Technical Specialist

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Job Description

The Technical Specialist/Adviser (Adolescents and Youth) post is located in the Pacific Sub-Regional Office and reports directly to the Deputy Director and Head of programs who provides overall leadership and receives inputs from the Technical specialist/adviser on the overall programme strategy.

S/He is part of an interdisciplinary team of Technical Advisers working in thematic areas which provides integrated programme and technical support within a systems strengthening approach fundamental to UNFPA’s overall strategy, in line with the efforts of the Joint Pacific UN Country Team.

How you can make a difference:

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 new strategic plan (2018-2021), 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, we need 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, innovate, inspire and deliver high impact and sustained results; we need staff who are transparent, exceptional in how they manage the resources entrusted to them and who commit to deliver excellence in programme results.

Job Purpose:

The Technical specialist (Adolescents and Youth) coordinates, manages and provides quality, timely and integrated technical assistance, policy and programme, trend analysis, support and guidance on Adolescents and Youth including strengthening national capacity for integrated ASRH programing and CSE/FLE for in-school and out-of-school youth. The Advisor will also have a leadership role in coordinating the UN Pacific Youth working group and influencing regional institutions and organisations to advance youth empowerment and development through SRHR and gender equality lens S/He provides thought leadership and expertise designed to ensure that sub regional office programmes are implemented in the context of ICPD Programme of Action and UNFPA Strategic Plan as well as national development processes, the 2030 SDG agenda and UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF).

The position is expected to focus on engaging the political and technical arms of Pacific Island countries and territories, intergovernmental, regional organizations, academic and research institutions, relevant NGOs and international development agencies to prioritise Youth empowerment and development through meaningful engagement in policy action and programming in ASRH, FLE/CSE climate change action & justice, demographic shifts and digitalization.

The functions of the position on these issues will also extend to influencing economic development in the island countries through harnessing of the demographic dividend, design, delivery and reporting of the multi-country programmes working with national Governments and NGOs/CSOs in the context of the enhanced but supportive role that PSRO is expected to assume while ensuring UNFPA visibility and leadership

The primary activities of the Technical Specialist/ Adviser are:

Technical Advice to Policy and Programme Development and Implementation
Capacity Development of national and regional partners
Evidence, Knowledge Management and visibility for ICPD advocacy.
Programme Management Support and political accountability.
Resource Mobilization

You would be responsible for:

The Technical Specialist/Adviser (Adolescents and Youth) is the focal point assigned to the sub regional office and its components programme. S/He ensures that programme assistance and capacity development needs are met and technical assistance is delivered and managed effectively through appropriate modalities to support the elaboration of the UNFPA strategic plan in the sub-region in the following areas;

Outcome: Support to Policy and Programme Development and Implementation:

Identifies sub regional/Multi country trends ensuring standardization and complementarities of UNFPA global, regional and sub regional strategies related to Adolescents and Youth into strategic planning and policy documents of assistance aligned to national development frameworks and programmes, intergovernmental organizations in country programmes and annual work plans reflecting lCPD agenda and SDG goals, targets and indicators;
Analyses substantive & geopolitical trends in order to identify new and emerging needs, new delivery modalities for technical guidance and support to produce new and cutting edge knowledge for programmes;
Assists SRO in identifying resource mobilization and co-financing opportunities; liaise with donors at the sub regional level; liaise with Resource Mobilization Branch on the issues of resources mobilization and donor reporting, review and comment as necessary on co-financing agreements, proposals and reports to ensure quality and compliance with UNFPA procedures and donor requirements;
Participates, along with other technical and programme team members of the sub regional offices as relevant, in the development of strategic frameworks of assistance/project support, field missions related to planning, monitoring and evaluation assistance to country programmes;
Works closely with Humanitarian coordinator through APRO, Humanitarian Response Branch on humanitarian assistance, ensuring effective delivery of humanitarian assistance and the linkages with other related areas (including recovery programmes for Adolescent and Youth) by providing inputs to Inter-agency sub country consolidated appeals, assisting in mobilizing necessary funds;
Provides inputs, as assigned, into the processes for preparation of national development frameworks, annual workplans and all related documents as well as assuring in the process, substantive hands-on involvement of national experts and institutions as integral part of the activities;
Analyses and contextualises the UNFPA Adolescent and Youth strategy for adaptation to the sub region, ensuring operational integration into sub regional programmes;
Contribute inputs to implementation strategies to spotlight UNFPA comparative advantage in the population and development domain through harnessing of the demographic dividend and in respect of Adolescent and Youth programmes.

Outcome – Capacity Development of national and regional partners:

Ensures an open exchange of state-of-the-art programmatic innovations in partnerships with assigned SRO Programme/Technical specialists;
Provide inputs, tools and participate in activities for the development and implementation of a capacity development strategy for the sub region;
Provides support inputs into the adaptation and use of programming, monitoring, evaluation and reporting guidelines and tools;
Identify capacity building needs of the sub country offices and follow through organization of capacity building activities with sub country office staff, national counterparts and civil society partners, regional partners; and
Assists in networks and partnerships building in the sub region to strengthen national capacities, assuring collaboration with APRO, a substantive hands-on involvement of national experts and institutions as integral part of the programming, implementation, monitoring and evaluation processes;
Contributes to maintaining and utilization of network of sub regional and regional experts and institutions as part of the larger objective of capacity building and transfer of skills and programme ownership to beneficiaries;
Lead the positioning and mainstreaming of SRHR and gender equality in climate change action and justice advocacy and programming capacity through youth machineries, institutions and organisation across the Pacific countries.
Provides inputs into proposals for UNFPA interventions in emergency preparedness, humanitarian assistance, recovery and transition and relief efforts;
Documents and disseminate programme delivery experiences, lesson learned for capacity building, policy making and effective programming;
Identifies key entry points, partners and approaches for mainstreaming Adolescent and Youth engagement, ASRH, CSE/FLE related issues;
Coach and supervise junior professional staff and volunteers, and guide sub country staff such as National Programme Officers and Assistant Representatives, participates in working groups and task teams.

Outcome – Evidence and Knowledge Management and visibility for ICPD advocacy:

Ensures and open exchange of best practices/lessons learned between SRO in partnership with SRO Programme/Technical Specialists
Identifies opportunities for lessons learned/best practices in the assigned countries;
Carries out sub regional environmental scanning (in the area of expertise) with particular emphasis to develop and maintain technical partnerships in the sub region and to identify opportunities and gaps to facilitate timely UNFPA interventions;
Liaise with the Technical and Program Divisions to ensure state-of-the-art programming knowledge and lessons learned/best practices are available for use in sub countries to improved UNFPA programme in incorporating adolescent and youth issues into humanitarian preparedness, response and recovery programmes;
Contribute sub-regional perspective into the preparation, revision, adaption of training materials, manuals and tools, ensuring their availability and monitored use in order to assess their effectiveness for programme implementation;
Act as Focal Point for the specific thematic areas in the sub regional office with responsibility for knowledge sharing and providing timely support to PSRO in developing programme intervention in the area of expertise; Liaise with other UNFPA structures for ensuring knowledge transfer across the sub region on programmatic areas of focus or on matters related to sub countries under the position’s portfolio;
Contributes to the promotion of technical knowledge, programme evidence, lessons learned and success stories for use in improving programmes, maintaining accessible data bases on best practices;

Outcome – Programme Management Support and political accountability:

Monitor financial implementation of the programmes, provide inputs on the resources distribution in the sub countries, identify opportunities for resource mobilization and bring areas of concern to the attention of management;
Prepare subject matter documents including but not limited to briefing materials, best practices, lessons learned and success stories for political environment scanning and policy dialogues at sub regional;
Participate in implementation of sub-regional collaboration schemes with UN agencies, academia, research and training institutions, civil societies in furtherance of UNFPA Strategic Plan and the advancement of ICPD agenda and SDG goals assuring familiarization with UNFPA adolescent and youth strategy, ensuring interventions that are integrated into sub country programmes and which also support the participatory approaches;
Ensure adolescent and youth programme results achieved with UNFPA support at national level are accounted for in social transformation and development metrics for political and social accountability and visibility.
Assist with clarification of existing UNFPA policies as well as in respect of new approaches and techniques where related precedents or guidelines are generally unavailable.
Monitor the programme cycle and implementation of sub regional country programmes and operations in the countries; provide guidance and support to operations in countries upon specific requests of the Director and Representative in the areas of Youth and Adolescents.

Outcome – Other:

Carry out other official duties as may be required by the PSRO Director and Representative.

Qualifications and Experience:

Education:

An Advanced (Master’s) University Degree in Public Health, Medicine, Social Sciences or an equivalent professional qualification in a related field;
In addition to the advanced degree, a post graduate certification/training in Youth Development, Gender and/or HIV and AIDS is desirable.

Knowledge and Experience:

Minimum of seven (7) years of increasingly responsible professional experience in management and development of programmes relevant to sexual and reproductive health, Youth, Adolescents, ASRH, CSE/FLE, HIV/AIDS, gender, population and development, including three years at the international level;
Demonstrated programme expertise in the substantive area of work with field experience;
Proven track record of performance and ability to produce demonstrable results;
Experience in programme and/or technical assistance with the UN System;
Demonstrated ability to network within the academic and development community;
Familiarity with management and monitoring tools is desirable;
Strong communication skills (both verbal and written) in English Language and in the relevant UN working language in the region;
Familiarity with UN development programmes and working procedures especially UNFPA policies and programming procedures is an asset.
Computer Skills: Proficiency in MS Office packages, database and the internet.

Languages: