UNV GENDER PROGRAMME ASSISTANT

Organizational Context & Project Description:

One of UNFPA’s main pillars of interventions is to promote gender equality and empowerment of women including prevention and response to gender-based violence. As such, UNFPA Lebanon has established a longstanding partnership with the national women machinery (i.e. National Commission for LebaneseWomen and the Ministry of Women’s Affairs) as well as with proactive women led civil society organizations. UNFPA’s coordination with the various UN organizations operating in Lebanon has translated into concrete joint collaborative actions in the past few years. These partnerships were (and are still) very crucial foradvancing the gender equality and women empowerment agenda in the country and for contributing to significant change.UNFPA Lebanon’s commitment to advancing gender equality is also well reflected in its 4-year country programme (2017-202) through a participatory approach which is aligned with theLebanon Crisis Response Plan (LCRP 2017-2020) and the United Nations Strategic Framework for Lebanon (UNSF 2017-2020).
In the past years, some of the concrete examples supported by UNFPA on gender equality are the development and monitoring of the national women strategy in Lebanon, support to developing the action plan of the women, peace and security (linked to SCR1325), support to media campaigns for legislative change(i.e. domestic violence law, raising the marriage age to 18, law to prevent sexual harassment, repealing various articles from penal code, etc), capacity development, etc. 

While some achievements were made in the past few years, yet there remains much more to be done to ensure that women are empowered and enjoy full rights in all sphere. UNFPA’s leadership along with its partners on gender/GBV related programming and coordination under the development/humanitarian contexts has led to increased momentum in addressing GBV at the national level. 

In order to expand its programming response to provide greater inputs to national efforts to advance gender equality as well as to prevent and respond to GBV/VAW, UNFPA Lebanon requires programme support to be able to build on related projects and interventions supported since 2003 and implemented by a wide range of national and international partners. One of the programme support is through engagement of a national UN Volunteer as Gender Programme Assistant entrusted with the tasks detailed below. 

Sustainable Development Goals: 5. Gender Equality

UNV Focus Area: National capacity development via volunteer schemes

Task descriptions:

Under the direct supervision/guidance of the Assistant Representative and until the recruitment of a gender/GBV manager, the UN Volunteer will work with the UNFPA Country Office (CO) in providing overall support for the coordination, implementation and monitoring of the Gender portfolio and related projects/coordination mechanisms in partnership with the relevant national stakeholders, humanitarian agencies, civil society and experts.  In 2018, UNFPA is supporting around 3-4 Gender related projects – with emphasis on the rollout of the SDG 2030 agenda - through different sources of funding and implemented at national level by key selected implementing partners (namely Ministry of Women’s Affairs, National Commission for Lebanese Women, Lebanese University, NGOs and other related entities).  The UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks:

•    Provide needed support for enhancing and reinforcing coordination and collaboration among various entities/partners;
•    Suggest new partners/experts based on comparative advantage and gender areas of ex-pertise and pursue conclusion of partnership;
•    Support in assessing existing partners for possible re-engagement for implementation of various gender components;
•    Provide assistance, follow up and support for various gender related advocacy and me-dia events and forums as requested and follow up with suppliers on production related ac-tivities;
•    Contribute to preparing Terms of Reference and support in ensuring consultants are de-livering tasks under the various gender projects;
•    Contribute in identifying research gaps to be supported/initiated under the gender projects
•    Support in development/finalization/monitoring of gender related annual workplans with the implementing partners including through the online applications/platforms and provide needed support in revising workplans;
•    Provide support on projects expenditures and disbursements and timely delivery of finan-cial reporting and ensure adequacy with activities;
•    Contribute to development/review of tools for gender related rapid/needs assessment;
•    Provide needed support in gender projects/programmes evaluation through availing relat-ed evidence, information, etc;
•    Carry out literature/desk review as guided by supervisor; 
•    Review and follow up with suppliers of services i.e. consultants, graphic designer, printing companies, etc to ensure completion of tasks as agreed with UNFPA,
•    Contribute to review and input on related annual, monthly, quarterly, sector/research re-ports, strategies, plans, donor reports, etc;
•    Provide regular updates /summary on various gender programme components;
•    Ensure follow up to actions/recommendations agreed upon;
•    Provide needed information and resources as requested by UNFPA Country office, re-gional office and/or headquarters;
•    Participate in various coordination mechanisms namely the UN Gender Working Group, the joint UNFPA/NCLW Steering Committee, the technical committee on Women, peace and security, and others and ensure thorough follow up on all tasks and recommenda-tions as well as provide needed support; and
•    Perform any other duties as may be assigned by the Head of Office/Assistant Repre-sentative.

Furthermore, UN Volunteers are required to:

•    Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by read-ing relevant UNV and external publications and take active part in UNV activities (for in-stance in events that mark International Volunteer Day);
•    Be acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host country;
•    Reflect on the type and quality of voluntary action that they are undertaking, including participation in ongoing reflection activities;
•    Contribute articles/write-ups on field experiences and submit them for UNV publica-tions/websites, newsletters, press releases, etc.;
•    Assist with the UNV Buddy Programme for newly-arrived UN Volunteers;
•    Promote or advise local groups in the use of online volunteering, or encourage relevant local individuals and organizations to use the UNV Online Volunteering service whenever technically possible.

Results/Expected Outputs:

•    Gender related projects and activities implemented with adequate follow up, monitoring and support;
•    Gender related consultancies undertaken and finalized based on agreed upon Terms of Reference;
•    Gender project’s needs assessment, training, and technical support identified and im-plemented;
•    Gender projects’ related reports and documents developed, reviewed and finalized;
•    Gender monitoring framework and related tools developed and implemented;
•    The development of capacity through coaching, mentoring and formal on-the-job training, when working with (including supervising) national staff or (non-) governmental counter-parts, including Implementing Partners (IPs);
•    Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD) perspective is systematically applied, integrated and documented in all activities throughout the assignment
•    A final statement of achievements towards volunteerism for peace and development dur-ing the assignment, such as reporting on the number of volunteers mobilized, activities participated in and capacities developed

Qualifications / Requirements:

Minimum 22 years old, Lebanese national, or legally resident in Lebanon with the status of refugee or stateless.

Education – Required Degree Level:   Bachelor's degree

Type of degree: Gender studies, Sociology, development studies, public administration.

Required Experience: minimum years of experience 3