The Position:
Under the guidance of the SWEDD Director, SWEDD Programme Officer provides operational, planning, technical and coordination support for the Sahel Women Empowerment and Demographic Dividend project (SWEDD). The main responsibility of the program officer is to ensure the technical coordination of the programme by providing appropriate support to the SWEDD Director. S/he prepares and ensures the annual planning and review of the programme.
S/he acts as a key interface with all various units within UNFPA WCARO and SWEDD stakeholders, coordinating the flow of programmatic information and thereby ensuring smooth and timely operations, allowing better planning and more predictable delivery by the Regional Technical Secretariat (RTS) while optimizing the time of the SWEDD Director.
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:
The Sahel Women’s Empowerment and Demographic Dividend Project (SWEDD) is a regional collaboration encompassing 13 countries in West and Central Africa, 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 increase women and adolescent girls’ empowerment and their access to quality reproductive, child and maternal health services in selected areas of the participating countries including the Recipients' territory, and to improve regional knowledge generation and sharing as well as regional capacity and coordination.
The SWEDD Project interventions are structured around 3 primary components: (1) improve regional demand for reproductive, maternal, neonatal, child, adolescent, health and nutrition (RMNCAHN) and increase empowerment for women and adolescent girls; (2) Strengthen Regional Capacity and Availability of RMNCAHN Commodities and Qualified Health Workers; (3) Foster Commitment and Capacity for Policy Making and Project 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 Programme Officer performs a range of programmatic and administrative functions and engages in planning, reporting, and coordinating the implementation of regional interventions in collaboration with UNFPA WCARO Units, Country Offices, implementing partners, SWEDD Project Implementing Units and other partners.
Qualifications and Experience:
Education:
-
Advance Degree in Public Health, Sociology, Public Administration, or other related fields.
Knowledge and Experience:
- 5 years of professional experience in the substantive technical area and project coordination, of which at least two years at the international/regional level;
- Strong organizational, planning and analytical ability and professional experiences in project management and development work;
- Proven ability to produce demonstrable results;
- Ability to work in teams and in a multidisciplinary, complex and multi-country programme environment;
Languages:
-
Fluency in English is required and French is desirable to enable effective communication with English speaking and French speaking country coordination groups and local organizations (West and Central Africa region).
Compensation and Benefits:
This position offers an attractive remuneration package including a competitive net salary plus health insurance and other benefits as applicable.
Disclaimer:
UNFPA does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process. Fraudulent notices, letters or offers may be submitted to the UNFPA fraud hotline http://www.unfpa.org/help/hotline.cfm
In accordance with the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations, persons applying to posts in the international Professional category, who hold permanent resident status in a country other than their country of nationality, may be required to renounce such status upon their appointment.
We are no longer accepting applications for this position.
