Background/Context

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. Placing women's rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States' priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society, governments, the private sector and other relevant actors.

Across Asia and the Pacific, UN Women promotes gender equality and women’s economic empowerment through a regional portfolio that supports women in the world of work, women’s entrepreneurship, gender-responsive business conduct, gender-responsive procurement, sustainable finance, transforming care systems, climate-resilient livelihoods and inclusive economic transitions. The Women’s Economic Empowerment portfolio includes the UN Women WEPs Asia-Pacific Gender Action Lab (GAL) – Innovation for Impact, a private-sector innovation platform that works with companies, entrepreneurs, investors and ecosystem partners to turn gender equality into improved business practice and scalable development impact.

UN Women also implements WE RISE Together (WRT) in the Mekong region, funded by the Australian Government through the Mekong-Australia Partnership. The programme promotes women’s economic empowerment by leveraging procurement opportunities to expand market access for women-owned businesses and gender-responsive enterprises, including through gender-responsive procurement, supplier diversity, business capability support, and strengthening the visibility of women-owned businesses through business registers, supplier databases and buyer-facing market intelligence.

At the same time, trade policy and trade agreements are increasingly important pathways for inclusive economic growth in Asia and the Pacific. ASEAN and its Member States are party to multiple regional and bilateral trade agreements, including intra-Asia agreements and agreements with partners such as the European Union, Canada and Australia. These agreements create opportunities for market access, trade facilitation, services, digital trade, investment, labour rights, public procurement, responsible business conduct and sustainability. However, gender equality is often weakly operationalized in implementation, even where agreements include trade and sustainable development, labour, SME, gender or cooperation provisions.

UN Women’s emerging work on trade readiness for women-led climate and resilience enterprises highlights a strategic gap between enterprise support and actual access to markets, buyers, procurement channels, standards, finance, logistics, digital platforms, aggregation models and cross-border value chains. Women-led and women-benefiting businesses, especially nano, micro, small and missing-middle enterprises and those led by or benefiting women from LNOB groups, are often not sufficiently connected to trade opportunities. Without intentional gender-responsive implementation, GSPs, FTAs and regional trade initiatives may reproduce existing inequalities rather than expand women’s economic agency.

This assignment will support UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific to develop an actionable framework and programme offer for gender-responsive implementation of GSPs and FTAs, regardless of whether gender provisions are strong, weak or absent in the text of the agreement. The work will build on UN Women’s existing portfolio, including the Gender Action Lab, Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs), WEPs Awards, WeEmpowerAsia experience, ASEAN Climate Tech Accelerator, WE RISE Together/GRP work in the Mekong region, business registers and broader entrepreneurship, care, sustainable finance and private-sector partnerships. It will also draw lessons from relevant external initiatives, including trade, labour and fundamental principles and rights at work programming in Southeast Asia.

Objective of the Assignment

The objective of the consultancy is to develop a robust evidence base, strategic framework, value proposition and programme proposals for UN Women to support gender-responsive implementation of GSPs, FTAs and related trade cooperation mechanisms in Asia and the Pacific. The assignment will identify how trade agreements can be translated into concrete actions that expand opportunities for women workers, women-owned and women-led businesses, gender-responsive enterprises, and women in priority sectors and value chains.

Description of Responsibilities / Scope of Work

Under the supervision and guidance of the Regional Lead Women’s Economic Empowerment, the consultant will undertake the following tasks:

• Develop an inception workplan, methodology and analytical framework for the six-month assignment, including a consultation plan, list of agreements to be reviewed, priority countries and sectors, and quality assurance approach.
• Conduct a literature and policy review on gender-responsive trade approaches, including trade and gender provisions in FTAs, GSP schemes, trade and sustainable development chapters, labour provisions, SME chapters, public procurement, services, digital trade, investment, responsible business conduct and supply-chain due diligence.
• Map Asia-Pacific trade agreements, including intra-Asia agreements such as ASEAN-related agreements, India-related agreements and other regional frameworks, as well as trans-continental agreements and arrangements involving the EU, Canada and Australia. The mapping should identify gender provisions, labour and non-discrimination provisions, specific sectors mentioned, gender considerations in these sectors, institutional implementation mechanisms, and programmes that support implementation.
• Conduct key informant interviews and/or focus group discussions with relevant stakeholders engaged in FTAs/GSPs from multiple ASEAN / Asia Pacific Trade Partners to inform the development of UN Women’s Approach and value proposition as well as validating implementation proposals / programmes
• Identify the strongest opportunities for gender-responsive implementation support, including where UN Women can add value through women-owned business readiness, gender-responsive procurement, business registers, buyer linkages, WEPs uptake, corporate action labs, gender-responsive sector strategies, sex-disaggregated data, and capacity support to governments, private sector and ecosystem actors.
• Map promising implementation practices by UN Women and other actors in Asia and the Pacific that can serve as practical examples, including WeEmpowerAsia, WEPs, WEPs Awards, Gender Action Lab, ASEAN Climate Tech Accelerator, care and climate entrepreneurship work, WE RISE Together, gender-responsive procurement, and business register/supplier diversity work in the Mekong region.
• Develop a comprehensive UN Women framework for gender-responsive implementation of GSPs and FTAs, with specific and actionable entry points, minimum and ambitious actions, roles of different actors, implementation sequencing, success indicators and monitoring approach relevant to Asia and the Pacific.
• Identify UN Women’s value proposition and complementary partners for implementation, including possible roles for governments, ASEAN bodies, labour institutions, trade ministries, chambers of commerce, business associations, women entrepreneur networks, development partners, ILO, ITC, ESCAP, ADB, IFC, private-sector partners and civil society/women’s rights organizations.
Develop a donor-facing programme proposal to support gender-responsive implementation of trade agreements in Asia and the Pacific, building on UN Women’s unique value add and learning from relevant external programme models such as trade, labour and rights-at-work initiatives in Southeast Asia.

Expected Deliverables and Timeframe

Total duration: 6 months. Payment will be deliverable-based and released upon satisfactory completion and approval of deliverables by UN Women.

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

This is a deliverable-based home-based consultancy. The consultant may be required to travel to Bangkok and/or selected countries in Asia and the Pacific for consultations, validation workshops or strategic meetings, subject to prior agreement with UN Women and availability of budget. Any travel will be arranged in accordance with UN Women travel policies and procedures.

Management and Reporting

The consultant will report to the Regional Lead/Specialist, Women’s Economic Empowerment, UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific. The consultant will work closely with the WEE team and may engage with relevant UN Women country offices, programme teams and partners working on Gender Action Lab, WEPs, WE RISE Together, gender-responsive procurement, trade readiness, entrepreneurship, sustainable finance and private-sector partnerships.

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
  

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

Functional Competencies:

• Strong technical knowledge of international trade policy, FTAs, GSPs, regional economic integration, trade facilitation and trade-related cooperation mechanisms.

• Demonstrated ability to analyze trade agreements and translate legal/policy provisions into operational implementation actions and measurable results.

• Strong expertise in gender equality and women’s economic empowerment, including women-owned businesses, women workers, gender-responsive business conduct and inclusive market systems.

• Excellent understanding of Asia-Pacific trade architecture, ASEAN economic integration and trans-continental trade relationships involving the EU, Canada and Australia.

• Ability to work across public policy, private sector, development programming and donor proposal design.

• Excellent analytical writing, synthesis, presentation and facilitation skills.

• Ability to work independently, manage complex deliverables, and engage diverse stakeholders across countries and institutions.
  

Required Qualifications

Education and Certification:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in international trade, economics, law, public policy, international development, gender studies, business, political economy or a related field.

• 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 of 7 years of progressively responsible professional experience in international trade, trade policy, trade agreements, economic development, gender equality, private-sector development or women’s economic empowerment.

• Demonstrated experience analyzing FTAs, GSPs, trade and sustainable development chapters, labour provisions, SME/procurement/services/digital trade chapters or related implementation mechanisms.

• Proven experience integrating gender equality into trade, private-sector development, entrepreneurship, labour, procurement, value chains or market systems programming.

• Experience in Asia and the Pacific, including ASEAN and/or South Asia, is required.

• Experience with trade agreements involving or relevant to the EU, Canada and/or Australia is a strong asset.

• Experience developing strategic frameworks, policy analysis, donor proposals, programme documents, results frameworks and implementation roadmaps is required.

• Experience working with UN Women, other UN agencies, development partners, governments, private sector, chambers of commerce, women entrepreneur networks or civil society organizations is an asset.

• Knowledge of the Women’s Empowerment Principles, gender-responsive procurement, supplier diversity, business registers, women-owned business certification/visibility mechanisms, and private-sector innovation platforms is a strong advantage.
  

Languages and Writing Skills:

• Excellent written and spoken English is required.

• Demonstrated ability to produce high-quality analytical reports, policy briefs, frameworks and donor-facing proposals in English.

• Knowledge of another UN language and/or languages spoken in Asia and the Pacific is an asset.
  

How to Apply

• Complete the online application in Quantum.

• Submit a cover letter explaining relevant trade and gender equality experience.

• Submit a technical writing sample related to trade, gender equality, women’s economic empowerment, private-sector development or programme design from the shortlisted candidates.
  

UN Women Statement

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits employ, 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.