Gender and Youth Inclusion Specialist
Location: Kigali, Rwanda
Closing Date: August 13th, 2021
Background:
Land O’Lakes Venture37 is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit helping communities around the world build economies by strengthening agriculture from farm-to-fork, helping businesses grow, and linking farmers to markets. Since our start in 1981, we have been leveraging nearly 100 years of expertise in crop inputs, agricultural insights, dairy and animal nutrition from our close affiliate, Land O’Lakes, Inc., a farmer-owned agribusiness committed to fulfilling its purpose of feeding human progress.
Our team is made up of nearly 350 employees who are committed to market-led approaches, and passionate about collaborating locally to create lasting inclusive economic growth. By unlocking the potential of agriculture for the last 36 years, the lives of more than 3 million people have been transformed through nearly 300 programs in more than 80 countries. Land O’Lakes has been operating in Lebanon for over 10 years.
Project Description:
Venture37 is seeking candidates for the Gender & Youth Inclusion Specialist position for a 5-year Cooperative Development Program (CD4) funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The project will run until August 2023 and is in its third year of implementation. CDP is advancing dairy, horticulture, and maize cooperatives in Rwanda; horticulture and dairy cooperatives in Malawi; and Mouneh cooperatives in Lebanon. The project aims to improve capacity, the enabling environment, and resources to meet the evolving needs of their members.
Qualified applicants are encouraged to apply as soon as possible. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until a candidate is chosen.
Position Summary:
The Gender & Youth Inclusion Specialist will be responsible for the development and oversight of related tasks to ensure the inclusion of, and economic opportunity upgrading for men, women, and youth in the agricultural cooperative development sector through the CD4 activity. This role will adaptively manage implementation of a robust gender strategy that meets the requirements of USAID and Land O’Lakes Venture37 policies. This Specialist will oversee the Gender Action Research that will study the impact of gender transformative approaches in agriculture by comparing the outcomes of entrepreneurial training in a treatment group of cooperative members (that have previously worked with Venture37) and a control group. In addition, this Specialist will liaise with the activity DCOP to coordinate and collaborate on key youth inclusion initiatives.
Primary Responsibilities:
Gender & Youth Inclusion (30%)
- Ensure the continuity and sustainability of gender activities implemented by CD4 in the last two years including but not limited to strengthening women safe space in CD4 partner cooperatives, operationalizing gender champion groups and monitoring the implementation of cooperative gender policy and action plans.
- Initiate gender activities that strengthen gender and youth inclusion by replicating gender best practices to the CD4 new cohort of cooperatives.
- Manage CD4’s youth related efforts, including but not limited to youth intern program, partnership with RYAF on youth inclusion in cooperatives
Gender Action Research (50%)
Participate in work planning process to finalized Gender Action Research (GAR) plan.
Co-design research strategy and curriculum for GAR work with two GAR sub-awardees
Oversee at least two subawards and any contractors or STTA hired to facilitate the Gender Action Research.
Hire, train, and oversee facilitators, as necessary, to implement gender action work.
Regularly contribute to data collection, synthesis, and analysis processes for Gender Action Research.
Undertake regular visits to the field to support implementation of the strategy and to identify where adaptations and improvements might be needed.
Reporting & Administration (20%)
Regularly contribute to data collection processes for gender and youth inclusion indicators, perform data quality assessments, and adjust as needed.
Provide regular updates on project progress against key metrics to the Chief of Party and Deputy Chief of Party for inclusion in donor reports, work planning and learning events.
Represent work being done in gender-transformation and women’s empowerment under the Program in relevant internal and external forums.
Assist project staff to use project data to report and disseminate evidence of project work to the wider community, USAID, Land O’Lakes Venture37, and two sub-awardees
Demonstrate the highest degree of integrity throughout all activities and raise any concerns with implementation quality immediately with the Chief of Party.
Supervision:
- Supervised by the Deputy Chief of Party
- Oversight and management of two sub-awardees
Required Skills and Qualifications:
- A Bachelor’s degree in International Development, Gender Studies, Youth Studies, Agribusiness, Rural development, or another relevant managerial field.
- A minimum of four (4) years designing and implementing women’s and/or youth integration and empowerment activities, specific to the roles above.
- Proven experience with hands-on conducting and or managing research activities.
- Experience overseeing consultants, facilitators, and other shot-term assistance.
- Strong interpersonal and written and oral presentation skills in Kinyarwanda and English.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Experience working with International development projects working in the agriculture sector.
- Experience working with cooperatives, farmer organizations, Agricultural SMEs, and rural farmers.
- Ability to communicate effectively, instilling trust and confidence.
- Knowledge of the Rwandan gender development trends and challenges
Only short-listed candidates will be contacted. No phone calls will be accepted.
To Apply:
Interested candidates are encouraged to apply through the link: https://lol.avature.net/Careers/JobDetail/Kigali-Rwanda-CD4-Rwanda-Gender-and-Youth-Inclusion-Specialist/1523 no later than August 13th, 2021.
Please note only finalists will be contacted. No phone calls please.
We are an Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer. Land O’Lakes enforces a policy of maintaining a drug-free workforce.
