Programme Officer - Gender Inclusion

Job Description

Rikolto in East Africa is part of the Rikolto network, an international NGO with more than 40 years of experience working with farmer organizations and food chain actors in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Rikolto's mission is to contribute to the development of a vibrant, sustainable, and inclusive agricultural sector, where family farmers supply quality products for their own consumption and various markets (national, regional, and international).

In its Tanzania programme, Rikolto is currently implementing food systems projects in 8 regions of the Northern and Southern Highlands, focusing on transforming urban food systems (Good Food for Cities), sustainable rice for all, and livelihoods through the cocoa/coffee programme.

Rikolto in Tanzania has recently secured funding from the World Food Programme (WFP) to implement two significant projects aimed at promoting sustainable agricultural practices and enhancing economic empowerment:

• Vijana Kilimo Biashara (VKB): Focuses on increasing food productivity, reducing post-harvest losses, and developing a high-value market system. This initiative targets youth engagement in agriculture and seeks to strengthen food security by creating better linkages between producers and markets in Tanzania.
• Joint Programme on Accelerating Progress Towards Rural Women’s Economic Empowerment (JP RWEE): Designed to advance economic opportunities for rural women, focusing on the sorghum and sunflower value chains, particularly in the regions of Singida and Dodoma.

Rikolto is currently seeking to hire a Programme Officer - Gender Inclusion for the VKB and JP RWEE projects. This role is crucial in ensuring that gender considerations are integrated across both projects. The Programme Officer will be responsible for mainstreaming gender-responsive actions, promoting inclusivity, and fostering an equitable approach in implementing project activities. This position requires close collaboration with project teams, partners, and local communities to ensure that both women and men benefit equally from these interventions. The successful candidate will also play a pivotal role in monitoring and evaluating the impact of gender initiatives within the projects.

Job Purpose

Contributing to achieving project outcomes and impact by mainstreaming gender-responsive actions, promoting inclusivity, and fostering an equitable approach in the implementation of activities for Vijana Kilimo Biashara (VKB) and the Joint Programme on Accelerating Progress Towards Rural Women’s Economic Empowerment (JP RWEE).

Responsibilities

• Provide guidance on gender and social inclusion and mainstreaming in the project.
• Ensure interventions are designed, implemented, and supported by conducting data collection, analysis, and use of sex and age-disaggregated data in JP RWEE and VKB projects.
• Strengthen leadership and decision-making roles among farmer groups, focusing on women and girls, to enhance their participation in leadership activities.
• Support actions that improve food security and nutrition by empowering women and girls in decision-making at the household and community levels.
• Address underlying gender inequalities that affect people’s opportunities, visibility, and voice, ensuring the effectiveness of food security and nutrition programmes.
• Coordinate training and gender-sensitive social and behavior change activities on nutrition and hygiene, using mass media approaches and community platforms (VSLAs, village dialogues).
• Coordinate entrepreneurship training for women-led MSMEs to increase demand for agricultural commodities and create employment opportunities.
• Link rural women to agribusiness firms and other commodity off-takers, mobilizing buyers to articulate demand for sorghum (volume and quality).
• Coordinate training for Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs) on financial literacy and management, strengthening their capacity to initiate/scale up income-generating activities.
• Ensure VSLAs adhere to methodology principles, and provide tools to make them functional.
• Support the development of tailored support packages for VSLAs to meet official registration requirements and link them to government structures.
• Coordinate national and local dialogues around rural women’s empowerment and address gender-responsive issues.
• Lead gender mainstreaming and design gender actions in other Rikolto programmes in Tanzania.

Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Agribusiness, Agricultural Economics, Community Development, Business or Cooperative Development and Management.
• At least 2 years of experience as a Gender Advisor and in implementing women’s economic empowerment projects.
• Experience working in sunflower and sorghum value chains, microfinance groups, and women-focused entrepreneurship is an added advantage.

Knowledge and Skills

• Strategic thinker who can approach problems from different angles.
• Results-oriented, with clear communication skills and good networking abilities.
• In-depth understanding of value chain development approaches, food systems, and gender empowerment.
• Experience working with women’s economic empowerment groups, FBOs, and facilitating market linkages.
• Strong stakeholder management skills and ability to coordinate platforms and dialogues.
• Good understanding of sustainability and environmental issues, and the ability to interpret this information for stakeholders.
• Proficient in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Good proficiency in English (speaking and writing).
• Licensed and able to drive a manual car.

Mode of Application

Qualified candidates are invited to submit their applications, including:

• A cover letter describing your qualifications for the position.
• A detailed CV with three recent referees.

Applications should be sent to eastafrica.recruitment@rikolto.org before 25th October 2024, indicating the source of the advertisement and the position title "Programme Officer - Gender Inclusion" in the subject line. Only shortlisted candidates will be notified and invited for an interview.