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 on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of 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 has 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.
UN Women Afghanistan focuses on reaching women who are most at risk and marginalized populations, in particular gender-based violence survivors, female headed households, women IDPs and returnees, women with disabilities, older women, and adolescent girls.
Afghan women, who comprise more than half of the population in Afghanistan have been hit hard by this crisis, especially women who are unemployed, women suffering from poverty, women-headed households, and women in rural areas who’s their livelihoods and income generation activities have been disrupted or lost. These women will be supported with interventions to boost their livelihoods.
UN Women will support women in target areas, including in host communities and informal settlements, to secure alternative sources of income through development of capacities and skills and access to resources including employment opportunities. This will provide women with emergency livelihood protection and support—urgently needed given a looming economic collapse and associated crisis in the formal banking sector.
Within the framework of its crisis response, UN Women Afghanistan, along with other partners, is supporting crisis-affected women through livelihoods interventions to promote women-led businesses and to strengthen women’s economic agency.
UN Women is looking for an experienced Programme Analyst, WEE (Livelihood and Business Development) to support Afghan women entrepreneurs through empowerment and creating networking opportunities as well as building infrastructure for business development that will lead to the improved economic potentials through identifying the skills gaps for women, boosting beneficiaries’ skills and linking women to market for employment opportunities. This intervention is part of an integrated response of UN Women Afghanistan and aligns with the United Nations Transitional Engagement Framework (TEF) for Afghanistan: essential services are sustained that address basic human needs for the people in Afghanistan. Under this outcome, livelihoods will be preserved, and jobs will be created through asset creation and business support at community and household level.
The incumbent will provide support to existing and emerging (start-ups) women-led businesses, including both home-based businesses and businesses run in market or commercial areas. This support will help women recover from crisis, strengthen women’s resilience, address their basic needs, reduce poverty, and support addressing the unemployment crisis.
Reporting to the Programme Manager/ Women’s Economic Empowerment, the Programme Analyst, WEE (Livelihood and Business Development) will work along with other team members in the WEE Programme to provide support to the business community and women owned businesses and she/he will ensure that project activities meet their goals. She/ he will travel to field offices, engage directly with beneficiaries, partners, and consultants on business development matters.
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