Background

Grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, UN Women 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. Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations System efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and women’s empowerment translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors. 

As part of the Flagship Programme Initiative (FPI), Stimulating equal opportunities for women entrepreneurs.   UN Women works with government, corporates, investors, civil society and women entrepreneurs to deliver on target 8.3 of the SDGs: “Promote development-oriented policies that support productive activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, and encourage the formalization and growth of micro-, mall- and medium-sized enterprises, including through access to financial services.” 

Gender-responsive procurement (GRP) is a methodology to empower women that leverages buyers’ power in value chains and market systems.  Historically, the focus of gender-responsive procurement has been driving sourcing from women’s enterprises, particularly those certified as Women Owned Businesses (WOB).  The strategy draws substantially on the practice of supplier diversity, which has been a key component in many companies’ equal opportunity policies for decades in the United States.  UN Women produced the Corporate Guide to Gender-Responsive Procurement in 2017 to help globalize the concept with attention to gender.  It details the business case for GRP, and concrete steps companies can take to make sourcing strategic to benefit women’s enterprises.  The Guide paved the way global advocacy on gender and procurement policy, a served as a vehicle for companies to contribute to the SDGs.  

UN Women in countries including Brazil, Nigeria, Pakistan and South Africa and United Arab Emirates have undertaken or plan research on women’s access to procurement supply chains, using the Guide to inform the methodology.  A consultant is sought to: 

• assist in carrying out a synthesis of the findings from these reports,   

• conduct a supplementary literature review, and extract policy recommendations from the consolidated findings.  The output will contribute to the development of a follow up edition to the Corporate Guide to Gender Responsive Procurement. 

Duties and Responsibilities

The objective of the consultancy is to: 

1. Synthesize results from UN Women reports, including from Brazil, Nigeria, Pakistan, South Africa and/or Kenya and UAE 

1. Carry out supplemental literature review 

1. Combine findings in a consolidated report with policy recommendations to support the implementation of UN Women’s flagship programme. 

1. Produce a 2-page summary of the outcome of the research 

Duration of the consultancy  

One month 

Location of assignment 

Remote 

Remuneration 

Commensurate with experience 

Reporting 

The consultant will report to the Policy Analyst, Economic Institutions.  

Competencies

Core Values/Guiding Principles 

• Integrity: Demonstrating consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct. 

• Cultural Sensitivity/Valuing diversity: Demonstrating an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrating an international outlook, appreciating differences in values and learning from cultural diversity. 

Specific Competencies 

• Substantive knowledge and experience related to gender, enterprise development, business, management with preference to candidates who have substantive knowledge of pubic and/or corporate procurement;   

• Strong and proven research and analytical skills;  

• Capacity to plan, prioritize and deliver tasks on time;  

• Strong communications skills, with proven expertise in writing cogent and convincing policy and knowledge products and creating visually impactful presentations;  

• Openness to change and ability to receive/integrate feedback. 

Required Skills and Experience