Gender Advisor Job in Nairobi, Kenya - NGO

Save the Children

About us: For over 90 years, Save the Children has been making a difference in children's lives in more than 120 countries. 

We are the world's largest independent child rights organization, underpinned by a vision in a world in which every child attains the right to survival, protection, development and participation.

Our mission to inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children, and to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives.

Save the Children is an organization for talented people with different backgrounds and perspectives. We are proud that our people are representative of the children we work with and we thrive on our diversity. 

We are an equal opportunity organization dedicated to our core values of Accountability, Ambition, Collaboration, Creativity and Integrity. 

Our culture is embedded in these values, along with a strong commitment to our Child Safeguarding Protocol, ensuring that all representatives of Save the Children demonstrate the highest standards of behaviour towards children both in their private and professional lives.

Save the Children Canada is looking to recruit for the following positions:

Position: Gender Advisor

Department: TBD

Application Deadline: 21st March 2016 
 

Location: Nairobi, Kenya 
 

Reporting to: Senior Advisor, Gender / Head, Thematic Quality

Status: Full time, one year contract with possibility of renewal 
 

Union:  No 

Save the Children Canada (SCC) is a member of Save the Children International, a federation that works in more than 120 countries worldwide delivering programs domestically and internationally focusing on health and nutrition, education, child protection, livelihoods and food security, emergency relief and child rights governance. 

As the world's leading independent organization for children, Save the Children is committed to a world in which every child attains their equal rights to survival, protection, development, and participation.

Reporting to the Senior Gender Advisor/Head of Thematic Quality in Toronto and Regional Program Director in Nairobi, this position will support several ongoing and upcoming projects, which may include both livelihoods (with focus on women and youth) and maternal, newborn and child health projects in Ethiopia, Egypt, Uganda, Malawi, Burkina Faso and Tanzania.  

The role will be based at the Save the Children East and Southern African Regional Office in Nairobi.

For the Gender Advisor position, responsibilities will include ensuring gender mainstreaming throughout project evaluations and results based management frameworks; developing, strengthening and supporting comprehensive and tangible gender equality strategies and action plans; and facilitating gender capacity building for field teams via training and/or tool development. 

Ongoing responsibilities include high quality technical support, both remotely and via travel to work with field teams across thematic and country contexts. 

Additionally, the post-holder will support the Senior Technical Advisor and Regional Program Development and Quality team on gender equality work as required, with duties including but not limited to supporting the design of new programs, facilitating gender audits and the ongoing development of gender tools, research, and trainings. 

Further, the post-holder will lead a regional gender equality community of practice, and support the development of regional gender strategies and action plans. 

The following represent accountabilities for this position.  

These accountabilities are to serve as a basis for developing annual work plans for the incumbent.

Accountabilities and Time %
 

1. Thematic Advisory and Technical Quality Assurance:  

% of time: 45%

• Support Country Office teams to integrate gender equality strategies into local objectives and initiatives
• Provide high quality technical assistance to program delivery teams, building a solid evidence base to support progressing innovations to scale
• Maintain line of sight on technical quality at the country level through effective relationships with program teams, Regional and Country offices, enabling timely provision of technical input and oversight
• Support program teams to review project deliverables and donor reports from a technical quality control perspective 
• Collaborate globally with peers and participate in relevant Global Initiative and gender working groups to achieve thematic outcomes and drive breakthroughs
• Contribute to the development, dissemination, and monitoring of program quality tools including supporting program evaluations

2. Advocacy & Business Development:   

% of time: 30%

• Support the development and execution of advocacy strategies, particularly with Regional Economic Communities, regional bodies and relevant national governments, to influence policy changes around gender, including producing high quality thought leadership materials and leading positioning activities such as representation at industry panels, presentations to donors, participation in external practitioner networks, and global Working Groups
• Cultivate and strengthen relationships with key funders/donors, research institutes, peer NGO agencies, partners, and sector thought leaders in respective thematic sector
• Support business development, leveraging technical expertise and project learnings from Save the Children projects to develop concept notes and proposals in partnership with Country Offices and Resource Development & Business Development teams

4. Program Learning & Innovation:  

% of time: 15%

• Support Country Offices in the design, testing, and evaluation of innovations to advance gender equality programming
• Distill learnings and evidence generated into succinct and compelling programmatic guidance and thought leadership for internal and external consumption
• Monitor developments in the sector and field to develop and refine program models and identify new research opportunities
• Partner with Communications teams to develop and disseminate technical and project materials

6. Capacity Building:

% of time: 10%

• Assess current Country Office capacity in gender-sensitive and transformative  programming, and support the development and implementation of training technical support workshops to build capacity of Country Offices and partners to design and implement quality programs
• Support Save the Children to build on successful examples and learning from countries that have been effectively integrating gender as a cross-cutting component of their work
• Work with Country Office teams to strengthen Save the Children’s Child Safeguarding policies from a gender perspective.    

Qualifications

• Master degree in International Development / Relations, Women and Gender Studies or related field, or equivalent training/experience
• 6 – 9 years’ field work experience implementing, managing, and/or providing technical assistance to programs in developing countries, including with focus on gender mainstreaming/gender focused programs; focus on child and youth programming desirable
• Knowledge of gender equality principles and practices
• Experience with gender-sensitive child rights programming in areas including Health, Education, Child Protection and Livelihoods
• Experience working in a range of African contexts and countries
• Experience in gender advocacy or policy work; prior experience with the African Union, Regional Economic Communities, or other regional or national mechanisms to advance gender equality is an asset
• Successful proposal development track record; prior experience with Canadian government-funded projects and knowledge of Global Affairs Canada or The MasterCard Foundation policies and procedures an asset; knowledge of Results-Based Management (RBM) approach
• Demonstrated thought leadership expertise such as contributions to academic journals, books, articles; speaking engagements, leading conference presentations and panels

Competencies, Skills and Behaviours

• Is a strategic big picture thinker, with the ability to engage at detailed project level 
• Is innovative, develops new ideas, and demonstrates adaptability
• Ability to synthesize and develop high-quality knowledge products from diverse data sources including programmatic materials and tools; outstanding gender analysis skills
• Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills to develop strong working relationships across cultural and organizational boundaries with internal and external stakeholders, and managing through influence
• Superior English communication and writing skills; proficiency in other languages considered an asset
• Comfortable working independently with little supervision, as well as with receiving and accounting for direction and engaging as part of a dynamic team
• Valid passport and ability and comfort to travel to national and international locations multiple times per year, potentially including fragile states.

Other Requirements

• Demonstrate strong commitment to Save the Children’s Mission, Vision and Values. Previous experience with child rights programming is an asset.
• Adhere to Child Safeguarding policies & procedures
• Subject to police background check : vulnerable sector screening
• Computer literacy including Internet, Microsoft Office (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access)

Competencies and Behaviours – Our Values in Practice

Accountability:

• Holds oneself accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values
• Holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities - giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved

Ambition:

• Sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves (and their team), takes responsibility for their own personal development and encourages others to do the same
• Widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others
• Future orientated, thinks strategically

Collaboration:

• Builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, members and external partners and supporters
• Values diversity, sees it as a source of competitive strength
• Approachable, good listener, easy to talk to

Creativity:

• Develops and encourages new and innovative solutions
• Willing to take disciplined risks

Integrity:

• Honest, encourages openness and transparency

Application Information

If you are interested in this position, please e-mail a letter of application and a resume by 21st March 2016 to EA.recruitment@savethechildren.org with Subject heading “(Gender Advisor)”.

We thank all applicants for their interest, however, only those selected for an interview will be contacted.

We work with children, communities and governments all over the world and we believe in the right person for the job regardless of where you come from and how you identify yourself. We need to keep children safe so our selection process reflects our commitment to ensuring that only those who are suitable to work with children are considered for these posts. All successful applicants will therefore be required to complete a Police Check and must sign onto our Child Safeguarding Policy and organizational Code of Conduct.