Gender and Inclusive Development Advisor

Gender and Inclusive Development Advisor

Guided by the remarkable legacy of its co-founder, Helen Keller, Helen Keller Intl partners with communities striving to overcome long standing cycles of poverty. By delivering the essential building blocks of good health, sound nutrition and clear vision, we help millions of people create lasting change in their own lives. Working in 20 countries – across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the United States – and together with a global community of supporters, we are ensuring every person has the opportunity – as Helen did – to reach their true potential.

We are seeking a Gender and Inclusive Development Advisor local resident in Nepal to lead the integration of gender and inclusive development principles into multisectoral nutrition programming for the anticipated USAID Integrated Nutrition project in Nepal. The Advisor will provide strategic and technical oversight and lead all aspects of inclusive development programming and capacity building for Helen Keller and all key project stakeholders. This is a local hire position based in Kathmandu, with frequent travel within Nepal. This anticipated five-year position is contingent on Helen Keller being awarded funding.

Background
USAID Integrated Nutrition’s primary goal is to improve the nutrition status of women, adolescents, and children in Nepal’s underserved and marginalized communities. The activity will tackle direct and underlying determinants of malnutrition in Nepal while strengthening the national and local enabling environment to implement multisectoral nutrition programs through four synergistic intermediate results. Achievement of the purpose will be measured by improvements in indicators of nutrition status among women of reproductive age, adolescents, and children. This anticipated five-year position is contingent on Helen Keller being awarded funding.

Functional Relationships
Helen Keller has a matrixed reporting structure. Regular communication and a spirit of teamwork among colleagues, both hierarchically and laterally, are essential to make this structure thrive.

Reporting to the Chief of Party, this key personnel position will be part of the Project Leadership Team (PLT) and will provide guidance for all project staff. As a technical lead they will serve as a co-manager with line managers to ensure technical guidance is incorporated to maximize performance.

USAID Integrated Nutrition requires close relations with governments, partner NGOs, local community organizations and donors, including UN agencies. This position will contribute to nurturing and overseeing some of these cooperative relationships and will represent Helen Keller to donors and the international community, as needed.

Specific Responsibilities

Overall Management and Leadership
As a member of the PLT:

• Participate in strategic planning and direction setting for this multi-sectoral project, lending your unique perspective and expertise to the process;
• Provide regular updates on the portfolio and learning. Make recommendations based on analysis of progress to date and challenges encountered; and
• Participate in an intentional approach to making decisions and adjustments in response to new information and changes in context.

Gender and Inclusive Development Leadership

• Cultivate networks with stakeholders to amplify the voices of marginalized and vulnerable groups in program design, implementation, and policy development.
• Proactively engage with the government ministries and other stakeholders to advocate for policy and institutional reforms that promote gender and inclusive development.
• Provide technical guidance and expertise and ensure that interventions are responsive to the needs and priorities of vulnerable groups and communities.
• Apply an inclusive development lens, including diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility principles in the project’s recruitment, technical, and operational components.
• Serve as the safeguarding focal point and build capacity within the team, including local partners.
• Represent the program and share program learnings in USAID’s GESI Technical Working Group and other relevant technical committees and groups.

Program Design and Implementation

• Conduct gender and inclusive development analysis and assessments to identify barriers, disparities, and opportunities for advancing equality and inclusion within the context of nutrition programming.
• Design and facilitate capacity-building activities for project staff and partners to enhance their understanding of gender transformative programming approaches and inclusive development practices, including integration of Gender and Inclusive Development in capacity development packages.
• Strengthen partnerships with women’s organizations, youth groups, and other stakeholders to amplify the voices of marginalized and vulnerable groups in shaping nutrition policies and programs.
• Pro-actively build and support local partners’ institutional capacity on gender and inclusive development programming.
• Provide inputs to ensure gender and inclusive development components are integrated in annual program budgeting and work planning exercises.

Program Monitoring, Learning, and Adaptive Management

• Guide the development and implementation of monitoring and evaluation frameworks to track progress on gender and inclusive development outcomes to ensure that data collection methods are sensitive to diverse identities and experiences.
• Conduct regular pause and reflect sessions among diverse program stakeholders, specifically marginalized and vulnerable groups, and translate this into programmatic actions based on annual co-creation process and feedback.

Required Qualifications/Competencies

• Education: Master’s degree or higher in gender studies, public health, or a related field; and
• Experience: Minimum 8 years of experience working on gender equality, social inclusion, and/or women’s empowerment in the context of development programs or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Deep understanding of gender analysis tools and methodologies, as well as experience applying gender-responsive approaches in program design, implementation, and monitoring
• Strong knowledge of intersectional issues related to gender, age, adolescents and youth, disability, ethnicity, and other dimensions of social identity, and their implications for nutrition outcomes.
• Demonstrated track record of:
  – Designing and facilitating capacity building activities.
  – Integrating safeguarding into program design.
  – Integrating inclusive development outcomes in monitoring and evaluation tools; and
  – Integrating GESI/inclusive development into operational facets of program implementation.
• The ability to work effectively with a broad range of diverse groups as evidenced by excellent listening and communication skills, balanced and reasoned approaches to problems, ability to inspire trust and confidence, and flexibility and openness to differing points of view.
• The ability to make decisions in a dynamic environment, with an appreciation for how future needs may affect those decisions: a willingness to iterate a strategy and approach, with the ability to recognize the need to course-correct as necessary.
• Demonstrated understanding of the synergy between the programmatic, operational, and financial components of public health initiatives.
• Excellent English language skills, both in written and spoken forms, complemented by strong interpersonal communication abilities.
• Fluency in Nepali.
• Highly computer literate with proficiency with software relevant to the job duties.
• Well-established and practiced organizational and planning skills.
• Collaborative, flexible and solution oriented.
• Demonstrable respect for all persons regardless of religion, ethnicity, class, or gender, with a high comfort level working in a diverse environment with a demonstrated commitment to high professional ethical standards.

Applications will be accepted until the position is filled.

In the spirit of our founder and namesake, Helen Keller is dedicated to building an inclusive workforce where diversity is fully valued.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, caste, age, disability, or any other status that has no bearing on the ability of an individual to perform the functions of the job.