Job Description
Devex Talent Solutions is assisting Tanager in their search for a Gender Expert under the Impacting Gender and Nutrition through Innovative Technical Exchange in Agriculture Plus (IGNITE+) mechanism to be based in Nairobi, Kenya.
BACKGROUND
Tanager is an international nonprofit that connects smallholder producers and private businesses to co-create new ways of realizing life-changing economic and social opportunity. Our process builds on years of technical expertise, on-the-ground presence and public/private partnerships to unite economic growth with social innovation. Together, we are ushering in an era of equitable market systems that combine profitability with the power to address urgent challenges in poverty, malnutrition, and gender inequity.
Project Description
Tanager is implementing a technical assistance program with a focus on gender mainstreaming and nutrition integration. The Impacting Gender and Nutrition through Innovative Technical Exchange in Agriculture Plus (IGNITE+) mechanism is a five-year investment implemented by Tanager to improve household nutrition and women’s empowerment by strengthening African institutions’ ability to integrate nutrition and gender into their way of doing business and their agriculture interventions. IGNITE+ works with African Agriculture Institutions (AAIs) to design, implement, and evaluate nutrition-sensitive and gender-integrated agriculture interventions. IGNITE+ will also strengthen the ability of African institutions to incorporate nutrition and gender equality into their policy priorities and business practices—their way of doing business. Based on the interventions implemented by IGNITE+ clients, IGNITE+ will identify key mechanisms and drivers of demand for the scale up and replication of nutrition-sensitive and gender-integrated interventions. Lastly, IGNITE+ will cultivate and strengthen a network of local service providers (LSPs) for sustainable gender and nutrition impact at scale. IGNITE+ activities will be targeted in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, and Tanzania. Current project clients include NGOs, private sector companies, and government bodies working in agriculture.
Position Summary
Tanager is seeking a Gender Expert. In this role you will be a technical advisor, coach and mentor, relationship manager, facilitator, technical writer, and a thought-leader on gender mainstreaming and integration. You will lead the design and delivery of technical services to IGNITE+ clients, and support clients to design, implement, and monitor gender-integrated agriculture activities, interventions and business models. The Gender Expert will also provide thought leadership on the development/ updating of tools and resources, contribute/lead the design and development of learning products that will facilitate the integration of gender and nutrition into agriculture interventions and institutions’ way of doing business. You will manage key relations with clients, local service providers (LSPs), consultants and other partners of the project. The Gender Expert will report to the Deputy Team Leader and collaborate closely with other technical team members and the MEL team. This is a national position that will be based in Nairobi, Kenya.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Lead technical advisory engagements with AAIs to support the development, design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of gender-integrated interventions in agriculture and gender mainstreaming approaches at institutional level. (40%)
- Diagnose: Contribute and participate in institutional and programmatic diagnostic processes with AAI clients to:
- Identify areas of capacity strengthening for gender, nutrition and MEL. This entails contextualizing the IGNITE diagnostic tool to the type of AAI, conducting key informant interviews, focus group discussion, document review among other collaborative processes with the client and the IGNITE MEL team.
- Co-develop and co-deliver with LSPs and clients, the technical scopes of work to support the clients in their journey of gender mainstreaming and nutrition integration.
- Advise: As a technical advisor, provide technical advisory and implementation support to clients to:
- Identify gender-specific challenges and opportunities for female social and economic empowerment, particularly in household decision-making, nutrition, and women’s engagement.
- Co-create the design and implementation of gender activities that employ intergenerational and male engagement approaches, as well as social and behavior change theory. Working with other technical experts explore how nutrition pathways can support women’s empowerment and vice versa.
- Advise on and support development, collection, and analysis of indicators for measuring gender gaps and empowerment; support collection of sex- and age-disaggregated data; integrate gender into formative research
- Support clients to align their accountability mechanisms and systems to deliver on their gender and nutrition commitments
- Support clients to identify and mitigate risks for intended and unintended impacts
- Strengthen: Strengthen institutional systems and structures towards gender mainstreaming. As a technical advisor and thought leader, support IGNITE clients’ capacity to integrate gender into their business practices, policies, systems, and structures by:
- Design and conduct participatory training, sensitization, workshops on gender mainstreaming for clients
- Support clients on development, refinement, alignment, and/or roll-out of policies and procedures to promote gender mainstreaming and equitable business practices, systems, and structures.
- Develop and pilot capacity building tools and approaches that integrate both gender and nutrition into the design and implementation of agriculture activities
- Promote the utilization and institutionalization of different tools, approaches, and guidance into core institutional processes like HR, MEL, procurement, finance, strategy among others.
Provide technical thought leadership on identification, capturing, and documentation of approaches, innovations, lessons, and insights about gender TA demand creation and service delivery models (40%)
- Co-create demand creation: Working with project partners - local service providers (LSPs), support in developing strategies to create demand and expand the reach of Gender technical advisory services.
- Sustain: Working alongside other IGNITE+ technical (MEL, Nutrition, etc.) and operational experts, contribute to sustaining a network of technical service providers. Provide training, collaborate in knowledge exchange, peer coaching and mentorship, capacity building activities, and co-delivery of TA services thus sustaining the high-quality service delivery and client satisfaction.
- Document: Contribute to development of case studies, success stories, learning briefs, that bring lessons from the project implementation to make the business case for integrating gender into agriculture activities, institutional systems and structures. Working with the MEL team in designing assessments that identify most effective and efficient TA delivery models for increasing women’s empowerment in agriculture
- Learn and adapt: Contribute and participate in learning and research activities both internal and within client AAIs, or LSPs to help research teams to interpret gender findings and apply them back in programming.
Manage partnerships and relations with project stakeholders (10%)
- Nurture relations: Create and nurture strong and long-term relationships with clients and serve as a point of contact on select client engagements, shepherding clients through the phases of a TA engagement and ensuring their needs are addressed at each stage
- Manage relations: In consultation with the project leadership, address any concerns and complaints raised by the client and coordinate and lead regular reflection meetings with clients and LSPs
- Participate in strategic meetings: Alongside the project leadership in strategic donor-facing project meetings
Contribute to Resource Mobilization/New Business Development – 10%
- Resource Mobilization and New Business Development: Support the Country Representative to identify, pursue, and secure new growth opportunities both with existing donors, and new and non-traditional donors and investors, including the private sector.
- Identify, participate, and represent Tanager and IGNITE+ in events and other industry fora where the gender and nutrition TA model can be showcased.
- Proposal Development: Serves as technical writer and reviewer on selected Tanager proposal efforts focused on gender components.
Other duties as assigned by your supervisor.
QUALIFICATIONS
Required skills
- Bachelor’s degree with atleast 12 years of work experience or Master’s/university degree with atleast 8 years’ work experience in gender studies, development studies, sociology, anthropology, women’s studies, or other related discipline
- Minimum of 8 years’ work experience in Sub-Saharan Africa in mainstreaming gender into food systems, nutrition, or agriculture programs; including a minimum of 6 years’ experience facilitating trainings on gender, leading gender analysis and/or gender audits, providing gender technical support to government, NGOs and/or private sector clients;
- Demonstrated experience in offering gender technical assistance or advisory services in the agriculture sector with a focus on strengthening institutional systems, structures, and processes.
- Demonstrated knowledge and skills in designing and implementing tools and approaches to support Agricultural Institutions in integrating gender in their agriculture interventions and the ability to develop evidence-based recommendations and interventions to promote gender equity and women’s empowerment.
- Demonstrated knowledge of and proven successful ability to conduct in-depth gender analyses, including leading research teams, facilitating focus groups, and conducting interviews.
- Excellent understanding of global and continental commitment mechanisms for gender and nutrition in agriculture for stakeholders like governments, NGOs, and private sector.
- Demonstrated knowledge of social and behavior change communication theory and techniques.
- Understanding of nutrition-sensitive agriculture concepts in Africa and ability to integrate a nutrition-sensitive lens into gender approaches.
Key competencies
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills required. Ability to build relationships and rapport with teams, staff, and clients and navigate challenging or unexpected circumstances with creativity, calm, and positivity. Ability to communicate effectively with persons on all levels both inside and outside the company on issues that could be complex or sensitive in nature.
- Excellent client relationship and management skills.
- Adaptable and innovative. Collaborative and open to feedback. Able to work independently and in a team setting.
- Strong analytical skills, including ability to gather and analyze a variety of information pertaining to issues and to develop appropriate recommendations for action.
- Strong written communication skills, including demonstrated ability to write required documents in a clear, concise, well-organized manner.
- Advanced computer skills in a Windows based environment including Word, Outlook, PowerPoint and Excel.
- Fluency in English, written and oral, required. French language skills desired.
- Travel in Sub-Saharan Africa expected 40%.
