Gender Specialist Consultant

The Assignment

HAMNASA is seeking a consultant to provide part-time gender and GBV advisory support for a new USAID funded four-year project called ‘Breaking Barriers, Building Better Livelihoods: Integrated Gender Based Violence (GBV) Response in Timor-Leste’. The objective of Breaking Barriers is to dismantle systemic gender barriers by implementing integrated GBV prevention and response in the four project municipalities: Ermera, Liquica, Covalima and Bobonaro[1].

Breaking Barriers will comprise of four key areas of focus:

1) Community engagement: Community Microplanning and Information and Learning sessions will be carried out in communities and junior and senior high schools on GBV, gender and social norms as well as provision of important information about the law and referral services;

2) Women’s economic empowerment: Business education for survivors and vulnerable women and a small grants component designed to provide an independent source of income to women, in which selected economic activities will address the threat and impact of climate change by focusing on business opportunities that are climate smart and environmentally friendly. The business sessions for grantees will include climate change risks and adaptation and focus on grantees becoming change agents in adapting economic activities to mitigate the effects of climate change;

3) Male Engagement: This component will deliver curriculum-based sessions for men that employ a gender transformative approach to address harmful gender norms. This area of focus will also help to ensure support from men for the women’s economic empowerment activities;

4) GBV Health Provider Training and follow-up sessions:  Health providers will be trained and empowered to respond with empathy and skill to the needs of clients experiencing violence. Supportive supervision and heath facility readiness assessments will identify gaps and areas for improvement at the facility level.

Duties and responsibilities

• Review the proposed project activities to ensure a quality, evidence-based and where possible, gender transformative approach to the planned activities. Advise on how to implement the activities using these approaches;
• Design a detailed approach and plan for the male engagement component of the Activity;
• Contribute to the Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) analysis section of the Annual Implementation Plan and the writing of the Gender and Inclusive Development Action Plan (GIDAP) [both due 7 February 2024]
• Provide GBV primary prevention training to Activity staff and advise staff on a gender transformative approach to project activities
• Advise on the baseline community survey design and the pre-post test knowledge, confidence and attitude testing for health providers by providing a gendered lens;
• Provide advice on the development of a system to track GBV case referral data to and from health facilities in the four project municipalities;
• Contribute to the development of the Activity MEL Plan;
• Contribute to inputs to key program reports;
• Contribute a gender lens to the design of participatory reflection and learning sessions for staff;

Skills and experience required:

• Post-graduate qualifications in social science, gender studies, public health, community or international development or other related field;
• A minimum of seven years of demonstrated experience working with a non-government organisation, donor agency, UN or government in designing and implementing projects and activities relevant to gender, women’s economic empowerment and/or GBV; at least some of this experience should be in Timor-Leste
• Understanding of gender transformative, evidence-based primary prevention and social norms change programming to end GBV;
• Experience in applying gender tools to project management (e.g. gender analysis, Gender Based Violence (GBV), gender mainstreaming)
• Experience in capacity building, including training and on the job mentoring of staff;
• Excellent communication, analytical and report writing skills in English;
• A minimum working knowledge of Tetum
• Experience working on USAID-funded projects is desirable

Application process:

To apply for this position, email application letter addressing each of the selection criteria and Curriculum Vitae (CV) with three references to [email protected] start 12  February - 17 February  2024 th before COB. Complete COVID-19 vaccines include 3 doses as a requirement for this position.