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.
The UN Women MCO-Caribbean covers 22 countries and territories in the English and Dutch speaking Caribbean. Strides towards gender equality in the countries covered by the MCO have resulted in gains for women and girls in the Caribbean, relating primarily to high education rates and increases in employment rates. However critical gaps and inequalities remain which have been exacerbated since COVID-19 and other environmental hazards.
Poverty in the Caribbean continues to disproportionately affect women and youth, who experience higher levels of unemployment and are impeded by limited access to finance, limited digital proficiency, the unpaid care burden, and a lack of social protections. While entrepreneurship is emerging as a livelihood opportunity and women are very engaged in MSMEs, across Latin America and the Caribbean, women’s businesses tend to be smaller, use less technology and are concentrated in the low growth and vulnerable sectors. For example, regional averages in the Caribbean suggest that 90% of women entrepreneurs have no employees, and just 1% have five or more employees.
Key constraints that have been identified are the cost of finance as well as access to adequate products, with approximately 65% of women-led micro, small, and medium-sized businesses in developing economies being either financially unserved or underserved globally. While Gender Lens Investing is a growing field, research has shown that many Financial Institutions (FIs) are unsure where to begin to promote gender responsive finance, or what women entrepreneurs, the majority of whom are in the informal sector, need.
At the same time, women-owned Micro, Small and Medium size Enterprises (MSMEs) do not access existing financial products for various reasons, including the cost of finance, negative experiences with finance institutions, self-exclusion, risk aversion, or lack of documentation and financial management systems. Direct support to women-owned MSMEs on identifying and adopting existing viable solutions, including digital solutions, can help them grow their operations.
As one part of its strategic focus, UN Women MCO-Caribbean is working towards supporting more productive and inclusive business ecosystems. It does this by strengthening the competitiveness and resilience of women-owned MSMEs and contributing to innovative forms of financing for gender equality to increase financing for MSMEs.
UN Women is implementing projects in Antigua & Barbuda and Saint Lucia, as well as the OECS countries to address the barriers women face to economic empowerment and particularly in accessing finance to grow their business.
To address the needs both of women entrepreneurs as well as finance and investment professionals, UN Women is seeking to hire a Gender-responsive Finance Expert in the Caribbean.

EDUCATION AND CERTIFICATION:

• Advanced University degree in Finance, Sustainable Development, Gender studies or related fields.

EXPERIENCE:

• At least 10 years of experience working in Sustainable Financing for MSMEs is required
• At least 5 years’ experience working on issues related to gender-responsive finance and supporting MSME development with a gender lens is required
• At least 2 years’ experience in delivering capacity building activities is required
• Strong networks with financial actors and business support networks in the Caribbean (especially in Antigua & Barbuda / Saint Lucia) is an asset
• Previous experience in working in the Caribbean region or with Small Island Developing States is an asset
• Previous experience with the UN, governmental agencies or other international organization is an asset

• Inception Report, outlining the workplan and overall approach
• Develop strategy of engagement for UN Women MCO to advance gender-lens investing including increasing Financial Institutions gender capacities and women entrepreneurs’ access to finance
• Conduct capacity-building workshops with relevant financial stakeholders, focusing on Antigua & Barbuda and Saint Lucia, on strategies to reduce risk and improve financial inclusion of women and youth
• Adapt guidelines and training materials for on the job training for FIs to better serve women owned MSMEs (using existing materials).
• Conduct capacity-building workshops with financial stakeholders in Antigua & Barbuda and Saint Lucia (in-person, include online exchange across countries) (target: 40 stakeholders trained).
• Facilitate one public forum on Financial Inclusion in Antigua & Barbuda or Saint Lucia.
• Skills-building training interventions for women and youth MSME owners on digital payments/e-money and financing solutions for women MSME owners.
• Adapt guidelines and training materials targeted at women and youth-owned MSMEs on how to use and integrate digital payments and financing solutions.
• Conduct capacity-building workshops with MSME owners in Antigua & Barbuda and Saint Lucia (target: 120 MSMEs trained).
• Facilitate one public forum on digital financial solutions for women-owned MSMEs in Antigua & Barbuda or Saint Lucia.
• Training follow-up with Financial Institutions and women-led MSMEs
• Final Report on results achieved