The UN is hiring an International Consultant Gender Financing and Climate Entrepreneurship

united nationJanuary 30, 2024

0 126 9 minutes read

Deadline : 31 January 2024

Duty Station/ Location : Home-base in Asia

Brief Background about the Organisation

The UN agency UN Women is hiring an International Consultant Gender Financing and Climate Entrepreneurship. 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

Career 2

Brief Information about the Position

Women’s Economic Empowerment is one the 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.

At the regional level in Asia Pacific, UN Women has recently launched a new regional programme: Women’s Economic Empowerment in the Climate Economy Impact Accelerator: Women Entrepreneurs in Climate Tech in ASEAN, funded by government of South Koreas Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (MOGEF).

This project envisions implementing an Impact Accelerator programme for women entrepreneurs[1] in ASEAN who are working on Climate Tech solutions. The project aims to advance the leadership and entrepreneurial growth of women entrepreneurs to promote inclusive and gender-responsive climate technology solutions in ASEAN. Over an 18 month period, the accelerator programme will select 15-20 women entrepreneurs with registered businesses in the Climate Tech sector and will provide support for, (1) increasing their business capacities: including improving their business models for greater impact and growth; equipping them with the required skills for digitalizing their business and articulating their business pitches, thereby improving their overall investability; (2) increasing capacities to drive social impact by facilitating participation of at-risk communities in design and implementation and building more gender-responsive and inclusive business models; (3) increasing opportunities to access finance by engaging with investors and drawing in investments into these enterprises; and (4) widening their networks and strengthen advocacy and policy by leveraging tools and trainings to enable these business to form networks, lead and become advocates for more diversity in the Climate Tech industry, promoting their examples for broader advocacy and policy reform.

At the same time UN Women is working together with UN Environment Programme (UNEP) on the second phase of the regional programme EmPower: Women for Climate Resilient Societies project, targeting Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Philippines, Viet Nam, along with a regional focus, with the aim of building women’s resilience to climate change. The project is working towards supporting duty bearers in raising ambition in mitigation and adaptation, enabling women and marginalised groups leadership and participation in climate-related decision-making, and enhancing access of women and marginalised groups to climate-resilient livelihoods using renewable and other low carbon technologies. UN Women is uniquely positioned given complementary programmes to leverage synergies at the country level and drive regional action.

UN Women is aiming to strengthen its programmatic, normative and coordination work in its work in the intersection of: Women’s Entrepreneurship, Gender Financing and Climate Action. Therefore, UN Women is seeking for an International Consultant: Gender Financing and Climate Entrepreneurship.

The consultant will be working in the Women’s Economic Empowerment Team, reporting to the WEE and Migration Programme Lead to provide implementation, technical and programme management support for the Women’s Economic Empowerment in the Climate Economy Impact Accelerator: Women Entrepreneurs in Climate Tech in ASEAN (WE in Climate Tech Accelerator) programme as well as providing technical support the EmPower II Programme, especially in the areas of preparing enterprises to be business-ready, ensuring that they are well-equipped to connect and access finance from the Financing Facility established under EmPower II.

This assignment is designed to enhance UN Women’s Leadership in Asia and the Pacific to build strong and effective coalitions with stakeholders, namely government, development partners, the private and civil society organizations particularly in Southeast Asia, for transformative change in Gender/ Entrepreneurship Financing and Women-led Climate Tech Entrepreneurship. The International Consultant will work in close collaboration with the ROAP programme and operations team, UN Women country offices (COs) and programme presences, government officials, multi and bi-lateral donors, civil society and the private sector and programmatic partners.

Women entrepreneurs are defined here as women-owned and women-led business, including those living with disabilities, youth, of different ethnicities, race and gender-diverse businesses, especially those that are providing products and services that benefit women.

Duties and Responsibilities

Provide Technical Support and supervision of the implementation, management and reporting of the Women’s Economic Empowerment in the Climate Economy Impact Accelerator: Women Entrepreneurs in Climate Tech in ASEAN (WE – Climate Tech Accelerator). – Provide technical assistance to the service provider implementing WE-Climate Tech Accelerator from outreach to potential entrepreneurs, supporting selection process and implementation of the acceleration programme and work with the implementing partner to ensure the Accelerator is implemented in a gender-responsive way using UN Women Resources, such as WE RISE: Toolkits for Accelerators[1] and Entrepreneurs[2] and other supporting tools.[3]Contribute to synergising the ASEAN WE Climate Tech Accelerator with the EmPower II Programme to ensure a cohesive approach to supporting women’s entrepreneurship in the context of climate action in ASEAN.

Lead the delivery of trainings for climate-tech entrepreneurs: Support the implementing partner of the Climate Tech Accelerator to conduct trainings in the areas of gender-responsive business conduct helping them to build more inclusive business models. This will be incorporated into the overall accelerator curriculum managed with a yet to be selected partner. It will also include providing business support for selected entrepreneurs (from WE Climate-Tech Accelerator and EmPower II) to prepare them to be business ready, connecting them to existing networks, and accessing the finance through the Finance Facility under EmPower II.

Support communication and advocacy efforts on promoting women’s entrepreneurship in Climate Action within ASEAN, with a focus on the ASEAN WE Climate Tech Accelerator programme including co-organizing events, supporting advocacy efforts, and developing min. 10 evidence-based impact stories in collaboration with the UN Women WEE Communications officer and EmPower II Communications Specialist. This includes leading the design and implementation of an advocacy and public speaking training for selected entrepreneurs to become strong leaders and advocates to influence public policy. The consultant will be working closely with UN Women and experts to advocate for policy reforms and contribute in creating a enabling and supportive environment for women entrepreneurs in the ASEAN region.

Lead the support of the enterprises under ASEAN WE Climate Tech Accelerator to access Finance Facility under EmPower II, including managing the application process, business and ESG due diligence and support the overall EmPower II programme to promote the uptake of the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs)[4] by engaged businesses. This will also include support the WE- Climate Tech Accelerator implementer to identify additional finance partners.

Lead the regional development of a Gender Financing strategy for Entrepreneurship at large – Working with UN Women’s global gender-financing team and the country offices in Asia-Pacific and identify practical approaches to advance gender-lens investing in areas, such as climate change but also other impact areas like but not limited to the Care Economy, the Tourism Sector etc. (tbc) This includes also providing capacity building to the established UN Women WEE Community of Practice.

Develop a presentations, briefings and develop concept notes for resource mobilization – including the organization of panels, small events and convenings to engage different stakeholders to advance advocacy, policy changes, and programming.

[1] WeRise Toolkit for Accelerators | UN Women – Asia-Pacific

[2] https://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2021/10/werise-toolkit-for-entrepreneurs

[3] https://www.climate-kic.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/EIT-Climate-KIC-WeClim-Equally-Gender-Smart-Handbook_reduced.pdf

[4] https://www.weps.org/

CONTRACT PERIOD AND WORK LOCATION

The period of this consultancy is for 12 months; the consultant will be home-based (based in Asia-Pacific is strongly preferred). The consultant may be required to travel to Bangkok, Thailand or missions in ASEAN countries.

EXPECTED DELIVERABLES

The consultant will work under the direct supervision of Regional WEE Program Lead, UN Women ROAP, to achieve the following deliverables:

No.	Deliverables	Target date
1	A 12-month workplan for following areas: Climate Accelerator ImplementationEmPower II Financing Facility Match-Making and WEPs Implementation PlanASEAN Advocacy/ Engagement plan for Climate Tech Entrepreneurs Gender Financing Entrepreneurship Strategy Resource Mobilization	15 February 2024
2	Progress Report including:Climate Accelerator Outreach Strategy, drafted M&E Framework and agreed workplan with service providerDesign of Advocacy Training for Climate Tech Accelerator and draft advocacy engagement plan for entrepreneurs (i.e. Feminist Finance Forum) EmPower II: Draft Plan for Entrepreneur Sensitization and Access Plan for Finance Facility Draft Approach for Entrepreneurship Gender Financing Strategy and Resource Mobilization	15 March 2024
3	Progress Report including: Climate Accelerator: Finalize Entrepreneurship Selection with Entrepreneur Profiles and Baseline results Training Results report for Gender-Responsive Business Conduct and Advocacy Training Overview shortlisted Climate Tech Entrepreneurs and needs assessment to be eligible for EmPower II Finance Facility2nd Draft Gender Entrepreneurship Gender Financing Strategy and Draft Resource Mobilization Opportunity scoping	1 May 2024
4	Progress Report including: Climate Accelerator Draft Profiles Entrepreneurs developed Draft Concept Note for ASEAN/ Feminist Finance Forum Session Capacity Building Training conducted for WEE COP Session Draft WEPs Engagement Strategy for EmPower II	1 July 2024
5	Progress Report including: Climate Accelerator Entrepreneurs Training Results Advocacy ASEAN Advocacy Events and Feminist Finance Forum Planning Report Draft Match-Making Report of Climate Tech Entrepreneurs Report for EmPower II Finance Facility Final Gender Entrepreneurship Gender Financing Strategy	1 September 2024
6	Progress Report including: Draft Climate Accelerator Results Report Feminist Finance Forum Planning Report 2nd Draft Match-Making Report of Climate Tech Entrepreneurs Report for EmPower II Finance Facility2nd Draft Report EmPower II Matchmaking and WEPs Final Gender Entrepreneurship Gender Financing Strategy	1 November 2024
7	Progress Report including: Final Climate Accelerator Results Report Final Results Report – Match-Making and WEPs Final Gender Entrepreneurship Gender Financing Strategy Final Resource Mobilization Proposal	10 January 2025

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 knowledge of Gender-Lens Investing and Financing
Strong overall knowledge of on women’s entrepreneurship and women’s economic empowerment
Strong technical expertise climate economy
Strong writing skills
Strong knowledge on development and political understanding in ASEAN
Ability to work with different stakeholders from private sector, investors up to policy makers, donors
Strong ability to work on a practical implementation of programmes.

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf

Required Qualifications, Skills and Experience

REQUIREMENTS AND QUALIFICATIONS

Education and certification:

Master’s degree or equivalent in economics, law, public policy and governance, gender/women’s studies, international development, finance, business administration 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 ASEAN in the space of minimum 2 of the following areas: women’s economic empowerment, gender financing, entrepreneurship business development and/or acceleration, and climate technology
Experience in implementation of entrepreneurship programming
Experience working with government, private sector and/or investors in ASEAN is a must.
Experience in providing capacity building, training or support to entrepreneurs and/or investors in the area of climate change / gender-lens investing
Excellent writing and communication skills
UN experience is an asset.

Language Requirements:

Excellent command of written in English
Fluency in another South-East Asian spoken language is a strong asset.

SUBMISSION OF APPLICATION

Interest candidates are encouraged to submit electronic application to UNDP website: https://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_jobs.cfm or to hr.bangkok@unwomen.org with dollaporn.intrroong@unwomen.org in copy, no later than 31 January 2024 COB.

Letter of Interest containing the statement on candidate’s experience in line with the scope of work and requirements.
P11 including past experience in similar assignments; can be downloaded at https://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/about-us/jobs.
Writing sample concept note, policy brief, publication in the area of policy/legislative research relevant to the assignment (1 piece in English).
Financial proposal: the financial proposal shall specify a lump sum total amount breaking down the cost per deliverable. Please see the financial proposal template below:

No.	Deliverables	Amount USD
1	A 12-month workplan
2	Progress Report
3	Progress Report
4	Progress Report
5	Progress Report
6	Progress Report
7	Progress Report
	Others (please provide details as applicable)
	Total Financial Proposal (USD)

EVALUATION

Applications will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis.

Technical Qualification (100 points) weight; [70%]
Financial Proposal (100 points) weight; [30%]

A two-stage procedure is utilised in evaluating the applications, with evaluation of the technical application being completed prior to any price proposal being compared. Only the price proposal of the candidates who passed the minimum technical score of 70% of the obtainable score of 100 points in the technical qualification evaluation will be evaluated.

Technical qualification evaluation criteria:

The total number of points allocated for the technical qualification component is 100. The technical qualification of the individual is evaluated based on following technical qualification evaluation criteria:

Technical Evaluation Criteria	Obtainable Score
Education and certification: Master’s degree or equivalent in economics, law, public policy and governance, gender/women’s studies, international development, finance, business administration 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.	20 %
Experience: Must have worked minimum 5 years in ASEAN in the space of minimum 2 of the following areas: women’s economic empowerment, gender financing, entrepreneurship business development and/or acceleration, and climate technology. Experience in implementation of entrepreneurship programming Experience working with government, private sector and/or investors in ASEAN. Experience in providing capacity building, training or support to entrepreneurs and/or investors in the area of climate change / gender-lens investing. Excellent writing and communication skills UN experience is an asset.	60 %
Language Requirements: Excellent command of written in English Fluency in another South-East Asian spoken language is a strong asset.	20 %
Total Obtainable Score	100 %

Only the candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% of total points will be considered as technically qualified candidates who may be contacted for validation interview.

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