Gender and Women’s Economic Empowerment Advisor (International)

Terms of Reference

Gender and Women’s Economic Empowerment Advisor (International)

ABOUT US

With more than 35 years’ experience, Cowater International is Canada’s global leader in management consulting services specializing in international development and has managed the implementation of over 800 projects in more than 80 countries around the globe. We work with governments, partner organizations, communities and civil society to design and implement sustainable solutions that generate lasting social, financial and environmental impacts. Our adaptive approach to management has led to our award-winning work and recognition as one of Canada’s Best Managed Companies in 2017, 2018 and 2019.

BACKGROUND

Cowater International is seeking to recruit a highly qualified international Gender and Women’s Economic Empowerment Advisor as a member of the Technical Panel for the Aus4Equality|Gender Responsive Equitable Agriculture and Tourism (GREAT) Program.

The GREAT Program is a flagship initiative of the Australian Development Cooperation program in Vietnam, with the first phase of the Program anticipated to finish in June 2022. The Program is promoting women’s economic empowerment (WEE) in the ethnically diverse north-west region of Vietnam. The primary beneficiaries are women living in the provinces of Son La and Lao Cai with a focus on economic inclusion of women from ethnic minority communities.  The Program is partnering with approximately 50 organisations to deliver results, including private sector actors, governmental and non-governmental organisations, and research institutions.

The objectives of the Aus4Equality|GREAT Program are:

• Objective 1 – Empowering local women: Women living in local communities have increased capacity, space and choices to beneficially engage with agriculture and tourism businesses.
• Objective 2 – Inclusive business partnerships: Selected private sector actors within the agriculture and tourism sectors innovate to profitably and sustainably trade with more women entrepreneurs and operate in gender sensitive ways.
• Objective 3 – Improving sector governance and policy: Government agencies reinforce policies, and enact plans, regulations and services that enable more inclusive socio-economic development.

GREAT is tackling complex gender dynamics in public and private spheres as it attempts to develop pathways for women’s economic empowerment. The pathways are multiple, unpredictable, non-linear, and not always well-understood.  The Program needs ongoing insights to find pathways that work with, and for, ethnic minority women in our target locations.

SUMMARY OF POSITION

The Gender and Women’s Economic Empowerment Advisorwill support the Program as a member of the Technical Panel to provide technical advice and contribute expert knowledge on gender and women’s economic empowerment to help the Program tailor its approaches in ways that continuously improve women’s economic empowerment. The Technical Panel currently comprises of an M&E Advisor (International), Policy Advisor (National) and Ethnological Advisor (International).

Reporting to the Team Leader, the position will work closely with the Program’s National Gender Advisor, technical and MERL teams to provide advice, lead specific actvities and inputs as needed.  The Advisor will also help the ongoing process of building the capacity of the Program team, the provincial management units (PMUs) and the implementing partners on gender equality and women’s economic empowerment. Additionally, the role will liaise with the DFAT Senior Gender Advisor, as appropriate.

SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES

Gender Programming

• Lead the identification of areas and solutions for GREAT to systematically and comprehensively address gender including supporting the operationalisation of the “Inclusive Systems Development” framework to support WEE. 
• Provide advice during the design and inception phase of new or upscaled projects to ensure that the constraints faced by women are clearly identified and solutions are appropriate.
• Provide high-level inputs on gender equality, disability and social inclusion to support planning for a potential second phase of the GREAT Program.

Gender Quality Assurance

• Review GREAT Program level gender-equality campaign strategies, reports and communications material and recommend enhancements.  
• Review GREAT’s GESI mainstreaming approach with partners and results to date, and provide strategic and practical recommendations for strengthening the Program’s outcomes for women’s economic empowerment.

Gender Capacity Building

• Provide strategic advice on building national partner capacity on gender mainstreaming within the National Target Programs.
• Contribute to awareness raising and learning of partners, including by supporting the design of GREAT’s National Symposium and Reflect and Refocus Workshops.
• Advise the GREAT team on issues of intersectionality, particularly between women’s economic empowerment and gender-based violence (including drawing on UNFPA’s expertise on violence against women).
• Provide other advice as needed to GREAT’s Team Leader and National Gender Advisor, including on ‘do no harm’ approaches and issues.

Gender Knowledge Generation

• Lead the development of gender equality and WEE knowledge products.
• Contribute to other communications and related products that elevate the gender achievements and lessons of the Program to audiences in Vietnam and Australia/regionally, with a particular focus on the integration of women’s economic empowerment and market systems approaches. 

REQUIREMENTS

• A minimum of 10 years experience working on gender issues in an international development context.
• Excellent understanding of women’s economic empowerment.
• Experience and a successful track record in gender programming and gender intervention design.
• Strong understanding of market systems and systemic approaches to achieving development outcomes.
• Experience working in Vietnam, including with ethnic minorities, is preferred
• Proven critical thinking and analytical skills.
• Excellent training, facilitation and mentoring skills.
• Strong report writing and spoken communication skills in English.
• Masters degree in gender, sociology, international development or another relevant field.
• Experience providing high level gender advocacy and policy advice to governments is an advantage.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Please submit your application to [email protected] [1] by 5 pm (Hanoi time) 3 May 2021 specifying the position you are applying for in the email title. The proposal should include:

• A detailed CV (maximum 4 pages)
• A cover letter including a response to each of the selection criteria
• A daily rate that complies with DFAT’s Aid Advisor Renumeration Framework for international staff  https://dfat.gov.au/about-us/publications/Documents/adviser-remuneration-framework-2016.pdf [2].  The budget for travel costs will be negotiated with the successful consultant.

Please note that an agreement will be entered into with the successful consultant that has to be compliant with Cowater’s head contract with DFAT including DFAT ownership of final deliverables.