Job Vacancies at UN Women

Specific Objectives 

• Evaluate the Impact of GRP Initiatives: Assess the effectiveness of the Access to Government Procurement Opportunities (AGPO) programme and related initiatives (e.g. Sourcing2Equal, Women Empowerment Principles, etc.) in empowering women entrepreneurs, identifying key success factors, policy and implementation gaps, systemic challenges, and economic and social outcomes for women and marginalized groups.
• Analyze Procurement Policies and Frameworks: Examine national, county-level and private sector procurement policies, including the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act (PPADA) 2015, to identify gaps in design, implementation, and enforcement that hinder women’s participation, and propose recommendations to strengthen gender-responsive and inclusive procurement practices. 
• Map Stakeholders and Procurement Opportunities: Conduct stakeholder mapping to profile key actors in GRP across government, private sector, and civil society organizations, and create a comprehensive database of public and private sector procurement opportunities, highlighting sectors and regions with untapped potential for women-owned businesses. 
• Develop Evidence-Based Recommendations and Tools: Formulate actionable, evidence-based recommendations and a practical implementation framework to enhance GRP strategies, simplify procurement processes, build capacity for women-owned businesses, and foster stakeholder collaboration for sustainable economic inclusion.

Functional Competencies:

• Very strong background in gender and women’s economic empowerment approaches, including GRP 
• Experience in assessing the impact of policies, strategies and measures from a gender perspective. 
• Proven analytical and research skills with an understanding of quantitative/qualitative methods and data analysis. 
• Ability to manage time and meet tight deadlines. 
• Focuses on impact and results for the client and responds positively to feedback. 
• Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills.

Education 

• A Master’s degree in public policy, economics, gender studies, 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

• At least 7 years of experience in procurement, gender equality, or economic development research. 
• Proven expertise in policy analysis, impact assessment, and stakeholder engagement. 
• Knowledge of Kenya’s procurement frameworks (PPADA 2015, AGPO) 
• Strong analytical skills and experience with mixed-methods research. 
• Excellent writing and presentation skills. 
• Familiarity with gender-responsive procurement and inclusivity principles

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Specific Objectives

• Develop a comprehensive, gender-responsive M&E framework with measurable indicators and targets to track the implementation and impact of Gender-Responsive Procurement initiatives in Kenya, ensuring alignment with national, county, and private sector procurement systems. 
• Create an M&E plan specifying data collection tools, sources, frequency, disaggregation, reporting, and data use to monitor outcomes and outputs of Gender-Responsive Procurement initiatives. 
• Formulate a standardized, ethical, and gender-responsive Supplier Code of Conduct to provide clear guidelines for suppliers, enhancing equitable access for women-owned/led businesses. 
• Conduct stakeholder consultations with government, private sector, women’s organizations, and procurement bodies to ensure alignment and buy-in for the M&E framework and Supplier Code of Conduct 
• Develop capacity-building guidelines and an implementation roadmap to support stakeholders in adopting and rolling out the M&E framework and Supplier Code of Conduct.

Functional Competencies:

• Very strong background in gender and women’s economic empowerment approaches, including GRP
• Experience in assessing the impact of policies, strategies and measures from a gender perspective.
• Proven analytical and research skills with an understanding of quantitative/qualitative methods and data analysis.
• Ability to manage time and meet tight deadlines.
• Focuses on impact and results for the client and responds positively to feedback.
• Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills.

Required Qualifications

Education 

• A Master’s degree in gender studies, procurement, supply chain management, development studies, economics, 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

• At least 7 years of experience in developing gender-related tools, policies, and or frameworks.
• Expertise in designing monitoring and evaluation frameworks for development programs, preferably related to gender equality or procurement.
• Demonstrated experience with data collection and analysis methodologies, and practical use of digital M&E systems and tools.
• Familiarity with the Women’s Empowerment Principles, UN Women’s Gender-Responsive Procurement frameworks, and Kenya’s procurement policies and frameworks such as the 2010 Constitution, AGPO, Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act 2015.
• Proven ability to facilitate stakeholder engagements with diverse groups, including women entrepreneurs, procurement officers, and policymakers.
• Strong analytical, communication, and report-writing skills.
• Understanding of Kenya’s public and private sector procurement processes

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Key Functions and Accountabilities:

Lead UN Women’s economic empowerment strategy:

• Ensure implementation of UN Women’s global Women’s Economic Empowerment Strategy to position the entity as an influential and relevant actor on women’s economic empowerment in the context of UN Women’s Strategic Plan (current and future) and the gender-responsive implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;
• Convene leading feminist economists and development policy specialists and practitioners on gender equality and women’s economic empowerment to advise on and guide on implementation and strengthening of UN Women’s Economic Empowerment Strategy;
• Act as a thought leader for the section, and provide strategic advice to the PPID Director and leadership team and the rest of the organization on women’s economic empowerment;
• Operationalize the Economic Empowerment Strategy drawing on expertise and experience from across UN Women.

Guide development and implementation of policy and programmatic initiatives:

• Oversee design and implementation of global programming frameworks and global projects, in close coordination with regional and country teams and external partners;
• Introduce innovative and cutting-edge approaches, drawing on feminist economic policy and practice, to enhance UN Women’s global policy support and programmatic work;
• Spearhead the development, testing and roll out of tools and methodologies in the area of women’s economic empowerment to provide standards and guidelines, based on a gender-responsive and human rights-based approaches, for policy-making and programming, and ensure lessons learned are incorporated;
• Lead and implement a policy research and practice agenda reflecting the linkages between global normative commitments on women’s economic empowerment and their implementation at global, regional and national levels.
• Collaborate with other thematic sections to provide integrated policy and programmatic advice to regional and country offices across development and humanitarian contexts.

Oversee knowledge production and management:

• Lead production of peer-reviewed discussion papers and policy briefs on women’s economic empowerment to form part of UN Women’s series;
• Provide substantive contributions to processes and publications undertaken by UN system and external partners;
• Determine and implement a mechanism to equip UN Women with the capacity to drive a vibrant global matrix of learning on women’s economic empowerment;
• Oversee and facilitate internal and external communities of practice on women’s economic empowerment;
• Contribute to the development and maintenance of global and regional knowledge networks, activities and practice.

Provide substantive advice and support to intergovernmental processes and events and other key global initiatives:

• Provide substantive contributions to intergovernmental fora to help shape development of global and regional policies, norms, standards and implementation strategies;
• Produce reports and background papers on matters related to gender equality and economic empowerment in accordance with mandates given by relevant intergovernmental bodies and report on progress and challenges on critical and emerging issues;
• Provide technical and advisory support on gender equality issues to intergovernmental bodies, preparing summaries of debates, supporting negotiations and analyzing outcomes;
• Provide leadership and support to multistakeholder partnerships such as Action Coalitions on Economic Justice and Rights and Feminist Action for Climate Justice.

Strengthen and expand partnerships and advocacy initiatives:

• Identify, develop and manage the diverse range of partnerships that UN Women needs to support its work on women’s economic empowerment, including for resource mobilization, in close coordination with the Strategic Partnerships Division;
• Represent UN Women in international fora to encourage greater commitment to and collaboration on the realization of gender equality and women’s economic empowerment policies;
• Convene or represent UN Women in UN inter-agency working groups and other high level academic and policy conferences and events to participate in strategic discussions and establish cooperation/collaboration;
• Develop and maintain relationships with academia, research and training institutes (including the UN Women Training Center), civil society and thematic technical experts, and the International Association for Feminist Economics to gain and share knowledge, exchange views on current issues/trends and to incorporate cutting-edge thinking on gender equality and women’s economic empowerment.

Manage the Economic Empowerment section:

• Finalize and oversee the implementation of the annual workplans and annual reports for the section;
• Promote teamwork and establish a respectful and collaborative working environment that is conducive to delivery of quality results;
• Supervise, guide and oversee the work the work of the team to ensure the delivery of quality results according to standards and goals established in the section and PPID;
• Manage the performance of staff and ensure compliance to the performance management process;
• Manage and monitor financial resources and take responsibility for the integrity of financial systems and consistent application of the internal control framework and/or UN Women/UN rules and regulations. Submit timely mandated reports;
• Oversee the development and implementation of strategic evaluation plans, ensure that management responses to all evaluations are completed and followed up, and that learning from evaluations is fed back into UN Women initiatives and operations;
• Oversee security requirements for the team.

Recruitment Qualifications:

Education and Certification:

• Master’s degree (or equivalent) in economics, with preferred specialization in feminist economics, or related fields such as gender and development, public policy, or other social science fields with a significant focus on gender equality; PhD desirable.
• 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 15 years of progressively responsible experience in policy and programmatic work in gender and development, feminist economics, women’s economic empowerment or related areas;
• Substantial experience in preparing and publishing policy pieces on feminist economics and women’s economic empowerment;
• Significant experience in designing and implementing large-scale operational programmes on women’s economic empowerment;
• Demonstrated experience in successfully managing teams in a collaborative and transparent manner;
• Field experience in developing countries is an advantage;
• Recognition as an authority on women’s economic empowerment is desirable.