Research and Knowledge Management Specialist

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.

In undertaking its mandate to support “existing coordination mechanisms to generate a more effective United Nations system-wide humanitarian response to respond to the specific needs of women and girls” UN Women seeks to complement and enhance the capacity of other UN entities to serve their respective mandates and deliver on gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Based on UN Women’s Humanitarian Strategy, the Humanitarian Section develops and implements the programme of work on research, analysis and knowledge management and provides guidance, technical and strategic support to intergovernmental processes, the UN System and to UN Women staff working at country and regional level on issues of gender equality and women’s empowerment in disaster risk reduction/preparedness, emergency response and recovery. Furthermore, the Humanitarian Unit leads capacity development, coordination, and advocacy efforts for a coherent approach on gender mainstreaming in humanitarian action and its linkage and synergy with sustainable development and peace and security.

The scope of work of the Research and Knowledge Management Specialist (P4) requires substantive experience and understanding of the methodologies of developing and presenting gender-based evidence, data sets and analysis in the context of crisis and conflict planning, prioritization and decision making. It also requires knowledge of humanitarian action and women peace and security to translate UN Women`s strategic plans into results. It also requires developing mutually reinforcing partnerships with member states, civil society (particularly local women’s organizations), regional institutions and the international humanitarian system, including relevant UN entities and bilateral donors to enhance awareness, commitment, visibility, and resources to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment in crisis and conflict settings.

The Research and Knowledge Management Specialist reports to the Deputy Chief of Humanitarian Section, who provides the strategic leadership, guidance and oversight of the Humanitarian Unit and the formulation and execution of its programmes and operations, and will liaise regularly with the Peace, Security and Resilience team. Research and Knowledge Management Specialist will provide technical support to UN Women regional and country offices and relevant units in headquarters, including Research & Data. She/he will contribute to the inter-agency coordination, programme development and implementation in humanitarian action, post crisis/conflict recovery and other elements of the women, peace and security portfolio, with special attention to the organization’s efforts to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the adoption of 1325 and advancing the Secretary-General’s goal of bringing about a gender data revolution on issues affecting women and girls in conflict and crisis settings.

Key Functions and Accountabilities:

1. Data and Evidence-based Research and Advocacy

• Roll out of UN Women’s gender analysis tool and ongoing support to Country Offices guiding its utilization/application in humanitarian crisis contexts.
• Manage the UN Women led IASC GiHA Evidence Portal.
• Coordinate – across the Humanitarian Section, and the Peace, Security and Resilience Section –the development of the Women Count platform focusing on gender data and analysis crisis and conflict data in close partnership with the organization’s Research & Data Section.
• Support and develop UN Women’s inputs –including data and analysis- to existing inter-agency coordination mechanisms contributing to the coherence of UN Women policy and advocacy work in promoting gender equality concerns in humanitarian response.
• As designated, participate in and support UN Women’s policy work and engagement in relevant inter-agency, inter-governmental forums, and UN system-wide inter-agency tasks forces, notably the IASC including the IASC Gender Reference Group, the Call to Action on Prevention from GBV in emergencies, the WG dedicated to SG’s Action Plan on solutions to Internal displacement, the Joint Steering Committee on Humanitarian-Development cooperation, donor conferences and others.
• Provide technical support and ensure quality assurance of UN Women’s country level evidence products – gender alerts, gender analysis reports, charters of demand and other products in close collaboration with regional offices.
• Develop briefs and other knowledge products to guide/inform UN Women’s policy work in global normative and coordination spaces dedicated to WPS and HA, including the Security Council.
• Manage the collection, generation and dissemination of UN Women data, analysis, and evidence for intergovernmental and UN reports on humanitarian action and its links to Women, Peace, and Security agenda.
• Coordinate and consolidate UN Women’s inputs to existing inter-agency coordination mechanisms and enhance coherence of UN system and broader IASC in promoting gender equality concerns in humanitarian response.
• Map ongoing data-knowledge generation initiatives at country and regional level and manage the knowledge generation pipeline coordinated by the Humanitarian Section with inputs from UN Women country and regional offices.
• Coordinate UN Women reports, analysis and briefs on the gender impacts of conflicts and crises and UN Women’s programmatic response.
• Coordinate UN Women’s reporting on the implementation of the LEAP GEA for Humanitarian Coordination and Response and overall, the work of UN Women in humanitarian crises and displacement settings under the Global Strategic Plan.
• Lead on continuous innovation to further enhance UN Women’s capacities and outputs on crisis/conflict data and evidence.

2. Strategic Partnership and Resource Mobilization Support

• Support the development of partnerships with Member States and non-governmental partners, including local women’s organizations and feminist movements for key data/evidence gathering policy and programming initiatives and build synergies for effective gender equality programming and advocacy in conflicts and crises.
• Support the identification and development of strategic partnerships and alliances with UN agencies and other key actors -across global, regional, and country levels- in relation to the use of sex and age disaggregated data and gender analysis.
• Support the UN Women Humanitarian Leadership in engagement and representation in policy debates relevant to gender and humanitarian action, including participation in global knowledge events and strategic partnership development.
• Advocate on behalf of UN Women and its mandate to help raise awareness and to stimulate action to advance gender equality and women’s rights through the use on data and analysis within humanitarian contexts by, inter alia, forming strategic partnerships with government, UN agencies, NGOs, academia, media, and the private sector.
• Ensure information exchange on crosscutting themes within UN Women, including between the Programme Support and Policy Divisions, in particular the Research and Data section, Communications section, as well as Peace and Security, Women’s Economic Empowerment and the Ending Violence Against Women sections, regional and country offices, and other thematic sections.
• Contribute to resource mobilization initiatives including contribute to the development of new project proposals on UN Women’s approach on the HDP nexus.
• As designated, provide technical inputs in country level programming processes where UN Women has presence, ensuring that UN Women is strategically placed within the UN humanitarian ecosystem.

3. Capacity Building and Knowledge Management

• Collect and disseminate best practices on evidence-based gender equality programming in humanitarian situations and manage the knowledge management efforts of the Humanitarian Unit in regular coordination/collaboration with the knowledge management efforts of the Peace, Security and Resilience team, including its Community of Practice.
• Support the development and dissemination of gender-sensitive tools and methodologies for humanitarian planning at the country level.
• Develop tools and implement capacity-building/training initiatives to enhance staff members’ skills and knowledge of evidence/data and analysis with a view to integrating gender into humanitarian response planning, implementation, and monitoring.
• Contribute and facilitate the development and maintenance of global, regional, and national knowledge networks and practices on mainstreaming gender into humanitarian context.
• Contribute to the development of a knowledge management system for the Unit.
• Support country staff capacity development in supporting humanitarian coordination and responses from a gender perspective.
• Contribute to updating and support the implementation of the Humanitarian Section capacity development strategy for promoting gender equality in humanitarian action and across the HDP nexus.

4. The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organisation.