Gender and Youth Specialist

Founded over 50 years ago, TechnoServe has been named the #1 nonprofit for fighting poverty by the ImpactMatters charity ratings agency.

TechnoServe believes that achieving prosperity requires the full and free participation of women and girls. Our Gender Policy and our commitment to programmatic excellence requires that we involve, empower, and benefit both women and men, both at the level of our beneficiaries and at the level of our staff.

By joining our team, you will benefit from a respectful working environment of women and men that believe in the professional development of each one.

Program Overview

FTF Premier-Oholo (PRO) is a 3.5-year and $32.2 million project, jointly funded by USAID, through FTF Premier, and SDC’s Oholo project. The PRO project aims to increase incomes and jobs for women and youths in northern Mozambique, leading to a more competitive, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable market system that reduces poverty and increases food security. The program adopts catalytic and facilitative interventions, with a particular focus on supporting women and youth-owned enterprises. The project will leverage the insights gained during the inception phase and transition from direct intervention to a more comprehensive Market Systems Development approach. By concentrating on empowering local Business Development Service (BDS) providers, the project seeks to scale up and ensure the long-term sustainability of Micro, Small, Medium and Large Enterprises across northern Mozambique. This will involve a combination of direct training for BDS personnel and the development of sustainable business models to enhance these providers’ operational capabilities.

The activity will implement solutions including:

• Enhancing access to finance across sectors for the rural poor and SMEs
• Enhancing risk mitigation management
• Building the capacity of smallholder producers and agribusinesses
• Increasing incomes for smallholder farmers
• Establishing strong and transparent relationships between actors
• Expanding employment and entrepreneurship opportunities, especially for youth and women

Position Overview

The Gender and Youth Specialist will lead the FTF Premier-Oholo(PRO) objective to establish inclusive principles to integrate women and youth across all activities, increasing entrepreneurship and profitable self-employment, expanding on-, off-, and non-farm economic opportunities, and facilitating linkages to resources to help them take advantage of those opportunities.

Primary Functions and Responsibilities

• Work with Premier programs team to ensure that the work plan includes a strategy; activities and targets to reach FTF Premier-Oholo(PRO) overall goal to reach 40% female and youth beneficiaries
• Contribute to v annual work plans and assure timely implementation of the women and youth targeted work plan activities
• Promote FTF Premier-Oholo(PRO innovation and upscaling grants facility and identify and encourage eligible women and youth led actors and organizations to participate in the grants application process.
• Act as account manager for FTF Premier-Oholo(PRO beneficiary women and youth led business that successfully applied for grants from FTF Premier-Oholo(PRO innovation and upscaling co-investment facility grant (the Private Sector Investment Fund, PSIF) 
• Support the beneficiary actors with the development of scopes of work and ensure strong procurement policies and procedures, as well as product and service quality and cost monitoring required for the grant implementation.
• Assure timely implementation of the FTF Premier-Oholo(PRO women and youth business grants and signal potential issues and delays and report these to the grants manager and the DCoP.
• Advice and support FTF Premier-Oholo(PRO portfolio managers with the integration of women and youth specific activities in the project work plan, the grants implementation plans and the organizational Capacity Building Plans
• Include gender awareness training in work plans and grants implementation plans for the Premier team, the premier beneficiary organizations, grantees and businesses and assure their timely implementation.
• Identity and communicate the business case for the inclusion of women and youth to agribusiness clients and partners
• Facilitate entrepreneurship training targeted to women and youth that include confidence and skill-building activities that challenge the social norms preventing them from seeking jobs or entrepreneurship opportunities.
• Support the beneficiary actors with the development of scopes of work and ensure strong procurement policies and procedures, as well as product and service quality and cost monitoring required for the grant implementation.
• Oversee a competitive RFP process to select and build the capacity of local delivery partners to launch and expand new venture incubation and high-touch entrepreneurship programs that incorporate personal effectiveness, life skills, and gender training into curriculums
• Oversee Premier’s training-of-trainer approach that will transfer curriculum to selected local institutions in the corridor and introduce a new Life Skills curriculum for Technical and Vocational Education and Training Institutes (TVETs)
• Encourage media partners and local businesses to highlight entrepreneurship opportunities and benefits (e.g., showcasing successful role models) to help women and youth see themselves as potentially successful entrepreneurs
• Support top graduates to launch “business-in-a-box” agri-SGBs linking women and young people to medium and large agribusiness clients that want to expand reach into first-mile supply chain and last-mile distribution networks
• Work with the Technical Team to build the business case for private sector partners to invest in franchise models for their input and output markets that build trust and relationships with women and youth businesspeople who demonstrate high potential to run a business
• Develop and promote women and youth inclusive management practices. This includes coaching current women and youth employees to take leadership roles and develop the technical skills needed for advancement
• Design internship and young professionals programs for FTF Premier-Oholo(PRO and beneficiary organizations for young women and men from local universities to support their professional development.
• Support larger agribusinesses and agri-SGBs to improve gender and youth policies and hire them as employees
• Assist the Technical Team in connecting agribusiness partners with local service providers to improve the inclusivity of their recruitment and sourcing policies
• Support financial institutions by conducting gender analyses that examine the needs of women- and youth-owned businesses, demonstrating the business case for expanding client portfolios with women and youth, and raising awareness of unconscious bias effects on client relationships and services
• Facilitate expansion of informal savings for women and youth by supporting financial institutions to conduct gender analyses that examine the needs of women- and youth-owned businesses, demonstrating the business case for expanding client portfolios with women and youth, and raising awareness of unconscious bias effects on client relationships and services
• Facilitate creation of women support and youth support groups by identifying business associations to deliver mentoring programs to women and youth business owners.

Business Needs Analysis

• Support the PMs to identify and document their business needs and objectives including gender strategies and youth inclusion;
• Support the PMs in research and analysis to understand the market dynamics, industry trends, and competitive landscape for selected businesses and the aspects of gender and youth;

Process Improvement

• Analyze existing business processes and identify opportunities for optimization and efficiency gains, specifically focus on aspects of gender and youth
• Develop recommendations for process improvements and document, identify improvements for gender and youth engagement
• Assist the PMs and grantees in the implementation of process changes and provide ongoing support to implement the gender and youth strategies

Data Analysis

• Collect, analyze, and interpret data from various sources to support decision-making including gender and youth 
• Utilize data analytics tools and techniques to identify trends and patterns.

Portfolio Support:

• Contribute to interventions planning, execution, and monitoring activities under each PM
• Coordinate with cross-functional teams to ensure gender and youth deliverables are met on time and within budget.
• Track project progress and identify potential risks or issues and report to the management team.

Stakeholder Management:

• Build and maintain strong relationships with stakeholders at all levels, including executives, managers, and end-users.

Qualifications and Skills

• Minimal Bachelor’s level Degree in either Agriculture, Business or Gender and/or other related field;
• At least 3-5 years of relevant professional experience or Master’s degree with 3 years in Gender related programs, leading Gender initiatives;
• Proven experience in business analysis, with a focus on the agricultural industry;
• Knowledge and experience in conducting gender analysis, delivering gender trainings and developing gender policy in programs in Mozambique and outside;
• Knowledge and understanding of issues around women’s economic empowerment;
• Able to be thoughtful and practical on ways to engage and empower women;
• Experience designing and facilitating participatory and interactive conferences and workshops, using a variety of methods like liberating structures and/or other adult learning techniques;
• Experience facilitating change through participatory and inclusive learning and reflection, especially in rural and cross-cultural environments;
• Strong private sector market orientation, entrepreneurial and innovative thinker;
• Detail orientation, including strong organizational, analytical, and quantitative skills;
• Good computer skills in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other administrative applications;
• Communicative and open to exchange and learning;
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.

Required Languages

• Fluency in Portuguese with excellent oral and written communication skills required
• Proficiency in English is preferred

Read Full Description