Youth and Gender Specialist

The UNFPA Regional Office for West and Central Africa (WCARO) covers 23 English, French, Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries. In its organizational set-up, the WCARO operates along broad thematic Units that are designed to stimulate and strengthen inter and intra-Unit coordination, coherence and synergy, facilitating timely and quality management and delivery of holistic development programme activities.

Interacting closely with colleagues within the UN agencies in Senegal, in the West and Central Africa region and beyond and Technical Division, the Programme Specialist will work within an integrated, coordinated and holistic approach that is fundamental to UNFPA’s overall strategy. S/he will play the leading role in implementing proven gendered interventions that take into account the diverse needs of the target population of adolescents and young people.

The post of Youth and Gender Specialist is located in the Adolescent and Youth Advocacy and Policy Unit under the direct supervision of the Head of the Unit. WCARO directorate will provide guidance in ensuring quality assurance and provision of technical inputs to the newly approved World-Bank funded regional project on The Sahel Women’s Empowerment and Demographic Dividend (SWEDD) for which UNFPA is entrusted with the implementation and coordination of the regional components as well as other Demographic Dividend projects/programmes.

Job Purpose:

The Youth and Gender Specialist will be responsible, in response to country requests and within the broader youth, gender and health sectors, focusing on ASRHR and gender, for the provision of technical advisory services to support the youth and gender activities, more specifically to generate demand for RMNCHN services by promoting social and behavioral changes and empowering women and girls, and to improve women and adolescent girls’ empowerment and their access to quality reproductive, child and maternal health services.

S/he will provide technical backstopping and support/conduct relevant research, analysis and capacity building activities aimed at providing information and knowledge-base and readily useable methodologies to planners, policy makers, and programme managers. The incumbent will contribute to enhancing national capacity to mobilize and obtain political support for national policies and programmes in the field of ASRHR and gender with a particular focus on the demographic dividend. Such support will contribute to the overall regional programme management and coordination, component 1 of the SWEDD project, gendered initiatives for adolescents and youth and meaningful collaborations with other relevant sectors such as education and HIV. S/he fosters dialogue, collaboration and shares information with all concerned.

The primary roles of the Youth and Gender Specialist are:

Technical Support and Advocacy
Capacity Development and Partnerships
Evidence and knowledge development and dissemination
Technical Representation

Education:

Graduate Degree in public health, sociology, public administration, or other related field;

Knowledge and Experience:

5 years of increasingly responsible professional experience in the substantive technical area, of which at least two years at the international level
Strong technical knowledge in the science and application of social and behavioral change in the area of health services, family planning, youth and gender issues
Experience in project management and in the region is required
Proven ability to produce demonstrable results
Extensive network within the development community
Ability to work under pressure
Ability to work in teams and in a multi-disciplinary, complex and multi-country programme environment