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Title: Senior Gender and Youth Specialist.

Reports to: Burundi Better Coffee Initiative DCOP.

Location: Gitega, Burundi.

Grade: 8

TechnoServe Background:

Everyone deserves the opportunity to build a better future. This simple idea has been at the heart of TechnoServe’s work around the world for over 50 years. TechnoServe is a pioneer in leveraging the power of business and markets to create sustainable pathways out of poverty.

The low-income communities in which we work are full of enterprising people. Their small-scale farms and businesses are the keys to economic development. But they face many challenges: low literacy, lack of access to jobs and markets, unpredictable political dynamics, and, increasingly, the effects of climate change. For many women and young people, the challenges are even more daunting. Working with TechnoServe staff, people around the world are lifting themselves out of poverty. The results are amazing...when incomes increase and living conditions for families get better, they are able to access health care and education previously out of reach. Communities and even whole countries are better off.

About the project:

TechnoServe is currently implementing a 5-year, multi-million-dollar USDA-funded coffee sector development project in Burundi. The Burundi Better Coffee Initiative (BBCI) aims to strengthen the competitiveness of Burundi’s coffee sector by improving on-farm production, local processing, marketing, and the supportive ecosystem. A big team that manages and delivers field project operations of different program components is active in the project area. The inclusion of women and youth in all components and activities of the project is critical.

Position Description:

The Senior Gender & Youth Specialist will work closely with the BBCI team in Burundi and in coordination with the Global Gender Practice to support the delivery of gender integration activities of BBCI. This will include technical support to program staff, staff capacity development, direct management of gender integration activities, support to monitoring, reporting, and knowledge management activities, participation in the Gender Champions Network, and overall support to advance TechnoServe’s Gender Equality Policy.

Based in Gitega, with frequent travel to the different provinces of the project area, the Gender and Youth Specialist will play a key role in ensuring that the program meets gender and youth specific targets; the Burundi Better Coffee initiative expects that women and youth will benefit from sustainably increased incomes, household assets, and employment. To this end, the position’s responsibilities and job functions include but are not limited to the following:

Key roles and Responsibilities

● Provide overall guidance and inputs to all workstreams to ensure gender and youth inclusion is consistently and thoughtfully mainstreamed.
● Develop and update, as needed, a Gender and Youth Action Plan and ensure strategies that translate into the work plan are considered during periodic results review meetings.
● Contribute to MEL workstreams, particularly in the development and refinement of relevant gender and youth-inclusive indicators and priority Learning Agenda questions.
● Lead BBCI Gender and Youth Inclusion Training and relevant onboarding for new staff and partners to develop “Gender Smart Teams”; serve as ongoing coach/mentor and technical resource for staff and partners to strengthen capacity and commitment to reach poor women and youth with benefits of the program.
● Engage with program partners as well as stakeholders to identify participants and support genderand youth-positive action.
● Lead and/or support potential program partner assessments to understand their business practices, policies, and action areas for becoming more inclusive and gender-responsive.
● Seek and maximize opportunities for synergy (and referral where appropriate) with other programs working on gender and youth inclusion, GBV prevention and response, and youth-friendly programming in the 5 provinces of the project area.
● Lead the development of program gender and youth inclusion-related knowledge management and communications materials, such as synthesized learning, technical reports, blogs, social media posts success stories, etc.
● Liaise with and secure on-demand, strategic STTA from TechnoServe’s global Gender Practice, as needed, to leverage expertise and programmatic learning to strengthen BBCI gender and youth inclusion approaches and broader team capacity.
● Employ various capacity-building and advocacy approaches to position gender and youth inclusion as critical to meeting Rwanda’s development goals.

Required skills and experience

● Bachelor's Degree + 5 years’ experience, Master's Degree + 3 years’ experience in Gender and Development, Social Sciences, Public Policy or other relevant field.
● At least 3 years of professional experience leading gender and youth inclusion technical assistance within the private sector and/or development assistance programs.
● Prior experience collaborating closely with MEL teams or relevant stakeholders in the development, refinement, and monitoring of gender and youth inclusive indicators and interventions; experience developing gender and youth inclusion indicators and interventions that track/support systemic and social norm changes that result from women’s economic empowerment considered desirable.
● Demonstrated understanding of - and commitment to challenging - barriers that disadvantage the vulnerable, women and youth, and exclude them from economic opportunities.
● Ability to identify what drives behavior at an individual level; experienced in conducting social research or anthropological studies that target decision-making and social and individual behavior change.
● Prior experience designing pragmatic, practical, and cost-effective gender and youth inclusion approaches and monitoring the progress of gender and youth inclusion interventions, using field observations and results management data to update program assumptions.
● Demonstrated experience leading and coordinating consultative planning processes that involve securing input from a range of sectoral experts and stakeholders toward filling knowledge gaps and strengthening gender and youth-inclusive programming within priority sectors.
● Senior expertise in facilitating goal-driven discussions, workshops, meetings, and training for internal and external stakeholders.
● Prior experience co-creating/co-developing gender and social inclusion interventions that local partners can independently lead and own.
● Ability to work both persuasively and diplomatically in a team-based environment with a high degree of complexity and ambiguity, including professional poise and strong negotiation and interpersonal skills to effectively persuade, motivate, and influence others to adopt new strategies and practices.
● Strong program management skills including the ability to anticipate demand and manage multiple tasks and programs while meeting tight deadlines.
● Excellent oral and written communication and presentation skills and good computer skills in business software (Excel, MS Project, and PowerPoint); prior experience presenting content in a participatory way at conferences, forums, and workshops and a history of publishing articles/papers or developing blogs considered desirable.
● Prior work experience in East and Southern African countries; Rwanda experience strongly preferred. Local candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
● Fluency in French and Kirundi.

Required Languages:

● Fluency in oral and written Kirundi
● Fluency in French with excellent oral and written communication skills
● Proficiency in English is preferred.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

● Detail orientation, including strong organizational, analytical, and quantitative skills.
● Results-oriented, with demonstrated experience in achieving program targets.
● Proven team player with strong interpersonal and cross-cultural skills.
● Excellent computer skills in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other administrative applications.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

● Coordinate input from a range of program staff and partners. Experience working with multidisciplinary teams is desired.

Success Factors

Competency is a combination of knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) directly related to successful performance on the job.

Core Competencies include:

● Integrity and honesty: Is widely trusted; seen as a direct, truthful individual; presents truthful information in an appropriate and helpful manner; keeps confidences; admits mistakes; does not misrepresent himself or herself for personal gain.
● TeamWork/ Relationships: Works co-operatively and flexibly with other members of the team with a full understanding of the role to be played as a team member and/or leader, to achieve a common goal. Ability to build and maintain effective relationships and networks.
● Learning attitude: Proactively takes advantage of opportunities to learn. Actively identifies new areas for learning; applies and shares new knowledge and skills appropriately.
● Diversity/Inclusiveness: Demonstrates an understanding and appreciation for diversity and supports diversity efforts. Interacts effectively with and inclusively with people of all races, cultures, ethnicities, backgrounds, religions, ages, and genders.
● Communication: Expresses ideas effectively in individual and group situations. Listens effectively; shares information, ideas, and arguments; adjusts terminology, language, and communication modes to the needs of the audience; ensures accurate understanding; acts in a way that facilitates open exchange of ideas and information; uses appropriate non-verbal communication.
● Decision making/Problem Solving: Is able to analyze situations, diagnose problems, identify the key issues, establish and evaluate alternative courses of action, and produce a logical, practical, and acceptable solution. Is able to make effective decisions on a day-to-day basis, taking ownership of decisions, and demonstrating sound judgment in escalating issues where necessary.
● Results-Oriented/High-Quality Deliverables: Stays focused on the efforts necessary to achieve quality results consistent with programmatic or departmental goals. Demonstrates the ability to achieve effective results; works persistently to overcome obstacles to goal achievement. Accomplishes tasks by considering all areas involved, no matter how small; showing concern for all aspects of the job; and accurately checking processes and tasks.
● Planning & Time Management: Establishes a course of action for self and/or others to accomplish a specific goal. Effectively plans, schedules, prioritizes, and controls activities; identifies, integrates, and orchestrates resources (people, material, information, budget, and/or time) to accomplish goals. Prioritizes work according to the program or department’s goals, not just job responsibilities; manages own time effectively.
● Business Acumen: The ability to use information, ask the right questions, and make decisions that make an impact on the overall business performance.

Job Specific/Technical Competencies include:

● Financial & Resource Management: The ability to estimate, justify, and manage appropriate funding levels to support goal accomplishment. Managing Resources is about understanding human, financial, and operational resource issues to make decisions aimed at building and planning efficient project workflows, and at improving overall organizational performance.
● Donor/Partnership Management: Identifying opportunities and taking action to build strategic relationships between one’s area and other areas, teams, departments, or organizations to help achieve business goals.
● Analysis, Research, Report Writing: Experience in business planning and analysis, modeling for feasibility and execution. Able to analyze and express oneself clearly in business writing.
● Innovative Mindset: Curious inquiries, asks questions and seeks out information from multiple sources, learns from mistakes, sees change as an opportunity.

We encourage all qualified individuals who share TechnoServe's vision of improving the lives of others through proven business solutions to apply.

With our commitment to diversity, we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and affirmative action employer and do not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, color, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, HIV/AIDS status, protected veteran status, disability, and all other protected classes. We are also proud of our commitment to protecting staff, partners, and beneficiaries from abuse and exploitation and thoroughly vet all final candidates through rigorous background and reference checks.

If you have a disability that affects your ability to use our online system to apply for a position at TechnoServe please contact Human Resources at recruitment@tns.org or call +1 202 785 4515.

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