UN Women National Consultant - Advancing gender-responsive and sustainable procurement, Home-based Retainer, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

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.

In Cambodia, UN Women's work is guided by the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) 2024-2028, the Regional Strategic Note (2026-2029), and the Corporate Strategic Plan (2026-2029), These frameworks shape UN Women Cambodia's key priorities in advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE). UN Women Cambodia has worked closely with women machinery to monitor the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). This connects to the Ending Violence Against Women (EVAW) programme which UN Women has supported the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) via the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MOWA) in developing and implementing of the National Action Plan to Prevent Violence Against Women (NAPVAW), particularly focusing on vulnerable groups such as women migrant workers. Additionally, the priority also supports the RGC to advance women peace security agenda which focuses on convening dialogues, with participation of wider stakeholder, including civil societies, government as well as academic institutions, situation analysis and study on gender barriers toward realization of the National Action Plan.

UN Women Cambodia has been a key advocate for gender-responsive policies in climate change and disaster risk reduction (DRR). By building the capacity of national institutions and civil society organisations, the programme enables rural women and youth to actively participate in decision-making processes and apply gender analysis to issues like gender-based violence and climate resilience. UN Women continues to collaborate with key government ministries to scale up gender-responsive interventions, contributing to national efforts including as the National Action Plan on DRR (NAP on DRR), and Cambodia's climate commitments. UN Women Cambodia launched a private-sector engagement initiative aimed at advancing women’s economic empowerment. As part of a regional programme, the initiatives seek to foster innovation, advance gender equality, and drive inclusive economic growth through partnerships, accelerators, and policy support. The initiative also focuses on generating evidence and data to guide investments and develop ecosystems that support gender-transformative innovations. Complimenting to private sector engagement, gender responsive procurement has been instrumental to women economic empowerment. By engaging businesses and other stakeholders, UN Women aims to create more opportunities for women to thrive in the Cambodian economy. This reflects the United Nations General Assembly adopted unanimously the Resolution 70/1 Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Gender equality and women’s empowerment is at the heart of the agenda, as numerous goals and targets address structural barriers to achieve equal rights and opportunities between women and men, girls and boys.

WE RISE Together 2.0 (WRT 2.0) – Advancing Gender-Responsive Procurement (GRP) in the Mekong sub-region is a four-year Mekong-Australia Partnership (MAP) project developed by UN Women, started in March 2025. It is continuing of WE RISE Together 1.0 that was implemented in Thailand and Vietnam between March 2022 – February 2025. Cambodia office is a part of WRT 2.0 which sits under MAP’s Economic Resilience Fund (MAP-ERF) and addresses its four drivers of resilience (including macroeconomic, household, business, and government resilience), started the implementation in March 2025. The project responds to the prioritization of women’s economic empowerment by expanding market access for Women-owned Businesses (WOBs) and Gender Responsive Enterprises (GREs) through inclusive procurement opportunities.

Building on the successes from the first phase, WRT 2.0 will also leverage lessons learned, tackling the structural gender inequities that exist within the global procurement market in which WOBs secure only one percent of spending worldwide. By introducing and advancing increased market access through GRP. WRT 2.0 operates with the overall objective to empower more women to equally access, lead, and benefit from expanded market opportunities in the Mekong subregion. The project works across the Mekong subregion, namely in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Vietnam, leveraging the capacity, network and insights build during its phase 1 implementation. The project will work towards three interlinked outcomes:

Outcome 1: Increased awareness and commitment towards GRP demonstrated through increased adoption of GRP practices by public and private institutions and strengthened gender-responsive data on procurement practices

Outcome 2: Strengthened national policies and/or practices related to GRP and/pr WOBs/GREs promotion that are aligned with existing regional frameworks

Outcome 3: Increased market connections and opportunities for WOBs and GREs

WRT2.0 approach is to strengthen awareness, commitment and practices of national actors and the institutions to promote GRP through providing technical inputs to policy, frameworks, roadmaps, action plans and guidelines to GRP. To achieve this, UN Women has worked in collaboration and partnership with government, institutions and agencies in order to embedding the GRP within national policies, strategies, and action plans. This collaboration strengthens institutional practices and establishes sustainable frameworks that enhance the visibility, market integration, and participation of both formally and semi-formally WOBs, GREs and other underserve groups within procurement and broader market systems. For instance, as part of WRT 2.0, UN Women Cambodia is supporting the key government actors including Ministry of Economic and Finance (MoEF), Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA), Ministry of Commerce (MoC) and Ministry of Industry, Science Technology & Innovation (MISTI). For this reason, UN Women is recruiting a national consultant to provide technical support for gender-responsive and sustainable procurement actions under retainer contract.

The consultant will be reporting to the Programme Analyst (GRP and Women's Empowerment), who will be the point of contact on the contract and payment issues.

Description of Responsibilities/Scope of Work

In close collaboration with WRT Programme Analyst and the team, the national consultant will provide technical support to government partners regarding gender-responsive procurement in national strategies, public procurement policy, and action plans to purposefully address concerns related to procurement management and market facilitation. The consultant will also support the programme team to enable effective programme outcomes; the assignment will also include supporting the provision of technical input and leading/co-leading the facilitation of national and sub-national trainings/events to promote gender-responsive procurement within Cambodia’s public ecosystems.

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant will work closely with WRT programme team and the project’s partner especially government partners to perform the following tasks:

Technical Support on Public Procurement Policy

• Provide high-quality technical support to government partners to integrate GRP into public procurement policy dialogue and development as well as related regulatory frameworks including Standard Operating Procedures and Prakas, while supporting institutional data systems and the evidence base through the collection, analysis, and utilization of sex-disaggregated procurement data.
• Provide technical support to government partners related to the piloting of GRP initiative at the ministerial level, documentation, and application of GRP approaches within Cambodia’s existing legal, regulatory, and operational frameworks.
• Support the coordination of the working group, to officially establish and nationalize the definition of Women-owned Business (WOB)

Institutional Capacity Building & Tool Development

• Contribute to enhance the technical capacity of government partners and relevant ministries focal point (procurement officer, and other relevant field) integrating gender-responsive into procurement cycles.
• Lead in developing and adapting practical procurement checklists, guidelines and/or tools to support GRP implementation.
• Support in documenting lessons learnt, and case studies to inform future evidence-based policy decisions.

Market Facilitation and Development

• Contribute to development of concept note and detail programme that ensure micro women entrepreneurs and SMEs are benefited from the procurement supply chain.
• Support programme team to coordinate with government partners and enterprises to foster enabling the environment for formal and semi-formal WOBs/GREs.
• Support the programme team to coordinate and enhance supplier development opportunities and scale up market linkages for WOBs/GREs within existing Cambodian trade, expo, and national platforms.
• Support to build and integrate accessible roasters data through government partners that connect public/private buyers directly with qualified WOBs/GREs to facilitate active sourcing

Policy Experimentation

• Support in design, implement and assess a small scale, targeted policy experiment focused on demand-side procurement adjustments to improve WOB participation in small-value public procurement, utilizing this phased pilot to generate data-based evidence and deliver strategic scale-up recommendations under the WE RISE Together programme.

Final Products and Deliverables

• Strategic technical inputs and action plans embedded into government partner frameworks to integrate GRP, including unified definitions of WOBs and cross-ministerial alignment strategies.
• A project technical working group is formed and institutionalised to promote GRP.
• Practical GRP toolkits, checklists, and database sourcing guidelines designed for line ministries to institutionalize gender-responsive procurement and connect buyers with suppliers.
• High-quality training and facilitation delivered for national and provincial-level capacity-building events.
• Knowledge products, lessons learned, and case studies documenting operational experiences to inform national policy dialogue.
• Establishment and integration of visible WOB/GRE supplier rosters that allow public and corporate buyers to easily identify and source from women-owned enterprises.
• Pilot Policy Experiment Framework and Assessment Report detailing the design, initial testing, and data-backed scalability recommendations for demand-side procurement adjustments.

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

This is a home-based and consultancy estimated at a maximum of 200 working days within the period from 10 September 2026 to 25 January 2029. As part of this assignment, there will be a maximum of 10 trips to provinces. For any travel within and outside of duty station, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, UN Women will be responsible for the accommodation and travel expenses if any travel is incurred during the assigned period. The consultant will be engaged under a retainer contract, which facilitates direct engagement of the consultant depending on need and availability within the contract period for a pre-agreed fee.

UN Women will not be committed to purchasing any maximum quantity of the Services, and purchases will be made only if there is an actual requirement upon the issuance of a Purchase Order based on this retainer contract. UN Women shall not be liable for any cost in the event that no purchases are made under this retainer contract.

The expected number of workdays for each deliverable will be discussed between the consultant and UN Women on a case-by-case basis. Payment will be made upon satisfactory completion of a deliverable or as agreed between the consultant and UN Women.

With UN Women’s guidance, the consultant might also engage with government officials, multi and bilateral donors, civil society and the private sector and programmatic partners. A workstation will be provided to the consultant to ensure effective consultation and support. The Consultant will bring his/her own personal computer to conduct this assignment. With the facilitation of the programme team, the consultant will also be expected to engage with external stakeholders.

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:

• Promotes knowledge management and a learning environment in the office through leadership and personal example.
• The capacity to liaise with a range of stakeholders, especially government officials, to build rapport, working relationships, and exchange information in order to mobilize support and collaborative action.
• Strong understanding of gender equality and social inclusion in the context of women’s economic empowerment
• Strong written and face-to-face communication skills in a cross-cultural context.
• Sound knowledge and skill in documenting project impacts and harvesting outcome including collecting information to build impact and/or human-interest stories is asset
• Sound knowledge in promoting gender equality in public policy, including procurement and market connection, its ecosystem is advantage

Required Qualifications:

Education and Certification:

• Master’s degree in economics, gender equality, development study, social sciences public policy and administration, or other related disciplines
• A first-level university degree in similar fields in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

• Minimum 2 years progressively responsible relevant experience in providing technical support and policy advice to government institutions working on gender equality is required.
• At least 2 years relevant professional experience driving initiatives in women’s economic empowerment, MSME development, and/or public procurement framework are necessary.
• Experience in event/workshop facilitation using a participatory, inclusive approach to managing differences and honing agreements is needed.
• Experience in facilitation of high-level policy dialogues is an asset.

Languages:

• Fluency in Khmer and English is required.

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.