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.

Part of the Strategic Partnerships Division (SPD), the Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships and Advisory Services (MPAS) Section leads UN Women’s engagement with the private sector, corporations, philanthropy, foundations, and individuals - both in terms of a substantive components and resource mobilization - and it drives a wide range of UN Women’s global initiatives: HeForShe, Women Entrepreneurship Accelerator (WEA), Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) and Unstereotype Alliance (UA). It also leads the work with all UN Women National Committees, and on the development of the individual/digital giving as well as Advisory Services business line for private sector. MPAS’ main aims are to ensure that UN Women develops and sustains high quality and impact focused partnerships to achieve maximum results for gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Under direction of the MPAS Chief and in close consultation with departments and offices across the organization, the Private Sector Strategy Development Consultant will be responsible for developing a final draft of UN Women’s new Private Sector Engagement Strategy. This exercise will build on internal and external consultations that are already underway.

The new UN Women Strategic Plan (SP) 2022-2025 identifies the private sector as one of the key stakeholders to partner with FOR impactful change (programme delivery) as well as a need TO influence and change the private sector itself. Additionally, in recent years, UN Women has seen a rise in partnership opportunities with the private sector. Recognizing the role and the potential of the private sector in accelerating progress on gender equality and delivering on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and in order to achieve the ambition behind its Strategic Plan, UN Women is embarking in the development of the new Private Sector Engagement Strategy (PSES) 2023-2025 and accompanying Results and Accountability Framework.

The United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights clearly state that the private sector has the responsibility to respect and protect human rights, as well as provide remedy for rights violations, regardless of whether governments are able or willing to protect these rights. The UN Women Private Sector Engagement Strategy will be grounded in a human-rights approach with a clear impact-oriented gender lens. It will aim to: define specific areas of impact and results UN Women will aim to achieve during the period of the strategy, under the umbrella of the UN Women Strategic Plan and with view of contributing to delivery of SDG 5 (Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls) and SDG 17 (Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development); define specific partnership frameworks for engagement and risk appetite (particularly as relevant to engaging with sensitive and high-risk sectors and industries; and identify priority platforms and modes of engagement (e.g., knowledge building and exchange, resource mobilization, data collection, etc.)

Duties and Responsibilities

 Responsibilities:

Output 1: Conduct a desk review of all existing documents and consultations pertinent to the development of UN Women’s Private Sector Strategy and draft an annotated outline of the Private Sector Engagement Strategy (PSES 2023-25) accordingly

Activities (10 February – end February):

• Review sister UN Agencies, Funds and Programmes and relevant non-profit Private Sector Strategies and Risk Management documents
• Read through UN Women’s Strategic Plan 2022-2025, with a particular focus on areas that call out the private sector as a key interlocutor
• Read through SPD’s Strategic Note and Biennial Workplan
• Review meeting notes and videos from external and internal consultations conducted in Q4 2022
• Read drafts of and ensure alignment with a separate “state of the field” analysis currently being conducted by an expert on the intersection of business and human rights. This will form the preamble/context of the Private Sector Engagement Strategy 2023-2025 document and guide the subsequent content therein.
• Consider existing partnership frameworks and strategies, such as the Action Coalitions of Generation Equality, the HeForShe Alliance and the Unstereotype Alliance membership model, WEPs signatories, etc. with the goal of ensuring lessons from all such engagement frameworks are reflected
• Read through any internal or external lessons learned reports / evaluations / assessments of UN Women’s engagement with the private sector and the frameworks above.
• Draft an annotated outline / descriptive contents for the PSES for consultation with the MPAS team by end February 2023

Output 2. Draft the PSES in three stages through an iterative and consultative process

Activities (March-May 2023)

• Based on the agreed outline, produce a first draft of the PSES using the desk review information and consultation feedback by early March 2023
• Consult internally within the MPAS team and other relevant internal and external stakeholders on the first draft, ensuring ownership over the direction and contents of the plan through group discussions and/or one-on-one meetings
• Presentations to be prepared by the consultant for the consultation meetings, with the support of the MPAS team as needed
• All consultation meetings to be documented and recorded with the support of the MPAS team and feedback to be collected in writing to inform the second draft
• Use the feedback to produce a second draft of the PSES for submission by early April for senior management review
• Further written comments to be collected on the second draft and additional consultation meetings as needed
• A final draft to be delivered, reflecting on any further feedback and consultations by early May

The PSES should include:

• A comprehensive and agreed definition of private sector

• Alignment of PSES 2023-2025 with the development of the organizations Risk Management definition and Due Diligence policies
• Alignment with the Corporate Risk and Opportunity Definition (as relevant to the work with private sector and in line with UN Women’s corporate Risk Statement)
• A definition of and criterion for engagement with ‘sensitive’ sector/s and companies

Output 3: Produce a Results and Accountability framework to accompany the PSES 2023-2025

Activities (April- June 2023)

• Based on the second draft of the PSES, draft an outline / recommended Results and Accountability Framework to measure and report progress against the PSES
• Conduct two coaching sessions for the MPAS team (internal) on how to measure change and design appropriate data collection tools for the PSES
• Consult with the MPAS team on the most appropriate means of measuring impact and results at different levels across the PSES
• Based on the above consultations draft a final Results and Accountability Framework by early May 2023
• Produce the final draft reflecting on any feedback received by early June 2023.

Deliverables:

Applicants applying should provide a covering letter setting out your experience for the role and a financial proposal including estimated daily rate and total for each deliverable. P11 and CV should also be provided, uploaded as one document in the application system.

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

Required Skills and Experience

Required Qualifications, Experience and skills:

• Master’s Degree in Business Administration, Organizational Strategy, International Relations, Gender or another related field is required.
• At least 10 years of experience in developing and writing strong impact and growth-oriented strategies / strategic plans at the international level. 
• Proven experience producing results frameworks and/or monitoring and evaluation frameworks, data collection methods and tools, to measure implementation of strategic plans.
• Proven experience in results-based management of development projects, programmes or strategies, results reporting and accountability frameworks to donors and other stakeholders
• Experience and background in human rights based and gender responsive approaches to programming. 
• Proven experience in high level research, data collection, analysis, and communications. 
• Proven experience in writing for an international audience and producing clearly written and well-articulated strategies and reports.  .
• Previous experience working in the UN system is an asset

Language:

• Fluency in oral and written English is required.
• Knowledge of another official UN language is desirable.