HeForShe Champions Initiative, Programme Manager

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.

HeForShe Initiative – Portfolio  

Created by UN Women, the HeForShe solidarity movement for gender equality provides a systematic approach and targeted platform on which men and boys can engage and become change agents towards the achievement of gender equality. HeForShe invites men and boys to build on the work of the women’s movement as equal partners.

Champion Initiative – Programme

Getting to a world where women and men are equal is not just a matter of bringing men to the cause. The goals of HeForShe are much bigger: systematic, structural change that will equalize the economic, social and political realities for women and men.  The Champion Initiative is a flagship programme of HeForShe developed as a five-year pilot effort to advance and ultimately achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment through top-down change, engaging global leaders across three sectors: government, the private sector, and academia.

In this context, HeForShe is looking for a Programme Manager to further refine and implement the Champion Initiative strategy surrounding private sector, university, and Head of State engagement, managing a group of senior stakeholders across the IMPACT and Thematic Champion organizations.

The Programme Manager will work with our Champions to define the overall programme structure and goals for the initiative, including designing the programme strategy and approach, managing the implementation of the programme, providing guidance and support to champions and partners, managing the people and finances of the programme, building partnerships and providing support in developing resource mobilization strategies.  The incumbent will collaborate with each institution to achieve innovative and bold commitments on gender equality. He / she will own the end-to-end process of the Champion Initiative.

The Champions Initiative, Programme Manager is a key member of HeForShe senior management, supporting the oversight and coordination of all functions related to the Champion Initiative’s key activities. S/he develops and participates in major decisions to ensure delivery of HeForShe goals and financial results. Our ideal candidate is expected to be a hands-on leader capable of handling operations and play an advisory role to senior management. S/he is responsible for maintaining and improving operational excellence and supports the analysis of results achieved during implementation and supports their documentation.

Design the HeForShe Champion Initiative strategy and approach:

• Refine strategy and programmatic approach for HeForShe Champion Initiative, with clear goals, timelines and deliverables for the programme that are aligned with the broader HeForShe initiative (including meeting cadence, team leadership, secretariat structure, and outputs);
• Prepare programme documents including business cases/strategies, briefing notes, programme plans and risk assessments as well as ground-breaking parity and progress reports for HeForShe champions.

Manage the implementation of the Champion Initiative programme:

• Manage the programme implementation plan in collaboration with the HeForShe team and our Champions (as well as broader HeForShe stakeholders / partners);
• Monitor the timely and cost-effective implementation of the programme according to the initiative’s goals, partner expectations, and the approved budget (ensuring full cost recovery);
• Ensure that project management and operational policies, processes and methods are followed and practiced according to the organization’s standards.

Provide guidance and support to HeForShe Champions and Partners:

• Provide support to HeForShe champions for program success, working closely with senior leadership at each organization to ensure implementation of commitments, through timely resolution of challenges, best-practice sharing, and collaboration, where appropriate;
• Coordinate and assist the three focus areas-  within and between heads of state, academia and the corporate sector - in planning, execution and delivery of allocated tasks - in highlighting potential dependencies or synergies;
• Submit mandated reports and critical issues to the senior management and, where relevant, champions to drive future process improvement.

Manage the people and finances of the HeForShe Champion programme:

• Prepare regular expenditure reports and forecasts for senior management review, in collaboration with the Portfolio Management Advisor;
• Manage programme personnel and help develop the skills and competencies needed to ensure optimum performance;
• Foster a positive work environment, respectful of both men and women, and ensure that the highest standards of conduct are observed.

Build partnerships and provide support in developing resource mobilization strategies:

• Build and strengthen strategic partnerships through active networking, advocacy and effective communication;
• Identify innovative solutions to UN Women’s broader fund-raising requirements where synergies exist between the mandate of the organization and the goals of HeForShe champions.

Facilitate knowledge building:

• Share lessons learned and best practices with colleagues, ensure dissemination of information within the team an in the organization.

Education 

• A Master’s degree in business management, project management, public administration, social science or other relevant field is required;
• A combination of a Bachelor’s degree with an additional two years of relevant work experience may be accepted in lieu of the Master’s degree

Work Experience

• Minimum 7 years working in Programme or project management experience, when combined with a Master’s Degree is required.
• Previous experience on gender equality project / Programme management and fundraising is a requirement
• Previous experience working as relationship manager with Heads of State and Global CEOs (i.e. Fortune 500) is required
• Previous experience working as relationship manager with Goodwill Ambassadors is an asset.
• Experience in the UN is highly desired.
• Experience in a consultancy role is an asset
• Familiarity with the Sustainable Development Goals is an asset

Language

• Fluency in oral and demonstrably superior writing skills in English is required
• Proficiency in another UN working language is desirable.

Contract type: International ICA
Contract level: IICA-3/ICSC-11
Contract duration:Open-ended, subject to 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.
• 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 staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post
• 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.