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.

The Surging Women’s Employment Flagship Initiative (SWEI) in the Green, STEM, and Care Economies (SWEI) seeks to increase women’s employment in the Arab States region by 5% by 2030 through innovative and collaborative approaches across governments, international financial institutions, the private sector, UN agencies, NGOs, and media. The Private Sector Development Specialist will contribute to the effective management and implementation of the flagship initiative, by focusing on increasing decent employment opportunities for women through improving gender responsive workplaces and transformative partnerships with the private sector.

The work of the Private Sector Specialist is to scale the foundational work achieved in the region on the Women’s Empowerment Principles and ensure UN Women’s engagement on the WEPs implementation in the MENA region is further aligned with SWEI’s 5% employment goal. This includes defining a partnership approach that moves from transactional (activity-based) partnerships towards value-creating and innovative partnership approaches with the private sector, leveraging critical partners working towards similar goals. It also includes a strong, gender responsive private sector development approach to support companies in achieving a sustained increase in women’s employment before 2030.

Reporting to the Director of Women Employment in the Green, STEM and Care Economy, the Private Sector Development Specialist will be working in support of countries engaged under the flagship initiative and provide technical backstopping to 17 countries (UN Women’s country offices (COs), Programme Presences (PPs), and in countries where UN Women is a Non-Resident Agency (NRAs)

Description of Responsibilities /Scope of Work:

SWEI Private Sector Initiative Launch (January)

• Lead the negotiation for 5-10 companies to be part of the pioneering group of SWEI Private Sector Initiative;
• Lead the content creation with company technical focal points on the SWEI Private Sector Initiative Roadmap;
• Develop and finalize Side Session outline with agenda, speakers and key messages;
• Collaborate with communications specialist for comms and associate for logistics as needed .

Launch SWEI Private Sector Initiative Web Tab, including with monitoring framework and communications material (February – March)

• Finalize, together with ROAS data and monitoring team, the SWEI Private Sector Initiative Monitoring Framework;
• Finalize, together with ROAS communication team the visuals, design, stories and user experience as well as complementing webpage/tab for the SWEI Private Sector Initiative;

Create implementation work plan with first 2 companies: (February – March)

• Schedule introductory meetings with companies;
• Set plan for assessments to identify key opportunities and weaknesses regarding employment and/or supply chain;
• Develop a work plan for increasing employment of women through; direct employment in company or employment generation through company interventions (e.g. increasing gender responsive procurement, financing of women businesses);
• Conduct in-person private sector planning meeting with country level focal points.

Develop a mapping of the most strategic sectors WEPs Principle 2 and 5. And finalize (together with key companies) the roadmap to pursue for 2026-2028, including Roadmaps. (February – March)

The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the organization.

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

This is an office-based consultancy, with expected travel

Competencies :

Core Values:

• Integrity;
• Professionalism;
• Respect for Diversity.

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues;
• Accountability;
• Creative Problem Solving;
• Effective Communication;
• Inclusive Collaboration;
• Stakeholder Engagement;
• Leading by Example.

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Values and Competencies Framework:

Functional Competencies:

• Strong knowledge of women’s economic empowerment, on private sector partnership for GEWE;
• Strong analytical skills;
• Ability to synthesize program performance data and produce analytical reports to inform management and strategic decision-making;
• Strong networking skills;
• Ability to identify and analyze trends, opportunities, and threats to fundraising;
• Strong knowledge of the Arab Region;
• My ability to write policy papers, speeches, and briefings.

Required Qualifications:

Education and Certification:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in economics, sustainable development, social sciences, and/or other relevant 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 7 years of progressively responsible work experience in development and implementation, monitoring, and reporting on programmes related to gender and the private sector and/or other related experience is required.
• Experience in providing advisory support to the private sector on women’s economic empowerment is required;
• Experience covering at least 4 countries across the Arab States region is required
• Knowledge of women’s economic empowerment in the Arab States is a required;
• Experience in providing capacity building to government stakeholders, private sector partners, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) etc is desirable;
• Experience working with the UN is desirable.

Languages:

• Fluency in English and Arabic is required.

Statements :

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.

Diversity and inclusion:

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)

Note: Applicants must ensure that all sections of the application form, including the sections on education and employment history, are completed. If all sections are not completed the application may be disqualified from the recruitment and selection process.