Director, Gender, Women and Civil Society Department at African Development Bank - AfDB

Position Number: 50092407
Location: Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
Position Grade: EL5

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 priorities of “Feed Africa” and “Improve Quality of Life for the People of Africa”.
• The complex objectives are:
  • To develop, policy and strategy;
  • Provide deep sector expertise to the Regions by gathering pool of experienced individuals who can be consulted to provide sector expertise on complex transactions;
  • Develop new financing instruments; and
  • 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

• Within the Complex, the Gender, Women and Civil Society Department is designed to improve coherence and coordination across Complexes on Gender and Civil Society engagement issues.
• he Department ensures strategic priorities are reflected in resources allocation, enhances monitoring and management of performance, and strengthens the focus on results. 
• The Department also houses a number of special initiatives including the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA), a flagship program of the Bank that aims to bridge the gender gap in access to finance and unleash women’s entrepreneurial capacity across the continent.

The Position

• Under the general supervision of the Vice President for Agriculture, Human and Social Development, the Director, Gender, Women and Civil Society Department is responsible for the strategic implementation of the department’s objectives and the delivery of operations related to financial inclusion.  

Key Functions

• Provide intellectual and strategic leadership to the Gender, Women and, Civil Society agenda for the Bank Group, working across technical, geographic and institutional boundaries to support the delivery of development solutions to a diverse range of clients
• Oversee the bank-wide implementation of the AFAWA initiative, in partnership with relevant internal and external partners with strong involvement in the design of financial tools and innovative methods to ensure financial inclusion
• Develop innovative and first-class financial tools in line with commercial banking norms to promote women access to financing opportunities and investments
• Build partnerships with internal and external stakeholders and engage at the senior-most levels to coordinate and mobilize resources to achieve the Bank Group’s strategic goals
• Lead the implementation of the Bank Group’s strategic framework on gender equality and women empowerment, ensuring the mainstreaming of gender across the Group’s portfolio from project design to implementation, including M&E mechanisms
• Lead the implementation of the Bank Group’s strategic framework on Civil Society engagement, to institutionalize strategic partnership with the sector from policy dialogue to project implementation
• Develop a pipeline of high impact research and Economic & Sector Work on Gender, Women and Civil society to support evidence-based policy dialogue and advisory services
• Coordinate the Bank Group’s relationships with external partners to enhance collaboration and share best practices on the gender equality, women empowerment through women entrepreneurship and financial access and civil society engagement agenda in Africa and the world
• Advise the Bank Group on emerging matters of strategic, policy and institutional significance related to the Gender, Women and Civil Society agenda across its activities

Competencies (Skills, Experience and Knowledge)

• A minimum of a Master's Degree in Gender, Economic Development, Business Administration, Management or other related disciplines
• Proven experience with commercial and/or investment banking system in Africa
• Have a minimum of ten (10) years of progressive experience in development in an international organization or similar institution in the financial services sector, commercial or investment banking, academia or civil society, with preferably five (5) years of experience at a managerial level
• A solid knowledge and good grasp of socio-economic and development issues in Africa
• Demonstrated ability to take prudent business risks, develop innovative approaches and make effective, timely and well-determined decisions
• Knowledge of the practices of major bilateral and multilateral partner development agencies in African countries or other developing countries.
• Experience coordinating or leading corporate assignments across institutional boundaries.
• Ability to network and build partnerships with a broad range of internal and external stakeholders.
• Demonstrated strong leadership qualities and operational track record of excellence in achieving results
• Ability to work independently, demonstrate creativity and innovation, and display a high level of integrity
• Proven leadership and team building skills and ability to work in a multicultural environment
• Ability to communicate effectively (written and oral) in English and French. Working knowledge of Arabic is an asset.
• Competence in the use of standard Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint); knowledge of SAP is desirable.