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. 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 and other relevant actors. 

In South Asia, UN Women supports regional and country-level efforts to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment in line with global normative frameworks, including the Beijing Platform for Action, the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The UN Women global Strategic Plan (2026-2029) prioritizes key thematic areas, including: Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE), including Transforming Care Systems and women in the world of work, Ending Violence against Women (EVAW), Women’s Political Participation and gender-responsive Governance, Women, Peace and Security and Humanitarian action, with Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), AI and digitalization as cross-cutting elements.

Regional coordination is essential to strengthen coherence across country programmes, advance collective advocacy, and engage effectively with intergovernmental and regional bodies, including the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). There is also growing opportunity to expand strategic advocacy and knowledge partnerships with these regional entities, as well as other regional, sub-regional and thematic institutions, particularly on climate, resilience, women’s economic empowerment, women’s leadership, social cohesion and gender-responsive governance practices.

UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific has demonstrated a track record of support ranging from capacity building, knowledge products, and policy/strategy facilitation, through and with UN Women offices and partners in South Asia. This consultancy intends to build on legacy of support to UN Women Country Offices and Programme Presences to establish coordinated approach to South Asia regional engagement.

Objective of the consultancy  
The objective of this consultancy is to provide strategic and programmatic guidance to shape cohesive UN Women enhanced partnership and work in South Asia, ensuring coherent and effective regional programming, advocacy, and partnerships aligned with the Strategic Notes of the UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, and UN Women Country Offices. This entails coordination with Regional thematic leads and based on mapping of needs and priorities of UN Women Country Offices and field-based presences in South Asia (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal Pakistan, and Sri Lanka).

The consultant will support UN Women Regional Office and Country Offices to:

• Strengthen sub-regional coordination and knowledge exchange;
• Develop an engagement strategy which includes deepened partnerships with subregional and regional bodies and entities engaged in South Asia;
• Support development of a regional programming and coordination approach to South Asia, grounded in Strategic Note thematic focus areas, ensuring conformity with commitments taken at the country levels:
• Support identification of resource mobilization opportunities and partnerships to support subregional work in South Asia;
• Enhance visibility, coherence, and impact of UN Women’s work in South Asia.

Description of Responsibilities /Scope of Work
Under the overall supervision of the Regional Director and the Deputy Regional Director, and working in day-to-day coordination with relevant thematic leads in the Regional Office, the consultant will undertake the responsibilities below. All work must be done in close agreement and close consultation with UN Women’s Country and programme presences:
 

A. Identification and supporting South Asia-specific actions

Develop regional programming approach and coordination plan for South Asia aligned with SN thematic priority areas and based on needs assessment/mapping:

• Work closely with the COs and field-based presences in South Asia to identify enhanced areas of cooperation within the sub-region.
• Identify potential areas of partnership with global, regional and sub-regional entities in support of enhanced gender-responsive South Asia programming and support more systematic programmatic information sharing among UN Women Offices in South Asia as it relates to working with sub-regional, regional and global bodies.
• Identify possible resource mobilization opportunities in support of sub-regional programming.

Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE), under guidance of thematic lead on WEE

• Support regional initiatives and dialogues on women’s labor force participation, entrepreneurship, care economy inclusive economic growth and sustainable financing.
• Support South Asia–focused regional dialogue, knowledge products, and partnerships on care system transformation.
• Coordinate engagement with SAARC, the UN and other regional bodies on care-related policy commitments and regional frameworks.

Ending Violence against Women (EVAW), under guidance of thematic lead on EVAW

• Facilitate regional exchange of good practices and policy approaches to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls.
• Mapping of regional commitments and mechanisms for strategic entry points.

Women’s Political Participation and gender-responsive Governance best practices, under guidance of thematic lead on Governance 

• Support regional coordination and advocacy on women’s leadership, participation in decision-making, and gender-responsive governance.

Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), under guidance of thematic coordinators on climate

• Identify/Coordinate regional engagement on gender, climate resilience, and disaster risk reduction with regional entities.
• Explore and support strategic collaboration with climate- and environment-focused regional institutions.

B. Regional Partnerships and Advocacy

• Support and strengthen UN Women’s engagement with intergovernmental bodies related to South Asia, including technical inputs, coordination of dialogues, and follow-up on regional commitments.
• Explore opportunities for joint research, and programming with other relevant regional entities.
• Contribute to the development of regional advocacy messages, briefs, and position papers aligned with UN Women’s mandate.

C. Knowledge Management and Visibility

• Support documentation of regional good practices, lessons learned, and emerging priorities in South Asia.
   

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

This is a part-time consultancy of 80%. The consultant is expected to work 4 days per week.

The consultancy contract may be onsite in Bangkok, or home based. It will be determined with the candidate during the recruitment process. If home based, the consultant shall be available to work on South Asia time zones.

As part of this assignment, there will be travel and the consultant must be able to easily travel throughout South Asia. The travel will be arranged by UN Women following UN Women’s Travel Policy.
 

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:

• Technical expertise in the field of gender equality and women’s empowerment in the South Asia region;
• Excellent collaboration and facilitation skills;
• Excellent written and verbal communication and negotiation skills;
• Strong coordination skills;
• Ability to lead formulation of strategies and their implementation;
• Strong networking and partnership building skills, with proven experience in South Asia.
   

Required Qualifications :

Education and Certification:

• Master’s degree in Gender and Development, Public Policy, Sustainable Development or other relevant disciplines. A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• 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 5 years of progressively responsible, practical experience in gender equality, women’s empowerment and development.
• Experience in working on gender equality and development in South Asia.
• Experience working with global and regional entities relevant to South Asia context considered an asset.
• Proven experience in working in the areas of women’s economic empowerment, leadership, gender-responsive governance, ending violence against women and girls, and climate.

Languages:

• Fluency in English is required.
• Knowledge of other languages spoken in the South Asia region 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.)

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.