UN Women - Consultant Gender and Social Policy Expert (Home-based)

Responsibilities

• Provide technical support for the design and development of a gender-responsive National Care Policy for Saint Lucia, ensuring coherence with broader social, labour, and family-friendly policies.
• Contribute to the drafting and refinement of a gender-responsive National Care Policy, with clear objectives, guiding principles, strategic pillars, and actionable recommendations.
• Ensure that the policy addresses childcare, parental leave, care for older persons and persons with disabilities, decent work for care workers, and the redistribution of unpaid care work/co-responsibility for care.
• Incorporate linkages between the national care policy and women’s economic empowerment, labour force participation, productivity, and business environment reforms.
• Support the design and facilitation of stakeholder consultations involving government ministries, civil society, private sector actors, workers’ organisations, employer organizations and care providers.
• Promote inclusive and gender-balanced participation, ensuring women’s voices—particularly carers and care workers—are meaningfully represented as well as participation of men and representatives of persons with disabilities.
• Coordinate closely with other consultants or technical experts (e.g. legislative or labour law specialists) to ensure coherence between policy and legal reform processes.
• Prepare policy briefs, presentations, and summary materials for policy validation meetings and high-level discussions.
• Incorporate feedback from consultations and validation processes into the final policy outputs.

Qualifications

• Advanced degree in social sciences, gender studies, economics, public policy, or a related field.
• At least 7 years of professional experience in gender equality, social policy, or related fields.
• Experience in developing and implementing gender-responsive policies and programs.
• Knowledge of international gender equality, labour, and women’s rights commitments, including SDGs (Target 5.4).
• Experience in conducting qualitative research, including focus group discussions and key informant interviews.
• Strong analytical skills and ability to synthesize complex information into clear, actionable recommendations.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to engage stakeholders from diverse backgrounds.
• Fluency in English, with proficiency in French and/or Spanish preferred.

Skills

• Expertise in gender-responsive policy development and implementation.
• Experience working with governments, civil society, and the private sector.
• Strong research and analytical skills.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.