Gender, Youth, Social Mobiliser Lead/Coordinator (0689)

Gender, Youth, Social Mobiliser Lead/Coordinator

Development Food Security Activities (DFSA)

Malawi

About the role: This is a 4 year, new role with unaccompanied terms based in Lilongwe, Malawi with a salary of Grade 4 (€39,219 - €43,577 per annum).  You will be expected to travel to the DFSA programme areas for 40-50% of your time as needed.

The DFSA Program will be a multi-sectoral response to sustainably improve food and nutrition security and build the resilience of ultra-poor and poor households in Southern Malawi. It will support work alongside local and national governance structures to implement the National Resilience Strategy 2018-2030.

You will report directly to the Concern Worldwide Programme Director (PD) and will work closely with the Country Management Team and Concern Head Quarters Gender Advisor. You will also have a reporting line to the Catholic Relief Services Deputy Chief of Party and will work closely with the members of the Programme Management Unit (PMU) - Food Security Technical Coordinator, Project Technical Leads (e.g. Health, Agriculture, etc.), M&E Lead, Strategic Learning Lead, and Social Behaviour Change Specialist. You will also work/engage closely with Project Managers and Officers within Concern and across the consortium and liaise closely with implementing partner staff, government officials, international and national partners and USAID officials.

This position is contingent upon grant and candidate approvals by the donor.

Your purpose:

Concern Worldwide together with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) seek qualified candidates for the position of Gender, Youth, and Social Mobiliser (GYSM) Lead/Coordinator. The GYSM Lead/Coordinator will design, manage, strengthen, and provide direction of holistic and robust strategies to promote equality and inclusion of women, youth and marginalized people, including persons with disabilities, into all activities and throughout the entire award period.  The GYSM Lead/Coordinator will ensure that all activities are informed by a comprehensive understanding of the characteristics and situations of marginalized groups, and of social relationships and dynamics in project localities.  In addition, the GYSM Lead/Coordinator will contribute to the design and implementation of strategies supporting community mobilization.  The contribution of the position will be of fundamental importance to achieving lasting improvement in resilience and social cohesion in project localities.

The Gender, Youth, and Social Mobiliser Lead/Coordinator will work across the consortium to build the capacity of all project staff for mainstreaming sensitivity to gender, age and diversity in all aspects of programming. S/he will take learning needs into account and develop and conduct capacity building for all program staff, with the support of the CRS Chief of Party (COP), Food Security Technical Coordinator (FSTC), Strategic Learning Lead, the Social Behavior Change Lead, and Technical Advisors. S/he will work closely with program teams and partner staff to develop high quality contextually appropriate approaches. S/he will supervise gender, youth and social dynamics staff. The Lead will also be responsible for assessments required for learning and adaptive management to address the changing and unique needs of men, women, boys and girls. S/he will contribute to the consortium’s efforts toward quality design and implementation of inclusion and equality initiatives.

You will be responsible for:

Coordination

• With the collaboration of the COP, M&E Lead, Strategic Learning Lead, and other technical leads, guide the DFSA gender, youth and social dynamics strategy for engagement of men, women, boys and girls to promote the empowerment of marginalized individuals and groups and their equitable participation in and benefits from project activities.
• Lead the DFSA Gender Analysis Plan as well as youth and inclusion Analysis Plans, as set forth in the program design documents and approved by USAID/FFP, in Year 1 of the intervention.
• Act as a contact person for gender, youth and social dynamics with other stakeholders.
• Provide guidance on gender, youth and social dynamics perspectives in all aspects of the DFSA award.
• Support preparation of reports, issues-papers and case studies on gender, youth and social dynamics with the help of other consortium colleagues in the substantive work of the DFSA that will help ensure synergies are fully availed of in our joint efforts to promote achievement of common goals.
• Assist technical staff in setting objectives and indicators for gender, age and diversity mainstreaming, adapted to the various DFSA interventions across the interventions’ zones.
• Assist the DFSA team in ensuring that consortium and partners are in compliance with gender, youth and social dynamics related USAID/FFP requirements.

Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning

• Lead detailed gender, youth and social dynamics analysis at the inception of new programming.
• Ensure gender, youth and social dynamics related indicators are covered in the DFSA monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning systems.
• Review DFSA reports and ensure they capture required level disaggregated data and gender, youth and social dynamics learning.
• Support programming staff in incorporating gender, youth and social dynamics issues in project monitoring and evaluation systems (performance questions, indicators, sampling methods, procedures, etc.).
• Assist in gender, age and diversity-sensitive participatory planning and support implementation.
• Arrange for the dissemination of information from monitoring and evaluation data on the degree to which gender, youth and social dynamics related objectives are being achieved and on the differentiated impact of the DFSA projects.

Partnership

• Take the lead in providing technical support to local partners in developing effective gender, youth and social dynamics project strategies.
• Assist partner staff to communicate information from the field to the appropriate decision-making forum to ensure that gender, youth and social dynamics remain integrated in all activities, processes and impacts.
• Provide support, coaching, mentoring and technical guidance to partner gender, youth and social dynamics officers.

Capacity Building and Supervision

• Identify relevant training and learning opportunities for consortium staff to advance knowledge and skills in gender, youth and social dynamics, and manage a related DFSA learning agenda.
• Coordinate with the COP and the FSTC on the inclusion of gender, youth and social dynamics learning agenda.
• Supervise and mentor project officers through a matrix management model, through shared project and partner visits, coaching sessions, and coordination with the officers’ direct line supervisors.
• Develop capacity building plans and strategies.
• Roll out gender, youth and social dynamics-related approaches and processes.

Representation

• Attend important and relevant events on gender, youth and social dynamics and the substantive areas to disseminate information on progress made in mainstreaming and results.
• Represent the consortium at workshops and events where information on gender, youth and social dynamics integration is requested.
• Perform other related duties as required.

Supervision and Coaching/Mentoring Responsibilities

• The DFSA Gender, Youth, and Social Dynamics Lead directly supervises project-based gender, youth and social dynamics staff and participates in the hiring and supervision either directly or indirectly of future staff. Additionally, s/he will provide support in mentoring staff across the consortium.

• The GYSM Lead/Coordinator will fully adhere to Concern’s Code of Conduct and associated policies, which include Programme Participant Protection Policy, Child Safeguarding Policy, and Anti-Trafficking in Persons Policy.  As part of his/her supervision and management role, s/he will further sensitise, train and monitor staff in this regard in order to minimise the risk of any breach of the above.  In case of any breach, s/he will immediately report this in line with Concern’s policy and procedures and contribute to any investigation, disciplinary action, etc. required.

Your skills and experience will include:

Essential:

• A master’s degree in a social science discipline or other relevant academic field.
• At least five years of working in development contexts at different levels, including significant field experience at the community level.
• Experience working with large donors, and in particular USAID. 
• Demonstrated understanding of gender, age and other locally significant socio-cultural factors in the context of food security programming.
• Demonstrated capacity to lead the collection and utilization of data and information from a broad range of sources, and work with MEAL functions, in order to ensure the effective integration of gender concerns at strategic and operational levels throughout the project's duration. Demonstrated experience in leading participatory analytical processes and learning required.
• Ability to lead, foster commitment, and build capacity among staff and relevant in-country actors to facilitate gender integration and empowerment.
• Demonstrated capacity to understand and advise on critical technical and operational issues related to gender and youth: e.g. education, job skills, employment creation, social cohesion, health, psycho-social wellbeing, prevention of adolescent marriage and/or pregnancy.
• Ability to self-manage and succeed in a matrix management model, with a proactive and flexible nature in resolving problems.  Flexibility to work both in a team and independently.
• Capacity to build and lead a productive, committed team of staff and empower them through support for professional growth and development.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills in English, both oral and written.
• Experience with facilitation, capacity strengthening and partnership building through formal and informal training, and ability to work effectively with groups.
• Detail-oriented and excellent time management skills with the ability to meet deadlines and deliver required results in a timely and quality manner.
• Cultural sensitivity, patience, flexibility and ability to work well in a multi-sectoral and multi-cultural team and to work closely, understand and support local partners.
• Ability to work in a challenging and stressful environment with unexpected challenges.

Desirable:

• Experience working in a variety of developing environments required; knowledge of the Malawi context desired.
• Fluency in Chichewa desired.
• Professional knowledge of quality standards (e.g. CHS, Red Cross Code of Conduct, SPHERE); able to support colleagues in their use.
• Experience working in a consortia arrangement and/or with local implementing partners.
• Experience of USAID FFP and/or FTF desirable.
• Experience in quantitative and qualitative data analysis highly desirable.

All applications should be submitted through our website at https://jobs.concern.net by closing date. CV’s should be no more than 4 pages in length. 

Concern Worldwide is an Irish-based non-governmental, international, humanitarian organisation dedicated to the reduction of suffering and working towards the ultimate elimination of extreme poverty in the world’s poorest countries.

Disclaimer

This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skills, effort, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position.

Talent acquisition procedures reflect a commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.

This position is conditional upon award of funding for the DFSA.