[Deadline Extended] NATIONAL POST: Assistant Representative, Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia, NOC

The Position: 
 
The Assistant Representative position is located in one of the UNFPA field offices in the Pacific (Federated States of Micronesia) and reports directly to the Sub Regional Director who provides overall leadership and guidance. The Assistant Representative, under the guidance of the Director and Representative, designs, develops, and manages an innovative and responsive country programme. You will lead the programme team, inspiring it to translate the Multi Country Office and country goals into tangible solutions and results. Federated States of Micronesia covers five countries– Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Nauru, Palau and the Republic of Marshall Islands. 
 
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 strategic plan (2022-2025), reaffirms the relevance of the current strategic direction of UNFPA and focuses on three transformative results: to end preventable maternal deaths; end unmet need for family planning; and end gender-based violence and harmful practices. These results capture our strategic commitments on accelerating progress towards realizing the ICPD and SDGs in the Decade of Action leading up to 2030. Our strategic plan calls upon UN Member States, organizations and individuals to “build forward better”, while addressing the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on women’s and girls’ access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, recover lost gains and realize our goals.

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 programme results.

Job Purpose:

You will contribute to the management of UNFPA programme activities in the areas of population and development, sexual and reproductive health and gender. Working to advance the ICPD policy agenda in a politically sensitive environment, you will respond to changing priorities of Governments. Promoting partnership and strategic alliances with counterparts in government, multilateral and bilateral agencies and civil society will be key to your role. You will coordinate technical advisers and contribute to UN systems coordination through participation in policy dialogue and provision of inputs into joint common system initiatives. Reporting to the UNFPA Director Pacific, you will act on their behalf as required.

You would be responsible for:

• Conducting policy dialogue with Government, UN and other development partners to incorporate UNFPA’s priorities and agenda into national plans and strategies, and UN systems, initiatives and development frameworks. 
• Translating global strategies into country-specific advocacy strategies. This includes creating and delivering evidence-based advocacy messages to promote UNFPA’s programme goals, taking into account political and social sensitivities. 
• Promoting a results-based approach, integrating innovative policies and strategies into the design and formulation of country programmes, sub-programmes and projects.
• Ensure that programmes are responsive to the country’s needs in areas of UNFPA’s strategic priorities. 
• Facilitating the achievement of programme results by identifying, providing and coordinating inputs into programme development and implementation, ensuring programme monitoring and oversight, and coordinating and evaluating the inputs of consultants and technical experts. 
• Promoting knowledge sharing and continuous learning including testing, evaluating and documenting innovative strategies and best practices internal and external to UNFPA, and integrating these as appropriate. 
• Resource mobilisation by identifying potential donors, preparing proposals including outlining co-financing resources for support to the country programme,  and supporting the government and other agencies in coordinating assistance for programmes. 
• Leading policy and technical support in the Multi Country Office context and supporting the Director, Pacific, who represents UNFPA on the UNCT. 

Qualifications and Experience
    
Education:

Advanced university degree (Masters) in Public Health, Medicine, Sociology, Demography, Gender, International Relations, International Development, Economics, Public Administration, Management or other related discipline.

Knowledge and Experience:

• 5 years of progressively responsible professional experience in the field of development and population activities, including programme designing, appraisal and management.
• Demonstrated ability to refine programme design to ensure alignment of organisational programme objectives to national priorities/capacities.
• Proven ability to lead and manage teams to achieve demonstrable results.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills to foster engaged partnerships at a high level of representation and to maintain political partnerships.

Languages:

Fluency in English; knowledge of other official UN languages and /or fluency in local Pacific language is desirable.