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.
The Women’s Leadership and Political Participation Unit strengthens the capacity of women and advocates for legislative and constitutional reforms to ensure women’s fair access to leadership and decision making spaces in all areas, including peace and security, political, economic and humanitarian spheres.
The National Transformational Leadership Institute (NTLI), a semi-autonomous institution at the University of Juba, was established in 2015 under a tripartite partnership between UN Women, University of Juba and the Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare, and offers transformational leadership skills to emerging and existing women leaders from all sectors of South Sudanese society. The institute seeks to galvanize these leaders' potential for contributing to inclusive and sustainable socioeconomic as well as political policies for gender equality, nation building and development. Since its inception, NTLI has trained over 4,000 South Sudanese women across the country using its bespoke training curriculum.
UN Women supports NTLI so that the institute can prepare South Sudanese leaders for the fulfillment of the R-ARCSS (Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan) 35% affirmative action for women's participation in governance and peace processes. UN Women notes the importance of this phase of the project as there is a need to prepare women for upcoming elections. Thus, NTLI needs assistance to meet the current demand for its services.
UN Women supports the ongoing progression and development of NTLI as an academic institution, both institutionally and logistically. UN Women has supported NTLl's trainings with a broad base of partners within South Sudan, as well as sought to establish new partnerships with NTLI outside of South Sudan. Aside from supporting the development of NTLl's strategic as well as project documents, UN Women has continuously contributed to NTLl's curriculum development and expansion, and have worked to improve monitoring and assessment of NTLl's country-wide programming. UN Women alongside the University of Juba and Ministry of Gender, Child, and Social Welfare sits on the NTLI National Steering Committee to improve governance, management, and accountability at the institute.
NTLI continues to reach its programmatic objectives and has ambitious plans for future development and expansion in support of women leaders. UN Women's work with NTLI in South Sudan contributes to the South Sudan Country Office Strategic Note 2019-22, specifically integrating into UN Women's broader Women, Peace, and Security portfolio and specifically contributing to the Outcome area: 'Government of South Sudan and stakeholders' capacity to implement WPS commitments enhanced.'
Under the general supervision of the Country Representative and direct supervision of the Deputy Country Representative, the Programme Specialist, Women’s Leadership and Political Participation is responsible for managing the development, implementation, monitoring and reporting of NTLI programme for the CO providing technical support to the implementation of the NTLI programme, managing the monitoring and reporting for the Country Office, overseeing and guiding people and budget management for the programme team, building partnerships and providing support in developing resource mobilization strategies, and managing knowledge building efforts.
Duties and Responsibilities:
Design and develop programme strategies in the area of Women’s Leadership and Political Participation:
Design and formulate programme/ project proposals and initiatives for NTLI and other governance related interventions;
Draft inputs to country strategy documents, briefs, policy dialogue and other documents related to Women’s Leadership and Political Participation.
Track results and develop policy papers and briefs on Women Peace and Security and the impact of NTLI/TL in changing leadership norms that promote gender equality and conflict resolution/management in South Sudan;
Manage the implementation and management of the Women’s Leadership and Political Participation programme:
Finalize the annual workplan and budget and manage their implementation of NTLI project and others;
Manage the technical implementation of the NTLI project; , including development of overall work plans, reporting (narrative and financial), monitoring, results-based management and communications; ensure synergies with other teams;
Manage the Norway funds and the initial interface between UN Women and the embassy of Norway on the implementation of the Funds;
Contribute to the development and review of NTLI annual work plans, quarterly narrative and financial reports
Manage the submission of implementing partner financial and narrative reports;
Provide guidance to personnel and partners on Results Based Management tools and performance indicators;
Organize Project Steering Committee, project review and/or evaluation meetings, as needed.
Manage technical assistance and capacity development to project/programme partners:
Manage the implementation of technical advice and guidance. Develop and implement technical tools, and initiatives
Build and manage relationships with national partners to support implementation and expansion of NTLI programme; respond to any potential problems;
Identify capacity building needs of partners and lead the coordination of technical assistance, mentoring, training and capacity development initiatives to partners.
Participate in the planning and organizing of Transformational Leadership Training, including tailor made modules development, assessments and identification of participants and conducting post Tranformational Leadership training assessments;
Coordinate and track NTLl's Transformational Leadership trainers through a database updated with skills and availability;
Support the ongoing training of potential Trainers on Transformational leadership skills;
Identify and organize collaborative partnerships with selected national and regional transformational leadership trainers/experts and institutions to ensure ongoing capacity strengthening of NTLI trainers/facilitators
Manage the monitoring and reporting of the programme/ project:
Manage the monitoring of programme/ project implementation and finances using results based management tools;
Oversee field missions and review reports on monitoring missions;
Write quarterly reports and donor reports, focusing on results, output and outcomes;
Monitor and review the impact of all the NTLI Project’s Transformational Leadership Trainings;
Contribute to the development of a digital Monitoring and Evaluation system for NTLI;
Support NTLI staff in research design, implementation and writing;
Recommend and establish programme monitoring standards, criteria, and other indicators for measuring and assessing progress/results;
Coordinate the process of gathering information and preparing progress reports on programme implementation; prepare technical reports;
Contribute to office donor and UN Women reports
Prepare NTLI programme team for audits and monitor implementation of audit recommendations.
Manage the people and financial resources of the Women’s Leadership and Political Participation programme:
Manage the programme budget and draft financial reports;
Supervise Programme Analysts and Technical Specialists; Mentor and coach personnel and conduct performance assessments;
Oversee recruitment processes, as necessary.
Build partnerships and support in developing resource mobilization strategies:
Develop and implement partnerships and resource mobilization strategies;
Finalize relevant documentation on donors and potential opportunities for resource mobilization;
Analyze and research information on donors, prepare substantive briefs on possible areas of cooperation, identification of opportunities for cost sharing.
Review and evaluate proposals and oversee the preparation of donor proposals
Initiate partnerships with other such like-minded institutions across Africa and globally, especially those with gender equality at their core and ensure that these partnerships provide opportunities for cross fertilization of ideas on transformational leadership to promote gender equality and empowerment of women;
Support the development of NTLl's outreach
Contribute to inter-agency coordination on Women’s Leadership and Political Participation to achieve coherence and alignment of UN Women programmes with other partners in South Sudan
Provide technical support to the Representative and Deputy Representative on inter-agency coordination related activities by attending meetings, events, and participating in groups and committees as needed;
Coordinate with other UN agencies, government departments, donors and NGOs to ensure the projects’ capacity development programme is harmonized and aligned with other in-country efforts.
Participate in UNCT Results Groups.
Manage advocacy, knowledge building and communication efforts:
Develop and review policy, strategic and background documents, briefs and presentations related to the Women’s Leadership and Political Participation, with focus on NTLI;
Represent UN Women in meetings and policy dialogues on issues related to Women’s Leadership and Political Participation as necessary;
Develop advocacy strategies and oversee their implementation;
Identify best practices and lessons learned to guide programme improvement and strategy planning;
Develop knowledge management strategies, products and methodologies on Women’s Leadership and Political Participation
Promote experience sharing opportunities on Transformational Leadership and NTLl's experiences with other UN Women Country Offices in Africa;
Key Performance Indicators:
Timely and quality programme design and inputs to Strategic Note
Timely and quality of programme delivery in line with budget and workplans, and in line with all UN Women operational rules and regulations, including security
Timely and quality monitoring and evaluation of programmes
Relations with partners and stakeholders
Quality reports and timely submission
Regular communication with other agencies and partners
Quality of advocacy and communication initiatives
Required Skills and Experience:
Education and certification:
Master’s degree or equivalent in social sciences, human rights, gender/women's studies, international development, or a related field 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 would be an added advantage
Experience:
At least 5 years of progressively responsible work experience at the national or international level in design, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development projects;
Technical experience in Women’s Leadership and Political Participation;
Experience coordinating and liaising with government agencies and/or donors is an asset;
Experience working in the UN System is an asset;
Experience in leading/managing a team is an asset.
Language Requirements:
Fluency in English is required;
Working knowledge of another official UN language is an asset;
