INTRODUCTION:

The World Customs Organization (WCO) is an independent intergovernmental body, established in 1952 as the Customs Co-operation Council (CCC), whose mission is to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of Customs services across the globe. The WCO represents 186 Customs administrations that collectively process approximately 98% of world trade. As the global centre of Customs expertise, the WCO is the only international organization with competence in Customs matters.

As a forum for dialogue and exchange of experiences between national Customs delegates, the WCO offers its Members a range of Conventions and other international instruments, as well as technical assistance and training services provided either directly by the Secretariat, or with its participation. The Secretariat also actively supports its Members in their endeavours to modernize and build capacity within their national Customs administrations.

OVERVIEW:

Gender Equality and Diversity (GED) are fundamental rights consistent with the United Nations (UN) Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) of 1948. They are considered prerequisites for achieving sustainable development, growth and enhancing performance in organizations. Moreover, Gender Equality is a priority of the UN’s International Development Agenda for 2030; objective 5 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) underlines that ‘Gender equality is a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world’.

In addition, the UN Security Council adopted resolution 1325 in 2000, on Women, Peace and Security. The resolution reaffirms the important role and equal participation of women in the promotion of peace and security, recognizes the urgent need to mainstream a gender perspective into peace keeping operations and emphasizes the importance of understanding the impact of armed conflicts on women and girls.

Recognizing that GED are key cross-cutting enablers for Customs reform and modernization and prerequisites for sustainable development and growth, the WCO has been actively promoting gender responsiveness and inclusion within Customs since 2013 when it launched the Gender Equality Organizational Assessment Tool (GEOAT).

MAIN ACCOUNTABILITIES:

Under the supervision of Deputy Director Capacity Building, the Technical Officer for Gender Equality and Diversity will focus on the following key activities:

• Providing technical support to facilitate an informed debate within Customs on gender and inclusion issues;


• Providing technical guidance to set common agendas on equal rights implementation;


• Organizing and managing dialogue and interaction workshops on gender and social inclusion agendas and issues;


• Overseeing and guiding the work of the Virtual Working Group on Gender Equality and Diversity and the Network for Gender Equality and Diversity in Customs;


• Designing and implementing capacity development initiatives in relation to gender and social inclusion;


• Working with the Customs administrations to develop Gender initiatives, including developing and adapting proven and innovative approaches for promoting and building an inclusive and equal office culture and environment;


• Maintain and update the GEOAT as required;


• Working with other WCO program leads to build their understanding and ability to apply sector specific approaches to deliver more gender equitable and safe programming by conducting gender analysis of program activities;


• Ensuring representation in forums, conferences and events focusing on gender and equality. Developing and maintaining effective working relationships with all stakeholders;


• Developing and maintaining a pool of GED experts;


• Any other related duty as directed by the supervisor.

The Technical Officer for Gender Equality and Diversity will also be required to support the work on Human Resources Management (roughly 25% of their time), which includes:

• Supporting the identification of experts in HRM and their deployment for consistent and high-quality technical assistance and capacity-building delivery;


• Contributing to identifying good practices and standards for Customs HRM;


• Supporting the development and maintenance of WCO tools in HRM;


• Actively contributing to progress reports on HCM and GED and periodic management reports.

EDUCATION:

• Masters’ level qualification in international development, human resources, political economy, gender studies or a related field with at least 6 years of related experience, or;


• Bachelors’ level qualification with at least 8 years of related experience.

ESSENTIAL QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE:

• A minimum of 6 years of relevant professional experience in the field of gender equality and diversity and/or human resource management;


• Experience in report writing, workshop facilitation and organization;


• Experience in providing training on GED topics and/or human resource management;


• Strong familiarity with current theories and issues on gender equality and diversity.

LANGUAGES:

• Fluency in both English and French;


• Knowledge of additional languages would be a strong asset.

CONTRACT AND CONDITIONS:

• Staff member under graded official WCO contract of 5 years (with possibility of renewal );


• Probationary period: 6 months;


• Full-time employment (37 hours and 40 minutes weekly) at the WCO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium;


• Recruitment under grade A3, step 1;


• Salary based on Coordinated Organizations scale/starting salary amount of 7,651.78 EUR/month (remuneration exempted from income tax in Belgium); and


• Compulsory WCO health insurance deducted from the salary (around 72 EUR/month);


• 30 days of annual paid leave.

This position is subject to the WCO Staff Manual. If a candidate is related to current WCO staff members (spouse, father, mother, son, daughter, brother or sister), he/she is required to expressly indicate this in the application.

APPLICATION AND RECRUITMENT PROCESS:

The onus is on the applicant to demonstrate how he/she meets each of the essential qualifications and requirements. Applicants are encouraged to detail concrete achievements in their CVs and/or in their cover letters as well as include references.

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted for an assessment which may include a written test and/or an interview. All short-listed candidates may be requested to provide copies of their original diploma, certificates and proof of relevant experience. Pre-selected candidates may also be subject to reference checks to confirm the information provided in the application.

Interested candidates should submit their application for review no later than 21st October 2024, including a CV and cover letter in English or French by e-mail to: toged.vacancy@wcoomd.org indicating clearly in the email subject matter box the vacancy for which they are applying.

The evaluation of applicants will be conducted on the basis of the information submitted in the application according to criteria of the position and the WCO applicable rules.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

The WCO values commitment to the principles of integrity, transparency and accountability as well as values diversity among its staff members. Applications from qualified women and men will receive equal treatment and due regard will be paid to the importance of recruiting nationals from WCO Members on as wide a geographical basis as possible. The age limit for employment at the WCO is 65. Please note that the WCO Headquarters is a non-smoking environment.