International Consultant – Private Sector GEWE Landscaping
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Location:
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Salary:negotiable / YEAR
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Job type:CONTRACTOR
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Posted:1 month ago
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Category:Infrastructure, Social and Inclusive Development, Urban and Rural Development
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Deadline:23/08/2024
JOB DESCRIPTION
Background
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.
Women’s Economic Empowerment is one of the key strategic priorities stated in UN Women’s Global Strategic Plan (2022 -2025) and UN Women’s Strategic Note for Asia and the Pacific (2023 -2025). This work includes thematic areas, such as Transforming the Care Economy, Advancing Gender-Equality in the World of Work (inclusive of advancing gender-responsive business conduct, Entrepreneurship, Migration) and Climate Change.
About 96 per cent of all jobs in the Asia-Pacific are in the private sector. This represents a huge potential to implement transformative actions in the world of work and social responsibility in favour of women, benefiting the whole society. There is an increasing consciousness, interest and commitment of private and public sector companies on the value and benefits of gender equality and the economic empowerment of women and its role to achieve it.
Since 2019, UN Women Asia-Pacific has been promoting commitment to and implementation of the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs), a set of 7 principles that provide companies a roadmap to become more gender-responsive throughout their value chain. The WEPs were launched in 2010 by UN Women and the UN Global Compact and is the only framework that encompasses gender equality at all organizational levels, beginning with leadership and providing guidance for the workplace, marketplace and community, underpinned by a strong emphasis on accountability and transparent reporting of progress.
To date, more than 9,700 companies have signed the WEPs globally, and in the Asia-Pacific more than 2,600 have committed. Momentum has been growing at a rapid pace in the Asia-Pacific, as in 2019 less than 600 companies had committed to the WEPs. This success has been driven by a multi-stakeholder, -country and – year programme WeEmpowerAsia, which included strong programmatic elements such as the Asia-Pacific WEPs Awards, an initiative also supported by the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) with the aim to showcase best practices for gender-responsive business conduct and mobilize further action.
Strong momentum and commitment for accelerated business action for gender equality has been clearly established across the region, networks of stakeholders are in place, and a suite of evidence, data, tools and assets have been created, including a series of government endorsed policy advocacy briefs which provide a strategic entry-point for deeper action at both levels — with business and with governments and business regulators. Despite this momentum, there is considerable evidence that while commitments towards gender equality in the private sector are increasing, implementation is lagging behind.
In an effort to drive action and transformative change in the private sector, UN Women in partnership with the Government of Australia Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) is launching the new initiative “UN Women Gender Action Lab (LAG): Innovation and Impact for Gender Equality in Asia-Pacific, powered by the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs).” With an initial four-year commitment, both partners are laying the foundation to build a unique Gender Action Lab (LAG) for Asia and the Pacific aiming to foster private sector innovations and concrete actions that advance gender equality and women’s empowerment and build more inclusive economies across the region. See the WEPs table below:
Table 1: Women’s Empowerment Principles and related policies
| WEPs by principle | Related policies and practices (non-exhaustive) |
| Principle 1: Establish High-level corporate leadership for gender equality |
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| Principle 2: Treat all women and men fairly at work – respect and support human rights and non-discrimination |
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| Principle 3: Ensure the health, safety and well-being of all women and men workers |
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| Principle 4: Promote education, training and professional development for women |
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| Principle 5: Implement enterprise development, supply chain and marketing practices that empower women |
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| Principle 6: Promote equality through community initiatives and advocacy |
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| Principle 7: Measure and publicly report on progress to achieve gender equality |
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Based on the very strong foundation built through previous programmes, the UN Women’s Asia-Pacific Gender Action Lab (GAL) aims to further advance private sector and government action to accelerate gender-responsive business policies and practices in Asia-Pacific by strengthening, in particular, implementation efforts to contribute to closing the Private Sector and Government ‘Action Gap’ across the Asia and the Pacific, with a specific regional focus on ASEAN and especially in four priority countries, namely Indonesia, Philippines, and Malaysia and Cambodia. It will also have a regional component under the responsibility of UN Women Region Office for Asia and the Pacific (ROAP). For more details about GAL, see the Introductory Brief.
With an approach to leverage the innovation capability of the private sector to create innovation and change within the private sector, LAG aims to incorporate an inclusive and creative problem-solving methodology to enable multi-stakeholder and innovative thinking around specific thematic areas to ideate and prototype new multi-stakeholder solutions.
The key outcome is: More private sector companies in Asia – Pacific are implementing gender-responsive business practices and policies to enable more women to equitably lead and participate in the world of work.
The program will achieve this through 3 interrelated pillars:
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- Awareness, Commitments, and Capacity built on the WEPs and engagement of key stakeholders for the thematic lab
- Multistakeholder thematic Gender Innovation labs: piloting concrete solutions with innovators and policymakers (thematic areas may include employer-supported care, disability inclusion, transparency & reporting)
- Document Best Practices, generating and disseminating recommendations for action, and recognizing businesses through the Asia-Pacific WEPs Awards and WEPs Forum
In Cambodia, UN Women’s engagement with the private sector is nascent and awareness among the private sector of the Women’s Empowerment Principles as a vehicle to drive action for gender equality is extremely limited. Currently, only 3 companies have committed to the WEPs. There is also a lack of existing case studies and data on private sector action for gender equality in the country, as well as a deeper understanding of the enabling environment and scope for advancing gender equality within specific sectors or in specific thematic areas aligned to the WEPs. Therefore, UN Women Is seeking an International Consultant – Private Sector GEWE Landscaping – to conduct a rapid assessment of both private sector practices and public policy, legislation and regulation to assess the current status of private sector action for gender equality (aligned to the thematic areas of the WEPs), challenges/barriers to action, and opportunities and entry points for UN Women to engage successfully through GAL.
The International Consultant will work under the supervision of the UN Women Cambodia Country Programme Coordinator and in close collaboration with the UN Women ROAP programme team. With UN Women’s guidance, the consultant might also engage with government officials, multi and bi-lateral donors, civil society and the private sector and programmatic partners.
Duties and Responsibilities
Under the supervision and guidance of the Cambodia Country Programme Coordinator, the consultant will undertake the following tasks in order to conduct a rapid assessment of current status, challenges/gaps, and opportunities/entry points that can be leveraged for UN Women to implement LAG. The assessment consists of the following tasks:
| No. | Duties and Responsibilities |
| 1 | Desk and brief literature review of Cambodia landscape and profile of gender-responsive business conduct consisting of
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| 2 | Conduct mapping of stakeholders in Cambodia in the realm relevant to gender-responsive business conduct aligned to the WEPs. The mapping could include desk review exercise and stakeholder consultations/interviews with selected organizations. The mapping will consist of list of 10-15 key stakeholders from the private sector (inclusive of MSMEs, large national corporates and MNCs, chambers of commerce, and business associations), as well as key stakeholders/potential partners from public and civil society sectors, development actors (national and international) and other supporting organizations, their role in leading and contributing to gender-responsive business conduct aligned to the WEPs, the industry sector they operate in, their influence and overall progress these stakeholders have been making in Cambodia. The report should also provide recommendations on the capacity of potential implementing partners to support advancing action for gender-responsive business conduct in the context of LAG. |
| 3 | Conduct minimum 3 stakeholder consultation and min 10 KIIs with key stakeholders (1 consultation and min. 3 KIIs to be conducted before GAL Inception Workshop Oct 7-11) identified as key potential partners for the Lab to assess key gaps in action, key opportunities (narrowed from the list of 10-15 in Step 2 in close consultation with UN Women team). The consultation should also be used to explore future outcomes stakeholders envision being successful to drive progress in the specific thematic area, as well as to collectively brainstorm and ideate a variety of potential new actions or outcomes related to the thematic area, identifying current constraints, what new methods or actions would be needed to make progress, who the new action would seek to benefit, and what role might corporates and innovators play in developing new solutions or actions. |
| 4 | Assessment of key challenge/barriers and key opportunities/entry points for action aligned to thematic area: Analyzing findings from stakeholder mapping, KIIs, and the desk review, compile key challenges and barriers, as well as key opportunities, entry points, and specific actions that could be taken up in the thematic area as part of an Innovation Lab. |
| 5 | Draft three 3-5 page issue briefs/case studies focused on three key thematic areas aligned to the WEPs that show the most demand and promise for action from corporates, partner willingness and capacity, entry points for action, and an enabling environment (regulation, policy, ongoing development programmes) conducive to action. These three case studies should form the basis of what could become the specific challenge for possible Innovation Labs in Cambodia. These briefs might focus on, for example, Women in Leadership, GRP, disability inclusion, safe workplace |
| 6 | Develop and Present Draft Report (including PPT) and conduct validation workshop: Develop a summary of the report in PPT format to be easily presented to a multi-stakeholder audience and conduct a validation workshop with UN Women and key partners to discuss identified priority thematic areas of focus, key challenges, opportunities and entry points for action, and key recommendations. |
| 7 | Finalize report: Incorporating insights from validation workshop and consultations, as well as suggestions from up to three rounds of feedback from UN Women, finalize Landscaping report and include strategic, action-oriented recommendations for UN Women to implement GAL successfully in Cambodia. |
| 8 | Draft a 4-5 page Thematic Challenge Brief + 1-pg Summary Brief: In identifying a key thematic area aligned to the WEPs that shows a promising foundation and enabling environment, strong partners, policy incentives and/or demand to advance GAL in Cambodia, draft a 4-5 page brief that sets the background and a specific challenge statement for a thematic Innovation Lab to be potentially launched in Cambodia. The specific structure of the brief will be provided by UN Women, but this will likely include the following sections: Background to the Issue and current status (with key data points from existing research and stakeholder consultations), challenges and barriers to action (assessing why more action has not been taken), opportunities (including assessment key stakeholders taking action or relevant policies and identification of potential partners for the Lab), and a final ‘How To’ statement setting the specific thematic challenge to be addressed. For example, the challenge statements could be ‘How might the private sector in Cambodia work with innovators and social enterprises to include more women with disabilities in their workforce and supply chains?’ or ‘How can social innovation support Cambodian companies to develop policies and implement practices for gender-responsive procurement and supplier diversity?’ |
Deliverables
| No. | Deliverables | Target date |
| 1 | Assessment Workplan & Approach, including:
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18 September 2024 |
| 2 | 2.1 Consultation and KII reports – Agenda, participant list, transcripts, key insights
2.2 Draft Report Sections including:
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30 September 2024 |
| 3 | 3.1 Draft Report and PPT to present landscaping to UN women and key stakeholders
3. 2 Plan for 2 Consultations for Lab Ideation: Agenda, guiding questions, ideation resources/methodologies Advertisement
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30 October 2024 |
| 4 | 4.1 Submission of Consultation Reports – final Agenda, participant list, transcripts, key insights
4.2 Submission of Final Report 4.3 Submission of Final Challenge Brief + 1-pg summary for the first Innovation Lab |
30 November 2024 |
Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel
The consultancy is expected to be started on 10 September 2024 and continue until 31 December 2024. Work will be conducted remotely with the exception of in-person interviews, meetings and/or group consultations. The cost of organizing consultations will be borne by UN Women.
This is a home-based consultancy. The consultant may be required to travel to Phnom Penh as needed for the purpose of the assignment where required by UN Women-Cambodia. The standard UN Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) will apply to any travel outside duty station that may be required in the fulfillment of this assignment.
The consultant will work in close collaboration with the programme team in Cambodia, primarily the EmPower team, under the direct supervision of Country Programme Coordinator. A workstation will be provided to the consultant to ensure effective consultation and support. The Consultant will bring his/her own personal computer to conduct this assignment. With the facilitation of the CCO team, the consultant will also be expected to engage with external stakeholders, especially with the responsible partner.
Competencies
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:
- Excellent research and analytical skills:
- Excellent legal and public policy research abilities
- Strong knowledge of the private sector in Cambodia
- Strong knowledge of the government, institutions and politics of Cambodia
- Strong overall knowledge of gender equality and women’s economic empowerment
- Knowledge of the Women’s Empowerment Principles is an asset
- Ability to analyse trends and synthesize data to actionable recommendations to inform
- management and strategic decision-making.
Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies:
https://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment/application-process#_Values
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Required Skills and Experience
Education and certification:
- Master’s degree or equivalent in gender/women’s studies, international development, social science or a related field is required;
- 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:
- Must have worked minimum 5 years in the space of private sector engagement/research, gender equality or women’s economic empowerment.
- Experience in conducting research and analysis of private sector and/or policy trends relevant to women’s economic empowerment is a must.
- Sound knowledge of gender equality and women’s empowerment (theory and practice);
Language Requirements:
- Fluency in English is required.
- Excellent command of written English.
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