Gender Senior Technical Advisor at Food for the Hungry (FH Kenya)

Reports To: Director of Program Quality, Africa  

Region: Africa  

Location: TBD from Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda or Uganda

Job Summary  

The Gender Advisor is responsible for overall designing and implementing integration of gender related aspects throughout FH USAID Development Food Security Activity (DFSA) project cycles in Ethiopia and the DRC, as well as other regional technical assistance as needed. This includes providing technical support to the gender analysis at project start-ups and how best to integrate analysis findings into project implementation. The Advisor will ensure that the USAID’s Gender Equality and women empowerment policy, Food for Peace gender guidance, ADS 205 and other relevant guiding principles, policies and regulations are applied throughout the DFSA initiatives. The Advisor will also ensure that gender is integrated within the monitoring, learning systems, budgets and evaluations as appropriate.   

The Gender Advisor will work closely with the Region and Global Service Center (GSC) team and sector experts in Health and Nutrition, Livelihoods and Food Security, Monitoring and Evaluation, and Relief and Humanitarian Affairs to facilitate coordination and harmonization of FH’s DFSA and other programs. The Advisor will build the capacity of the DFSA Gender Staff in Ethiopia and the DRC to ensure effective gender program design and implementation. The Gender Advisor will have technical oversight for behavior-change programming efforts around gender norms. While the majority of effort will be directed towards DFSA gender backstopping, the Advisor will also be required to provide technical writing and guidance for proposal development as needed.   

Principal Responsibilities  

• Provide technical support to FFP-funded projects.  
• Provide technical support for the integration of gender findings from the gender analysis studies into program activity plans, strategies, budgets, and monitoring, evaluation and learning systems.  
• Ensure FH’s compliance with USAID’s Gender Equality and Women Empowerment Policy, Food for Peace Gender Guidance, ADS 205 and other relevant guiding principles, policies and regulations throughout the DFSA initiatives and other USAID funded projects as applicable.  
• Continuously recommend adjustments to project strategies and activities to respond to gender findings throughout the life of the program, ensure strategies and activities to prevent and/or mitigate gender-based violence is included during project implementation.  
• Evaluate project monitoring systems and adjust as necessary to disaggregate data by sex, include gender sensitive indicators and have strategies for monitoring unintended consequences.  
• Represent FH to identify and facilitate relationships with Universities and other learning partners; identify learning questions related to gender, manners of meeting those information needs, and their fulfillment and documentation.  
• Develop gender- sensitive empowerment approaches for all program design, implementation and monitoring activities, considering the special interests and needs of women and men to promote behavior change; provide technical support for the integration of gender and youth within DFSA Theory of Changes (TOCs).  
• Build staff capacity in gender, possibly including gender sensitization training of project staff in Ethiopia and the DRC in coordination with DFSA gender staff in-country.  
• Conduct field visits to the DRC and Ethiopia and monitor implementation as it relates to gender concerns.  
• Provide technical and managerial oversight for any gender programmatic aspects as relevant, such as behavior change initiatives to transform gender norms.  
• Represent FH and communicate with the USAID Food for Peace staff and/or other USAID staff in order to support on-going and potential gender programming.  
• Provide technical support for the development of new programs.  
• Write technical components related to gender for proposal development, such as new DFSA applications.  
• Ensure that gender and youth is well integrated within proposal TOCs.  
• Provide technical guidance in development of proposal strategies to ensure that gender (and youth) are well integrated within every sector.  
• Advocate to ensure that gender is adequately budgeted for in proposal budget applications.  
• Evaluate the appropriate gender assessments required based on the specific needs of an opportunity; identify or develop appropriate assessment tools; and support and/or conduct the assessments.  
• Represent the organization at Private Voluntary Organization (PVO) coordination and forum meetings.  
• Represent FH at relevant forums and working groups (TOPS program and Core Group) in order enhance FH’s technical work and reputation in the international development community.  
• Collaborate with other Private Voluntary Organizations (PVOs) on gender best practices through working groups and information sharing.  
• Attend meetings that are related to innovations, technical approaches and/or best practices and strategies.  
• Document lessons learned in the field, especially new lessons gained from operational research, and share these lessons and new programmatic methodologies/strategies with relevant working groups.  
• Participate in the development of new tools within working group(s) in the area of gender.  

Job Level Specifications  

• Vibrant personal relationship with Jesus Christ and Christian commitment to serving the poor and in full agreement with FH’s Christian foundation and beliefs as expressed in The Heartbeat: our Values, Vision, and Purpose.  
• In-depth understanding of gender, age, and other socio-cultural factors in the context of food security and nutrition programming.  
• Proven rigor in analytical, conceptual and project design skills relevant to gender and development with an understanding of theories of change and path from intervention to results.  
• Proven capacity to lead in the collection, analysis, and utilization of information from a broad range of sources in order to ensure effective integration of gender and youth concerns throughout both DFSAs.  
• Experience and demonstrated ability to motivate others, create and encourage a climate of teamwork and collaboration across sectors and in a multi-cultural environment.  
• Ability to foster commitment and build capacity among activity staff and in-country actors to gender integration and empowerment, including training and workshop facilitation skills and experience.  
• Ability to contextualize and be able to translate the approaches into practicable project design in complex environments where gender issues are often sensitive to raise.  
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, including ability to write succinctly and clearly, speak in public forums compellingly and with confidence and build effective relationships.  
• Advanced English writing skills for a variety of stakeholders.  
• Working experience with USAID and other donors in the grants space (UN agencies, DFID, etc.).  
• Proven ability to connect sectoral issues and programmatic approaches on gender; experience with this in emergency contexts an asset.  
• Substantive knowledge and experience integrating gender into programming, including needs assessment, gender analysis, program implementation and monitoring.  
• Ability to facilitate, coordinate and advocate for gender equality programming across the program.  
• Medical fitness to live and travel in rural and urban areas with extreme conditions and limited medical support.  
• Ability to travel up to 30% to the DRC, Ethiopia, and other countries as needed.  

Experience  

Minimum of 7 years of experience in gender programming; most preferably related to food security, livelihoods, health, nutrition, WASH and emergency response.  

Education/Certifications  

Master’s degree in Gender Studies or a related field (agriculture, nutrition, development studies, social sciences, health).  

Language  

Proficiency in spoken and written English. Knowledge of any other language such as French, Spanish or Portuguese, at least at the intermediate level will be a plus. Ability to read, analyze, and interpret general business periodicals, professional journals, technical procedures, or government regulations. Ability to write reports, business correspondence, and procedure manuals. Ability to effectively present information and respond to questions from groups of managers, clients, customers, and the general public.  

Safeguarding Policy  

Food for the Hungry is committed to conducting its programs and operations in a manner that is safe for all beneficiaries it serves. It is FH's policy to create and proactively maintain an environment that prevents and deters any actions and omissions that put any beneficiaries, including children and the most vulnerable at risk. All personnel are expected to conduct themselves in a manner consistent with this commitment and obligation. Any violations of this policy could result in termination.