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Gender and Youth Advisor - DRC

Bukavu | Washington D.C.

  • Organization: Mercy Corps
  • Location: Bukavu | Washington D.C.
  • Grade: Mid/Senior level - Mid/Senior
  • Occupational Groups:
    • Youth
    • Women's Empowerment and Gender Mainstreaming
    • Project and Programme Management
  • Closing Date: Closed

PROGRAM/ DEPARTMENT SUMMARY:

Mercy Corps has been operating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) since 2007, with a staff of approximately 250 people in North and South Kivu. We support vulnerable communities, while fostering strong relationships and partnerships across government, civil society and the private sector to deliver programs that build resilience and promote sustainable change. Our current activities focus on the provision of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) services in camps for internally displaced people, and large-scale WASH infrastructure and service delivery in urban centers. Mercy Corps also has food security, economic recovery/development and governance programs, with an increasing shift towards transitional and integrated development programming. The DRC team has a strong commitment to providing entrepreneurial and innovative solutions to development challenges, and actively seeks and facilitates market-based solutions.

GENERAL POSITION SUMMARY:

Mercy Corps is recruiting a Gender and Youth Advisor for a USAID-funded Development Food Assistance Project (DFAP) implemented in Eastern DRC. This five-year project will improve food and nutrition security and economic well-being of vulnerable populations through outcomes focused on agriculture, natural resources, livelihoods, health, nutrition, WASH and governance. The Gender and Youth Advisor will be responsible for leading the implementation of gender and youth integration strategies aimed at ensuring that project activities result in positive outcomes for male and female participants of different age groups. S/he will have overall responsibility for building team members' and partners' capacity to integrate a gender and youth perspective into project activities, and raising awareness of the importance of gender and youth integration. The Gender and Youth Advisor will work closely with sector team leads to ensure the effective and timely execution of activities related to gender and age-based access to opportunities.

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:

Strategy and Vision

  • Define a gender and youth strategy for the FSP program based on finding from the gender, youth and STRESS assessments conducted during year 1 of the program, oversee the implementation of these strategies and adapt and improve them as needed.
  • Develop specific, actionable gender and youth strategies for each program Purpose (agriculture, governance and health).
  • Work closely with DFAP Managers in integrating the findings from the gender/youth assessment into the project's work plan and milestones.
  • Conduct gender-based violence risk analysis and incorporate findings into program implementation plan.
  • Coordinate closely, work with and support managers and partners to promote gender/youth integration.
  • Work closely with the relevant team members to develop strategies for encouraging youth participation and leadership in agriculture and community decision making.
  • Work closely with SBCC team in the development of program messaging.
  • Work closely with the M&E team on gender/youth integration and analysis tools. Also with the M&E team, ensure sex and age disaggregated and gender-sensitive data is collected and analyzed. Make recommendations based on assessment findings and regular monitoring to inform program strategies to better meet the needs of the project participants.
  • Contribute to any research conducted in the program to ensure gender and youth dynamics are fully represented.
  • Work closely with Human Resources team to ensure gender accountability is incorporated into the position descriptions of team members.

Team Leadership and Management

  • Demonstrate flexibility, resilience and ability to maintain positive relationships and composure.
  • Maintain high ethical standards and treat people with respect and dignity.
  • Demonstrate an awareness of his/her own strengths and development needs.

Representation and External Coordination

  • Develop relationships and linkages with organizations implementing other donor-funded programs focused on gender and youth in eastern DRC.
  • Conduct regular community consultations to ensure programming remains gender and youth sensitive and on-track.
  • Collect and share learnings and best practices from this program with actors and in the Mercy Corps world.
  • Identify, build and manage collaborative partnerships with consortium partners, donor, local governments and other stakeholders.
  • Communicate effectively to ensure overall project targets and donor obligations are met.

Capacity Building

  • Develop targeted gender and youth capacity building interventions to promote integration with project staff.
  • Support project team in the development and delivery of training and capacity building on key gender and youth topics to project participants.

Organizational Learning: As part of our commitment to organizational learning and in support of our understanding that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities they serve - we expect all team members to commit 5% of their time to learning activities that benefit Mercy Corps as well as themselves.

Accountability to Beneficiaries: Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts towards accountability, specifically to our beneficiaries and to international standards guiding international relief and development work, while actively engaging beneficiary communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITY: 1 gender/youth support officer

ACCOUNTABILITY:

REPORTS DIRECTLY TO: Deputy Chief of Party

WORKS DIRECTLY WITH: DFAP component leads, Social and Behavior Change Manager, Monitoring & Evaluation Manager, DFAP field teams, technical support unit, partner organizations

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

  • MA/S or equivalent experience in international development, political science, women's studies, economics, sociology or other relevant field.
  • 5-7 years' experience in gender and youth development work including experience developing and conducting gender training, gender/youth mainstreaming and engaging in gender advocacy.
  • Demonstrated capacity to lead the collection, analysis and utilization of information from a broad range of sources to ensure effective integration of gender and youth concerns throughout the project's duration.
  • In-depth understanding of gender, age and other socio-cultural factors in the context of food security programming.
  • Ability to foster commitment and build capacity among project staff and in-country actors around gender and youth integration.
  • Experience in DRC or other sub-Saharan African countries strongly preferred
  • Fluency in French and English proficiency required.
  • Strong public speaking skills required.
  • Proficiency with Microsoft Office.

SUCCESS FACTORS:

The successful candidate will have excellent team and interpersonal relationship skills, with demonstrated ability to work effectively in complex environments. S/he will combine strong communication skills, creativity, initiative, participatory leadership and tactful decisiveness to assist in program implementation. Multi­tasking, prioritizing, problem solving and simultaneous attention to detail and strategic vision are essential. S/he must have the confidence and humility to work effectively with a diverse group of people – as well as be sensitive to political and cultural nuance. S/he must ­ be able to consistently apply excellent judgment to a variety of demanding and fast-­changing situations while working as part of a team and coordinate with program personnel.

LIVING CONDITIONS/ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS:

The position will be based in Bukavu, DRC and will require travel throughout South Kivu. While conditions in the country are improving, and security is quite stable in Bukavu, there are still pockets of violence and insecurity and petty crime is present. Mercy Corps' suboffices experience variable levels of insecurity, with the situation closely monitored by UN peacekeepers. Years of conflict and corruption have badly damaged the country's infrastructure. Air travel is necessary to get from one end of the country to the other. Mobile phones and cellular service are widely available. Internet is limited, but available in all Mercy Corps offices. Travel to field sites will be required where living conditions are clean and secure, but basic. There are a number of health services available with several evacuation options for serious illnesses. There is reasonable access to most consumer goods, although they can be expensive.

Mercy Corps Team members represent the agency both during and outside of work hours when deployed in a field posting or on a visit/TDY to a field posting. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and MC's policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.

PI100558638

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