Consultant - Gender Officer

Programme & Policy

Overview

Lead gender integration in WFP Myanmar's strategic initiatives

You have:

• Advanced university degree in gender, human rights, international affairs, social sciences, law or other field relevant to gender and inclusion in the humanitarian context.
• At least 6 years of continuously progressive work experience in the field of international development or humanitarian assistance, with demonstrated field and policy-oriented experience working on gender, inclusion, accountability to affected populations and/or human rights programming.
• Operational experience in fragile/emergency contexts.
• Experience designing and establishing accountability mechanisms and gender or disability considerations within programmes.
• Experience in data collection (mixed methodology) and analysing cross-cutting issues such as gender, protection, and conflict sensitivity.
• Experience working in Myanmar is highly desirable.
• Excellent research, data analysis and reporting skills.
• Proven ability to produce outputs independently and within short timelines, under pressure, and managing multiple priorities simultaneously with minimum supervision.
• Demonstrated capacity to rapidly review available documentation on contexts in which WFP operates, and be ready for substantive engagement and advisory work.
• Capacity to engage in strategic conversations at senior levels.
• Demonstrated strong analytical and writing skills, including the ability to write in an engaging and informative manner, and conceptualise and clearly synthesise information.
• Ability to engage effectively at field level with a wide range of actors including those in the international humanitarian community, governments actors, and affected populations.
• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.
• Required fluency (level C) in written and spoken English.

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WFP celebrates and embraces diversity. It is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all its employees and encourages qualified candidates to apply irrespective of race, colour, national origin, ethnic or social background, genetic information, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, religion or belief, HIV status or disability.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

JOB TITLE: Consultant_ Gender Officer

TYPE & LEVEL OF CONTRACT: International Consultant Level II

UNIT/DIVISION: Programme and Policy/ RBB Myanmar Country Office

DUTY STATION (City, Country): Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar

REPORT TO: Sr. Protection & Gender Advisor

DURATION: 11 months

OPENING DATE OF APPLICATION: 23 May 2022

CLOSING DATE OF APPLICATION: 6 June 2022

BACKGROUND:

The United Nations World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. The mission of WFP is to help the world achieve Zero Hunger in our lifetimes. Every day, WFP works worldwide to ensure that no child goes to bed hungry and that the poorest and most vulnerable, particularly women and children, can access the nutritious food they need.

In emergencies, WFP gets food to where it is needed, saving the lives of people affected by disasters, conflict, epidemics/pandemics and more. After an emergency, WFP uses food to help communities rebuild their shattered lives. On average, WFP reaches more than 100 million people with food assistance in 83 countries each year. The organization has the global footprint, deep field presence and local knowledge and relationships necessary to provide access to nutritious food and contribute to the lasting solutions, especially in many of the world’s most remote and fragile areas.

Conflict, human rights violations, and related humanitarian needs have continued to escalate in Myanmar, particularly since the military takeover of February 2021. The ongoing impacts of COVID-19, and economic instability, have further escalated the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance. In 2021, WFP Myanmar assisted 2.9 million food insecure people, almost three times more than the previous year. In 2022, the Country Office plans to reach 4 million people with food and nutrition assistance focussing on both life-saving assistance and contributing to community and household resilience through livelihood and school feeding support. WFP continues to advocate for safe and unimpeded access to all populations in need consistent with the international humanitarian principles.

As with all crises, pre-existing social and demographic inequalities are deepened and ensure that some within society are disproportionately at risk of experiencing high levels of food and nutrition insecurity. Myanmar’s deeply patriarchal values restrict women and girl’s roles in society as mothers and homemakers. Despite the country’s 2008 Constitution guaranteeing equal rights and equal legal protection to all persons, this is undermined through the regular reference to women mostly as mothers throughout the constitution. Women have severely restricted opportunities to participate in decision making at the national, community, and household levels. Education regularly positions women to domestic services, with most of the economic participation of women occurring in lower-skilled and informal jobs. Reproductive health rights and services are severely limited due to poor health systems which are reported to have become worse in the current conflict realities. Sexual and gender-based violence is endemic in Myanmar at all levels (household and community) with very limited access to justice or services for prevention, response, and accountability.

PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:

The Gender Officer will lead the integration of gender equality and women’s empowerment goals in the WFP Myanmar Country Strategic Plan. The Gender Officer will work closely with key stakeholders (internal and external) to ensure that WFP activities are informed by meaningful community engagement, based on sound data and analysis, and reflects the needs and capacities of women, girls, men, and boys of all diversities (e.g., women and girls with disabilities, of ethnic and religious minority, etc.,). The Gender Officer will work closely with Protection and Accountability staff and focal points across WFP Myanmar to complement existing good practice, and joint cross-cutting priorities. The Gender Officer will have a strong capacity in Gender in Emergencies, Gender Based Violence, and Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse.

All accountabilities and responsibilities must be delivered in line with inclusion standards (recognising the diversity amongst women and girls themselves), protection standards (documenting and responding to gender related risks related to WFP operations including gender based violence, sexual exploitation and abuse, data privacy, conflict sensitivity, humanitarian principles), and with focus on local empowerment to ensure that investments in gender equality and food security are sustainable and resilient to shock.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)

1. Strategic and policy leadership: Support the Country Office to absorb, contextualise, and meaningfully implement the WFP Gender Policy (2022) and key complementary policies and strategies through a gender lens, especially (but not exclusively): Protection and Accountability Policy (2020), Disability Inclusion Roadmap (2021), Community Engagement Strategy for Accountability to Affected Populations (2021 – 2026), and core documents for Humanitarian Principles, Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, Conflict and Contributions to Peace, and Beneficiary Data Privacy and Protection.

2. Support the Country Office to articulate and implement a gender transformative approach for WFP’s Country Strategic Plan (CSP) and current and emerging operations and activities, especially for expanding programming in asset creation and livelihoods. The approach should capture existing good practice implemented by WFP Myanmar and support with approaches to address areas with potential for further impact, including for example the enhanced integration of social and behavioral change communication on gender, gender-based violence and disability inclusion and empowerment of women on WFP community committees. The gender transformative approach should encompass participatory gender and Zero Hunger situational analysis, the methodology for which should be well documented so it can be repeated periodically to ensure programming accommodations for changes in the context.

3. Support the Country Office to gather and utilise gendered data to inform all areas of WFP operations. This will include supporting necessary adjustments to existing data collection (vulnerability analysis, monitoring and evaluations, community feedback, etc.,) and supporting capacity strengthening to develop, roll-out, analyse, and utilise gendered methodologies. All assessments and analysis must have sound engagement and consideration of intersectional identities (such as disability and women and girls)

4. Lead the design and rollout of stakeholder capacity building for gender equality for food and nutrition outcomes. The capacity building approach should be tailored to the audience to ensure that capacity built is relevant, and consistent with roles and responsibilities of the audiences. Stakeholders for capacity building will include, but not be limited to: WFP and partner staff, community leaders, and interagency forums.

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5. Establish and sustain strong collaboration with affected population including representative groups and informal and formal groups advancing gender and intersectional goals. This will include establishing and sustaining relationships with women’s disability groups, women’s civil society, and leaders dedicated to gender equality or inclusion of people with diverse gender identity.

6. Interagency cooperation and collaboration to integrate strong understanding of food and nutrition related gender considerations and vice-versa. Collaboration and cooperation may be formal or informal and will include participation in gender working groups and clusters to advance food and nutrition needs and goals, and in sector specific clusters (such as the food security cluster, and the nutrition cluster) to embed gender equality needs and goals across humanitarian / development streams.

7. Ensure that women and girls, men and boys, of all diversities have a sound understanding of WFP’s accountability to affected populations goals and related outputs / systems. In close collaboration with affected population and WFP and CP staff, as well as WFP teams leading on AAP, ensure that AAP efforts are informed by community engagement and are inclusive, accessible, and meaningful inform WFP activities and operations. This will include information and knowledge management, participation and inclusion, community engagement and feedback mechanisms.

8. Provide technical and supervisory leadership to WFP Myanmar Country Office gender staff and focal points including oversight of performance.

9. Provide technical support to Country Office Management as required and to embed gender equality and gender transformative approaches into decision making.

10. Other duties. Act in charge of PGAAP unit when the head of unit is absent; undertake or contribute to research, reports or related activities as directed by the Country Office Management.

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Education & Experience:

• Advanced university degree in gender, human rights, international affairs, social sciences, law or other field relevant to gender and inclusion in the humanitarian context.
• At least 6 years of continuously progressive work experience in the field of international development or humanitarian assistance, with demonstrated field and policy-oriented experience working on gender, inclusion, accountability to affected populations and/or human rights programming.
• Operational experience in fragile/emergency contexts
• Experience designing and establishing accountability mechanisms and gender or disability considerations within programmes.
• Experience in data collection (mixed methodology) and analysing cross-cutting issues such as gender, protection, and conflict sensitivity.
• Experience working in Myanmar is highly desirable.

Skills & Attribute:

• Excellent research, data analysis and reporting skills.
• Proven ability to produce outputs independently and within short timelines, under pressure, and managing multiple priorities simultaneously with minimum supervision
• Demonstrated capacity to rapidly review available documentation on contexts in which WFP operates, and be ready for substantive engagement and advisory work
• Capacity to engage in strategic conversations at senior levels
• Demonstrated strong analytical and writing skills, including the ability to write in an engaging and informative manner, and conceptualise and clearly synthesise information
• Ability to engage effectively at field level with a wide range of actors including those in the international humanitarian community, governments actors, and affected populations
• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with people of different national and cultural backgrounds

Languages

Required fluency (level C) in written and spoken English.

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All employment decisions are made on the basis of organizational needs, job requirements, merit, and individual qualifications. WFP is committed to providing an inclusive work environment free of sexual exploitation and abuse, all forms of discrimination, any kind of harassment, sexual harassment, and abuse of authority. Therefore, all selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

No appointment under any kind of contract will be offered to members of the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), FAO Finance Committee, WFP External Auditor, WFP Audit Committee, Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) and other similar bodies within the United Nations system with oversight responsibilities over WFP, both during their service and within three years of ceasing that service.

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Potential interview questions

Added 4 years ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: wfp.org