| Posted Date: | 12 January 2021 |
UN Women and UNV launch new Young Women Leaders Initiative
UN Women and UNV launch the new Young Women Leaders Initiative to create professional opportunities for leaders of tomorrow and further enhance diversity in UN Women. We invite 10 young women from the Global South to serve as UN Youth Volunteers at UN Women Headquarters in New York.
UN Women, in partnership with the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme, is excited to introduce the UN Women “Young Women Leaders” (YWL) initiative. The YWL initiative will engage a diverse cohort of young women from the Global South who are committed to gender equality and women’s empowerment and to the mission and work of the United Nations. It will also allow the sharing of experiences among young leaders from diverse backgrounds across UN Women and further enhance diversity in UN Women’s personnel.
As part of the Young Women Leaders initiative, UN Women and UNV will recruit the first cohort of 10 young, talented and dedicated women to serve at UN Women’s headquarters as UN Youth Volunteers. While participating in a structured professional development programme, the YWL participants will be mentored by leaders in their respective fields of expertise. They will have the opportunity to contribute to gender equality and women’s empowerment and become part of a network of young leaders at UN Women.
The recent global mobilization for racial justice has shown how systems that perpetuate inequality can be easily disrupted. We are looking to young people to continue disrupting the status quo and to lead the way in building back more equal, unified and resilient societies for all.
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Under-Secretary-General of the UN and Executive Director of UN Women
UNV will facilitate the recruitment of motivated young women from the Global South who have demonstrated a commitment to gender equality through their academic, extra-curricular, or volunteer activities, and with diverse educational interests, including management, administration, international relations, communication, advocacy, human rights, gender studies or international development.
Diversity is also about opportunities and this is an important first step to increasing UN Women’s professional outreach.
Muthoni Muriu, Senior Advisor on Diversity, Inclusion and Shared Leadership
One in five UN Volunteers currently serving with UN Women are youth, building on its commitment to a new generation of gender equality advocates and in line with UN Women’s Generation Equality Initiative. Each of these young volunteers is contributing in their own way, bringing diverse experiences, perspectives, and motivation to make a meaningful contribution.
If you are under the age of 29, a woman from the Global South, and passionate about volunteering for gender equality and women’s empowerment in the leading global institution working on this issue, check out the opportunities and apply at the following link: https://www.unv.org/calls/USAR000088-8509.
Women with disabilities, LGBTQI, gender non-conforming individuals, and other groups are especially encouraged to apply.
Description
| Host Entity | UNWomen |
| Country | United States of America |
| Duty Station | New York (USA) |
| Language Skills | English |
| Start Date | Immediate |
| Duration | 12 months |
| Application Deadline | 25/01/2021 |
Eligibility criteria
Candidate age: between 18 and 29 throughout the entire duration of their assignment. Nationals of the country of assignment are not eligible, except the assignments in Headquarters duty stations.
Description of task
The Young Women Leaders Programme is an opportunity for 10 young women from the global South to bring their voices, passion and commitment to Gender Equality by learning and contributing across UN Women’s operations in New York City for one year.
Each UN Youth Volunteer under the Young Women Leaders Programme will work closely under the supervision of an experienced UN Women subject matter expert, to develop a work and learning plan.
A specific set of tasks mutually agreed upon between the Young Women Leader (YWL) and supervisor will be drawn from the following broad areas of work taking into consideration career aspirations, individual motivation and organizational needs.
Candidates will be matched with one of the available positions in the area below based on their expression of particular interest.
Please find here a list of general functions and responsibilities that a YWL may be assigned. Based on the selected areas below in which the YWL will be working (as specified below), the supervisor and YWL will develop a more detailed description of assignment
Project Management:
- Provide inputs to, compile and analyze information related to project or initiative within area of interest
- Monitor, coordinate and draft reports on activities
- Raft new proposals or ideas
Policy development:
- Perform background research
- Provide technical inputs to documents and policies
Knowledge management:
- Provide inputs to knowledge management products
- Draft briefing notes and presentations
- Gather and analyze data
- Draft training materials and organize training sessions
Administration and Operations:
- Develop templates and forms and gather inputs as needed
- Maintain and databases
- Respond to queries
- Provide suggestions for business and operations improvements
Communication and Advocacy:
- Draft, provide input to and disseminate communication materials
- Maintain and update webpages, intranet pages or other communication channels
Partnerships:
- Reach out to Regional Office and Country Office focal points as needed
- Respond to queries from stakeholders
- Participate in internal and external working groups
Candidates will be matched with one of the available positions in the areas below based on their expression of particular interest
Administration – Degree in Business & Administration.
The Division of Management and Administration is responsible for the operational support and management of financial, and administrative resources including information communications and technology, the effective and efficient delivery of essential operations services in UN Women, continuous development and improvement in operations, policies, and methods to align with UN Women and stakeholders’ evolving business needs and advisory support.
Communications & Advocacy – Degree in communications, public relations, journalism, media, public relations
The Communications & Advocacy Section is responsible for proactively advancing the strategic positioning of UN Women and its mandate in this context through effective outreach through its strategic communications capacity and function. UN-Women has increasingly and with measurable success and impact used campaigns to drive awareness and engagement on gender equality issues; these are conceptualized and spearheaded by the Communications and Advocacy Section which consists of a team with various communications backgrounds in amongst others, media relations, social media, video and photography, digital content, publications and editing.
Partnership & Resource Mobilization – Degree in economics, business management, social sciences, public administration, international relations, communications, women’s studies
The Resource Mobilization (RM) Section, which is part of the Strategic Partnerships Division leads the development of Resource Mobilization strategies to reach the targets for voluntary contributions in support of the UN Women Resource Mobilization and Partnership Strategy 2018-2021 to deepen and broaden the donor base in order to secure the resources required to fulfil UN Women’s mandate in line with the Strategic Plan. Funding sources include governments, the private and voluntary sector, National Committees and other UN entities.
Strategic Planning – Degree in international development or public administration, economics
The Strategy, Planning and Resources and Efficiency Division (SPRED) is responsible for advising Senior Leadership on integrating corporate strategy with the resources and setting measurement standards to ensure the organization is working toward achieving the goal of Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEEW) in line with the SDG’s, the 2030 Agenda and the UN Women Strategic Plan. The Division monitors compliance with the standards and safeguards for the risks that have been identified to improve decision-making and achieving results while increasing transparency and accountability to its Governing Bodies and Stakeholders. Specifically, the Division 1) formulates policies and procedures aligned to the corporate objectives, internal controls and risk management 2) coordinates strategic, programme and budget plans, 3) manage resource allocation from all sources and 4) monitors and reports on corporate programme and budget implementation in line with the UN Women Strategic Plan.
UN Coordination – Degree in international development, public administration, public policy, or other relevant social science field
The UN System Coordination Division leads, coordinates and promotes the accountability of the United Nations system in its work on gender equality and the empowerment of women” at the global, regional and country levels, including the coordination of gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment dimensions of the 2020 agenda, facilitating the UN SWAP implementation at System and Country Level, mainstreaming gender across the UN System and providing capacity development support to other agencies as needed.
Policy Support – Degree in social sciences, human rights, gender/women’s studies, international development
The Policy, Programme and Intergovernmental Division (PPID) provides global support to UN Women offices at Headquarters and in all field locations to deliver results in support of UN Women’s Strategic Plan 2018-2021 and internationally agreed goals on gender equality and women’s empowerment, including the Beijing Platform for Action and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Division provides intellectual and strategic leadership on normative support and the delivery of integrated policy and program advice, including through policy analysis and gender mainstreaming. UN Women leverages innovation, knowledge management, and cutting-edge technical expertise to support UN Women programmes and to build the capacity of partners to deliver results on gender equality and women’s empowerment.
UN Women provides Policy support in the areas of Economic Empowerment, Ending Violence Against Women (EVAW), Humanitarian Action, Leadership and Governance, Peace and Security, and Research and Data.
Qualifications/Requirements
Required degree level: Bachelor degree or equivalent
Education – Additional Comments:
Bachelor’s degree (with two years of experience) or Master’s degree (with minimum one year of experience) in a related field is required:
- Administration –Business & Administration
- Communications & Advocacy –communications, public relations, journalism
- Partnership & Resource Mobilization –economics, business management, social sciences, public administration, international relations, communications, women’s studies
- Strategic Planning –international development or public administration, economics
- UN Coordination –international development, public administration, public policy, or other social science
- Policy Support – social sciences, human rights, gender/women’s studies, international development
Required experience: 12 MonthsExperience remark:
Demonstrated commitment to Gender Equality and 1 year of experience with Master’s Degree; 2 years of experience with Bachelor’s Degree.
Language skills:
- English(Mandatory), Level – Fluent
Area of expertise: Other development programme/project experience.
Area of expertise details:
- Knowledge of gender equality and women’s rights issues;
- Strong IT literacy in standard applications is mandatory (Excel, Word, PowerPoint,etc)
- Analytical and interpersonal skills
Language skills
Fluency in spoken and written English is required. Working knowledge of another UN Official language (e.g. Arabic, French, Spanish) is desirable.
Core Values and Guiding Principles
The UN Volunteer will adhere to the UN Women’s core values, integrity, professionalism and respect for diversity, as well as its core competencies related to Awareness and Sensitivity regarding gender issues, accountability, creative problem solving, effective communication, inclusive collaboration, stakeholder engagement, leading by example.
Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Values and Competencies Framework: https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf?la=en&vs=637
UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on sexual exploitation and abuse, and on any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.
Core Values:
- Respect for Diversity
- Integrity
- Professionalism
Core Competencies:
- Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
- Accountability
- Creative Problem Solving
- Effective Communication
- Inclusive Collaboration
- Stakeholder Engagement
- Leading by Example
Driving license: No.
Application procedure:
Please apply via the link below. You can then either log in if you already have an account or register via ‘Candidate Signup’.
Application deadline: 25 January 2021
Eligibility criteria
Applicants for the Young Women Leaders Programme must be nationals of the Global South and no older than 29 years old throughout the entire duration of the assignment.
Applications from women with disabilities, LGBTQI, gender non-conforming individuals, and other marginalized groups are especially encouraged to apply.
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