UN Women: Policy Advisor, Sustainable Development and Deputy Chief, Economic Empowerment, New York, P-5

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 Policy, Programme and Intergovernmental Division (PPID) positions UN Women as a global thought and practice leader on gender equality and women’s empowerment to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) across UN Women’s normative, operational and coordination mandate. Accountable for implementation of UN Women’s Strategic Plan through effective and efficient inter-governmental, policy and programmatic support and results, PPID's core functions include ensuring that UN Women offices and stakeholders receive high quality technical policy and programme guidance, substantive support and strategic direction, knowledge and data in all contexts to contribute to the achievement of the SDGs, and leading the work on data, evidence and knowledge on gender equality and women’s empowerment and tracking progress on the SDGs.

Economic empowerment (EE) is one of PPID’s thematic sections that leads and coordinates one of UN Women’s four Strategic Plan Impact Areas. UN Women works with governments, multilateral organizations, the UN System, civil society organizations and the private sector to promote women’s economic empowerment in alignment with UN Women’s Economic Empowerment Strategy. Women’s economic empowerment is a transformative, collective process through which economic systems become just, equitable and prosperous, and all women enjoy their economic and social rights, exercise agency and power in ways that challenge inequalities and level the playing field, and gain equal rights and access to, ownership of and control over resources, assets, income, time and their own lives. In its work on sustainable development, EE Section provides technical assistance and policy advice in a number of areas, among them, the gender-responsive implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Rio Conventions and leads the implementation of the global programming framework on Gender Responsive Climate Action and Women in the Blue and Green Economies, and makes links with other areas of UN Women’s work including on Women in the World of Work and Transforming Care Systems. 

Reporting to the Chief of Economic Empowerment, the Policy Advisor, Sustainable Development and Deputy Chief will oversee the development of gender equality and sustainable development policies and programmes, contribute to inter-governmental, normative and UN system coordination work, provide technical assistance and policy advice to UN Women’s regional and country offices, establish and strengthen partnerships, develop relevant knowledge products, and provide representational, advisory and strategic support to the Chief, including taking on section supervisory and management responsibilities as requested.

Key Functions and Accountabilities:

1.    Substantive contributions to policy development on gender equality and sustainable development:

• Lead development of policies and strategies on gender equality and sustainable development
• Conduct and/or lead the analysis of data and provide evidence to build the case for policies and interventions on gender equality and sustainable development and distill relevant lessons
• Research, develop and/or present policy papers, guidance notes/concepts and other knowledge products and tools for discussion in global and regional forums to help influence/advance policy dialogue
• Provide technical and policy leadership when UN Women participates in, convenes, or leads interagency groups on policy related areas, e.g., UN Water, UN Energy, Environmental Management Group, Committee on World Food Security
• Provide thematic contributions and guidance to corporate strategic planning and positioning
• Oversee, develop proposals and/or manage projects/studies with respect to global/thematic gender equality and sustainable development policies and projects or other relevant interventions
• Contribute to the preparation of UN Women’s flagship reports in relevant areas
• Plan, organize and substantively service expert group meetings, seminars, conferences, workshops and similar gatherings, including identification and determination of major issues for discussion and selection of participants, development of background documentation, preparation of reports and policy recommendations, and dissemination of results of such meetings.

2.    Advisory services and programme/project support:

• Provide policy and programmatic advice on sustainable development to UN Wo