Program Officer - Gender Mainstreaming and Inclusion at Public and Private Development Centre (PPDC)

Overall purpose 

Under the supervision of the PPDC Head of Programs, the Programme Officer GMI – will lead the integration of gender sensitive programming elements in core and project level work plans and during implementation of PPDC programming. The Program Officer will undertake substantive duties and responsibilities at the national and sub-national levels that are focused on developing and implementing initiatives, projects and activities in the areas of gender and inclusion in public procurement, public administration reform and public sector capacity development and any other relevant activities within PPDC as assigned. The Programme Officer should be able to look at gender and social inclusion in governance and transparency change space on a macro level and translate insights into local initiatives that are actionable and impactful and will work as part of the program team developing and implementing a range of programmatic activities under the governance, equity and inclusion portfolio.

Currently, the Programme officer will be responsible for ensuring gender and social inclusion approaches and principles in the implementation of approved activities of PPDC’s projects, namely in the field of fiscal transparency, accountability and governance, public procurement, public administration reform and public sector capacity development. 

The Programme officer will be responsible for contributing to the identification, formulation, implementation and monitoring of gender focused programmes. He will ensure effective gender friendly policy dialogues with Government institutions, and cooperation and coordination with all stakeholders in the field of fiscal transparency, accountability and governance.

The Programme officer will also support the implementation of other relevant actions managed by the PPDC Program Governance Section.

Primary Duties and Functions (90%): 

• Design and deliver realistic and pragmatic strategies and programming interventions to ensure the promotion of gender equality, disability equity, women’s empowerment, and inclusion of under-represented groups that will lead to positive gender equity and social inclusion outcomes, including by strengthening existing tools, frameworks, methodologies, and resources.

• Oversee implementation of the program’s Gender Action Plan and Social Safeguards Implementation Plan, and facilitate processes for establishing and gathering gender and social inclusion best practices in order to learn from and strengthen activities and ensure that gender and social inclusion is incorporated into programming and planning.

• Support and participate in the process of preparation and implementation of the annual results based work plans and result frameworks, tracking project deliverables and monitoring project delivery as endorsed by the PPDC management;

• Monitor and track key developments in public space, and advise PPDC programs team accordingly to promote broader debate and advocacy among key policy actors on gender implications for programming.

• Support strategic engagements for advancing program and advocacy agenda of PPDC’s program directions, using research, independent analysis of basic service policies, budgets and related issues; to monitor government actions on gender issues.

• Provide direct technical expertise, such as gender assessments; design and presentation of training on gender integration and related topics; research and capacity-building activities on gender topics; etc.

• When needed, assist the technical team, field teams, as well as the monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) team to develop, track, and report against gender indicators and disaggregate data by gender to analyze results.

• Support the delivery of the ongoing projects – including PPDC’s Public Procurement Governance Project, implemented by PPDC. The Officer will lead strategic engagement to advance PPDC’s workstream such public procurement governance as well as other policy and budget advocacy:

• Produce project updates, reports etc. when required such as Daily completion and submission of online work status reports

• Promote broader public participation, debate and transparency in public procurement, budget and policy engagement at different levels.

• Prepare and lead all pre-budget planning engagements and meetings to share and influence gender planning with key government agencies at both National and Sub-national levels.

• Support strategic engagements on gender responsive procurement (GRP) with the Bureau of Public Procurement and other government related government institutions/ministries.

• Actively participate in key gender focused coalitions as may be relevant for PPDC’s workstream.

• Collaborate more broadly with the team to identify strategic areas of funding that create the most impact, and submit proposals for new support initiatives.

• Design and provide training, as well as technical support and advice to National Office and field project staff with respect to gender, disability, and social inclusion activities.

• Support the preparation of communications materials that highlight PPDC’s gender, disability, and social inclusion programming, successes and lessons learned.

• Participates in external events, panels and thought leadership as needed.

General Responsibilities (10%)

• Successfully implement above responsibilities and assigned activities (and associated budgets) in work plans, consistent with PPDC Policies

• Contribute effectively to planning, monitoring and reporting of PPDC’s work

• Implement and foster adherence to the established PPDC’s policies, regulations, guidelines and procedures.

• Participate actively in organization wide learning and other joint activities.

• Undertake any other lawful tasks as may be assigned by the Supervisor

Corporate Competencies: 

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the PPDC’s values and ethical standards;  

• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of PPDC;  

• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;  

• Treats all people fairly without favoritism. 

Functional Competencies:  

Knowledge Management and Learning  

• Promotes a knowledge sharing and learning culture in the office;  

• In-depth knowledge on development issues;  

• Ability to advocate and provide policy advice;  

• Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development in one or more practice areas, acts on learning plans and applies newly acquired skills.  

Development and Operational Effectiveness 

• Ability to lead strategic planning, results-based management and reporting;  

• Ability to lead formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development programmes and projects, mobilize resources;  

• Good knowledge of the Results Management Guide and Toolkit;  

• Strong IT skills;  

• Ability to lead implementation of new systems (business side), and demonstrate staff behavioral / attitudinal change.  

Management and Leadership  

• Focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback;  

• Leads teams effectively and shows conflict resolution skills;  

• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;  

• Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills;  

• Builds strong relationships with clients and external actors;  

• Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure;  

• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities;

Qualifications and Skills

• Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) in social sciences, political science and/or law or any other relevant field.

• Minimum of 4 years’ relevant work experience in the development sector and/or public sector, preferably in gender advocacy and inclusion, governance issues dealing with government agencies, parliament, political parties and/or civil society.

• Demonstrated interest and/or experience with good governance issues focused on gender advocacy and public integrity.

• Proven track record of effective interactions with all levels of staff, policymakers, political and civic leaders, and government personnel.

• Exceptional analytical skills and ability to apply political analysis to programmatic activities

• Proven ability to adjust programmatic activities in response to changing political circumstances and/or partner/stakeholder needs.

• Fluency in written and spoken English

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills and ability to establish effective working relationships.

• Basic computer package proficiency and internet research skills.