Gender, Youth, and Social Inclusion Coordinator (Maralal) at Mercy Corps

Position Summary

The Gender, Youth, and Social Inclusion Coordinator will play a key role in ensuring that gender issues, adolescents and youth perspectives, and social dimensions such as age, disability, ethnicity, and relationships are effectively integrated into all aspects of malnutrition, food security, and resilience programs. Working under the technical guidance of the Gender, Youth, and Social Dynamics Lead, the coordinator will be responsible for operational planning and implementing gender strategies, adolescent and youth engagement, social and behavior change strategies, and social accountability initiatives. They will also collaborate with local civil society actors to amplify the voices and priorities of program participants from diverse backgrounds.

The coordinator will promote the use of social accountability frameworks and tools, drive multi-sectoral nutrition governance, and support efforts to address systemic, social norms, and behavioral barriers. They will contribute to capacity building within county government entities and systems, ensuring the integration of contextually appropriate social dynamics into policies and decision-making processes.

Key Responsibilities

Vision and Strategy:

• Support in developing Nawiri’s vision for gender, adolescent, and youth-responsive programming that addresses social dynamics, demonstrates evidence of progress, and sustains gender transformative practice.
• Strengthen the implementation and monitoring of Nawiri’s Gender, Youth, and Social Dynamics (GYSD) strategy and other gender-related commitments in the program’s design.
• Ensure program staff and stakeholders understand and embrace gender, adolescents, youth, and social dynamics strategies.

Technical Leadership:

• Lead the rollout of Nawiri’s Gender Strategy, gender-responsive planning, and operational work plans.
• Strengthen the mainstreaming of gender across thematic areas such as social accountability, systems strengthening, social behavior change, and market systems development.
• Conduct periodic reviews and updates of gender and social inclusion strategies based on emerging evidence and strategic gender analysis.

Training:

• Train staff and partners on safeguarding and gender and youth mainstreaming principles.
• Support the integration of GYSD and gender diversity principles into program activities through capacity-building activities.
• Provide leadership in gender and youth capacity-building activities.

Management and Coordination:

• Provide technical oversight and supervision of gender and social inclusion officers.
• Support coordination of County Gender Sector Working Groups and capacity assessments.
• Ensure program and county staff adhere to gender minimum standards.
• Liaise with external stakeholders to advocate for gender and youth perspectives.
• Ensure program compliance with gender and youth-related USAID BHA requirements.

Information Management & Reporting:

• Coordinate with the M&E team on gender integration and data collection processes.
• Ensure the program captures sex and age-disaggregated data and gender-sensitive information.
• Generate reports on gender, social inclusion, and social accountability.

Stakeholder Representation:

• Represent the program’s gender strategy at external events and workshops.
• Support human resources in incorporating gender mainstreaming in recruitment processes.
• Support the management of institutional knowledge and contribute to knowledge management efforts.

Security:

• Collaborate with the security focal point to ensure staff safety, including gender-specific needs and interests.

Minimum Qualifications & Transferable Skills

• Bachelor’s degree in gender and development, anthropology, social science, or related fields.
• Minimum five years of technical leadership and management in gender, adolescent, and youth programming in humanitarian or development contexts.
• Experience working with County governments and local civil society organizations.
• In-depth understanding of gender-responsive interventions, youth development, systems strengthening, and local socio-cultural factors contributing to persistent acute malnutrition.
• Ability to build capacity, facilitate participatory learning, and analyze information from various sources.
• Strong attention to detail, adherence to procedures, and ability to meet deadlines.
• Cultural sensitivity and flexibility to work in a multi-sectoral and multi-cultural team.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English, Swahili, and local languages.
• Willingness to travel to program locations.

Success Factors

• Proactive, multitasker, and effective in collaborating with various stakeholders.
• Experience in setting up systems and procedures and building team commitment.
• Team player with strong problem-solving and conflict-resolution skills.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities under tight deadlines and adapt to unexpected events.