UN Women: Partnerships Development Consultant, Homebased

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. UN Women’s regional representation for East and Southern Africa (ESA) is comprised of 12 Country Offices (COs), one programme presence (Somalia), and support to 11 UN Country Teams (UNCTs) where UN Women is a non-physical presence agency (NRA). All are coordinated and supported by the Regional Office (RO) in Kenya. ESA is a complex and diverse region comprised of sub-regions ranging from countries with weak governance prone to crises that cross borders, while other sub-regions represent middle-income countries that are relatively stable for the moment. The region includes the poorest countries on the continent (Burundi and Somalia), but also five of the wealthiest (Seychelles, Mauritius, Botswana, South Africa and Eswatini). ESA region is home to over 700 million people, population growth continues at a high rate and nearly half of the population across the region is under the age of 18 years. The region hosts 67 percent of the continent’s refugees and has approximately 10 million Internally Displaced Persons reflecting a significant number of people on the move. With the current global geo-political and financial situation placing severe stress on global ODA levels, particularly for the region covered by ESA, it is imperative to reinforce the capacities of the UN Women Country Offices in the region to identify and respond to opportunities to mobilize resources from non-traditional donor sources including the private sector, financial institutions, philanthropic foundations. For this reason, ESARO is looking to hire a partnership development consultant to support the region to onboard donors and partners including private sector actors, philanthropies, and financial institutions as strategic partners and co-investors. The objective of the consultancy is to design and operationalize a private sector and innovative financing engagement model for UN Women ESARO that positions the organization as a strategic partner, convener, and catalyst for gender-responsive investment. The consultant will support the development of investment-ready programmatic offers, strategic partnerships, and financing pipelines that leverage private sector, philanthropic, financial institution, and public sector resources in support of gender equality and women's empowerment across East and Southern Africa. Expected Outcomes: UN Women is positioned as a partner of choice and strategic convener for private sector engagement, Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) integration, and gender-responsive investment in East and Southern Africa; A diversified pipeline of private sector, philanthropic, and innovative financing opportunities is established to support resource mobilization for gender equality and women's empowerment (GEWE); Investment pathways and strategic partnerships are developed to increase financing for women-led enterprises and gender-responsive value chains; Gender-responsive approaches are integrated into investment, financing, and partnership opportunities across priority sectors; Strategic partnerships with public sector donors, development finance institutions (DFIs), and other financing partners are strengthened to leverage additional resources and influence financial flows toward gender equality outcomes. The consultant will report to the Regional Partnerships and Resource Mobilization Specialist and will work very closely with the Regional Director and the Deputy Regional Director and. The consultant will provide direct support to ESARO RM function and to the Country Offices (COs) in ESA Region. Description of Responsibilities /Scope of Work The main role of the assignment is to develop and implement Private Sector Engagement Model that will position UN Women to mobilize resources and influence financial flows from private sector companies including extractives, financial services, agribusiness, telecommunications, infrastructure, technology and other sectors with strong potential for advancing gender equality outcomes. Systems-level Engagement Strategy: Develop private sector engagement strategy; Establish entry points that will embedding gender equality into ESG frameworks (via WEPs); Develop gender investment cases that improve investor readiness, strengthen engagement with financiers, and support increased capital flows to UN Women and GEWE in general; Identify and develop models that position UN Women as a strategic convener of private sector actors, and financiers around gender‑responsive investment opportunities. Capital Mobilization Strategy: Build investment pipelines of bankable programmes to support UN Women ESAR in mobilizing private‑sector resources, including Multinational Corporations (MNCs), Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funding and commercial bank financing; Provide technical support to UN Women Regional and Country Office teams to structure blended finance vehicles, including concessional capital, guarantees, and catalytic instruments, to unlock private sector investment for gender equality and women empowerment; Facilitate co‑investment partnerships through stakeholder engagement, investment matchmaking, and coordination of blended capital structures to support scalable, gender‑impact investments. Strategic Partnership Development: Identify and cultivate relationships with traditional and non-traditional partners, including foundations, multilateral institutions, and private sector companies; Contribute to ESAR partnership and relationship mapping to inform engagement strategies and support coordinated partner outreach. Deliverables: Private Sector Engagement Model: UN Women is strategically positioned with private sector partners as a market maker, capital mobiliser, and ESG partner of choice: Private sector engagement and positioning strategy developed; Market segmentation analysis; Priority sectors analysis; Partner engagement framework; Country engagement recommendations. Private Sector and Foundation Pipeline: Increased mobilization of private capital to support gender equality and women’s economic empowerment (GEWE): Prospect database of private sector companies, corporates, institutional foundations, MNCs, impact investors; Opportunity pipeline for UN Women engagement; Donor intelligence briefs of targeted private sector companies, philanthropies and foundations. Minimum 25 qualified prospects identified: Corporates Foundations Financial institutions Impact investors Investment Ready Portfolio: Development of investment cases; Partnership propositions; Programme financing packages. At least 5 investment-ready partnership propositions developed. Strategic Partnership Development: Introductory meetings with prospective partners; Partnership engagements; Partners and stakeholders round table to position UN Women as a partner of choice. Minimum 10 strategic partner engagements facilitated, including at least: 3 corporates 2 foundations 2 financial institutions 3 bilateral/multilateral actors Innovative Finance Advisory: Blended finance opportunities; Financing models developed; Partnership structures developed. At least 2 innovative financing or blended finance concepts developed. Capacity Strengthening: Training Country Offices; Coaching support to Country and Regional office teams; Practical guidance note on gender-responsive market/investment approaches. At least 3 regional capacity-building sessions conducted, and practical guidance materials developed. Deliverable: Deliverable Expected completion time (due day) Payment Schedule Inception report, landscape assessment, partner mapping 25 September 2026 30% Private Sector Engagement Strategy and Engagement Model 31 Octobe