Gender & Inclusion Officer at Mercy Corps

Reference Number: ABV/PRO/2019/0016
Location: Abuja, Nigeria (With an estimated 40% travel to other program locations)
Position Status: Full-time, Field-based, and Regular.

Program / Department Summary

• This is a five-year United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded Community Initiative to Promote Peace (CIPP). The CIPP program aims to strengthen conflict prevention, mediation and early warning by facilitating community-led analysis and action to prevent, manage, and mitigate conflict and violent extremism.
• The program will work in twenty-four (24) high-risk local government areas in Benue, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kogi and Plateau states. Mercy Corps is seeking to recruit an experienced and exceptional individual to support the engagement of women, gender and social inclusion in the implementation of the Community Initiative to Promote Peace (CIPP).

General Position Summary

• The gender and inclusion officer will ensure an intentional approach to engaging women in peace-building work, and enable women and vulnerable groups to participate fully in peacebuilding activities, including negotiation mediation and community dialogues. 
• The Officer will provide necessary orientation and advise to all the implementing partners and agencies on gender and social inclusion issues and policies, and Engage with the partners in reviewing and providing necessary inputs on drafting necessary advocacy and policy briefs for women engagement in peace-building work;

Essential Job Responsibilities

• Coordinate with and support the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) team in establishing and implementing gender-sensitive monitoring, evaluation, learning and reporting systems.
• Work closely with the M&E Officer to develop the data collection and analysis tools for the baseline assessment to guarantee gender and social inclusion considerations.
• Conduct a local gender assessment at the start of the program with an integrated gender and social inclusion analysis, to inform how CIPP address needs in different States.
• Incorporate a Gender and Social Inclusion Integration Plan into the project’s Annual Implementation Plan based on gender assessment findings and updated annually based on M&E data and participant/partner feedback. Report against progress on this plan on a quarterly basis.
• Assist implementing partners to develop gender sensitive and gender responsive monitoring mechanism;
• Document lessons learned and best practices and communicate with Mercy country office and HQ to contribute to global knowledge on gender and social inclusion in relation to rule conflict and peacebuilding;
• Provide partner organizations with ongoing gender integration and social inclusion technical assistance.
• Ensure the most vulnerable and marginalized populations are represented across all CIPP program components, including as staff members, project participants, trainers, facilitators, speakers, evaluators, and so forth. Understanding that girls and women tend to experience more marginalization in conflict situations and peacebuilding work and increased vulnerability within these groups, emphasis will be placed on this population. Other types of marginalized populations may be identified through analysis.
• Ensure activities budgeted are able to equally benefit males and females and, in instances where this is not the case, provide a clear rationale that does not contradict the project’s gender equality goals.
• Integrate gender and social inclusion considerations into operational research design and policy analyses.
• Incorporate discussions and activities related to gender and social inclusion into facilitation plans when designing community dialogue sessions
• Provide necessary orientation and advise to all the implementing partners and agencies on  gender and social inclusion issues and policies;
• Contribute to the production of resource materials addressing the issues of women in peacebuilding
• Facilitate policy dialogue on women and conflicts, gender and social inclusion, sexual and gender-based violence, gender-sensitive transitional justice with government and other relevant stakeholders;
• Provide technical assistance to CIPP to ensure that gender and social inclusion is influencing the program’s planning and activities and budget;
• Engage with the partners in reviewing and providing necessary inputs on drafting necessary advocacy and policy briefs for women engagement in peace-building work;
• Build capacity of CSOs and government partners to plan and implement project activities on women peacebuilding, gender and social inclusion in conflict management programs;
• Collaborate with Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist to make sure that the impact measurements focus on women and other vulnerable groups;

Organizational Learning:

• As part of our commitment to organizational learning and in support of our understanding that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities they serve, we expect all team members to commit 5% of their time to learning activities that benefit Mercy Corps as well as themselves.

Accountability to Beneficiaries:

• Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically
• to our beneficiaries and to international standards guiding international relief and development work, while actively engaging beneficiary communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.
• Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and MC's policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.

Supervisory Responsibility

• Women Council Officers

Accountability:

• Reports Directly To: Deputy Chief of Party
• Works Directly With: Program officers, staff of partner organizations, Subgrant and Finance department, etc.

Knowledge and Experience

• University degree in Gender Studies, Sociology, conflicts, International Development or related field required.
• Minimum of Three (3) years of progressively responsible experience working on gender and social inclusion issues within community and civil society development programs, preferably with USAID or other U.S. Government programs.
• Excellent knowledge of gender and social inclusion issues in Nigeria including social, political, and cultural gender norms and challenges.
• Excellent knowledge of the status of vulnerable and marginalized populations within Nigeria and their engagement in social, political, and cultural realms.
• Experience designing, leading and conducting gender and social inclusion analyses, as well as integrating and implementing findings into program activities.
• Experience building capacity of local stakeholders on gender and social inclusion issues.
• Experience integrating social inclusion in community participatory engagement or advocacy preferred.
• Demonstrated leadership, supervisory and organizational skills.
• Experience engaging local stakeholders, including CSOs, political leaders, and other local and national government leaders in gender and social inclusion initiatives.
• High level of interpersonal and communication skills.
• Ability to work well in a team environment, as well as work effectively with civil society organizations, donors, project staff, and other beneficiaries.

Success Factors:

• The successful Gender and Inclusion Officer will combine exceptional implementation skills and technical skills with a focus on innovative interventions to bring communities together.
• An ideal candidate will be conversant with the challenges inherent in peacebuilding, gender inclusion and will be a self-starter who has led grassroots development efforts.
• He/she will have an outstanding ability to support innovative programs within the current and future program structure of Mercy Corps in Nigeria. Multi-tasking, prioritizing, problem-solving and simultaneous attention to detail and strategic vision are essential.
• The candidate must have excellent attention to detail.

Living /Environmental Conditions:

• The position is based in the capital city Abuja with regular travel to other parts of Nigeria. The location is accompanied and generally secure. Housing, health care, water, electricity and consumer goods are all reasonably accessible and there are good international and domestic travel options from Abuja Airport. Air travel is necessary to get to some field locations. Mobile phones services are widely available. Internet is available in all Mercy Corps offices with some inconsistencies in the most remote sites.
• There is a wide variety of schools with different education philosophies and curriculum (British, American, French, and German to name the few). This position requires 40% travel by road and air to field offices that are located in highly insecure locations.
• Mercy Corps team members represent the agency both during and outside work hours when deployed in a field posting or on short-term assignments. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and Mercy Corps' policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.
• Fostering a diverse and open workplace is an important part of Mercy Corps’ vision. Mercy Corps is an Equal Opportunity Employer regardless of background. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment. Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions The position is based in Abuja and it requires up to 40% travel to field offices.