Coordinator – She Leads consortium – Mali At The African Women’s Development and Communications Network

1. About FEMNET

The African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET) is a pan-African, feminist and membership-based network based in Nairobi, Kenya with over 800 individual and institutional members across 50 African countries and in the diaspora. FEMNET envisions a society where African women and girls thrive in dignity and well-being, free from patriarchal and neoliberal oppression and injustices.

FEMNET recognizes that the commitment to alter relations of power, structural injustices, and systemic oppression lies at the heart of feminism. FEMNET is therefore committed to pushing towards altering power structures that perpetuate gender inequality by nurturing the African women’s movement to enable women and girls in their diversity to effectively claim, affirm, and use their collective power to end all forms of exclusion, oppression, exploitation, and injustices against them. For more information, visit www.femnet.org

2. Introduction

The She Leads consortium is a five-year (2021-2025) strategic partnership between Terre des Hommes, Plan International, Defence for Children/ECPAT, African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands. The strategic objective of the She Leads programme is to increase the sustained influence of Girls and Young Women (GYW) on decision-making and the transformation of gender norms in formal and informal institutions. This will be achieved through the attainment of three main outcomes:

1. Enhanced collective action and activism by GYW in a gender-responsive civil society.
2. Increased acceptance of positive social gender norms.
3. Political institutions at all levels enable meaningful participation of GYW in decision-making.

The programme will be implemented in Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Jordan, Lebanon, Mali, Liberia, Ghana and Sierra Leone, as well as having Africa regional, Middle East regional and international programme components.

To consolidate it’s work and move to the next level, The She Leads Consortium, with financial support from the Dutch Government, is seeking to engage a She Leads Coordinator– Malion a one (1) year contract to be based in Mali.

3. Introduction – She Leads Guiding Principles

The development of the She Leads programme is guided by principles based on the Charter of Feminist Principles for African Feminists, meaningful youth participation and the Istanbul principles for CSO Development Effectiveness. From these principles, we have drawn ten main shared principles, which have guided the She Leads programme development process and will be at the centre of the implementation and monitoring & evaluation of our programme. The shared principles focus on GYW autonomy and meaningful participation in decision-making, on equal partnership and the value each consortium partner brings to the programme and the alliance, on decentralised decision-making and mutual accountability and transparency, and on inclusiveness and collective care and wellbeing:

1. Human Rights, Gender Equality and Social Justice are at the core of our work and our joint programme
2. Inclusiveness, intersectionality and embracing diversity: non-discrimination of anyone and particularly including those GYW that are usually marginalised in society
3. Addressing power inequalities in the contexts we work in an within our consortium
4. Voices of girls and young women are central to the She Leads program, in design and implementation
5. Respect for autonomy of girl-led and youth-led organisations
6. Self-care and collective well-being is key, as our social change work is demanding and takes its toll, especially on young people involved
7. Equal partnership at the different levels of our consortium
8. Collective accountability and transparency to each other and to our donor
9. Decentralised decision-making: sharing power and decision-making space, valuing each opinion, each expertise, and each idea
10. Each partner adds its unique value to our collaboration, no matter where we are based, how big or small our organisations are, whether we are adult- or GYW-led entities.

4. About this Position

The Mali Consortium Coordinator (hereafter coordinator) shall be a young woman of less than 35 years of age who is an advocate of girls and women’s rights, with some experience in coordination and/or management. She must believe in and adhere to the She Leads Guiding Principles (Annex 1).

The coordinator represents all consortium organisations equally and is hosted by the coordinating consortium organization. She will report functionally to the Mali country Steering Committee, and to the (FEMNET She Leads, lead) for daily coordination of her work. She will work closely with the country network and the She Leads colleagues based in the country.

5. Objective of the Position

The objective of this position is to ensure timely and quality coordination of the She Leads Mali Network and Steering Committee, and to serve as main liaison between, Mali country program and the Regional Network and the She Leads Global Steering committee.

6. Terms of reference

Main Responsibilities

i) Mali Consortium Coordination and Monitoring

• Coordinate the joint work of the Mali Network and country Steering Committee in accordance with the She Leads Guiding Principles.
• Facilitate linking and learning between the different She Leads program components
• Responsible for facilitating and overseeing the joint planning and monitoring process of the Mali She Leads Network and for compiling and submitting annual plans and reports.
• Monitoring and safeguarding of the meaningful engagement of GYW in She Leads.
• Management of budget for, and coordination of, joint activities.
• Lead the implementation of joint activities including annual planning and annual reporting

ii) Programme Support

• Support consistency and links between the She Leads Mali country programme, regional and international programmes.
• Ensure cross-learning between She Leads Mali and the other She Leads country programmes and advise on potential areas of collaboration
• Support linkage of She Leads with other relevant initiatives.

iii) FEMNET Countries coordination

• Support joint budget management for She Leads Mali country program
• Support the coordination of FEMNET partners joint learning, planning, and monitoring of ‘She Leads’ FEMNET program.

7. Terms of Reference

Academic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Social Studies, Development Studies

Knowledge and Experience

• Prior experience of at least two years[1] in programme coordination, consortium coordination, lobby & advocacy, children’s rights, meaningful youth participation and/or similar areas, preferably with a civil society/non-governmental organization.
• Knowledge about Child Rights/Human Rights Issues and Gender-Equality in the country and/or region the network is situated in. Knowledge of these issues at the international level is a plus.
• Knowledge about gender equality and gender transformative approaches.
• Knowledge about national, regional, and international institutions that are concerned with Child Rights and Gender Equality.
• Understanding of programme management and coordination of NGOs/CSOs.
• Must be bilingual – English – French

Desired Attributes

• Excellent communication skills
• Team building, networking and consortium building skills
• Excellent written and verbal command of English language
• Analytical skills, preferably with focus on policy analysis and stakeholder analysis
• Management and coordination skills
• Time management and planning

Competencies

• Results oriented
• Quality oriented
• Cooperation minded
• Able to plan and organize
• Independent worker
• Taking initiative