UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, 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 center of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations System efforts to ensure that commitments to gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action worldwide. It provides strong and coherent leadership supporting Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.
Afghanistan is one of the world’s most complex emergencies and the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. Afghan people are grappling with the impact of conflict, poverty, economic decline, and natural disasters. In this context, Afghan women and girls face unique vulnerabilities and require urgent support as gender inequality is interwoven with conflict dynamics and humanitarian needs. It is essential that Afghan women and girls can continue to shape the development of their country and that their gains are protected. UN Women remains fully committed to supporting Afghan women and girls and to putting them at the center of the global response to the crisis in Afghanistan.
UN Women have been in Afghanistan for two decades. UN Women’s programming approach is informed by analysis of the political, economic, and humanitarian situation, risks to and capacities of partner organizations, and needs of Afghan women and girls. UN Women Afghanistan currently has four key programme priorities: (1) Gender in Humanitarian Action, (2) Ending Violence Against Women, (3) Women’s Economic Empowerment, and (4) Women, Peace, and Security.
Since May 2021, UN Women Afghanistan has capitalized on its five Sub-Offices in Balkh, Bamyan, Herat, Kandahar and Nangarhar. At present, comprising of a Programme Coordinator, a Programme Associate, and a Driver each, the five Sub-Offices are supporting UN Women programming and monitoring in their respective regions across the four thematic programming areas, and in alignment with the Humanitarian Response Plan (2022) for Afghanistan and the UN Transitional Engagement Framework (TEF). In addition to supporting programme implementation and monitoring, the Sub-Offices are fostering stakeholder engagement and partnership building at the provincial level, including with Civil Society, UN, and other humanitarian and development partners. They support the roll-out of gender analysis and key advocacy and communications activities to ensure their reach beyond Kabul. The selected Sub-Offices are strategically situated to enable co-location with other UN agencies and deepen operational and programmatic synergies.
Given the importance of sub-national level engagement in support of Afghan women and girls in the current crisis context, the UN Women Afghanistan Country Office is scaling up its field presence. It is recruiting a Head of Sub-Office for each of the five Sub-Offices in Balkh, Bamyan, Herat, Kandahar, and Nangarhar.
Reporting to the UN Women Afghanistan Operations Manager and working closely with the programme, communications and management support units, the Head of Sub-Office represents UN Women Afghanistan at the sub-national level and is responsible for coordinating and leading UN Women stakeholder and partner engagement, and programming, monitoring and operations at the local level.
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