Senior Gender Officer, Ghana - FAO

The Regional Office for Africa (RAF) is responsible for leading FAO's response to regional priorities for food security, agriculture and rural development through the identification, planning, implementation of FAO's priority activities in the region. It ensures a multidisciplinary approach to programmes, identifies priority areas of action for the Organization in the Region and, in collaboration with departments and divisions at Headquarters, develops, promotes and oversees FAO's strategic response to regional priorities. RAF also advises on the incorporation of regional priorities into the Organization's Programme of Work and Budget and implements approved programmes and projects in the region, monitors the level of programme implementation and draws attention to problems and deficiencies. RAF develops and maintains relations with region-wide institutions including the Regional Economic Integration Organizations (REIOs).  The Regional Office supports regional policy dialogue on food security, agriculture and rural development issues, facilitates the emergence of regional partnerships, and supports capacity development and resource mobilization for food security, agriculture and rural development in the region.

Reporting Lines

The Senior Gender Officer reports to the Regional Programme Leader.

Technical Focus: Gender issues.

Key Results

Leadership and conceptual thinking for the development and implementation of comprehensive technical, statistical and/or analytical frameworks to support the programme of work and related products, projects and services in accordance with the FAO Strategic Framework.

 Key Functions

• Plans, manages, or leads highly specialized or multi-disciplinary teams, leads, coordinates, and/or participates on Organization-wide, cross-Departmental committees, project teams, and working groups, and/or provides technical leadership/secretariat services on technical networks and/or international technical policy and standard setting bodies;

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• Analyses global and country specific requirements as well as agricultural, economic, social, environmental factors to provide critical input into the FAO Strategic Framework, Programme of Work as well as Detailed Work Plans and the supporting budgets and/or resourcing strategies;
• Implements and monitors work programmes involving the conception and development of comprehensive statistical and/or analytical frameworks including early warning, medium and long-term plans and strategies, leading edge tools, methods, systems and databases, critical indicators, and/or policy models, etc;
• Oversees and reviews data collection, validation, analysis and reporting activities to support the development of technical standards, international instruments, innovation, FAO flagship publications/yearbooks, and/or on-going programme development as well as technical and/or policy advisory services;
• Provides technical and policy advice to Member Countries and technical support to decentralized offices in the development and implementation of their programmes of work;
• Plans, organizes and participates in capacity development activities involving the provision of advice, technical assistance projects, training workshops, seminars, and meetings as well as oversees the development of related materials, on-line tools and information kits;
• Represents the Organization at international/inter-governmental meetings and conferences, advocates strategic partnerships, best practices, and increased policy dialogue and develops and negotiates effective working relationships/consensus and agreements with international and national partners;
• Leads and/or participates in resource mobilization activities in accordance with the Corporate strategy.

Specific Functions

• Ensures that all policies and programmes supporting FAO's gender equality policy are implemented in FAO's field programme of the region / sub-regions;
• Ensures that gender equality, women's empowerment, strengthening resilience and reducing poverty, improving livelihoods, food and nutrition security, strengthening economic inclusion to achieve inclusive value chains and expanding access to social protection are addressed, monitored and reported on for all narrative and field activities;
• Acts as regional gender focal point and develops and monitors regional strategies for FAO’s support to the incorporation of gender, equality, inclusiveness, strengthening resilience – for example through social protection systems, rural economic inclusion and increasing rural employment –, into agriculture and rural development policies, programmes and projects in Sub-Saharan Africa member countries, taking into account regional priorities and global policy positions and diverse tools and approaches to reduce hunger and poverty;
• Provides guidance and technical support for capacity building of staff in FAO, member countries and regional economic bodies in the areas of needs assessment, sex-disaggregated collection and analysis of socio-economic data, particularly for gender and equity differentiated research and impact analysis of agricultural and rural development policies, programmes, and institutions;
• Coordinates and strengthens the functioning of the regional network of Gender Focal Points (GFP) comprising sub-regional and country offices and helps to consolidate a network of gender experts in the region capable of assisting Member States to integrate gender, equity, and inclusive approaches in their policies, programmes, and projects;
• Leads the gender work at regional level and contributes to the development, implementation, and reporting on FAO’s Strategic Programme work with emphasis on topics related to gender mainstreaming in food and nutrition security, poverty reduction, building resilience, inclusive value chains and production systems;
• Liaises and maintains close collaboration with the African Union Commission, the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) Planning and Coordinating Agency, Regional Economic Communities (RECs), investment partners, and other stakeholders in the Africa Region (e.g., UN, Africa Development Bank, NGOs, producer and civil society organizations) to strengthen the participation and influence of rural women and food insecure groups in policy processes and to ensure complementarity in the provision of technical assistance in these areas;
• Mainstreams gender in FAO's work on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs);
• Performs other related duties as required.

Minimum Requirements

• Advanced university degree in political science, economics, institutional development, social sciences, gender or other relevant social sciences;
• Ten years of relevant experience in socio-economic analysis, policy formulation, capacity building in relation to gender in FAO's areas of work;
• Working knowledge of English and limited knowledge of another FAO official language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish)

Competencies

• Results Focus
• Leading, Engaging and Empowering
• Communication
• Partnering and Advocating
• Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement
• Strategic Thinking

Technical/Functional Skills

• Work experience in more than one location or area of work, particularly in field positions is essential;
• Working knowledge of both English and French will be an important asset;
• Extent and relevance of experience in analyzing and integrating gender dimensions into policy and programme formulation, implementation and assessment, particularly in the areas of sustainable food and agriculture development, nutrition poverty reduction and improved livelihoods, and management of natural resources;
• Extent and relevance of analytical and professional experience related to policy support and gender policy analysis, including knowledge of policy-related capacity development, policy dialogue approaches and policy support tools;
• Extent and relevance in conducting socio-economic research, analyze sex disaggregated data and statistics, and apply findings to strengthen agricultural and rural development, food security and nutrition, and poverty reduction including resilience and social protection policies and programmes;
• Demonstrated ability to mobilize resources and scale up investments in areas of gender inclusion;
• Extent and relevance of experience in organizing international meetings, seminars and training courses.