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. Placing women’s rights at the centre of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. UN Women provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors. 

UN Women in Bangladesh supports the government to implement commitments to international normative standards on gender equality and women’s human rights. The new UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) for 2022-2026 was launched in 2021 and the corresponding UN Women Bangladesh Strategy Note (2022-2026), defining UN Women’s strategic engagement in Bangladesh, has also been finalized. 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. 

To End Violence against Women (EVAW), the country office focuses on enhancing cross government and CSO capacities to provide gender-responsive and survivor-centred quality and comprehensive Violence against Women (VAW) services and strengthening knowledge generation, coordination, advocacy and partnerships around evidence-driven strategies and the transformation of social norms to prevent VAW. 

UN Women Bangladesh has been prioritizing transforming the public discourse around gender, by addressing masculinities, patriarchal behaviours, and dismantling gender stereotypes, by engaging with the general public and CSOs, with a special focus on media, and men and boys’ engagement.

One of the main outcome of the EVAW Programme is for UN Women to act as the knowledge hub for prevention programming and leverage its coordination mandate to ensure the UN, government and CSOs implement evidence-driven programmes to prevent violence.  
The programme works with a multitude of partners at national level, from government, educational institutions, private sectors and the women’s movement, as well as at district level, with local government institutions, communities and families.

As part of the EVAW portfolio, UN Women in Bangladesh is implementing projects on prevention and responses and is piloting new projects on advancing rights of women with disabilities and addressing gender stereotype in school.

More specifically, on violence prevention, the Combatting Gender Based Violence in Bangladesh (CGBV) project has been implemented since 2018 to adopt and test globally evaluated prevention interventions and generate knowledge on what works to prevent violence against women, in line with the RESPECT women implementation package. In addition, the EVAW programme is also expanding its work on response, informed by the Essential Service Package for Women and Girls subject to Violence, especially by strengthening gender responsive policing and generating and sharing knowledge to ensure more comprehensive, survivors centric services.

The work on advancing the rights of women with disabilities, is part of a UN joint initiative, under the United Nations Partnerships on the Rights of People with Disabilities (UNPRPD). The project aims to strengthen building blocks, namely equality and non-discrimination, with a specific focus on discrimination against women and girls with disabilities and ensuring accountability, governance, and participation.  The project will ensure evidence-driven programming and advocacy to foster meaningful participation among Organizations of People with Disabilities (OPDs), especially women’s rights organizations, and stronger compliance with the UNCRPD.    

The United Nations Girl’s Education Initiative (UNGEI), is a pilot intervention aimed at testing and evaluating successful models to tackle gender stereotypes in schools, workings with boys and girls, parents, teachers and administrations to identify game based and innovative models to transform social norms and promote a more gender equal society.

Under the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) UN Women is also co- leading Strategic Priority 5 on Gender Equality and eliminating Gender Based Violence. As such, the EVAW Programme has a strong role in coordinating EVAW related work with other UN agencies, and ensure a strong cohesive approach, capitalizing from each agency’s comparative advantage. 
 
About the Position and/or Portfolio:

Reporting to the Deputy Country Representative, the Programme Coordinator is responsible for managing the EVAW portfolio which includes the overall design, management and implementation of programmes and projects. The role includes coordinating relationships with national partners and stakeholders, providing oversight on monitoring and reporting and managing the finances and personnel under the portfolio.

Additionally, the EVAW Programme Coordinator will lead the knowledge generation and dissemination, to ensure evidence-based programming is prioritised internally and lobbied externally.

The Programme Coordinator will provide strategic direction to the EVAW team and coordinate with other programme leads in advancing intra programming approach and implementing the UN Women Bangladesh Strategic Note, in line with global and regional commitments. 

The Programme coordinator is expected to represent UN Women externally in national, regional and international to position UN Women as thought leader on EVAW.

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Coordinate the EVAW portfolio

• Coordinate the EVAW work plan development and implementation of the programme according to the Strategic Note;
• Gather inputs and coordinate the preparation of work-plans, periodic narrative progress reports and expenditures status reports;
• Establish systems for project planning, implementation and monitoring, in collaboration with partners;
• Record and maintain documents on relevant Programme activities, issues, and risks.

2. Guide coordination with national partners and other stakeholders, such as UN agencies, CSO and Government

• Coordinate relationships with national partners to support implementation and expansion of the EVAW Programme, raise potential problems and suggest solutions;
• Identify capacity building needs and support partners through technical assistance, mentoring, training and capacity development initiatives, as needed.

3. Coordinate the monitoring and reporting of the EVAW Programme

• Coordinate, gather and compile all information necessary for monitoring and reporting on programmes and projects from the planning to the evaluation stages;
• Monitor the implementation of activities and the expenditure of funds; conduct regular monitoring visits, as required;
• Draft and provide inputs to donor, annual and quarterly reports;
• Coordinate the submission of implementing partner financial and narrative reports;
• Provide inputs from EVAW programme activities and results to Country Office  reporting;
• Manage and provide strategic direction for projects evaluation.

4. Manage people  and finances of the EVAW  programme 

• Supervise, mentor and coach the EVAW team; 
• Manage performance and provide regular feedback to supervisee to ensure effective team management;
• Introduce and monitor systems to ensure a high standard of quality;
• Monitor of implementation of Audit recommendations;
• Coordinate development of financial resources of the programme including budgeting and budget revisions, and expenditure tracking and reporting;
• Monitor the allocation and disbursement of funds to participating partners.

5. Build partnerships and support in developing resource mobilization strategies

• Coordinate development of proposals, initiate new partnerships for resource mobilization;
• Manage donors relationship; 
• Provide inputs to the development of partnerships and resource mobilization strategies.

6. Advocate and facilitate knowledge building and management and communication

• Document the programme implementation process and products;
• Contribute to the exchange of information and provide inputs to the development of knowledge products internally and externally of the programme;
• Coordinate the organization of major advocacy campaigns, events, trainings, workshops and knowledge products.

Key Performance Indicators

• Timely and quality implementation of Programme/Portfolio/ activities against set workplans, timelines, and budgets, in line with the Strategic Note;
• Quality and timely reporting;
• Strong relations with partners and stakeholders;
• Regular and timely monitoring of activities ;
• Enhanced best practices and lessons learned documented and circulated. 

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.

Functional Competencies 

• Good programme formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation skills;
• Good budget and finance skills; 
• Good knowledge of Results Based Management;
• Ability to gather and interpret data, reach logical conclusions and present findings and recommendations;
• Good analytical skills;
• Knowledge of UN programme management systems.

Required Skills and Experience

Education and certification:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in public administration, law, human rights, gender equality, management, social sciences or other related areas 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;
• Experience in coordinating, implementing, monitoring and evaluating development programmes and projects;
• Strong expertise in EVAW and disability inclusion; 
• Knowledge of effective models for violence prevention, the RESPECT framework and the Essential Service Package for Women and Girls Subject to Violence is preferred;
• Expertise in working with a multitude of partners, such as educational institutions, civil society, the private sectors, national and local government bodies.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English and Bangla is required;
• Working knowledge of another official UN language is an asset.

UNW Statement on 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.)

Application:

• All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment;
• 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.