Junior EVAWG Programme Officer

UN Women in Liberia
UN Women has worked strategically in Liberia since 2004 and currently holds one of the biggest offices in West Africa. It works closely with the Liberian Government and other UN Agencies through joint development programmes and the “Delivering as One” UNDAF model. Some key initiatives include the establishment of the Liberia Women Empowerment Network, an association of women living with HIV, and the establishment of the Association of Women in Cross Border Trade. In addition, UN Women leads the Liberia Joint Programme for Gender Equality and Women’s Economic Empowerment and implements economic empowerment projects and training for Liberia’s Joint Programmes on Food Security and Nutrition, Adolescent Girls, and the Prevention and Response to SGBV.

UN Women Liberia has built networks of male advocates and community leaders committed to “zero tolerance” for violence against women, and has built and replicated the peace hut model, empowering community women to take action to combat violence and resolve disputes independently and with the support of the Police. UN Women supported Liberia in the development of its National Action Plan for the implementation of UN SCR 1325 and is supporting its implementation through ongoing support to the Ministries of Justice and Gender and Development. UN Women also supported Liberia in the development of a gender-mainstreamed Poverty Reduction Strategy, the development and presentation of its 1st to 6thCEDAW report and development of its first national gender policy.

Ongoing Programmes :
Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting
Engaging Women in Building Peace and Security
Women’s Economic Empowerment

Violence against women (VAW) is one of the most widespread, persistent, and devastating human rights violations. In Liberia, DHS (2020) estimates that 37% of Liberian women and 25% of Liberian men believe that a husband is justified to beat his wife; 46% of the respondents were women living in rural areas while 22% were women in urban areas. The proportion of women aged 15-49 experiencing intimate partner physical and/or sexual violence at least once in their lifetime was 49.3%, and 34.8% within the previous 12 months. Harmful Traditional Practices such as female genital mutilation (FGM) and early child marriage (ECM) also remain a concern and are still rooted in social norms and values that are detrimental to the rights of the girl child and women, despite recent efforts made by traditional leaders in banning the FGM practice.

In Liberia, UN Women, in collaboration with the European Union (EU), the Government of Liberia, and civil society organizations, co-led the Spotlight Initiative alongside four other UN agencies (UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA, and OHCHR) with the aim of ending all forms of violence against women and girls (VAWG) by 2030. The European Union and the United Nations have been collaborating since 2017 to empower, promote, and protect the rights of women and girls worldwide. The Spotlight Initiative (SI) is bolstering this action through a multifaceted, multi-sectoral investment dedicated to the eradication of all forms of violence against women and girls. This initiative, ran from 2019 to 2023, with the aim of eradicating gender-based violence, harmful practices, and barriers to accessing sexual and reproductive health rights. The Spotlight Initiative galvanizes high level political commitment and contributes to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly Goal 5 on Gender Equality. It serves as a model for a collaborative approach involving donors, civil society, and relevant UN entities. This comprehensive partnership leveraged the combined expertise of the participating UN agencies to deliver on the SDGs effectively.

Liberia is one of the countries expected to implement Spotlight 2.0 from 2025 to 2028 through three UN Agencies (UN Women, UNFPA and UNDP). The

The IUNV Programme Officer will support the work of the EVAW Pillar for delivering quality implementation, monitoring and reporting on the Spotlight Initiative 2.0. Responsibilities include assistance in initiating and coordinating the implementation of activities; support in building the capacity of implementing partners; contribution to activities for monitoring results achieved during implementation; and contribution to ensuring appropriate application of systems and procedures. The IUNV Programme Officer works closely with the EVAW team members in UN Women, the Spotlight Coordinator and Technical Coherence Specialist, other staff from the Spotlight Initiative 2.0 Recipient UN Organizations (UNDP and UNFPA), implementing partners, civil society, and Government officials to ensure a coordinated and successful implementation of UN Women’s activities under the Spotlight Initiative 2.0.

Under the overall guidance of the Deputy Country Representative and direct supervision of the EVAW Technical Specialist, the UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks:


1. Contribute to the development of programme and advocacy strategies in the area of ending violence against women and girls

· Contribute technical inputs to the design and formulation of country strategic docu-ments, programme/ projects proposals, briefs, and other documents related to Spot-light Initiative and other initiatives related to EVAWG.

· Assist in organizing regular consultations with key stakeholders, government entities, women leaders, human rights experts, donors, and UN partners to gather inputs and reflect on and address emerging issues as necessary.

· Draft minutes and reports of meetings, events and engagements of the EVAWG Pillar

2. Provide substantive administrative support to the implementation and manage-ment of partners’ agreements managed by the EVAWG Pillar

· Support the preparation of project work plans and related sub-plans (procurement plan, quarterly plans if required, and others as necessary);

· Support the coordination of calls/requests for proposals, including the organization of technical review committees, and capacity assessment of implementing partners

· Contribute to the review, coordination and monitoring of the submission of implement-ing partner financial and narrative reports.

· Provide support to activities for training partners on Results-based Management and monitoring of implementation.

3. Contribute technical inputs to the monitoring and reporting of the EVAWG pro-gramme

· Support in the preparation of monitoring and evaluation plans;

· Assist in monitoring the progress of implementing partners’ activities and financial de-livery.

· Support the EVAWG pillar in maintaining a database of monitoring missions, partner reports and data on programme results and produce analytical reports.

· Provide substantive inputs to the preparation of donor and UN Women reports for in-ternal and external audiences.

· Assist in monitoring progress and timeliness of implementation of EVAW partners’ ac-tivities, results, indicators and financial delivery;

· Support to the continuous monitoring and compliance of partners’ expenditure plans against the approved work plans, budgets and programme/financial policies;

4. Assist in activities for advocacy, knowledge building and communication on EVAWG

· Provide input and contribute to the production of background documents (including project summaries, meeting papers, briefing notes, presentations, fact sheets, talking points, and donor profiles) for meetings, campaigns (including the 16 Days of Activ-ism campaign), events, workshops, conferences, and trainings organized by or re-lated to the EVAW pillar, with particular focus on the EU/UN Spotlight Initiative 2.0.

· Assist the EVAW team in conducting meetings, campaigns, events, workshops, con-ferences, trainings, and related activities.

· Provide inputs to the development of knowledge management products on EVAWG, with focus on Spotlight Initiative 2.0.

5. Provide advanced administrative support to the EVAWG Pillar

· Prepare logistical, administrative, and financial arrangements and support the organi-zation for meetings, workshops, events, and missions (virtual and in-person);

· Prepare travel arrangements for the EVAW team, including travel requisitions and claims;

· Prepare public information materials and briefing packets;

· Liaise with high-level officials on administrative issues;

· Prepare and assemble briefing materials and prepare power-point and other presen-tations; contribute inputs to the materials;

· Take minutes of meetings and share them with relevant stakeholders

Furthermore, UN Volunteers are required to

· Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant UNV and external publications and take active part in UNV activi-ties (for instance in events that mark International Volunteer Day)

· Be acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host country;

· Reflect on the type and quality of voluntary action that they are undertaking, includ-ing participation in ongoing reflection activities;

· Contribute articles/write-ups on field experiences and submit them for UNV publi-cations/websites, newsletters, press releases, etc.;

· Assist with the UNV Buddy Programme for newly arrived UN Volunteers;

· Promote or advise local groups in the use of online volunteering or encourage rel-evant local individuals and organizations to use the UNV Online Volunteering ser-vice when-ever technically possible.