Multi-Country Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) Expert at SNV

Job Description

As part of the Programme Team, the GESI Expert will be expected to lead development of a GESI action plan for both practical and strategic GESI ambitions for the programme, build partner capacity, work with and empower a wide selection of partners. Knowledge of gender and other excluded groups, socio-economic and conflict dynamics in different geographic locations across the Sahel will be essential.

The GESI Expert will play a critical role in mainstreaming GESI considerations at all levels and in all components of the project considering power differences and will be responsible for materializing the three components of the GESI approach -namely improving access to public decision making, women and youth entrepreneurship and recognizing and understanding the dynamics of specific group exclusion.

The GESI Expert will work alongside SNV Global GESI and Sector teams to understand issues, such as how gender inequality and social exclusion of specific groups impact access and availability to Soil Fertility. S/he will provide advice and product design on how these can be addressed in practical terms, working with multi-tiered government, partners, and local stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities :

Gender Equality

• Initiate and lead an advanced analysis of the target areas with a view to identifying gender norms and the root causes of existing inequalities among male and female farmers and pastoralists regarding their access to / control over natural resources, land tenure, inputs, market, marketing with respect to soil fertility.
• Develop and steer the execution of an implementation strategy and, define robust processes and standardize procedures to address the negative influence of social norms that limit access to/control over productive resources by specific groups.
• Identify capacity-building needs in terms of gender equality at all levels of the project team and propose capacity-building modalities to be applied;
• Lead the production of new training modules required for capacity building, including power, equality, unconscious bias, positive masculinity, and female leadership.
• Monitor and analyze gender equality indicators and all gender-age disaggregated project indicators.

Social Inclusion :

• Initiate and pilot an advanced analysis of target areas with a view to identifying potential social divisions, factors and policies that may lead to social exclusion and conflict, while paying attention to unifying elements that can be exploited to strengthen social inclusion and conflict prevention, which will be central to project implementation.
• Establish solid processes and standardize procedures for a systemic analysis of social exclusion and conflicts specifically involving women, young people, people living with disabilities and pastoralist within the framework of the project;
• Ensure the integration of social inclusion and conflict-sensitive approaches into the strategic planning, programming and implementation of project operations;
• Contribute to the development and implementation of a social inclusion and conflict-sensitive planning, monitoring and evaluation system for the project;
• Train and coach project staff in order to sustainably integrate the "Do no Harm" principles into project implementation;
• Ensure that SNV and consortium partners adhere to best practice and donor standards for social inclusion and conflict sensitivity reporting;
• Contribute to the development of knowledge on social inclusion and conflict sensitivity in the Sahel and Northern Nigeria.

Qualifications

• University Degree, preferably Masters level, in the field of development, gender, economics, social sciences, or related studies;
• At least 5 years and above experience in providing technical assistance in Gender Equality, Social Inclusion, Conflict sensitivity, Community Engagement and Accountability in Agrifood projects;
• Experience managing teams delivering high quality programmes and developing and implementing programme workplans;
• Strong understanding of the local context, politics and GESI dynamics in the Sahel and Northern regions of Nigeria
• Proven experience in developing training modules and conducting training;
• Experience in GESI project monitoring and evaluation;
• Experience of working at local level: with elected representatives and grassroots associations, etc.
• Fluency in French and English essential
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in both English and French.

Essential skills

• Proven ability to build strong collaborative, coaching and capacity-building relationships in a cross-cultural setting;
• Clear, tactful and sensitive communication, networking and interpersonal skills to interact with different social and cultural backgrounds;
• Ability to work independently and as part of the team, and work effectively with co-workers, partner agencies and the private sector.
• Ability to travel frequently to the project operational areas – approx. 50%
• Excellent report writing, research, editing and oral presentation skills;
• Effective planning, autonomy, prioritization, time management and organizational skills;
• Capacity and strategy for empowering local stakeholders;
• Computer proficiency is required.