Ethiopia: Gender Specialist: Ethiopia TRANSFORM: WASH Activity - Ethiopia

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. The IRC has been working in Ethiopia for over 15 years implementing direct programming in the areas of WASH, education, livelihoods, reproductive health, gender-based violence, and child and youth protection and development. Today, we provide services to approximately 405,200 refugees in 20 camps and more than one million vulnerable Ethiopians in seven regions.

Position Summary:

IRC is seeking for a Gender Specialist for the five-year, $24 million USAID-funded TRANSFORM: WASH activity. This project will encompass a set of innovative and strategic interventions targeting actions at different scales, with an overall goal of reducing under-five mortality, through increased use of WASH products and services to be achieved via the four interrelated objectives: 1) Increased WASH governance and management capacity at the sub-national level; 2) Increased demand for low-cost quality WASH products and services, with a focus on sanitation; 3) Increased supply for low-cost quality WASH products and services, with a focus on sanitation; 4) Increased knowledge base to bring WASH innovations to scale.

The Gender Specialist will provide leadership and management of the development and implementation of cross-cutting gender integration approaches which allows for greater participation of women across program objectives. S/he will ensure that the project is implementing activities in accordance with international best practices, USAID’s Gender Policy, and Government of Ethiopia priorities. The Gender Specialist will provide technical assistance and leadership in the design and implementation of gender mainstreaming and behavior change communications activities in WASH, working closely with local partners, USAID, project stakeholders, and the Government of Ethiopia. S/he will also ensure that the project is gender inclusive and gender balanced. This includes raising awareness on where barriers exist for women in terms of access to Water and Sanitation, protection needs/challenges as well as their participation and decision inclusion.

This position is contingent on the IRC being awarded funding and is anticipated to begin in September 2016.

Required Qualifications and Experience:

· Bachelor’s degree in women’s studies, humanities, international development, political science, management or other relevant field

· Minimum ten (10) years of experience supporting international development programs in transitional environments in the field of WASH, education, workforce development, advocacy, or civil society capacity building with a focus on women and girls.

· A minimum of eight (8) years of experience working on gender-related projects in Ethiopia, including experience in gender mainstreaming, equality, and female empowerment

· Demonstrated experience in building constructive relationships between government and civil society: Previous experience in USAID-funded programs preferred

· Experience in women/girls/youth outreach, relationship building, and partnerships in advancing organizational mission and recognizing opportunities for collaboration.

· Demonstrated understanding of the Ethiopia context with respect to gender-related issues and female empowerment

· Strong leadership, analytical and organizational skills. Demonstrated ability to quickly assess priorities and effectively manage a variety of activities at a time while paying appropriate attention to detail.

· Demonstrated innovation and success in staff capacity-building and in participatory, flexible, and gender-sensitive programming and implementation

· Strong communication skills, both oral and written

· Fluency in English and proficiency in Amharic are required