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.

In an effort to drive 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 (GAL): 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 (GAL) 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. In collaboration with the private sector, the GAL will identify, pilot and scale up innovative multi-stakeholder partnership initiatives aligned with the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs), such as thematic innovation labs, hackathons, incubators and accelerators, policy labs, applied research initiatives and other partnership support programmes. Finally, the GAL will generate new data and evidence and provide technical assistance to advance policy, investment and ecosystem development for gender-transformative innovations.

Established as a dynamic platform, the GAL is envisioned to be a long-term, multi-stakeholder and multi-donor platform across the whole region, seeking to galvanize efforts for gender-transformative action and impact within and with the private sector towards 2030 and beyond. Through GAL, a range of stakeholders across the Asia-Pacific region will have a unique opportunity to forge new partnerships, explore new and innovative modalities of working, and collectively build a powerful movement for impact that creates transformations in the world of work for women1 and ultimately innovations that reshape economies and societies so that they are equitable for everyone, including people with disabilities, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, gender diverse, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ+) communities, youth, older people and ethnic minorities, among others.

With an approach to leverage the innovation capability of the private sector to create innovation and change within the private sector, GAL 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: 

1. Awareness, Commitments, and Capacity built on the WEPs and engagement of key stakeholders for the thematic lab
2. Multistakeholder thematic Gender Innovation labs: piloting concrete solutions with innovators and policymakers (thematic areas may include employer-supported care, disability inclusion, transparency & reporting)
3. Document Best Practices, generating and disseminating recommendations for action, and recognizing businesses through the Asia-Pacific WEPs Awards and WEPs Forum

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.

UN Women seeks a National Consultant to identify key thematic areas aligned with the WEPs. The goal is to establish a promising foundation and enabling environment with strong partners, policy incentives, and/or demand for initiating an Innovation Lab in the Philippines. In October 2024, a draft challenge brief on women in leadership has already been developed. The current challenge brief outlines the background and specific challenge statement for launching a thematic innovation lab which includes the following:

1. Background and problem statement: Key data points from desk research and references
2. Previous and current action: Actions taken, key stakeholders, relevant policy or legislation
3. Challenges and barriers to action: Reasons for limited action and specific barriers to accelerated and deepened action in the area (e.g., women in leadership in the IT and technology sectors)
4. Opportunities and entry points: assessment of key stakeholders (mapping), relevant policies, and identification of potential partners for the innovation lab
5. Challenge statement: A ‘How To” statement setting the specific thematic challenge to be addressed, such as:

• 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?
• How can social innovation support Cambodian companies to develop policies and implement practices for gender-responsive procurement and supplier diversity?

The National Consultant will work under the supervision of the Programme Analyst – GAL (Philippines) and Country Programme Coordinator (Philippines), and in close collaboration with the UN Women ROAP programme team. The consultant might also engage with UN Women’s guidance with government officials, multi and bi-lateral donors, civil society and the private sector and programmatic partners.

Description of Responsibilities/ Scope of Work

The consultant will undertake the following tasks to further enhance the current Challenge Brief, as well as a one-page summary document to be used to present the Challenge to private sector partners:

• Enhance the current challenge brief draft (including the consultation plan and stakeholder mapping) and identify other principles to establish strong entry points and potential partners for the innovation lab/s.
• Conduct and organize stakeholder consultation/s (minimum of 1) and KIIs with key stakeholders (minimum of 5) 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 3 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.
• Coordinate and engage with the identified key stakeholders to further assess the role/s of the  private sector (inclusive of MSMEs, large national corporates and MNCs, chambers of commerce, and business associations), public and civil society sectors, development actors (national and international) and supporting organizations, their role in leading and contributing to advancing the thematic area, the industry sector they operate in, their influence and overall progress these stakeholders have been making in Philippines.
• Ensure that the developed challenge brief/s reflect gender-responsive strategies and actions through insights generation and findings from the consultations, incorporating feedback from UN Women and stakeholders.
• Provide technical support on the Women’s Economic Empowerment portfolio of UN Women, including but not limited to information sessions on WEPs and events-related to the Gender Action Lab and innovation lab workshops, co-created by UN Women and the implementing partner/s.

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

UN Women will provide the Consultant with substantive inputs to ensure that the completion of reports is in line with the objectives of the organization. The Consultant is expected to work remotely, with reporting to the UN Women office as needed, he/she may access the UN Women office for printing relevant documents or should he/she be required to work on-site at any point during the assignment. As part of this assignment, possible mission outside the duty station with minimum of two (2) travels. Any travel costs related to travel will be authorized by UN Women according to its rules and regulations.

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:

• Excellent research and analytical skills:
• Excellent knowledge of the private sector in Philippines
• Strong knowledge of the government, institutions and politics of Philippines
• 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.

Required Qualifications

Education and certification:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in gender/women’s studies, international development, or a related field is required.
• A first-level university degree in combination with one (1) additional year of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

• At least one (1) year of progressively responsible work experience in Philippines in the space of private sector engagement or research, or gender equality or women’s economic empowerment
• Private sector experience in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), sustainability, or gender equality a must
• Experience in conducting research and analysis of private sector or policy trends relevant to women’s economic empowerment is a must

Language Requirements:

Fluency in English and Filipino languages are 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.

How to Apply 

• UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/2022-07/UN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form-en.doc
• A cover letter, containing the statement on candidate’s experience in line with the scope of work and requirements (maximum length: 1 page).
• Other materials relevant to pre-assessing the relevance of their experience, such as reports, presentations, publications, campaigns, or other materials maybe requested from shortlisted candidates. 

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.