Senior Gender Equity and Social Inclusion Officer

Who We Are

IREX is a global development and education organization. We strive for a more just, prosperous, and inclusive world—where individuals reach their full potential, governments serve their people, and communities thrive. With a projected annual portfolio of more than $100 million and more than 600 staff worldwide, we work with partners in more than 100 countries in four areas essential to progress: cultivating leaders, empowering youth, strengthening institutions, and increasing access to quality education and information.

The Senior Gender Equity and Social Inclusion Officer (GESI) will collaborate with colleagues to lead efforts to promote, design, implement, and manage gender equality, youth participation, and social inclusion activities across program components. They will use survey and data approaches to incorporate best practices and lessons learned in gender mainstreaming, equality, and youth participation among program staff, partners, participants, and stakeholders. In addition, they will work collaboratively with colleagues and consortium partners.

We are doers. Our decades of on-the-ground experience help us create greater impact, practical recommendations, and lasting partnerships.

Are you the next member of our team?

Your Background & Skills

• Bachelor’s Degree in gender studies, social sciences, or related field (could be substituted with at least three years practical experience in the field).
• A minimum of 5+ years of professional experience working on donor-funded international development programs, and experience focusing on gender analysis and gender mainstreaming and working with inclusion of underrepresented citizens in Palestine or the MENA region.
• Demonstrated experience and knowledge in gender equality and participatory development practices.
• Demonstrated experienced implementing monitoring & evaluation (M&E) activities in West Bank/Gaza (WBG) and supporting gender assessments in donor-funded programs.
• Demonstrated understanding of the Palestinian context for gender-related issues, social (including refugee) inclusion, and youth participation.
• Good understanding of the local government context and gender and social inclusion-related challenges at the local level which prevent full participation of underrepresented populations in educational and workforce opportunities.
• Understanding of best practices in youth programming, including Positive Youth Development, and familiarity with USAID’s Youth in Development Policy.
• Demonstrated ability to cultivate relationships and collaborate with a variety of stakeholders including youth, government ministries and officials, NGOs, donors, the private sector, and community-based institutions.
• Excellent communication, leadership, and interpersonal skills including conflict resolution abilities.
• Strong representational and organizational skills.
• Commitment to inclusive programming that encourages full participation of individual regardless of gender, disability status, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or other marginalized status.
• Must be fluent in English and Arabic.
• Palestinian citizenship or residency with work authorization

Your Daily Tasks

• Promote, design, implement, and manage gender equality, youth participation, and social inclusion activities across program components.
• Lead measures to ensure that program efforts do not put any individual or marginalized group at increased risk of harm.
• Provide expertise in gender equality, youth participation, and social inclusion for the program staff, stakeholders, and USAID; provide inputs for the drafting of the project activity plans, Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning (MEL), and reports.
• Adaptively respond to changes in the operating environment to meet the desired objectives.
• Apply PYD approaches and Do No (More) Harm approaches and address Gender and Disability Inclusion considerations and Environmental considerations in their work.
• Contribute to the distribution of best practices and lessons learned in gender mainstreaming, equality, and youth participation among program partners, participants, and stakeholders.
• Support USAID-funded Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions to design and implement effective recruitment with a particular focus on changing attitudes and norms that go against female and persons with disabilities (PWD) inclusion.
• Support USAID-funded Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions to review and streamline gender and disability inclusive considerations into policies and regulations, gender assessments of training programs.
• Equip USAID-funded Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) with enhanced outreach capacity to counter social stigma, attract more young students (particularly females and PWD), and expand access to the most marginalized and underserved.
• Contribute to development and implementation of the perception survey to inform awareness campaigns to increase enrollment and increase public sector engagement to leverage USAID-funded Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) students to fill labor shortages.
• Build and maintain collaborative working relationships with consortium partners, selected USAID-funded Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions, and other program stakeholders.
• Cultivate durable partnerships, facilitate locally led designs, use evidence-based decision-making, and ensure sustainability of approaches in their work.
• Contribute to gender assessment to ensure gender sensitive language and materials and learning experiences supportive of gender‐sensitive perspectives and competencies.
• Contribute to survey design and implementation to inform awareness campaigns to counter stigma and increase enrollment.
• Work with USAID-funded Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) to develop their capacity to independently monitor and evaluate the efficacy of their campaigns to increase enrollment, drive adaptations, and sustainably collaborate with other TVETs and key stakeholders.
• Support for USAID-funded Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) to design and implement effective recruitment drives to meet enrollment targets with a particular focus on changing attitudes and norms that go against female and PWD inclusion in TVETs and the labor force.
• Contribute to data collection, analysis, reporting to USAID and on-going Collaboration, Learning, and Adaptation (CLA) approaches in their work and in coordination with the Sr. MEL Specialist.
• Contribute to timely and accurate reporting and other deliverables to USAID.
• Manage an Inclusion Fund to support staff capacity building and reduce accessibility barriers (physical, visual, auditory, etc.) in virtual or in-person activities.
• Manage budgets for assigned components and ensures appropriate spending.
• Ensure application and implementation of vetting protocols for assigned activities.
• All Forsah USAID-funded Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) staff will meet high standards of financial management and compliance, including contributing to accurate and timely vetting under Mission Order 21 (MO21).
• Prepare program staff, partners, and stakeholders with skill building in intergenerational dialogue, PYD, and GESI.
• Support the establishment, cultivation, and maintaining of relationships with the ecosystem of program stakeholders, including public sector entities, civil society organizations, community-based organizations, and local governments, donors and implementers, program beneficiaries, and others.
• Contribute to improving the enabling environment by ameliorating social norms to increase USAID-funded Technical and Vocational Education and Training’s (TVET) perceived value by all and removing barriers to access.
• Ensure activities are gender sensitive/transformative, align with positive youth development, and emphasize participatory and youth-led approaches.
• Employ creativity to adapt to learning and challenges throughout implementation
• Build a collaborative team approach between and with colleagues, partners, TVET institutions, and other stakeholders to ensure effective programming.
• Ensure programmatic cross-cutting themes are applied and incorporated in all plans, activities, and reporting, including PYD, GESI, and Green approaches.
• Monitor implementation challenges, develop creative solutions, and keep others informed.
• Ensure plans meet security requirements and monitor activities for security challenges; work with colleagues and partners to address or adapt to security challenges.
• Ensure activities support sustainable approaches to improve capacity of individuals and institutions to drive stable, long-term improvements.
• Other support duties as needed.

We conduct background checks on all successful candidates.

This position is not eligible for Immigration Sponsorship.

NO PHONE CALLS PLEASE

EOE – Equal Opportunity Employer

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer, including disability/vets.

Interested applicants can apply on our website here.