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 on the practice of supplier diversity.  UN Women produced the Corporate Guide to Gender-Responsive Procurement in 2017 to help globalize the concept with attention to gender.  It details element of the business case for gender responsive procurement, and concrete steps companies can take to make sourcing strategic to benefit women’s enterprises.  The Guide supported global advocacy on gender and procurement policy. 
About twenty UN Women country offices are doing some form of programmatic work on GRP to encourage and support better practices in the private and public sector, as well as to support women entrepreneurs.  UN Women is undertaking activities to improve its own procurement system to be more gender-responsive at the global level as well as in the regions and countries where we operate.  A consultant is sought to develop practical tools to track and implement gender-responsive procurement policies and practices as well as coordinate internal work in which UN Women is engaged, including with the High Level Committee on Management (HLCM) task force on gender-responsive procurement which is led by UN Women.

Duties and Responsibilities

Working closely with the Economic Empowerment Section and the Procurement Section: The objective of the consultancy is to provide support and coordinate the work of enhancing practice of gender-responsive procurement within UN Women and among UN agencies:

1. Coordinate and support preparation of meetings and activities on Gender-Responsive Procurement and the advancement of the GRP agenda within UN women and the UN system, particularly through the High Level Committee of Management task force on gender-responsive procurement

2. Compile available data, research and evidence on the normative aspects of gender-responsive procurement, collect examples of good practices and case studies and share lessons learned with other organizations.

3. Support in development of theory of change, system-wide strategy and a set of common indicators on gender-responsive procurement in the UN System, as well as assist in establishing of GRP baselines and targets. 

4. Participate in promotion of Women’s Empowerment Principles and international labour standards as a framework for supporting women’s businesses to access procurement opportunities and facilitate programmatic capacity building initiatives for SMEs to be better competitor in today’s market

5. Support creation of model policies for the UN to adopt in order to practice Gender-Responsive Procurement and capacity building offerings that will include steps UN procurement practitioners can take to source more inclusively

6. Backstop UN Women’s Community of Practice on GRP for colleagues working in procurement and operations including by developing a knowledge management system and hosting regular webinars and conference calls.

7. Support in development and management of GRP-related practical tools, knowledge materials and guidelines for dissemination among UN Women and UN agencies, such as toolkits on application of gender-responsive criteria in solicitation documents and through the procurement cycle, tracking tool prototypes and indicators to determine procurement spend on women-owned enterprises and women vendors, enhanced tools for identifying women-owned businesses.

8. Develop awareness-raising tools and concise guidance notes for women-owned businesses to better understand UN procurement processes 

9. Provide input into other external guidance and advocacy materials on increasing gender responsive procurement in public and private sector undertaken by UN Women flagship programme on stimulating equal opportunity for women entrepreneurs

Duration of the consultancy 

6 Months with possibility of extension

Location of assignment

Remote

Remuneration

Commensurate with experience

Reporting

The consultant will work closely with the procurement section and economic empowerment Section 

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 procurement in the UN, public or private sector; 
• Strong communications skills, with proven expertise in writing cogent and convincing guidance tools, briefs and creating visually impactful presentations;
• Strong and proven research and analytical skills;
• Capacity to plan, prioritize and deliver tasks on time;
• Openness to change and ability to receive/integrate feedback.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s degree in business, public policy, law, economics, international development, social sciences, and/or related field required and advanced degree desired; 
• Specific training, certificate (e.g. CIPS certification) or diploma in supply chain, procurement and/or logistics will be positively considered.

Experience:                      

• A minimum of 2 years of relevant experience in areas relevant to women’s economic empowerment, entrepreneurship, sustainability and procurement;
• Proven exposure to complex procurement operations in a multilateral/international organizations, and experience with development of tender documents,      management of procurement processes, bid evaluation and contract management is an asset;
• Experience in designing and delivering procurement-related policies and methodologies for multilateral/international organization;
• Demonstrated understanding of the role of public procurement as an accelerator to achieve the SDGs at country, regional and global levels.

Language Requirements:

• Fluent English written and speaking skills for diverse audiences.