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.
Women’s economic empowerment is a core area of UN Women’s work and a critical pathway for advancing inclusive, resilient, and sustainable economies. UN Women promotes gender-responsive economic policies, women’s access to productive resources and assets, decent work, entrepreneurship, financial inclusion, and private sector engagement. In line with its strategic priorities, UN Women works with public institutions, financial institutions, development partners, the private sector, and women entrepreneurs’ networks to address structural inequalities and to increase the quality and quantity of financing available for women’s economic empowerment;
In Senegal, women entrepreneurs and women-led enterprises remain constrained by persistent barriers that limit their ability to start, formalize, grow, and scale sustainable businesses. These include limited access to tailored financial products, credit and collateral requirements, insufficient business development services, restricted access to markets and value chains, gaps in sex-disaggregated data, unequal access to digital tools and productive resources, and social norms that continue to shape women’s economic opportunities. These constraints are particularly significant for women-led micro, small and medium enterprises and for women operating in rural, informal, climate-vulnerable, and high-potential productive sectors.
Against this background, the Women’s Economic Empowerment through Affirmative Finance project is positioned as a strategic response to these structural challenges. The project will support the development of a more enabling financial ecosystem for women entrepreneurs by promoting gender-responsive and affirmative financing approaches, strengthening the capacity of institutions and financial actors, generating evidence to inform policy dialogue, and facilitating women entrepreneurs’ access to finance, markets, knowledge, and strategic partnerships. It will also contribute to UN Women’s broader programmatic efforts in Senegal to advance women’s economic agency, inclusive growth, gender-responsive private sector engagement, and sustainable financing for gender equality
Under the overall guidance of the Country Representative and the direct supervision of the Head of Women’s Economic Empowerment/Feminist Economist, the National Project Coordinator, Affirmative Finance, is responsible for providing strategic, programmatic and technical leadership for the implementation, coordination, monitoring and positioning of the project in Senegal. The National Project Coordinator serves as the technical focal point on women’s entrepreneurship, financial inclusion, and affirmative finance. The incumbent works closely with the Regional Feminist Economist, programme and operations teams in the Country Office, implementing partners, government institutions, financial institutions, donors, civil society organizations, private sector actors and feminist economists appointed in other UN Women country offices.
Scope of Work
The National Project Coordinator, Affirmative Finance, will provide strategic and programmatic leadership for the effective implementation, coordination and positioning of the Women’s Economic Empowerment through Affirmative Finance project in Senegal. The incumbent will be accountable for the following key functions and accountabilities.
Lead strategic programme implementation and ensure coherence of the Affirmative Finance project in Senegal
Provide strategic direction for the national component of the project, ensuring alignment with UN Women’s Strategic Plan, the Senegal Country Office programme priorities, the approved project document, annual workplan, budget and corporate standards.
Translate the project’s regional objectives into a coherent national implementation strategy that responds to the priorities of women entrepreneurs, women-led enterprises and national gender equality commitments.
Lead integrated annual and quarterly planning, budgeting and implementation processes, ensuring strategic prioritization, operational feasibility and timely delivery of results.
Anticipate implementation of risks and bottlenecks, propose strategic corrective actions, and ensure effective follow-up with the Country Office, Regional Office, and implementing partners.
Ensure that project implementation contributes to broader programmatic outcomes on women’s economic empowerment, financial inclusion, gender-responsive financing and inclusive private sector engagement
Guide coordination with national partners and other stakeholders
Provide high-level technical and programmatic advice to the Senegal Country Office, national institutions, financial institutions and partners on the integration of affirmative finance principles into policies, programmes, financial products and institutional practices.
Lead the design and positioning of gender-responsive and inclusive financing solutions tailored to women entrepreneurs and women-led small and medium enterprises.
Oversee strategic analyses of systemic barriers to finance, credit, collateral, markets and business development services, and translate evidence into actionable programmatic and policy recommendations.
Develop high-quality, evidence-based policy briefs, technical notes and analytical papers on gender-responsive and affirmative financing to inform policy dialogue, programme design, advocacy and stakeholder engagement.
Identify capacity development priorities and coordinate targeted technical assistance, training, mentoring and institutional strengthening initiatives for partners and women-led enterprises.
Ensure results-based management, strategic monitoring and programme accountability
Establish and maintain a robust results-based management framework to monitor implementation progress, financial delivery, risks, results, lessons learned and contribution to transformative outcomes.
Prepare high-quality analytical progress reports, donor reports, briefing notes, financial updates, and corporate reporting inputs that demonstrate strategic results, learning, and accountability.
Lead monitoring missions and strategic reviews, document findings and ensure follow-up on recommendations to improve programme quality, efficiency and impact.
Provide programmatic guidance to implementing partners on indicators, reporting requirements, risk management, documentation of results and evidence generation.
Strengthen strategic partnerships and coordination
Cultivate and sustain strategic partnerships with government institutions, financial institutions, private sector actors, women entrepreneurs’ networks, civil society organizations, donors and UN partners to advance gender-responsive financing and project scale-up.
Coordinate technical consultations, steering committee sessions, partner reviews and policy dialogue spaces to strengthen coherence, ownership, decision-making and collective accountability.
Represent the project in relevant inter-agency, national and regional coordination mechanisms on women’s economic empowerment, inclusive finance, and gender-responsive financing.
Identify opportunities for strategic partnerships, joint programming, resource mobilization, and policy influence to expand the reach and sustainability of project results.
Advance strategic resource mobilization, donor engagement and portfolio positioning
Support the Country Office in positioning affirmative finance as a catalytic, scalable and transformative area of work to advance women’s economic empowerment, financial inclusion and gender-responsive private sector engagement.
Identify and assess resource mobilization opportunities aligned with UN Women strategic priorities, national development priorities and emerging financing agendas, including partnerships with donors, international financial institutions, development finance institutions, private sector actors and UN partners.
Contribute to compelling concept notes, funding proposals, investment cases, donor briefs and partnership materials that demonstrate the project’s strategic relevance, results, innovation, value for money and potential for scale.
Provide evidence-based inputs to donor consultations, partnership dialogues and resource mobilization efforts, including analysis of financing gaps, catalytic investment opportunities and lessons emerging from implementation.
Contribute to the sustainability, visibility and expansion of the affirmative finance portfolio by documenting results, identifying entry points for strategic partnerships, and supporting follow-up with prospective partners.
Lead knowledge generation, advocacy and strategic communication on affirmative finance
Lead the generation and dissemination of knowledge products, good practices, lessons learned, evidence briefs, advocacy messages and communication materials on affirmative finance and women’s access to finance.
Document and communicate project results, innovations and evidence to inform policy dialogue, programme adaptation, advocacy, donor engagement and resource mobilization.
Contribute actively to UN Women communities of practice and regional learning platforms to share results, lessons and scalable approaches on women’s access to finance and economic empowerment.
Support high-level advocacy events, technical workshops, and learning initiatives that strengthen the visibility, influence, and transformative impact of the project.
The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organisation.
Supervisory/Managerial Responsibilities
The incumbent may provide programmatic coordination and technical guidance to consultants, technical experts, implementing partners and service providers engaged under the project.
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:
Excellent programme formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation skills;
Ability to develop detailed operational plans, budgets, and deliver on them;
Excellent knowledge of Results Based Management;
Ability to synthesize program performance data and produce analytical reports to inform management and strategic decision-making;
Excellent knowledge in Women Empowerment;
Ability to lead formulation of strategies and their implementation;
Strong networking skills;
Ability to negotiate and interact with donors, identify and analyze trends, opportunities and threats to fundraising.
Minimum Qualifications
Education and Certification
Master’s degree (Bac+5) in the following areas: Economics, Finance, Gender, International Development, Procurement or any other relevant area
Certification in Procurement, Gender, Financial Management, Project Management, Public Private
Partnerships would be considered an added advantage
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
At least five (5) years of progressively responsible experience in development programme or project implementation, coordination, monitoring and evaluation, donor reporting and capacity development is required.
Experience in public policy and strategy to support women’s entrepreneurship.
In-depth knowledge of gender/public procurement procedures and regulations in West and Central Africa;
Knowledge of and experience working with private sector affirmative sourcing and supply chain practices is desirable
Experience in leading and guiding personnel in an international setting is required.
Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and spreadsheet and database packages, experience in handling of web-based management systems is required.
Experience coordinating and liaising with government agencies and/or donors is desirable.
Experience working in the UN System is desirable.
Experience in the use of a modern web-based ERP System, preferably Oracle Cloud, is desirable.
Languages
Fluency in French and English is required.
Fluency in local languages is desirable.
Knowledge of another official UN language is desirable (Arabic, Chinese, Russian or Spanish).