Gender Adviser – Balochistan

About ITC:

The International Trade Centre (ITC) is a joint agency of the United Nations and the World Trade Organization, focusing in particular on developing the export capabilities of small and medium-sized businesses in developing and transition economies. ITC is 100% "Aid for Trade", supporting trade that delivers inclusive and sustainable development results. ITC’s mandate covers all developing countries and transition economies with special emphasis on the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs), Small Island Developing States (SIDs) Fragile States and Sub-Saharan Africa. ITC Headquarters is located in Geneva, Switzerland. ITC projects and programmes contribute to the global efforts to achieve UN Global Goals for Sustainable Development and the Aid for Trade agenda. ITC works at three levels:

• Strengthening the integration of the business sector of developing countries and economies in transition into the global economy,
• Improving the performance of trade and investment support institutions for the benefit of small and medium size enterprises (SMEs), and enhancing the abilities of trade support institutions to better support them,
• Improving the international competitiveness of SMEs.

About the GRASP Project:

The Growth for Rural Advancement and Sustainable Progress (GRASP) is a 66-month project that will contribute to the reduction of poverty through development of rural SMEs in selected districts within two provinces of Pakistan: Balochistan and Sindh. GRASP will focus on selected product lines within livestock and horticulture.
GRASP will take a holistic approach to building SME competitiveness in agribusiness value chains starting from a deep understanding of markets and working back through the value chain to enable SMEs and ultimately producers to create and capture additional value. To do this, GRASP will intervene in three main ways:

• Improving the eco-system for rural SME development through building institutional capacity and improving the business environment
• Building production and quality of primary products through support to SME agribusiness service providers and business intermediary organizations in rural areas
• Increasing added-value and marketed volumes through developing value chains and supporting SMEs to improve management, increase access to finance, apply sustainable technology to add value and improve quality and reduce waste throughout the system.

At the impact level, GRASP will create employment and income opportunities in rural areas of Sindh and Balochistan. Outcome and outputs of GRASP include measurable improvement in the business environment for SMEs, improved agricultural productivity in selected areas, better access for farmers to market information and agricultural services, increase in revenue and financing for selected SMEs and increased value added and adoption of environmental sustainable technology. GRASP has a very strong focus on women's economic empowerment.

GRASP has a budget of €48.5m funded by the European Union and ITC. ITC will implement GRASP through three Pakistan based teams and a wide network of Pakistani and international partner organizations. This challenging project will involve managing many concurrent inter-linked activities from the market to the production level and innovative tools such as matching grants.

Output 2.3 focuses on empowering BIOs (including women-representing BIOs) to support their members to network, identify business opportunities, and apply sustainable, environmental and quality standards and technologies. Under 2.3.6 GRASP will build the capacity for a Shetrades Pakistan chapter.

About the SheTrades Initiative:

The International Trade Centre launched the SheTrades initiative to create an ecosystem of integrated solutions that empower women economically through greater integration in trade and investment. The goal of the SheTrades Initiative is to connect 3 million women to market by 2021 by working with partners including governments, private sector, international organizations, and others to expand opportunities for women entrepreneurs by acting on 7 pillars to catalyse trade.

Through the GRASP project and the SheTrades Initiative, ITC will support women farmers, producers and women-owned SMEs to promote gender inclusiveness in selected value chains in the provinces of Balochistan and Sindh.

Under the direct supervision of the Lead Gender Adviser, the Provincial Gender Adviser will have the following duties and responsibilities:

• Identify potential beneficiaries- women farmers, farmers’ associations and women owned SMEs- in selected value chains;
• Research and analyze technical-related issues affecting women’s participation and benefits in the selected value-chains. Provide technical inputs to contextualize the gender-sensitive value chain approach in the selected value chains in Balochistan;
• Prepare conduct surveys and key informant interview to collect baseline data on women’s participation in selected value chains; appropriate methodology to be developed incl. the selection of interviewees, enumerators etc.
• Identify the key constraints and untapped opportunities for women farmers in the selected value chains;
• Identify potential risks for women to be included in activities or empowerment measures by the project and develop a risk mitigation plan and strategies to avoid/overcome;
• Design and implement training and capacity building activities for women farmers, producers and SMES based on the needs identified and the project log frame;
• Organize and/or undertake regular missions to project field sites;
• Conduct awareness raising/sensitization workshops with both men and women producers, if and when appropriate;
• Share data on women’s challenges and impact on value chain development and local economy for awareness creation and communication with stakeholders at the provincial and district levels (women farmers’ associations and cooperatives, governmental authorities, sector specialists, SMEs, NGOs and other development partners);
• Coordinate and review the activities proposed by the provincial sector specialists;
• Participate in key stakeholder meetings informing on project coordination, activity status, main successes, project constraints, key lessons learned;
• Produce a variety of technical information, data, statistics, and documents as well as technical inputs for reporting purposes;
• Collect testimonials and success stories from supported project female beneficiaries;
• Perform other duties as required.

Expected Outputs:

• Activities related to women empowerment in selected value chains in the Balochistan province are well designed and efficiently implemented as per work plan in close communication with the ITC SheTrades HQ team the GRASP Project Coordinator
• Key counterparts for SheTrades Pakistan at the provincial and district levels are involved and kept well informed about the implementation of the projects’ key milestones;
• Gender mainstreaming is well coordinated and implemented according to work plans with the provincial gender focal points;
• Appropriate gender lenses on monitoring and reporting.

Impact of Results:

• Achievement of delivery targets and results as outlined in the project work plans on women empowerment in Balochistan;
• Strong partnerships with national stakeholders and relevant government agencies and private sector;
• Good communication and positive image of SheTrades’ interventions in Balochistan;
• Successful gender mainstreaming across relevant GRASP project outputs.

ITC’S VALUES are: Integrity, Professionalism, Respect for Diversity

ITC’S CORE COMPETENCIES are: Communication, Teamwork, Planning & Organizing, Accountability, Creativity, Client Orientation, Commitment to continuous learning, Technological awareness.

ITC’S MANAGERIAL COMPETENCIES are: Vision, Leadership, Empowering Others, Managing Performance, Building Trust, and Judgment/Decision making.
For further information on competency-based interview please visit: www.intracen.org.
 
Functional Competencies:

• Excellent interpersonal and advocacy skills and ability to establish and maintain effective partnerships
• Proven leadership and project management and coordination skills
• Proven ability to lead and work collaboratively in teams, with colleagues and encourage  sharing of knowledge to achieve organizational goals
• Strong problem solving and analytical skills
• Ability to identify priority activities and assignments; adjust priorities as required
• Ability to work with accuracy under time constraints and pressure in a stressful environment; with patience, tactfulness, maintain confidentiality, take initiative and exercise good judgment
• Ability to plan own work and use time efficiently, manage conflicting priorities and work under pressure of tight and conflicting deadlines

Technical Competencies:

• Experience in working on development projects related to women empowerment and gender mainstreaming in agricultural value chains
• Demonstrated knowledge of opportunities and challenges facing women farmers and producers in the agricultural sector in the Baluchistan province
• Knowledgeable on the livestock and horticulture industries in Pakistan
• Very good understanding of business environment and public and private institutions relating to SMEs and agricultural development
• Good understanding of the private sector needs and expectations in Pakistan
• Experience in working with government and private sector counterparts
• Knowledge of result-based management skills
• Strong drafting and communication skills

Education and Work experience:

• Master Degree or equivalent in Business Management, International Trade, Business Administration, Applied Economics, Development Studies, Agriculture Development, Gender Studies or related field;
• With a minimum of 7 years of experience in SME promotion, trade, women’s economic empowerment  and/or gender studies;
• Including some experience in administration, project management or related field.

OR

• A Bachelor’s degree in Business Management or Administration, International Trade, Applied Economics, Development Studies, Agriculture Development, Gender Studies or related field;
• With minimum of 9 years of experience in SME promotion, trade and market linkages, women’s economic empowerment  and/or gender studies;
• Including some experience in project management, administration or related field.

Language Requirements:

• Advanced English with strong written and oral communication skills is essential;
• Knowledge of local languages.

Required knowledge and skills:

• Demonstrated knowledge of opportunities and challenges to SME development and women’s economic empowerment in Pakistan;
• Demonstrated capacity to evolve in large, complex and multi-dimensional projects;
• Very good understanding of business environment, SME landscape, public and private institutions relating to SMEs, women’s associations;
• Good understanding of project result-based management and coordination;
• Strong understanding of women’s economic empowerment and mainstreaming an inclusive gender approach across large projects;
• Proven leadership, advocacy and management skills and ability to operate in multi-stakeholder contexts;
• Excellent drafting and communication skills;
• Proven experience in project management and coordination;
• Excellent literacy in MS office applications (Powerpoint, Excel, Word).

Desirable knowledge and skills:

• Knowledge of the UN system and procedures or experience of EU-related projects would be an asset.

Please Note:

HEC attested degrees are a prerequisite for employment at UNDP. During the recruitment process candidates may be required to present HEC attested degrees.

Foreign Qualified Candidates: Foreign degree holders shall be required to(i) Present a verification/certification letter from the university verifying the degree & student enrollment, orii) Foreign degree Equivalence Letter from HEC.

UNDP provides the Equal Opportunity for all equally qualified male & female including the physically challenged candidates, female candidates are particularly encouraged to apply (local and internal VA)

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) does not charge fee at any stage of the recruitment process including application, interviews, selection or induction etc. Moreover, UNDP does not concern itself with any information on the applicants bank accounts

"UNDP has zero tolerance towards Sexual Harassment (SH) and Sexual Exploitation & Abuse (SEA)”.