Position: Gender Specialist
Reports to: Project Implementation Manager
Location: Bahir Dar
MEDA’s Overview
Mennonite Economic Development Associate (MEDA) is an international non-governmental organization incorporated in Canada and registered in Ethiopia. MEDA is currently carrying out EMERTA project which stands for Ethiopians Motivating Enterprises to Rise in Trade and Agri-business and means ‘to leap to great heights’ in Amharic by focusing specifically on women. The project will be committed to increasing sustainable employment and income generation for women and men in Amhara region of Ethiopia in rice, vegetables and gems sectors, with a focus on women. MEDA is committing to identify and mitigate the social and economic barriers that limit women’s participation in the selected market sectors and constrain their participation in household decisions and control over resources.
Job Overview:
The Gender Specialist is responsible for implementing, monitoring, evaluating and reporting project impact on gender issues related to MEDA’s work in Ethiopia. Particularly she/he represents gender considerations in activity planning, implementation and coordination among partners and beneficiaries and work closely with the with other members of the field project team to build capacity and recommend linkages and training as needed. The post holder is expected to build relationships with women-serving agencies to link women partners to a range of services in support of success in vegetable, rice and gemstone sectors and focuses on specific barriers that women face in each of these three sectors relevant to the EMERTA project and will develop mechanisms to address such barriers. He/She serves as a primary contact for the project to other agencies and efforts focused on gender and women’s empowerment in Amhara Region and the country as well as maintain a working relationship with MEDA’s headquarters-based Gender Advisor to liaise on technical issues, gender-related inputs to the project, etc.
Key Responsibilities and Accountabilities:
· Take active part in project design, planning and implementation to ensure that adequate focus is given (and resources allocated) to the promotion of gender equality across EMERTA project;
· Define and mainstream/integrate the project’s gender strategy, work plan, risk and mitigation plans, and update as needed based on finalized project activities;
· Provide support and mentor field team/partners to understand and adopt best practices in addressing gender issues throughout the project;
· Build the capacity of MEDA’s EMERTA team in gender issues to effectively integrate into the project applicable tools and methodologies. Support EMERTA team by taking part in scheduled activities that requires technical knowledge of Gender related concepts and tools.
· Identify and create partnership with financial institution, particularly with banks to promote women tailored financial products and services
· Conduct assessments/research with partners (farmers, traders, processors, lapidaries, exporters, government staff, et al.) to identify gender-related constraints that limit women’s access to full participation in EMERTA’s three- sector focus.
· With EMERTA staff, document the impact of technologies used in the project with the aim to reduce the time and labor burden of women clients; develop impact stories in relation to such issues and propose/test solutions. Support EMERTA team with assessment and identification of time and labor-saving technologies for women clients.
· Compare actual project gender-related performance against plans through performance reviews, variance analysis, data quality audits and other performance verification/assessment processes, contribute to semi-annual and other reports.
· Identify any new gender-related risks and analyse, track and monitor existing risks to ensure that risks are identified, their status is reported and that appropriate risk management plans can be executed.
· Liaison with the Sectoral Senior Value Chain Specialists, for the provision of information and training on gender issues, gather sector specific information from the field office and take the lead in preparing semi-annual and other reports for the Gender piece of the EMERTA project.
· Play active role in EMERTA’s innovation matching grant program. Evaluate concept note applications with a gender lens and provide comments and recommendations to the project team. Perform other duties as assigned by immediate supervisor.
Essential:
Desirable: