Background

UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, through this vacancy announcement, is hiring for three (3) consultancy assignments:

• Consultancy Assignment #1, BLOCK 1, 13-14 May 2024 (in person)
• Consultancy Assignment #2, BLOCK 2, 15 May 2024 (online)
• Consultancy Assignment #3, BLOCK 3, 15-16 May 2024 (in person)

Candidates are invited to express in any of these assignment(s). You will have the opportunity to indicate so in the application questionnaire.

Background/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.

Women’s economic empowerment is one of the priority areas of UN Women, as expressed in UN Women’s Strategic Plan 2022-2025 as well as in the targets and indicators of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 for gender equality and women’s empowerment and of several other SDGs relating to inclusive growth, decent work, ending poverty, and reducing inequality, and revitalizing the global partnership for sustainable development.  

UN Women in the Asia Pacific is driven by work at the regional level through the Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific and country level through offices across the region. It focuses on the following approaches for women’s economic empowerment, including but not limited to seeking policy reform, supporting economic security and rights, and enhancing economic opportunities. At the Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, the Women’s Economic Empowerment & Migration unit focuses on the key strategic priorities aligned with the SN ROAP Women’s Economic Empowerment & Migration for 2023-2025:  

• Advancing Gender-Responsive Business Conduct and Creating More Decent Work Opportunities (WEPs)  
• Transforming the Care Economy   
• Accelerating Gender-Responsive Entrepreneurship for (M)SMEs (i.e. Gender-Responsive Procurement, Women’s entrepreneurship etc)  
• Progressing Safe Migration to Decent Employment   

These thematic areas are not operating in isolation and are strongly inter-connected and under-pinned by cross-cutting principles, such as: sector-agnostic work (across the Green & Blue -, care, fintech and digital economy); embracing an intersectional and conscious social norms lens into programming, and nexus to thematic areas such as Climate Change, Ending Violence Against Women, Humanitarian and Women Peace and Security (WPS). Further, the ROAP’s thematic and functional activities will be geared towards effective and targeted support for country presences.   

One of the key priority initiatives is the development of cutting-edge economic policy research on relevant issues for promoting women’s economic empowerment, and capacity development to UN Women’s staff, policy makers, civil society, and other development partners. As part of an SDC-funded project, UN Women developed the content for a training manual on gender and economics.  

The overall objective of the course is to provide basic and intermediate level training modules on Engendering Economics, with the specific goal of building technical capacity of UN Women’s country staff in the area of gender and economics to meet their needs, so as to equip them with tools to engage policymakers and other development partners operating in the area of economic policy at the country level. 

This blended learning module aims to strengthen capacity development by sharing existing knowledge but also contributing to much needed new knowledge in today's fast changing social and economic environment. 

At the end of the program, we expect that participants will have the knowledge capacity to: 

• Understand the concept of gender as a category of economic analysis. 
• Advocate gender-aware analyses of economics in specific countries or regional contexts. 

• Guide on gender-aware macroeconomics. 
• Work with governments, intergovernmental bodies, and international development agencies to formulate gender-equitable economic policies at the national, regional, and international levels. 
• Give analytical support to Civil Society Organizations in their advocacy efforts to promote gender equality in economic policy- making. 

In this context, UN Women is organizing a 5-day training on gender and macroeconomics in Bangkok from 13-17 May 2024. As part of this process, UN Women is recruiting a series of instructors, who will be part of the team delivering the online or in person training. We will require 3 Consultants who will be delivering different topics.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the supervision of Regional Lead, Women’s Economic Empowerment and Migration at UN Women Regional Office for Asia and Pacific, the consultant will be responsible for the following deliverables:

Description of Responsibilities/ Scope of Work

The overall objective of the consultancy is to prepare the content (ppts, handouts and other resources) for the course on Gender and Economics as well as to deliver the sessions.  The course aims at strengthening the capacities of participants on gender-responsive economic policy. The course provides training on Gender and Economics, to facilitate the development practice that better reflects the needs and priorities of all people -leaving no one behind- including women and girls.

Developing on the contents of the Gender and Economics Training Manual,  the consultant(s) will be responsible for one block each covering the following modules: 

Interested applicants may submit their applications for either block.

Deliverables

Consultant 1, BLOCK 1 (in person)

Consultant 2, BLOCK 2 (online)

Consultant 3, BLOCK 3 (in person)

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

Travel to Bangkok is required for the delivery of the training for Consultant 1 and Consultant 3. UN Women will provide support on travel to deliver training in Bangkok.

Consultant 2 can deliver the training online.

Competencies

III. Competencies 

Core Values: 

• Respect for Diversity 
• Integrity 
• Professionalism 

Core Competencies: 

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues 
• Accountability 
• Creative Problem Solving 
• Effective Communication 
• Inclusive Collaboration 
• Stakeholder Engagement 
• Leading by Example 

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies:  

https://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment/application-process#_Values 

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES: 

• Strong understanding and expertise in concepts underlying economic analysis from a gender perspective
• Strong instructional skills and ability to apply a gender lens to different theoretical areas
• Ability to design and deliver learning modules and trainings including teaching experience  

Required Skills and Experience

IV. Required Qualifications

Education and Certification:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in Economics, with an expertise in the areas of gender and development.
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

• Minimum of 7 years of relevant experience in gender and economics including micro or macro-economic analysis or teaching experience in gender-responsive economic policies
• Work experience in teaching economics, gender or development courses at the university level is required.
• Work experience in the field of training for adults or capacity building is an asset.
• Familiarity with the UN system will be an asset. 

Languages:

• Fluency in English is required.

V. How to Apply 

• P11 (P11 can be downloaded from: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form.doc)

• Writing sample e.g. analytical paper, research or publication in the area of gender and economics relevant to the assignment (1 piece in English).

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits employ, trains, compensates and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity, and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority, and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.