Women's Rights Program Officer (Maternity Cover) (INT4222) at Oxfam

Women’s Rights in Oxfam

Women’s limited participation in the social, economic and political processes in Kenya is majorly a factor of the historical patriarchal nature of the society. They are therefore faced with both systemic and cultural challenges in their bid to contribute to the County or National development agenda. Discriminatory social norms and gender stereotypes continue to be entertained in both formal and informal institutions thereby hindering progress towards gender equality.  A case in point is in the unequal participation and representation of women in political process and economic spaces.

Team Purpose

The Women’s Rights programme is guided by the knowledge that women are marginalised in political and economic spaces. In 5 years, the Program will address this through: research, strengthening women’s capacity in leadership, media, public campaigns, working with women’s movements, coalition building, networking, policy influencing and advocacy. Specifically, interventions of the programme will target marginalised women and will seek to increase participation of women in the political and economic spheres.

The role

The Governance Programme Officer will be a core member of the EU Funded Women Empowerment (Wezesha Jamii) project team and will be responsible for implementing specific components of the project in collaboration with other members and managing the project partners including strengthening their capacity to effectively deliver the project objectives and results. In the course of her or his work, the Governance Programme Officer will establish or strengthen positive relations with and influence the relevant government that include Nairobi City County Government, Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company, Kenya National Audit Office and the Controller of Budget’s Office and also build or strengthen positive working relationship with Civil Society Organizations that share similar focus with Wezesha Jamii project for synergy towards realization of the project objectives. The Programme Officer will also contribute to resource mobilization for co-financing of the project to ensure that the project is fully resourced.

This role will also contribute to the Governance and Accountability theme when required.

The person

 At least 5 years’ progressive experience in designing and implementing development programmes in Kenya.

• Demonstrated experience in influencing public policies and positive practices with positive results to the poor and marginalized groups.
• Demonstrated experience in managing partners including effective oversight and capacity building.
• Demonstrated experience in mobilizing and organizing marginalized communities and groups to influence positive change to their lives.
• Demonstrated experience in working with senior government officials both elected and the executive as well as civil society on diverse programmatic areas such as capacity building, policy enactments and implementation, and budget influencing.
• Demonstrated experience in managing and working with governance consultants which include developing the terms of reference and effective supervision.
• Experience in managing European Union funded programmes