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

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:

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

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:

Deliverables

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

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.