Gender Equality, Disability and Social Inclusion (GEDSI) Strategy Advisor

ABOUT US

With more than 35 years of experience, Cowater International is Canada’s global leader in management consulting services specialising in international development. We have managed the implementation of over 2500 projects in more than 95 countries around the globe for clients such as DFID, DFAT Australia, the European Union, the World Bank and Global Affairs Canada. We work with governments, partner organisations, communities and civil society to design and implement sustainable solutions that generate lasting social, economic 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 from 2017 to 2021.

BACKGROUND

GREAT is a flagship initiative of the Australian aid program.  The Program promotes women’s economic empowerment (WEE) in the ethnically diverse north-west region of Vietnam, through the integration of a market systems development (MSD) approach.

The primary beneficiaries are women living in the provinces of Son La and Lao Cai, while an overarching emphasis is placed on the inclusion of women from ethnic minority communities as these provinces are home to twelve and twenty-six ethnic groups respectively.

The objectives of the Aus4Equality|GREAT Program are:

• Objective 1 – Women, particularly ethnic minority women living in Son La and Lao Cai, have improved economic benefits.
• Objective 2 – Women, particularly ethnic minority women living in Son La and Lao Cai, have increased confidence and social status, including more balanced workloads and greater decision making within the home, workplace, and community.      
• Objective 3 – Women, particularly ethnic minority women and household members living in Son La and Lao Cai benefit from more gender responsive, inclusive, and effective provincial and national policies, plans, strategies, and programs.

Our approach to women’s economic empowerment focuses on:

• Reach: Engaging women in all project activities and addressing barriers to participation.
• Benefit: Improve women’s access to assets, financial services and support services.
• Empower: Strengthen the ability of women to make strategic life choices and put these into action.

The Program is entering its second five-year phase and GREAT 2 will continue its focus on agriculture and tourism, identifying specific sectors that lend themselves to opportunities for women’s economic empowerment and work with multiple stakeholders to address constraints, generate opportunities, drive market growth and increase productive value of the sector. A limited number of agriculture sectors will be targeted, in addition to tourism. Cross-sector strategies such as women entrepreneurship and leadership, access to finance, digital transformation, policy advocacy and behaviour change will complement the sector strategies.

The GREAT GEDSI strategy defines a number of interventions covering:

• Strengthening staff and partners capacity on GEDSI knowledge and tools in order to ensure gender is mainstreamed in GREAT and partners activities;
• Enhancing GEDSI mainstreaming capacity in the government sector in Lao Cai and Son La; and
• Gender responsive business model
• Communication Behavior Changes for gender equality

To implement GREAT GEDSI strategy, Cowater is looking for national GEDSI Strategic Advisor

SUMMARY OF THE ASSIGNMENT

The GEDSI Strategy Advisor will report to the International GEDSI Manager. The Advisor will support the co-designing of specific gender mainstreaming and targeting proposals as well as deliver technical assistance and manage selected partners projects.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Support partners in co-designing proposals in line with the GREAT GEDSI strategy or emerging areas of interest for approval by GREAT/Investment Committee.
• Update the annual GEDSI action plan, together with the GREAT Senior Management Team and DFAT.
• Identify opportunities to upscale GREAT’s successful GEDSI approaches and models through government plans and policies at the province and national levels.
• Prepare/review GEDSI briefs as required.
• Provide ongoing advice to the Team Leader, Deputy Team Leader and other program staff as needed.
• Support the program’s broader Monitoring Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL) objectives.

Project Management

• Manage specific GEDSI interventions at national and provincial levels, including:
  
  • oversight and technical support to partners to deliver results on gender mainstreaming and targeting
  • work with partners to prepare and update annual work plans and quarterly progress reports
  • monitor and report on expenditure
  • conduct partner performance assessments

Quality Assurance and Capacity Building

• Provide broad expertise to the GREAT team, Project Management Units (PMUs) and partners to build capacity on gender mainstreaming
• Actively monitor and steer the partner progress in achieving GEDSI results
• Collaborate with the team to ensure the quality of partner reporting and communications addresses the multidimensional nature of women’s economic empowerment. 

Stakeholder Communication and Reporting

• Provide monthly GEDSI portfolio implementation progress updates.
• Participate in the Reflect/Refocus workshops to inform the program’s and partner’s workplan development and provide expert knowledge and guide/facilitate partner discussion on policy (gender and women’s economic empowerment) issues.
• Provide input into GREAT program-level reporting, planning and communications.
• Be responsible for maintaining a strong communication flow on GEDSI partners with the Project Management Units, target district governments and other stakeholders.
• Sharing GREAT-related experiences at relevant external events to promote learning and upscaling.
• Represent/support GREAT and DFAT at relevant GEDSI meetings.

JOB REQUIREMENTS

• Masters Degree in gender, sociology, international development, monitoring and evaluation or another relevant field.
• A minimum 10 years’ experience working on gender and social inclusion issues gender issues in an international development context.
• Experience and a successful track record in GEDSI programing and GEDSI intervention design.
• Proven ability to connect sectoral issues and programmatic approaches on gender.
• Demonstrated skills in leveraging evaluations, research and case studies for influencing stakeholders to support evidence-based decision making.
• Evaluative research experience related to gender programing.
• Strong understanding of women’s economic empowerment.
• An understanding of systemic approaches to achieving development outcomes (an understanding of market systems development is an advantage).
• Proven critical thinking and analytical skills.
• Excellent training, facilitation and mentoring skills.
• Strong report writing and spoken communication skills in English.
• Experience working with ethnic minority communities is an advantage.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Candidates are encouraged to apply no later than 5 pm, 25 December 2022. Applications will be assessed as they are received. We thank all applicants, however, only those making the shortlist will be contacted.

Please send an application to [email protected] [1] and indicate in the subject “Application for National GEDSI Advisor”.

Applications should include:

• A cover letter responding to the selection criteria.
• A Curriculum Vitae.
• Contact details of three referees.

Cowater is an equal opportunity employer. Women, people with a disability and people from minority groups are strongly encouraged to apply. We thank you for your interest in building a better tomorrow with Cowater International.

For more opportunities, please visit our website at https://equality.aus4vietnam.org/careers [2] or facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Aus4EqualityGREAT/