and gender responsive service delivery;
• Contribute gender-specific inputs to camp management meetings, consulting with women’s rights organizations and Rohingya women leaders on key gender issues, and coordinate follow-up actions;
• In collaboration with self-organized Rohingya women’s groups, women’s rights organizations (WROs) and relevant sector focal points at the camp level, facilitate platforms for Rohingya women to raise issues of concern and interest to them.

3. Promote and support knowledge building and advocacy on gender responsive humanitarian action in the camps:

• Support inter-agency needs assessments and contribute inputs to the development of GiHA WG knowledge and advocacy products highlighting camp-level gender issues, initiatives and collective results, ensuring sex, age, and disability disaggregated data (SADD);
• Act as the focal point to provide information, regular updates and technical advice on gender responsive multisectoral services to Camp-in-Charges and sectoral focal points, consolidating information and promoting referral pathways, ensuring these are communicated effectively by service providers and through women’s networks;
• Promote shared knowledge and understanding of gender mainstreaming guiding principles and tools for gender responsive services and support within the camps;
• Contribute inputs on normative frameworks and international and national commitments on gender equality and women’s rights to camp-level dialogues and events;
• Coordinate/support the organization of advocacy activities and campaigns at the camp level, including International Women’s Day, 16 Days of Activism, and other relevant events, in close collaboration with protection and GBV actors, Rohingya women leaders, and UN Women Responsible Parties (RPs).

4. Support monitoring and accountability for gender-responsive programming by partners and UN Women in the camps:

• On as needed basis, participate in and support quality assurance of gender responsiveness of diverse humanitarian services in collaboration with humanitarian partners, drafting reports with recommendations;
• Conduct monitoring visits to women and children police help desks (WCPHDs) to identify gender issues, gaps, good practices, and provide on-the-job coaching to female police;
• With guidance from UN Women Programme Analysts, conduct/support monitoring visits to UN Women RPs in the camps, taking notes of visits and providing advice to improve gender-responsiveness of service delivery and alignment with humanitarian standards and guiding principles, including on AAP, GBV and PSEA, monitoring follow-up;
• Coordinate closely with UN Women RP managing the Gender Volunteer network at the camp level, monitoring activities and providing inputs and guidance to ensure their activities align with IASC guidelines on GBV, best practice standards on behavioral change programming, and GiHA for principles on women’s leadership.

5. Contribute to planning and reporting on UN Women’s work in Cox’s Bazar:

• Support data management, contributing regular updates on the status and results of camp-level activities;
• Provide inputs to UN Women planning documents, annual budget and procurement plan;
• Prepare inputs for UN Women donor and annual reporting, and resource mobilization, contributing field level data and insights on gender issues, gaps, good practices, and lessons learned;
• Support preparation for high-level missions and donor visits to highlight UN Women’s work and advocate for continued support.

6. Perform any other relevant duties as assigned to ensure the effective functioning of UN Women’s Cox’s Bazar Sub-Office and the advancement of UN Women’s mission.

Supervisory/Managerial Responsibilities:

The GFO supervises 2 Rohingya Gender Volunteers in up to a maximum of 3 camps, in support of camp-level activities described above.

Competencies :

Core Values:

• Integrity;
• 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:

• Good knowledge of results-based programme formulation, implementation, monitoring and reporting;
• Good knowledge of gender responsive programming and gender mainstreaming in humanitarian contexts;
• Good communication, and networking skills;
• Good analytical skills;
• Knowledge of the Rohingya humanitarian response is an asset;
• Proactive, self-motivated, and a team player.

Qualifications :

Education and Certification:

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in social sciences, development studies, human rights, gender/women’s studies, or a related field is required.
• A higher-level academic degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the bachelor’s level university degree.

Experience: 

• At minimum 6 years of progressively responsible experience in humanitarian programme/project implementation, monitoring, and reporting with a focus on gender equality and empowerment of women and girls.
• At minimum 2 years of experience in providing technical assistance and capacity building support on gender.
• Field experience working with Rohingya women and girls is an asset.
• Experience in training with government officers on gender-responsive service provision, accountability and justice mechanisms will be an asset.
• Experience in the usage of data collection tools is an asset.

Languages:

• Fluency in English and Bengali is required.
• Proficiency in Chittagonian and/or Rohingya is an asset.

Statements :

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.)

Level of Education: Bachelor Degree

Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: No requirements