Save the Children is seeking a Gender, Youth and Social Inclusion (GYSI) Lead for an anticipated five-year USAID-funded Resilience Food Security Activity (RFSA) in Uganda. The goal of the Activity is to improve food and nutrition security and resilience among poor and chronically food insecure households and communities. The estimated implementation timeframe for the RFSA is 2025-2030.

The GYSI Lead will support the project to ensure that activities account for and address the different needs and inequalities experienced by individuals – women, men, boys, and girls – to ensure equitable participation in project activities. This person will ensure that the social dimensions of food, nutrition, and economic security (FNES) are effectively addressed across all activity components and at all levels throughout award implementation. They will work to ensure vulnerable and marginalized populations are considered in targeting approaches.

Hiring is contingent upon successful award of the project and USAID approval of the candidate.

National candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.

This position will be based in Kampala, Uganda.

What You’ll Be Doing (Essential Duties):

Ensure that women, youth, persons with disability and other vulnerable populations are integrated into all program activities, including technical implementation, monitoring, learning, operations, policies, and procedures by designing activities that target these groups within the scope of the program. The GYSI Lead will ensure that inclusivity considerations, as well as social dimensions of food security and community resilience, are effectively addressed across all activity components, at all levels, throughout the entire award period.

Gender and Youth Assessments and Strategy (35%)

• Ensure the use of participatory and collaborative problem-solving approaches to develop strategies and action plans for gender and youth integration and promotion of social inclusion for marginalized groups within program plans, Theory of Change (ToC) processes, monitoring and learning plans, and implementation guidance.
• Lead the collection, analysis, and utilization of information from a wide variety of sources to inform the program’s gender, youth, and social inclusion approaches.
• Lead the design and implementation of the Gender Analysis, Youth Analysis, or similar gender/youth/social inclusion analyses during the program’s Refine period and utilize the findings of these analyses to formulate an effective gender strategy and youth strategy and inform the Collaboration, Learning, and Adapting (CLA) plan for the program.
• Train and mentor team members, partners, and stakeholders on the development of the strategy in the context of program implementation plans.
• Contribute to refined period formative research and data collection, and related program strategies to ensure gender integration.

Project Implementation (50%)

• Stay abreast of donor and host government gender, youth and social inclusion policies, programs and best practices, ensuring coherence and coordination with the same.
• Provide gender and youth-related related technical support on an ongoing basis to thematic team leaders, participating in thematic team planning processes and the implementation of program activities as required.
• Provide support on the implementation of the Social Behavior Change Strategy (SBC) and SBC communications.
• Provide technical support (as needed) to community mobilization, social cohesion and capacity strengthening related to conflict-sensitive and resolution approaches.
• Contribute to participatory and learning processes that build commitment and capacity among activity staff to ensure gender equity and youth empowerment.
• Track local social and conflict dynamics as feasible, gauging potential impacts on women, youth, and social inclusion and adjusting program approaches accordingly.
• Ensure the development and adaptation of gender equality and transformation as well as youth and social cohesion markers, benchmarks, and indicators across the program.
• Support the collection and analysis of gender, youth, and social cohesion data and contribute to program reporting.
• Identify and document best practices of the project in implementing gender, youth and social inclusion components for learning with partners.
• Support the project to map GBV referral pathways and conduct other mitigation tactics as appropriate to prevent and respond to GBV that may occur through project activities.
• Ensure that USAID’s Gender Equality and Female Empowerment Policy, USAID’s Youth in Development Policy, ADS 205, and other relevant gender, youth and inclusion principles, policies and regulations are applied consistently throughout the project.

Coordination & Capacity Strengthening (15%)

• Foster commitment from and strengthen the capacity of team members, partners, local stakeholders, and communities to facilitate gender transformative outcomes and positive youth engagement; this includes developing and delivering formal training as well as coaching and mentoring.
• Manage team members supporting gender and youth engagement as well as social inclusion at the field level.
• Represent gender and social inclusion aspects of the project to external stakeholders, such as the donor, governments, and partners; disseminate learnings and best practices; and participate in technical working groups.

Required Qualifications:

• A master’s degree in a social science discipline such as development studies, international relations, gender studies, or a related field and a minimum of three years’ experience implementing gender and social inclusion programming; OR an undergraduate degree in a related field and five years of relevant work experience implementing gender and social inclusion programming.
• An in-depth understanding of gender, age, and other locally significant socio-cultural and inclusion factors in the context of food, nutrition, and economic security (FNES) programming.
• Demonstrated capacity to lead the collection, analysis, and utilization of information from a broad range of sources.
• Demonstrated experience integrating GESI considerations into MEAL plans, work plans, and project activities
• Skills in FNES programming, participatory learning and action, and facilitating collaborative problem-solving.
• Ability to foster commitment and strengthen capacity among activity staff and in-country actors to ensure gender and youth integration, empowerment, and social inclusion.
• Fluency in English is required.
• Commitment to child rights and to the aims and objectives of Save the Children.

About Save the Children

Save the Children believes every child deserves a future. In the United States and around the world, we give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. We do whatever it takes for children – every day and in times of crisis – transforming their lives and the future we share.

Our work for children and their families requires that we commit—at every opportunity—to work together to identify and dismantle persistent systemic and structural racism, inequality, and any other forms of discrimination in this country and beyond. As an anti-racist organization, Save the Children will not tolerate discrimination in any form—in our employment practices, amongst our staff, in our leadership or toward the people we serve. We stand in solidarity with all people to fight for equal rights, justice, inclusion, and belonging.

Save the Children is committed to conducting its programs and operations in a manner that is safe for the children it serves and helping protect the children with whom we are in contact. All Save the Children representatives are explicitly prohibited from engaging in any activity that may result in any kind of child abuse.

Save the Children is committed to minimizing safety and security risks for our valued employees, ensuring all are given training, support and information to reduce their risk exposure while maximizing the impact of our programs for children and families. Our shared duty, both agency and individual, is to seek and maintain safe working conditions for all.

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