Technical Specialist (Social Inclusion - Gender)

Organizational context

Duty station will be the regional IFAD office in Asia and the Pacific. The location of the regional office (such as Beijing and New Delhi) will be confirmed soon.

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is an international financial institution and a specialized United Nations agency dedicated to eradicating rural poverty and hunger. It does so by investing in rural people. IFAD finances programmes and projects that increase agricultural productivity and raise rural incomes, and  advocates at the local, national and international level for policies that contribute to rural transformation.

Post's organizational accountability

The Strategy and Knowledge Department (SKD) provides expert guidance on IFAD's strategic direction and thematic priorities and enhances the technical quality of IFAD’s operations. It plays a critical role in providing technical expertise to operational teams to enhance development effectiveness by generating and disseminating IFAD’s development knowledge and evidence on strategic themes and encouraging innovative application of cutting-edge global knowledge and evidence in IFAD investments to support countries tackle their most complex development challenges in fostering inclusive and sustainable rural transformation. SKD is composed of the (i) Environment, Climate, Gender and Social Inclusion Division (ECG); the (ii) Sustainable Production, Markets and Institutions Division (PMI); and the (iii) Research and Impact Assessment Division (RIA).

ECG takes the lead in mainstreaming cross-cutting themes of environment and climate, gender, youth, nutrition, indigenous peoples and all other related aspects of social inclusion such as poverty targeting and the inclusion of other marginalized groups into IFAD’s portfolio at all stages of the project cycle. The purpose of this is to strengthen the quality and sustainability of IFAD’s funded operations and achieve greater impact by building on the synergy of the cross-cutting themes and addressing them in an integrated manner using IFAD’s integration framework. ECG contributes to the generation of evidence and knowledge products on these themes, and facilitated their use in IFAD projects and activities. ECG is organized in 2 clusters: an Environment and Climate Cluster and a Social Inclusion Cluster.

The Social Inclusion Cluster in ECG includes 4 teams: Gender, Youth, Nutrition and Indigenous Peoples. The cluster spearheads the implementation of IFAD’s social inclusion and nutrition agenda. This include poverty targeting, reaching and benefiting vulnerable and marginalized rural people, gender equity, women and girls empowerment, rural youth employment, nutrition and indigenous peoples. It principally collaborates with the Environment and Climate Clusters, PMI, RIA and the divisions within the Programme Management Department and the External Relations and Government Department.

The Gender team has 3 workstreams: Targeting, Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment and Persons with Disabilities. The gender team leads the implementation of IFAD’s targeting, gender and persons with disabilities agenda. It works in close collaboration with the other teams within the social inclusion cluster and across IFAD.

IFAD’s comparative advantage lies in its targeting of the poorest, the poor, the vulnerable peoples in line with the multiple indicators tracking SDG1 (poverty, inclusion, vulnerability); and those who are most likely to have little access to assets and opportunities due to social exclusion and marginalization (e.g. women, young people, indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, people living in fragile situations etc.).

With less than a decade left to the Global Goals, deep pockets of poverty remain and the pace of poverty reduction is decelerating, extreme poverty is three times higher in rural areas than urban areas, and the poorest and most marginalized people continue to be left behind. In line with the 2030 SDGs Agenda of eradicating poverty in all its forms and the Leave No One Behind principle, IFAD has committed to improve its targeting performance. One of the key objectives of IFAD’s targeting strategy is to empower those who are left behind, promote gender equality and women’s empowerment and social inclusion to ensure all citizens actively participate in rural development as active citizens. IFAD approach to targeting and gender equality is strongly intertwined with the Fund’s social inclusion agenda.  

The Technical Specialist reports to the Lead Technical Specialist Gender, Targeting and Social Inclusion with overall strategic, policy and management guidance, and supervision of the division Director. S/He works collaboratively with respective ECG technical specialists (both Environmental/Climate and Social Inclusion), PMI thematic Technical Specialist and other staff across IFAD to ensure coherence, consistency and ultimately the good performance of IFAD’ funded projects in all stages of the project cycle with a particular focus on quality of projects on the ground.

While the Technical Specialist will carry a global agenda, contribute to the Fund’s corporate objectives and promote learning across all Regional Divisions, s/he will devote a substantial portion of the time supporting operations in the Asia and the Pacific Region.

The accountabilities / key results include:

•      Technical Advice

•      Country Programme Advice and Development

•      Knowledge Management

•      Partnership Building and Resource Mobilization

•       Managerial Functions

Key results expected / Major functional activities

1. Technical Advice

The Technical Specialist will provide support to knowledge generation and analysis of current thematic conditions, persistent & emerging development challenges and the state of rural poverty regionally and globally: (i) improve the targeting, gender equality and women’s empowerment performance of IFAD’s portfolio; (ii) influence national government policies and programmes; and (iii) be regarded as a trusted and valued partner. Under the supervision of the Lead Technical Specialist – Gender, Targeting and Social Inclusion, the incumbent will:

• Support the integration of pro-poor targeting measures and approaches, gender and social inclusion to IFAD’s global country portfolio at design to ensure appropriate contextual measures are incorporated, lessons and innovations are fully integrated in country strategies, early identification and projects at design.

• Support analyses with a sharper poverty focus including thematic analyses at design, implementation, supervision and completion to ensure that adopted targeting strategies are appropriate for different target groups and country contexts.

• Enhance the Fund’s regional portfolio through collaborative technical studies and sharing of country-level strategic innovations in pro-poor targeting measures and approaches, gender equality and women’s empowerment and social inclusion; and

• Support the provision to IFAD staff and partners of up-to-date professional advice on policy, institutional and technical issues.  

2. Country Programme Advice and Development

Under the supervision of the Lead Technical Specialist – Gender, Targeting and Social Inclusion, the incumbent will act as country-level focal point in poverty targeting, gender equality, women’s empowerment and social inclusion. S/he will ensure appropriate and up-to-date technical advice to country programme and projects at design and during implementation. S/he will ensure appropriate advice on pro-poor and gender sensitive monitoring is provided to optimize inclusive and sustainable results and contribute to regional and IFAD’s portfolio effective performance. Accountabilities may include:

• Assisting in the programming of new sources of funding and ensuring a pro-poor targeting, gender lenses in programming for gender equity and women’s empowerment and social inclusion;
• Providing technical support to staff, field missions and national programmes at all stages of the programme cycle; undertaking design, implementation support and supervision missions; providing monitoring and evaluation inputs to ensure, monitor and analyse poverty outreach, gender equality, women’s empowerment and social inclusion; contributing substantively to build synergies with the corporate mainstreaming agenda of climate, youth and nutrition;
• In coordination with the Country Directors and other thematic specialists, strengthening IFAD’s country-level programmes and projects through the Quality Enhancement process of country strategies, programmes and projects.   

3. Knowledge Management

Under the supervision of the Lead Technical Specialist – Gender, Targeting and Social Inclusion, the Technical Specialist will support the development of viable and sustainable pro- pro approaches and projects in country and will support regional and global thematic inputs on targeting, gender equality, women’s empowerment and social inclusion through authoritative technical knowledge sharing her/his area of expertise. S/he will ensure country-level and regional access to the latest sources of knowledge and innovation in the areas of pro-poor targeting, gender equality, women’s empowerment and social inclusion. S/he will establish new knowledge and advisory partnerships at country and regional level. Accountabilities may include:

• Sharing knowledge and experiences generated through activities such as analytical studies, regional and global grants; or the management of Cooperation and Technical Assistance Grants.
• Supporting the coordination of relevant knowledge development and dissemination with institutions outside IFAD within the region concerned and national institutions, disseminating knowledge and lessons learned with outside partners and stakeholders through publication of Occasional Papers, journal articles, seminars and workshops, through electronic media and the development of new knowledge products and operational tools that are informed by evidence and learning from the field; and
• Developing appropriate technical and operational approaches of relevance to the country/divisional strategies and programmes.

4. Partnership Building and Resource Mobilization

The Technical Specialist develops and maintains a network of peer contacts inside and outside IFAD to keep up-to-date on activities at country, regional and global levels to support joint advocacy and enhance the Fund’s profile as a result-oriented, highly competent, trusted and viable partner for inclusive and sustainable rural transformation.  Under the supervision of the Lead Technical Specialist – Gender, Targeting and Social Inclusion the incumbent will:

• Support the development of partnerships with complementary technical organizations, NGOs, and specialized departments of other development agencies as potential operational and strategic partners at country, regional and global levels;
• Support IFAD’s representation and communication in policy and technical dialogue/processes and strategy issues related to poverty targeting, gender equality, women’s empowerment and social inclusion (including supporting IFAD’s representation at international, regional, inter-agency meetings, seminars, conferences, etc…) and
• Contribute to mobilizing additional resources for IFAD, in collaboration with GPR, through partnerships and outreach activities. 

5. Managerial Functions

The Technical Specialist is accountable for integrity, transparency, and equity in the management of IFAD resources. This includes, among others, people management through support to recruitment of consultants and technical leadership/capacity development, coaching and mentoring of new and/or more junior staff.
 

Impact of Key results / Key performance indicators

The Technical Specialist provides advice on pro-poor targeting, gender equality & women’s empowerment and social inclusion. S/he provides support at the corporate level and all stages of project cycle including monitoring and evaluation. S/he collaborates with other Specialists to ensure the collection and dissemination of new ways of thinking about persistent rural development challenges and emerging developments in the required expertise. Knowledge management at this level contributes to the quality enhancement of IFAD’s programmes and partnership development for rural poverty reduction and inclusive and sustainable rural transformation. S/he works collaboratively with the thematic Technical Specialists to ensure consistency, cohesion and synergy in the application of technical advice and provision of programme development support.

Representation / Work relationships

The work relationships Technical Specialists involve participating in mission planning, technical project design and in the preparation of background or thematic studies and reports. S/he provide technical expertise and methodological guidance at the country and regional level in the required expertise and works under the supervision of the Lead Technical Specialist full technical independence. Contacts are with counterparts within the United Nations organizations having related programmes and with officials of governments, non-governmental and intergovernmental organizations, research institutes and academia. Contacts are maintained to identify and evaluate innovative and emerging trends.  

Competencies

Organizational

• Strategic thinking and organizational development: Personal influence (Level 1)
• Demonstrating Leadership: Personal leadership and attitude to change (Level 1)
• Learning, sharing knowledge and innovating: Continuously seeks to learn, shares knowledge and innovates (Level 1)
• Focusing on clients: Focuses on clients (Level 1)
• Problem solving and decision making: Demonstrates sound problem solving and decision making ability (Level 1)
• Managing time, resources and information: Manages own time, information and resources effectively (Level 1)
• Team Work: Contributes effectively to the team (Level 1)
• Communicating and negotiating: Communicates effectively: creates understanding between self and others (Level 1)
• Building relationships and partnerships: Builds and maintains effective working relationships (Level 1)

Technical/Functional

• Technical expertise at country and regional level in poverty targeting, pro-poor methods and measures, gender equality & women’s empowerment and social inclusion
• Skill in the design of poverty and socio-economic analysis, and gender situational analysis; and identification of innovative solutions to emerging issues.
• Excellent writing skills and ability to share technical guidance/knowledge at the peer level.

Minimum recruitment qualifications

Education: 

Advanced university degree (Master’s or equivalent) from an accredited institution in the field of specialization (e.g Rural Sociology, Social Studies, Social Sciences, Gender Studies, Development Studies, Agricultural Economics, International Relations with a strong focus on pro-poor measures and approaches as well as gender equality in agriculture and rural context

Experience:

• At least five (5) years of progressively responsible professional experience in, developing pro-poor, gender and social inclusion strategies across different thematic investments and regions, carrying out participatory poverty/livelihoods and institutional analysis to inform project’s design strategies. Experience at international level would be an asset.
• Experience in the design, implementation, supervision and performance monitoring and evaluation of poverty targeting, gender equality, women’s empowerment and social inclusion in an agricultural or rural context.
• Experience in international policy frameworks related to rural poverty, gender equality & women’s empowerment and social inclusion; nutrition or environment and climate is an asset.
• Familiarity with the key regional and global centres of excellence in the fields of (i) pro-poor outreach in rural areas; (ii) gender equality and women’s empowerment; and (iii) social inclusion is an asset. 

Language requirements:

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English. Working knowledge of another official language (Arabic, French or Spanish) is desirable.

Other information

Applicants should note that IFAD staff members are international civil servants subject to the authority of the President of IFAD. In accordance with IFAD's Human Resources Policy, staff members are subject to the authority of the President who can decide to assign them to any of the activities of the Fund. All International Professional staff members are required to be geographically mobile and positions in the professional category are subject to changes in location at any time in line with strategic priorities and reform initiatives in IFAD.    

In the interest of making most cost effective use of funds and resources, we are only able to respond to applicants who are short-listed for interview. Candidates who do not receive any feedback within three months should consider their application unsuccessful

Candidates may be required to take a written test and to deliver a presentation as well as participate in interviews.