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.

The Policy Division develops and implements the UN Women corporate programme of work on analysis, research and knowledge management that provides the evidence base for the advice and guidance UN Women provides to development practitioners, the intergovernmental process, the UN system, and to UN Women staff working at country and regional level on issues of gender equality and women’s empowerment. The Division identifies emerging issues and trends, including gaps and challenges, and develops and proposes new strategies for achieving the agreed goals through innovative approaches and lessons learned about what works in practice. It also designs and oversees the training and capacity development programs of UN Women. To successfully perform its mission/mandate, the Policy Division is organized into Sections, bringing together technical experts who undertake issues-based research; analyze data on country, regional or global trends; build a knowledge base on policy commitments and their implementation; propose evidence-based options for global policy, norms and standards and for UN Women programme strategies; and contribute substantive inputs to policy advocacy and technical cooperation programmes. 

The Research and Data Section in the Policy Division is responsible for leading UN Women’s research and data agenda. It manages a large global network of leading feminist researchers; produces high profile knowledge products including UN Women flagship publications such as Progress of the World’s Women and the Progress on the SDGs: The Annual Gender Snapshot; and leads UN Women’s growing portfolio of work on gender statistics, including monitoring of the SDGs and cutting-edge work to develop new statistical methodologies. The work of the section is key to positioning UN Women as a knowledge hub on gender equality and women’s empowerment.

The consultant will be reporting to the Statistics Specialist, and will be supported by Programme Associate who will be the point of contact on the contract and payment issues. 

Description of Responsibilities /Scope of Work:

Conduct data analysis for Progress of the World’s Women 2026 report 

• Conduct and contribute advanced quantitative analysis using environmental, economic, labour and financing datasets 
• Design and execute statistical modelling work on gender and climate change
• Analyze and synthesize datasets relevant to green jobs and just transitions, carbon emissions accounting, climate vulnerability, environmental degradation, climate finance, loss and damage financing 
• Lead on the preparation of statistical annexes, including technical notes, definitions, methodological notes, statistical references 
• Translate complex data into accessible formats for non-technical audiences through strong data visualization and narrative framing 
• Craft text for high-impact communications assets including data cards, social media content, key messages and data visualizations

Contribute substantive inputs, research and analysis for Progress of the World’s Women 2026 report

• Spearhead background cross-national and country specific research, including literature reviews related to gender and climate change
• Author and sharpen analytical inputs across report chapters, including original statistical analysis, ensuring findings are rigorously grounded, clearly argued and accessible to a broad readership
• Strengthen report quality through meticulous technical review – interrogating data, stress-testing analytical claims, scrutinizing draft chapters and flagging inconsistencies across sections, including, if possible, proof-reading of translated text in languages other than English
• Collaborate with the Research and Data team to develop and finalise assets related to the report, including data cards, social media assets and finalization of key messages

Provide any other data and statistics related support for these key areas of work, as requested by supervisor.

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

This is a home-based consultancy. 

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:

• Strong analytical skills, including on statistical modelling and scenario analysis, particularly on gender and climate change and on climate finance.
• Proficiency in STATA, R, Python or any other relevant statistical and coding packages
• Ability to communicate clearly and effectively, including for training others
• Familiarity with international methodologies for the generation of gender statistics
• Data visualization skills, including for the creation of factsheets and communication materials
• Ability to implement activities in a timely and efficient manner
• Strong teamworking skills
• Affinity with UN Women’s mandate of gender equality and women’s empowerment

Education and Certification:

• Master’s degree in statistics, gender and statistics, economics or other social science fields including environmental economics
• 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:

• A minimum of 5 years of work experience in the field of gender statistics at the national and/or international level with a focus on climate change;
• Professional or academic experience on the analysis of household-based survey data and other forms of microdata;
• Experience drafting statistics-based research and related reports;
• Experience providing capacity building support, preferably in the context of gender statistics;
• Experience preparing data visualization products, including graphs, infographics and factsheets;
• Experience working with non-conventional data sources, including geospatial information or big data is an asset;
• Experience supporting national policy makers on data use for evidence-based decision-making is an asset. 

Languages:

• Fluency in English is required.
• Working knowledge of another UN official language 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.