ABOUT ACCESS TO FINANCE RWANDA:
Access to Finance Rwanda (AFR) is a Rwandan Not for Profit Organization, established in March 2010 by the governments of Rwanda and the United Kingdom (UK) and is currently funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID), USAID, Sweden, and the MasterCard Foundation.
Guided by the Making Markets Work for the Poor (M4P) approach, AFR’s strategic focus is to stimulate financial sector development and address constraints that prevent the financial market from reaching Rwanda’s low-income population. For more details visit our website: www.afr.rw.
THE POSITION:
Access to Finance Rwanda seeks a Gender Specialist on a retainer basis for its upcoming project “Accelerating growth of Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) through expanding the e-commerce sector in Rwanda” .
There is evidence that lack of literacy, skills, access, resources, and other factors are excluding women and youth entrepreneurs from the opportunities offered by e-commerce. There is also proof that digital access offers expanded opportunities for participation in both domestic and regional trade.
The Gender Specialist brings knowledge and understanding of barriers to the participation of women and youth in e-commerce and digital financial services. He/she will work within the project to support addressing these constraints within the framework of this intervention.
The Gender Specialist Consultant provides technical and project management support to mainstream gender equality throughout project activities and approaches, including systems of quality control, monitoring and evaluation, and integration with other programs. S/he will provide training and capacity building of staff and partners on gender equality. The role will be based in Kigali with some travels across the Districts of Rwanda.
The Gender Specialist will be contracted for a period of 10 days a month over one year. This can be revised based on project needs and the availability of funds.
The Gender Specialist reports to the Project Manager.
This position will be based in Kigali, Rwanda, and is contingent upon project award to AFR.
THE PROJECT:
The “Accelerating growth of Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) through expanding the e-commerce sector in Rwanda” is a project implemented by Access to Finance Rwanda in partnership with Rwanda’s ICT Chamber and BFA Global.
The project aims to spur the growth of livelihoods and employment opportunities through digital commerce, which works together to address the barriers and promote an enabling market system for e-commerce with onboarding MSEs into the digital economy at the core.
The main program elements are:
- enabling MSE’s sell on digital platforms and expand digital payments
- developing a network both for the MSE’s and workers that provides linkages across e-commerce value chains and value-added services
- creating linkages and partnerships with financial service providers
Working through an ecosystem approach the project will seek to address systemic solutions to draw the underserved groups of the MSME sector into the digital economy to derive its benefits: the informal microenterprises, the young men and women in informal employment, to unlock their potential and for them to strive for decent and meaningful work. This pilot program seeks to reach up to 1,500 MSEs and 2,000 young women and men workers directly through digital onboarding. It also seeks to spur the e-commerce system to engender wider, more inclusive adoption and crowd more investment and actors into the market system afterward.
KEY TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
The Gender Specialist will be responsible for the following:
- Provide direct technical and project management support and guidance to mainstream gender throughout project activities
- Support the development of tools, systems, processes, and approaches that continuously improve technical excellence and impact in the area of transformative approaches to women’s inclusion.
- Lead, coordinate, support, and/or conduct gender and power analyses, effectiveness and efficacy studies, appraisal, evaluation and needs assessments as required by the project.
- Assist with quantitative/qualitative assessments in targeted communities to assess the effectiveness of interventions and impact with a gender lens.
- Support delivery partners to understand the role of gender equality and women’s economic empowerment for the Program impact groups.
- Ensure gender equality and women’s economic empowerment criteria are well integrated into market-systems approaches.
- Work closely with other technical specialists to integrate gender across all project components.
- Facilitate and support a strong learning and knowledge-sharing community around gender-transformative practices amongst delivery partners.
- Represent work being done in gender-transformation and women’s economic empowerment under the Program in relevant internal and external forums.
EXPECTED DELIVERABLES:
- Setting up gender-related performance indicators
- Gender M&E framework for the project
- Plan for project-related capacity-building on Gender
- Quarterly reports and annual reports
- Training Reports on gender mainstreaming
- Publications such as briefs, articles, blogs, focus notes on gender-related issues
EDUCATION AND QUALIFICATIONS:
- Minimum of five years of solid experience in development work implementing gender equality programming
- Practical work experience in Sub Saharan Africa on e-commerce and digital financial services
- Graduate of Social Sciences, Women and Development or other related courses; Post-graduate degree in a relevant discipline is an advantage
- Has a very good understanding of the legal foundations on the protection of the rights of women and girls
- Good background in community development, development finance and strong experience in mainstreaming gender equality concerns in project implementation
- Strong background in planning, developing and executing participatory multi-stakeholder capacity building on gender equality
- Initiative and creative in solving problems with strong facilitation and analytical skills
- Strong ability to work both independently and in a team
- Good organizing skills and interpersonal skills
- Proficiency in written and spoken English. Understanding of Kinyarwanda will be an added advantage.
CONTRACT DURATION:
1-year contract with possible extension based on performance and availability of funds.
HOW TO APPLY
- All qualified applicants should apply through Job in Rwanda using the following “Apply for this job” button by the 24th July 2020.
- The application should contain a CV with an e-mail address, daytime telephone contact, qualifications, achievements, experience, present position, and names & addresses of three referees together with a cover letter (maximum 1 page) summarizing why you consider yourself particularly well suited for the position. Do not attach any other documents at this point.
- All applications will be selected on merit and only shortlisted candidates will be invited for interviews.
- For any questions regarding the application process please contact Job in Rwanda.
- The position is open to Rwandans and Non-Rwandans residents in Rwanda with relevant experience, skills, and qualifications.
- Female candidates are encouraged to apply.
- Short-listed candidates will be invited for oral interviews.
