OVERVIEW

JOB PURPOSE

The Purpose of this position is to: (i) lead and coordinate the operationalization and implementation of IsDB’s Women Empowerment Policy and the related Operational Strategy of the Women Empowerment Policy while providing specialised technical support and expertise to Country Operations Managers (COMs), Operational Team Leaders (OTLs), Project Management Specialists and Executing Agencies (EAs) in in the Regional Hubs in identifying, mainstreaming and monitoring women empowerment in Bank operations during the identification, preparation, appraisal, implementation, and completion stages (throughout project lifecycle); (ii) lead the design and operationalization of specific programs and projects on women empowerment in close coordination with the regional hubs, relevant business units and strategic development partners in a proactive manner; (iii) coordinate the operationalization and implementation of the 5-years action plan linked with the IsDB Youth Development Strategy and any other relevant operational strategies and policies of the bank; (iv) lead to establishment of new partnerships for the mobilization of technical and financial resources in order to complement and strengthen the Bank’s women initiatives; (v) lead the coordination, improvement, evaluation and dissemination of the Women Empowerment Policy; and (vi) lead the formulation, development and effective implementation of IsDB’s strategic initiatives relevant to women empowerment including knowledge products, capacity development activities, and provide high level advisory, guidance and tools to the Regional Hubs and Member Countries; (vii) provide coaching and training to the Women Empowerment and Senior Women Empowerment Specialists in the division and advise them on their work, integrate them into relevant projects/programs in their design and implementation stages in close coordination with the manager of the division.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

Strategic and Operational Planning and Implementation:
• Lead the Bank’s efforts to support the member countries to empower women from a technical point of view.
• Contribute as an expert and participate in project appraisal, design as well as processing and approval process as team member along with relevant regional hubs.
• Lead the contributions of the WYE division on the provision of inputs on youth empowerment while ensuring that the Bank’s policies, strategies, and interventions are adhering to the IsDB Women Development Strategy and the associated action plans.
• Lead the internal efforts to mainstream women empowerment in Member Country Partnership Strategy (MCPS) formulation, country dialogues and engagements with relevant departments at HQ and regional hubs.
• Lead in the development of strategic policies, plans, guidelines, analytics, and other products related to women empowerment with Women and Youth Empowerment division and with other Global Practices in Director General – Global Practices and Partnerships Complex.
• Lead the design and development of women empowerment initiatives, programs, and projects of the Bank to support the member countries.
• Implement the frameworks, tools, and operational guidelines of the Bank to guide the Bank’s staff in supporting the member countries to empower women.
• Monitor and assess initiatives related to women empowerment programs and projects
• Contribute to the formulation of the operational programs/portfolios which maximize the utilization of resources and concentrate on results-based impact on women empowerment in the member countries.
• Closely work with relevant units of the Bank and provide intellectual leadership on positioning the Global Practice (GP) internally and externally in relevant domains.
• Provide advisory on GPs work on women empowerment, identifying staff and learning needs and setting competencies and standards for their global, regional, and country-specific solution areas to support the national women empowerment agencies and institutions.
• Lead the development of relevant cooperation arrangements and related joint action plans with the regional hubs, including, but not limited tProvide the regional hub staff with the necessary technical guidance and expertise in operationalizing the Women Empowerment Policy of the Bank and associated action plan.
• Coordinate and supervise the work of the Senior Women Empowerment Specialist to design and update policies, strategies and actions aiming at empowering women in the member countries.
• Provide expert advisory on the delivery of selected global engagement products on women empowerment, and when needed, directly lead and participate in country dialogues and deliverables, in addition to capacity development interventions and events in member countries.
• Lead the monitoring of the implementation of IsDB Women Empowerment Policy (WEP) and the Operational Strategy of the Women Empowerment Policy (OSWEP) and any associated operational documents; review and revise the subject documents to align with any changes in the overall strategic direction of the Bank.
• Identify, contribute to and report on projects mainstreaming women empowerment in the different sector interventions of the IsDB.
• Participate in the formulation of relevant policies, sector guidance notes and any other relevant operational or fiduciary frameworks taking into account the dimension of women empowerment.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

Capacity Development:

• Identify, assess, and monitor overall capacity development needs of internal stakeholders in the IsDB Group, the hubs as well as relevant external partners on the subject of women development and empowerment with the aim to design and administer relevant capacity development interventions when needed.

• Develop and administer as needed technical assistance (TA) and women empowerment grants and other training programs for capacity development in cooperation with other partners whenever possible.

Strategic Partnerships and Resource Mobilization:

• Lead the resource mobilization efforts to increase concessional and grant resources for the Bank to strengthen and promote women development and empowerment. Continuously search for and identify opportunities to create/formulate/participate in mechanisms for co-financing women empowerment initiatives of the Bank

• Liaise with the international, regional and national women development and empowerment institutions in order to promote and increase the visibility of IsDB’s interventions on women development and empowerment in the member countries.

Knowledge Sharing & Innovation:

• Track external issues and processes relevant to the best practices in addressing women empowerment. Keep abreast of external developments and provide technical support to management on engagement in key external processes on these issues. This includes, among others, IsDB partnership with specialized UN agencies, multilateral development banks, bilateral finance institutions.

• Lead the organization of forums for knowledge generation, exchange and dissemination on issues of women development and empowerment across the bank functions (with relevant GPs and Regional Hubs).

Reporting & Communication:

• Contribute to the preparation of progress reports on thematic related activities in compliance with the Bank rules and procedures.

ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS

• Master's degree in women development, social development, economics, business administration, or any related field.

• Minimum 10 years of relevant experience (of which 5 years are in a developing country context).

• Minimum 3 years of supervisory/managerial experience.
• Languages: English: Mandatory  l Arabic: Preferred  l French: Preferred 

SKILLS & NECESSARY KNOWLEDGE

• Demonstrable knowledge and experience of women empowerment.

• Demonstrable professional experience in socio-economic development, women empowerment, civil society organizations and their work on women development, and mainstreaming women issues in development programs and projects, developing results-oriented partnerships, resource mobilization

• Experience working with IFIs/Development Agencies/Multilateral Development Banks preferred

• Demonstrable analytical skills to assess institutional and country capacity and to design/review practical arrangements for implementing complex projects’ women empowerment aspects.

• Demonstrated ability to contribute to high-level analytical work and policy dialogue in IsDB Member Countries.

• Planning & organizing / project management skills

• Analytical thinking

• Problem solving

• Sound knowledge of development finance

• Excellent verbal communication skills

• Excellent writing skills including reports, speeches, articles, communications material, etc.

• Presentation and public speaking skills

• MS Office skills

ABOUT APPLICATION PROCESS

If you meet the criteria and you are enthusiastic about the role, we would welcome your application. To complete the application you would need the following document(s):

• Resume/CV
• Copy of passport
• Academic certificate

If you are currently an IsDB Regular staff applying for this role and get selected through the competitive selection process; your current contract type and other terms and conditions will remain unchanged.

The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) does not ask for payments of any kind from applicants throughout the recruitment process (job application, CV review, interview meeting, and final processing of applications). In addition, the IsDB does not request information on applicants’ bank accounts. The IsDB declines all responsibility for the fraudulent publications of job posts or job offers in its name or, in general, for the fraudulent use of its name in any way whatsoever.