Position: Background and Responsibilities

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) invites applications for the internationally recruited position of Gender Specialist. This position is funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB) under the Support to Agricultural Research for Development of Strategic Crops in Africa (SARD-SC).

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) (the Executing Agency) and its partners Africa Rice Centre and the International Centre for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (the Implementing Agencies) has received a grant from the African Development Fund (ADF) to finance the Multinational-CGIAR Project on Support to Agricultural Research for Development of Strategic Crops in Africa (SARD-SC). The strategic crops within the context of the project are cassava, maize, wheat and rice.

The overall objective of SARD-SC is to enhance food and nutrition security and contribute to poverty reduction in Bank’s low income Regional Member Countries (RMCs). Its specific objective is to enhance the productivity and income of four CAADP’s priority value chains (cassava, maize, rice, and wheat) on a sustainable basis.

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, the Executing Agency for the SARD-SC, wishes to use a portion of the grant to engage the services of a Gender Expert as the Gender Specialist.

The successful candidate will report to: The Project Coordinator, SARD-SC

Position Responsibilities:

The Gender Specialist will undertake the following activities:

• Lead the gender mainstreaming, adoptive and strategic gender research activities of the SARD-SC project.
• Participate and assist in identification and development of gender innovative approaches, qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods for designing gender and social inclusive interventions, data collection, improving the gender M&E indicators and reporting on gender related outputs and outcomes of the SARD-SC project.
• Contribute to gender based partnership building in the innovation platforms through enhancing and facilitating the technical as well as the advocacy, policy and collective action capabilities of partners and collaborators.
• Conduct comparative case studies in order to understand commonalities among gender norms and role of agency embedded in diverse cultures, languages, customs, beliefs and values.
• Development of gender implementation plan for the project that is standardized and harmonized to specific agro-ecological zones.
• Liaise with IITA and other CRPs implementing gender specialists and partners to identify training and capacity building needs and gaps and organize trainings to enhance the quality of gender research activities of the project.
• Play an essential role in ensuring gender and social inclusiveness such as youth and other marginalized minority groups in ongoing and planned research activities.
• Strengthen collaboration and synergy with IITA and other CRP implementing partners’ gender specialists and social scientists.
• Contribute to the development of gender and youth centred/focused Concept Notes and Proposals within the mandate research areas of the SARD-SC project.
• Contribute to gender outcome/adoption/impact studies and journal publications.
• Contribute to the visibility and communication of gender dimensions of the project.

Qualification and Experience

The candidate should have a minimum of a Post graduate degree (Msc or Ph.D) in social science especially gender studies or a relevant discipline from a recognized university and more than seven years of increasingly responsible professional experience in the substantive area, of which five years is at the international level.

Core Competencies:

• Experience in the application of qualitative methods and an interest in research about topics related to the role of women in agricultural development.
• Demonstrated ability to work independently.
• Training in qualitative research techniques and interview analysis is a must; knowledge of analytical software and statistical programs is desirable.
• Familiarity with results based management.
• Experience with project activity implementation and monitoring.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Excellent spoken and written English; knowledge of French would be an asset.
• Demonstrated ability to write and publish articles in peer reviewed international journals.
• Ability to work in a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional, and multi-cultural environment.
• Willingness to travel extensively within the West Africa sub-region. •
• Research experience in sub-Saharan Africa is an asset.

General Information

We offer highly competitive salary with equally attractive fringe benefits and excellent working conditions in a pleasant campus environment.

Duty station: Nairobi, Kenya

General information: The contract will be for an initial period of two years with possibility of renewal based on performance and continued availability of funding. IITA offers internationally competitive remuneration package paid in U.S. Dollars.

Applications: Applications must include covering letter which should address how the candidate’s background/experience relates to the specific duties of the position applied for, curriculum vitae, names and addresses of three professional referees (which must include either the Head of the applicant’s current or previous organization or applicant’s direct Supervisor/Superior at his/her present or former place of work). The application should be addressed to the Head, Human Resources Service. Please complete our online application form using this link: http://www.iita.org/careers

Closing Date: The position will remain open to June 26, 2015

Method of Application:

Interested applicants should forward their applications with detailed curriculum vitae saved with their names in Microsoft word format. The application must include the names and e-mail addresses of three professional referees which must include either the Head of applicant’s current or previous organization or applicant’s direct Supervisor/Superior officer at work and evidence of current remuneration package to IITA website.

IITA is an equal opportunity employer and particularly welcomes applications from female candidates.

Please note that only short listed candidates will be contacted