The posting
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.
The Strategic Partnerships Division leads and coordinates UN Women’s strategic partnership and resource mobilization efforts, supporting the organization to diversify and grow its funding base and build sustained partnerships that advance delivery of the Strategic Plan 2026–2029.
UN Women has developed a Strategy on Partnerships with Institutional Philanthropic Foundations 2026–2029 to strengthen and systematize its engagement with foundations and the broader institutional philanthropy ecosystem. It establishes five mutually reinforcing priorities: sharper and more fundable offers aligned with the Strategic Plan; a coherent One UN Women pathway with clear account ownership and handoffs; improved agreement and operational stewardship with proportionate safeguards; stronger co-creation readiness and scalable programme pathways; and integrated communications, advocacy, visibility and learning as part of disciplined relationship management.
Reporting to the Director, Strategic Partnerships Division, the Foundations and Institutional Philanthropy Advisor provides senior-level organization-wide leadership for implementation of the Strategy and serves as UN Women’s organizational convenor and principal advisor for this portfolio. The Advisor sets portfolio priorities, establishes account-management standards, guides portfolio governance and corrective action, cultivates and stewards high-value relationships, advances strategic funding opportunities, coordinates institutional support across Headquarters, Regional, Country and Liaison Offices and National Committees, and strengthens the systems, capabilities and accountability required to secure more structured, sustained and scalable partnerships with institutional philanthropic foundations.
Key Functions and Accountabilities:
- Lead implementation of the Institutional Foundations and Philanthropies Strategy
- Provide strategic leadership for implementation of the Strategy on Partnerships with Institutional Philanthropic Foundations 2026–2029, translating priorities into workplans, targets, governance arrangements and accountabilities.
- Advise senior leadership on philanthropic market trends, portfolio choices, institutional positioning, investment needs, risks and opportunities for growth.
- Set and periodically adjust organization-wide portfolio priorities, sequencing and resource-allocation recommendations, and advise senior management on corrective action where performance, risk or accountability issues require intervention.
- Establish and monitor portfolio performance indicators covering pipeline quality, conversion, funding mobilized, renewal, partnership duration, funding flexibility, diversification and partner engagement.
- Lead periodic portfolio reviews with relevant organizational units and senior management, identifying bottlenecks, underperformance and corrective actions required to improve conversion, renewal, stewardship and partner confidence.
2. Develop and manage a strategic portfolio for priority institutional relationships
- Build, qualify and manage a diversified global pipeline of institutional foundations and philanthropic actors, using evidence and market intelligence to prioritize high-potential opportunities.
- Maintain disciplined account planning, relationship intelligence, forecasting and portfolio review routines, including clear ownership, next actions and escalation pathways.
- Establish and monitor minimum account-management standards, including account strategies, decision points, partner engagement protocols, documentation, quality assurance and escalation triggers.
3. Cultivate strategic partnerships and mobilize resources
- Originate, cultivate, negotiate and steward high-value, priority institutional partnerships, with emphasis on multi-year, flexible and scalable funding.
- Develop tailored engagement strategies for priority accounts and coordinate outreach, senior leadership engagement, partner meetings and follow-up across the partnership lifecycle.
- Provide substantive support to resolve or escalate competing approaches, unclear account ownership and coordination bottlenecks that could affect priority foundation relationships or institutional credibility.
- Represent UN Women in relevant philanthropic forums, networks and strategic engagements and strengthen the organization's positioning with the institutional philanthropy community.
4. Shape fundable offers and strengthen institutional readiness
- Develop tailored engagement strategies for priority accounts and coordinate outreach, partner meetings, senior leadership engagement, follow up and stewardship across the partnership lifecycle.
- Identify high-priority opportunities for philanthropic co-creation and support their progression from early-stage opportunity through investable proposition, programme development, evidence generation and potential scale.
- Lead the development and refinement of a focused set of foundation-facing offers aligned with the Strategic Plan, partner priorities and scalable programme pathways.
- Convene programme, policy, technical, results, finance, legal, communications and geographic teams to prepare credible, costed, and partner-ready propositions, materials and co-creation workflows.
5. Strengthen engagement pathways as well as institutional learning and capacity
- Establish and oversee a coherent One UN Women engagement model across Headquarters, Regional, Country and Liaison Offices and National Committees, including coordinating account ownership and stewardship, decision rights, escalation mechanisms, support from enabling functions and senior leadership engagement.
- Integrate communications, advocacy, visibility, learning and proportionate partner communication into account plans and stewardship arrangements.
- Coordinate with relevant teams across UN Women to strengthen systems and business processes for prospecting, pipeline management, account planning, relationship intelligence and stewardship.
- Build the capacity of partnership personnel and relevant teams across UN Women through practical guidance, tools, coaching, communities of practice and targeted capacity development.
- Develop materials and resources to strengthen the organization's expertise, capacity and ability to translate programme priorities and technical expertise into compelling partnership opportunities.
6. The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organisation.
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:
- Strategic understanding of institutional philanthropy, partnership financing trends and their relevance to gender equality and international development.
- Ability to set portfolio priorities, exercise sound judgment and advise senior leadership on strategic choices, risks and corrective action.
- Ability to establish account-management standards, strengthen portfolio discipline and use evidence to improve conversion, stewardship and renewal.
- Strong representational, negotiation and influencing skills with senior external stakeholders and internal decision-makers.
- Ability to convene and guide multidisciplinary teams to develop fundable propositions and partner-ready engagement materials.
- Strong analytical, results-management and learning skills, including pipeline review, performance monitoring and risk management.
Recruitment Qualifications:
Education:
- Master’s degree or equivalent in international relations, public policy, development studies, business administration, philanthropy, social sciences or a related field is required.
- 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 10 years of progressively responsible experience in strategic partnerships, resource mobilization, philanthropy, programme development or a related field, including experience at the international level, is required.
- Experience developing, negotiating or managing significant partnerships and funding relationships with institutional foundations, philanthropic organizations, corporations and/or private sector is required.
- Experience advising senior management and coordinating complex partnership processes across organizational functions or decentralized offices is required.
- Experience leading innovative partnership or resource mobilization strategies, and managing strategic partnership pipelines or portfolios, including account planning, stewardship or renewal processes is required.
- Experience developing high-quality partner propositions and coordinating multidisciplinary co-creation or proposal-development processes is desirable.
- Experience in the United Nations system or a comparable international organization is desirable.
Language Requirements:
- Fluency in English is required.
- Knowledge of another official UN language is desirable (French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian or Spanish).
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.
