UN Women: Consultant on Care Economy and Gender-Transformative Care Programming, Home-Based, International Consultant

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.

As the lead UN entity on gender equality and secretariat of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, we shift laws, institutions, social behaviors and services to close the gender gap and build an equal world for all women and girls. Our partnerships with governments, women’s movements and the private sector coupled with our coordination of the broader United Nations translate progress into lasting changes. We make strides forward for women and girls in four areas: leadership, economic empowerment, freedom from violence, and women, peace and security as well as humanitarian action. UN Women keeps the rights of women and girls at the centre of global progress – always, everywhere. Because gender equality is not just what we do. It is who we are.  

UN Women Knowledge and Partnerships Centre in Republic of Korea

The UN Women Knowledge and Partnerships Centre in the Republic of Korea (formerly the UN Women Centre of Excellence for Gender Equality, hereinafter "the Centre") was established in 2022 in partnership with the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (MOGEF) of the Republic of Korea (ROK). The Centre was founded with a shared mandate to advance gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls across Asia and the Pacific.

Located in Seoul, the Centre has, in just over two years, contributed to developing strategic partnerships and strengthening cross-country exchanges and learning among countries in the Asia-Pacific region, including ROK. It has facilitated capacity development, advocacy, and convening of strategic policy dialogues across various thematic areas, including women's economic empowerment, gender-transformative disaster risk reduction, gender-responsive climate actions, Women, Peace and Security, ending gender-based violence, gender statistics, and private sector partnerships. In early 2025, the Centre was rebranded with a new name to emphasize its key functions in facilitating partnership development and knowledge exchange on promising practices and lessons learned for advancing gender equality and women's empowerment.

In 2025–2026, the Centre will focus on accelerating investments in two priority areas: 1) transforming care systems, and 2) tackling Technology-Facilitated Gender Based Violence (TFGBV). The Centre will embrace innovation, including as it relates to new technologies and partnerships, to increase the breadth and impacts of its work, aligning with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Pact for the Future and the on-going regional and global dialogue on Beijing+30 and its transformative promise to leave no one behind. Prioritisation will be given to supporting at the regional and global level: enhanced knowledge, responses and strategies on transforming care system as a cornerstone of women’s overall empowerment; strengthened knowledge, policies and tools to end technology-facilitated gender-based violence; and increased emphasis on advancing multistakeholder partnerships for gender equality and women’s empowerment.

At the global level, under the leadership of the UN Deputy Secretary-General, UN Women coordinated an inter-agency working group, which includes the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), ILO, UNOHCHR, and UNDP. This resulted in a UN System policy paper on "Transforming Care Systems in the Context of the Sustainable Development Goals and Our Common Agenda.” This is a practical framework for UN agencies to address care within the context of the SDGs and promotes comprehensive care systems that enable gender equality and social justice. It highlights policy options to support the transformation of care systems and highlights the importance of human rights-based, universal, and transformative approaches to care. This is an important milestone as it will shape and guide UN and system-wide action on Care in the decades to come. 

Within the focus on Transforming Care Systems, the TransformCare Investment Initiative Asia-Pacific (TCII-AP) is a UN Women-convened initiative to make care systems prosperous for people and the planet. TransformCare is a global large-scale, long-term response aiming to catalyse multi-donor investments and multi-partner collaborations to build resilient care systems, serving as a foundation for caring societies and inclusive and green economies where women can fully realize their economic rights and participation. Advancing women’s economic empowerment by building caring societies and inclusive and green economies aims to contribute by 2035 to: (i) Benefit 100 million women and girls in all their diversities; (ii) Create 125 million new employment opportunities in the care economy in 2035 as well as in future-oriented sectors, including the green and digital economy; (iii) Release 2 billion hours of time spent by women on unpaid care work 

An important part of TCII is to support policymakers with tools and guidance for designing gender-responsive policies and practices to create an enabling environment to transform care systems. Towards this, UN Women is seeking an international consultant to develop evidence-based guidance and practical tools for gender-transformative care programming. 

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONSIBILITIES/ SCOPE OF WORK

The objective of the consultancy is to produce a set of knowledge products and practical tools that support gender-transformative approaches to care by: (i) reviewing standards and operational guidance for care services; (ii) identifying skills and competencies required across paid care occupations; and (iii) developing a gender-transformative checklist for care programming.

The specific tasks of the consultant: 

1. Conduct an inception meeting with the UN Women team to align expectations, scope, methodology, workplan, timeline and deliverables.
2. Conduct a desk review and synthesis of existing standards, standard operating procedures (SOPs), quality assurance frameworks and operational guidance for childcare, eldercare and disability care services, identifying good practices, gaps and opportunities for strengthening gender-transformative care programming.
3. Review and analyze existing competency frameworks, qualification standards, education and training programmes, certification systems, and professional development opportunities for paid care workers across different care sectors, including childcare, long-term care, disability care and migrant care work, and identify implications for gender-responsive and gender-transformative workforce development.
4. Analyze selected country practices and experiences in the Asia-Pacific region, including the Republic of Korea, to identify lessons learned, promising approaches and innovations relevant to strengthening care systems, care service delivery and workforce development.
5. Drawing on the findings from tasks 2, 3 and 4, develop a gender-transformative care systems assessment framework, assessment checklist and accompanying guidance note aligned with the TransformCare Investment Initiative (TCII) to support policymakers, practitioners and development partners in integrating and assessing gender-transformative principles throughout the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of transforming care systems initiatives.
6. Prepare, present and finalize all deliverables through a review process as such: (i) prepare annotated outlines and draft versions of all three knowledge products for UN Women review and feedback; (ii) present draft findings, assessment framework and checklist to UN Women staff and relevant working groups; (iii) revise all knowledge products and the assessment framework based on feedback received; (iv) develop PowerPoint presentations and knowledge-sharing materials for dissemination and capacity development; and (v) submit final deliverables ensuring technical quality and alignment with TCII and the broader UN Women care systems agenda.

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel:

This is a home-based consultancy. As part of the official duty of this consultancy, the consultant may be expected to travel, which will be processed by UN Women, following the duty 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:

• Strong understanding of care economy frameworks and gender-transformative approaches to care systems
• Demonstrated knowledge of care policy, workforce development, and the intersection of care, migration, and gender equality in the Asia-Pacific context
• Strong skills in project management
• Excellent analytical skills
• Strong sense of responsibility, a flexible and proactive mindset, and the ability to work independently
• Strong interpersonal skills, ability to communicate effectively verbally and in writing with multicultural personnel at all levels of the organization
• Ability to work productively in a highly pressured environment

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS 

Education and Certification:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in business management, social sciences, public administration, international relations, communications, or a related field is required.
• 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 professional work experience in gender equality, care economy/policy, social protection or related fields is required.  
• Excellent English writing skills are required.
• Experience in care and migration intersection is a strong asset. 
• Experience with UN processes and systems, particularly as relates to Project Documents and UN knowledge products is a strong asset.  
• Proven experience managing diverse stakeholders, particularly donors, is desirable.  
• Experience working in or with developing countries is an advantage. 

Languages:

• Fluency in English is required.  

EVALUATION

• The application will be evaluated based on the technical qualifications. 
• Shortlisted candidates will be further assessed. A work sample and/or interview may be required for further assessments.

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.