Project Management Specialist – WEE (Agriculture and Food Production)

Host entity: UNWomen

Volunteer type: National

Areas of expertise: Administration, Project management, programme development, strategy, Nutrition

Application deadline: 19/10/2026

Mission and objectives

UN Women (UNW), 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 centre of all its efforts, the UN Women leads and coordinates the 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.
UN Women plays an innovative and catalytic role in the State of Palestine since its inception in 1997. UN Women Palestine Office focuses its activities on one overarching goal, namely, to support the implementation at the national level of existing international commitments to advance gender equality in line with the national priorities. In support of this goal, and thoroughly taking into consideration the specificities of the Palestinian context, UN Women concentrates its efforts and interventions toward the realisation of following strategic goals: Mainstreaming gender in governance, peace and security; Supporting women's economic security and rights; and Promoting women’s rights and protection against violence.

Assignment context

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 centre of all its efforts, the UN Women leads and coordinates the 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.

UN Women’s triple mandate, along with its global network and deep policy and programming expertise, continues to endow the Entity with a unique capacity to: (i) support Member States to strengthen global norms and standards for gender equality and women’s empowerment, and mainstream gender perspectives in other thematic areas; (ii) promote coordination and coherence across the UN system to enhance accountability and results for gender equality and women’s empowerment; and (iii) undertake operational activities to support Member States, upon their request, in translating global norms and standards into legislation, policies and strategies at country level.
UN Women plays an innovative and catalytic role in the State of Palestine since its inception in 1997 (as UNIFEM). In line with the national priorities, the work of UN Women for the period 2023-2025 is aligned with three of the Palestine United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework’s (UNSDCF) outcomes:
• Palestinians have greater access to economic opportunities that are inclusive, resilient, and sustainable, including decent employment and livelihoods opportunities in an empowered private sector.
• Palestinians, including the most vulnerable, have equal access to sustainable, inclusive, gender responsive and quality social services, social protection, and affordable utilities.
• Palestinian governance institutions, processes, and mechanisms at all levels are more democratic, rights-based, inclusive, and accountable.

Under the overall supervision of the UN Women Deputy Special RepresentativManagement e and the direct supervision of the UN Women Head of Gaza Sub-Office or delegate, the Project Specialist will lead project management and implementation of Horizon-funded interventions in Gaza in the area of women’s economic empowerment, agriculture and food production.

Task description

Within the delegated authority and under the supervision of the UN Women Head of Gaza Sub-Office, the Project Specialist – Women’s Economic Empowerment (Agriculture and Food Production) will have primary responsibility for Project management, with technical expertise in women’s economic empowerment, agriculture and food production. The incumbent will:

• Lead project planning, implementation, coordination, monitoring and reporting, ensuring delivery against approved workplans, budgets, indicators and timelines.
• Coordinate implementing partners, technical service providers, producer groups, cooperatives, private sector, women led organizations, CSOs, and relevant stakeholders; track deliverables, risks and corrective measures.
• Coordinate with participating UN agencies in Gaza early recovery joint programming.
• Prepare and maintain workplans, results frameworks, implementation schedules, budgets, risk logs and progress reports.
• Undertake field monitoring and quality assurance, monitoring and evaluation, validate implementation progress and identify operational or programmatic issues requiring action.
• Ensure timely, accurate and evidence-based reporting and documentation of results, lessons learned and scalable approaches.
• Provide technical guidance on women’s economic empowerment through agriculture, food production, agri-processing, value-chain development and market access.
• Support Data gathering and assessments on women’s participation in agriculture, fisheries and food production.
• Build partnerships with women farmers and producers, cooperatives, agribusinesses, technical institutions and market actors.
• Promote climate-responsive, safe and inclusive approaches and integrate disability inclusion, safeguarding and do-no-harm principles throughout implementation.
• Perform other related duties as required by the supervisor.

Furthermore, UN Volunteers are encouraged to integrate the UN Volunteers programme mandate within their assignment and promote voluntary action through engagement with communities in the course of their work. As such, UN Volunteers should dedicate a part of their working time to some of the following suggested activities:

• Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant UNV and external publications and take active part in UNV activities (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.
• Provide annual and end of assignment self-reports on UN Volunteer actions, results and opportunities.
• Contribute articles/write-ups on field experiences and submit them for UNV publications/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 relevant local individuals and organizations to use the UNV Online Volunteering service whenever technically possible.

Skills and experience

• At least 7 years of progressively responsible experience in project or programme management, including planning, implementation, partner coordination, monitoring, budget oversight and reporting.
• Demonstrated experience and/or knowledge in agriculture, food production, agri-processing, agribusiness, agricultural value chains or market access, is required.
• Experience working with women producers, cooperatives, agribusinesses, WLOs, CSOs or technical agricultural institutions is desirable.
• Experience managing projects in humanitarian, recovery or crisis-affected settings is desirable.
• Knowledge of the UN system, is desirable

Competencies and values

• Professionalism: demonstrated understanding of operations relevant to UN Women; technical capabilities or knowledge relevant or transferrable to UN Women procedures and rules; discretion, political sensitivity, diplomacy and tact to deal with clients; ability to apply good judgement; ability to liaise and coordinate with a range of different actors, especially in senior positions; where appropriate, high degree of autonomy, personal initiative and ability to take ownership; resourcefulness and willingness to accept wide responsibilities and ability to work independently under established procedures; ability to manage information objectively, accurately and confidentially; responsive and client-oriented;
• Integrity: demonstrate the values and ethical standards of the UN and UN Women in daily activities and behaviours while acting without consideration of personal gains; resist undue political pressure in decision-making; stand by decisions that are in the organization’s interest even if they are unpopular; take prompt action in cases of unprofessional or unethical behaviour; does not abuse power or authority;
• Teamwork and respect for diversity: ability to operate effectively across organizational boundaries; excellent interpersonal skills; ability to establish and maintain effective partnerships and harmonious working relations in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, mixed-gender environment with sensitivity and respect for diversity; sensitivity and adaptability to culture, gender, religion, nationality and age; commitment to implementing the goal of gender equality by ensuring the equal participation and full involvement of women and men in all aspects of UN operations; ability to achieve common goals and provide guidance or training to colleagues;
• Commitment to continuous learning: initiative and willingness to learn new skills and stay abreast of new developments in area of expertise; ability to adapt to changes in work environment.
• Planning and organizing: effective organizational and problem-solving skills and ability to manage a large volume of work in an efficient and timely manner; ability to establish priorities and to plan, coordinate and monitor (own) work; ability to work under pressure, with conflicting deadlines, and to handle multiple concurrent projects/activities;
• Communication: proven interpersonal skills; good spoken and written communication skills, including ability to prepare clear and concise reports; ability to conduct presentations, articulate options and positions concisely; ability to make and defend recommendations; ability to communicate and empathize with staff (including national staff), military personnel, volunteers, counterparts and local interlocutors coming from very diverse backgrounds; capacity to transfer information and knowledge to a wide range of different target groups;
• Flexibility: adaptability and ability to live and work in potentially hazardous and remote conditions, involving physical hardship and little comfort; to operate independently in austere environments for protracted periods; willingness to travel within the area of operations and to transfer to other duty stations within the area of operations as necessary;
• Genuine commitment towards the principles of voluntary engagement, which includes solidarity, compassion, reciprocity and self-reliance, and commitment towards UN Women’s mission and vision, as well as to the UN Core Values.

Living conditions

As this is a national UN Volunteer assignment, the UN Volunteer will be responsible for arranging his/her own housing and other living essentials. A 6-month contract with subsequent contract extensions subject to availability of funding, operational necessity and satisfactory performance. A Volunteer Living Allowance (VLA) of 9,417 ILS including Danger and hardship differential payment is provided monthly to cover housing, utilities and normal cost of living expenses. Life, health and permanent disability insurance are included (health insurance for up to 3 dependents), as well as Exit allowance for satisfactory service.

Full eligibility requirements, conditions of service and application instructions are available on the official UNV platform.