Programme Coordinator-Gender and Economics at UNDP

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.

Women in East and Southern Africa represent the most deprived group of the population in spite of their paramount social and economic role. They have limited access to, and control over critical resources, as a result of social, cultural and economic norms. UN Women’s programmatic work to support women’s economic empowerment in the region is centered around three pillars: (i) Improving women’s access to climate resilient agricultural value chains; (ii) Promoting and strengthening women entrepreneurship; and (ii) Enhancing women’s income security and social protection.

COVID 19 hit East and Southern Africa at the beginning of the second quarter of 2020. The pandemic has exacerbated existing gender inequalities in economic opportunities across Eat and Southern Africa where most people earn their livelihoods through the informal economy. The shock triggered by COVID-19 came at time when the region’s economy was already plagued by rising income inequality, financial fragility and mounting debt, and limited fiscal space by Governments. The socio-economic impact of the pandemic affected women disproportionally in the region as a result of their overrepresentation among very small businesses, and informal and vulnerable workers. The lockdown measures have also increased the unpaid care burden of the region or rates of Gender Based Violence against women’s and girls.

To respond to the crisis, Governments across the region are spending significant resources to provide immediate support measures and to boost economic recovery through ‘fiscal stimulus’ packages. It is important to ensure that adopted economic stimulus and recovery package are gender responsive and address equity gaps. UN Women has developed a range of policy tools to support Governments in identifying and addressing the gender impacts of the pandemic, including one on “How to Assess and Engender Fiscal Stimulus Packages to Respond to the Socio-Economic Impacts of COVID-19”.

UN Women, with support from the Government of Korea, is launching the programme “Engendering Fiscal Stimulus Packages and Recovery Efforts Adopted in Response to the COVID-19 Health and Economic crises” to support Governments in East and Southern Africa in engendering fiscal stimulus packages through direct advice and technical assistance, as well as advocacy and policy dialogue. The Programme Coordinator will provide substantive leadership and coordination of the project within the region and support in gender responsive macro-economic programme analysis.

Reporting to the Regional Policy Specialist, WEE, the Programme Coordinator is responsible for coordinating the programme “Engendering Fiscal Stimulus Packages and Recovery Efforts” which includes coordinating relationships with national partners and stakeholders, monitoring and reporting, and managing the finances and personnel of the portfolio.

Duties And Responsibilities

Coordinate Regional Project on Engendering Economic Stimulus Packages:

• Coordinate the regional component for East and Southern Africa of the global programme “Engendering Fiscal Stimulus Packages and Recovery Efforts Adopted in Response to the COVID-19 Health and Economic crises”;
• Develop and implement, in collaboration with the Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) unit in HQ, and the WEE Policy Specialist in the East and Southern Africa Region the regional work plan to operationalize the global project “Engendering Fiscal Stimulus Packages and Recovery Efforts Adopted in Response to the COVID-19 Health and Economic crises” for East and Southern Africa in 2021;
• Monitor programme implementation progress in the region and prepare periodic narrative progress reports and expenditures status reports;
• Coordinate the exchange of information and provide inputs to the development of knowledge products internally and externally of the programme;
• Provide coordination support to the COs in policy outreach and influence, and in resource mobilization activities related to ‘engendering fiscal stimulus packages’ linked to this project;
• Design and implement regional advocacy strategy to influence agenda of key regional institutions (Economic Commissions, AfDB, AU) to engender fiscal stimulus packages;
• Coordinate and technically support cross-learning among the countries in East and Southern Africa in collaboration with a parallel project in West and Central Africa;
• Organize at least one advocacy campaign, training workshop, webinar and production of knowledge product every quarter.

Provide technical support and guidance on engendering fiscal stimulus packages across the region:

• Provide technical support and oversee the development of national strategies that integrate gender equality into their stimulus packages and recovery policies;
• Provide technical support and guidance to COs in implementing their strategies including, the utilization of policy guidance tools developed by UN Women to undertake an assessment of fiscal stimulus packages implemented at the country level from a gender perspective; conducting gender analysis of fiscal stimulus packages, participating in missions/online events to discuss and disseminate results and recommendations;
• Provide technical support to country offices in the design of policy dialogues and advocacy strategies to promote recommendations to engender fiscal stimulus packages, and other technical support and advice as needed;
• Provide guidance to country offices in their development of performance indicators, and monitoring achievement of results.
   

Coordinate Capacity Building Initiatives For Partners And Other Stakeholders

• Identify capacity building needs and provide technical support to country offices through, mentoring, training and capacity development initiatives, as needed;
• Adapt existing tools and support country offices in analyzing gender impacts of stimulus packages and integrating gender priorities in economic recovery plans in the region;
• Implement on-the-job technical assistance to country office colleagues in engendering fiscal stimulus packages and gender analysis of macroeconomic policies;
• Design and deliver, jointly with country office programme colleagues, capacity building activities for Governments in the region to enhance capacity to engender economic policies;
• Technically support and oversee country office’s training programmes for and Governments in the process of piloting, implementing, and adapting existing Gender responsive budgeting initiatives to integrate gender priorities in post-COVID19 recovery strategies;
• Design and deliver regional capacity building events for UN Women staff and Government counterparts on key economic reforms to integrate women’s needs in post-COVID19 recovery.

Coordinate The Monitoring And Reporting On The Project

• Gather and compile all data, social and economic information necessary for monitoring and reporting on the project from the planning to the evaluation stages;
• Develop key economic indicators, monitor project progress according to the work plan and indicators, and draft monitoring and donor reports for East and Southern Africa Region;
• Monitor the implementation of activities and the expenditure of funds by partners; conduct regular monitoring virtual country office checks;
• Prepare annual and quarterly reports; review and coordinate the submission of regional partner financial and narrative reports.

Manage Financial Resources And Supervise Personnel

• Supervise and manage unit personnel working on the project, review performance and mentorship;
• Coordinate development and preparation of financial resources of the programme including budgeting and budget revisions, and expenditure tracking and reporting;
• Oversee and monitor the allocation and disbursement of funds to the country offices.

Support Communication, Partnerships And Knowledge Building

• Provide technical support to the development of partnerships and resource mobilization strategies;
• Ensure documentation of the programme implementation process and products produced are in accordance with UN Women guidelines;
• Contribute to the exchange of information and knowledge products internally and externally of the programme.

Key Performance Indicators

• Annual work plan and proposed approach to implementation of the project;
• Timely and quality implementation of the project activities against set workplans, timelines and budgets, in line with the Strategic Note;
• Quality and timely reporting;
• Strong relations with partners and stakeholders;
• Regular and timely monitoring of activities;
• Timely and quality implementation of advocacy events in line with work plan;
• Enhanced best practices and lessons learned documented and circulated;
• Final project report;
• Delivery of training and capacity building activities.