Organizational Setting:
The Government of The Gambia and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) have developed the Resilience of Organizations for Transformative Smallholder Agriculture (ROOTS) project. The project is funded by IFAD along with the Government of The Gambia and other Development partners. The project will be implemented in six years period from 2020 to 2026. The main components of the ROOTS project are the followings:
- Component 1 (agricultural productivity and climate change adaptation);
- Component 2 (market access); and
- Component 3 (institutional development, project management and citizen engagement).
Reports to: Project Director
Summary: The Social Inclusion Officer will lead and will serve as resource person for the crosscutting issues of gender mainstreaming, women’s empowerment, youth and social inclusion, pro-poor targeting. S/he will provide support for intervention design, planning, implementation, coordination, monitoring, evaluation, and administration of project activities, working closely with all project staff.
Duration of Assignment: Up to six years, following successful completion of six-month probationary period.
Duty Station: Based in PSU Headquarters, with regular field visits as required for implementation support, reporting and coordination.
Specific duties and responsibilities:
Lead the development of gender and youth action plans at the beginning of the project as part of a participatory process, including GALS and any required strategies to include vulnerable groups; update the action plans as required.
- Support the review of project implementation processes (including AWPB, M&E reports, project progress reports, etc.) and outputs to provide feedback and suggestions to achieve best possible project outcomes with respect to gender equity, women’s empowerment and youth mainstreaming.
- Contribute to the preparation and review of project AWPB to ensure adequate attention (and resources allocated) to support women, youth and vulnerable groups in line with the project design document and PIM. Prepare specific activities and budgets, including for GALS, and monitor implementation.
- Conduct a local systems analysis, with an integrated gender and social inclusion analysis, to inform how projects address needs in local context.
- Develop social and gender inclusion strategies for project
- Conduct social inclusion and gender analysis for project
- Review and/or support the development of gender and socially sensitive and responsive project proposals by carrying out required community and stakeholder engagement
- Monitor gender and social inclusion related activities engaging with concerned communities and stakeholders
- Evaluating and preparing reports achieved by the projects on social and gender aspects
- Identify and capture good practices and lessons learnt on social and gender equality to enable replication.
- Conduct, evaluate and report on social and/or gender audits
- Support the recruitment as well as supervise, monitor and evaluate the performance of a GALS service provider to ensure delivery of quality services, accountability and timely reporting.
- Work to sensitize all project staff, stakeholders, implementing partners and project beneficiaries on gender mainstreaming, women’s empowerment, youth and social inclusion and pro-poor targeting.
- Ensure that systematic gender sensitization trainings and refresher courses are held for all staff at all levels, particularly for regional implementation teams and technical officers.
- Provide support to PSU to develop and apply criteria for the selection of specific communities, groups, Songhai participants etc. as outlined in the PIM, as part of a participatory process and working closely with component leaders.
- Be available for support in related training/workshop preparation and follow up, particularly at the beginning of the project and in relation to mobilization strategy.
- Review training materials and evaluate whether additional information is required for specific gender and youth issues.
Qualifications:
- Education: A post-graduate degree (Master’s or above) in the social sciences or related discipline (anthropology, sociology, women’s studies, public policy, community development, etc.) or other related fields with a good knowledge of contemporary issues of social inclusion and gender in The Gambia.
- Experience: At least five (05) years of experience in social and gender issues in an international development context, with proven expertise in social and gender analysis and gender mainstreaming in projects. Required professional experience and knowledge of development projects, Demonstrated understanding of tools and approaches to address gender, social inclusion and poverty reduction requirements of international development projects.
- Skills and knowledge: Good knowledge of management, administration and coordination; good interpersonal communication skills; computer literacy and good command of spoken and written English; document writing skills; ability to work independently and in multi-ethnic environments.
Special provisions:
- Qualified female applicants are encouraged to apply.
- People with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply.
- All applications will be treated with the strictest confidentiality.
- Only applications received through the provided link will be considered.
Should you have any questions or require further information, please do not hesitate to reach out to our HR department at candidatures@itteconsulting.com