The Technical Adviser post is located in the Panama Regional Office of UNFPA, and is under the overall supervision of the Regional Director and reports directly to the Deputy Regional Director. S/he is the principal adviser at the regional level for integrated technical and programme advice on SRH. The Technical Adviser works in an integrated manner with the technical and programme staff in the RO and SRO.
A. Strategic technical development, monitoring and oversight
- Provide technical and related programme leadership, management advice and strategic support and guidance to the region, in SRH, including for emergency preparedness, humanitarian assistance, recovery and transition in collaboration with technical and programme staff in the RO and SRO;
- Identify and provide analytical based advice, in SRH, on UNFPA’s comparative substantive role and specific contribution in the changing development agenda, and participate in policy dialogue;
- Contribute to the development and implementation of an integrated strategy for the delivery of technical assistance and programme support in the region;
- In the area of SRH, manage substantial inputs and provide support to implementation of a regional programme, grounded in sound substantive bases and responsive to region and countries’ priorities;
- Contribute to the substantive elaboration of UNFPA Strategic Plan and to its implementation in the region;
- Contribute to the development, implementation and monitoring of regional strategies in the region; Identify and analyze trends, threats and risks in SRH that may affect the ICPD agenda and UNFPA’s work within the region;
- Scan the environment in the region to identify tendencies in SRH, and ensure that they are appropriately addressed at the regional and/or sub-regional levels;
- Identify requirements for and contribute to the development of new or updated policies, positioning, frameworks, guidance, standards, instruments and tools;
- Participate in the UNFPA technical network in SRH, maintaining communication and feedback loops on all substantive work; and
- Coach and manage junior professional staff and associates, direct expert consultants and facilitate working groups and task teams.
B. Quality control of technical support and capacity development
- Advise the SRO and COs on the implementation and proper application of UNFPA policies, strategies, guidelines and tools on substantive matters in the region, ensuring consistency and coherence in addressing priorities for UNFPA; ③Ensure that state-of-the-art thinking and research is integrated within the work of the sub-regional offices and partnership networks;
- Review products of technical support at key stages of UNFPA, UN, and national development planning exercises, including advise director on clearance for final draft CPDs;
- Analyze technical and programmatic and substantive reports from the field and recommend required follow-up actions;
- Organize or contribute to regional and inter-country training activities in SRH for capacity development of SROs/COs/national/regional counterparts;
- Support the regional adaptation of training materials, manuals and tools in SRH and ensure their availability and promote their use for capacity development;
- Contribute to the development and implementation of a regional integrated technical delivery strategy to strengthen capacities in the region, and guide the management of this system;
- Support the development of (sub) regional institutional capacities for delivering high-quality technical support in select areas of UNFPA’s mandate;
- Monitor the quality of the technical support received at the country level, in the area of expertise, for effective policy dialogue and programming;
- Initiate, develop, strengthen and monitor substantive and intellectual regional partnerships in SRH, including for South South technical support to countries and for the implementation of the regional programme;
- Contribute to providing guidance to SROs/COs to include South-South cooperation in the development of Country Programmes; and
- Liaise with respective counterparts in TD and PD to identify opportunities for South-South cooperation in the region and with other regions.
C. Evidence and knowledge development and dissemination
- Play a key role in building up, coordinating and monitoring the regional knowledge platform in their areas of expertise and competency;
- Contribute to developing a mechanism to share technical skills and knowledge within and among programme countries and/or other regions in SRH;
- Facilitate and help maintain and make accessible data bases on best practices, partnerships and consultant rosters and help ensure their accessibility;
- Collect, analyze and synthesize information/data and experience on programme priorities to be used in regional and global advocacy;
- Lead the analysis and synthesis of substantive trends, emerging needs and research findings in the region in order to produce new, cutting edge technical knowledge;
- Prepare white papers, briefing and materials for evidence-based policy dialogues at regional level, provide similar support at the request of country offices;
- Disseminate and promote the use of state-of-the-art technical knowledge, evidence, lessons learned, and success stories and ensure their use to improve the effectiveness of UNFPA operations.
- Monitor and analyze reports on humanitarian, economic, political and social factors in development and management of population and development programmes;
- Collect, analyze and synthesize information/data and experience on programme priorities to be used in regional and global advocacy and for resource mobilization;
- Contribute to the advocacy efforts to advance the ICPD agenda and the attainment of MDG targets and indicators at the regional level; and
- Contribute evidence-based and knowledge sharing in the area of work, and regional experiences of working with UN wide frameworks and instruments related to the new aid environment.
D. Management and coordination of knowledge networks
- Coordinate overall provision of technical support to the country offices in the region in SRH; Develop and co-ordinate the substantive elements of partnerships and collaboration in SRH, with other UN agencies, including in the context of the UNDG, particularly with the regional technical arms of these agencies, as well as with regional institutions;
- Identify sources of technical knowledge among institutions and consultants; and
- Establish and maintain relationships with institutions in the region.
E. Technical representation
- Represent UNFPA on substantive issues in the region and elaborate UNFPA’s substantive regional and global perspectives in SRH;
- Participate in policy dialogue, and advocate for substantive issues in international, inter-governmental, U.N., and other policy and technical meetings and fora;
- Collaborate on substantive issues with UN agencies, academia, research and training institutions, think tanks, centers of excellence, professional societies in the region; and
- Act as focal point for inter-agency working groups in SRH.
- Carry out any other duties as may be requested by the Office of the Regional Director.
Our ideal candidate has:
- Post-graduate University Degree or equivalent (preferably Ph. D.) in public health, medicine, sociology, health systems/economics, or other field directly related to the substantive area identified in the title of the post.
- 10 years of increasingly responsible professional experience in the substantive area, of which seven years at the international level;
- Proven experience in FP and EMOC essential
- Health systems experience, health reform, an asset
- Basic understanding of health economics/health financing highly desirable
- Knowledge and understanding on quality of care, specifically client rights issues and BCC, an asset
- Up-to-date on state-of-the art knowledge, essential
- Experience in health sector review, especially SWAps, an asset
- Understanding of Human Rights dimensions of RH/FP and gender, an asset;
- 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;
- Experience in the region is an asset.
- Fluency in English and Spanish is required. Working knowledge of another official UN language is desirable.
We are no longer accepting applications for this position.
