UN Women Regional Programme Specialist,Africa, IPSA 10, Home based at UN Women
Worldwide
<p><b>Background:</b></p> <p>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.</p> <p>Established by <a href="http://undocs.org/A/RES/50/166" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">UN General Assembly Resolution 50/166</a> in 1996, the <b>United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against Women and Girls</b> (UN Trust Fund) is the first and remains the only global UN funding mechanism dedicated exclusively to providing direct grants to civil society organizations working to prevent and end all forms of violence against women and girls (EVAW/G). Since 2010, UN Women has administered the UN Trust Fund on behalf of the UN system, providing a strong institutional foundation and field support through a global infrastructure of country and regional offices.</p> <p>With nearly three decades of experience, the UN Trust Fund is a key global mechanism for funding initiatives that aim to eliminate violence against women and girls. Under its Strategic Plan 2026–2030, the UN Trust Fund advances survivor-centered, feminist and demand-driven grant-making, prioritizing organizations working with women and girls who face intersecting forms of discrimination, including women and girls with disabilities, Indigenous women, rural women and those affected by crisis and conflict. To date, the UN Trust Fund has supported 725 initiatives across 140 countries and territories, contributing to sustainable, locally led efforts to end violence against women and girls. </p> <p>Under the guidance and direct supervision of the UN Trust Fund Global Grants Manager, the <b>EVAW Regional Programme Specialist </b>manages a portfolio of grants across Africa and contributes to the implementation of the UN Trust Fund’s global grant-making, accompaniment, monitoring, capacity development, learning and partnership functions. The Programme Specialist provides strategic and technical support to grantee partners throughout the grant lifecycle, ensuring high-quality feminist-informed EVAW/G programming, effective risk management, institutional strengthening, and compliance with UN Women and UN Trust Fund requirements and also provides portfolio analysis and recommendations to inform decision-making by UNTF senior management, based on portfolio performance, risks, and emerging trends.</p> <p>The Regional EVAW/G Programme Specialist works closely with UN Women Regional and Country Offices, civil society organizations, women’s rights organizations, feminist movements, UN entities, and other strategic stakeholders to strengthen portfolio coherence, generate practice-based knowledge, and ensure that lessons and evidence from grantee partners contribute to broader UN Women and UN system learning, advocacy, and programming on EVAW/G.</p> <table> <tbody> <tr> <td> <p style="margin-left:0in"><b>III. Scope of Work</b></p> <p style="margin-left:0in"><b>1. Lead Technical Accompaniment, Capacity Strengthening and Quality Assurance for EVAW/G Grant Programmes</b></p> <ul> <li>Provide tailored technical accompaniment and advisory support to grantee partners on the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of EVAW/G programmes, ensuring interventions are survivor-centered, gender-transformative, and grounded in international norms and evidence-driven practice.</li> <li>Identify programme design, implementation and institutional capacity gaps across the grant cycle and provide tailored technical guidance to strengthen programme management, organizational resilience, coordination mechanisms and institutional responses to violence against women and girls. </li> <li>Strengthen grantee institutional capacity and organizational resilience by supporting improvements in programme management, monitoring and reporting, financial management, governance, procurement, safeguarding, partnership management, operational compliance and long-term sustainability. </li> <li>Promote feminist learning, partner-centred accompaniment and adaptive management, including the identification of operational risks, resilience challenges and tailored support needs, while supporting and monitoring grantee compliance with UN Trust Fund requirements, including safeguarding, PSEA, anti-fraud and accountability standards. </li> <li> <p>Develop and disseminate technical guidance, tools, templates, learning resources and practice-based knowledge products to support high-quality grant implementation, institutional strengthening and the application of international norms and standards related to ending violence against women and girls.</p> <p> </p></li> </ul> <p style="margin-left:0in"><b>2. Manage and Monitor Regional Grants Portfolios</b></p> <ul> <li>Manage a portfolio of grants across the full grant lifecycle, coordinating all programmatic and operational processes related to grant implementation, including project revisions, budget modifications, disbursements, no-cost extensions, partner agreement amendments, asset transfers and project closure.</li> <li>Monitor and assess grantee performance through the systematic review of narrative and financial reports, partner consultations, monitoring missions, risk assessments and portfolio analysis.</li> <li>Ensure grant implementation complies with UN Trust Fund policies, UN Women procedures, safeguarding and accountability standards, and the Fund’s strategic priorities, including Leave No One Behind commitments.</li> <li>Coordinate closely with Programme and Finance Associates, UN Women Regional and Country Offices, and other relevant stakeholders to ensure effective portfolio monitoring, effective risk management, quality assurance and coherent support to grantee partners across the region.</li> </ul> <p><b>3. Strengthen Risk Management and Portfolio Oversight</b></p> <ul> <li>Support grantee partners in identifying, managing and mitigating operational, fiduciary, contextual and programmatic risks, particularly in fragile, conflict-affected, humanitarian and shrinking civic space contexts, in close collaboration with programme, finance and operations colleagues.</li> <li>Identify and escalate significant risks or issues that may affect grant performance or portfolio objectives.</li> <li>Maintain accurate and up-to-date records of active and closed grants within the regional portfolio and relevant grant management systems.</li> <li>Contribute to portfolio-level analysis and oversight to support quality implementation, compliance and adaptive management.</li> </ul> <p><b>4. Contribute to Grant Selection, Appraisal and Quality Assurance</b></p> <ul> <li>Contribute to the development and refinement of Calls for Proposals, assessment frameworks, guidance documents and related tools to strengthen the quality, transparency and effectiveness of UN Trust Fund grant-making processes. </li> <li>Conduct technical appraisal and analysis of applicant proposals, assessing technical quality, feasibility, contextual relevance, innovation, intersectionality, organizational capacity, risk and alignment with UN Trust Fund priorities. </li> <li>Provide technical review and partner accompaniment throughout grant appraisal, project inception and early implementation, including on concept notes, proposals, budgets, theories of change, risk mitigation measures, monitoring frameworks and implementation strategies. </li> <li>Undertake or review implementing partner assessments and contribute to institutional, programmatic and operational risk analyses to support informed grant-making decisions. </li> <li>Support coordination and engagement with Regional Programme Advisory Committees (RPACs), UN Women Regional and Country Offices, civil society partners and inter-agency stakeholders throughout grant selection, project inception, portfolio oversight and grantee accompaniment.</li> </ul> <p><b>5. Facilitate Capacity Development, Learning and Regional Partnserships</b></p> <ul> <li>Design, facilitate and contribute to regional and global capacity development initiatives, including workshops, webinars, onboarding sessions, peer-learning exchanges, communities of practice and other learning opportunities that strengthen the effectiveness of grantee partners and the broader EVAW/G ecosystem.</li> <li>Analyze grantee reports, monitoring mission findings and portfolio data to identify emerging EVAW/G trends, lessons learned, promising practices, operational risks and evidence gaps, and integrate these into grantee accompaniment, portfolio support and organizational learning. </li> <li>Contribute to regional and thematic analyses, portfolio reviews, strategic reporting, donor reporting, briefing notes, communications materials and knowledge products that inform strategic planning, adaptive grant-making, advocacy and evidence-based decision-making. </li> <li>Undertake monitoring and support missions and engage with CSOs, UN Women Regional and Country Offices and regional stakeholders to strengthen programme implementation, foster partnership-building, ensure programming remains contextually relevant and support cross-regional learning. </li> <li>Support the documentation and dissemination of grantee experiences, innovations and practice-based knowledge, including regional consultations, learning exchanges, convenings and other stakeholder engagement opportunities that strengthen collaboration, visibility and learning across the UN Trust Fund, UN Women and the broader EVAW/G ecosystem.</li> </ul> <p><b>Performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.</b></p> <p> </p></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p><b>Supervisory/Managerial Responsibilities:</b> No direct supervision of personnel. However, the incumbent may provide ongoing substantive guidance and quality assurance oversight to “junior” personnel, including reviewing work products, monitoring task completion, and ensuring compliance with policies and procedures. </p> <p> </p> <p><b>Competencies :</b></p> <p><b>Core Values:</b></p> <ul> <li>Integrity;</li> <li>Professionalism;</li> <li>Respect for Diversity.</li> </ul> <p><b>Core Competencies:</b></p> <ul> <li>Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues;</li> <li>Accountability;</li> <li>Creative Problem Solving;</li> <li>Effective Communication;</li> <li>Inclusive Collaboration;</li> <li>Stakeholder Engagement;</li> <li>Leading by Example.</li> </ul> <p>Please visit <a href="https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">this link</a> for more information on UN Women’s Values and Competencies Framework: </p> <p><b>Functional Competencies:</b></p> <p style="margin-left:0in"><b>FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES:</b></p> <ul> <li>Strong knowledge of gender equality, women’s rights, and EVAW/G programming.</li> <li>Knowledge of programme and grant management, results-based management, and monitoring and evaluation.</li> <li>Ability to provide technical support and capacity strengthening to civil society organizations.</li> <li>Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.</li> <li>Ability to manage grant portfolios and support programme implementation.</li> <li>Strong partnership-building and stakeholder engagement skills.</li> <li>Strong written and verbal communication skills.</li> <li>Proficiency in office software and programme management systems; knowledge of Quantum or other ERP systems is an asset.</li> </ul> <table> <tbody> <tr> <td>V. Minimum Qualifications</td> <td> </td> </tr> <tr> <td><b>Education and Certification:</b></td> <td> <ul> <li>Master’s degree or equivalent in Social Sciences, Political Science, Development, Public Administration, Gender Studies or related field is required.</li> <li>A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree</li> <li>A project/programme management certification would be an added advantage</li> </ul></td> </tr> <tr> <td><i><b>Experience</b></i></td> <td> <ul> <li>At least 5 years of progressively responsible experience in programme management, including programme design, coordination, monitoring and evaluation, donor reporting and capacity building in the area of ending violence against women is required. </li> <li>Experience in working directly with civil society and women’s organizations, in the area of ending violence against women and girls is required. </li> <li>Experience setting priorities, budgets, work plans, participating in programme development and programme monitoring is required. </li> <li>Experience in programme design, monitoring, reporting, and results-based management is required.</li> <li>Experience managing complex multi-country portfolios and working across diverse operational contexts, including crisis-affected or fragile settings, is desirable.</li> <li>Experience providing technical assistance and institutional strengthening support to civil society organizations is highly desirable.</li> <li>Experience in grant-making, proposal appraisal, due diligence, and risk management processes is desirable.</li> <li>Experience coordinating with UN Women offices, UN agencies, donors, and inter-agency stakeholders is desirable.</li> <li>Experience contributing to knowledge generation, evaluation, learning, or evidence synthesis processes is desirable.</li> <li>International experience is desirable.</li> </ul></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p> </p> <p><b>Statements :</b></p> <p>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.</p> <p><b>Diversity and inclusion:</b></p> <p>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.</p> <p>If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.</p> <p>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.)</p> <p> </p> <p><b>Note: Applicants must ensure that all sections of the application form, including the sections on education and employment history, are completed. If all sections are not completed the application may be disqualified from the recruitment and selection process</b>.</p> <p><br> </p>
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