Technical Adviser, HIV/AIDS, Johannesburg, ESARO, P-5

The Position:

The Technical Adviser provides strategic technical, policy, and programmatic leadership for the region in the area of expertise to ensure that the RO, and COs remain abreast of the Fund’s policy and programme policies as well as current thinking and academic advance in HIV prevention affecting the ICPD Programme of Action. S/He maintains primary responsibility for coordination of provision of technical assistance and policy and programme support to the countries of the region in the area of HIV prevention and HIV/SRHR integration.  S/he analyses continental trends more generally and East and Southern Africa regional trends more specifically and contributes to strategic action in response to these, contributing to the monitoring of UNFPA substantive areas being firmly placed within national development frameworks and programmes, including the achievement of the SDGs and the definition of the ICPD 30 development agenda. 

Job Purpose:

Under the overall leadership of the ESARO Regional Director and the direct supervision of the Deputy Director, the Technical Adviser works within an interdisciplinary team providing integrated programme and technical support to the region.  S/he also liaises with other units at the HQ level, such as the Programme and Technical Divisions and the UNFPA Technical Network, ensuring the timeliness, adequacy, relevance, and quality of technical support to UNFPA operations. 

The primary roles of the Technical Adviser are:

A. Strategic technical, policy and programme development, monitoring and oversight,
B. Quality control of the technical support and capacity development 
C. Evidence and knowledge development and dissemination
D. Management and coordination of knowledge networks
E. Technical representation

You would be responsible for:

• Contribute to active environmental scanning (in area of expertise and work) at regional levels, in order to identify opportunities and gaps to facilitate timely UNFPA interventions. 
• Contribute inputs into the identification and synthesis of substantive trends in order to produce new and cutting-edge knowledge for programmes. 
•  Assist with analysis of UNFPA HIV prevention strategy for adaptation to the region, ensuring operational integration into regional programmes. 
• Contribute to proposals for UNFPA interventions on HIV prevention in emergency preparedness, humanitarian assistance, recovery and transition and relief efforts.
•  Contribute inputs reflecting the HIV prevention perspectives within the lCPD30  agenda, and SDG goals. Through regional strategic planning and policy documents of assistance to intergovernmental organizations, as part of a strategy to spotlight, UNFPA comparative advantage in the global and regional HIV-AIDS response;
• Contribute to maintaining and utilizing of the network of sub-regional and regional experts and institutions as part of the larger objective of capacity building and transfer of skills and programme ownership to beneficiaries.;
• Document and disseminate programme delivery experiences, lessons learned for capacity building, advocacy, policy-making and effective programming; 
• Participate in the implementation of regional collaboration schemes with UN agencies, academia, research and training institutions, think tanks, centers of excellence, and professional societies in furtherance of the UNFPA Strategic Plan and the advancement of the ICPD30 agenda and SDG goals. 
• Collaborate closely on an intra and inter Thematic Unit basis, to communicate and exchange information and situational analysis with concerned parties and stakeholders, as follow-up and programmatic/technical response. 
• Contribute regional perspective into the preparation, revision, adaption of training materials, manuals, and tools, ensuring their availability and monitored use in order to assess their effectiveness for programme implementation;
• Contribute to the development of Theories of change for HIV-related outcomes and outputs of the regional programme and also support country offices to do the same for country-level outcomes and outputs.
• Contribute to the promotion of technical knowledge, programme evidence, lessons learned, and success stories for use in improving programmes, maintaining accessible databases on best practices and innovation.
• Prepare subject matter documents including but not limited to briefing materials, best practices, innovation initiatives, lessons learned, and success stories for policy dialogues at sub-regional, regional, and global levels. 
•  Carry out any other duties as may be requested. 

Qualifications and Experience Required: 

 Education:  

Advanced University Degree in Public health, medicine, sociology, HIV prevention work, demography, gender, economics, international relations, international development, public administration, management, or other field directly related to the substantive areas of the role.
 

Knowledge and Experience: 

• Minimum 10 years of increasingly responsible professional experience in the substantive area, of which at least seven years are at the international level;
• Demonstrated expertise in the substantive area of work; and programme experience;
• Strong track record of technical leadership, and proven ability to produce demonstrable results;
• Demonstrated ability to network within the academic and development community;
• Familiarity with management and monitoring tools is desirable;
• Familiarity with ICT/ERP is an asset;
• Field experience is strongly desirable.  

Languages: 

Strong written and spoken skills in English; French and/or Portuguese desirable.