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.

The Fiji Multi Country Office (MCO) covers 14 Pacific countries, with field offices/presence in 6 countries.  Each field presence is led by a national Country Programme Coordinator. UN Women, in partnership with Pacific Islands Governments, regional organizations, CSOs, donors and UN agencies, focuses on delivering within four interlinked programme areas: 

• Ending Violence against Women and Girls (EVAWG); 
• Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE); 
• Gender and Protection in Humanitarian Action; and Disaster Risk Reduction
• Governance and Participation in Public Life (GPPL) 

These four program areas are underpinned by UN Women’s normative and UN coordination efforts to strengthen accountability on normative commitments, better leverage UN system-wide strategies and actions and support gender equality and the empowerment of women in all their diversity.

Women’s economic empowerment (WEE) is crucial to realizing women’s rights, reducing poverty, and achieving gender equality across the globe. When more women undertake paid work, economies expand through enhanced productivity, economic diversification, and income equality. If women’s earnings increase and become more stable, other areas of women’s lives also improve. They can afford health care, can pay for their children’s school fees, can economically support family during and after disaster and are more likely to play a leadership role in their communities. Women’s economic empowerment is therefore a win-win situation that can help not only women but also the community and society.

While women are increasingly active in the economy, they are still overrepresented in the informal economy, more likely to be in low-wage or unpaid family employment, and more likely to be affected by an economic crisis, as well as climate and health emergencies. The Pacific still has the lowest global percentages of women in leadership roles, including the world’s lowest overall average of women in parliament.

Under the UN Women Fiji MCO’s WEE program, the focus has been on supporting women in the informal sector in recognition of the fact that the majority of Pacific women are engaged in the informal sector in different capacities, including as informal employees in formal businesses, as own-account workers (including home-based workers), and as informal business owners (including contributing family workers). Historically, traditional gender norms and social structures have significantly disadvantaged women; creating gendered barriers to formalization and/or limiting their opportunities to enter (or remain) in formal employment. This means women tend to be engaged in low productivity businesses and jobs that require limited start-up capital and offer limited skill accumulation potential.  Also, they are concentrated in areas that experience intense competition and generate lower returns. Women are also more likely to lack access to legal and social protections, which reinforces their vulnerabilities in times of disruption, such as natural and climate induced disasters or economic shocks. 

As at 2021, it was reported that women comprised 75-90 percent of market vendors in the Pacific, and in recognition of these significant presence in this space, UN Women Fiji MCO has been actively supporting improvements in the working conditions for women market vendors in Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu through its Markets for Change (M4C) Project, which is in the second phase of implementation (2022–2026), following the conclusion of the first phase (2014–2021). Supporting the economic participation and empowerment of women is key to driving positive change in their lives and communities and can positively impact upon women’s voice and agency in all spheres of development. It is also key to generating livelihood and employment opportunities, and to advancing national economies in the Pacific, where there are high levels of informality. 

UN Women recognizes that our work must address the intersections between women’s economic empowerment, women’s leadership and agency, and the resilience of individuals, households, communities and countries to different crises. With the M4C Project, UN Women has demonstrated how these spaces can be a platform through which the leadership and, voice of women can be built, to inform decision-making processes and strengthen government accountabilities, in addition to supporting WEE. In addition, in the context of COVID-19, these markets played a key role in promoting food access, and food security. 

M4C ensures that marketplaces in the rural and urban areas of these four Pacific Island countries are safe, inclusive and non-discriminatory and supportive of women engaged in small-scale businesses within these market spaces. The project supports the creation and strengthening of representative marketplace groups, which enhance the roles and influence of women market vendors. The project also focuses on boosting the financial literacy of vendors and market vendor associations and supports greater access to financial services, improved agricultural skills, and, in some cases, climate-smart agricultural production.

M4C also works to strengthen the accountability and capacity of market management as well as municipal and provincial governments through the provision of training and technical support. This lays the groundwork for local governments to employ gender-responsive policies, procedures and decision-making processes that are receptive to the needs of market vendors, especially women. The project also has an infrastructure component, which focuses on improving onsite services at the design and construction phases to ensure that marketplaces are safe and more resilient to environmental shocks, such as extreme weather events. 

Purpose, Objectives of the assignment

UN Women seeks to conduct a multi-country Situational Analysis to inform the design of a Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) Pacific Programme. To support the International Lead Consultant and ensure analytical rigor, consistency, and timely delivery, UN Women will engage two International Technical Support Consultants to provide technical and analytical support across all phases of the assignment.

The objective of this consultancy is to provide technical, analytical, and drafting support to the International Lead Consultant in the preparation of the multi-country Situational Analysis and associated policy and programme recommendations. 

Description of Responsibilities / Scope of Work

Under the direct supervision of the Markets for Change (M4C) Regional Project Manager and in close coordination with the International Lead Consultant, the Consultant will:

• Support desk review and synthesis of policies, strategies, and research related to women’s economic empowerment.
• Contribute to data analysis, thematic synthesis, and comparative analysis across countries.
• Support stakeholder consultation design, documentation, and analysis.
• Draft sections of the Situational Analysis and Policy & Programme Recommendations reports, as assigned by the Lead Consultant.
• Support preparation of presentation materials and validation documentation.
• Ensure timely incorporation of UN Women and stakeholder feedback

Expected Deliverables

Each International Technical Support Consultant will contribute to the assignment as per the expected deliverable by supporting the inception phase, adapting data collection tools, conducting field-based qualitative data collection (e.g., interviews, etc.), and summarizing key findings. They will also provide contextual insights to inform the evaluation’s analysis and reporting. 

The International Technical Support Consultant will work closely with the International Lead Consultant to ensure the cultural, linguistic, and contextual appropriateness of the evaluation approach. They will report to the Lead Consultant and operate under the supervision of the UN Women Regional Project Manager, Markets for Change Project, contributing inputs to the overall synthesis.

The duration of this assignment will be up to 120 working days over 5 months period starting March 2026 (or as soon as possible) as per schedule of deliverables below.   

The Consultant is expected to deliver the following deliverables in collaboration with the UN Women Fiji MCO Markets for Change (M4C) Team: 

All documents, including consultation material and reports should be written in the English language. All documents and materials utilized will need to be returned to UN Women in electronic format. All materials will remain property of UN Women and cannot be used without UN Women’s permission.

Institutional Arrangement

• Upon receipt of the final deliverables and prior to the payment of the instalment, the deliverables, related reports, and documents will be reviewed and approved by UN Women at least within 10 business days of submission. 
• All the documents and materials utilized need to be returned to UN Women in electronic format. Any printed materials are utilized to be referenced and returned. 
• All deliverables should be in line with the UN Women Editorial Style Guide. 
• All deliverables should be written and generated in English.
• If requested, all data collected by the evaluation consultant must be submitted to the supervisor in Word, PowerPoint, or Excel format.  Proper storage of data is essential for ensuring confidentiality and should be in line with UN Women Policy on data management and security. 
• All deliverables submitted by the consultant are subject to quality review in line with the UN Women Evaluation Report Quality Assurance. 
• The report will only be considered final when it meets the UN Women GERAAS quality standards.^[1]

All deliverables, including their design, scope and prioritization will comply with survivor-centered standards for administrative data management.

The mentioned number of working days has been estimated as being sufficient/feasible for the envisaged volume of work to be completed successfully and is proposed as a guideline for the duration of assignment. It cannot and shall not be used as criteria for completion of work assignment. The provision of envisaged deliverables approved by the UN Women designated official shall be the only criteria for Consultant’s work being completed and eligible for payment/s. 

As full consideration for the services performed by the International Technical Support Consultant under the terms of this consultancy UN Women shall pay the International Technical Support Consultant upon certification that the services have satisfactorily performed according to the scope of work/duties and deliverables stated in the TOR.  

Upon receipt of the final deliverables and prior to the payment - the deliverables, related reports and documents will be reviewed and approved by UN Women within 10 business days of submission.

The selected Consultant shall sign a contract with UN Women for stipulated assignment, as stated above.

Duration of the Work 

The International Technical Support Consultant will deliver the output below within a total of 120 working days over the contract period over 5 months period starting March 2026 or as soon as possible. 

The International Technical Support Consultant is expected to allocate a minimum of 40 per cent of his/her level of effort to the Markets for Change (M4C) project over the contract period. 

Duty Station

The consultancy assignment will be home‑based, with expected travel to the Pacific Island Countries, in close consultation with the UN Women Fiji MCO Markets for Change (M4C) Team.

The International Technical Support Consultant is expected to work during standard working hours along the Fiji Time Zone schedule.

Travel

As part of the official duty of this consultancy, the consultant may be expected to travel, which will be processed by UN Women, following the duty travel policy.  UN Women can only cover the air ticket cost of the International Technical Support Consultant to the duty station to assume this assignment, and back to home country at the end of the assignment, up to maximum of USD$5,000.00 on a reimbursable one-time basis only. 

The payment will be processed based on the actual air ticket invoice presented by the International Technical Support Consultant.

Performance Evaluation

The International Technical Support Consultant’s performance will be evaluated based on timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communication, accuracy, and quality of the products delivered.

Financial Arrangements 

Payments will be disbursed to the consultant in instalments, upon submission and approval of deliverables set forth in Section IV above “Expected Deliverables” and certification by the UN Women Regional Project Manager, Markets for Change Project that the services have been satisfactorily performed.

Competencies :

Core Values:

• Integrity;
• Professionalism;
• Respect for Diversity.

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 Values and Competencies Framework: 

Functional Competencies:

• Research and Analytical Skills: Demonstrated ability to conduct high‑quality qualitative and quantitative research across multiple country contexts. Strong capacity to analyze socio‑economic, gender, and policy data to generate clear findings and evidence‑based recommendations. Ability to synthesize large volumes of information from diverse sources into concise, structured analytical products.
• Technical Expertise in Gender Equality and Women’s Economic Empowerment: Proven technical understanding of gender analysis frameworks, WEE concepts, labour markets, and economic empowerment policies. Experience applying feminist research methods, intersectional analysis, and human‑rights-based approaches. Knowledge of Pacific gender, social, and economic dynamics is an asset.
• Coordination and Collaboration: Ability to work effectively under the direction of a Lead Consultant, contributing technical inputs and ensuring alignment with the overall analytical framework. Strong skills in coordinating with country teams, stakeholders, and partners across multiple Pacific Island countries. Capacity to manage inputs from diverse contributors and harmonize findings.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Ability to conduct key informant interviews, focus groups, and consultations with government, civil society, private sector, development partners, and community representatives. Proven ability to engage sensitively and respectfully with diverse stakeholders, including women’s organizations and vulnerable groups.
• Drafting and Reporting: Strong ability to produce high‑quality written deliverables, including country profiles, analysis chapters, and technical briefs. Skill in translating technical data and research insights into clear, user‑friendly, and policy‑relevant narrative. Ability to follow structured report templates and meet tight deadlines.
• Project and Time Management: Ability to plan, prioritize and manage tasks independently while meeting agreed milestones. Strong organizational skills with attention to detail, accuracy, and quality assurance.
• Communication Skills: Excellent verbal and written communication skills for presenting findings, facilitating discussions, and preparing briefing materials. Ability to communicate complex technical information clearly to non‑technical audiences.
• Adaptability and Problem‑Solving: Flexibility to adjust to changing contexts, research needs, and emerging issues across countries. Strong problem‑solving skills and ability to propose practical solutions to technical or logistical constraints.

Required Qualifications:

Education and Certification:

• Advanced university degree (Master’s equivalent or higher) in Economics, Gender Studies, Development Studies, Sociology, Public Policy, Law, or related field is required.
• A first-level University Degree in combination with two (2) additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

• At least five (5) years (with Masters’ Degree or higher), or seven (7) years (with first-level University Degree) of progressively responsible experience of relevant professional experience supporting gender equality and/or economic development research, with a focus on women’s economic empowerment and the informal economy.
• Demonstrated experience contributing to gender and economic studies, including research, analysis, and drafting of technical outputs.
• Experience working in Pacific Island States or similar development contexts, with knowledge of regional, national, sub‑national, and community‑level socio‑economic and cultural contexts.
• Strong skills in qualitative and quantitative research methodologies, including data collection, interviews, focus group discussions, data collation, analysis, and synthesis.
• Demonstrated ability to support policy and legal analysis related to women’s economic empowerment, gender equality, and economic or government policy measures.
• Academic or professional background in gender studies, economics, sociology, development studies, or related fields; background as a feminist economist is an asset.
• Proven ability to contribute to high‑quality analytical reports, including drafting sections of studies, background papers, policy documents, or assessments.
• Experience assessing women’s access to productive resources, including land, finance, assets, skills, social protection, and innovation, under guidance.
• Strong analytical capacity to identify gaps, challenges, and opportunities in women’s economic support systems.
• Experience supporting or contributing to programme and project documentation for the UN or other international or regional organizations; prior UN Women experience is an asset.
• Experience supporting stakeholder consultations, workshops, and validation processes, including documentation and synthesis of inputs.
• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with government agencies, women’s organizations, civil society, UN entities, and marginalized communities.
• Strong analytical, drafting, and communication skills, with the ability to translate complex information into clear, structured written outputs.
• Excellent command of written and spoken English; knowledge of Pacific languages is an asset.
• Experience with data management and visualization tools (e.g. Excel, Power BI) is a strong asset.
• Ability to support the development of presentations, summaries, and basic infographics to communicate findings effectively.
• Strong organizational skills, initiative, sound judgment, and ability to manage assigned tasks independently while meeting deadlines.
• Commitment to ethical research practices, including informed consent, confidentiality, and compliance with applicable laws and regulations.
• Demonstrated integrity, professionalism, cultural sensitivity, and ability to work effectively with people of diverse backgrounds, in line with UN values and standards.
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and spreadsheet and database packages, and experience in handling of web-based management systems is required.

Languages:

• Fluency in both written and spoken English is required
• Knowledge of Pacific languages is an asset.

Statements :

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.

Diversity and inclusion:

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

How to Apply:

• Personal CV or P11 can be downloaded from: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form.doc 
• A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page).
• Only shortlisted candidates will be notified.
• UN Women may ask (ad hoc) for any other materials relevant to pre-assessing the relevance of their experience, such as reports, presentations, publications, campaigns, or other materials.

Note: Applicants must ensure that all sections of the application form, including the sections on education and employment history, are completed. If all sections are not completed the application may be disqualified from the recruitment and selection process.