National Consultant WEPs Coordinator_for Tunisian only

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 labor force participation rate in Tunisia stood at 46.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022, increasing compared to the previous quarter. In the same period, the male labor participation rate corresponded to 65.7 percent. On the other hand, only 28 percent of the female population in the country was part of the labor force as of the fourth quarter of 2022 (National Institute of Statistics). Drivers of low female labor include an entrenched patriarchal context that constrain women’s participation in the economy or relegates them to informal and lower-paying jobs, lack of policies and frameworks that facilitate women’s economic participation (e.g. childcare, family-friendly work policies), occupational segregation in female and male-dominated jobs driving gender pay gaps as well as Personal Status Laws that discriminate against women in inheritance. Insufficient job creation, both in number and quality, in the private sector is another key constraint. Access to finance and investment are also challenges for entrepreneurs, especially women entrepreneurs.

UN Women Regional Office for the Arab States (ROAS) adopted its strategic plan for 2022-2025 in March 2022. In the strategic plan, it is highlighted that one of the key priorities to achieve gender equality in the Arab States is the speedy acceleration of women’s employment throughout the region, which has hovered around 21% since the 1990s, UN Women is embarking on a large-scale multi-country program to surge women’s employment in 7 countries (3 in North Africa, 2 in the Levante and 2 in the Gulf). 

The private sector plays a crucial role in promoting female labour force participation. The Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) are a set of Principles offering guidance to business on how to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment in the workplace, marketplace, and community. Established by UN Women and UN Global Compact, the WEPs are informed by international labour and human rights standards and grounded in the recognition that businesses have a stake in, and a responsibility for, gender equality and women’s empowerment. Being the first to launch the WEPs in Tunisia, UN Women has been working with companies from different sectors to promote gender equality principles in the private sector. More and more companies believe that they can achieve better business outcomes, including lower rates of absenteeism and turnover, more innovation and employee engagement, access to new markets and investors, a stronger reputation in the community, and higher productivity and profitability—ultimately contributing to the economic and social well-being of communities as well as overall economic growth. 

To support the recruitment of more WEPs signatories, the coordination of the network in Tunisia and in localizing WEPs tools into the local market context, UN Women Tunisia is recruiting a national consultant who will serve as a liaison point connecting WEPs signatory companies to increase outreach and support the members to take action to deliver gender equality and women’s empowerment principles.

The consultant will be reporting to the Programme Management Specialist and will be supported by WEE specialist. She/he will work in close collaboration with Regional Office, and HQ colleagues.  

Duties and Responsibilities

The duties and responsibilities of the National Consultant WEPs Coordinator are: 

Support companies in becoming WEPs signatories

• Conduct sector mapping to identify potential new members;
•  Approach and promote WEPs membership and partnership and serve as a central point of contact for liaison purposes;
•  Serve as a helpdesk for companies that need support in the onboarding process;
•  Review applications (i.e. verify eligibility, check status on the UNGM platform, etc.), approve and publish companies to the WEPs website;
•  In collaboration with UN Women communications team, implement communications plan of the WEPs community to ensure visibility and increase outreach;

Provide technical guidance and inputs to companies signatories

• Support signatories companies to identify needs and opportunities to implement WEPs principles;
•  Design and implement capacity building programmes for WEPs signatories including through webinars and workshops;
•  Schedule and organize regular dialogues and knowledge exchange sessions to support the creation of a community of practice approach;
•  Prepare demand-driven substantive guidance on WEPs implementation;

Provide ongoing technical support to UN Women Tunisia on WEPs engagement and support

•  Identify and implement strategies to strengthen UN Women WEPs portfolio, aligned with the regional initiative “Surging Women’s Employment”
• Attend regular meetings with WEPs global focal points and represent UN Women Tunisia;
•  Lead tasks forces to pilot new approaches and conceptualize new workstream and processes;
• Organize an introduction section for UN Women personnel on WEPs signatories principles, approval and publishing process.?

Provide WEPs advocacy and communication support

• In collaboration with the communications team, develop and implement WEPs advocacy and communication strategy;
•  Identify and collect impact stories from WEPs signatories and lead the development of case studies;
•  Support the creation and post of social media assets .

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel This is a home-based consultancy.

Competencies

Core Values

• Respect for Diversity
•  Integrity
•  Professionalism

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 Core Values and Competencies:

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES

•  In depth understanding of gender equality and women’s empowerment issues, challenges and motivations in the private sector;
•  Ability to prioritize multiple tasks and competing priorities;
•  Experience in establishing and sustaining effective relationships with clients; anticipating needs; being clientoriented. 

Required Skills and Experience

Education

•  Master’s degree or equivalent in business, finance, economic or related fields.
• 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

• At least 10 of experience in the related field with progressive responsibilities;
•  Experience working in the promoting of women’s empowerment gender equality in the world of work is an asset;
•  Experience in establishing, building and sustaining effective relationships with network of clients is an asset;
•  Excellent analytical skills with strong drive for results and capacity to work independently. 

Languages

• Fluency in French and Arabic is required.
•  Work knowledge of English is required;

How to Apply

• Personal CV or P11 (P11 can be downloaded from: )
•  A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page) • Managers 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 material;

Note 

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.)