Country: Bangladesh
Closing date: 28 Mar 2017
For over 50 years and in 146 countries, ACDI/VOCA has empowered people in developing and transitional nations to succeed in the global economy. Based in Washington, D.C., ACDI/VOCA is a nonprofit international development organization that delivers technical and management assistance in agribusiness, financial services, enterprise development, community development and food security in order to promote broad-based economic growth and vibrant civil society.
Project Background:
USAID/Bangladesh plans to support a five year Feed the Future multi-sectoral nutrition program that will sustainably improve household nutrition through dietary diversity resulting in reduced childhood stunting. It is expected to be a $10 – 24.5 million USD, five-year program that will improve nutritional status for pregnant and lactating women, adolescent girls, and children, especially under age five. This will be achieved through increased consumption of nutritious, diverse and safe diets by rural households, increased social and economic empowerment of women and girls, and improved access to and adoption of improved water, sanitation and hygiene practices. The activity will layer market systems based approaches both on the input and output sides to support the overall success and sustainability of the program.
Position Summary:
ACDI/VOCA is seeking a highly qualified Gender and Youth Lead for this anticipated USAID Feed the Future funded activity in Bangladesh. The Gender and Youth Lead will serve as a key member of the program technical leadership team and is specifically responsible for developing the projects gender and youth strategies. The Gender and Youth Lead will lead the process of identifying and addressing gender- and age-specific constraints that limit social and economic empowerment, such as mobility, social stigma, early marriage, adolescent pregnancy, household decision-making, and access to markets. They will be responsible for overseeing gender integration efforts across the project, which includes ensuring that gender and youth (10 -18 years) based approaches are central in project activities in accordance with the program design and the intended outcomes of the project.
Responsibilities:
The Gender and Youth Lead will be responsible for the following tasks as well as other duties that may be assigned.
Serve as a key member of the technical leadership team in guiding the effective activity implementation and achievement of gender and youth objectives.
Work closely with the program team to ensure gender equity approaches are central across program design and activities and monitoring & evaluation functions.
Oversee the analysis of available desk research and support field assessments, as appropriate, to identify gender- and age-specific challenges and opportunities for social and economic empowerment, particularly household decision-making, nutrition, WASH, and women’s engagement in on- and off-farm economic opportunities.
Lead the development of strategies and interventions that promote the economic and social empowerment of adolescents, especially adolescent girls.
Lead the development and implementation of activities that address household decision-making and promote reductions in early marriage and adolescent pregnancy.
Collaborate with the Women’s Economic Empowerment and Farming & Market Systems team leads to identify and develop gender and youth specific project opportunities.
Collaborate with Nutrition and WASH Team Leads and other relevant staff in the design and implementation of activities that increase household dietary diversity through female empowerment, male engagement, and other gender-transformative approaches.
Work with the M&E Lead to ensure that gender and youth impacts and resource utilization are tracked, monitored, analyzed, and reported.
Contribute to creation of work plans and periodic written program reports, summarizing gender and youth results and evidence as well as progress and evidence of transformative approaches.
Identify and address capacity building and resource needs for project staff and partners, including training, mentoring, and other support.
Minimum Qualifications:
Relevant Master’s degree required, preferably in sociology, gender studies, youth development, or economics.
5 to 10 years of prior work experience in international development or related field, including at least five years of work experience in gender and youth integration.
Experience working in gender and/or youth programs required.
Demonstrated knowledge of and proven successful ability to conduct analyses and gender and youth integration programming required.
Prior management work experience required.
Experience working with agricultural market systems, value chains, rural producers and farmers’ associations and applied knowledge of nutrition-sensitive production approaches.
Male engagement experience highly preferred.
Knowledge of Bangladeshi gender and youth constraints required.
Fluency in English and ability to write technical reports in English required.
How to apply:
Please apply online at http://acdivoca.bosmaxhire.net/cp/?E5556E361D43717B7E59192F77501A6F06627B4D). No phone calls please. Only those candidates considered for an interview will be contacted. ACDI/VOCA is an equal opportunity employer. Women, minorities and people from diverse groups are encouraged to apply.