National Gender Specialist

Organizational Setting

In the Central Dry Zone (CDZ) of Myanmar, nearly 25 percent of the population is below the national poverty line and about 50 percent are landless. The lack of livelihoods in this region is the key driver of poverty and has led to high incidence of malnutrition and food insecurity. To assist the Government of Myanmar to develop sustainable solutions to mitigate the situation in the CDZ, FAO is delivering technical assistance as part of the Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme (GAFSP). FAO will improve critical agri-business value chain infrastructure; enhance the enabling environment; and promote climate smart and nutrition sensitive agriculture. The technical assistance is focused on four components: (i) Good Agricultural Practices, (ii) Household Nutrition Promotion, (iii) Off-Farm Employment, and (iv) Monitoring and Evaluation. The theory of change of the project is based on the fundamental premise that a market-driven approach is needed to help smallholder male & female farmers sustainably increase their income and improve their livelihoods, food security and nutrition. To this end, FAOMM is seeking a National Gender Specialist to assist in the implementation of all the Gender Action Plan (GAP) activities through above-mentioned components. The gender action plan is prepared and aligned with Myanmar Agricultural Development Strategy (ADS) and the National Strategic Plan for Advancement of Women (NSPAW).

Reporting Lines

The incumbent will work under overall supervision of the FAO Representative and direct supervision of AFAOR (Programme) and GAFSP team leader in collaboration with FAO Myanmar Gender Focal Person in and key governmental counterparts including the Project Director of the PMU and other Implementing Agencies (IAs). Technical guidance will be provided by the Lead Technical Officer from the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific.

The incumbent performs the following duties;

Tasks and responsibilities:

• The Gender Specialist will ensure implementation of, and compliance with the FAO gender policy, framework and action plans;
• Develop and implement gender mainstreaming into the project in line with gender action plan, ensuring full integration with other components of gender indicators based on the project result framework;
• Assist the project team, PMU, IAs (Implementing Agencies) and other stakeholders to implement and monitor the Gender Action Plans (GAP) and report on the progress of the GAP implementation in accordance with gender related policies, guidelines of the project and actions;
• Facilitate communities’ consultations in all project target townships/villages and document gender considerations ensuring equal participation of women in the project activities;
• In close collaboration with project team and guidance of the team leader, the gender specialist will be developing and disseminating outreach materials such as brochures, fact sheets and presentations, ensuring they are gender sensitive and promote gender equality;
• Strengthen the understanding of the gender mainstreaming by providing appropriate and evidence based trainings to PMU, community, government IAs , as required; and support the gender focal points in MoALI and other line ministries;
• Support the project team in the preparation of annual work plans, budget for GAP implementation, develop and monitor gender and poverty specific indicators for each project component;
• Assist the IAs to design and help manage the implementation of new socio-economic surveys or gender specific studies as appropriate and which are relevant to the project components in the target areas, including gender, poverty and community development;
• In close coordination with the project team, will consult with project related beneficiaries to ensure women’s needs and aspirations are addressed in the components detailed design, implementation and subsequent monitoring;
• In close coordination with the project team, assist the IAs by acting as a gender focal point and facilitator for poverty and gender mainstreaming in data/information collection, monitoring, sector coordination, technical design issues, communication, training and capacity development and mentoring;
• Liaise with the project M&E specialist to ensure that the gender indicators and targets of the GAP relevant data is collected, collated, analysed and meaningfully interpreted;
• Collect human stories during project implementation that document how the project contributed towards enhanced gender equality and women’s empowerment and greater inclusion in the project – which can be used in the project completion report to document achievement of gender equality results;
• Facilitate knowledge sharing on social development and gender related issues through partner forums, web pages and reports and including lessons learned/ best practice with multi-stakeholders;
• Contribute the data for progress reports every six months including details of progress of the indicators of GAP and preparing gender mainstreaming reports as part of periodic project progress reports;
• Perform other duties as required & assigned by project Team Leader;

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• Advanced University degree in social sciences especially gender studies, development studies or relevant discipline;
• Having 07 years of increasingly responsible professional experience in the substantive area, of which five years at gender analysis and mainstreaming for agricultural, nutritional and rural livelihood sectors;
• Extensive experience in agricultural commodity gender sensitive value chains analysis;
• Substantial experience in design, monitoring and evaluation of gender projects;
• Having working experiences with government or multi-lateral donors’ projects in Myanmar especially in central dry zone;
• Myanmar National

FAO Competencies

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

Selection Criteria

• Have good knowledge of English and ability to quickly, efficiently and accurately translate verbal discussion and written transcript from the local language into English;
• Have good knowledge of Computer Skills Microsoft Office especially MS Word, Excel, Outlook, Power Point;
• Expertise in the field of gender mainstreaming in data/information collection, monitoring, sector coordination, technical design issues, communication, training and capacity development and mentoring;
• Experience consulting with multi-stakeholders such as government officials (Union, Regional, and Township level), private sectors, community leaders;
• Having experience in the usage of software packages and experience in handling advanced programmes for statistical analysis of data.
• Proven capacity to conduct fieldwork and ability to work in teams and establish working relationships central and local government institutions and civil society organizations
• Willingness and ability to travel to remote, rural locations, involving lengthy trips on rough roads, several hours at a time of exposure in harsh climates, and basic accommodations

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• FAO does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process (application, interview meeting, processing)
• Incomplete applications will not be considered. If you need help please contact: [email protected]
• Applications received after the closing date will not be accepted
• Only language proficiency certificates from UN accredited external providers and/or FAO language official examinations (LPE, ILE, LRT) will be accepted as proof of the level of knowledge of languages indicated in the online applications
• For additional employment opportunities visit the FAO employment website: http://www.fao.org/employment/home/en/