Jobs and Careers

TERM : 

Service Contract (SB4.1)

JOB DESCRIPTION : 

The Programme Coordinator will be located in UNFPA Armenia Country Office (CO). Under the overall guidance of the Head of Office and direct supervision of UNFPA Armenia CO Gender Programme Analyst, the Programme Coordinator substantively contributes to the UNFPA activities in the area of gender equality. The Programme Coordinator, in close cooperation with UNFPA Armenia office, as well as the European Union will carry out overall daily management and implementation of the activities, in accordance with the "Addressing Gender-Biased Sex Selection and Related Harmful Practices in the South Caucasus: Support for Regional, National and South–South Interventions" EU funded Project Document, Work Plan, and the Budget.

RESPONSIBILITIES : 

Under the overall guidance of the Head of Office and direct supervision of UNFPA Armenia CO Gender Programme Analyst, the Programme Coordinator contributes to the effective and efficient implementation of the EU – UNFPA Programme on "Addressing Gender-Biased Sex Selection and Related Harmful Practices in the South Caucasus: Support for Regional, National and South–South Interventions" in Armenia. The Programme Coordinator applies and promotes the principles of results-based management (RBM), as well as a client-oriented approach and is instrumental in guiding and facilitating the delivery of the Programme's activities, monitoring results achieved during implementation and following up on recommendations. The incumbent in the framework of Programme implementation, establishes and maintains collaborative relationships with implementing partners, government and non-government counterparts, and development partners, including other UN Agencies, multilateral and bilateral donor agencies, etc. The Programme Coordinator works in close collaboration with the UNFPA Armenia Country Office staff (Programme, Operations, Communication), for effective achievement of the expected project outcomes, anticipating and resolving complex programme-related issues. The incumbent is expected to exercise full compliance with UNFPA programming, financial, procurement and administrative rules, regulations, policies and strategies, as well as implementation of the effective internal control systems.

The Programme Coordinator would be responsible for:
- Ensure efficient programme result based management;
- Ensure financial and administrative management of the programme;
- Advocacy and communication;

The Programme Coordinator is expected to undertake and/ or support the following tasks as deemed necessary by the UNFPA Armenia CO and the supervisor:
Knowledge management and technical support:
- Support technical dialogue with the national partners on aspects related to son preference, under valuing of girls, and gender-biased sex selection to promote a rights-based and gender equality oriented approach to the subject;
- Liaise with national partners as needed to ensure the adoption of the developed research methodologies by advocacy and provision of technical advice;
- Contribute to overseeing the quality and accuracy of the research conducted by the national partners supported by the programme, and contribute to ensuring that the research methodologies to be applied are in line with UNFPA CO approaches;
- Support the provision of technical advice for law and policy development/ revision through undertaking review of national laws and policies, and drafting reports, background papers and talking points;
- Support implementation of National Action Plans and strategies;
- Support the CO in staying abreast of national trends and research by reviewing existing quantitative and qualitative data and research, drafting background material and talking points and identifying knowledge gaps.

Advocacy and communication:
- Support advocacy for policies, laws, programmes and National Action Plans that seek to address the root causes of son preference, under valuing of girls, and gender biased sex selection while protecting and promoting the sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights of women through preparing background material and engaging with national stakeholders;
- Support advocacy for disaggregated data that monitors national trends related to son preference and gender biased sex selection, as well as qualitative research that seek to understand the social, cultural and economic underpinnings of the harmful practice;
- Support the preparation and implementation of national campaigns and other communication initiatives related to the programme;
- Support the development and implementation of campaigns and other large scale communication and advocacy initiatives;
- Support the production of advocacy and communication materials, including writing articles for publication online and in printed media;
- Support coordination to ensure coherence and synergies between initiatives supported by UNFPA and other national initiatives on the issue on son preference and gender-biased sex selection;
- Support the CO in documenting lessons learned throughout the implementation of the programme.

Capacity building support:
- Support the CO in identifying strengths and challenges among national stakeholders and counterparts to map needs and opportunities for capacity building initiatives to enhance the capacity, knowledge and understanding of national counterparts;
- Support the CO in the technical development and undertaking of the national capacity building workshops of identified national stakeholder and counterparts as needed;
- Contribute to the logistical arrangements needed to hold capacity building workshops;
- Support the CO in identifying potential participants for the regional capacity building events;
- Support the documentation of national capacity building initiatives, and the evaluation and follow up of identified action points in the workshops undertaken.

Programme management support:
The main responsibility of the programme management at the country level lies with UNPFA staff, but the Project Officer will be asked to support the following tasks as deemed necessary by the UNFPA CO and the supervisor:
- Contribute to ensuring timely implementation of activities in the national work plan and achievement of results;
- Contribute to monitoring the national partners' implementation of activities under the programme, including travels and follow up with government and other national partners;
- Contribute to assessments of the quality of deliverables delivered within the programme and provision of feedback to national counterparts as needed;
- Support monitoring of the CO work plan and stated targets and results, including support to monitoring the implementation rate;
- Contribute to the programme and annual reports on activities undertaken, challenges faced, and results achieved within the programme, as requested by UNFPA HQ.

- Carry out any other duties as may be required by UNFPA leadership, which contributes to the project efficient implementation.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS : 

Qualifications and Experience:
- At least 4 years of relevant professional experience in the field of programme/ project management with international and/ or civil society organizations. Experience in working with gender equality either at the national or international level;
- Knowledge about son preference, the under valuing of girls, and gender-biased, as well as related policies and programmes in Armenia. International/ regional experience is a strong asset;
- Experience in working in collaboration with government, development partners and civil society organizations;
- Knowledge of both qualitative and quantitative research methods related to the above mentioned subject area;
- Experience in statistics and analysis of censuses, vital statistics and other quantitative data related to son preference, under valuing of girls, and gender-biased sex selection is an asset;
- Documented experience in working on knowledge management, provision of technical support, and preparing and conducting capacity building;
- Experience in development of communication campaigns, and communication and advocacy strategies and material is an asset;
- Strong analytical skills, the ability to work independently as well as in teams, the ability to adapt working methods and areas of work to the needs of the programme, solid written and verbal communication skills in English and Armenian languages are requirements for this post;
- Knowledge of the UNFPA and European Union structures, visibility policy and reporting requirements will be an asset;
- Strong interpersonal and organizational skills;
- Proficiency in current office software applications and corporate IT systems;
- Knowledge of ATLAS/ PeopleSoft or other ERP system is an asset.

Languages:
- Fluency in oral and written English and Armenian languages; good/ working level of Russian language knowledge is desired.

Competencies
Values:
- Exemplifying integrity;
- Demonstrating commitment to UNFPA and the UN system;
- Embracing diversity in all its forms;
- Embracing change.

Core Competencies:
- Achieving results;
- Being accountable;
- Developing and applying professional expertise/ business acumen;
- Thinking analytically and strategically;
- Working in teams/ managing ourselves and our relationships;
- Communicating for impact.

Functional Competencies:
- Advocacy/ advancing a policy-oriented agenda;
- Leveraging the resources of national governments and partners/ building strategic alliances and partnerships;
- Delivering results-based programmes;
- Internal and external communication and advocacy for results mobilization.

APPLICATION PROCEDURES : 

To apply, please visit: https://tinyurl.com/jn6frdwt (Job opening ID:37107). Incomplete applications will not be considered. Only short listed candidates will be notified.

Please clearly mention in your application letter that you learned of this job opportunity through Career Center and mention the URL of its website - www.careercenter.am, Thanks.

REMUNERATION/ SALARY : 

This position offers an attractive remuneration package including a competitive net salary plus health insurance and other benefits as applicable. The Programme Coordinator will submit the required deliverables as set out in the project WP and requested by the donor and UNFPA and will be paid according to the band/ grade agreed in the Service Contract.

ADDITIONAL NOTES : 

UNFPA does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process. Fraudulent notices, letters or offers may be submitted to the UNFPA fraud hotline http://www.unfpa.org/help/hotline.cfm.
UNFPA does not solicit or screen for information in respect of HIV/ AIDS and does not discriminate on the basis of HIV/ AIDS status.

ABOUT : 

According to data from the National Statistical Service of Armenia, from early 90s onwards there has been deviation from natural sex-at-birth ratio (SRB) (102-106 boys to 100 girls), reaching a ratio of 120 boys to 100 girls in early 2000s and somewhat stabilizing at 114 boys per 100 girls in early 2010s. UNFPA initiated study (2011) confirmed, that, although highly differentiated across marzes (regions), prenatal sex selection along with deep preference for boys do exist in the Armenian society. A follow-up in-depth analysis of SRB imbalances (2012) provided projections of the possible consequences of the skewed SRB for the country, such as almost 93,000 "missing" women or gender gap by 2060.
For ten years, UNFPA Armenia Country Office intensively worked on this issue, all the way from identification and thorough research, constant wide-scale advocacy and communications efforts and alliance building to focused technical support. Through the work, the media, a large portion of the society, the civil society and international organizations, the Government, and the Parliament, the Church, became supportive of the issue. Currently, the Armenian Government recognizes the problem of prenatal sex selection. In 2015, the Government developed and approved a program to tackle prenatal sex selection. In June 2016, the Parliament adopted the legislation amendment package presented by the Government, which banned sex selective abortions. UNFPA initiated an alliance consisting of the Government, civil society organizations, Ombudsman's office, faith-based organizations (FBOs), international donors, and the media, which later on became an official working group chaired by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs of Armenia. Thus, the Armenian Government is successfully fulfilling its international obligations as per the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Resolution 1829 on prenatal sex selection - first among the other countries indicated in the Resolution (Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Albania). The also Government has to fulfill its obligations as per Universal Periodic Review (UPR) relevant recommendation.
As a result of wide-scale joint work, the SRB fell from the average of 114 boys/ 100 girls in early 2010s to 112 boys/ 100 girls in 2016 and in 2020 110 boys/ 100 girls. While this decrease in such a short period is undoubtedly a success, the SRB in Armenia is still higher than the normal ratio.
It would be crucial for further decrease of the SRB to:
- Keep the public/ media interest in the issue alive through media/public education campaigns;
- Further research the possible causes for SRB differences across different marzes that range from almost normal to highest in the world. The research findings may be key to finding a local level "antidote" to skewed SRB;
- Keep educating the main stakeholders, medical workers, social workers, teachers, FBOs, on preventing prenatal sex selection;
- Implement projects that target the root cause for sex selection – unequal value of a girl child vs. a boy child in the society.

Organizational Setting
UNFPA is the lead UN agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled. UNFPA's 2018-2021 strategic plan, focuses on three transformative results: to end preventable maternal deaths; end unmet need for family planning; and end gender-based violence and harmful practices.
In a world where fundamental human rights are at risk, UNFPA needs principled and ethical staff, who embody these international norms and standards, and who will defend them courageously and with full conviction.
UNFPA is seeking candidates that transform, inspire and deliver high impact and sustained results; UNFPA needs staff who are transparent, exceptional in how they manage the resources entrusted to them and who commit to deliver excellence in programme results.