Gender Specialist, Multiple positions

The Cities Alliance is a global partnership promoting the role of cities in poverty reduction and sustainable development. Hosted by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and managed by a Secretariat based in Brussels, the Cities Alliance is a unique partnership with a diverse membership committed to strengthening both developmental impacts through improved coherence in urban areas development. Cities Alliance is a global leader with a strong track record in grantmaking that supports strategic city planning, slum upgrading strategies and national policies to make cities more inclusive and sustainable. Through UNOPS, the Cities Alliance operates a Multi-Donor Fund supported by an efficient and flexible grantmaking mechanism with a global reach.

Cities Alliance activities are guided by its Strategic Plan, with a business model combining a normative work with Country/City-based operations across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the MENA region. Cities Alliance members have made clear commitments to ensuring that the Cities Alliance is a global leader in promoting gender policies that are institutionalized and which improve the daily lives of ordinary citizens.

Cities Alliance's "Cities for Women" Global Programme aims at increasing women's engagement in urban development and governance, and it is articulated into three major components:

1) Participatory Local Action Research targets local women organizations, women experts, and local stakeholders, focusing on analyzing and proposing solutions to foster inclusive city strategies.

2) Global Platform for Knowledge Exchange including events and articles to improve awareness of relevant policies and contribute to global debates on women inclusion in urban development

3) Cross-support and Gender Mainstreaming within Global and Country Programmes, through a dedicated training session, project monitoring and technical support (through the provision of gender analysis, gender indicators, action plans and /or the development and implementation of specific gender-focused activities)

Under the guidance and supervision of the Gender Focal Point, the incumbent will perform a broad range of analytical and operational functions to support the Cities for Women Programme and continually increase the gender mainstreaming capacity of the Cities Alliance.

Functional Responsibilities

The Gender Specialist (home-based) will provide overall cross-support to the Cities Alliance's Task Managers responding to emerging needs. This may include the following areas:

1.    Provide technical support for the integration of social and gender aspects in urban projects

-       Conduct gender analysis for envisaged projects financed by the Cities Alliance;

-       Develop necessary methods and tools, such as guidelines for specific processes and the work of different parts of Cities Alliance's work programme;

-       Review and/or support the development of gender-sensitive project proposals;

-       Support the integration of social inclusion aspects, including community engagement and adequate participation of vulnerable groups;

-       Conduct, evaluate and report on social and/or gender audits;

-       Participate in and provide cross-support to field missions, if required;

-       Contribute to the identification and capturing of best practices and lessons learnt on social and gender equality, and

2. Develop action plans to incorporate gender aspects in ongoing projects 2. Support the organization of training activities for the project teams and partners to develop their capacities in the area of gender equality and women's empowerment

-       Support the development and delivery of workshops on gender-related concepts, policies or sectoral issues to develop knowledge and ownership on gender issues;

-       Support the design and implementation of capacity building activities concerning gender inclusion and women empowerment in cities for project staff/suppliers/communities as appropriate and

-       Provide advice to task managers on gender and social inclusion aspects.

3.   Communication and Knowledge Management.

-       Facilitate and support knowledge management and exchange of best practices across the region and globally;

-       Support the development of communication products (campaigns, videos, brochures, and infographics) related to women empowerment and gender inclusion aspects;

-       Draft blogs and new pieces for the Cities Alliance website and

-       Support the organization of online events on gender equality and women empowerment in cities (e.g. drafting concept notes, invitation lists, programmes).

A Master's degree in Gender Studies, Urban Studies, Development Studies, Economics, Social Sciences, Political Science or related discipline is required.

A bachelor's degree in any preferred discipline combined with two additional years of relevant work experience may be considered instead of a master's degree.

• At least five years post master's degree or seven years post bachelor's degree of work experience in the international development sector on gender issues is required.
• Work experience on urbanization issues would be an asset.
• Previous experience in Monitoring & Evaluation activities would be an asset.

• Fluency in English is required.
• Working knowledge of French, Spanish and/or Arabic would be considered an asset.

1. Contract type: Individual Contractor Agreement (ICA)
2. Contract level: Depending on home duty station the contract could be either an international ICA Level 2 or a Local ICA level 10
3. Contract duration:  RETAINER contract issued for up to 30 days per year, renewable subject to organizational requirements, availability of funds and satisfactory performance.’

• Please note that the closing date is midnight Copenhagen time
• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.
• Only those candidates that are short-listed for interviews will be notified.
• Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
• UNOPS seeks to reasonably accommodate candidates with special needs, upon request.
• Work life harmonization - UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands. We have a progressive policy on work-life harmonization and offer several flexible working options. This policy applies to UNOPS personnel on all contract types
• For retainer contracts, you must complete a few Mandatory Courses (around 4 hours) in your own time, before providing services to UNOPS.
• The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.  

It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential recruits/interns.
Recruitment/internship in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.

UNOPS is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful implementation of its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world. Our mission is to help people build better lives and countries achieve sustainable development.

UNOPS areas of expertise cover infrastructure, procurement, project management, financial management and human resources.

Working with us

UNOPS offers short- and long-term work opportunities in diverse and challenging environments across the globe. We are looking for creative, results-focused professionals with skills in a range of disciplines.

Diversity

With over 4,000 UNOPS personnel and approximately 7,000 personnel recruited on behalf of UNOPS partners spread across 80 countries, our workforce represents a wide range of nationalities and cultures. We promote a balanced, diverse workforce — a strength that helps us better understand and address our partners’ needs, and continually strive to improve our gender balance through initiatives and policies that encourage recruitment of qualified female candidates.

Work life harmonization

UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands.