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.

The Strategic Partnerships Division (SPD) works to strengthen UN Women’s position as a partner of choice for gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE) among governments and private sector actors around the world. The Division does this by positioning GEWE in the intergovernmental and multilateral fora, and engaging with governments and private sector corporations, foundations and individuals as policy, programme and resource partners. A key premise for SPD is that engagement with partners should be holistic based on multiple aspects of partnerships, including policy advocacy and resource mobilization.

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.

UN Women, in partnership with the UN Global Compact, launched the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) to guide the private sector on how to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment in the workplace, marketplace and community. So far, more than 6,500 companies have adopted the WEPs.

UN Women now plans to develop industry-specific platforms to deepen the engagement with companies within the industry, starting with commercial banks. To help guide the banks on their WEPs journeys, UN Women will provide an independent assessment that helps integrate gender equality in the banks’ business models and tackles gender inequalities in the commercial and operational side of the bank.

UN Women is therefore seeking five (5) experts to review and provide feedback on the draft assessment. The experts will provide their expert/technical feedback independently and confidentially. The experts will report independently and directly to the Global Head of the Women’s Empowerment Principles at UN Women HQ. This is a unique opportunity to contribute to advancing gender equality in commercial banks. Those selected for the review of the assessment package will receive acknowledgement in the final product that will be used by the commercial banks.

Key functions:

1. Review the assessment of about 60 questions with five options per question, list of documents providing evidence to the responses, and key performance indicators.
2. Review the guidance notes, taxonomies, annexes and other guidance to the banks being assessed.
3. Prepare a draft report outlining detailed feedback and suggestions on how to improve the overall structure and relevance and feasibility of questions and response options to ensure that the assessment is attractive, useful and adds high value to commercial banks.
4. Be available to the UN Women team for questions and clarifications on the report provided.
5. Prepare the final report.

Institutional arrangements

The Experts will work independently and report directly to the Global Head of the Women’s Empowerment Principles. The experts will also engage with the senior expert on advisory services at UN Women. The experts must keep all information received confidential and sign a non-discloser agreement (NDA) with UN Women.

Integrity:

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

Professionalism:

• Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work.

Cultural sensitivity and valuing diversity:

• Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff.
• Demonstrate an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Core Competencies:

Ethics and Values:

• Demonstrate and safeguard ethics and integrity.

Organizational Awareness:

• Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment.

Work in teams:

• Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multiethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.

Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making:

• Demonstrate informed and transparent decision making.

Functional Competences:

• In-depth understanding of gender equality and women’s economic empowerment in the banking industry.
• Ability to organize and complete multiple tasks by establishing priorities.
• Ability to keep information confidential.

Education:

• Advanced university degree in business, finance, social sciences, economics, or related fields.

Experience:

• Minimum 10 years of relevant experience in the field of finance or banking.
• Experience working on gender equality and women’s empowerment in finance/banking industry, particularly on women’s banking needs.
• Experience with assessing companies against gender-specific key performance indicators.
• Knowledge of policies, practices and initiatives that advance gender equality and women’s empowerment in the private sector.
• Knowledge of gender lens investing and financial products with a gender lens is desired.
• Experience in working in a multicultural and web-based environment.

Languages:

• Fluency in English is required.