Regional Gender Advisor – Aga Khan  Foundation (AKF)

Application deadline 17-Mar-2023

The Aga Khan  Foundation (AKF), alongside its sister AKDN agencies, has implemented innovative, community-driven solutions to development challenges for over 50 years. It brings together human, financial and technical resources to address some of the challenges faced by the poorest and most marginalised communities in the world.   Special emphasis is placed on investing in human potential, expanding opportunity and improving the overall quality of life, especially for women and girls. It works primarily in six areas:  Agriculture and Food Security; Economic Inclusion; Education; Early Childhood Development; Health and Nutrition; and Civil Society.

The position

AKF is seeking an experienced Regional Gender Advisor to provide technical expertise, leadership and guidance for the Foundations for Education and Empowerment (F4EE) in Africa, a partnership program co-funded by Global Affairs Canada and Aga Khan Foundation. The program has three components: Foundations for Learning (F4L), Advancing Gender Equality through Civil Society (AGECS) and Advancing Canadian Champions for Development (ACCD). The Regional Gender Advisor will provide active support to F4L and AGECS components as well as strengthen the regional program portfolio, and advance AKF’s gender equality agenda at the institutional level diversity and inclusion goals. This Position will be based in Nairobi.

Project Background 
F4EE is active in five countries (Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Uganda) and focused on improving the education systems at the pre-primary and primary levels, in addition to strengthening women’s empowerment, and gender equality. F4EE’s focus is on the delivery of quality, gender-responsive, and inclusive pre-primary and primary education, and other social development services, and reduce gender and social barriers to the utilization and uptake of education and other sustainable development services.

Responsibilities 
The Regional Gender Advisor will ensure integration of gender equality in all aspects of F4EE program implementation, monitoring, evaluation, and learning. The Regional Gender Advisor will achieve this through providing technical inputs, technical oversight, and capacity building. The Regional Gender Advisor will support all relevant F4EE project staff and all implementing partners to ensure the program meets or exceeds the intended impact on gender equality and responds to donor and AKF requirements.

The Regional Gender Advisor will provide strategic guidance and technical support to the Country Gender Coordinators and support them in the implementation of gender equality strategies and activities at the country level.

The Regional Gender Advisor will: 

• Provide overall direction on gender equality targeted and integrated interventions for the project across F4L and AGECS components and countries.
• Lead and provide oversight to gender analyses and assessments, and provide technical support to gender equality focused research, monitoring and evaluation.
• Contribute to the program implementation plans, taking a lead role on the integration of gender equality in F4L and AGECS.
• Assess gender mainstreaming and gender equality focused programming capacity needs amongst F4EE implementing partners.
• Facilitate the ongoing review and engagement by key partners on the implementation of the project gender equality strategies and programming interventions.
• Provide technical support to ensure the F4L strategies and programming are gender responsive and lead to positive gender equality outcomes for all.
• Provide technical support to the AGECS sub-projects during, implementation, and evaluation.
• Contribute to the delivery of the Women’s Leadership Academy, in partnership with Aga Khan University in Nairobi, including supporting the selection of candidates for the program.
  In close collaboration with MERL Team, distill gender equality related lessons learned from program implementation and ensure these are documented.
• Promote the culture of sharing lessons learning and networking on gender equality.
• Provide guidance and technical support to the F4EE and AGECS Teams to conduct evidence-based policy dialogue on gender equality and women’s empowerment.
• Build relationships and maintain coordinated communications with AKF country, regional and global teams, donor unit in Canada and AKDN implementing agencies and other local partners.
• Liaise with international, national, and local partners and stakeholders on gender equality issues related to F4EE and AGECS.

The requirements

Education:
Advanced university degree in international development, social sciences especially gender studies, and/or other relevant disciplines. Additional educational background in education/early childhood development is an asset.

Experience:

• Minimum of eight years of experience in sectoral gender equality and gender transformative programming and implementation in governance, civil society, education, and early childhood development programs (including significant experience in capacity building on gender mainstreaming).
• Knowledge of gender equality issues and effective interventions, particularly in relation to education, early childhood development, civil society, and women’s rights organizations.
• At least five years’ field experience in developing countries, preferably in Eastern or Southern Africa.
• Specialized experience on gender equality and women’s empowerment in the regional context and demonstrated experience in building the capacity of project staff to integrate gender across their work.
• Demonstrated ability to coordinate multi-country and/or multi-agency teams and assignments in a collaborative manner, remotely across digital platforms.
• Experience conducting qualitative and/or quantitative research and knowledge of research methods, gender sensitive and ethical approaches.
• Demonstrated capacity to respect and safeguard vulnerable populations.
• Be able to travel to F4EE countries.

Competencies: 

• Ability to work well in teams and particularly teams that span across multiple geographies.
• Demonstrated ability to transfer knowledge through training, capacity building and mentoring.
• Capacity to work independently, take initiative and manage a variety of activities simultaneously while meeting strict reporting deadlines and keeping colleagues and senior managers well informed.
• Ability to facilitate collaborative and participatory processes with partners and stakeholders.
• Excellent analytical, interpersonal, and problem-solving skills in a cross-cultural context.
• Excellent written and oral communications skills in English; ability to work in local languages relevant to the countries of project implementation is an asset.

Application Process
Interested candidates should submit a curriculum vitae (CV), including three referees, cover letter that outlines why you are best suited for this exciting opportunity. AKF is committed to advancing gender equality and inclusion through our programming and operations. AKF requires all employees to review and abide by the AKF Gender Equality Policy. AKF recognizes the importance of safeguarding and is committed to ensuring it manages a wide range of risks such that beneficiaries, staff, other associates, and the organization are kept safe from harm.

To learn more about AKF, please visit https://the.akdn

Sector Social Development
Region Eastern Africa
Location Kenya
Salary Salary and package to attract the best candidate