UN Women: Deputy Country Representative, Pretoria, South Africa

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.

Summary of Country Profile

Through its programmes and projects, UN Women is providing technical assistance to national partners (governmental and non-governmental), including private sector, in the implementation of existing international and national commitments to women’s rights and gender equality, it facilitates networking and exchange of good practices and advocates for women’s rights and gender equality in all areas of life. The work of UN Women in the Republic of South Africa is guided by its Country Strategic Note 2026-2027 aligned to the UN-South Africa Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) and the UN Women Global Strategic Plan (SP) (2026-2029), and aims to contribute to the gender-responsive implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. 

Reporting to the Country Representative, South Africa Country Office, the Deputy Country Representative is responsible for the day-to-day management of the Country Office (CO). The incumbent is responsible for substantially contributing to the design, implementation, management and oversight of the country programme and to the operations supporting its implementation to ensure effective and efficient delivery of results as planned in UN Women’s Strategic Plan and the CO plans.

Key Functions and Accountabilities

Manage the programme team:

• Manage the day-to-day work of the programme teams, including finalizing the team’s annual workplan;


• Manage the process of programme conceptualization, planning, implementing and monitoring; and the management of material and financial resources;


• Lead the process of preparing programme implementation progress reports and identifying areas for UN Women Country Representative’s action and/or decision;


• Technically support the development of the Office security strategy and plan, as required. 

Provide advisory and specialized technical support on the strategic direction of the office:

• Advise and guide the Country Representative on strategic areas;


• Provide specialized technical and strategic support in managing all aspects of the programme design and related activities and for ensuring compliance and accountability in programme monitoring, reporting and evaluation;


• Develop policy documents, briefs and other strategic papers/materials for use in the development and presentation of innovative and coherent policy and programmatic positions;


• Serve as a senior member of the management team.

Represent UN Women in UN system coordination, with a focus on programming:

• As delegated by the UN Women Country Representative, represent UN Women in the United Nations Country Team (UNCT) to collaborate with the Resident Coordinator and UN system on interagency coherence, collaboration, cooperation, resource mobilization, advocacy, common services, and operations;


• Ensure UN Women’s participation in UN system thematic and other working groups to advance UN Women’s mandate.

Provide technical support in creation of strategic partnerships and resource mobilization strategies:

• Provide substantive research and inputs in the formulation and implementation of the country resource mobilization strategy;


• Establish and maintain relations with government, partners, stakeholders and donors to achieve active collaboration, cooperation and alliances on programme development and implementation and resource mobilization.

Represent UN Women and support advocacy strategies:

• Represent and advocate for UN Women in organizational, regional, global, public information/ relations events and key meetings, as delegated;


• Develop and implement advocacy and public communication strategies.

Facilitate knowledge management, innovation and capacity building:

• Manage the process of collecting and sharing lessons learned on gender equality and women’s empowerment to build knowledge and capacity of partners and stakeholders;


• Oversee the design and implementation of capacity building training activities to enhance skills and knowledge.

Manage personnel under supervision:

• Manage the performance of personnel under supervision; provide managerial direction, guidance and leadership to staff and provide performance feedback and coaching to personnel supervision, ensure performance assessment are implemented on time and ensure personnel are fully aware of UN Women workplace relations policies;


• Create an enabling work environment; 


• Identify learning and development opportunities.

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

Supervisory/Managerial Responsibilities: Incumbent leads a team of 8 personnel, including direct supervision of the team leads in the relevant thematic areas (WEE, WPS, GBV, and HIV and AIDS, and Governance).  In addition, also supervise the Monitoring and Reporting and Coordination unit.

Competencies:

Core Values:

• Integrity;


• Professionalism;


• Respect for Diversity.

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 Values and Competencies Framework: 

Functional Competencies:

• Excellent programme formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation skills;


• Ability to develop detailed operational plans, budgets, and deliver on them; 


• Ability to provide policy advice and support to partners;


• Ability to synthesize program performance data and produce analytical reports to inform management and strategic decision-making;


• Strong leadership skills, ability to create and enabling work environment;


• Strong analytical skills;


• Excellent knowledge of Results Based Management;


• Strong knowledge of the UN system;


• Strong knowledge of local country context;


• Strong negotiation skills.

Recruitment Qualifications

Education and certification:

• Master’s degree in international development, public administration, public policy or other relevant social science fields is required;


• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree;


• A project/programme management certification (such as PMP®, PRINCE2®, or MSP®) would be an added advantage.

Experience:

• At least 7 years of progressively responsible professional experience that combines strategic and managerial leadership in development programmes with a strong focus in the area of gender equality and women’s empowerment at the international level, preferably in developing countries within the UN system, Agencies, Funds or Programmes is required;


• Field based experience working with multi-cultural teams is required;


• Experience leading and coaching staff in international settings is required;


• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and spreadsheet and database packages, experience in handling of web-based management systems is required;


• Experience in the use of a modern web-based ERP System, preferably Oracle Cloud, is desirable.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English is required;


• Knowledge of another official UN language is desirable (French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian or Spanish).

Statements:

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.

Diversity and inclusion:

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)

Note: Applicants must ensure that all sections of the application form, including the sections on education and employment history, are completed. If all sections are not completed the application may be disqualified from the recruitment and selection process.