Knowledge Management Expert, Homebased, International Consultant,
Remote | Istanbul
- Organization: UNWOMEN - United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women
- Location: Remote | Istanbul
- Grade: Consultancy - International Consultant - Internationally recruited Contractors Agreement
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Occupational Groups:
- Education, Learning and Training
- Closing Date: 2025-04-11
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. Placing women’s rights at the center of its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates UN system initiatives to ensure global commitments to gender equality are translated into concrete actions. It provides strong and coherent leadership while supporting Member States' priorities and fostering effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.
In line with UN Women’s Planning, Monitoring, and Reporting (PMR) Policy, Regional Offices are required to develop coherent and forward-looking Strategic Notes (SNs) aligned with the organization’s triple mandate, the UN Women Strategic Plan (SP), and Results-Based Management (RBM) principles of accountability, inclusiveness, adaptive management, and learning. The SN must be informed by comprehensive regional context analysis, independent assessments, audits, evaluations, and stakeholder consultations to ensure its relevance and effectiveness.
The UN Women Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia (ECARO) provides integrated policy advice, technical assistance, and capacity development support to country offices across 12 countries and territories in three subregions: Western Balkans and Turkey, Eastern Europe and South Caucasus, and Central Asia. ECARO also serves as a member of UN Country Teams in five countries where it operates as a Non-Resident Agency (NRA).
The current four-year SN (2022–2025) provides a strategic framework for advancing gender equality and empowering all women and girls in the region. Guided by the corporate SP, it focuses on key areas such as:
Women’s leadership and political participation
Women’s economic empowerment
Elimination of violence against women and girls
Peace and security
Humanitarian action
Support to intergovernmental processes
In 2025, ECARO will develop its new SN for 2026–2029, aiming to deliver high-impact results in the final years of the SDGs. This SN will integrate systems thinking and forward-looking analysis to anticipate challenges and leverage emerging opportunities. The ongoing evaluation of the current SN, launching in February 2024, will provide critical
data, evidence, and lessons learned to inform the next strategic cycle. The new SN will be based on extensive consultations with regional stakeholders and partners, including UNECE Member States, development partners, civil society and women’s rights organizations, youth leaders, private sector partners and the UN system.
Knowledge Management (KM) has been identified as a key priority for the new ECARO Regional Strategic Note (2026-2029). A structured and well-integrated KM Plan will be developed to support the implementation of the SN, drawing on existing functional reviews, learning needs assessments, reports, the Regional evaluation of UN Women’s support for capacity development of partners to respond to the needs of women and girls in Europe and Central Asia, and other assessments. This plan will ensure that critical data, institutional knowledge, programmatic insights, and evidence-based learning are effectively documented, shared, and applied to enhance policy influence, advocacy, and program implementation.
As a regional office, ECARO serves as a hub for gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE) knowledge in the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region. The KM Plan will ensure that internal and external ECARO’s knowledge assets are systematically organized, accessible, and utilized—by Country Offices (COs) and by UN agencies, governments, civil society organizations (CSOs), academia, and the private sector.
Building upon UN Women’s 2018-2021 Knowledge Management Strategy, this assignment presents an opportunity to modernize and streamline KM approaches by integrating best practices from other UN agencies and organizations.
UN Women ECARO seeks an International Consultant with extensive experience in knowledge management, learning, and digital knowledge-sharing platforms to facilitate the development of an innovative, user-friendly, and efficient KM system that aligns with the corporate standards and regional strategic priorities.
II. Consultancy Assignment
Under the direct supervision of the ECARO Strategic Planning and Knowledge Management Specialist, and in coordination with ECARO KM Task Force, the Knowledge Management Expert will support UN Women ECARO in designing a structured and innovative KM system that:
Maps existing knowledge resources, data repositories, and thematic knowledge-sharing mechanisms at CO and RO levels.
Integrates KM into the new ECARO SN (2026-2029), aligning it with the UN Women Strategic Plan and ECARO’s priorities.
Standardizes and streamlines KM services provided by the Regional Office (RO) for Country Offices (COs) and external stakeholders, ensuring effective measurement of knowledge generation, dissemination, and application.
Enhances knowledge repository infrastructure, including digital platforms (e.g., SharePoint, Teams, Viva Engage).
Ensures synergies between thematic areas and Communities of Practice (CoPs) to foster cross-learning and collaboration.
III. Scope of Work: Consultant for Strategic Note Development
1. Mapping Existing Knowledge Resources, Data Repositories, and Thematic Knowledge-Sharing Mechanisms
Conduct a desk review of UN Women’s corporate KM strategies, functional reviews, audits, and assessments related to knowledge management, learning, and data systems.
Review KM strategies of other UN agencies and organizations to identify best practices, gaps, and recommendations.
Conduct a mapping exercise of:
Thematic CoPs, including their work plans, reports, membership, and knowledge-sharing platforms.
Existing KM repositories at COs and the RO.
Expert rosters across thematic areas.
Stakeholder engagement mechanisms for knowledge exchange.
South-South and Triangular cooperation initiatives on knowledge exchange.
Based on the analysis of findings, including ECARO functional review 2023, hold consultations with ECARO thematic teams, the ECALearn Team, and selected COs to identify KM priorities, service lines, and methods to position UN Women as a GEWE knowledge hub at the regional and country levels and support evidence-based policy advocacy and programmatic decision-making.
2. Development of the ECARO Knowledge Management Plan
Develop a comprehensive KM Plan, aligned with ECARO SN thematic priorities, positioning ECARO as a Knowledge Hub for GEWE. The plan should include:
Strategic KM priorities and a structured and streamlined learning and knowledge-sharing mechanism within the RO and COs.
An external-facing KM approach to facilitate engagement with UN agencies, academia, feministic think thanks, CSOs, and development partners.
Knowledge trajectories for each SN priority area, with clear annual results and structured peer-learning exchanges.
A curated plan for developing and disseminating knowledge products.
Thematic expert rosters for knowledge exchange and capacity-building.
KM performance indicators and metrics to assess knowledge generation, dissemination, and application.
Institutional knowledge retention mechanisms to ensure efficient onboarding of new staff.
Terms of Reference (ToR) for a regional KM Board to oversee the implementation of the ECARO KM Plan and provide quality assurance.
Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for CoP-branded engagements, flagship event organization, and KP production.
3. Strengthening internal knowledge sharing and digital platforms
Develop a structured, user-friendly internal KM system with:
Centralized repositories on SharePoint and Teams for knowledge assets, reports, and datasets.
Viva Engage channel as an interactive knowledge-sharing platform for internal and external engagement.
Improved searchability and tagging of knowledge resources.
Develop a taxonomy and categorization system to organize ECARO’s knowledge assets efficiently.
4. Strengthen capacity of COs on KM
Based on the review of existing CO KM documents, conduct webinar on KM for COs.
Provide recommendations to SN-developing COs to inform their SN 2026-2029.
Create a repository of learning materials on KM best practices.
IV. List of Key Reference Documents
The following documents will be provided by UN Women to the consultant for the assignment (including but not limited to):
UN Women KM Strategy 2018-2021
ECARO KM Plan
Documentation (reviews, assessments, reports, evaluations) related to the UN Women KM processes.
Deliverables
|
Deliverable |
Expected completion time (due day) |
Payment Schedule |
|
Deliverable 1: Inception Report (review of corporate KM strategies, functional audits, and relevant documents) |
By 15 April 2025 3 working days |
1 April – 15 April 2025 |
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Deliverable 2: Draft ECARO KM Plan (including KM priorities, structured mechanisms, and engagement approaches and templates) |
By 15 May 2025 11 working days |
15 April – 15 May 2025 |
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Deliverable 3: Digital Platform Enhancement (SharePoint, Teams, etc) |
By 1 June 2025 5 working days |
15 May – 1 June 2025 |
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Deliverable 4: Capacity Development Support for ECARO and COs (webinars, guidelines, knowledge-sharing materials) |
By 1 October 2025 9 working days |
1 June – 1 October 2025 |
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Deliverable 5: Final Report (consolidated KM package, recommendations, and lessons learned) |
By 1 November 2025 2 working days |
1 October – 1 November 2025 |
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TOTAL number of fee days |
30 |
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Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel
This is a home-based consultancy.
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 analytical, writing and synthesis skills;
Demonstrated experience in planning, results-based management and/or evaluation;
Demonstrate responsiveness, objectivity, organization and have a good methodology in carrying out the work;
Demonstrate an ability to produce quality results on time and to work under pressure;
Education and Certification:
Education:
A minimum Master’s degree in international relations, gender, sociology, business administration, economics, law or other related disciplines.
Experience:
Minimum 7 years of experience in knowledge management, organizational learning, or institutional knowledge strategy at the regional or global level.
Proven experience in developing KM strategies for development organizations.
Strong understanding of gender-responsive KM and GEWE frameworks.
Expertise in digital knowledge repositories and learning platforms (SharePoint, Teams, Viva Engage).
Experience in facilitating CoPs and thematic knowledge-sharing.
Strong analytical, facilitation, and communication skills.
Experience working with UN agencies is an asset.
Languages:
Fluency in English is required.
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.
Applications from non-qualifying applicants will most likely be discarded by the recruiting manager.