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

Vacancy Number: Pr20/02097

Location:	Chisinau, Moldova
Application Deadline:	27 Sep 2020, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Application Extended deadline:	04 Oct 2020, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Starting date:	01 Oct 2020
Reference to the project:	UN Women
Expected Duration of Assignment:
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 following link https://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_job.cfm?cur_job_id=94028 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 implements in Moldova a EU-funded Project “Strengthened Gender Action in Cahul and Ungheni districts (EVA)”.  The project contributes 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 intervention tackles 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 project is aimed at achieving the following results: Gender equality is promoted and mainstreamed in local policymaking and decision making 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

Organizational Context:

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 Project “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 Analyst and 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 project-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. He/She will contribute to implementation of the provisions of the UN Women Knowledge management strategy  2018-2021. 

Summary of Key Functions:

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

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 strengthen knowledge production and analysis in the EVA project; ensure internal and external knowledge sharing; streamline knowledge management activities in annual work plans and operation of the EVA project  and significantly participate in the project monitoring, evaluation, reporting and data collection.  He/She is expected to document and develop knowledge products, innovative practices and lessons-learnt documents of the implementation of EVA project and contribute to the exchange within UN Women and with partners.

Specifically, the Officer will perform the following functions:

Knowledge building and research

1. Identify key knowledge gaps in the program area and determine knowledge products that might help to address them for the project staff and project target groups/beneficiaries.
2. Design the annual work plan on knowledge products for the EVA project and contribute to the realization of the plan according to the guidance note on developing knowledge products.
3. Consult regularly the knowledge products, guidelines produced cooperatively by UN Women or other UN Agencies, international organizations in relation to local governance and/or violence against women.
4. Contribute to conducting community attitudes and/or perception surveys, focus groups, thematic meetings which provide insights on social norms, discriminatory attitudes and other factors that highlight the risks and tolerance of violence.
5. Document the results for the capacity development activities in the framework of the project; and presents notes on the baseline and progress registered by the project beneficiaries/ target groups after piloting each approach/ activity of the project.
6. Document results achieved, lessons-learnt to reflect process issues, recommendations for similar future projects/ activities after each of the project activities conducted by EVA project team and/or contracted parties.
7. Support documentation and sharing of success stories and failure, promising practices (good practices if formally evaluated) through concrete and in-depth analytical case studies, video and other mediums that supports the advancement of gender equality and women empowerment.
8. Contribute with the gender-responsive statistics to the development of policies, tools, practices and decision-making process under the EVA project.
9. Work proactively with CO and project teams to identify opportunities for capturing and sharing knowledge and disseminating information about major progress and results.
10. Developing a narrative report for the EVA project on “what works” on quarterly basis to ensure the proper documentation of knowledge and research area component of the project.

Knowledge management and knowledge sharing

1. Oversee the development of knowledge products in the EVA project with respect to UN Women Quality Assurance Standards: relevance, evidence-based, timely, authoritative, compelling, consistent, and influential.  
2. Ensure validation of all the knowledge products developed in the framework of EVA project in line with the Guidance Note for Developing Knowledge products.
3. Tailor project products (e.g. producing shorter versions of lengthy documents/research) to increase usefulness to target audiences and maximize the results from investing in and producing knowledge products.
4. Contribute to the maintenance of Communities of practices (CPOs) for the project and identify knowledge-sharing methodologies to respond to UN Women and stakeholders needs.
5. Contribute to the consolidation of knowledge platform of UN Women that will facilitate access to resources developed by EVA project.
6. Regularly update the list of knowledge products, including on-line, printed version, their distribution to beneficiaries; support with updating e-library.
7. Capture lessons learnt in the project implementation for the preservation and use of institutional memory and help inform the development of other knowledge products.
8. Provide guidance to the team and beneficiaries on how to collect practical and action-oriented knowledge, grounded in quantitative and qualitative evidence.
9. 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.
10. Participate and conduct local and/or regional knowledge exchange workshops on relevant topics/practices, including virtually through webinars, videoconferencing, and other innovative methods.
11. Disseminate promising practices through national, regional websites, listservs type of softs and fora.

Monitoring and evaluation

1. Provide support to the Programme Manager to ensure that the Project is properly monitored, well documented and ready for evaluation. Offer significant input in the project reporting processes.
2. Maintain updated and comprehensive evidence of all project activities and project result framework with performance indicators.  
3. Maintain updated evidence of applied knowledge services delivered to project partners and project staff, keeping track of „what works” in the project implementation to support building institutional memory.
4. Permanently document the overall experience of project work, including the research on knowledge, expertise and networks in identified areas; engagement with the partners; the support to resource mobilization, etc.; and provide documentation reports to the Programme Manager upon request.

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

Requirements for experience

Education:

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

Experience and skills:

• At least three (3) years of experience in programme management and delivery of projects across multiple policy areas/ or in project monitoring and evaluation;
• Direct experience in monitoring and evaluation;
• Good knowledge of quantitative and qualitative research methods applied in social sciences;
• Good business writing skills. Records of writing reports, researches, articles and/or blogs (please provide some references, at least three documents);
• Experience in developing/maintaining 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.