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Knowledge Management and Research Officer: Strengthened Gender Action in Cahul and Ungheni districts (Open to Moldova Nationals Only).

Vacancy Number: Pr20/02058

Location:	Chisinau, Moldova
Application Deadline:	05 Aug 2020, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Starting date:	19 Aug 2020
Reference to the project:	UN Women
Expected Duration of Assignment:	One year, renewable
Submission Instructions: The United Nations in Moldova is committed to workforce diversity. Women, persons with disabilities, Roma and other ethnic or religious minorities, persons living with HIV, as well as refugees and other non-citizens legally entitled to work in the Republic of Moldova, are particularly encouraged to apply Application Process This is a local position; therefore only citizens of the Republic of Moldova are eligible to apply. Applications should be submitted on line flollowing the link https://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_job.cfm?cur_job_id=92859 and include fully completed UN Women Personal History Form as attachment instead of CV/resume. Failure to disclose prior employment or making false representations on this form will be grounds for withdrawal of further consideration of his/her application or termination, where the appointment or contract has been issued. Note: The system will only allow one attachment, hence all supporting document e.g. P11, CV and Cover letter must be scanned as one attachment.  Only qualified, shortlisted candidates will be contacted for test and interview. 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.
Supporting Documents: TOR Knowledge Management and Research Officer (SB4.1).docx Personal History Form (P11) UN Women UN Women Conditions of Service Consultants

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.

The work of UN Women in Moldova is guided by its new Country Strategic Note for 2018-2022, aligned with the Republic of Moldova–United Nations Partnership Framework for Sustainable Development 2018–2022, the Global Strategic Plan of UN Women for 2018-2021, the National Strategy on Gender Equality for 2017-2021 (NSGE), the National Strategy for Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence for the Period 2018-2023, and aims to contribute to the gender-responsive implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Strategic Note focuses on three main areas: 1/strengthening women’s participation in politics and decision making, 2/economic empowerment of women and 3/ending violence against women and girls. To achieve progress under these areas, UN Women works with variety of national and international partners and as part of different national and regional initiatives.

Starting January 2020, UN Women will implement in Moldova a EU-funded Programme Strengthened Gender Action in Cahul and Ungheni districts with the short title: “EVA”.  

Under the overall leadership of the Country Representative, and guidance and supervision of the Programme Manager, the Knowledge Management and Research Officer contributes to the effective and efficient implementation of the Programme Strengthened Gender Action in Cahul and Ungheni districts. The incumbent applies and promotes the principles of results-based management (RBM), as well as a client-oriented approach consistent with UN Women rules and regulations.

The Knowledge Management and Research Officer works in close collaboration UN Women Programme Coordinators and the Team of the Programme Implementing Unit, as well as other project teams in the Country Office (CO) for effective achievement of results, anticipating and resolving complex programme-related issues and information delivery.

The incumbent is expected to exercise full compliance with UN Women programming, financial, procurement and administrative rules, regulations, policies and strategies, as well as implementation of the effective internal control systems.

Contribute to implementation of the provisions of the UN WOMEN Knowledge management strategy  2018-2021. 

The programme will contribute to the consolidation and fortification of gender mainstreaming at the local level, in line with the provisions of the National Strategy to Ensure Equality between women and men in the Republic of Moldova for the years 2017-2021. The proposed intervention will tackle domestic violence against women and children, particularly on improving the capacity and assessment tools of multi-disciplinary specialist response and services, including sexual forms of violence in domestic violence, as this area has not yet been covered by any action or donor. 

The programme is aimed at achieving the following results: Gender equality is promoted and mainstreamed in local policymaking and decision taking and Victims of domestic, including sexual, violence have greater access to effective survivor-focused multi-disciplinary services and violence prevention is piloted in local schools and communities. 

Scope of work

Summary of Key Functions:

The Knowledge Management and Research Officer, under the supervision and guidance of the Programme Manager and in close cooperation with Communication Officer, and the Team of the Programme Implementing Unit will be responsible for managing the successful implementation of knowledge management and research activities of the programme.

The incumbent will ensure the provision of development services and products (commensurate with the scope of the project) of the highest quality and standards to national counterparts and clients. The Officer is expected to identify, develop, test and deliver prototypes, projects and programmes that support practical innovation in defined fields, including modernization of public service design and delivery, in close collaboration with external partners.

Specifically, the Officer will perform the following functions:

Knowledge building and research

1. Compile the evidence-base on gender mainstreaming (GM) and violence against women and girls from existing national and global resources and conduct a situation analysis to have a better understanding of the issues, the current context, gaps/challenges and opportunities for working on GM and VAW and share this with team members and partners.
2. Identify key knowledge gaps in the program area and determine knowledge activities that might help to address them e.g.  (additional data collection required, are there specific research questions, is there technical knowledge that might be required that is not present in the country, are there potentially relevant experiences from other countries or projects).
3. Work proactively with CO and project teams to identify opportunities for capturing and sharing knowledge and disseminating information about major progress and results.
4. Contribute to conducting community attitudes and/or perception surveys, which provide insights on social norms, discriminatory attitudes and other factors that highlight the risks and tolerance of violence.
5. Produce analytical papers in order to effectively share knowledge.
6. Support documentation of promising practices (good practices if formally evaluated) through case studies, video and other mediums.
7. Support documentation and use of lessons learned to reflect process issues, the how-to and the why of programme work; improve performance by drawing out relevant information for better planning, improvements/adjustments and risk management around existing and future programmes; inform the development of policies, tools, practices and decision-making; identify trends, patterns, gaps and needs for expansion/scale-up; and avoid reinvention of the wheel.
8. Use the previous experience with design thinking, gaming for development and behavioral science to support scaling up these initiatives in the public sector;

Knowledge management and knowledge sharing

1. Convene and faciliate duct coordination and consultation meetings with with women’s groups and relevant local government entities (or through coordinating bodies, such as task forces, committees, councils, etc.) to continually assess and discuss implementation of legislation and national action plans.
2. Provide guidance to the team and beneficiaries on how to collect practical and action-oriented knowledge, grounded in quantitative and qualitative evidence.
3. Promote demand driven production of knowledge management.
4. Ensure that international good practices are models to be contextualized and applied.
5. Ensure validation of knowledge by partners and networks that will strengthen UN Women’s knowledge products, policy guidance and programme proposals.
6. Engage with policy-oriented research networks that provide data, analysis, advice and peer review support which will help UN Women to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment in research agendas.
7. Conduct local and/or regional knowledge exchange workshops on particular topics/practices, including virtually through webinars, videoconferencing and other innovative methods.
8. Disseminate promising practices through national, regional websites, listservs type of softs and fora.

Innovation

1. Identify the most interesting innovations applicable to the development sector in Moldova, as well as respond to requests from colleagues for research in defined fields.
2. Ensure in-depth research on identified areas in terms of knowledge, existing expertise and networks.
3. Use the previous experience with design thinking, gaming for development and behavioral science to support scaling up these initiatives in the public sector.
4. Design the mechanism for innovative projects’ management cycle, including set up the criteria for the selection of innovative ideas.

Monitoring and evaluation

1. Ensure the Programme is properly monitored and evaluated and well documented especially “what works “.
2. Maintain updated evidence of applied knowledge services delivered to UN Women colleagues and partners through research packages and concepts.
3. Maintain updated evidence of workshops and seminars delivered in support of programme’s concepts, counterparts and UN Women colleagues.
4. Support enhancing the activity of programme, and promotion of innovation among UN Women staff more broadly.
5. Document the overall experience of programme work, including the support to the concepts throughout the incubation cycle; the research on knowledge, expertise and networks in identified areas; the support to resource mobilization to ensure the long-term sustainability of the programme; and provide documentation reports to the Programme Manager upon request.
6. Develop Final Evaluation notes after the piloting of each approach/project (results achieved, lessons learned, recommendations for similar future projects).

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

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf?la=en&vs=637

Functional Competencies

• Strong programme formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation skills
• Ability to develop detailed operational plans, budgets, and deliver on them
• Ability to synthesize program performance data and produce analytical reports to inform management and strategic decision-making
• Strong analytical skills
• Strong knowledge of Results Based Management

Requirements for experience

Education:

• Master degree in Human Rights, Gender Equality, Law, Social Sciences, Public Administration or other development related sciences;
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience and skills:

• At least two (2) years of experience in the design and delivery of programmes/projects across multiple policy areas;
• Direct experience supporting innovation is an advantage;
• Experience of creating or analyzing business plans is an advantage;
• Experience in programme management, including managing budgets, suppliers and grant recipients;
• Records of writing reports, researches, articles and/or blogs.
• Experience in developing partnerships across a wide range of organizations is an advantage;
• Experience in the usage of computers, office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc), as well as multimedia tools.

Language Requirements:

• Proficiency in oral and written Romanian, Russian, and English is a must;
• Working knowledge of one or more additional languages relevant for Moldova, including Bulgarian, Gagauzian, Romani, Ukrainian or sign language would be an asset.