Background

The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) was established by General Assembly Resolution 64/289 of 2 July 2010 on system-wide coherence with the mandate to assist Member States and the United Nations system to progress more effectively and efficiently toward the goal of achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women. The 2018-2021 Strategic Plan sets out the organization’s vision, mission and priorities in supporting Member States and the United Nations system.

UN-Women has made substantial progress in establishing the policy guide on environmental initiatives in the programme area. Now we need the policy guide on environmental initiatives in the operational area to be incorporated into the existing framework.

The UN-Women Environmental Sustainability Policy and the Social and Environmental Standards Procedure were promulgated in December 2023. The purpose of this consultancy is to work on incorporating the operational (administrative, procurement, IST, facilities, finance) components to the policy.

Duties and Responsibilities

The overall objective of the consultancy is to bridge UN Women’s operational environmental guidance’s, internal policies, and procedures into UN Women’s corporate environmental sustainability policy framework.

Deliverables

• The consultant will be expected to conduct a thorough analysis/desk review of UN Women’s current environmental policies, frameworks and guidelines and their equivalent of other UN agencies, including, but not limited to, UNDP, UNEP, UNFPA, UNICEF as well as the work of the work of the Environmental Sustainability working group and Sustainable UN on environmental management systems. The operational framework will serve UN Women internally in addition to guiding the work of UN Women partners.

• The consultant will be expected to draft the environmental sustainability policy for UN Women Operations, including a gender lens across the framework and submit it for feedback, and then finalize the framework, ensuring that it is aligned to the UN systemwide advocacy and efforts at promoting environmental sustainability.

The consultant will work under the guidance of the Administrative and Facilities Specialist, Division of Management and Administration, and in close coordination with, and input from, relevant colleagues from administration, travel and conference services, procurement, management, facilities, IST, and field offices.

Project is to be completed within 32 days. Deliverable schedule to be worked out and agreed upon together with Administrative and Facilities Specialist.

Deliverable	Expected completion time (due day)
Conduct several interviews with key UN Women personnel to further inform the desk review.	By date
Draft outline of the operational framework for feedback	By date
Submit an annotated outline	By date
Draft policy for feedback	By date
Finalize	By date

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

This is a home-based consultancy.

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: Competencies Job Knowledge/Technical Expertise Good understanding of gender quality and women’s empowerment issues Good understanding of, and experience in, environmental sustainability and policy development Strong background in strategic coordination Proven ability to conduct research. Knowledge of Environmental management systems according to ISO Environmental Management Systems. Knowledge of project management Knowledge of the United Nations an asset Communications Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English Task Management Proven ability to work under pressure and produce outputs that are accurate, timely and of high quality. Ability to establish priorities and to plan, coordinate and monitor own work plan. Ability to conduct research, synthesize information, and undertake gender analysis.

Required Skills and Experience

Education and Certification:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in Environmental Sustainability or related discipline.
• 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:

• Minimum 10 years professional experience, including working on corporate policies and frameworks on environmental sustainability and development programmes.
• Experience in research, including conducting interviews and desk reviews.
• Previous work experience with UN, including UN Women, or other development agencies an asset.

Languages:

• Fluency in English, another UN language an asset