Junior Consultant-Knowledge Management Assistant

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.

To fulfil its mandate, the organization and offices work on various aspects of development with the aim of either drawing attention by providing evidence on the existence of a gender gap or directly implementing interventions geared towards closing the gender gap.

UN Women Eastern & Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO) maintains a large presence in East and Southern Africa region, covering 13 countries with program presence in Somalia and Zambia. If the UN Statistics Divisons’ classification is used, the region has 28 countries. In accordance with the UN Women Strategic Note which is premised on the Africa Strategy, UN Women works to advance social, economic and political rights and the protection of women and girls from violence including harmful practices. The program also focusses on those from marginalized, excluded and under-represented groups, including rural women, women with disabilities, women living with or affected by HIV, women survivors of violence, women migrants, elderly women and others.

Knowledge Management and Research in East and Southern Africa

Knowledge Management has been identified as one of the functions of a regional office. Under this function the regional office plays the role of coordinating the development and implementation of a knowledge management strategy (2022-2025) in the East and Southern Africa region. The Junior Consultant-Knowledge Management supports the Knowledge Management in wide range of areas related to gender equality and empowerment of women. The knowledge agenda of the region follows demand driven research generating evidence and information that is used to inform programming, investment and policy on gender equality and women empowerment.

The consultant will be reporting to the Knowledge Management and Research Specialist who will be the point of contact on the contract and payment issues. The consultant will be based at the Regional Office in Nairobi, will lead the creation and coordination of the virtual knowledge spaces including the knowledge hub, strategic documents repository and the gender data repository for the region while supporting the implementation of the knowledge management agenda for the region. S/he works in close collaboration with programme teams in the Office and HQ to successfully deliver services.

According to UNSD SDG regional definitions East Africa include the following countries: Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique,  Madagascar, Malawi, Mayotte, Mozambique, Réunion, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Southern Africa consist of Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa. 

Duties and Responsibilities

Support the coordination of Knowledge Management and Research initiatives:

• Prepare and organize the gender profile focal points meeting.
• Develop virtual content for the Africa website.
• Promotes knowledge sharing within ESARO, including cross-country and cross thematic knowledge sharing through networks and communities of practice.
• Conduct a study on The Status of gender equality in Universities in East and Southern Africa
• Organize for the launch of the regional gender profile and identify, coordinate the participants, prepare presentations and talking points for the launch.
• Create key messages for the infographics for the regional profile and collaborate with the communications team to ensure social media engagement and dissemination of the same.
• Develop and compile quarterly data and statistics on thematic issues for quarterly knowledge series.
• Contribute to and document new corporate knowledge sharing mechanisms.
• Innovates and engages on new technology (multi-media) opportunities to receive, capture and share knowledge.
• Support the development of online tools, surveys and other pilot projects, including those oriented toward collaboration and learning.

Dissemination of Knowledge products:

• Develop publication dissemination strategies for the regional gender profile and the Status of gender equality in the universities report and ensure implementation.
• Coordinate knowledge dissemination events for the regional profile and the status of gender equality in universities report.
• Advise on dissemination formats that accelerate use and adoption of knowledge products.

Competencies

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 

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies:  

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES: 

• Ability to design qualitative and quantitative research projects.
• Demonstrable gender research experience.
• Excellent writing skills.
• Solid familiarity with current Knowledge Management technologies, including social media-based systems.
• Demonstrated capacity to strongly promote knowledge sharing and knowledge products and systems.
• Good knowledge of gender issues and women’s empowerment issues.
• Ability to organize and complete multiple tasks by establishing priorities.
• Establishes, builds and sustains effective relationships with clients, demonstrating understanding of client’s perspective; anticipates client needs and addresses them promptly.
• Model and promote transparency, honesty and openness.
• Demonstrate understanding of client’s perspective.

Required Skills and Experience

Education and Certification:

• Bachelors degree (or equivalent) in economics, gender, development studies, or in the field of social science or other relevant field.

Experience:

• One year of relevant experience in development work, administrative or programme management/support.
• Experience working on gender equality at national, regional and international levels is an asset.
• Experience in working in a multicultural environment.
• Experience in working in a computer environment using multiple office software packages is required.
• Experience in the use of ERP systems, preferably Oracle Cloud, is desirable.
• Experience in supporting a team is desirable.
• Excellent analytical skills with strong drive for results and capacity to work independently.