Gender, SRH and Enterprise Development Officer

Location: Hawassa, Ethiopia

Deadline: November 20, 2026

Job Description

Role Summary

The Gender, SRH and Enterprise Development Officer provides technical support for integrating gender equity, women’s economic empowerment, sexual and reproductive health (SRH), enterprise development, employment promotion, and financial inclusion under the UP-Women II Project. The position supports young women and girls, particularly those facing multiple barriers, to access learning opportunities, market-relevant skills, enterprise and employment pathways, and youth-friendly SRH information and services.

The Officer will support gender-transformative and youth-centred interventions across IFAL, TVET, entrepreneurship, employment, financial inclusion, life skills, mentorship, and SRH, working with government institutions, training providers, financial service providers, private sector actors, women’s organizations, and community structures.

The position will contribute to gender and labor market analyses, women’s entrepreneurship and employability, inclusive access to financial services, SRH referral pathways, and initiatives that address barriers to women’s economic participation and well-being.

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The Officer will promote gender equity, disability inclusion, safeguarding, youth participation, market systems development, and sustainability, while supporting evidence generation and learning.

Duties and Responsibilities

Gender and Social Equity:

  • Lead and support gender analyses, social norms assessments, and gender audits, and integrate gender-transformative approaches across project interventions.
  • and adapt gender-transformative training materials and strengthen the capacity of project staff, government partners, training providers, employers, and community structures on gender and social equity and women’s empowerment.
  • Engage community leaders, customary and religious institutions, families, men and boys, and youth groups to address harmful social norms, discrimination, and barriers to women’s economic participation.
  • Support solidarity groups, youth dialogue platforms, mentorship, and role-model initiatives that strengthen young women’s voice, agency, leadership, and decision-making.
  • Promote meaningful participation of young women, women with disabilities, and other marginalized groups, ensuring accessibility, safeguarding, protection, and Do No Harm principles across project activities.

Sexual and Reproductive Health

  • Provide technical oversight and guidance to partner CSOs implementing SRH interventions, ensuring quality, accountability, safeguarding, and alignment with project objectives and national standards.
  • Strengthen partner capacity on youth-friendly SRH services, disability inclusion, community engagement, referral systems, and quality improvement.
  • Review partner work plans, budgets, reports, indicators, and progress; conduct supportive supervision and joint monitoring and provide timely feedback and follow-up.
  • Strengthen coordination with health facilities, government health offices, Women and Social Affairs Offices, and youth-serving institutions to improve referral pathways and access to youth-friendly SRH services.
  • Monitor SRH results and support quality data management, learning, and documentation of implementation challenges, lessons, and good practices.

Enterprise Development and Financial Inclusion:

  • Support labour market and enterprise opportunity assessments to identify viable business and employment opportunities for young women.
  • Facilitate entrepreneurship development through business skills training, business planning, start-up and growth support, coaching, mentoring, incubation, and peer learning.
  • Promote women’s participation in high-potential and non-traditional sectors, and facilitate market linkages, business networking, value chain connections, and enterprise formalization where applicable.
  • Strengthen employability through employer engagement, internships, apprenticeships, job placements, career guidance, job-readiness support, and follow-up of graduates in collaboration with TVETs, IFAL centres, and private training providers.
  • Facilitate linkages with banks, MFIs, SACCOs, digital financial service providers, and savings groups; support financial literacy, savings mobilization, and access to appropriate savings, credit, insurance, and digital finance services.
  • Engage financial institutions on women-friendly financial products where feasible and monitor the implementation and effectiveness of financial inclusion interventions.

Partnerships Coordination, Monitoring and Learning:

  • Build and maintain working relationships with government institutions, training providers, employers, financial institutions, partner CSOs, women’s organizations, and community structures at regional, zonal, city, woreda, and kebele levels.
  • Coordinate with relevant sector offices and participate in technical working groups, coordination forums, gender taskforces, youth platforms, and livelihood networks; contribute to advocacy on systems and practices affecting young women’s empowerment.
  • Prepare work plans and monitor implementation against agreed plans, indicators, and targets in collaboration with supervisors and project teams.
  • Collect, analyse, and report data on gender equity, SRH, enterprise development, employment, and financial inclusion; ensure timely and quality reporting to HELVETAS, donors, and government stakeholders.
  • Document lessons, innovations, success stories, and promising practices, and contribute to project reviews, assessments, evaluations, and learning activities to inform adaptation and scaling.

Education:  

A minimum of first Degree in one of the following fields:

  • Gender Studies, Development Studies, Sociology, Social Work, Psychology, Community Development, or other Social Sciences
  • Business Administration, Management, Entrepreneurship, Marketing, or related Business Fields
  • Economics, Agricultural Economics, Cooperative Development, Rural Development, or related Development Economics Fields
  • Any other relevant field related to Women’s Economic Empowerment, Youth Development, Livelihoods, Enterprise Development, Financial Inclusion, or International Development

Experience:

  • Minimum of 6 years for bachelor’s degree holders or 4 years for master’s degree holders in relevant experience.
  • Experience in women’s economic empowerment, youth development, gender programming, SRH, entrepreneurship development, employment promotion, TVET, financial inclusion, or livelihoods programming.
  • Experience working with government institutions, NGOs, donor-funded projects, and private sector partners.
  • Experience facilitating training, coaching, mentorship, and capacity-building programs.
  • Experience in enterprise development, business support services, market systems development, or value chain development is highly desirable.
  • Experience supporting financial inclusion initiatives and engagement with financial service providers is an asset.
  • Experience in monitoring, reporting, documentation, and learning processes.

Skills Required:

  • Strong understanding of gender-transformative programming and women’s economic empowerment.
  • Knowledge of Sexual and Reproductive Health concepts and youth-friendly service approaches.
  • Understanding of entrepreneurship development, business management, financial literacy, and enterprise growth.
  • Knowledge of labour market systems, employability, and employment promotion approaches.
  • Understanding of financial inclusion and women’s access to finance.
  • Knowledge of Market Systems Development (MSD) approaches is an advantage.
  • Strong facilitation, coaching, mentoring, and stakeholder engagement skills.
  • Excellent planning, coordination, and organizational skills.
  • Strong analytical, problem-solving, and report-writing skills.
  • Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
  • Ability to work independently and within multidisciplinary teams.
  • Commitment to gender equity, inclusion, safeguarding, and youth empowerment.
  • Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications and digital collaboration tools.
  • Fluency in English: Knowledge of local languages of the duty station is highly desirable.
Required Skills
  • Microsoft Office Pack: Word, Excel, Access, Publisher, Outlook, PowerPoint
  • Excellent facilitation, training, and community mobilization skills.
  • Communication, coordination, networking and facilitation skills
  • Development Studies, Development Management, Project Management, Management, Economics

How to Apply

Interested and qualified candidates are encouraged to apply by filling the: >> Application Form.

Please NOTE that we only accept application using the required FORM (Above).

Female applicants are highly encouraged to apply. 

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