Gender Equality & Social Inclusion Officer At World University Service of Canada

Position Title: Gender Equality & Social Inclusion Officer

Reports to: Project Director – ENGAGE Guyana

Position Location: Guyana

Contract Term: 2 Year, Renewable

Application Deadline: 8 July 2022

Expected Start Date: August 1 2022

BACKGROUND:

WUSC (World University Service of Canada) is a Canadian non-profit organization working to create a better world for all young people. We bring together a diverse network of governments, civil society organizations, schools, training institutions, private sector partners, and volunteers who share this vision. Together, we develop solutions in education, economic opportunities, and empowerment to overcome inequality and exclusion for youth around the world, particularly young women and young refugees. WUSC currently works in 25 countries across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America, with an annual budget of approximately CAD $40 million. We have over 90 staff in our Ottawa office, and over 200 people overseas implementing 16 development projects in collaboration with donors such as Global Affairs Canada (GAC), the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the African Development Bank.

THE ENGAGE PROJECT

WUSC is currently initiating a new project in Guyana called Empowering the Next Generation: Agency and Gender Equality (ENGAGE) for youth. The project aims to increase participation and inclusion of Guyana’s most remote, marginalized, and poorest populations in regions predominantly occupied by Indigenous people. Interventions will focus on marginalized indigenous populations, women and youth in Guyana and will include: providing opportunities to improve civic participation; increasing access to resources; and fostering more meaningful engagement in decision-making.

RESPONSIBILITIES

The Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) Officer will play a crucial role in developing and implementing ENGAGE’s GESI Strategy. The GESI Officer will develop tools, resources and conduct training and coaching to project staff, partners and volunteers to enable them to contribute to ENGAGE’s gender equality and social inclusion goals. Reporting to the WUSC Guyana ENGAGE Project Director, and working in close collaboration with the global Gender Equality & Social Inclusion (GESI) Advisor and the Youth Empowerment Officer in WUSC Guyana, the ENGAGE GESI Officer is responsible for the following:

KEY AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY

• Support the integration of gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) approaches, strategies, and activities focusing on Indigenous youth, especially women, across all programming components of the ENGAGE project;
• Continued identification and analysis of GESI issues affecting Indigenous youth to inform the development and ongoing refinement of the GESI strategy during the project inception period;
• Support the design and implementation of gender integrated and targeted activities, in collaboration with the Project Director as well as with other country, regional and international specialists;
• Support appropriate budgeting in all work breakdown structure (WBS) activities to support the integration of gender equality and youth specific implementation activities and program team support;
• In collaboration with program colleagues (including senior management and the WUSC GESI Advisor), support with designing and delivering of training and other modes of capacity strengthening as required to support GESI initiatives in the project – includIng developing/supporting the development of gender and youth responsive training content and materials for ENGAGE project staff, consultants, and partners;
• Develop gender responsive and inclusive practical tools and guides for colleagues to support project implementation, including gender analysis, engagement in design, use of planning and MERL tools and institutional capacity building;
• In collaboration with MERL colleagues, support the use of feminist MERL practices including, but not limited to, conducting regular gender analyses and promoting gender transformative approaches in ongoing monitoring and learning activities;
• ​​Facilitate the use of GESI data to promote evidence-based learning, reflection and decision making within ENGAGE;
• Liaise and collaborate with the WUSC HQ-based GESI Advisor assigned to support the ENGAGE project;
• Create GESI resources and tools (ie. tipsheets, guidance documents) to assist staff in effectively prioritizing and integrating gender in their work;
• Support the work of WUSC gender equality and youth volunteer(s) to link to work undertaken in-country and provide ongoing relevant monitoring, coaching and collaboration as needed;
• Collect and document lessons learned and propose adaptations to based on stakeholder feedback from monitoring exercises as well as developing case studies for learning and project communications;
• Ensure that information is provided for Annual and Semi Annual Reports to report against the ENGAGE project expected results and pillars, as well as the performance measurement framework (PMF) indicators;
• Participate in GESI-related working groups and maintain close working relationships with counterparts in other relevant international NGOs;
• Participate in WUSC’s communications work by providing data, information and other material for use with WUSC’s Canadian and International constituency and assists in implementing constituency building, communication strategies;
• Other relevant duties and responsibilities that may arise.

Qualifications and Competencies:

• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent qualification in Social Science, Education, Gender Development, Community Development, Youth Learning, or other relevant field;
• At least 5 years of practical experience in the field of gender equality mainstreaming. The ideal candidate will have both theoretical and practical background in GESI and skilled in GESI analysis and methodologies;
• Thorough understanding of the gender context in Guyana, and experience working with government institutions and international or non-governmental organizations supporting gender and development work in the specific area of intervention;
• Familiarity with gender analysis tools and methodologies in the specific area of intervention;
• Knowledge of child protection and Do No Harm approaches, women and children’s rights frameworks, and best practices;
• Practical knowledge of project cycle and results-based management (RBM) approaches;
• Proven leadership, initiative, interpersonal, cross-cultural, coordination, facilitation skills, and ability to motivate and work as a key member of a diverse country team;
• Excellent capacity building skills, with demonstrated experience in effective training, coaching and facilitation; and
• Adaptable and flexible, with the ability and initiative to generate or find new ways of working to manage internal and external changes that affect project implementation or organizational change;
• Strong reporting and writing abilities;
• Demonstrates integrity, sensitivity and adaptability to culture, gender, religion, nationality and age;
• Openness to change and ability to receive/integrate feedback;
• Complete fluency in English is required.

WHY WORK WITH WUSC?

Join Us. Our work is important, cutting-edge, and fast-paced. We encourage curiosity, innovation, and flexibility, and we provide a phenomenal learning experience.

WUSC offers a dynamic international work environment with a diverse intercultural workforce. We offer employees exciting opportunities to apply their skills and gain experience all while making a difference in the lives of youth around the world. Employees at WUSC work hard to create lasting change in education, economic opportunities, and empowerment.

APPLICATIONS

WUSC’s activities seek to balance inequities and create sustainable development around the globe; the work ethic of our staff, volunteers, representatives and partners shall correspond to the values and mission of the organization. WUSC promotes responsibility, respect, honesty, and professional excellence and will not tolerate harassment, coercion, sexual exploitation or abuse of any form. Successful applicants will be required to undertake an enhanced criminal record check where appropriate.

WUSC is an equal opportunity employer. We welcome and encourage applications from people with disabilities. Accommodations are available upon request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the selection process.

This position is open to all suitably qualified CARICOM Nationals. Only those candidates selected for an interview will be contacted. No telephone calls please.

If you wish to apply for this position, please send your application to dhope@wusc.ca. Please indicate “Gender Equality & Social Inclusion Officer – ENGAGE Guyana” as the subject line of your email.

The Empowering the Next Generation: Agency and Gender Equality (ENGAGE) Project is implemented by World University Service of Canada (WUSC) with funding support from the Government of Canada through Global Affairs Canada (GAC)