Gender Justice and Women's Rights Lead (INT10207)

TEAM PURPOSE:

To work as part of Oxfam Kenya’s Programme Team which exists to realize the vision of “a transformed Kenyan Society that challenges poverty and inequality to claim their rights”. We contribute to this vision by strengthening analysis and generating knowledge and influence for Transformative Women Leadership, Women Economic Empowerment, Ending Violence Against Women and Girls and Youth Empowerment. We identify and work with strategically fit Women’s Rights Organizations, Civil Society Organizations, Private Sector, Networks, Coalitions, Movements and Alliances to engage and influence the government, Private Sector, People we work with, Civil Society Organizations and other stakeholders. We convene and influence for effective development and implementation of key international, continental and national policies, Programmes and human rights instruments that are gender responsive.

 JOB PURPOSE:

The Gender Justice and Women’s Rights (GJ & WR) Lead will be a core member of the Gender Justice and Women’s Rights Programme. The role is part of Oxfam Kenya Development Programmes that facilitates mainstreaming of gender across all programmes and projects within the country programme; and contributes to national and global advocacy and influencing efforts on Gender Equality. The GJ & WR Lead has overall accountability for Gender Justice and Women’s Rights programme, which arises from the understanding that across the country, poverty and Injustice is rampant and has a disproportionate impact on women. That unless all our actions and analysis intentionally assume a gendered lens, we will not achieve lasting impact. S/he contributes significantly to Oxfam’s thought leadership including power and gender analyses and strategic direction on Gender Justice, Climate Justice, Accountable Governance and Humanitarian Systems Strengthening. H/She ensures an integrated approach and connectedness (synergy) of all our programmes including cross-campaigns (ways of working and coordination). S/he leads in programme/project conceptualization, design, development and resource mobilization for the Women Economic Empowerment, Ending Violence Against Women, Transformative Women Leadership and Youth Empowerment sub-themes; and connects them with the wider confederation Global Strategic Framework, country programme’s strategy, programmes in such a way as to maximise resource acquisition efficiency and impactful delivery.  S/he nurtures and supports a high performing team and partners to integrate and implement key gender influencing strategies and actions. S/he develops and pushes for joint influencing actions with Oxfam and partners in engaging the governments, corporates and regional bodies. S/he strengthens strategic partnerships on gender and women’s rights organizations and coalitions to maximize the impact of Oxfam’s work in Kenya.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Programme Management, Implementation and Resourcing – 40%                                                                                                       

• Leads in the conceptualization, design, implementation and coordination of the Gender Justice and Women’s Rights Programme and projects within the programme.
• Ensures an integrated delivery of the Programmes and Projects in line with Oxfam’s One Programme Approach.
• Engages with other country Programmes, Oxfam in Africa, Oxfam International and affiliates to support effective implementation of campaigns and influencing programs on GJ & WR, Accountable Governance, Climate Justice and Humanitarian Systems Strengthening.
• Closely monitors country level and regional trends on Women’s Rights and Gender Justice and provide timely advise to the country team on ways to respond; and maximize positive impact from the country’s interventions including on Feminist leadership approaches.
• Provides technical support to the SMT, MEAL Advisor, Media and Communications Advisor and Technical Thematic Leads to effectively integrate Gender Justice and Women’s Rights in their work and instutional systems and structures..
• Ensures that agreed strategic objectives and operational plans relating to the Gender Justice and Women’s rights programme are implemented in a way that maximizes synergy and in line with Oxfam’s Strategic framework/vision.
• Leads in the designs of fundable projects and mobilization of resources for the GJ & WR Programmes and Projects.
• Ensures donor compliance and leads in the delivery of donor reports that meet Oxfam program quality standards.
• Supports the M.E.AL Advisor in the delivery of quality internally reports in a timely manner.
• Supports program staff and leadership to review reports and relevant documents and adequately reflect GJ & WR perspectives in Oxfam in Kenya’s work.

  Partnership management, coalition building and support – 30%

  • Provides technical guidance and support to the implementation of key projects by working in collaboration with countries as well as Oxfam partners on GJ & WR.
  • Leads and/or coordinates capacity building initiatives for partners on relevant approaches and tools including but not limited to the Care work, Feminist Principles and Approaches.
  • Broker relationship and identify key partnerships with civil society organizations, the private sector, and governments, establish/strengthen coalitions/networks/alliances to enhance Oxfam’s work under the Gender Justice and Women’s Rights Programme
  • Ensures Oxfam Program Influencing Standards and Partnership Principles are well integrated and constantly referenced by staff and partners to guide Oxfam’s work.
  • Informs and influences wider Gender and Women’s rights working groups/teams as appropriate and coordinates with the regional, affiliate and global colleagues.
  • Supports partners and alliances/coalitions resource mobilization efforts.
  • S/he develops and maintains relationships with professional networks with partners and allies, think tanks/knowledge institutions, national legislative bodies and policy mechanisms (Parliamentarians, ministries, local governments,).
    • Manage direct reports in in line with Oxfam’s HR policies and procedures.
    • Manage direct reports in a way that enables them to achieve their objectives and empowers them to deliver to their full potential.

With support from HR, manages the life cycle of individuals within their team from pre-recruitment to exit, including performance management processes, and working with HR on issues such as disciplinary matters.S/he also participates in relevant regional/continental/national/international events.

Research, knowledge generation, campaigns and policy influencing – 25%

• Provides thought leadership and adopts a political economy analysis to Gender Justice and Women’s rights work.
• Shares relevant information and tools such as briefing papers, internal documents and reports with relevant teams, partners, and allies, as necessary.
• Supports the convening of key stakeholders to shape correct and impactful narratives which in turn achieve design influence on issues of gender justice and women’s rights work in the country.
• Implementation of the projects under the Tax and Climate Justice Programme that include influencing tax and fiscal justice, Climate Financing, Domestic Resource Mobilization, public finance management including budget policies, legislation and decisions for the benefit of target beneficiaries.
• Through technical guidance, to support relevant research and policy analysis taking into consideration gender and inequality.
• To support partners on their influencing and campaigning strategies and activities.
• To support the design and implementation of public offline and digital campaigns relevant to the programme.
• To coordinate with the Communications and MEAL advisors on the documentation of the programme and partner information, learning and case stories for programme visibility and fundraising.
• Manage consultants and researchers as required, in accordance with Oxfam policy and procedures.

       Human resource management – 5%

• • • Manage direct reports in in line with Oxfam’s HR policies and procedures.
    • Manage direct reports in a way that enables them to achieve their objectives and empowers them to deliver to their full potential.
    • With support from HR, manages the life cycle of individuals within their team from pre-recruitment to exit, including performance management processes, and working with HR on issues such as disciplinary matters.
    • Models Oxfam values and principles.

Person specification

Most importantly, every individual at Oxfam needs to be able to:

• Live our values of INCLUSION, ACCOUNTABILITY, EMPOWERMENT, COURAGE, SOLIDARITY and EQUALITY (read more about these here)
• Ensure you commit to our ORGANIZATIONAL ATTRIBUTES (including adhering to the Code of Conduct).
• Be committed to our feminist principles, and to applying them in your day-to-day behaviour and your work. Be ready to keep learning, with accountability to those who experience oppression as a result of their identities, such as their gender, race/ethnicity, disability, class, or LGBTQIA identity.”
• Be committed to undertaking Oxfam’s safeguarding training and adhering to relevant policies, to ensure all people who come into Oxfam are as safe as possible.

Technical skills, experience and knowledge

Skills

• Professional/technical qualifications – a bachelor’s degree in law, Economics, Development Studies, Social Sciences or governance related field.
• Demonstrated ability to multi-task between direct programme implementation and partner management with positive outcomes.
• Proof of ability to work independently to deliver project outcomes and results as well as any other tasks that maybe delegated from time to time.
• Proven ability to analyse complex contexts, monitor change and translate this analysis into problem solving strategies that can be communicated in developing appropriate plans which have impact.
• Proven analytical and conceptual thinking, high level research, project management knowledge and skills and experience in using participatory tools and methodologies for assessment, programme identification, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills including strong negotiation skills with diverse teams.
• Great partnership building skills including facilitation and networking skills.
• Demonstrated ability on resource mobilization, donor reporting and budget management skills.
• Ability to gather and apply lessons learnt and to communicate this learning effectively to influence others in action – both internal and external audiences.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively and sensitively with diverse teams, value systems and cultures.
• A high level of self-awareness, initiative, sound judgement, personal energy and flexibility.

Knowledge

• Knowledge and/or experience in implementing Women Economic Programme, Youth Empowerment, Transformative Women Leadership, Ending Violence Against Women programmes and initiatives, with an understanding of relevant County, National, Regional and Global issues.
• Good knowledge of and experience in developing advocacy and campaign strategies and plans and successfully achieving external impact and change.
• Strong programme management and quality knowledge, with the ability to ensure consistent quality against standards and to implement effective monitoring and evaluation systems to assess and adjust performance.
• A strong understanding of gender, women’s rights, development issues and the political and economic context of Kenya.
• Commitment to and good knowledge of working with networks, coalitions, and a partnership approach across the spectrum of Oxfam’s work, including innovative approaches to capacity strengthening.
• Fluency in English with knowledge of Swahili an added advantage.

Experience

• At least 7 years’ experience in designing, managing and delivering on Gender Justice and Women’s Rights in a non-governmental (national or international) or similar institutional setting.
• Proven experience in working in complex, dispersed organizations with evidence of facilitating and integrating a specific area of expertise across a wide network, contributing to vision setting and implementation with impact, some level of decision-making and the delivery of agreed results.
• Politically astute, with high impact influencing and persuasive skills and personal gravitas to gain respect and build and maintain strong, credible relationships, with internal and external stakeholders at all levels.
• Strong organizational and personal management skills, with ability to prioritize work issues to meet deadlines with minimal supervision and adjust to constantly changing situations while maintaining focus on delivery and follow-through.
• Demonstrated experience in managing partners including effective oversight and capacity building as well as mobilizing and organizing marginalized communities and groups to influence positive change in their lives.
• Demonstrated experience in managing and working with researchers and consultants including developing strong terms of reference and effective supervision.

Essential

• Self-Awareness: Ability to develop a high degree of self-awareness around own strengths and weaknesses and impact on others.
• Agility, complexity and ambiguity: Ability to scan the environment, anticipate changes, are comfortable with lack of clarity and deal with a large number of elements interacting in diverse and unpredictable ways.
• Mutual accountability: Ability to explain our decisions and how we have taken them based on our organizational values.

How to apply

As part of your online application, please upload your up to date CV and Cover Letter explaining your suitability against the essential criteria in the job profile.