East Africa Gender and Social Inclusion Team Leader at Kaizen Company

We are committed to top-quality implementation, and, as a result, we were selected as one of five contract holders of the MCC Gender and Social Inclusion (GSI) Blanket Purchase Agreement award. Kaizen is actively seeking a Team Leader with substantial, relevant, and similar experience in East Africa to support an MCC GSI Transport Sector opportunity. This is a part-time assignment with occasional trips to targeted countries.

MCC is a U.S. Government Agency that works with developing countries and provides aid that reinforces sound political, economic, and social policies that promote poverty reduction through economic growth. MCC requires technical advisory support for a range of consulting services to ensure that the gender and social inclusion are integrated in current compacts with transportation components or projects. Services shall include, but are not limited to, providing analysis and design for compacts in development and due diligence and ongoing support including oversight for compacts in implementation. For more information on MCC, please visit www.mcc.gov.

Illustrative Tasks and Responsibilities:

• Research solutions to widespread problem of limited urban connectivity that affects East African women’s ability to live, work and earn wages in their cities
• Improve access for national private investment to flow into Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)
• Support local government/ Municipality Transport agencies to develop protocols for service providers and users and train them in the use of such protocols, draft strategies and action plans to reduce harassment in public transport, develop and implement gender inclusive RAP and identify economic empowerment opportunities for women.
• Conduct comprehensive social and gender assessment and fieldwork taking in to account spatial use of existing transport networks, government regulations, rural urban divide and identify vulnerable groups who might benefit from GSI
• Work closely with the transport design consultant team to ensure GSI is a core part of the design process and design proposals meet GSI criteria; conduct periodic reviews of proposals to ensure compliance
• Provide technical guidance and participate in content production for all associated materials with a GSI component including recruitment materials, bidding documents, webinars etc.
• Develop protocols to better integrate GSI within the transport sector through production of internal knowledge management materials, conduct literature reviews and develop and review MCC divisional policies and documents. Support implementation of national and district level policies aimed to address pervasive barriers to women's mobility and market access, including Gender Based Violence (GBV), harassment, discrimination, and demands for transactional sex by market intermediaries.
• Conduct due diligence into policies that aim to improve women’s safety in public areas and improve local governments’ capacity to address GBV and Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (SEA)

Minimum Qualifications:

• At least a bachelor's degree or higher in the social sciences or a related discipline (international/economic development, sociology, public policy, community development, etc.)
• 7-10 years of international experience in social impact and gender analysis, design and implementation of projects.
• At least 5 years of expertise in the transport sector, designing projects/activities that promote inclusive growth and benefits to women.
• At least 3 years of experience working in Sub-Saharan Africa; ideally with experience in Kenya and Malawi.
• Familiarity with application of international best practice and methodology, experience working with participatory community development and consultative methods, and the experience working closely with local counterpart personnel and the public at large
• Experience with the IFC Performance Standards and MCC Environmental Guidelines and Gender Policy is desirable
• At least 4 years of combined experience in one or more of the following: women's employment and entrepreneurship in transport; women's access to freight and logistics services in developing countries; gender mainstreaming in national or subnational transport planning; or institutional and governance interventions to reduce public GBV
• Proficient in English, including speaking, understanding, reading, and writing