Vacancy Announcement from United Nations Populations fund : Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) Specialist 

Job Title : NATIONAL POST: Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) Specialist, Kathmandu, Nepal Country Office, NOC

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Job ID : 40841
Location : Asia and Pacific
Full/Part Time : Full-Time
Regular/Temporary : Regular
Closing Date : 28 January 2022, 5PM Nepal Time
Duration : One year (renewable)*
Contract Type : Fixed-Term
Duty Station : Kathmandu, Nepal

* No expectancy of renewal in accordance with UN Staff Regulation 4.5

Organizational Setting
The Position:

UNFPA works to ensure sexual and reproductive health and rights remain at the very centre of development. The International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) draws a clear connection between reproductive health, human rights and sustainable development. When sexual and reproductive health needs are not met, individuals are deprived of the right to make crucial choices about their own bodies and futures, with a cascading impact on their families’ welfare and future generations. And because women bear children, and also often bear the responsibility for nurturing them, sexual and reproductive health and rights issues cannot be separated from gender equality. Cumulatively, the denial of these rights exacerbates poverty and gender inequality.

UNFPA works with governments, other UN agencies, civil society and donors to develop comprehensive interventions to ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health care. This includes efforts to strengthen health systems, including supporting the implementation of reproductive health programmes, improving the quality of reproductive health care and strengthening human resources. UNFPA also works to make sure reproductive health commodities, such as contraceptives, life-saving medicines and basic medical equipment are available where needed, and that a functioning logistics system is in place.

Reproductive Health is a lifetime concern for both women and men, from infancy to old age. UNFPA supports programmes tailored to the different challenges people face at different times in their lives, including comprehensive sexuality education, family planning, antenatal and safe delivery care, postnatal care, services to prevent sexually transmitted infections, and services facilitating early diagnosis and treatment of reproductive health illnesses. To support reproductive health throughout the life cycle, services across a variety of sectors must be strengthened in addition to health and education systems.

The PSexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) Specialist serves as the senior most expert in SRHR in UNFPA Nepal. S/he provides technical leadership for UNFPA’s work on SRHR towards accelerating the achievement of the ICPD Programme of Action and Agenda 2030. S/he provides policy advocacy support in SRH, promotes rights-based approaches, positions UNFPA’s work strategically within the health sector, and ensures linkages with other UNFPA programmes in the areas of adolescent and youth, gender equality and population dynamics.

S/he will be located at the UNFPA Country Office (CO) in Kathmandu, Nepal. S/he will work under the overall supervision of the Deputy Representative and in close collaboration with the UNFPA sub-national teams and other teams in Kathmandu.

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 focuses on three transformative results: to end preventable maternal deaths; end unmet need for family planning; and end gender-based violence and harmful practices.

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 uphold the values enshrined in the United Nations Charter, 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 Constitution of Nepal 2015 and the Safe Motherhood and Reproductive Rights Act 2018 protects the sexual and reproductive health rights and choices of women and girls. However, Nepal has one of the highest maternal deaths in the region (239 per 100,000 live births), an indication of the country’s weak health system. The COVID-19 pandemic has strained the health system further by diverting health resources and capacities from SRH services to address the pandemic. Overall, women and girls from marginalized groups continue to suffer disproportionately from unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortion, maternal deaths and disability, sexually transmitted infections and gender based violence.

UNFPA has a close working relationship with the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) for the last four decades and has contributed to establishing a progressive policy and legislative environment for SRH; provided technical support to put in place SRH protocols and guidelines; invested in developing health systems including human resources and supply chain management for SRH; and provided SRH commodities to the GoN.

UNFPA also works closely with its sub-national partners, with a strong field presence in several districts and in the provincial capitals of Province 2 (Janakpur), Province 5 (Butwal) and Sudurpaschim Pradesh (Dhangadhi); and good access to a wide range of local and provincial counterparts and partners. In addition, under the gender equality/gender based violence programmes, UNFPA has established presence in Province 1 and Karnali Province.

Since 2018, UNFPA has focused on enabling the new federal structure, at all levels, to strengthen the delivery of SRH services in the above-mentioned geographic areas, with a focus on marginalized and vulnerable groups. This has included advocacy efforts to mobilize political and financial support from policy makers; provision of technical assistance to put in place an enabling policy environment for SRH; support for SRH including family planning (FP) commodities; and oversight of a range of implementing partners engaged in capacity building and service delivery at the local level.

Humanitarian preparedness and response is an integral part of UNFPA’s work in Nepal. UNFPA is the lead agency mandated with the responsibility to coordinate and implement life-saving SRH services as well as GBV response services in emergency settings. UNFPA has built the trust and confidence of the national and sub-national counterparts and partners in humanitarian settings, including in the capacity of providing an effective and rapid response, tailored to the local context, as experienced in the 2015 earthquake response and the more recent floods and COVID-19 responses.

The Programme Specialist, SRHR is entrusted with the responsibility of engaging in advocacy and policy dialogue for concerted actions by the national counterparts, UN system and other development partners, and civil society organizations and networks on issues related to SRHR. S/he will provide technical leadership and build partnerships to leverage financial and technical resources for accelerated achievement of UNFPA’s transformative programme goals. S/he will support the work on SRHR and will engage with UNFPA personnel working across thematic teams and at provincial and local level. S/he will be expected to establish, nurture and pracitipate in national and sub-national networks in this field.

Qualifications and Experience

You will be responsible for:

A. Policy Dialogue and Technical Support

• Leads policy advocacy engagements with Government, UN system, and other development partners to position SRHR in the broader development and humanitarian agendas, and within UN system wide frameworks.
• Promotes awareness of the critical role of the ICPD Programme of Action in the achievement of the SDGs, in particular Goals 3 & 5, in relevant meetings, conferences and other fora.
• Keeps abreast of any policy and legal developments that affect SRHR and advise senior management on the potential impacts to UNFPA’s ability to advance its commitments.
• Ensures application of good practices and learnings in the field of SRH and drives new thinking and areas of innovation in SRH programming among partners and UNFPA personnel.
• Identifies policy gaps in the fulfilment of reproductive rights and translates knowledge gained from programming into policy recommendations, with a focus on sustainability.
• Represents UNFPA in high-level dialogue with government, civil society, academic institutions and other partners and participates in various high level committees and events.
• Establishes, strengthens and nurtures civil society alliances to influence the policy agenda and promote accountability mechanisms for the realization of reproductive rights.
• Provides vision and strategic direction to the positioning of SHR at the federal, provincial and local level, including in legislation, policies, strategies and plans, in development and humanitarian contexts, in collaboration with Government and other partners.
• Leads the design of the country programme and projects related to SRH, ensuring that selected interventions position UNFPA as a thought leader in the area of SRH and incorporate approaches grounded in gender equality and social inclusion.
• Anticipates, plans and supports life-saving SRH humanitarian response interventions, ensuring adequate attention given to the needs of women and girls during emergencies in collaboration with the UNFPA humanitarian team and other partners.
• Promotes state-of-the-art research work and learning culture in the team and ensures key findings are fully integrated within UNFPA-supported policies and programmes and promotes an integrated approach linked to other relevant thematic areas of work in UNFPA.
• Guides rights-based, gender-centric and inclusive policy and programme interventions under SRHR to reach those communities and vulnerable groups that are furthest behind.

B. Advocacy and Resource Mobilization

• Develops and maintains collaborative relationships with relevant Government counterparts, External Development Partners and other key stakeholders and asserts UNFPA’s comparative substantive role and contributions in advancing SRH and facilitating coordination and collaboration among the key partners, in development and humanitarian contexts.
• Examines and interprets the political, social and economic environment and implications for UNFPA’s work in SRH; increases in Government budgetary allocations and expenditures for SRH; and identifies entry points to leverage national resources.
• Leads advocacy efforts for the integration of UNFPA-support evidenced-based good practices within national systems and processes and engages in strategic partnerships with other External Development Partners to accelerate the sustainability of SRH interventions.
• Facilitates and mobilizes technical inputs to generate information and evidences for policy advocacy and to influence government, non-governmental counterparts, and other partners to accelerate the achievement of SRH goals at national, provincial and local level.
• Actively promotes, nurtures and participates in relevant networks and coalitions related to SRHR to keep abreast of the developments, share information, advance SRHR goals.
• Supports the advocacy and resource mobilization strategy of UNFPA Nepal by exploring funding opportunities, including from the public and private sectors; maintains partnerships with donors and key stakeholders; and oversees the preparation of good quality documentation, i.e. project proposals that are innovative and demonstrate potential for high impact, best practices and lessons learnt, and communication materials.
• Ensures the production of high quality communication materials for SRH advocacy and for promoting visibility of UNFPA’s work and achievements.

C. Programme Management and Coordination

• Oversees the management and implementation of the SRH programme and ensures regular monitoring visits; assessment of the effectiveness of SRH interventions and areas for further improvements; and timely actions to address the barriers and bottlenecks with the partners.
• Ensures results based monitoring and reporting under the SRH programme including timely submission of progress and other reports, as required.
• Ensures the documentation of lessons learned and best practices related to UNFPA’s work in SRH; participates in communities of practices in the area of SHR; and shares new approaches with UNFPA and the implementing partners for optimal results.
• Strengthens partnerships and collaboration with the Government, civil society actors and External Development Partners through supporting effective coordination mechanisms.

Perform any other duties as requested by the Supervisor and the UNFPA Management team.

Qualifications and Experience
Education:

• Advanced Degree in Public Health, Health Economics, Medicine/Health Sciences, or related disciplines

Knowledge and Experience:

• At least five years of increasingly responsible professional experience at the advisory/managerial level in managing sexual and reproductive health programmes;
• Demonstrable technical expertise in sexual and reproductive health;
• Strong understanding of reproductive rights and gender dimensions in policy and programme formulation, implementation and monitoring;
• Proven ability to engage in high-level policy dialogue and advocacy;
• Proven experience in coordinating/managing a multi-disciplinary team of staff, experts and consultants;
• Familiarity in communicating in a clear and articulated manner, technical and/or complex issues to different types of audiences;
• Demonstrated ability to network at high-levels within the health sector;
• Demonstrated experience in coordination and liaison with government counterparts, non government organizations, UN agencies, private sector, development partners and CBOs.
• Possess excellent interpersonal, emotional intelligence, negotiating, intercultural communication skills and political acumen;
  Ability to work independently and in culturally diverse teams.
• Experience in humanitarian response is an asset.

Languages:

• Fluency in English and Nepali is required. Working knowledge of other Nepali local languages is an asset.

Required Competencies
Values:

• Exemplifying integrity
• Demonstrating commitment to UNFPA and the UN system
• Embracing diversity in all its forms
• Embracing change

Core Competencies:

• Achieving Results
• Being Accountable
• Developing and Applying Professional Expertise/Business Acumen
• Thinking analytically and Strategically
• Working in Teams/Managing Ourselves and our Relationships
• Communicating for Impact

Functional Competencies:

• Advocacy/ Advancing a policy-oriented agenda
• Leveraging the resources of national governments and partners/ building strategic alliances and partnerships
  Delivering results-based programme
• Internal and external communication and advocacy for results mobilisation

Managerial Competencies:

• Providing strategic focus,
• Engaging in internal/external partners and stakeholders,
• Leading, developing and empowering people, creating a culture of performance
• Making decisions and exercising judgment

UNFPA Work Environment
UNFPA provides a work environment that reflects the values of gender equality, teamwork, Embracing diversity in all its forms, integrity and a healthy balance of work and life. We are committed to maintaining our balanced gender distribution and therefore encourage women to apply. UNFPA promotes equal opportunities for all including persons with disabilities.

Disclaimer
WARNING TO APPLICANTS: UNFPA does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process. Should you have received a solicitation for the payment of a fee, please disregard it. Furthermore, please note that emblems, logos, names and addresses are easily copied and reproduced. Therefore, you are advised to apply particular care when submitting personal information on the web. Should you feel that you have received a fraudulent notice, letter or offer that makes use of the name or logo of UNFPA, you may submit a report through the UNFPA fraud hotline http://www.unfpa.org/help/hotline.cfm

Notice to applicants: In accordance with the 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, are required to renounce such status upon their appointment. Exceptions to this rule are very limited and can be made only for: (a) stateless persons; (b) newly appointed staff members who have applied for citizenship by naturalization, when such citizenship will be granted imminently; (c) acting staff members in the General Service and related categories with permanent residency status, on promotion to the Professional category; (d) staff members appointed under a temporary appointment. Please understand that UNFPA is not in a position to provide advice on or assistance in applying for any citizenship.

HOW TO APPLY: UNFPA has established an electronic application management system. This allows applicants to create a candidate profile, which can be updated regularly and submitted for more than one vacancy.

A full job description of the position can be accessed at https://nepal.unfpa.org/vacancies and only online applications using this link will be accepted.

Download the Step by Step Guide to Applying in the E-Recruit System of UNFPA at https://www.unfpa.org/resources/step-step-guide-applying-jobs-unfpa Please print out the Guide for your reference during the registration and application process.

Notice: There is no application, processing or other fee at any stage of the application process. UNFPA does not solicit or screen for information in respect of HIV or AIDS and does not discriminate on the basis of HIV/AIDS status. UNFPA provides a work environment that reflects the values of gender equality, teamwork, embracing diversity in all its forms, integrity and a healthy balance of work and life. We are committed to maintaining our balanced gender distribution and therefore encourage women to apply. UNFPA promotes equal opportunities for all, including persons with disabilities.

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