United Nations Volunteers Programme Assistant Jobs in Kenya

United Nations Volunteers Programme Assistant Jobs in Kenya

The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme is the UN organization that promotes volunteerism to support peace and development worldwide.

Volunteerism can transform the pace and nature of development and it benefits both society at large and the individual volunteer.

UNV contributes to peace and development by advocating for volunteerism globally, encouraging partners to integrate volunteerism into development programming, and mobilizing volunteers.

In most cultures volunteerism is deeply
embedded in long-established, ancient traditions of sharing and support within the communities. In this context, UN Volunteers take part in various forms of volunteerism and play a role in development and peace together with co-workers, host agencies and local communities.

In all assignments, UN Volunteers
promote volunteerism through their action and conduct. Engaging in volunteer activity can effectively and positively enrich their understanding of local and social realities, as well as create a bridge between themselves and the people in their host community.

This will make the time they spend as UN Volunteers even more rewarding and productive.

Living Conditions

The incumbent will find his/her own housing arrangements in Nairobi. Nairobi is a modern metropolitan city where most basic goods and services are available locally at reasonable cost.

The city is at a high
altitude, with sunny days and cooler nights. There is a short rainy season before Christmas, and longer rains fall from March to May. November to February is generally warm. No need for central heating, however warm clothes are necessary during the rainy season.

There are several transportation options in
Nairobi, including taxis, buses, mini-buses, and mobile applications for transport.

Public healthcare in Nairobi is generally subpar, but there are private healthcare options that are of better quality. The city is
widely connected through Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and the smaller Wilson Airport.

Air transport is also available to many up-country destinations. The city is home to some 3,000 UN personnel mainly attributed to the fact that it serves as the headquarters for both UN HABITAT and UNEP, and as the UN Regional Hub for the East and Horn of Africa region.

Security is an issue in Nairobi, with incidents
of car-jacking and theft not uncommon. Safety and security in Nairobi varies depending on different
neighborhoods, and it is important to become familiarized with safety recommendations for the city.

Telecommunication system in Nairobi is generally sufficient. Internet access is generally reliable. There are frequent power cuts, however most of the shared compounds have generators. Water supply can also be an issue as Kenya often experiences drought.

In these situations, expats, may need to supplement their water supply by buying in water tankers.

Kenyans are wonderfully friendly and tolerant to visitors.

English is the first language spoken here, though most Kenyans are trilingual, using tribal languages and Kiswahili.

Organizational Context & Project Description

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 are translated into action

It provides strong and coherent leadership in
support of Member States’ priorities and efforts while building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

From a gender perspective, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) represent a significant step forward from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), covering for the first time core areas of the feminist agenda.

The Inter-agency and Expert Group on SDG Indicators (IAEG-SDGs), created under the
auspices of the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC), has identified a robust set of 230 unique indicators to monitor progress in achieving the SDGs.

Overall, a quarter of these indicators explicitly or implicitly address gender equality.

The challenges of effectively monitoring the SDGs from a gender perspective cannot be overstated.

Of the 14 proposed indicators to monitor SDG 5, there are only 4 (referred to as Tier I indicators) for which internationally accepted standards for measurement exist and for which data are regularly collected by most countries.

Lack of statistics in these areas arises both from a failure to prioritize gender equality in
data collection and from a lack of resources.

Gender statistics are rarely prioritized in data collection and the resources devoted to them, both at the national and international level, remain grossly inadequate.

The demand for greater support for statistics will only increase as countries begin to implement the SDGs.

Qualifications/Requirements

Education - Additional Comments