Historique

The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (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.

Empowering women in the economy and closing gender gaps are key to achieve the sustainable Development Goals, particularly Goal 5 on gender equality, and Goal 8 on promoting full and productive employment and decent work for all. 

Economic empowerment is one of the priority areas of UN Women. UN Women works with Governments and multilateral partners to promote women’s economic empowerment and increase their access to economic opportunities, especially for those who are most excluded. The flagship programme contributes towards outcome 3 of UN Women’s strategic plan: women have income security, decent work, and economic autonomy through contributions to see that more women own, launch, and manage small, medium and large enterprises.

UN Women launched the Flagship Programme Initiative (FPI) on stimulating equal opportunities for women entrepreneurs in July 2018. The programme is implemented in UAE, as well as in South Africa and at a global level from UN Women’s headquarters. It is funded by NAMA Women Advancement Establishment, a semi-governmental entity in Sharjah, UAE and is implemented under the supervision of the UN Women Liaison Office (LO) for the GCC.

The FPI was designed as a three-year research, capacity building, and advocacy programme to support women entrepreneurs through promoting Gender-Responsive Procurement (GRP) in the public and private sector, supporting women entrepreneurs to access these opportunities and to strengthen their access to finance. The programme takes forward the findings of the Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) which highlighted the benefits of inclusive procurement from women-owned businesses (WOBs). 

The programme aims to foster WEE through entrepreneurship. The theory of change is that if organizations make concerted efforts to procure from WOBs and engage in gender-responsive supply chain and investment practices and if women business owners’ capacity to access finance and skills development is strengthened, then women will have access to a more equal share of the market and will be able to seize these new market opportunities to increase their sales, leading to their higher incomes and expansion of operations, thus creating jobs.
 
With the objective to enhance the support of women entrepreneurs and coordination with stakeholders while improving visibility efforts in the UAE, UN Women LO for the GCC therefore seeks to hire a consultant for providing support in coordination and communication for the FPI programme in the UAE. 

Reporting to the Director of the UAE Liaison Office for the GCC, the Consultant will work in close collaboration with the FPI team in the UAE by contributing to the programme coordination and communication requirements.  

Devoirs et responsabilités

The Consultant is expected to undertake the following:

• Coordinate focus group discussions, training sessions and networking events for women entrepreneurs in the UAE.
• Facilitate and support in person and online zoom events: generate event reports and recordings and maintain necessary database on UN Women’s Sharepoint for reporting, monitoring, and sustainability purposes.
• Contribute to the preparation of pre-event assessment and post-event evaluation of acquired learning as required. 
• Support in the distribution and analyses of the pre- and post-event assessment / evaluation for events participants as required.
• Maintain files, databases, and systems relevant to the FPI digital presence, as necessary.
• Support in development of relevant advocacy and visibility materials on stimulating equal opportunities for women entrepreneurs and gender responsive procurement in the UAE. 
• Maintain communication with WEPs signatories in the UAE and disseminate guidance notes and monitoring tool kits as required. 
• Identify innovative opportunities and new communications tools which can serve to enhance engagement of women entrepreneurs in the FPI programme.
• Prepare inputs for reports, slide presentations, and other materials as required.
• Maintain database and support communication with financial institutions in the UAE in relation to services provided for women entrepreneurs and SMEs.  
• Maintain database and support communication with corporates and business networks on gender responsive procurement. 

Deliverables

• Monthly briefs on networking and focus group events including participant database, key findings, lesson learned and evaluation reports.
• Monthly description, purpose and impact of the communication, visibility or advocacy material produced for the FPI in the UAE 
• Monthly database update of women entrepreneurs, WEPs, financial institutions, and procurement entities.
• Monthly inputs and contributions to reports and other materials.

Financial arrangements:  

Payment will be disbursed upon submission of approved monthly progress report that contain follow-up on tasks and responsibilities mentioned in the TOR. 

Travel:

The selected applicant will work remotely given the current restrictions in the UAE.  The selected candidate may be required to continue the assignment in-person when it is feasible. No international travel needs are anticipated. For local business travel requirements for meetings and events across the emirates and if any international travel emerges, the UN Women LO for the GCC will organize the logistics of the travel including providing daily substance allowance and terminal fees as per UN Women travel policies. 

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

• Experience in advocacy and communications aimed at stakeholders including businesses, government, and civil society in participatory processes to deliver programme outcomes
• In-depth understanding of social media platforms, tools and strategies
• Demonstrated achievement in the field of gender equality and women’s empowerment through feminist publications and projects
• Strong writing skills, particularly the ability to present accessible, persuasive, coherent and well-founded arguments to a broad audience of policymakers, academics and activists.
• Reliably takes action to honor commitments; takes international outlook in decision-making.
• Demonstrates analytical rigor, intellectual creativity and contributes original ideas
• Contributes to team spirit, inspires, and motivates staff and colleagues at all levels
• Remains composed under stress
• Result driven and solution oriented. 
• Makes efficient use of available resources

Innovation and marketing of new approaches:

• Generates new ideas, seeks new approaches and introduces and promotes them in the workplace.
• Ability to identify opportunities and builds strong relationships with client and external actors.

Qualifications et expériences requises

Education:

• Advanced university degree (master’s degree or equivalent) in in Communication, business administration, political science, economics, international development, gender, or related fields 
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

• At least 5 years of related work experience at national or international level in journalism, public relations, communications, public advocacy, or related.
• Demonstrated experience in coordination with private and public sector in the UAE
• Proven experience in development of communication material and tools. 
• Extensive knowledge of the UAE women entrepreneurship needs and challenges.
• Strong networking capabilities - ability to identify opportunities and builds strong relationships with client and external actors
• Strong writing and copyediting skills; ability to convey technical and complex concepts for a variety of audiences. 
• Demonstrated interpersonal and communication skills suitable for collaborating with multiple stakeholders.

Language requirement:

• Proficiency in written and spoken English and Arabic.

Submission of application:

Interested candidates are requested to submit electronic application by the deadline indicated in the post by submitting the following:

• Letter of Interest containing the statement on candidate's experience in the field of recruitment.
• All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from P11 form.  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 note that only candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.