Gender Advisor at Mercy Corps Nigeria HND / BA / BSc Job

Job Title: Gender Advisor

Reference Number: ABV/PRO/2019/0034

Location: Abuja

Position Status Full-time, Regular

Program / Department Summary

Mercy Corps Nigeria was established in 2012 to respond primarily to growing humanitarian needs in the Northeast. With a strong and growing team of over 200 staff, Mercy Corps is currently serving over 600,000 beneficiaries across the country with programming in Lagos in the South; Kaduna, Benue, Nasarawa and Plateau in the Middle Belt; Kano, Yobe and Borno in the North. Programs include girls’ education and financial inclusion, community peacebuilding, market-based livelihoods and a multi-sector humanitarian response that has a strong emphasis on WASH, Shelter, Cash and Protection. With the vision of a Nigeria in which all people are empowered, engaged, resilient and secure, Mercy Corps Nigeria focuses on the root causes of conflict, governance, humanitarian response, and market systems development.

Working with a diverse funding base that includes the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), UK Department for International Development (DFID), United Nations (UN), European Commission (EC), and several foundation, Mercy Corps empowers people to recover from crisis, build better lives and transform their communities for good. In 2019, Mercy Corps was awarded a five-year, $30 million USAID-funded Rural Resilience Activity in Nigeria’s northeastern states. The purpose of the Rural Resilience Activity is to sustainably move people out of chronic vulnerability and poverty. The Rural Resilience activity will enable individuals and communities to engage in strong and sustainable market systems rather than continuing to rely on humanitarian assistance and faltering with each new shock. To achieve this purpose, the Activity will have four components and four cross-cutting elements:

• Component 1: Provide up-to-date evidence for selection of market systems, livelihoods and employment opportunities that contribute to inclusive and resilient growth and improved nutrition.
• Component 2: Stimulate market systems growth and diverse economic opportunities (Pull activities).
• Component 3: Build capacity to take advantage of market systems opportunities (Push activities).
• Component 4: Sequencing, layering, integrating (SLI), and collaborative learning to improve activity effectiveness, sustainability, and scale.

General Position Summary

• Mercy Corps is currently seeking a Gender Adviser for a recently awarded 5-year, $30 million dollar Rural Resilience programme in the Northeast of Nigeria who will also contribute to developing and supporting the country-level gender priorities.
• The Gender Advisor is responsible for leading the overall integration of Gender in the Rural Resilience Program and across country programming.
• They are responsible for facilitating a participatory process in order to develop targeted gender strategies and frameworks tailored to this program and in line with the country strategy.
• The Gender Advisor shall closely work with Mercy Corps’ Gender and Girls Technical Support Unit during the first year of the program and conduct a gender analysis in selected program areas.
• They shall support the different Program Managers to develop work plans with clear targets and timeframe including defined roles and responsibilities of each Program Manager and the team members to ensure better gender integration in each project activity.
• In addition, the Gender Adviser shall be responsible for facilitating increased awareness among Mercy Corps team members and partner organizations on the importance of gender integration into projects as well as identifying and promoting two to three areas where Mercy Corps has the potential to excel in gender-integrated programming.

Essential Job Responsibilities

Technical:

• Design gender analysis research tool, manage data collection, lead data analysis and develop recommendations based on assessment findings. Closely work with Program Managers to integrate the findings from the gender analysis into project work plans and milestones.
• Conduct gender-based violence risk analysis and incorporate findings into the program implementation plan
• Develop Gender Strategy to guide gender integration and priorities across the life of the program and country portfolio, based on the gender assessment findings
• Work closely with the Human Resources team to ensure gender accountability is incorporated into the position descriptions of team members
• Support the Program Managers in incorporating gender/age indicators in the project’s log frame.
• Coordinate closely, work with and support managers and partners to promote gender integration.
• Develop targeted gender capacity building interventions to promote integration with project staff.
• Support team in the development and delivery of training and capacity building on key gender and topics to beneficiaries.
• Development of integration and analysis tools as needed. This could include but are not limited to promoting women’s leadership skills, male engagement in gender transformational change, reaching adolescent girls. Decisions about the actual tools shall remain flexible based on project needs.
• Develop relationships with other donor-funded programs working on gender in Nigeria
• Conduct regular community consultations to ensure programming remains gender-sensitive and on-track.
• Collect and share learnings and best practices from this program with stakeholders and across Mercy Corps Nigeria location.
• Contribute to any research conducted in the program to ensure gender dynamics are fully represented

Gender Mainstreaming:

• Ensure that program and country staff understand and adhere to Mercy Corps’ Gender Minimum Standards.
• Work closely with the M&E team to ensure sex and age disaggregated data is collected, that gender analysis is applied and used to adaptively manage program implementation.
• Integrate gender into the program’s M&E system to ensure that gender is reflected in output, outcome and impact level indicators and that sex and age disaggregated data is regularly collected and applied to program activities.
• Compile and produce semi-annual learning reports on gender integration from the RR program.
• Develop/adopt gender mainstreaming training for Mercy Corps Team members.
• Provide gender technical reviews to program proposals, program tools, internal and external communications as needed across Mercy Corps Nigeria programs.

Security:

• Ensure compliance with security procedures and policies as determined by country leadership.
• Proactively ensure that team members operate in a secure environment and are aware of policies.

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:

Accountability

• Reports Directly To: Program Quality and Development Director
• Works Directly With: RR Chief of Party, Program Sector Managers, Program Managers, Reporting & Communications Officers, Director of Programs, Finance, and Operations teams. Coordinates with the HQ Program and Quality (PaQ) team and the Technical Support Unit.

Knowledge and Experience

• A Master’s degree in International Development, Women’s Studies, or Gender.
• At least 5-7 years of professional experience focused on gender mainstreaming.
• Substantial background in gender and development work including experience developing and conducting gender training, gender mainstreaming and engaging in gender advocacy.
• Demonstrated experience and ability to professionally and appropriately represent the organization and negotiate and defend Mercy Corps’ interests with a diverse range of international and local organizations and other groups
• Demonstrated attention to detail, ability to follow procedures, meet deadlines and work independently and cooperatively with team members.
• Demonstrated understanding of complex developmental and transitional contexts, particularly in a resilience context, preferred.
• Excellent negotiation and representation skills and the ability to work comfortably with culturally diverse staff under tight deadlines and often stressful situations.
• Excellent verbal and written communication, organizational, prioritization and very strong computer skills.
• Previous experience working on USAID funded programs strongly preferred.
• Experience of working on USAID programs preferred
• Previous experience living and working in challenging or insecure environments.
• Fluency in spoken and written English required.
• Knowledge of Hausa and other local dialects such as Kanuri or Fulfulde is preferred.

Success Factors:

• A successful candidate will have a demonstrated ability to lead and communicate effectively with team members of varied work styles and cultures, follow procedures, and meet deadlines with flexibility and creativity in planning and problem-solving.
• S/he will have a proven ability to learn quickly, multi-task, prioritize, take initiative, and be accountable for results, understand the larger picture while remaining focused on the details, problem-solving, work within a complex and sensitive setting and to follow laws and security protocols.
• The most successful Mercy Corps team members have a strong commitment to teamwork and accountability, thrive in evolving and changing environments and make effective written and verbal communication a priority in all situations.

Application Closing Date

Not Specified.

How to Apply

Interested and qualified candidates should submit their CV and Cover Letter in one document, addressing the position requirements to: ng-recruitment.nigeria@mercycorps.org using the "Job title" as subject of the email

Note

• All applications must include the position title and Reference Number in the subject line
• Please note that only short-listed candidates will be contacted for an interview and we are an equal opportunity organization so women are strongly encouraged to apply for this position.

Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible. In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we collaborate to put bold solutions into action - helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within, now and for the future. In Nigeria, Mercy Corps works in 13 states within the key thematic areas of humanitarian response, conflict mitigation and adolescent girls’ empowerment.