Background

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.

In 2015, on 25 September, the United Nations General Assembly adopted unanimously the Resolution 70/1 Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Gender equality and women’s empowerment is at the heart of the agenda, as numerous goals and targets address structural barriers to achieve equal rights and opportunities between women and men, girls and boys.

One of the key areas of concern is the economic empowerment of women. It is expressed in targets and indicators of SDG 5 (Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls) and SDG 8 (Promote inclusive and sustainable development, decent work and employment for all). Progress toward it depends not only on the adoption of a set of public policies by governments, but also on the existence of an enabling environment and active engagement of the corporate sector. This is also relevant to the achievement of SDG 1 (Poverty Reduction), SDG 10 (Reduced inequalities) and SDG 17 (Revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development).

About 90 per cent of jobs in the world are in the private sector. This represents a huge potential to implement transformative actions in the world of work and social responsibility in favour of women, benefiting the whole society. There is an increasing consciousness, interest and commitment of private and public sector companies on the value and benefits of gender equality and the economic empowerment of women and its role to achieve it.

UN Women - in partnership with the European Commission is implementing a regional programme “Promoting Economic Empowerment of Women at Work in Asia – WeEmpower Asia” to contribute to the economic empowerment of women, recognizing them as beneficiaries and partners of growth and development, by increasing commitment of private companies to gender equality and women´s empowerment and strengthening companies’ capacities to implement these commitments. The programme will ultimately contribute to the achievement of gender equality through enabling women’s labour force participation, entrepreneurship, economic empowerment and thus their full and equal participation in society. The guiding platform will be the Women’s Empowerment Principles. The WEPs are a set of Principles for business offering guidance on how to empower women in the workplace, marketplace and community.

The WeEmpower Asia Programme is being implemented with a diverse set of stakeholders e.g., Government, Industry Associations, Private and Corporate Sector companies, Entrepreneurship Accelerators/Incubators, UN Agencies and women entrepreneurs in India and also with EU companies operating in India.  A Technical Consultant will engage with the Private and Corporate Sector companies/organization for adoption and implementation of Women Empowerment Principles though knowledge sharing, capacity building, advocacy and outreach activities and events.

UN Women seeks the services of a technical consultant to support towards mobilizing respondents from companies for MCA research, continuous support in mobilizing companies for signing of WEPs and awards; support in organizing interactive forums and support in facilitating sustainability strategies programme design for women’s safety in supply chains programme in textile industry in Tamil Nadu.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of Country Programme Manager-WEA, the consultant will provide support in programme development, effective management and implementation of WEA strategies related to partnerships building and facilitate knowledge building and knowledge sharing.

Specifically, the consultant will be responsible for the following deliverables:

  • Support WEE team in mobilizing private companies to participate as respondents for UN Women’s ongoing research study to Assess the Implementation of Mandatory Laws on Promoting Gender Equality in Corporate Sector in India;
  • Technical Support in organizing an event with the private sector companies on sharing good practices on women’s returning to work;
  • Provide support in facilitating sustainability strategies program design for women safety in supply chain in Tamil Nadu;
  • Support in mobilizing companies to sign Women’s Empowerment Principles.

Deliverables – July - August: 

  • At least 20 companies mobilized for participation at UN Women’s research study to Assess the Implementation of Laws on Promoting Gender Equality in Corporate Sector in India.  By 30th July
  • 1 workshop organized with Private Companies in August on deliberating good practices on “women’s return to work” and technical support in developing the outcome document. During 1-10th August
  • Background documents for Programme Design for women’s safety in supply chains prepared. During July- August
  • Continued technical support in facilitating the design for women safety in supply chain in Tamil Nadu.

50% payment for 20 days will be done in July and 50% remaining payment of 20days will be done in August on receipt of complete deliverables.

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;
  • Focuses on result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
  • Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
  • Remains calm, in control even under pressure;
  • Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities;
  • Good understanding of gender and development in South Asia;
  • Demonstrable ability to work in a team;
  • Ability to work under pressure;
  • Good writing and communication skills;
  • Excellent computer literacy and skills;
  • Leading by Example.

Functional Competencies

  • Good programme formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation skills;
  • Good budget and finance skills;
  • Good knowledge of Results Based Management;
  • Ability to gather and interpret data, reach logical conclusions and present findings and recommendations;
  • Good analytical skills;
  • Knowledge of UN programme management systems;
  • Ability to use office software suites (Canva, Photoshop, Word, Excel, Google Forms etc);
  • Strong experience managing stakeholders;
  • Ability to think logically and work with great attention to detail;
  • Ability to communicate sensitively, effectively and creatively across different constituencies.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • Masters’ degree in Social Science or any related field.

Experience:

  • At least 5 years of progressively responsible experience at the national or international level in managing complex and multi-component programme in the areas of women economic empowerment.
  • Demonstrable experience of work with the private sector on promoting women’s empowerment and gender equality.
  • Experience in current gender related issues  and women’s economic empowerment.

Language:

  • Strong written skills in English and good command over Hindi as medium of communication.

Application:

Interested applicants should apply to this announcement through UNDP jobs site: jobs.undp.org

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications in one single PDF document:

  • All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/about-us/jobs
  • Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment, please combine all your documents into one (1) single PDF document. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment;
  • Applications received after the close date will not be accepted;
  • Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

Evaluation and Selection Criteria

Criteria for shortlisting of CVs will be based on the following assessment:

  • Required Degree and Qualification (5 points);
  • Expertise and Experience relevant to the assignment (10 points);
  • Demonstrable experience of work with the private sector on promoting women’s empowerment and gender equality (5 points).

The evaluation process for selection of the candidate will be based on the following assessment:

  • Interview (100 points)

Please Note:

  • For an assignment requiring travel, consultants of 65 years or more require full medical examination and statement of fitness to work to engage in the consultancy.
  • Due to large number of potential applicants, only competitively selected candidates will be contacted for remaining steps of the service procurement process.

Note:

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women’s empowerment.