Gender Coordinator
iDE (International Development Enterprises). Lusaka, Zambia.
Closing date: February 14, 2013.
Background:
iDE (International Development Enterprises) is a global consortium of organisations with a shared mission to create income and livelihood opportunities for the rural poor. iDE UK and iDE Zambia are members of this global partnership.
Over 30 years, iDE has pioneered the market-based approach to delivering products and services to increase incomes and improve livelihoods of the rural poor. iDE now works through country programmes in 11 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America and has reached over 20 million people with innovative products and services delivered through the market since its founding.
iDE UK has a mandate to raise funds for projects from UK and European donors. iDE UK’s strategic focus for 2012 was on gender in agriculture, which we are implementing though a legacy grant that focuses on improving gender equality and the economic empowerment of women working in agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa. This programme will build iDE’s capacity in a key area of agricultural development and will form a crucial component of the three year business plan that is presently being implemented.
In Zambia, through our Rural Prosperity Initiative (RPI) iDE Zambia works with smallholder farmers to help create sustainable income-generating opportunities through the introduction of transformative technologies, such as micro-irrigation technologies, which are provided by the market. To this end we work with manufacturers, retailers and other actors in input supply chains to strengthen their capacity to supply what farmers need and want for their businesses.
In November 2012, iDE UK recruited a Gender Programme Officer (GPO), who is responsible for enabling and managing this gender programme across iDE’s country programmes. The Gender Coordinator (GC) in Zambia will play a pivotal role in supporting and managing the gender programme of activities in Zambia, and will work closely with the UK GPO to expand activities.
Scope of Position:
The Gender Coordinator will report to and be line-managed by the Technical and Programmes Director at iDE Zambia. The GC will be expected to work collaboratively and maintain regular contact with the UK GPO, and provide monthly updates to iDE UK on progress and activities. This position is responsible for coordinating and implementing iDE Zambia’s gender programme, while overall management for the gender programme lies with iDE UK.
There are three main areas of focus:
- Programme development: gather all relevant past experiences and documentation from within iDE Zambia and the impact of the projects on women. Produce a report of the evidence and insights gleaned while developing an understanding of the tools and documents that will support the wider gender programme.
- Programme pilot activities: working with iDE Zambia and UK staff, support the design of a gender empowerment index and pilot activities that will gather specific evidence and understanding of how iDE can best ensure success in improving the position of women through its interventions.
- Programme documentation: produce reports and publications of the pilot activity experience. It is intended that these documents will enable iDE to develop a model of best practice to enhance smallholder women farmers’ financial independence, and improve iDE UK’s monitoring and evaluation of projects’ impacts on women, which in turn will support sustainability and expansion to other countries and projects.
Key Responsibilities:
Programme development
- Carry out gender analysis of policy, cultural and legal environments in Zambia
- Work with the iDE Zambia team to locate evidence and experience of iDE Zambia’s success in empowering women through agriculture
- Work with the UK GPO to develop an online library of evidence and documentation related to gender and agriculture, maintain a high quality record keeping system and index to enable ease of access across the iDE country teams
- Develop relationships with other organisations and individuals in Zambia that might provide opportunities for partnerships or have specialist knowledge in the field of gender and iDE’s primary mission and goals
- Participate and present at events and discussions around issues of relevance to iDE Zambia’s gender programme and use these opportunities to promote iDE and learn from other organisations and individuals working in the sector
- Share information throughout the wider iDE international group of organisations to further develop thinking and ideas around new gender programme approaches and strategies.
Programme Pilot Activities
- Support the UK GPO to develop an iDE ‘Empowerment Index’, adapted from the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI)
- Work with iDE Zambia staff to support the UK GPO to develop gender sensitive baseline, value chain analysis and monitoring and evaluation surveys and methods, preparing data collection and feedback required
- Oversee and coordinate, with the iDE Zambia and UK teams, implementation of a baseline survey incorporating the iDE Empowerment Index of the pilot area
- Monitor the relevance and appropriateness of the iDE index
- Working closely with the iDE Zambia staff and UK GPO, produce robust evidence on activities that promote women’s economic empowerment to contribute to a portfolio of iDE activities that are proven to benefit women
- Collect and compare data from women’s experiences of the Farm Business Advisor (FBA) programme
- Undertake visits to the pilot activity areas to monitor progress and report back on management and implementation issues relating to gender.
Programme Documentation
- Use the pilot activity experiences and evidence to produce documents that enable iDE UK to develop a model of best practice to enhance smallholder women farmers’ financial independence
- Collaborate with international and iDE Zambia staff to improve monitoring and evaluation of projects’ impacts on women, which in turn will support sustainability and expansion to wider iDE country teams and projects
- Support senior management to ensure gender sensitivity and integration in monitoring and evaluation processes
- Produce case studies and statistics for communications and promotional materials, fundraising and social media
- Contribute to reports identifying experiences, lessons learned and best practice to develop internal monitoring and evaluation systems
- Work with iDE UK GPO to design, develop and deliver toolkits and checklists for iDE Zambia staff for incorporating gender into needs assessments, supply chain analyses and programme design
- Develop training materials to support the sustainability and integration of the gender programme.
Others
- Contribute to communications materials for iDE Zambia and UK including drafting content for the website, newsletters, blog postings, case studies, photographs etc.
- Research funding opportunities appropriate to iDE Zambia’s gender programme to secure funding beyond this initial one year period
- Keep up-to-date with trends in the developing world and international development relevant to the gender in agriculture sector
- Any other tasks as appropriate and required by iDE Zambia and UK.
Person Specification:
Essential:
- Postgraduate qualification in gender and development, preferably with a focus on agriculture or related subject.
- At least three years’ experience in gender and development, preferably with a focus on agriculture
- A self-starter who can work with minimal supervision, adhering to deadlines and used to meeting targets
- IT literate with proficiency in MS Office
- The ability to produce consistently high quality written outputs demonstrating an attention to detail
- Fluency in written and spoken English as well as fluency in one or more Zambian vernacular languages.
Desirable:
- Understanding of the economics of small-scale agricultural production, farm budgets, value chains etc.
- Understanding of small-scale agriculture and ideally the role of the private sector in engaging with this sector
- Experience of designing and delivering training on gender sensitive approaches and methods
- Experience and understanding of survey design and statistical/data analysis.
Travel:
This post will involve the successful candidate having to travel widely to project sites in Zambia including the need to stay out of town. The successful candidate will possess a valid driving licence and have the ability to drive a manual transmission vehicle.
Employment Status:
This role requires permission to work in Zambia, proof of this permission will be required.
To Apply:
For more information and to submit an application, candidates should contact the iDE Zambia Country Director, Duncan Rhind, on drhind@ideorg.org.
Deadline: 14 February 2013.
Article License: Copyright - Article License Holder: iDE (International Development Enterprises).
No comments:
Post a Comment