Director, Gender Equity and Social Inclusion (GESI)

Reference number: 2450
Job status: In-progress
Job category: Global Position
Duty station: Bogor, Indonesia; Nairobi, Kenya; or another CIFOR-ICRAF country office by arrangement with supervisor.
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CIFOR-ICRAF
The Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and World Agroforestry (ICRAF) envision a more equitable world where trees in all landscapes, from drylands to the humid tropics, enhance the environment and well-being for all. CIFOR and ICRAF are non-profit science institutions that build and apply evidence to today’s most pressing challenges, including energy insecurity and the climate and biodiversity crises. Over a combined total of 65 years, we have built vast knowledge on forests and trees outside of forests in agricultural landscapes (agroforestry). Using a multidisciplinary approach, we seek to improve lives and to protect and restore ecosystems. Our work focuses on innovative research, partnering for impact, and engaging with stakeholders on policies and practices to benefit people and the planet. Founded in 1993 and 1978, CIFOR and ICRAF are members of CGIAR, a global research partnership for a food secure future dedicated to reducing poverty, enhancing food and nutrition security, and improving natural resources.

Overview

The Director for Gender Equity and Social Inclusion (GESI) will lead in enhancing the impact and visibility of CIFOR-ICRAF’s GESI profile across local, national and global communities working within our impact areas and at the intersections of social equity and food systems, forests, agroforestry, landscapes.

Building on CIFOR-ICRAF’s ongoing GESI portfolio and the organizational strategy, the Director will bring in the latest insights in GESI from both research and development, and lead the organization on GESI mainstreaming and training of staff on GESI topics for communication, impact and visibility. She/he will build networks within the CIFOR-ICRAF scientific community, particularly team building with GESI researchers across gender, intersectionality, indigenous, youth and other relevant topics. This includes serving as a facilitator of institutional processes that support the consideration of gender/ GESI in all projects, establishing systems for data collection across projects, and monitoring and aggregating information to capture and catalyze institutional impact. She/he will support staff fundraising for research through the co-development of a portfolio of GESI R&D projects and connect researchers to the donor and development communities, and thus further position the institution to secure programmatic funding to support CIFOR-ICRAF’s impact area on Equity.

The candidate will assure CIFOR-ICRAF representation and participation on GESI in key external arenas (e.g. the gender caucuses of the three UN conventions, UNWomen, the CG gender platform/ accelerator). She/he will work with communications and Quality for Impact (Q4I) to assure strong and coherent messaging to strategically position CIFOR-ICRAF and its unique value proposition. She/he should therefore be comfortable in navigating across CIFOR-ICRAF’s transformative partnerships, with civil society organizations (including e.g. rural women’s movements), with governments at local, national and international levels, and to liaise with world-leading international organizations, education institutes and companies.

Duties and responsibilities

Institutional
leadership:

The
candidate is expected to fully institutionalize GESI at CIFOR-ICRAF and assure
coordination across the institution. She/he will lead an interdisciplinary team
of GESI specialists to include project-based CIFOR-ICRAF staff working on GESI
within their own area or theme of expertise (gender, youth, indigenous peoples,
migrants, etc., within CIFOR-ICRAF thematic and country teams). She/he will
team-build with these staff, facilitating and supporting the development of
cohorts and focal points. S/he will support continued professional development
and visibility of the core GESI team, while building additional GESI expertise
across the institution through training programs on basic GESI concepts and
applications in project management, and emerging directions in GESI for
research and development. The Director will lead especially on gender and
support gender mainstreaming throughout the research and development
portfolio(s) and support focal points to provide intersectional specialization
on other dimensions of social inclusion.

Communications and impact:

The candidate will work
across institutional units and processes to ensure gender and GESI
mainstreaming throughout, and unifying messaging across internal and external
communications. She/he will work closely with the communications and GLF,
resource mobilization and partnerships teams to enhance the visibility of
CIFOR-ICRAF GESI expertise within our established spheres of influence as well
as extend our reach into gender

Communications and impact:

The candidate will work
across institutional units and processes to ensure gender and GESI
mainstreaming throughout, and unifying messaging across internal and external
communications. She/he will work closely with the communications and GLF,
resource mobilization and partnerships teams to enhance the visibility of
CIFOR-ICRAF GESI expertise within our established spheres of influence as well
as extend our reach into gender and identity-specific fora to bring nexus
approaches with other CIFOR-ICRAF impact areas into better focus.

She/he will develop systems
for evaluation and messaging such that “the whole is greater than the sum of
the parts” – to catalyze greater institutional impact. The candidate will build
upon and amplify important institutional contributions, for example, in
gender-responsive and rights-based approaches, and more recent pioneering work
on gender transformative approaches to establish CIFOR-ICRAF as the “go-to
place” for R&D for GTAs in food systems, forests, agroforestry, landscapes.

Strategic
networking, advocacy and engagement

The candidate will lead the
development and implementation of CIFOR-ICRAFs GESI strategy and engage with a
range of relevant stakeholders, targeting the most important and influential
international organizations and donors, as well as civil society, academia,
governments and private sector actors. This includes engagement in key
international gender spheres such as the gender caucuses of the 3 UN
conventions, UN women and the CG gender accelerator and with social movements
such as the Stand for her Land campaign; and others in the forests,
agroforests, landscapes, food systems and climate change arenas. The candidate
will further endeavor to elevate other staff within the GESI team to represent
CIFOR-ICRAF and their thematic expertise in strategic events and platforms.

Resource mobilization

The candidate is expected
to mobilize resources to support both gender-specific R&D and gender
integration into projects as well as unsolicited funding. The candidate will
lead an ambitious fundraising campaign to assure the ongoing prominence of GESI
work throughout the organization, working with the research staff on strategy
and proposals; courting the donor community; and fostering relationships
between staff and donors. This will include capacity building amongst GESI
specialists to support fundraising efforts and relevant meetings with potential
funders.

Research

Education, knowledge and experience

• A minimum of Master’s degree in a social science discipline or interdisciplinary degree, preferably with an emphasis on gender, equity, social justice and/or development;
• A minimum of 10 years of experience in gender and preferably at least one other GESI arena in relation to forestry, agroforestry, land or landscape management/governance, Natural Resource Management (NRM), geography, sustainable livelihoods and/or development;
• A minimum of 10 years of experience of living and working in Low- and Middle-Income Country (LMIC), is familiar with rural contexts and able to contextualize gender / GESI to local circumstances in LMIC;
• A minimum of 5-7 years of experience in project management and leadership;
• Strong skills and track record of fundraising;
• Proven understanding of the role of research in/ for development and social change;
• Ability to mobilize new clients and partners, to expand the effectiveness and impact of CIFOR-ICRAF work.
• Demonstrated experience of applying Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning and Impact Assessment (MELIA) on gender/ GESI / justice issues;
• Intermediate or advanced competency (level C or above) in French or Spanish.
• Experience in engagement, multistakeholder processes and/or advocacy on gender and/or GESI issues;

Terms and conditions

• This is a Global position. CIFOR-ICRAF offers competitive remuneration in USD commensurate with skills and experience.

• The initial appointment will be for 2 (two) years, inclusive of a six-month probationary period, with the possibility of extension contingent upon performance, continued relevance of the position and available resources.

• The duty station will be in Bogor, Indonesia; Nairobi, Kenya; or another CIFOR-ICRAF country office by arrangement with supervisor.

To apply, please visit our career site at:
https://www.cifor-icraf.org/about/work-with-us/

To learn more about CIFOR-ICRAF, please visit our websites at: https://www.cifor-icraf.org

CIFOR-ICRAF promotes Gender Diversity – Applications from women professionals are encouraged.

CIFOR-ICRAF is an equal opportunity employer. It fosters a multicultural work environment that values gender equality, teamwork, and respect for diversity.

Application process

The application deadline is 07 Nov 2024
We will acknowledge all applications, but will contact only short-listed candidates.