RE-ADVERTISEMENT: Chief, Gender and Human Rights Branch, Technical Division, D1

Please note this is a Re-Advertisement.

This position is currently located in New York, USA, and will be relocating to Nairobi, Kenya, by 2025.

Background

Under the auspices of the Agenda 2030, UNFPA is committed to contribute to the SDGs achievement, in particular SDGs 3 on health and wellbeing and 5 on gender equality.

Women are much more likely than men to be impoverished, deprived of education and opportunities, and victimized by sexual and domestic violence. Goal 5 calls for the elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls, the end of all forms of gender-based discrimination, and the elimination of harmful practices such as child marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM). It also calls for ensuring universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights.

The new UNFPA Strategic Plan 2022-2025 paves the way for the organization to take the lead on the efforts to achieve three transformative goals: ending preventable maternal deaths; addressing the unmet need for family planning; and ending GBV and Harmful Practices. Underpinning all these major changes, the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls remains critical, as no progress can be sustained within ICPD Agenda if not underpinned by gender equality and empowerment of women and adolescent girls. To implement this vision, the new Strategic Plan proposed a dual approach for the integration of gender in field level programming and action through both targeted efforts and mainstreaming gender in programmes.

UNFPA’s third Gender Equality Strategy elaborates in detail pathways to achieving the three transformational results of the UNFPA strategic plan. The strategy provides direction and includes a strong focus on approaches that advance the rights of women of ALL ages. The Strategy emphasizes that in order for this goal to be realized, women and adolescent girls must have greater Agency, Choice, and Access (ACA) to and for the realization of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). The strategy applies a life-course approach and recognizes that while programming primarily targets women of reproductive age, adolescents and youth, programmes should also be adaptable to meet the SRHR needs of ALL persons, with no exceptions, across the life course. UNFPA therefore applies a Human Rights and Gender transformative approach across the life course to its policy and programme support.

Within the UN Reform, UNFPA is partnering with other sister agencies in joint programmes and thematic funds through which each agency brings its comparative advantage and together assist countries in the delivery of the joint commitments. This includes the Joint Programme on Elimination of FGM, the Global Programme to End Child Marriage, and the European Union and the United Nations Spotlight Initiative aimed at addressing all forms of violence against women and girls, and harmful practices. These programmes follow a transformative and evidence-informed approach, addressing unequal power relations between men and women and focusing on human rights, gender equality and women’s agency and empowerment.

The Chief of the Gender, Human Rights Branch is currently located in the Technical Division of UNFPA Headquarters. The Technical Division and its respective Branches fall under the overall leadership of UNFPA’s Deputy Executive Director for Programmes. The incumbent will report directly to the Director of the Technical Division, who provides overall strategic direction and technical leadership to the work of UNFPA. The Chief is also part of the Technical Division Management Team (TDMT) which ensures coherence and integration across UNFPA’s thematic areas of work. Technical Division pursues an agenda of Technical Excellence in support of Programme excellence in population, SRHR and gender equality. The organizational context is currently under review and subject to changes.

How you can make a difference:

UNFPA is the lead UN agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled. UNFPA’s strategic plan (2022-2025), reaffirms the relevance of the current strategic direction of UNFPA and focuses on three transformative results: to end preventable maternal deaths; end unmet need for family planning; and end gender-based violence and harmful practices. These results capture our strategic commitments on accelerating progress towards realizing the ICPD and SDGs in the Decade of Action leading up to 2030. Our strategic plan calls upon UN Member States, organizations and individuals to “build forward better”, while addressing the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on women’s and girls’ access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, recover lost gains and realize our goals.

In a world where fundamental human rights are at risk, we need principled and ethical staff, who embody these international norms and standards, and who will defend them courageously and with full conviction.

UNFPA is seeking candidates that transform, inspire and deliver high impact and sustained results; we need staff who are transparent, exceptional in how they manage the resources entrusted to them and who commit to deliver excellence in programme results.

Job Purpose:

The Chief of the Gender and Human Rights Branch will provide strategic guidance and technical leadership in the substantive areas of gender, social norms and human rights, contributing to position UNFPA’s policies and programming at global level, collaborating and providing guidance for regional and national policy and programming, leading to a coordinated vision and sound technical work of the organization at all levels. In addition to the technical and conceptual leadership, the Gender and Human Rights Chief is responsible for the oversight of global joint programmes and partnerships as well as for the oversight and management of the financial and human resources of the Gender and Human Rights Branch.

Qualifications and Experience:

Education:

Advanced university degree in social sciences, preferably in gender, sociology, demography, anthropology, public health, human rights, or population, including economics and data analysis/qualitative research.

Knowledge and Experience:

Languages:

Fluency in English is required. Working knowledge of a second UN official language such as French or Spanish is desirable.

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