Head of Gender and Safeguarding at Mastercard Foundation

THE WORK AT THE FOUNDATION

We have entered a very exciting time at the Foundation as we scale up our operations across Africa to realize our Young Africa Works strategy. Our role at the Mastercard Foundation is to be a catalyst. Our Young Africa Works strategy focuses on working with others to spur systemic change so young people have the opportunity to find work that is dignified and fulfilling.

The Foundation has opened offices in Rwanda, Kenya, Ghana, Senegal, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Uganda, building a broader leadership presence in Africa to develop specific strategies that support youth employment. Within a country, we work with governments, the private sector, educators and other funders to improve the quality of education and vocational training, prepare young people for the work force, expand access to financial services for entrepreneurs and small businesses, and connect job seekers to dignified and fulfilling work.

We are ambitious and driven. Our values transcend and rise above everything else as our guide. We encourage you to bring your bold ideas, curiosity, and expertise to your work. We laugh at ourselves and with each other. We are a team. Our journey together makes our impact even more meaningful

If you are an experienced gender and safeguarding professional looking to increase your impact, read on!

THE OPPORTUNITY

Reporting to the Regional Director, West, Central & North Africa; the Head of Gender and Safeguarding leads in strategy design, planning and implementation of the Gender and Safeguarding agenda at the Foundation. The role promotes Gender and Safeguarding including Women's Economic Empowerment (WEE) to support the Foundation's programming agenda. They Provide teams with technical expertise, frameworks and all the necessary capabilities, including strengthening the organization's capacity to develop, review and implement gender and safeguarding policies and tools, procedures and measures which meet both global and local standards.

The successful candidate will be based in any of our listed offices in Africa (Rwanda, Kenya, Ghana).

WAYS YOU CAN CONTRIBUTE

• Lead the creation of Gender strategy and Safeguarding framework in line with the Foundation's strategic objectives.
  • Review and ensure gender and safeguarding elements are appropriately included and reflected in program design, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and partnerships of the Foundation across all geographies.
  • Provide transformative leadership for gender and safeguarding. Set and communicate overall direction, identify opportunities for mainstreaming, and lead innovation.
  • Works in collaboration with program leadership (Heads and Leads), to ensure compliance in relation to gender and safeguarding policies, procedures and processes
  • Drive ideas from concept creation, stakeholder engagements right up to approval stages
  • Partner with Regional and Country teams to conceptualize and design relevant programs for their respective Regions and Countries.
• Support the design of governance frameworks for gender and safeguarding.
• Lead Policy Formulation in developing and maintaining Foundation policies and procedures for gender and safeguarding management.
• Assist Countries in the adoption of Gender and safeguarding policy and guidelines.
• Provide guidance on corporate alignment of Foundation work to new Gender and safeguarding policies and system-wide frameworks.
• Develop gender and safeguarding analysis and transformation strategy/ guidelines for new program/project development based on Foundations Gender and safeguarding policy/ mandate.
• Support program execution in all areas related to Gender and Safeguarding to achieve results in line with enterprise/region strategy.
• Work closely with Impact, Monitoring and Partner Insights team to capture gender related outcomes.
• Work with program and support staff (e.g., legal, contracts management) to identify and structure specific investments (e.g., contracts) to maximize impact against strategic priorities including negotiating and agreeing terms with investment recipients.
• Leverage best practices for learning and knowledge transfer through building and sustaining communities of practice to create and deliver on initiatives.
• Collaborate with country teams in the development or implementation of regional programs to promote women economic empowerment.
• Build and maintain strategic partnerships for large scale impact to advance innovative and transformative programs and initiatives for Gender and safeguarding in-line with approved strategies.
• Support engagements and key partnerships externally with governments, regional organizations, academia, public and private organizations to advance the strategic agenda of Gender and Safeguarding.
• Effectively lead colleagues in Gender and Safeguarding at regional and with matrix reporting for resources at country level, ensuring high quality of work and alignment with Foundation strategy and values.
• Drive oneness at team level, building a supportive and collaborative work environment.
• Lead and manage the gender and safeguarding teams of program matrixed environment.

Who You Are

• A Master's degree and/or combination of relevant experiences and qualification in social sciences, including gender/women/youth studies, human rights, international humanitarian and development, public health, or relevant discipline with a focus on economic empowerment.
• 15+ years of progressive experience Gender and Women Empowerment, of which at least ten having been spent in strategically focused roles gained in a global setting with experience in Africa.
• Experience in development economics/economic empowerment, youth employment in Africa, financial services for low-income populations, vulnerable groups, social entrepreneurship or digital technology. Experience in multiple sectors is highly desirable
• Experience at designing strategy; opportunity identification, defining solutions and seeing them through to execution across multiple programmatic areas.
• Proven track record in successfully building and leading Gender and Women Economic Empowerment products at regional and country levels in Africa and working within complex team structures.
• Experience in building multi-sectoral partnerships in Africa across governments, private and public sectors to advance gender and women empowerment.
• At least seven (7) years of exceptional senior leadership experience, influencing others and building high performance across multiple-disciplinary teams to deliver against set goals.
• Advanced competencies at developing frameworks, models, policies, tools, and capabilities that have transformed Gender and Women Economic Empowerment.
• A known thought leader with deep Gender and Women Economic Empowerment expertise, capable of building others capability on the subject.
• Networked globally and within Africa, furnishes others with trends and developments in Gender and Women Economic Empowerment.
• A track record of incorporating a practice of Gender and Women Economic mainstreaming into applied programming work and realizing impact from innovative ideas and program transformation.
• Knowledgeable and experienced at mainstreaming measurable Gender and WEE impact results across multiple program areas in various countries.
• Excellent influencing, persuasion, negotiating, verbal, written, and presentation skills with the ability to articulate information compellingly to a variety of executive constituents both internally and externally.
• Leadership skills that inspire others to think holistically, from concept envisioning to impact at country level.
• Professional maturity, sensitivity with different cultures, and impeccable integrity that exemplifies the Foundation's values and vision.
• Ability to prioritize, focus, and achieve results in a dynamic and complex environment.
• Astute at designing and leading change for successful program implementation in Africa.
• Capable of working in a start-up or 'build' environment, ability to work strategically and tactically (roll up sleeves) with relative fluidity, little direction, and ambiguity.
• Strong project and people management skills that enhance working collaboratively with internal and external stakeholders.

Deadline for Applications is August 30 , 2021.

Mastercard Foundation (the "Foundation") values and respects your privacy. By submitting an application for this opportunity, you hereby agree to the Foundation's collection, use and disclosure of your personal information in accordance with its Privacy Policy (available at https://mastercardfdn.org/privacy/). Please note that the Foundation may share your personal information with third party agencies that support the Foundation's recruitment activities, and such third-party agencies may contact you directly regarding this opportunity. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the Foundation's Privacy Officer at the address indicated in its Privacy Policy.

The Mastercard Foundation values the unique skills and experiences each individual brings to the organization and we are committed to creating and maintaining an inclusive and accessible environment for everyone.

Completion of satisfactory business references and background checks are essential conditions of employment.

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