NGO Jobs in Kenya - Practical Action

Practical Action seeks to recruit a capable and focused Gender Officer to be based in Kisumu, Kenya.


Job Summary: The Gender Officer will spearhead the delivery of gender and inclusion aspects of the project. S/he will be expected to support establishment of strategic partnerships with gender equality focused stakeholders in order to deliver the gender outputs of the project.
This position reports to the Project Manager, Transforming Rural Economies for Youth and Livelihoods (TREYL) Project. The Gender Officer will ensure efficient and effective attainment of project objectives and goals while also adhering to organizational strategy, gender policy and gender minimum standards in agriculture.


About Us: We are an international development organisation putting ingenious ideas to work so people in poverty can change their world. We help people find solutions to some of the world’s toughest problems. Challenges made worse by catastrophic climate change and persistent gender inequality. We work with communities to develop ingenious, lasting and locally owned solutions for agriculture, water and waste management, climate resilience and clean energy. And we share what works with others, so answers that start small can grow big.
We’re a global change-making group. The group consists of a UK registered charity with community projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America, an independent development publishing company and a technical consulting service. We combine these specialisms to multiply our impact and help shape a world that works better for everyone.
Our Aims: We help people find solutions to some of the world’s toughest problems, made worse by catastrophic climate change and persistent gender inequality.
Our aims are to:
·         Make agriculture work better for smallholder farmers, many of them women, so they can adapt to climate change and achieve a good standard of living
·         Help more people harness the transformational effects of clean affordable energy and reduce avoidable deaths caused by smoke from indoor stoves and fires.
·         Make cities in poorer countries cleaner, healthier places to live and work.
·         Build disaster resilience into the lives of people threatened by hazards – reducing the risk of hazards and minimizing their impact on lives and livelihoods.
Practical Action in East Africa: In East Africa, Practical Action has a long history of addressing systemic barriers that prevent people from accessing energy that transforms their lives, helping communities and government make cities healthier and safer, making agriculture and markets work better for smallholder farmers and supporting communities and government to become more resilient. We use a mix of programming with communities and consultancy services with shapers of policy and practice to achieve our aims in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania.
About the role: The job holder will contribute to delivery of Practical Action’s Agriculture change ambition for the East Africa Regional Office. Practical Action is implementing a five-year project in East Africa, working initially in Kenya with possible scale-up in other countries in the region. The objective of the project is to establish vibrant and inclusive rural economies in East Africa by promoting agricultural livelihoods for the youth underpinned by agro-ecological principles and practices. The project aims to break the cycles of low productivity and increasing rural poverty, through a holistic and gendered approach which will enable young men and women to increase their income through agri-business.
The overall objective of the project is to achieve a vibrant & inclusive rural economy for young women and men that does not degrade the environment. The project further targets to increase incomes of young men and women at individual and household level and increase the number of young men and women engaged in environmentally sustainable agribusinesses.
Practical Action is looking for a Gender Officer who will spearhead the delivery of gender and inclusion aspects of the project. S/he will be expected to support establishment of strategic partnerships with gender equality focused stakeholders in order to deliver the gender outputs of the project.
The role is accountable to the Project Manager, Transforming Rural Economies for Youth and Livelihoods (TREYL) Project and ensures efficient and effective attainment of project objectives and goals while also adhering to organizational strategy, gender policy and gender minimum standards in agriculture.
Scope
Job Title: Gender Officer
Reporting to: Project Manager
Unit: Transforming Rural Economies for Youth and Livelihoods (TREYL) Project
Direct reports: None
Matrix reporting: None
Location: Kisumu, Kenya
Grade: 5
Travel requirements: Within Project Sites
Accountabilities
Achieving Change Ambitions
·         Contribute to Practical Action’s strategic direction and scope for contributing to change in the agriculture sector, using a systems approach to analyze and integrate social, cultural, political and economic factors especially from a gender and inclusion perspective.
·         Ensure that Practical Action’s work in gender and agriculture draws on learning and innovation from work in the field, other partners and the wider Practical Action organization and are shared effectively
·         Support the development of the agriculture change ambition, in particular in articulating gender and inclusion issues
·         Monitor, capture and report on the project’s contribution towards achievement of gender and inclusion targets in the change ambition on a quarterly and annual basis and work with colleagues to develop and implement plans for course adjustment where necessary.
Strengthening Profile, Generating Funding and Managing Relationships
·         Support establishment and nurture both public and private sector and support decision-making responsibility through provision of appropriate leadership in women economic empowerment/livelihoods, financial inclusion and micro enterprise development aimed at inclusive project growth.
·         Contribute to the development of proposals in agriculture ensuring that they integrate gender and social inclusion, align with the gender minimum standards and contribute to our change ambitions.
·         Support effective lesson learning, information management and sharing on gender and inclusion both internally and externally in close collaboration with the Communication team in line with the project objectives.
·         Develop and maintain professional links with development agencies, government bodies, county governments, technical and economic specialists, universities and other professional institutions.
·         Seek opportunities to develop synergies with like-minded organisations in order to deliver project outputs
·         Contribute to visibility/positioning of Practical Action on gender and inclusion in agriculture including representation at the county level
·         Collaborate efficiently and effectively with partners for learning and adoption of innovative gendered interventions to improve project delivery.
Delivering Performance and Quality
Project Implementation, Reporting and Learning
The Gender Officer will be expected to:
·         Support the project team to mainstream gender sensitive and gender transformative approaches in their daily activities.
·         Establish a system of community champions to implement Gender Action learning systems methodology
·         Facilitate community level champions to undertake household level dialogue sessions for joint visioning, action planning and implementation.
·         Identify and support women Agri-entrepreneurs to take Agroecology technologies and incorporate circular economy in their business models.
·         Facilitate sensitization of service providers e.g. extension service providers to be sensitive to the needs of both men and women in provision of services
·         Empower women to meaningfully participate in participatory market systems development process for selected value chains.
·         Create linkages between women in agribusiness and technology providers for time and labor saving and output market actors
·         Establish a system to build the agency of women Agri- entrepreneurs in selected value chains
·         Facilitate women Agri-entrepreneurs to access technical assistance and finance for their enterprise expansion.
·         Engage the County Government in strategy/policy and planning processes that aims to create an enabling environment for both men and women
·         Work with MEL team to ensure collection of routine and periodic gender and sex-disaggregated data to monitor gender outcomes and to support the project learning agenda.
·         Represent Practical Action in technical co-ordination, support and advocacy with other agencies for support in inclusive youth livelihoods programming.
·         Contribute to production of content/knowledge products in collaboration with the Communications, M&E and Knowledge team as part of the broader programme influencing agenda.
·         Support the timely and accurate preparation of activity budgets, donor reports and other internal reports as required, specifically ensuring gender and inclusion aspects are well captured.
Person Profile
To be successful in the role, the ideal candidate will be able to demonstrate:
Experience & Knowledge

·         Bachelor’s degree in social sciences (Gender studies, Sociology, Rural development or related studies from a reputable University.
Essential
·         At least 4 years’ field and technical working experience with three years in the gender and development field or relevant working experience in NGOs
·         An excellent understanding of gender issues in development and women economic empowerment
·         Good understanding of the institutional frameworks pertaining to gender, agriculture and poverty in Kenya
·         Good lobbying and advocacy skills and ability to negotiate and network with broad range of stakeholders including youth
·         Good networking, team building and alliance building skills
·         Proficient in communicating with different stakeholders including women in rural communities, county and national government representatives, other stakeholders at national level etc.
·         Good experience in integrating gender and diversity and sensitivity to gender and diversity issues
·         Good communication, facilitation, training and representation skills
·         Ability to work with, support and influence others
·         Good writing, speaking and typing skill in English is mandatory.
·         Good knowledge and application of the Gender Action Learning Systems (GALS) methodology in agriculture will be an added advantage
Desirable
·         Experience working with multi-faceted teams both directly and remotely providing timely support when required.
·         In coordination with government, donors, partners and multilateral agencies coupled with excellent networking and communications skills.
·         Working knowledge of the private sector in agriculture markets in Kenya
As an experienced professional, you will have at least 4 years’ field and technical working experience, with three years in the gender and development field or relevant working experience in NGOs.
In return, you will get an opportunity to work for an organization that is making a positive difference to the lives of people worldwide, a friendly and supportive culture, working with values driven and highly engaged colleagues – these are just some of the reasons we think Practical Action is a great place to work.
In addition, we offer the following benefits:
·         Work week of 35 hours
·         25 days’ annual leave, in addition to public holidays.
·         A pension scheme that new employees join immediately on employment – employer contributes 12.5% of gross salary. Employee contribution is voluntary
·         Life assurance (5x annual salary).
How to Apply
Interested candidates are invited to submit their application letter and CV to recruitment@practicalaction.or.ke with subject line “Gender Officer – Kisumu, Kenya” so as to reach Practical Action on or before Friday 14th February 2020.

TREYL Baseline Consultant in Kisumu, Kenya
Practical Action has an exciting opportunity for a Consultant (Individual / Firm) in Kisumu, Kenya.
The Consultant will have an overall responsibility of conducting a baseline assessment under Practical Action Eastern Africa’s Transforming Rural Economies and Youths Livelihood (TREYL).
TREYL is a five year project Agriculture project working initially in Kenya’s Kisumu and Homabay counties with a possible scale up in other countries in the region.
The project aims at breaking the cycles of low productivity and increasing rural poverty, through a holistic and gendered approach which will enable young men and women to increase their income through Agri-business.
The baseline assessment is primarily intended to establish a robust account of the current situation in targeted communities in relation to the project objectives.
It will focus on increased engagement of young people in Agri-business as a viable livelihood option, increased in farm productivity from Agro-ecological practices and strengthened enabling environment.
The Consultant will report to the Project Manager – TREYL with technical oversight by the M&E team.
The project team will also accord him/her day to day support during the assignment for young men and women to engage in agribusiness.
The key tasks for this consultancy will be to:
·         Develop a detailed baseline survey proposal/inception report clearly demonstrating full understanding of the TOR, and proposed methodology and relevant instruments to achieve the objectives of evaluation.
·         Develop relevant tools for data collection.
·         Conduct desk review of program documents including proposal, and other relevant literature
·         With the support of Practical Action, the consultants will identify and interview key stakeholders including representatives from the County government
·         Field work: The survey will involve field visits to a sample of households, government and private stakeholders this will involve meetings, interviews or focused group discussions with main actors who will be involved in the project. The use of participatory tools for data collection and analysis is highly recommended. These will be discussed and agreed upon between the consulting firm and Practical Action.
·         Conduct a comparative analysis of the findings and present preliminary findings to Practical Action for review.
·         Finalize the baseline survey report. The consulting firm will prepare a 1st draft of the evaluation and subsequently a final version of the report taking into consideration feedback provided on the first draft.
Interested individuals / entities should have:
·         Extensive and demonstrated experience in the use of mixed methods approaches (integrating quantitative and qualitative data), statistical analysis and interpretation of results;
·         Experience using digital data collection methods, for example, Open Data Kit.
·         Holds an MSc or MA (preferably PhD) in agriculture, rural economic development or related field.
·         Demonstrated ability to lead and coordinate a multi-disciplinary team in Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning activities;
·         Excellent communication skills – both interpersonal and written. Example reports will be requested.
CLICK HERE for a detailed Terms of Reference.
How to Apply:
A consulting entity that meets the above requirements and is available within the time limit indicated above should submit the below items at recruitment@practicalaction.or.ke with subject line “Baseline Assessment for Transforming Rural Economies and Youth Livelihoods Project ” so as to reach Practical Action on or before 10th February 2020.
·         Proposal and capability statement with clear methodological approach (technical proposal) including expected timelines
·         Detailed financial proposal in Kenyan Shillings: If the evaluation team consists of several members, the professional fees should not be a mere daily rate, but it should be based on clearly shown time allocation by each member of the team to the various evaluation activities.
·         Evidence of experience in similar work.
·         Annexed to the proposal should be CVs of the evaluators outlining previous evaluation experiences and accomplishment
At Practical Action, we treat all applications for employment on their merits and do not take into consideration any factors that are not relevant to the job such as disability, race, age, religion, gender, gender reassignment or sexual orientation.
We are committed to safeguarding and protecting children and vulnerable adults and as such candidates will be subject to pre-employment checks.
The successful applicant must have the pre-existing right to both live and work in Kenya.