Gender, Youth and Social Inclusion Advisor -Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

ABOUT FIRST CONSULT

First Consult is a leading economic development consulting firm implementing projects in Ethiopia. Founded in 2006, First Consult (FC) has grown to design and implement projects across the agriculture, manufacturing and service sectors. Our multidisciplinary teams combine a capacity to execute with clarity of the local context. We have delivered at-scale real impact in terms of jobs & wealth creation, business formation & growth, and investment attraction & mobilization.

ABOUT THE PROGRAMME

First Consult (FC) is contracted to provide management and technical support services to the Mastercard Foundation under the Resilience programme to the COVID-19 Recovery and Resilience Guarantee Facility, a partnership developed under the Mastercard Foundation COVID-19 Recovery and Resilience Programme. Partnership in 2020 was a ground-breaking success that is ready for adaptation and scale-up.

The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Recovery and Resilience (MESMER) Facility will scale up the successes of the existing programme across the whole country. As the economy faces multiple shocks and challenges (COVID-recovery, conflicts, soaring inflation and other macroeconomic challenges), MSMEs need to withstand them and stay afloat while building assets for long-term resilience. The unbanked need to be banked using the full range of services at their disposal to manage finances in turbulent times. They specifically need collateral alternatives (guarantee and later credit history as well as increased assets) with technical support (BDS, life skills), while banks need to build the business & evidence base for sustainably financing MSMEs.

POSITION SUMMARY

The Gender, Youth and Social Inclusion Advisor will be responsible for ensuring the overall project’s inclusivity with a special focus on gender, youth, people with disabilities and other marginalized groups of the community. Inclusivity and women empowerment is at the core of the programme and the incumbent is responsible to provide leadership, technical guidance and oversight to ensure gender issues, youth voices and social inclusion are effectively integrated in programme’s design, implementation, and Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, and Learning (MERL) activities and shared across all stakeholders. The programme aims intentional targeting of women, youth and other marginalized group and the incumbent shall devise evidence-based strategies, lead creation of partnerships and collaborations with other stakeholders to ensure inclusivity objectives of the programme is achieved.

Additionally, the incumbent will focus on capacity building and the development of appropriate integration tools to effectively incorporate gender, youth, and social inclusion considerations across all programme activities. Moreover, the incumbent will design and lead implementation of psychosocial services to targeted enterprises operating in conflict affected areas to support recovery and residence of enterprises affected by conflict and other natural disasters.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Provide technical leadership and oversight, to ensure the integration of Gender, Youth and Social Inclusion approaches across programme activities.
• Lead and use Gender, Youth, and Social Inclusion assessment and analysis to inform integration strategies that target and engage youth, women, and marginalized groups in all programme activities.
• Lead the development and implementation of the programme’s Gender Equality, Women’s Empowerment and Social inclusion strategy and action plan, including the adaptation and development of tools and approaches to support the strategy and action plan.
• Lead implementation of strategies aiming to maximize women and youth targeting as well as other marginalized groups such as PWDs IDPs and returnees.
• Develop and implement gender-sensitive and inclusive programme processes, incorporating tailored promotion methods, eligibility criteria, requirements, and service provision mechanisms that ensure equitable access and participation for women, youth, people with disabilities, IDPs, and returnees.
• Support and provide guidance for psychosocial services programme implementation and related M&E activities.
• Closely work with regional investment committees of the programme to integrate gender and youth focus as well as targeting of marginalized groups such as people with disabilities returnees and IDPs.
• Work with the team lead and senior project management to deliver capacity-building workshops/trainings for programme staff, partners, and other stakeholders crafting and adapting content to enhance understanding and integration of gender, youth, and social inclusion in programme activities.
• Identify target groups through social assessments, partnering with relevant stakeholders and ensure participatory approaches are used and social mapping is conducted and that the involved stakeholders understand the importance of such initiatives.
• Foster collaboration with local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and private partners specializing in gender, youth, and social inclusion to leverage their expertise.
• Closely collaborate with the focal of funders to ensure that all requirements are met and passed over to the programme team.
• Facilitate training and develop and/or adapt training content.
• Support the integration of Gender, Youth and Social Inclusion in program activities and work plan, review IGs and comment on the strategies to mainstream gender, youth and social inclusions.
• Work closely with the M&E team to integrate Gender, Youth and Social Inclusion s indicators into the M&E plan, frameworks, and reports ensuring the collection, analysis, and use of sex-, age-, and disability-disaggregated data.
• Support the development and tracking of specific indicators to monitor progress toward GYSI goals across all programme’s and data collection processes.
• Support the project partners in mainstreaming Gender, Youth and Social Inclusion in their policies, management systems and programmes and provide training and education in implementing the policies.
• Lead the assessment for the project, including desk review, coordination with all stakeholders, key informant interviews, focus group discussions and report writing.
• Perform any other duties as may be required by him/her immediate supervisor.

Job requirement

• Master’s Degree in Gender Studies, development studies, Sociology, Social work, or relevant Social Science
• More than 5 years of relevant work experience
• Proven skills in proposal writing, project designing, and report writing.
• Familiarity with major donor rules and regulations
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving capacities – the ability to identify issues with contractual implications, ensure consistent donor reporting and support teams in providing appropriate analyses of activities.
• High adaptability – the ability to work with a large range of actors including institutional donors and partners and to develop an understanding of various contexts.
• Advanced interpersonal skills and good pedagogy to support staff in ensuring compliance with donor requirements.

How to apply

All documents requested by First Consult at various stages of the recruitment process will be used for this purpose only. Competent candidates should submit their one-page cover letter and updated CVs only to: jobs@firstconsultet.com before March 14, 2025.

Candidates MUST refer to the position title ‘Gender, Youth and Social Inclusion Advisor “ in the subject line of their email and applications.

The applicant is required to carry out his/her duties in accordance with First Consult’s Code of conduct, HR and Safeguarding policy. All applicants should be aware that our organization is committed to safeguard our programme participants, staff, representatives of the organization and community members we work with is our top priority in everything we do, including recruitment. 

By applying, you acknowledge and agree to adhere the First Consult recruitment procedure in which all offers are subject to satisfactory background checks. By submitting your application, you consent to the use of your personal data for recruitment purposes. All documents requested by First Consult at various stages of the recruitment process will be used for recruitment purposes only.