Gender Advisor

Background:

Duty station: Kabul + travel to some rural areas within Afghanistan

DACAAR is a non-governmental, humanitarian organization that supports sustainable development in Afghanistan through promoting the ability of local communities to decide upon and manage their own development process.

DACAAR works at village level in close cooperation with the local population in order to enable them to meet basic needs and secure improved livelihoods. At the national level, DACAAR is actively involved in nation building with the Government of Afghanistan.

General Responsibilities:

The Gender Adviser position at DACAAR was created based on the recommendations of a gender consultancy in 2007. This position is to enable DACAAR to meet and surpass minimum standards in gender as required in a variety of laws and agreements to which DACAAR is party also to enable DACAAR to meet the aspirations of senior management in terms of greater gender equity and to make progress towards more gender equitable programming.

The Gender Adviser will head a team of two national staff (one male and one female). Together the team will aim to:

• Promote greater understanding and action of gender issues into all aspects of DACAAR’s daily work. This will include some changes in recruitment, retention, promotion and a range of HR, finance and logistic practices. (Years 1,2,3)
• Establish effective gender mainstreaming in programme design, implementation and evaluation. (Years 2 and 3)
• Use 1 and 2 to design and promote policy and advocacy tools which illustrate DACAAR’s experiences and strengths. (Year 3)

Initial focus will be on working with senior and middle management in Kabul and the field to develop their understanding and expertise while monitoring and evaluating the implementation of gender consultancy recommendations.

Main Responsibilities:

More specifically, the responsibilities of the position will include, but not necessarily be limited to:

• The Gender Adviser and her/his team will oversee and facilitate a review of DACAAR’s programmes from a gender perspective. This participatory review will lead to recommendations on the full project cycle.
• Initiate and oversee training for senior management staff and provide inputs to gender training throughout DACAAR.
• Establish an appropriate form of baseline against which progress would be measured subsequently. This is likely to be similar to KAP survey which measures quantifiable change such as recruitment, promotion and retention issues.
• Advise and assist senior local and expatriate staff on the inclusion of gender when formulating, reviewing and revising policies and procedures of the organization.
• Support the identification and selection of gender focal points in all DACAAR site offices. Additionally, they will train and build the capacity of focal points by provision of direct or indirect training as well as through coaching and mentoring on a regular basis.
• Plan and conduct periodic review of program activities to ensure inclusion gender sensitive issues. This will include an overall review at policy and strategy level and a second review of the programmatic activities. The two reviews should be conducted within a period of one year.
• Review organizational functions and services and report discrepancies existing in the provision of administrative services and facilities to male and female employees and suggest improvements.
• Review the organization’s recruitment, retention and other HRM procedures to identify gaps in provision of equal opportunities to male and female employees and will advise on how to improve.
• The Gender Adviser will train and coach the gender team in both practical and analytical aspects of the work with a plan for transferring full responsibilities to an Afghan counterpart in the future.
• He/She will take on any other relevant responsibilities assigned by the line manager.

Qualifications & Requirements:

Essential

• Masters Degree in a relevant subject
• At least 3 years of experience in a relevant position and work environment
• Senior level management experience
• Previous exposure to change management
• The ability to lead processes of change by building coalitions
• Understanding of gender dynamics and complexities in Afghanistan or similar setting
• Understanding of Programme challenges and opportunities
• Able to work effectively in English

Desirable

• Local language skills

Application:

Only motivated applications that address the stipulated duties and meet the required qualifications, sent together with a CV, will be considered.

It is very important for us to know where you first saw this vacancy posted, so we kindly ask you to supply us with that information in your application.

Please send your application, in English and marked “Gender Advisor”, by email no later than Friday 21 November 2008 to jobs@dacaar.org

Website: http://www.dacaar.org/dacaar.asp?id=622