Senior Gender Adviser at Saferworld

Key areas of responsibility

Organisational leadership on gender equality

• Lead in the implementation and MEL of the Gender Equality Strategy: provide accompaniment and technical support to teams in the implementation of the strategy across the organisation, including by developing implementation and tracking/measuring tools and leading internal communications around it.
• Strengthening organisational capacities for meaningfully integrating gender across research, policy and advocacy, communications and programmes.
• Lead in identifying where there are gaps in knowledge, and working with the Gender Team and the Knowledge and Learning Hub and Saferworld Advocacy Group to find innovative or different ways to learn and adapt our peacebuilding work from a gender perspective, and create linkages across the multiple levels and locations where we work.
• Influence and inform organisational decision-making through a gender lens, through formal and informal engagement with leadership teams across the organisation.
• Actively support and advise on internal efforts and initiatives on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

Policy and programming leadership on gender transformative peacebuilding and gender, peace and security

• Provide technical support in the design, oversight and/or leadership/management of gender-specific cross-organisational programmes and approaches, and on gender integration and transformation in broader peacebuilding programmes. This includes:
  • “Resourcing Change: supporting Women’s Rights Organisations (WROs) in Fragile and Conflict Affected Setting”, which provide core, flexible and accessible funding to WROs in FCAS.
  • Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Helpdesk, a call-down facility that aims to provide flexible, responsive and easy-to-use technical advice and support on WPS and gender in conflict and crisis contexts to the UK government.
• Develop programmatic approaches, tools and training materials in relation to the gender, peace and security according to organisational and team-specific strategic priorities.
• Provide technical and thought leadership on our gender and peacebuilding policy work, including our policy and advocacy on gender, peace and security. This includes leading or overseeing research and related advocacy and communications on gender, peace and security in coordination with policy, advocacy and communications colleagues.
• Embed learnings from Saferworld programmatic work and research into future planned policy and programming priorities and approaches.
• Sit on the Board of Trustees for Gender Action for Peace and Security (GAPS UK), the main UK WPS advocacy network, which is hosted by Saferworld, and provide strategic support to the GAPS team and its Director based on our MoU.

Cross-organisational representation and strategic stakeholder engagement

• Represent Saferworld at conferences, seminars and other events in relation to strategic objective on gender equality.
• Engage with donors, wider NGO and policy community, and diverse partners in relation to driving positive change in Saferworld’s gender, peace and security work.

Key working relationships

• Advisers in the Programme Support and Learning Team: in particular the Partnerships, Research and MEL Advisors
• Advisers in the Policy Team, and advocacy and communications colleagues
• Colleagues in the Conflict Advisory Unit: co-leading the UK WPS Helpdesk with the team, external partners and donor.
• Key staff in Saferworld’s regional programmes in Africa, Asia, Central Asia and Middle East & North Africa: develop, implement and MEL on gender integration in peacebuilding programmes and gender-specific programmes.
• Programme Development Managers: providing technical support for fundraising proposals, and strategies for gender funding.
• The Knowledge and Learning Hub: ensuring gender is meaningfully integrated in our cross-organisational research and learning.
• The Saferworld Advocacy Group: ensuring gender is meaningfully integrated in our cross-organisational policy and advocacy work.
• External actors: support gender team in maintaining and developing new relations with relevant Saferworld partner organisations, donors and policy makers on gender, peace and security spaces.

Scope and accountability

Decision making and limits of authority

The post-holder is expected to show considerable leadership within the organisation and to make a significant contribution to strengthening Saferworld’s gender equality strategic objectives.

Financial resources

Some budget and financial management support of cross-organisational specific programmes, and/or oversight particularly during periods of ‘surge support’ to country teams.

Other resources

Responsible for cross-regional and organisational information-sharing and lesson learning regarding research resources and guidance in particular.

People management

Gender advisors & project/programme managers as relevant, as well as consultants as per required

Legal, regulatory and compliance responsibility

Developing research ethics guidance that comply with safeguarding and legal obligations.

Person specification

Knowledge, qualifications and experience

• Extensive experience and knowledge of gender integration in peacebuilding (preferred), development and/or humanitarian policy and practice and into organisational policies, systems and processes
• Extensive experience of providing practical advice, expertise and accompaniment to staff and partners in developing gender-transformative programmes, with a strong intersectional feminist approach to gender.
• Experience and skills in training and facilitation of learning in gender-transformative peacebuilding practice and the provision of capacity-strengthening support to culturally diverse audiences.
• Experience of gender, peace and security policy formulation, advice and successful high-level advocacy in the areas of gender, conflict, security or gender in international development. Experience doing this in the UK setting desirable.
• Relevant Qualification in political science, gender studies, conflict or peace studies or similar area; or equivalent gender integration, programming and policy experience,
• Experience of working in partnership with other NGOs and NGO networks, and preferably women’s rights organisations (WROs) through principles of power-sharing, accompaniment and on feminist movement-building.
• Lived experience or experience living and working in a conflict-affected setting desirable.

Skills and abilities

• Excellent writing and verbal communication skills in English. An additional language is desirable, in particular a working language of a country(ies) where Saferworld operates (e.g., Arabic, Russian, Somali, Burmese).
• Experience of training, mentoring, peer support and/or other capacity-strengthening techniques on research design and implementation
• Able to ensure that research is designed and produced/packaged in the most efficient way for influencing policy and practitioner audiences.
• Knowledge of policy-making processes and of interacting with government policy-makers, particularly in the UK desirable.
• Good organisational and planning skills and the ability to work under pressure with the ability to manage multiple and complex priorities to deliver on objectives effectively.
• Ability to work in a non-partisan and impartial manner, particularly in high-stress and highly politicised environments, appreciating gender, cultural and ethnic diversity.

Personal qualities

• Committed to working collaboratively in and across Saferworld teams in a multi-cultural environment
• Committed to Saferworld’s vision, mission and values and way of working, notably in terms of gender equality and strengthening local people’s voices in local and global peace, security and justice policies and processes
• Commitment to and compliance with Saferworld’s safeguarding principles
• Commitment to respect and value equality and diversity, and understanding of how this applies to own area of work

Other requirements

• Travel: Up to 3 months overseas travel per year (non-consecutively)