Gender Technical Officer

Background:

Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) is a Christian nonprofit organization that strives to share God’s love and compassion for all through relief, development and peace - www.mcc.org.

Established in 1920, MCC has 100 years of experience in peacebuilding, disaster response and development and has had an ongoing presence in the Middle East since the 1960s. MCC primarily works through national partnerships to improve the lives of local communities. 

MCC is an equal opportunity employer, committed to employment equity. MCC values diversity and invites all qualified candidates to apply.

Start Date: As soon as possible

Benefits: Severance, medical insurance, children education benefits and vacation days

Hours: 40 hours per week (9:00 to 17:00 Monday to Friday; occasional nights and weekends)

Contract: One-year contract with 3-month probation period.

Synopsis:

The Gender Technical Officer will strengthen the integration of gender equality and women’s empowerment issues in relief, development, and peacebuilding projects in MCC’s programming in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq.

Based in Beirut, the worker is primarily tasked with supporting the MCC and its partners to ensure that gender sensitivity and empowerment, including PSEA, is appropriately integrated into project planning, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and reporting. Responsibilities for this include conducting assessments, trainings and field visits to improve partner capacity, the development of tools for use by MCC program staff, and coordination with relevant thematic networks and working groups.

Qualifications (necessary skills, experience, and education):  

Education

• Master’s degree required. Degree in social science especially gender studies, humanitarian assistance, protection or relevant discipline preferred.

Experience

• Essential:
  • Minimum 2 - 3 years’ experience with a minimum of two years of developing and training on guidance, standards, and materials relating to gender and PSEA
  • Experience with gender analysis and project design, monitoring and evaluation
• Desirable:
  • Previous experience with NGO or CSO
  • Familiarity with project monitoring and evaluation tools and processes.
  • Demonstrated experience with gender integration in development and peacebuilding programming. 
  • Prior experience with institutional donors (EU, GAC, USAID, etc.)

Skills/abilities

• Essential:
  • Strong writing, communication, presentation and organizational skills
  • The ability to communicate challenging topics in a clear, focused, and respectful manner
  • Ability to expand partner’s understanding of gender and PSEA issues through empowering methods
  • Ability to adapt to the varying levels of experience with integrating gender sensitivity into programming when providing capacity building to small NGOs/CSOs with varying
  • Fluency in Arabic and English
  • Computer literate in Word, Excel and Outlook
• Desirable:
  • Ability to understand and advise on the challenges facing local partners (NGOs & CSOs)
  • Ability to think strategically about improving project implementation

Personal qualities

• Essential:
  • Self-disciplined with ability to work proactively, using own initiative
  • Appreciation for the variety of faith perspectives in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq and ability to respectfully interact with people of all faiths
  • Understanding of the complexity of the Syrian conflict, openness to listen to all perspectives without judgment, and ability to focus on a politically neutral humanitarian response
  • Ability to work as part of a team, to focus under pressure, and to work on tight timelines in support of MCC’s mission
  • Capacity to show compassion in crisis situations, balanced with the ability to be objective enough to overcome distress and adhere to stated program goals
  • Ability to build relationships with people from a variety of backgrounds
  • Strong coping skills and ability to balance self-care with workload
• Desirable:
  • Highly reflective and committed to developing themselves and others through reflective ongoing learning
  • Demonstrated interest and involvement in issues of justice, compassion, and mercy
  • Creative and innovative approach to work

Assignment Narrative: (background information, accountability & support structure, schedule requirements) 

Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), an international, Christian NGO established in 1920, has 100 years of experience in peacebuilding, disaster response and development, and has had an ongoing presence in the Middle East since the 1960s.

Since February 2012, MCC has been responding to the Syrian crisis through numerous local partner organizations in Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan, and to the Iraq crisis since 2014, in the areas of food assistance, shelter, WASH, NFIs, peacebuilding, protection, health, education, and psychosocial support. In Lebanon MCC is also programming work with host communities, vulnerable Lebanese populations, and Palestinian refugees.

The Gender Technical Officer reports to the MCC Disaster Response and External Grants Coordinator and Representatives for MCC’s program in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. She/he will maintain regular office hours, 9:00 – 17:00, Monday-Friday. She/he is expected to occasionally work nights and/or weekends, especially during conferences or times when there are program deadlines.

Duties (specific tasks & responsibilities):

Program

• Work with partners to assess and strengthen their awareness and capacity to integrate gender sensitivity, empowerment and PSEA into project design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
• Support partners implementing projects funded by external donors with specific requirements for gender related project outcomes.
• Conduct assessments and trainings for partners implementing projects in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq either though in person field visits or virtually depending on Covid-19 precautions and restrictions on travel.  
• Assist MCC program staff with gender components of concept papers, proposals, reports, and evaluations
• Represent MCC in relevant networks and working groups
• Keep up to date and informed on developments, challenges, recurring issues and trends in gender and PSEA issues in-country and share recommendations to ensure continued engagement and informed decision-making
• Integrate gender analysis and propose additional or alternative measures of gender-related outcomes and impact for all relevant M&E work
• The development and implementation of GBV and PSEA prevention, risk mitigation, and response measures, framework and tools during planning, project design, and program implementation
• Training and capacity building support for MCC staff and on gender issues
• Document successful activities, lessons learned and methodologies for gender equality and women’s empowerment to identify lessons learned in relation to areas of strategic priority to guide improved attention to gender concerns within MCC programming
• Develop contacts and relationships with relevant external agencies (local government, national government, community based and NGO entities) on gender equality and women´s empowerment issues
• Assist MCC in translation work (written and spoken) to support programming
• If relevant, support MCC program visits to Lebanon with logistics and hosting
• Logistical and administrative support for various capacity building trainings and partner conferences

General

• Attend MCC partner conferences and program retreats
• Attend MCC weekly staff meetings
• A willingness to help with various tasks to support MCC’s mission
• A willingness to work extra hours when necessary (i.e., reporting periods)
• Communicate regularly with Disaster Response and External Grants Program Coordinator and Representatives for Lebanon, Syria and Iraq
• Model non-violent peacemaking in the workplace and community through respectful interactions with others

Challenges:

• The worker must be willing to adhere to security guidelines and heed the advice of local partners and the MCC Representatives on security issues relating to programming
• At certain times of the year, reporting deadlines may lead to heavier than normal workloads
• Meetings or activities with partners can occur in the evenings or on the weekends. Flexibility will be needed.