UN Women: Policy Paper on Empowering Women Entrepreneurs through Digital Transformation and Strengthening Investment Partnerships, National Consultant, Homebased, Local post for the Nationals of Iraq

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. UN Women Iraq Country Office is developing a Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) programme aligned to the National Strategy for Iraqi Women (2023–2030) and Iraq's national priorities, with the UN Women Global WEE Strategy, the Surging Women’s Employment Initiative (SWEI) led by the Regional Office for the Arab States. In this context, the Ministry of Planning (MoP) has formally requested UN Women’s support to develop a policy paper on empowering women entrepreneurs through digital transformation and strengthening investment partnerships as structural drivers of women’s economic inclusion. Women’s participation in the Iraqi economy remains among the lowest globally, with female labour force participation at approximately 10.9 percent according to theWorld Bank Data Portal, 2025. Women face structural barriers including limited access to formal employment, concentration in informal sectors, restricted entry into digital and non-traditional industries, disproportionate unpaid care burdens, and constrained access to financing. Theevolving regional contextsince early 2026 has further intensified these pressures, with emerging signals of household economic stress and setbacks to national targets for women’s employment and entrepreneurship. At the same time, digital transformation, fintech, e-commerce, and renewable energy present new pathways for women’s economic participation if targeted policy action and investment are mobilized. The analysis will be further informed and validated through official Iraqi data sources, including statistics issued by the Ministry of Planning, the Central Statistical Organization, the Central Bank of Iraq, and relevant national administrative records. To develop this policy paper, UN Women Iraq seeks to engage a national consultant with expertise in women’s economic empowerment, digital economy policy, and investment analysis. Under the overall supervision of the UN Women Iraq Country Office Representative, the consultant will report to the UN Women Programme Specialist on Women’s Economic Empowerment, and will be supported by the Executive Associate, who will be the point of contact on the contract and payment issues. The consultant will work in close day to day collaboration with NDIW and MoP leadership, including through a dedicated steering committee. The Ministry of Planning, as the primary requesting entity and national counterpart, will provide technical oversight and co-validate all final outputs in partnership with UN Women. Description of Responsibilities/ Scope of Work The consultant will lead the research, analysis, and drafting of the policy paper on Empowering Women Entrepreneurs through Digital Transformation and Strengthening Investment Partnerships, under UN Women's guidance and through a national WEE steering committee comprising, inter alia of NDIW, MoP. The scope of work is organized as follows: 1.   Inception and Workplan• Develop an inception note presenting the proposed methodology, analytical framework, and detailed workplan with milestones, reflecting alignment with the National Strategy for Iraqi Women (2023–2030), the National Development Plan (2024–2028), the government programme, the National Population Policy (women's axis), the MoP request, the SWEI framework, and UN Women's WEE programming priorities for Iraq. 2.   Situational Analysis and Evidence Review • Compile and synthesize evidence on women's entrepreneurship landscape in Iraq, including participation in digital and technology-enabled sectors, access to financing and investment, and the enabling environment for women-led businesses.• Analyze the regulatory and market constraints specific to women entrepreneurs in the digital economy, including financial inclusion, business registration, access to capital, and investment frameworks.• Building on existing regional analysis produced by UN-Women, analyze how the regional crisis context since early 2026 is affecting investments, including risks to entrepreneurship, and setbacks to formal sector inclusion.• Prioritize official Iraqi data sources throughout, including statistics issued by the Ministry of Planning, the Central Statistical Organization, the Central Bank of Iraq, and relevant national administrative records. International data sources may be used supplementarily where national data is unavailable. 3.   Mapping of Investment and Partnership Mechanisms• Map existing and emerging investment and financing mechanisms relevant to WEE, including government-led instruments, private sector partnerships, donor-funded programmes relevant to digital transformation, and regional investment frameworks Iraq could leverage. • Identify entry points for incorporating investment principles that advance equality between women and men into existing mechanisms, with a focus on women entrepreneurs, and recommend partnership models that can channel resources toward women's entrepreneurship and employment at scale, including through public and private sector partnerships and financial institutions. 4.   Stakeholder Engagement• Guided by MoP and NDIW, conduct structured consultations with MoP (primary requester), NDIW, the Central Bank of Iraq, and the Central Statistical Organization (for official national data and statistics), relevant line ministries (Labour, Economy and Trade, Communications, Education, Finance), private sector actors including Women Entrepreneurs/ cooperatives associations, and UN agencies including ILO, UNDP, and ITU.• Prepare meeting notes, summaries, and follow-up actions from consultations. 5.   Policy Paper Development• Lead the drafting of the full policy paper on Empowering Women Entrepreneurs through Digital Transformation and Strengthening Investment Partnerships, analyzing women’s participation in digital and technology-enabled sectors, mapping investment mechanisms, and developing actionable and targeted policy and programme recommendations. (which should be prioritized and sequenced (short, medium and long term)• Ensure alignment with the National Strategy for Iraqi Women (2023–2030), the National Development Plan (2024–2028), the government programme, SWEI, and the UN Women Global WEE Strategy (2024–2030), and the UNSDCF, and incorporate investment principles that advance equality between women and men throughout. 6.   Policy Brief and Validation Workshop Support• Develop a policy brief (maximum 8 pages (including one page for the executive summary and the key recommendations) summarizing key findings and recommendations. Support the organization and facilitation of a validation workshop with MoP, NDIW, the Prime Minister’s Office, and relevant line ministries, including preparation of presentation materials and a workshop report. Deliverables Deliverables | Expected completion time (due day) | Payment Schedule Inception note(including stakeholder mapping) presenting methodology, analytical framework, and workplan | 18 October 2026 | 10% Situational analysis and investment mapping report, including stakeholder consultation notes in Annex along with data sources and bibliography | 5 November 2026 | 20% First draft of the policy paper submitted to UN Women for review and comment | 15 November 2026 | 30% Final policy paper incorporating UN Women and stakeholder feedback, and support to validation workshop, including presentation materials and workshop report | 1 December 2026 | 40% Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel This is a home-based consultancy. The consultant is expected to travel to Baghdad for the validation workshop and key stakeholder consultations. Travel costs, where applicable, will b