The Position:

The Youth & Gender Programme Specialist provides strategic, technical and programmatic support for the Sahel Women Empowerment and Demographic Dividend project (SWEDD) Regional Technical Secretariat (RTS) and the region in the area of Adolescent, Girls and Women empowerment, and the link with the Demographic Dividend Roadmap.  You will work under the direct supervision of the SWEDD Regional Coordinator and in collaboration with the Youth & Gender Unit chief at the West & Central Africa Regional Office.

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, 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 program results.

Job Purpose:

The Sahel Women’s Empowerment and Demographic Dividend Project (SWEDD) is a regional collaboration encompassing Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Benin, and is funded by the World Bank’s regional IDA (International Development Association) resources. The Project acts on the UN-World Bank commitment and partnership to address the Demographic Dividend in the Sahel. The overall goal of the project is to accelerate the demographic transition, to spur the demographic dividend, and to reduce gender inequality in the participating countries.

The SWEDD Project interventions are structured around 3 primary components: (1) Generate demand for reproductive, maternal, neonatal and child health, and nutrition (RMNCHN) services by promoting social and behavioral change and the empowerment of women and adolescent girls; (2) Reinforce the regional availability of RMNCHN commodities and qualified health workers; (3) Reinforce advocacy and dialogue at high levels and promote policy development and the project’s implementation. Project governance is vested in a Regional Steering Committee, supported by the Regional Technical Secretariat (RTS) located at the UNFPA’s West and Central Africa Regional Office (WCARO). The RTS is responsible for strengthening project management capacities of implementing agencies at national and regional levels. It also oversees the programming and implementation of all funding channeled through UNFPA for the project activities directly executed by UNFPA or sub-contracted to other agencies and partners.

It is in this context and as a member of the SWEDD Regional Technical Secretariat, that the Youth and Gender Programme Specialist will provide technical advisory services to support the youth and gender activities; generate demand for RMNCHN services by promoting social and behavioral changes; Set up a regional mechanism to monitor and evaluate ongoing country programs in women’s and girls’ empowerment and to improve their access to quality reproductive, child and maternal health services.

For policies and programs in the field of ASRHR and gender and the demographic dividend. S/he fosters dialogue, collaboration and shares information with all concerned.

Qualifications and Experience:

Education: 

Advance Degree in Public Health, Sociology, Public Administration, or other related fields.

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 Sub-Saharan Africa is required;
• Proven ability to produce demonstrable results;
• Ability to work in teams and in a multidisciplinary, complex and multi-country programme environment.

Languages:

Fluency in French and English is required.