COUNTRY PROGRAMME MANAGER

Location : Khartoum, SUDAN
Application Deadline : 17-Feb-09
Type of Contract : 200 Series
Post Number : L-5
Post Level : L-5
Languages Required :` English
Expected Duration of Assignment : 1 Year

Background

United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) is mandated by the General Assembly to work towards achieving gender equality goals and commitments through providing financial and technical assistance to innovative programs and strategies that promote women's human rights, political participation and economic security. In fulfillment of its mandate, UNIFEM partners with governments, civil society organizations and regional bodies. Within the UN system, UNIFEM promotes gender equality and links women's issues and concerns to national, regional and global agendas by fostering collaboration and providing technical expertise on gender mainstreaming and women's empowerment strategies.

Through establishment of its office in Sudan and the activities that have been undertaken to date, UNIFEM has managed to build strong partnership with government institutions in general, the national machinery and women's movement in Sudan. In continuation of its program and its efforts to ensure gender equality and protection of women's rights in conflict and post-conflict Sudan, UNIFEM will try and capitalize on these partnerships.

The main thrust of the new program will be support for the implementation of national, regional and international commitments to gender equality and women's empowerment in Sudan. To this end, in 2008 - 2011 the Sudan Program will concentrate on support to women's political participation and leadership in governance and protection of women's human rights.

Duties and Responsibilities
Under the overall guidance of the Regional Program Director, East and Horn of Africa, the Country Program Manager will provide technical and program support services ensuring project delivery, high quality outputs, with accuracy and consistency of work for UNIFEM's program in Sudan

The Country Program Manager works in close collaboration with the UNIFEM Nairobi team in operations and program, UNIFEM HQ units and sections. The Country Program Manager will also work with the UN Country Team for Sudan, as required to exchange information and support program delivery.

More specifically, the Country Program Manager's role and responsibilities will be:

Strategic Policy coordination and Partnerships:

* Monitor trends and issues affecting women in Sudan and develop strategic responses to opportunities and challenges including The formulation of projects, implementation strategies and activities in line with UNIFEM strategic plan 2008-2011,
* Participate in and represent UNIFEM in various UN coordination mechanisms and activities as related to the sectors covered. Ensure coordination and harmonization of projects covered within the global and sub-regional strategic plan and those within the UNDAF framework,
* Maintain relationships with UNIFEM's external partners including donors, government agencies and NGOs and represent UNIFEM in meetings as deemed appropriate,
* Provide leadership and quality oversight of efforts to strengthen Government's institutions, especially the Ministry of Gender to effectively implement national development strategies.
* Support knowledge building and knowledge sharing at the country and regional level focusing on achievements, lessons learned and methodologies utilized in project implementation. Participate in the training sessions of knowledge networks and communities of practice.
* Build strong partnership with donors agencies and other development partners based in Sudan to ensure synergy or efforts in line with the Paris declaration Principles

Program Management:

* Provide technical and management support to project/program activities in the following assigned sectors: Mainstreaming gender in governance and economic management, capacity development for government and Women's organizations , gender and justice, women's participation in peace and recovery processes and support to women's and human rights NGOs for promotion and protection of women's rights in Sudan.
* Prepare background project documents and briefs within the context of UNIFEM's work in Sudan and provide technical leadership in implementation on the above sectors.
* Prepare periodic internal reports, donor reports and contribute to UNIFEM's annual reports in consultation with relevant program officers. Ensure that reports are in accordance with specific requirements of donors and or UNIFEM.
* Monitor and evaluate ongoing programs/projects for delivery and impact; Asses implementation ,analyze work- plan, prepare progress reports, draft summary reports, participate in tripartite meetings, recommend actions and solutions, analyze objectives and results, distill and write lessons learned.
* Provide close guidance and direction to ensure strategic focus, result orientation and effectiveness and efficiency in all aspects of UNIFEM's operations and programs.
* Support the Regional Program Director in resource mobilization and reporting for donors. Identify and follow up on opportunities for resource mobilization for UNIFEM's work in Sudan in consultations with UNIFEM Regional Program Director.

Financial and Human Resources Management :

* Ensure effective management of resources for achieving results,
* Prepare annual budgets and work plans for approval by the regional program Director,
* Review budgets and work plans, and bring any proposed changes to the attention of Regional Program Director.
* Prepare project budget revisions to ensure the efficient and timely delivery of inputs and realization of targeted expenditures.
* Ensure delivery of program resources in line with UNIFEM regulations and procedures to track project budgets and expenditures.
* Identify human resource needs, in line with the requirements of the program. Take appropriate action for recruitment of staff, in line with UNIFEM regulations,
* Provide the strategic guidance and development to staff members,

Competencies

* Strong planning, goal setting and prioritization skills.
* Experience in results based management and in delivering required outputs in accordance with time and budget.
* Ability to lead and inspire staff and partners toward shared goals
* Good inter-personal and diplomacy skills;
* Capacity to write clearly and concisely;
* Ability to make decisions under pressure and to deal with matters that are politically and cultural sensitive,
* Ability to work in a multi-cultural context and build partnerships to ensure achievement of results in a post conflict environment.
* Proven analytical and problem solving skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Background: Advanced university degree in Political Science, International Development Studies, Gender/Women's Studies, Economics or Sociology.

Technical Expertise: Gender analysis and mainstreaming in programming and implementation, knowledge of legal and policy framework on women's rights/roles and analytical skills particularly in post-conflict and peace building environments

Substantive knowledge and experience related to current policies and practices in the fields of women's rights, gender equality programming, and mainstreaming gender in governance, economic management and capacity development nexus.

Proven experience in advocating for women's empowerment and rights along with gender equality programming in developing countries, including in-depth knowledge of regional organizations and women's organizations working on gender, governance and human rights.

Knowledge of UN policies and procedures

Strong communication skills, with proven expertise in writing cogent and convincing policy and programme documents for development practitioners.

Work experience:

* At least 10 years of work experience in any of the following fields: women's rights and gender equality programming in developing countries with specialized experience in Gender and Development and Program Management
* International experience in managing an organization in the relevant field is an advantage
* Working experience with UN joint programming frameworks and result-based management systems is desirable

Languages:

* Fluency in English. Knowledge of local language (Arabic) an added advantage