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 is embarking on the development of a new strategic plan to guide the organization’s work until 2030 and into the future. To begin institutionalizing foresight practices into UN Women’s strategic planning processes both at the corporate strategic plan level and country strategic note level, UN Women seeks the expertise of a strategic foresight consultant. The consultant will support UN Women by providing strategic foresight expertise including developing an action plan, capacity-building and facilitating a country office pilot.

The objective of this consultancy is to develop an action plan, build capacities, and support a pilot strategic foresight exercise with a piloting country office to strengthen UN Women’s use of strategic foresight into strategic planning processes and to mainstream gender in strategic foresight at the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) planning stage.

The consultant will be reporting to the Programme Specialist – Results Management with SPU/SPRED and will be supported by team members within SPU as well as PPID.

Description Of Responsibilities/ Scope Of Work

The objective of this consultancy is to develop an action plan, build capacities, and support a pilot strategic foresight exercise with a piloting country office to strengthen UN Women’s use of strategic foresight into strategic planning processes and to mainstream gender in strategic foresight at the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) planning stage.

In the long-term, this will prepare UN Women to institutionalize foresight practices in order to anticipate and prepare for future trends, opportunities and challenges in gender equality and organizational development, and ultimately design better futures.

Objectives

• Integrating foresight into UN Women’s work: Prepare for long-term institutionalization of foresight practices at UN Women by developing an action plan, building capacities, and piloting foresight practices in current planning processes.
• Co-creation, learning, and capacity building: Utilize participatory tools and methods to enhance colleagues' foresight understanding and skills, positioning foresight as a critical UN 2.0 competency.
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Deliverables

• An action plan (document and accompanying PowerPoint presentation) on how to institutionalize and strengthen UN Women’s capacity (commitment to UN 2.0) with consolidation and analysis of field practices and challenges and harmonized with other UN 2.0 efforts led by the UN Futures Lab, UN Global Pulse and others.
• Training materials tailored to UN Women’s needs (both development results and organizational effectiveness) and focusing on mainstreaming gender into strategic foresight at the global/corporate and field/UNCT level available to all personnel – format to be agreed upon to ensure materials are engaging.
• Interactive capacity building webinars (general outreach) and activities on strategic foresight to start weaving foresight into the organization. At least 4 webinars to cover different time zones and different focus areas.
• Country pilot with a series of strategic foresight workshops to support a country office in applying foresight methods (such as horizon scanning and scenario planning) and mainstreaming gender into foresight in the development of the new UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) and strategic note (country programme) in 2026.
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To harmonize the overall approach of strategic foresight as relevant and where possible, seek advice and exchange knowledge with other UN partners (UN Futures Lab, UN Global Pulse). In addition, the work should build on existing UN strategic foresight tools and resources, including the UN strategic foresight guide and the Development Cooperation Office (DCO) guide on using foresight for cooperation frameworks and common country analyses.

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

This is a home-based consultancy.

As part of this assignment, there will be a maximum of one trip to UN Women’s headquarters in New York City, USA or the selected pilot country.

Competencies :

Core Values:

• Integrity;
• Professionalism;
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Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues;
• Accountability;
• Creative Problem Solving;
• Effective Communication;
• Inclusive Collaboration;
• Stakeholder Engagement;
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Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Values and Competencies Framework:

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES:

• Ability to look at information from the past and present, identify patterns and trends and use them to inform decision making with a long-term view.
• Ability to facilitate debate and discussion about possible futures; help people to feel comfortable with the discomfort of uncertainty.
• Strong planning, goal setting, prioritization and organizational skills.
• Excellent analytical skills with strong drive for results and capacity to work independently.
• Excellent English communication and writing skills; (Samples of previous work will be required.)
• Strong analytical skills and the ability to synthesize complex information.
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Education and Certification:

• Master’s degree in strategic planning, foresight, gender studies, organizational development, or a related field
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Experience:

• At least 5 years of progressively responsible work experience in Strategic Foresight and facilitating foresight exercises is required.
• Experience in conducting trainings and more specifically building Foresight capacity is required.
• Experience working within or for the UN system or other international humanitarian/development organisations is an advantage.
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Languages:

• Fluency in English is required.
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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.)