UN Women, the UN entity dedicated to gender equality and women's empowerment, was established in 2010 to accelerate progress in addressing the needs of women and girls worldwide. To this end, UN Women supports UN Member States in adopting international standards to achieve gender equality and works with governments and civil society to design the laws, policies, programs and services needed to ensure that these standards are effectively implemented and benefit women and girls everywhere. UN Women's 5 priority areas of intervention are :

- Strengthen women's leadership and participation;

- Ending violence against women;

- Integrating women into all aspects of peace and security processes;

- Strengthen women's economic empowerment;

- and place gender equality at the heart of national planning and budgeting processes.

Like other West African countries, Niger is facing the effects of climate change. These changes are affecting areas and populations that are already vulnerable, both through poverty and the degradation of natural resources. These vulnerabilities are manifested in significant land degradation, increased fragility of ecosystems, and extremely reduced socio-economic development opportunities.

The decline in agricultural productivity, the increasingly difficult practice of livestock farming and the disruption of the reference points of peasants, farmers and herders are direct consequences of climate change. Coupled with migratory flows, these consequences aggravate food insecurity, increase potential conflicts (herders/farmers, migrants/sedentary), malnutrition, overexploitation of natural resources, gender-based violence, unequal access to basic social services and disrupt the socio-economic structures of rural communities. As women are the main labor force in the fields, they are more affected by the direct consequences of these climate changes. Moreover, they are more and more inclined, as much as young people, to opt for displacement to more fertile lands with the risks of protection impacts that this may have. This situation makes local populations more vulnerable, providing fertile ground for criminal networks. This multidimensional violence increases the vulnerability of populations.

Niger UN Women Country Office   is undertaking several initiatives to reduce the adverse effects of climate change, particularly on women and young women. As such, UN Women focuses on the promotion and implementation of adaptation strategies with a key role for women.

The UN Women Country Office is looking for an “international senior consultants” to strengthen its response in Women and Girls in Nexus Water- Food- Energy in Niger including resource mobilization strategy/actions. The international Consultant will design a specialized team to be able to cover the expectation of this Consultation. 

Under the overall strategic guidance of the Country Representative, with day-to-day reporting to the National Economist, the “International senior consultant” is expected to perform the following functions :   

Flagship program Formulation “Green climate fund for women and youth in NIGER”

• Analyze UN Women's global approach to climate change and identify areas of intervention in Niger;
• Contextualize two global signature Initiative in Niger in the perspective of the Nexus Water-Food-Energy: Women’s Resilience to Disasters; Women’s Climate Action & Green/Blue Economies
• Review lessons learned from previous program and initiatives of the Country Office to support women’s economic empowerment and reduce the effects of climate changes. Identify the innovative approach and initiative to duplicate;
• Put emphasis to Gender climate resilient agriculture across the value chain, climate resilient villages to reduce migration and improve women and girls’ life quality (health and sanitation, education, end violence against women and girls; employment and leadership)
• Undertake research and consultations with UN Women staff and partners, including relevant government ministries and county-level administrators, women’s agricultural cooperative structures and networks, civil society organizations, donor and international partners, private sector partners, amongst others.
• Undertake field visits to consult with government officials at the sub-national level, and other key stakeholders to inform the program design.
• Prepare a full-fledged flagship program document with a results framework and detailed budget on gender response to climate changes in the Nexus (Peace, Development and Humanitarian Response). This will take into account the comprehensive approach with the access of basic service, agro-business and start up development, access to finance, etc.
• Prepare succinct knowledge products to document results of current UN Women initiatives to Climate changes.

Map climate finance opportunities

• Mapping all the on-going interventions and climate finance program in Niger and realize the gender analysis; 
• Make a list of potential donors and stakeholders: identify and engage key funding partners, and current and potential donors, including governments, the private sector, individuals, and organizations;
• Elaborate on potential technical assistance program for women led enterprises, SMEs, and women entrepreneurs, including incubators and accelerators for women led start-ups;  
• Identify market barriers to women-led climate finance and potential programs to mobilize climate mitigation and adaptation funding; 
• Mapping instrumental and appropriate climate technologies which can be deployed for revenue generating activities or professional training for women.

Develop a resource mobilization strategy for this Programme and support its implementation to secure a valuable fund and partnerships at scale for gender-led climate action in partnership with the private sector, the government, and international climate finance partners 

• Identify adequate and innovative sustainable funding mechanisms which can support efforts to increase women’s resilience through innovative blended finance solutions to accelerate climate action and the deployment of climate technologies to promote Gender equality and women empowerment in the Nexus Water- Food- Energy.
• Assess potential Private sector-led blended finance solutions in partnership with the financial sector to develop innovative climate financing products for women: soft loans, grants, guarantees, micro insurance, and financial inclusion and venture capital funds to expand access to finance for women ventures and enterprises;
• All the above will be included in a comprehensive report which will support the long-term fund-raising strategy. 
• Support the organization of fundraising initiative at national and international level.

Deliverables 

• One full-fledged flagship program document on UN Women initiatives to Climate changes and key initials engagement with potential donors : 20 working days;
• A resource mobilization strategy on Climate changes related to WEE : 15 working days;
• Up to two knowledge products to document Niger UN Women country Office visions on climate change : 15 working days;
• High level meeting product : 5 working days.

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Strategic thinking
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement

Functional Competencies

• Strong analytical skills on gender and climate resilient agriculture and women’s economic empowerment.
• Strong communications skills in French 
• Strong drafting skills and ability to produce project documents.
• Experience using and applying macroeconomic technical tools.
• Strong commitment to knowledge-sharing within a multicultural environment

Education 

• Master’s degree or equivalent in economics, gender studies, sociology, law, business and finance investment, or any relevant social science discipline.

Experience

• At least 7 years of experience in gender and climate change, including women’s economic empowerment;
• Previous professional experience in developing project documents and funding proposals;
• Excellent writing skills and previous experience documenting project results, and developing knowledge products on climate smart agriculture and gender and climate change;
• Knowledge of UN Women’s initiatives in Climate Change in West and Central Africa is an asset;
• Proven working experience with a specialized firm in climate change resource mobilization or financing.

Language Requirements

• Fluency in French
• English is required

All documents need to be in French and English 

All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History Form (P-11), which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment . Please note that the system only allows one attachment. Applications without the UN Women P-11 form will be considered incomplete and will not be considered for further evaluation.

At UN Women, we are committed to creating an environment of diversity, inclusion and mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, remunerates and promotes without regard to race, religion, colour, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin or any other basis covered by the appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, skills, integrity and the needs of the organisation.

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 towards behaviour that is inconsistent 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 policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women staff and will therefore be subject to a rigorous reference and background check. (The background check will include verification of academic qualifications and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to complete a background check).

Note: In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly established UN Women, the UN entity for gender equality and the empowerment of women. The creation of UN Women is part of the UN reform agenda, which aims to pool resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously separate parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.