Gender and Youth Senior Specialist at TechnoServe

Job Summary

The Gender and Youth Senior Specialist will work closely with the entire program team in Nigeria and in coordination with the Global Gender and Youth Practice to support the delivery of gender and youth integration and empowerment activities of multiple projects in  the country office portfolio, including the PRAISE program and the SAY WEE project. This will include technical support to program staff, staff capacity development, direct management of gender and youth integration activities, support to monitoring, reporting, and knowledge management activities, participation in the Gender Champions Network, and overall support to advance TechnoServe’s Gender Equality Policy.

Primary Functions & Responsibilities

Key responsibilities will include:

• Develop the overall gender strategy for Nigeria.
• Provide technical oversight and technical assistance to a portfolio of activities across the PRAISE, SAY WEE and other programs.
• Conduct a Gender Analysis for PRAISE, SAY WEE and each of the projects, that will inform program design and implementation.
• Ensure that all projects in our country portfolio have gender action plans.
• Identify, develop, and support deployment of gender- and youth-responsive activities to meet the needs of clients. 
• Build local capacity for gender and youth integration, and facilitate gender and youth-related training for staff and partners.
• Support the development and adoption of gender and youth analysis tools including action plans which assist with the design and implementation of activities and continuously improve technical excellence. 
• Conduct assessments and facilitate meetings, as needed, with key stakeholders and clients to identify measures to improve inclusiveness, especially for women and youth within program interventions.
• Provide strategic guidance and counsel to program leadership and staff on gender and youth integration approaches, priorities and compatibility with program aims and resource constraints. 
• Support monitoring of gender and youth integration in activities and inclusion in program reports.
• Contribute to reporting on gender and youth-related topics.
• Support the development of key knowledge products (e.g., case studies, lessons-learned documents, etc.) that facilitate program development, program implementation, internal knowledge sharing, and support the behavioral change required to achieve the program’s key performance indicators (KPIs).
• Support staff recruitment and hiring processes.
• Work with the Gender and Youth Practice to ensure that all projects have gender and youth indicators and are meeting their gender and youth targets.
• Participate in regular meetings with program leadership and staff as well as the Global Gender and Youth Practice team. 
• Participate in the Gender Champions Network.

Basic Qualifications

• A Bachelor’s degree with 5 years of experience or a Master’s degree in development economics, sociology, anthropology, gender or another relevant discipline with at least 3 years’ experience.
• Demonstrable experience implementing practical approaches to advance gender and youth equality in agriculture programs; experience working with donor-funded programs in francophone Africa highly preferred. Experience and an established and relevant network in Cote d’Ivoire will be considered a plus.
• Demonstrated success in leading tasks, activities, or initiatives requiring a combination of strong analytical, writing, social and management skills.
• Experience implementing approaches to mitigate and reduce gender-based violence in economic growth programs will be considered a plus.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Experience in adult learning techniques, excellent in-person and virtual facilitation skills.
• Must be able to work across teams to influence behavior and build capacity.
• Ability to work both persuasively and diplomatically in a team-based environment with a high degree of complexity and ambiguity.
• Ability to communicate complex gender and youth issues with clarity and precision.
• A deep, demonstrable commitment to gender and youth equality and economic empowerment.
• High standards of personal integrity; a commitment to achieving sustainable impact, learning, and teamwork; and excellent sense of humor required.