Gender Specialist

Organizational Setting

The main aim of the FAO country offices, which are headed by an FAO representatives, is to assistant governments to develop policies, programmes and projects to achieve food security and to reduce hunger and malnutrition, to help develop the agricultural, fisheries and forestry sectors and to use their environmental and natural resources in a sustainable manner.

The FAO Representation in South Sudan is organized in three main units\: programme, Operations and administration. The current portfolio of projects in South Sudan includes activities related to agriculture (crop), livestock, Fisheries, Natural Resource management, food information systems is implemented with humanitarian, transitional and development funding. The incumbent will contribute to the country’s programme and portfolio as foreseen in the project.

Reporting Lines

The Gender Specialist will work under the overall guidance of the FAO Representative and the direct supervision of the Programme Support Specialist. The incumbent will closely work in consultation with the relevant Technical Units at FAO country office, headquarters, RAF and SFE, and the Lead Technical Officer and line government ministries in South Sudan when necessary.

Technical Focus

The Gender Specialist will ensure the inclusion of the people-centered approaches in the programming, development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of projects and programmes to achieve timely Programme deliverables in FAO South Sudan.

Tasks and responsibilities

• Identify gender training needs of FAO staff, partner and government staff as well as communities, develop training materials and tools, conduct training and follow up on capacity support
• Acquire knowledge and gender-related skills and develop an understanding of the gender equality issues related to FAO’s work in the context of the country’s needs.
• Identify the most relevant gender issues in the country, subregion and region.
• Raise awareness on the relevance of gender issues to the country/subregional/regional office’s programme of work.
• Raise awareness and help colleagues, project team members and national counterparts to become familiar with the FAO Policy on Gender Equality so that they can align their work with its objectives and strategy.
• Inform colleagues of the availability of online gender training courses and encourage them to take the courses.
• Identify the needs of colleagues for gender information and training. Together with the Regional Gender Officer and ESP Gender Team, assist in organizing staff learning activities.
• Support and participate in gender activities, communities of practice and gender networks, such as the Theme Groups on Gender under the UN Country Teams (where applicable).
• Share gender-related knowledge products and relevant good practices, lessons learned and any other information relevant to the work of the country/subregional office.
• Maintain an overview of the gender-related work in the country/subregional office.
• Initiate and support the development of a Country Gender Assessment with the assistance of a gender expert and under the guidance of the Regional Gender Officer. Disseminate the report among national stakeholders, promoting its use in the formulation of Country Programming Frameworks, projects and other country-level initiatives.
• Carry out a gender stocktaking exercise within the first six months of taking up the assignment, providing it was not done within the last four years. Carry out and update every four years. Present the findings and recommendations to the FAO Representative and colleagues in the country/subregional office.
• Prepare an action plan, based on the stocktaking report, to address the gaps and weaknesses in mainstreaming gender.
• Develop an annual work plan that reflects the specific activities related to gender to be carried out and include an objective in the workplan. The results from the stocktaking exercise, regional gender strategy and the Country Gender Assessment can be used as a basis, if readily available.
• Contribute to project design, project documents and review reports with a gender lens including assigning gender markers, systematic gender analysis, gender sensitive budgeting/gender budget, inclusion of gender sensitive activities (geared towards women’s empowerment and reducing their work burden)
• Carry out regular field visits to project locations to monitor progress and provide guidance on gender mainstreaming
• Support the Management in the country/subregional office in fulfilling the requirements of the FAO Policy on Gender Equality.
• Collect and share information (and encourage and support colleagues in the office to do the same), including sex-disaggregated statistics to assess the implications of gender equality and women’s empowerment issues in FAO’s areas of work.
• In consultation with the ESP and regional office gender teams, provide technical guidance to colleagues in using tools to better integrate gender issues in their work, such as gender assessments and the collection and analysis of sex-disaggregated data.
• Screen FAO-led projects, programmes and normative work and provide technical support and guidance for the inclusion of gender issues, including the use of gender markers and gender-sensitive indicators.
• In consultation with FAO technical officers, explore opportunities for resource mobilization for gender-related work.
• Participate in gender/GBV working groups meetings/workshops
• Together with the Regional Gender Officer, champion, participate and support the integration of gender in the Country Programming Framework and other processes and guiding frameworks.
• Keep senior management and colleagues informed and updated on gender-related information, results and requirements related to the work of the country/subregional office.
• Identify gender experts who can support FAO’s Programme of work in the country/subregional office.
• Support consultative processes and cooperation between the country/subregional office and national and international partners and gender entities (i.e. gender team within UNCTs, UNSDCF, gender focal points within national ministries).
• Give visibility to the gender-related results and lessons learned in the work FAO is carrying out in the country/subregion and share gender-related information (activities, achievements, successes and other) with the Regional Gender Officer and the ESP Gender Team.
• Support project managers and work closely with M&E team to generate gender and age disaggregated data, evidence, lessons learnt and best practices on impact of project on different genders through project review and document gender sensitive good practices
• Inform and assist the FAO Representative of the country or subregion in monitoring gender mainstreaming and gender-related work and support the reporting exercises.
• Prepare an end-of-the-year report on gender-related activities, results and lessons learned through the Programme Planning, Implementation Reporting & Evaluation Support System (PIRES).
• Report to the Regional Gender Officer on annual progress in the implementation of the gender work plan.
• Perform any other duty assigned by the supervisor.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• University degree in agriculture, food security, social sciences, development, gender studies, or any other related Field in the Mandate of FAO from a recognized institution.
• At least 3 years of relevant experience in agriculture, gender mainstreaming, project implementation and monitoring as well as coordinating stakeholders is an added advantage.
• Working knowledge of English (Level C) and limited knowledge of Arabic.
• National of South Sudan

FAO Core Competencies

• Results Focus
• Teamwork
• Communication
• Building Effective Relationships
• Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Technical/Functional Skills

• Experience working with the government structures in South Sudan will be considered an advantage.
• Analytical judgement and ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines.
• Excellent inter-personal skills and commitment to work in a participative way.
• Strong command of Ms Office® software (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Oracle).
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team
• Good knowledge of the UN system, procedures and operational activities would be an advantage.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION