Innovative Financing: Consultant

Job Description

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. Financing gender equality and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) remain extremely inadequate. Achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls requires significant commitments and collaboration among public and private sectors, including donors, investors, development partners, and civil society. This need is especially critical now, given the unprecedented resource constraints affecting both development and humanitarian efforts, particularly for the gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE) agenda.

The Ethiopian government is currently facing a fiscal deficit, further constraining public financing for gender-responsive initiatives. While traditional financing sources for gender equality, such as donor contributions and government funding, are diminishing, the private sector is playing an increasingly important role in supporting the achievement of the SDGs. It is therefore crucial to explore innovative financing solutions to crowd in alternative capital resources in accountable way to ensure continued progress in advancing gender equality and women's empowerment in Ethiopia.

Innovative finance involves engaging non-traditional partners, primarily from the private sector, including corporations, the business community, and investors. A few non-exhaustive examples include impact investments, results-based financing, thematic or labeled use of proceed bonds, blended finance, and/or guarantees. In relation to this, UN Women ECO has been engaging different financial institutions to promote gender responsive services to women and girls. Through the Women Empowerment Principles (WEPs) more than 15 financial institutions (Banks and Micro finance institutions) have shared experiences and initiatives that they put in place for women in Micro and Small Enterprise. Of these five institutions namely the Enat Bank, Hibret Bank, Zemzem Bank and NIB Bank are committed to WEPs while the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, Cooperative Bank of Oromia and Abyssinia Bank are also on the verge of signing to the WEPs; all of them are having innovative financing opportunities for women and youth.

Ethiopia has a formal capital market or a regulatory framework to which is regulated by the 2024 Capital Markets Proclamation. and has laid the legal groundwork for developing capital markets in the country. Since then, progress has been made to create the institutions and systems needed to operationalize it. A major milestone came in January 2025 with the official launch of the Ethiopian Securities Exchange (ESX) which is the first stock market in the country’s history. This is a big step forward that opens new doors for innovative financing instruments like gender bonds or impact investments that can be directed toward gender equality efforts. Unlike other organizations, ESX has objectives promoting inclusiveness from the very beginning as shred during the Ring the bell event 2025, among others the ESX has ongoing efforts to promote women's economic empowerment, including JASIRI Initiative a program focused on supporting women-led businesses and Market and Capacity Development – Research and product development efforts that showcase how gender-focused financial products can drive success

Ethiopia has also been implementing wider economic reforms aimed at opening up the economy. These include liberalizing the telecom system, and more recently, allowing foreign banks to operate in the country for the first time. The financial sector has historically been closed, but a new law passed in 2025 now permits foreign banks to establish branches or subsidiaries and to hold equity in domestic banks. These shifts are reshaping the financial landscape and could open the door to new players and financial instruments, especially those focused on development impact. As the financial sector modernizes, there’s real potential to design and implement innovative financing tools, such as gender bonds or blended finance mechanisms, that can specifically support women’s economic empowerment and gender equality objectives.

To further enhance efforts in advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment, in its 2022-2025 Strategic Plan, UN Women promotes a partnership-building approach to advancing GEWE for greater impact. UN Women recognizes the private sector, development finance institutions, and high-impact financing entities as key partners in achieving the SDGs. In line with this, the Ethiopian Country Office aims to identify the landscape of innovative financing in the country and provide actionable recommendations to scale up the office’s efforts in supporting the Government of Ethiopia in financing for gender equality.

Description of Responsibilities/ Scope of Work

The assessment aims to identify the landscape of innovative financing and its feasibility and pathways to mobilize alternative financial resources to finance for gender equality in Ethiopia. Specifically, the objectives include:

Specifically, the National Consultant will be responsible for the following roles:

• Mapping the current landscape of innovative financing for gender equality in Ethiopia including regulatory frameworks, institutional environment, financing governance market infrastructure and key players.
• Identifying feasible innovative financing instruments being implemented in other African countries/beyond and mechanisms that have potential to be implemented in the country, including capital markets, sustainable banking, insurances, impact investing and funds, and digital financing solutions.
• Identifying the best practices of other African countries on innovative finances for gender equality for learning exchange and to input to recommendation of what will be working in the country,
• Coming up with strategy that would support the Country Office engagement and partnerships with key stakeholders, including private investors, philanthropic organizations, and international financial institutions and raise awareness on innovative financing.
• Strengthening existing contacts and partnerships with key stakeholders, including private investors, philanthropic organizations, and international financial institutions and raise awareness on innovative financing.
• Providing strategic recommendations by proposing areas of UN Women’s intervention to bring strong gender based innovative financing that align with Ethiopia’s development priorities.

Deliverables

1. A comprehensive analysis of the landscape and ecosystem of innovative financing in Ethiopia in terms of key stakeholders, typologies, diagnostic of institutional and market barriers, opportunities, challenges and partner’s capacity issues, and the demand gaps for innovative financing of the gender equality where the forthcoming efforts that UN Women can fill in.
2. A high-level recommendation with suggested short-term actions and long-term roadmap to national partners to advance innovative finance in Ethiopia.
3. A stakeholder engagement strategy to determine the appropriate market niche(s), scope and scale for the UN Women in Ethiopia’s current and forthcoming engagement,
4. Lead a dialogue in collaboration with key players from both public and private sector to disseminate the high-level recommendations

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

This consultancy position is based in Addis Ababa -Ethiopia

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:

• Ability to work with minimal supervision.
• Evidence of having undertaken similar assignments of resource mobilization
• Strong knowledge of Resource mobilization skills.
• Ability to work effectively and harmoniously with people from varied cultures and professional backgrounds

Education and Certification:

• Master’s Degree or equivalent in economics, finance, international development, gender/women’s studies, political science, international relations, social sciences, or other related discipline.
• 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 work experience, with at least 3 years at the international level, in innovative financing, development finance, or resource mobilization for development outcomes.
• Proven expertise in gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE), with demonstrated ability to integrate gender-responsive approaches in financing and policy instruments.
• Extensive experience in landscape assessments, stakeholder mapping, and market diagnostics in developing or emerging market contexts.
• Demonstrated track record in designing and implementing resource mobilization and financing strategies with governments, private sector, donors, or development partners.
• Experience preparing high-level strategic recommendations, policy roadmaps, and communication materials for diverse stakeholders (government, UN, private sector).

Languages:

Fluency in English is required

Skills Required:

• Accounting / Finance
• Economics / Statistics
• Political / Science / Ir
• Social / Science / Project / Management / Development