UNDP Technical Specialist, Gender Machinery Job Vacancy in Lilongwe, Malawi

Starting Date :(date when the selected candidate is expected to start) 02-Apr-2012
Duration of Initial Contract : 1 Year

Background
Gender inequalities are still high in Malawi. This is evidenced by the Millennium Development Goals lagging behind that have pronounced gender connotations. In order to assist the Government of Malawi (GoM) address these issues and accelerate the achievement of gender-related MDGs, UNDP commissioned a review of the gender machinery in Malawi through the development of a white paper to provide a gender machinery framework for the empowerment of women and improved gender equality in the country.

Major issues of concern identified in the White Paper include the fragmentation of the Gender Machinery; weak coordination mechanisms and unfocussed leadership; limited understanding of gender and its dimensions amongst policy-makers; lack of clarity on mandates, roles and responsibilities of stakeholders of the Gender Machinery; and lack of institutional and individual capacity for joint programming.

Globally, UNDP has the mandate to develop national capacities in three focus areas:
• Participation of women in governance and leadership;
• National policy-making and planning that reflect women’s needs, contributions and interests;
• Strengthening the national knowledge base on gender equality through increased research, data collection and analysis.

The Malawi Country Office has limited technical capacity to provide this support. Consequently the Country Office has created the position of Gender Technical Specialist to be housed in the Growth and Millennium Development Goals Achievement (GMDGA) Cluster. The specialist will work under the guidance and supervision of the Assistant Resident Representative heading the cluster. Main functional areas for the position include technical support for Capacity building for Gender Mainstreaming and Machinery; Women’s political and economic empowerment; knowledge management and networking; and partnership building and resource mobilization.

Duties and Responsibilities
Ensure Capacity Building for Gender Mainstreaming and Machinery through achievement of the following results:
• A capacity development strategy for Gender Machinery formulated and implemented;
• Technical staff in UNDP country office and the public sector have gender skills and expertise;
• Gender mainstreaming guidelines for UNDP, Public Sector and Private Sector developed and disseminated;
• Gender mainstreamed in the national budget guidelines and MGDS reporting guidelines;
UNDP Country Office Gender Strategy developed and implemented.

Ensure women’s political and economic empowerment through achievement of the following results:
• National programme on political empowerment of women developed and implemented;
• National programme on economic empowerment of women developed and implemented;
• MDG Acceleration Framework (MAF) for Malawi developed and implemented;
• Effective coordination between Gender and the Youth and Governance Sectors in the planning and implementation of the national programme on women’s political empowerment;
• Effective coordination between Gender, the Youth Sector and key economic sectors in the planning and implementation of the national programme on women’s economic empowerment;
• Effective collaboration between Gender and the Youth and Governance sectors in advocating for political parties’ promotion of policies that increase women’s participation in political decision-making;
• Transformative leadership for advocating increased women’s participation in decision-making in public and private sector institutions including CSOs.

Establishment of a Gender Data Base for effective gender networking and knowledge management through achievement of the following results:
• Sector specific gender disaggregated data;
• Functional Gender Information Management System (GIMS) within MoGCCD;
• Best practices and lessons learnt from UNDP-supported programmes/projects documented and publicized;
• Key results for all UNDP-supported programmes/projects have gender-based indicators and targets;
• UNDP technical progress reports have gender specific results;
• MGDS Monitoring and Evaluation Framework have gender-based indicators and targets.

Strengthened partnerships and resource mobilization mechanisms through achievement of the following results:
• Sustainable partnerships between Government and non-State Actors in the planning and implementation of initiatives on women’s political and economic empowerment;
• High-level public-private partnership dialogue forum on Gender for timely policy level decision-making;
• National Resource Mobilization Strategy for Gender developed and implemented.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:
• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism.

Functional Competencies:

Knowledge Management
• Promotes gender knowledge management and a learning environment through demonstrated transformative leadership;
• Contributes to Gender knowledge networks locally and internationally;
• Demonstrates research and analytical skills with gender lens.

Program Operational Effectiveness
• Ability to analyze and coordinate results-oriented strategic interventions;
• In-depth knowledge and understanding of principles relating to gender;
• In-depth knowledge of current gender equality issues pertaining to developing countries;
• Ability to conceptualize gender issues;
• Good policy and technical advisory skills including grasp of methodological and operational dimensions;
• Ability to link corporate, regional and country level gender issues within the context of national and international policy and legal frameworks;
• Results oriented;
• Flexible self-starter accustomed to working with strict deadlines.

Management, Leadership and public relations
• Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
• Strong interpersonal and diplomatic skills to deal with a wide range of national and international stakeholders;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities;
• Leads teams effectively and shows mentoring as well as conflict resolution skills;
• Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:
• At least a Masters Degree in Social Sciences such as Gender, Sociology, Development Studies or any other related field.

Experience:
• At least 5years’ work experience in Gender related field, including expertise in gender mainstreaming, women empowerment, gender Machinery reform, policy and legal framework development, capacity development and research, data analysis and advocacy;
• Understanding of socio – economic and development policy environment in Africa in general and Malawi in particular;
• In-depth understanding of gender equality issues and the role of the public and private sector including non-state actors in advancing gender agenda;
• Good understanding of the functioning of public sector and non-state actors.

Language Requirements:
• Fluency in English with excellent verbal and written communication, drafting and presentation skills.

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

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Closing Date: Monday, 30 January 2012