Burundi: Policy Adviser, Peace and Security, UN Women, Burundi

Grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, UN Women works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security. Placing women's rights at the centre of all its efforts, UN Women will lead and coordinate United Nations System efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It will provide strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States' priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.
UN Women Burundi is now working in the context of many challenges to the country’s peace and security. The year 2015 coincided with an election period deeply marked by dissension that started before the appointment of the United Nations Electoral Mission in Burundi. Both internal and external, these tensions starkly increased, leading to divisions in the different political parties. Regular attacks between youth from the ruling party and those of opposition parties have multiplied. This situation created a first wave of refugees who left the northern provinces of Burundi and fled to Rwanda, South East to Tanzania and Democratic Republic of Congo. The vast majority of these refugees were women and children.
After the May 13 failed putsch, more people fled the country including human rights defenders and members of women's organizations. Given the magnitude of the events, everyone is calling for dialogue, both internally and externally. The Security Council has adopted a resolution stressing that dialogue between the different parties to the conflict is salutary.

Security Council Resolution2248 (2015) welcomes the decision of the Secretary- General to appoint a special advisor on conflict prevention in Burundi, to work with the Government, and other concerned stakeholders, as well as, sub-regional, regional and other international partners, in support of an inclusive inter-Burundian dialogue and peaceful resolution of conflict and in support of national efforts to build and sustain peace.

The resolution also urges the Secretary-General to follow closely the situation in Burundi and invites him to deploy a team in the country to coordinate and work with the Government of Burundi, the African Union and other partners to assess the situation and develop options to address political and security concerns. It also requests to regularly update the Security Council on the situation in Burundi in particular on security and on violations and abuses of human rights and incitement to violence or hatred against different groups in the Burundian society.

Burundian women are recognized peace-builders, both at the national level where they successfully advocated during the Arusha Agreements for peace and reconciliation, and at the local level where they have been essential to reconciliation efforts and widely contribute to the prevention and resolution of a large number of community conflicts. Despite the current situation, the initiative of the Women's Network Mediators has never given up monitoring the course of events.

The current context, where Burundian women did not stop their prevention and conflict resolution initiatives, calls for a larger contribution of UN women. In this perspective, UN Women is seeking to deploy a Governance, Peace and Security Adviser who will provide targeted and strategic support and follow up to the consideration of gender at the United Nations mission for peace to be deployed in Burundi, to support the UN coordinator to be appointed on women and safety issues, and provide ongoing support and advice to the Women's Network Mediators for peace and dialogue.
The Governance, Peace and Security Adviser is expected to engage proactively with multi-stakeholders: government, UN entities and civil society to ensure gender issues are addressed in efforts related to conflict prevention, management and resolution efforts, peace-making, peacekeeping and peace building.

Summary of Key Functions:

1. Advisory and technical support
2. Advocacy and support to UN coordination and joint programming
3. Knowledge management and capacity building
4. Advisory and technical support
   • Provide guidance and support to UN Women national partners on gender, governance, peace and security and humanitarian action by strategically linking to the work being done on Resolution 1325 and others thereto.
   • Assess, review and provide feedback to ongoing projects especially on project-related strategies and documents, work-plans, case studies and related knowledge products and publications as requested and needed.
   • Assist with resource mobilization efforts, including preparing concept notes and follow-up with donor agencies.
   • Provide guidelines on how UN Women could strategically support Burundian women leaders to be effectively part of the political dialogue on peace (such as define modes of representation of their views by selecting and training their spokesperson)
   • Provide strategic advice to UN Women in the implementation of all activities/projects on women’s role in governance, peace and security in Burundi;
   • Provide high level guidance on rapid and efficient response to analyze and contribute to attenuate the crisis impact on women and girls.
   • Provide strategic advice to UN Women on building strong institutions that are gender responsive on governance, peace and security
   • Prepare analytical reports, regular briefing notes, background papers and others as required by UN Women including gender responsive early warning conflict analysis
5. Advocacy and support to UN coordination and joint programming
   • Work closely with the UNCT to provide programming guidance on women, governance, peace and security issues including conflict prevention, mediation, justice and security sector reform, peacekeeping, conflict-related sexual violence, national action planning on SCR 1325, gender responsive early warning conflict analysis, among others
   • Work closely with UN coordination to be deployed by the Secretary-General and all its services related to Burundi peace and security on women issues and influence the whole agenda and results
   • Support the building of strategic alliances and partnerships to implement the program document and the UN’s Joint Plan in the areas of gender governance, peace and security and humanitarian action
   • Support the implementation of a UN Women advocacy plan on women peace and security and ensure dissemination of key messages thereto
6. Knowledge management and capacity building
   • Ensure assessments of country strategic and implementation plans. Identify lessons learned and areas of emphasis to guide program improvements and future strategic initiatives;
   • Identify areas on Governance, peace and security and humanitarian action that may require improvement and capture best practices/lessons learned, using corporate monitoring tools;
   • Manage and provide support of the process of collecting and sharing lessons learned on women, peace and security to build knowledge and capacity of partners and stakeholders;
   • Develop the capacities of UN Women staff as well as national and international organizations engaged in partnership with UN Women, or in women peace and security and humanitarian action initiatives
   IV. Expected Outputs
   The expected final outputs should be in French and include the following :
7. Advisory and technical support based on good knowledge of UN Women plans of action and projects and of all stakeholders and their initiatives
8. UN initiatives on peace and security and humanitarian action integrate women needs and are harmoniously implemented.
9. Capacities of UN Women staff and its partners are reinforced and knowledge and lessons learned shared.
10. End of mission report outlining main tasks undertaken, results/impacts, challenges, lessons learned and recommendations
    V. Impact of Results
    This post impacts on the development, implementation and results that in turn directly impact on the credibility and image of UN Women as an effective partner for country institutions and as a competent knowledge based organization on gender equity and governance, peace and security and humanitarian action. The post will provide strategic guidance and technical support to UN Women Country office and to the gender responsive implementation of the UN’s Joint plan on Governance, Peace and Security for Burundi. It will also help in building the capacities of UN Women staff as well as national and international parties on the issues of women, governance, peace and security.
    VI. Competencies
    Core values and Guiding principles:
    Integrity:
    Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.
    Professionalism:
    Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work.
    Cultural sensitivity and valuing diversity:
    Demonstrate an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity.
    CORE COMPETENCIES:
    Ethics and Values:
    Demonstrate and promote ethics and integrity by creating organizational precedents.
    Organizational Awareness:
    Build support for the organization and ensure political acumen.
    Work in teams:
    Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.
    Communication and Information Sharing:
    Create and promote an environment for open and effective communication
    Self-management and Emotional Intelligence:
    Stay composed and positive even in difficult moments, handle tense situations with diplomacy and tact, and have a consistent behavior towards others.
    Conflict Management:
    Leverage conflicts and address them proactively acknowledging different feelings and views and directing energy towards a mutually acceptable solution.
    Continuous Learning and Knowledge Sharing:
    Share knowledge across the organization and build a culture of knowledge sharing and learning.
    Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making:
    Ensure fair and transparent decision making processes and manage risk.
    FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES:
    • Substantive experience and record of accomplishment in the area of women, peace and security.
    • Familiarity with the Great Lakes region is an advantage.
    • Good knowledge of the UN system.
    • Proven ability to advocate and provide policy advice.
    • Ability to lead strategic planning, programme development and implementation, results-based management and reporting.
    • Ability to develop and maintain strong partnerships.
    VII. Recruitment Qualifications
    Education and certification: • Master’s Degree or equivalent in Social Sciences, International Development studies, Gender, Peace & Women studies or related field.
    Experience: • Minimum of 7 years progressively responsible experience in the area of women, peace and security, or related area, preferably with 3 years field experience.
    • Experience in gender-related programming in peacebuilding or peacekeeping context highly desirable.
    • Experience working in Burundi or Great Lakes region preferred.
    Language Requirements• Fluency in written and oral English and French is essential.

https://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_job.cfm?cur_job_id=63116