Gender Equality, Youth, and Social Inclusion and Social Behavior Change (SBC/GEYSI) Specialist – Resilience through Agriculture South Sudan

Position Title:

Gender Equality, Youth, and Social Inclusion and Social Behavior Change (SBC/GEYSI) Specialist

Work Location:

Juba, Central Equatoria State

Contract Name:

Resilience through Agriculture in South Sudan Activity

Status:

Full-time, Long-Term Technical Assistance (LTTA)

Period of Performance:

From February 2nd , 2023 renewable annually (contingent on funding and performance)

Direct Supervisor:

Chief of Party

ABOUT RASS

The Resilience through Agriculture in South Sudan (RASS) Activity is a four-year USAID funded project implemented by DAI Global LLC and three sub-contractors partners: CARE International, International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC), and The Waterfield Design Group Inc (WDG) aimed at improving food security and community household recovery and resilience across 13 counties in Western Bahr El Ghazal, Unity, Upper Nile, Jonglei, and Eastern Equatoria States in-line with USAID strategic framework for South Sudan. To achieve this, RASS employs a resilience pathways approach to improve the effectiveness of local systems and strengthen the capacities of community groups to achieve gender responsive and diversified market-sensitive agriculture production; facilitate increased production of diverse nutritious foods by strengthening productivity, reducing food loss, and improving nutrition behaviors; and strengthen and expand household and community opportunities for sustainable, locally driven livelihoods. Gender Equality, Youth, and Social Inclusion (GEYSI) and Social Behavior Change Communication (SBC) are integral to RASS programming. The work is aimed at transitioning communities from humanitarian assistance to a phase of inclusive development assistance and economic growth.

CONTEXT AND GENERAL TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

During the start-up phase, RASS conducted baseline assessment which included the gender analysis in the project locations. This further led to the development of the RASS Gender Equality, Youth And Social Inclusion Action Plan (GEYSI-AP) and the Social Behavior Change (SBC) strategy aimed at guiding the design and implementation of evidence-based SBC/GEYSI interventions that promote recommended nutrition-sensitive agriculture behaviours; address negative gender norms around agency, relations, and structure; and create demand for products and services at the household and community levels in the 13 target counties. These interventions work to transition South Sudan from reliance on humanitarian assistance to development and economic growth. The interventions supports gender equality through increased knowledge of the importance of nutritious, diverse diets for all household members as well as skill-building and demand for improved nutrition-sensitive agriculture. Building off the SBC Strategy and GEYSI-AP , the RASS Project aims to accomplish the following objectives:

1. Promote social inclusion and cohesion by ensuring women, youth, people with disability and other vulnerable groups meaningfully participate in dialogue and decisions that affect them and design and inclusively implement Project.
2. Address toxic masculinity by reframing shared notions of manliness from domination and violence to one of negotiation, inclusiveness, and shared success.
3. Promote positive masculinity and improve household equity, women’s decision-making abilities, nutrition sensitive agriculture, and women’s technical abilities to feed themselves and their family with nutrient-dense, diverse food and further enable them transform behaviours that is required for good hygiene practices.
4. Increase knowledge, especially among women, about the importance of nutrient-dense, diverse diets for themselves and their whole families.
5. Provide women with the knowledge and skills to successfully and sustainably produce and/or access diverse foods.

RASS is seeking to hire someone who is strong and experienced in Social Behaviour Change communications, Communications for Development (C4D), Gender Equality, Youth and Social Inclusion that will lead in the implementation of the GAAP and SBC strategy as well as lead in RASS GEYSI and communications activities.

Position Description and Responsibilities

The SBC/GEYSI Specialist will provide technical leadership on SBC, Communications and GEYSI activities The SBC/GEYSI Specialist will partner with local and national entities on creation and use of their platforms and will implement a multi-layered SBC/GEYSI Strategy. S/he will lead in the creation of ‘nudge’ messaging, stories, public materials, guidelines and toolkits and strategies for implementation, in partnership with program leads as well as support capacity building/strengthening with multiple stakeholders and implementing partners. Coordinate the gender strategy as well as review how GEYSI indicators are integrated into the results framework, train staff on GEYSI, and build GEYSI into communication materials and project implementation plans and reports. S/he will be responsible for collaborating with Objective Leads to ensure a holistic approach throughout the project on SBC/GEYSI issues. The SBC/GEYSI Specialist will provide technical support and lead on the SBC/GEYSI analysis and plan, develop tools to capture data that allows for analysis with a SBC/GEYSI lens, work closely with other technical specialists, field supervisors and county teams to integrate GEYSI across all Activity and MEL components. Reporting directly to the Chief of Party and working alongside CLA/MEL Director, the SBC/GEYSI Specialist will play a critical role in the project’s work planning, reporting, and success in catalyzing inclusive growth and provide ongoing support to the technical teams, operations, and monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) team.

The following are the main responsibilities of the SBC/GEYSI Specialist:

Responsibilities:

Social and Behavior Change (SBC):

• Launch RASS Social and Behavior Change (SBC) Strategy
• Set priorities for the project’s overall SBC technical vision; provide technical leadership, strategic management and direction
• Lead in the creation of ‘nudge’ messaging, stories, public materials, guidelines and toolkits and strategies for implementation, that reflect global best practices.
• Support formative and evaluation research, barriers and facilitators surveys as needed, to inform project’s SBC programming
• Support local implementers, subawards, partners and other stakeholders to review their existing SBC strategies and ensure project activities align with national and donor priorities
• Design and conduct workshops for technical staff, subawards, partners and relevant stakeholders about the socialization of gender norms and statuses, how gender relates to value chain development, agriculture, and the context of gender and social inclusion in market systems
• Launch SBC campaigns to promote positive masculinity and improve household equity, women’s decision-making abilities, nutrition sensitive agriculture and women’s technical abilities to feed themselves and their family with nutrient-dense, diverse food and further enable them transform behaviors that is required for good hygiene practices
• Identify promising innovative SBC and marketing strategies, develop program guidance, and provide technical assistance in support of nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive programming
• Use Pause-and-Reflect sessions to review SBC implementation across RASS activities
• Work collaboratively with the Strategic Communications Specialist and the MEL Team for activity reporting and support technical teams to ensure SBC is mainstreamed in activity planning, implementation, and reporting
• Coordinate with other SBC partners and global resources to bring SBC knowledge, best practices and lessons learned to bear on RASS activities
• General advisory to the Chief of party on SBC issues

Gender Equality, Youth, and Social Inclusion:

• Review existing GEYSI studies and USAID/South Sudan PSE plan and integrate findings into this RASS
• Work with the programme team during the joint problem identification and work planning sessions to identify GEYSI gaps, identify entry points for GEYSI interventions, and design the SBC/GEYSI strategy for the RASS activity
• Support the development and/or revision and implementation of the RASS GEYSI manual and action plan over the life of the project
• Provide input in the integration of GEYSI in market and constraints analysis, plans, strategies, data instruments, etc.
• Collect and use gender-specific and disaggregated indicators as well as techniques to capture behavior change (such as perception surveys and outcome mapping)
• Use Pause-and-Reflect sessions to review GEYSI implementation across RASS activities
• Support technical teams in creating value propositions that support inclusive business investments in the agricultural market systems for the RASS partnerships
• Conduct periodic partners’ GEYSI assessments using the RASS GEYSI scorecard to identify the gaps and opportunities of developing inclusive business cases
• Review partner GEYSI deliverables and provide feedback on the integration of GEYSI in their businesses and develop strategies in supporting them achieve their specific GEYSI objectives
• Support the integration of gender-based violence (GBV) analysis and assessments across all intervention areas of the project, particularly development and implement a GBV risk mitigation and/or response plan
• Use a private-sector approach to implement sustainable social inclusion interventions in market systems to achieve transformational and inclusive outcomes for the RASS Activity
• Work with the CLA/MEL Team to review GEYSI specific results, and indicators to ensure achievement of the GEYSI specific targets.
• Work with the CLA/MEL team to document GEYSI specific learning briefs, success stories, case studies, and best practices
• Generate GEYSI related learning questions and periodically design, collect and analyze data address the learning questions
• Work collaboratively with the CLA/MEL team for activity reporting and support technical teams to ensure GEYSI is mainstreamed in activity planning, implementation, and reporting
• General advisory to the Chief of party on GEYSI issues

Communications:

• Participate in RASS Project work planning so that all communications is integrated and supports the technical work. Additionally, work collaboratively with RASS and consortium partners to brainstorm appropriate communication strategies, as well as identify communication needs
• In collaboration with the CLA/MEL team, coordinate stakeholder outreach including the development and dissemination of e-invitations, blast emails, webcasts, and virtual stakeholder meetings
• Develop templates for routine deliverables such as reports, success stories, and PPTs
• evelop training materials and train project staff on USAID reporting, including use of the RASS style guide
• Responsible for collating and reviewing all RASS periodic reports and ensure they are error free, well-structured, properly formatted, and in line with USAID reporting requirements, including branding and marking standards before submission
• Support CLA/MEL Team with all ad-hoc reporting requests.
• Coordinate with DAI Home Office corporate communications team to regularly update and/or share higher level social media content on RASS and DAI social media channels, as well as update website information on the RASS main site
• Perform other duties as assigned by the Chief of Party

Qualifications

Education and Work Experience:

• A minimum of Master’s degree is required, preferably in behavior change or mass communications, Gender Studies, or social sciences, such as psychology, sociology, or cultural anthropology and international development
• A minimum of 7 years of experience working on Social Behaviour Change, communications, Gender Equality, Youth and Social Inclusion, women’s economic empowerment and youth development activities and communications for development (C4D) in resilience and development projects
• Clear understanding of USAID Gender Domains

Demonstrated Professional Knowledge:

• Demonstrated knowledge of USAID MEL guidance and policy in the context of the program cycle
• Specific experience in designing, development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of SBC/GEYSI strategies and materials as well as related training
• Experience in SBC Communications
• Must have proven track record and experience in gender analysis and power analysis of a similar or related assignment
• Demonstrated Professional Ability:
• Experienced in pre-testing and concept testing SBC approaches and content
• Demonstrated Experience in report writing including content editing and publishing
• Experience in designing, planning, and implementing SBCC/GEYSI efforts and/or community level activities, including communication campaigns and trainings
• Familiarity and understanding of USAID policies and procedures (highly preferred), or those of other donors, donor funded projects, community-based projects, or corporate social responsibility projects
• Proven abilities to set priorities, to multi-task, and to work collaboratively across technical disciplines
• Strong management skills are required, along with the ability to work well in a team environment
• Demonstrated success in SBC/GEYSI in a similar, post conflict environment in Africa is preferred

Demonstrated Communication Skills:

• Proven ability to communicate/collaborate effectively across cultures, genders, cultural backgrounds, generations, and even language barriers, including with team members based in other countries
• Must demonstrate an ability to effectively understand and communicate complex issues and challenges and propose viable solutions or mitigation strategies
• Showcases an ability to edit and produce technical reports at a high English fluency level
• Professional fluency in written and spoken English a must
• knowledge of local languages is an added advantage.

REQUIRED ATTRIBUTES OF ALL RASS TEAM MEMBERS

• Be Flexible and Adaptive – given the pace and frequency at which conditions may change in South Sudan, team members are expected to be agile with position requirements, adapting to changing circumstances for successfully meeting the RASS objectives
• Be Collaborative and Inclusive –individual team members are expected to model openness to new and competing ideas, seek feedback from colleagues, demonstrate and internalize respect for diverse opinions, and proactively create safe spaces for participation in decision-making processes to ensure the views of different groups, gender, and levels of understanding and experience within systems where RASS operates are considered and incorporated into activity programming, security, and development of RASS policies and procedures.