Principal Education & Gender Officer at African Development Bank - AfDB

Reference: ADB/19/072
Location: Côte d’Ivoire
Grade: PL4
Position N°: 50071526

The Complex

• The Vice Presidency for ‘Agriculture, Human, and Social Development’ is a Sector Complex focusing on the Bank’s Ten Year Strategy High 5s priority of “Feed Africa” and “Improve Quality of Life for the People of Africa”.
• The complex objectives are; (i) to develop, policy and strategy; (ii) provide deep sector expertise to the Regions by gathering pools of experienced individuals who can be consulted to provide sector expertise on complex transactions; (iii) develop new financing instruments; (iv) the Vice President will act as the spokesperson to represent the Bank with external stakeholders on aspects of “Feed Africa” and “Improve Quality of Life for the People of Africa”.

The Hiring Department/Division

• The Human Capital, Youth and Skills Development Department, within the Agriculture, Human and Social Development Complex will spearhead the achievement of the High 5s on “Improving the Quality of Life of People in Africa” and contribute to the other High 5s. The Department has two divisions (i) Education, Human Capital and Employment Division, which focuses on scaling-up of Bank’s support to education, human capital and employment/livelihoods; and (ii) Public Health, Security and Nutrition Division focusing on strengthening health systems and nutrition for human wellbeing. It also hosts various pertinent initiatives and trust funds. Education and skills training for development and gender analysis are central to the Department’s approach to strengthen the Bank’s role in helping the RMCs build the human capital they need for economic transformation in the context of globalization and the Fourth industrial revolution.
• The Education, Human Capital and Employment Division focuses on human capital development, skills training, employment creation and empowerment, poverty reduction for improved and sustainable wellbeing and livelihoods. The Division:
• Leads the development and promotion of Bank’s policy and strategy work so that operations which are identified, developed and executed by the regional hubs effectively implement the Bank’s relevant sector policies and strategies;
• Provides technical guidance/advisory services and expertise to regional hubs by generating relevant knowledge and gathering a pool of experienced individuals who can be consulted to provide technical advice on complex transactions (Communities of Practice);
• Fosters strategic partnerships with regional and global partners to leverage resources into the human and social development sectors. It also directly contributes to the work of the various initiatives and trust funds hosted under the Human Capital, Youth and Skills Development Department; and provides expertise to support Vice President’s role as the Bank’s spokesperson to external audiences, and;
• Ensures coherence of the Bank’s action in human and social development across regions.

The Position

• The Division will lead the Bank’s agenda on Education, Human Capital and Employment. It will promote activities related to improving the demand responsiveness of the education & training system to the skills needs of the labour market and for job creation on the continent.
• Specifically, activities focusing on improving, post-basic, technical and vocational training, tertiary education, science and technology as well as gender issues in education will be undertaken.

In this context the main objectives of the Principal Education & Gender Specialist will be to:

• Lead knowledge work regarding gender analysis in education and skills training for Human capital development in the productive sectors;
• Provide documented strategic advice to Management on gender integration in education and skills training across the AHVP and various complex aligned with the High 5 within the bank;
• Contribute to the preparation of gender responsive policies and strategies pertinent to education gender and skills training for development especially bringing the assets from the private sectors;
• Support the design, monitoring and supervision of Non-sovereign and complex operations to address gender, education and skills training for productive sectors.

Duties and Responsibilities
Under the supervision of the Division Manager Education, Human Capital and Employment and working closely with internal and external stakeholders, the Principal Education and Gender Specialist will performs the following:

Leading the integration of gender in the Education and skills training and across the department:

• Provide leadership and support in integrating gender in the education sector as well as other relevant sectors and portfolio teams in processing and supervising programmes including NSO
• Work with Task managers and regional teams to design and implement sector, development support programmes that are gender inclusive and to ensure project documents prepared by the Division adequately address gender issues.
• Participate and collaborate with other staff in operational missions and drafting of project documents in order to promote the implementation of the Bank’s education sector specifically in terms of the gender aspects and enhance the level of gender analysis of programmes within the division and at departmental level.
• Prepare project appraisal reports that are gender responsive for presentation to the department, review committees senior management and to the board of directors.
• Develop and champion the implementation of gender oriented educational responsive monitoring tools for human capital development interventions
• Lead the Human capital department’s coordination mechanism on education, especially gender issues.

Supporting education and human capital partnerships at international and regional level to enhance education and gender development for economic transformation. This will include:

• Leading the development of strategic partnerships (including public private partnerships with the productive sectors) in education and gender around the core areas of TVET, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), STI and the leveraging of digital technology.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with private sector institutions, multilateral/bilateral partners, and government institutions to develop strong pipeline gender responsive education investment opportunities.
• Providing technical leadership, support to knowledge and lesson sharing approaches and events with internal and external stakeholders.
• Monitoring project progress with a gender lense through field visit/desk review and prepare relevant reports (including, inter-alia, the quarterly Portfolio Status Report (PSR) and Project Completion Reports (XSR / PCR) for submission to Senior Management as periodic updates on implementation progress.
• Representing the Bank at technical meetings on education and gender on developmental issues. Liaising with and supporting the interventions under education and gender

Knowledge management and sharing:

• Lead knowledge work regarding gender analysis in education and skills training for human capital development in the productive sector
• Play a leading role in knowledge sharing with the Bank’s clients, staff and development partners especially on education and gender.
• Provide guidance and lead the preparation of gender responsive policy and strategy documents on education and skills training for economic development.
• Provide peer review to other colleagues to share gender in education knowledge and information on respective sector.
• Leading study and capacity building interventions in education and gender.
• Periodically disseminating key information on gender education and skills training to sensitize Bank staff.
• Perform other duties as assigned by the supervisor.

Selection Criteria
Including desirable skills, knowledge and experience:

• Hold at least a Master's degree or its equivalent in Education and gender with a good knowledge of quantitative and qualitative gender analysis as well as policy issues determining skills development for economic transformation;
• Have a minimum of six (6) years of relevant professional experience in the areas of education and gender;
• Ability to understand complex problems in Education, gender and human development, to identify key issues and recommend pragmatic solutions;
• Good knowledge of the education systems, gender and development issues in Africa;
• Strong analytical and gender analysis skills, deliver briefs and reports using both quantitative and qualitative information;
• Strong understanding and grasp of multi-sector approaches of education, gender and skills development, partnerships in Africa, as well as professional ability to build partnerships and deliver services that meet both immediate needs and long-term interests of clients within and outside the institution;
• Ability to provide leadership and support in integrating gender in the education sector as well as other relevant sectors and portfolio teams in processing and supervising programmes including NSO
• Ability to innovative and integrate gender, education and skills training through the other sectors;
• Ability to engage, support and motivate others to implement efficient ways of doing things;
• Ability to deliver high quality work within very tight deadlines;
• Ability to communicate and write effectively in French or English, with a good working knowledge of the other language;
• Competence in the use of standard Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, Access, and PowerPoint), knowledge of SAP is desirable.