UN Women: International Consultant- Gender-Inclusive Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Development

About the Role

UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific is seeking an International Consultant to manage programmes related to gender-inclusive entrepreneurship ecosystem development, including enterprise support, skill development, and sustainable finance. The consultant will also support UN Women’s efforts on policy advocacy with local and national governments as well as regional bodies such as ASEAN and SAARC. This consultancy will be under the supervision and guidance of the Regional Advisor for Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE).

Responsibilities

Under the strategic guidance of the WEE Regional Advisor, the consultant will have oversight of the overall entrepreneurship ecosystem strategy development and implementation and will lead the implementation of regional programmes. The consultant will work in close collaboration with the ROAP programme and operations team, UN Women country offices and programme presences, government officials, donors, civil society, the private sector, and programmatic partners.

• Lead the development of UN Women’s overall regional Inclusive Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Strategy as a key pillar of the Gender Action Lab.
• Lead implementation of regional programmes such as the UN Women Care and Climate Entrepreneurship Accelerator (supported by Visa Foundation) and the Care and Climate Catalyst Program Asia.
• Provide technical support and supervision for the implementation, management, and reporting of these programmes.
• Provide technical assistance to service providers, including operational oversight and guiding implementation of accelerator programmes.
• Ensure accelerators are implemented in a gender-responsive way using UN Women resources (e.g., WE RISE Toolkits).
• Contribute to synergies between entrepreneurship programming and policy advocacy efforts through engagement with ASEAN and SAARC.
• Support implementing partners to conduct trainings for climate and care entrepreneurs in gender-responsive business conduct and inclusive business models.
• Document, consolidate and systematize all UN Women entrepreneurship capacity-building curricula and materials, integrating them into the WE RISE Toolbox.
• Establish a curated library for Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Partners and socialize materials within the UN Women WEE Community of Practice.
• Provide oversight into the delivery of tailored business support to prepare entrepreneurs to be investment-ready, connect them to networks, and access finance.
• Support communications and advocacy efforts to promote women’s entrepreneurship in climate action.
• Co-organize events and advocacy initiatives.
• Develop knowledge products, background notes, and thought pieces to support advocacy efforts.
• Develop impact stories in collaboration with the WEE Communications Officer.
• Work closely with UN Women and experts to advocate for policy reforms and create enabling environments for women entrepreneurs.
• Provide technical inputs to UN Women ROAP’s Resilience Team to support achievement of resilience outcomes.
• Support enterprises to access finance under relevant finance facilities, donors, and external sources.
• Promote uptake of Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) among engaged businesses.
• Assist implementing partners in identifying additional finance partners.
• Lead the development of the Gender-Inclusive Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Strategy (inclusive of Gender-Lens Investing pillar).
• Codify UN Women’s Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Offering.
• Consult with key countries (e.g., China, India, Indonesia) to ensure regional relevance of the strategy.
• Establish partnerships with key entrepreneurship and financing institutions in collaboration with the UN Women Sustainable Finance consultant.
• Develop a strategic anchor and approach of the ‘Entrepreneurship Systems Approach’ with UN Women’s Innovation Platform Gender Action Lab.
• Develop presentations, briefings, and concept notes for resource mobilization.
• Organize panels, small events, and convenings to engage stakeholders.
• Advance advocacy, policy changes, and programming in sustainable finance and impact entrepreneurship.
• Prepare a clear action plan for resource mobilization.

Deliverables

• Monthly progress reports covering programme implementation, capacity building, communications, finance access, ecosystem strategy development, and resource mobilization activities.

Qualifications and Experience

• Excellent knowledge of Gender-Lens Investing.

Schedule

This consultancy is home-based and full-time (20 working days per month). Travel may be required, including up to 2 visits to Bangkok during the initial assignment, to be processed by UN Women following duty travel policy.

Pay

A monthly rate will be paid upon submission of monthly update reports with approval of the supervisor.