Historique

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. Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women will lead and coordinate United Nations System efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It will provide strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

UN Women is committed to the achievement of equality between women, men, boys and girls as partners and beneficiaries of humanitarian action. In September 2019, UN Women established its Peace Security and Humanitarian Unit to consolidate its advocacy, coordination and capacity development role for the integration of gender equality across peace security and humanitarian action. The Humanitarian Action Section with teams in Geneva and New York is addressing, humanitarian norms and standards, coordination, accountability, humanitarian emergency response and country support for prevention, mitigation and preparedness.

Aligned with the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, UN Women’s Second Chance Education and Vocational Learning (SCE) Programme is a solution for those who have missed out on education. It aims to break current trends and provide a comprehensive solution for marginalized women and young women who are at risk of being left behind. This project aims to develop context specific, affordable and scalable learning, entrepreneurship and employment pathways for empowering the world’s most disadvantaged women and young women. It offers women and young women, their families, local communities and societies the benefits of access to educational services which are tailored not only to their needs as learners, but also to their future as earners. The SCE Programme achieves this by leveraging the opportunities of innovative teaching approaches, digital technologies and social networks. 

The Programme will contribute to the following outcomes: i) More marginalized women and young women  access and benefit from high quality educational content, material and learning pathways; ii) More marginalized women and young women benefit from increased employment, livelihood and entrepreneurial opportunities; iii) Fewer marginalized women and young women are disadvantaged and denied education opportunities due to harmful and discriminatory social norms; iv) More marginalized women and young women have improved access to education and employment pathways through enhanced multi-sectoral policy and financing frameworks that enable scaling of successful SCE solutions.

In 2021, the SCE program engaged an external organisation to conduct a feasibility study and determine i) whether an outcomes-based approach (OBA) is a sustainable financing mechanism for the program and ii) what role UN Women, as an intergovernmental UN agency, can play within the model. The study found that there is a compelling rationale for using an OBA to support scaling the program. The role that UN Women is best suited to play in the OBA structure needs to be determined. A two-phase approach to a possible OBA design process will be followed. First phase is a 6-month Conceptual Design period where UN Women will determine the roles it will play. During this period, the options for contracting structures and funding flows will need to be assessed and interest and commitment from funders, investors, and government needs to be gauged ahead of progressing to a to a second phase. The Finance expert consultant will be main coordinator and support the work on conceptual design in coordination with the social finance expert company who will be board to develop the conceptual design model.

Devoirs et responsabilités

Under the overall guidance of the Sustainable Finance Specialist and with direct reporting to the SCE Programme Manager, the Consultant will:

• Provide options on how best to leverage the committed funding within the Outcomes based structure;
• Review and provide structured feedback on all documents and inputs received from external financing entity on the outcomes-based structure and role and responsibilities of UN Women;
• Provide technical support on behalf of UNWOMEN to the external organization designing the OBA structure;
• Review all documents produced by the external entity for technical soundness and provide feedback on the likelihood of execution/implementation;
• Manage the implementation of phase one (the conceptual design and pilot of the Outcomes based financing approach in at least two, pre-determined countries);
• Identify and engage key investors , funders and grant providers and in order to pilot the Outcomes based approach in at least 2 pilot countries;
• Work closely w/ UN Women Second Chance Education Programme Team at global and country levels as well as the Sustainable finance team, providing regular inputs and feedback on progress;
• Conduct monthly progress meetings with the Senior Advisor for Sustainable Finance and the other relevant teams.

Compétences

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

Functional Competencies

• Good knowledge of gender equality and women’s empowerment issues in humanitarian contexts
• Good knowledge of UN system and understanding of inter-agency coordination processes
• Good knowledge of results-based programme planning and management
• Ability to organize and complete multiple tasks by establishing priorities
• Ability to handle a large volume of work possibly under time constraints
• Ability to draft inputs to policy papers, speeches, briefings etc.
• Ability to gather and interpret data, reach logical conclusions and present findings and recommendations
• Ability to promote and monitor inclusion of gender-specific objectives, indicators, targets and activities in the humanitarian sector
• Good analytical skills

Qualifications et expériences requises

Recruitment Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Finance or related field
• A first-level university degree in the same areas in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• Significant financial structuring expertise (10+ years) working on sustainable and innovative finance structures
• Relevant experience w/ blended finance and output- based approaches
• Ability and experience in developing economies and emerging economies, including investing/advising/execution in several markets
• Strong investor and donor network an advantage
• Development finance AND commercial banking, investment banking experience necessary
• Ability to work in a multinational team a must.
• Fluency in English is required
• Working knowledge of Spanish and/or French is an asset.

Mode of Contract Execution

This consultancy will be home based. If mission is requested UNW will cover the travel. 

Scope of Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments

Payments shall be made to the consultant against the submitted fully completed and duly authorized Certification of Payment Form on monthly basis. 

Recommended Application

The following documents should be submitted:

1. Personal CV and P11 (All applications must provide the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment), indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references;
2. Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment, and a methodology, if applicable, on how they will approach and complete the assignment. A methodology is recommended for intellectual services, but may be omitted for support services [Note: this is optional for support services]; 

IMPORTANT

Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment. Please combine all your documents into one (1) single PDF document as the system only allows to upload maximum one document.

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.