Legal Researcher- Makanati

The Makanati | USAID Women Economic Empowerment and leadership Activity will use a Champions of Change approach to work with private sector firms, the government, community-based organizations (CBOs), and other high-level stakeholders to create an enabling environment for women to undertake waged employment in the private sector in Jordan. To that end, Makanati will work with partners and stakeholders to encourage women to consider career choices in high-growth, priority sectors and promote the recruitment, retention, and advancement of women in Jordan’s labor force. Using a targeted sector and regional focus, Makanati will seek to increase women’s access to the job market and demand-driven job skills and leadership training that responds to market needs. Makanati will also identify and address policy gaps, workplace inequalities and prohibitive social norms and traditions to support an equitable and inclusive workforce enabling environment.

Makanati’s goal is to establish pathways through which social change and economic opportunities lead to a systemic shift from women’s exclusion to inclusion in market systems and increase women’s economic participation in the private sector. This holistic approach will bridge the gap between women’s and men’s inclusion in the workforce and, overall, will contribute to inclusive economic growth in Jordan.

Makanati is implemented by EnCompass LLC in partnership with Nathan Associates, Integrated International and JoWomenomics.

The Makanati | USAID Women Economic Empowerment and leadership Activity will contribute to increasing women’s access to waged employment and leadership opportunities in Jordan. This will be done through three interlinked and equally important performance objectives:

1. Improve women’s access to jobs in the private sector and leadership opportunities in the private and public sectors
2. Improve supported perceptions, practices, and advocacy; and
3. Stimulate and enforce more equitable, safe, and accessible working environments.

Achieving these objectives requires interventions that transform sociocultural norms that hinder women’s workplace entrance and advancement and promote and sustain women’s economic empowerment (WEE), and policies and practices that enhance the enabling environment for increased female labor force participation. The complexity and interconnectedness of the performance objectives necessitates considering both top-down (e.g., policy and regulatory reform) and bottom-up (e.g., mentoring) levers across market subsystems (workplace, individual, community, and government. This framework recognizes the bidirectional relationship between economic change and social change: economic change can stimulate changes in social norms, and changes in social norms can produce economic change.

PosITION Summary:

The legal researcher will be responsible for conducting research and running analyses to identify legal framework and gender policy aspects related to women economic empowerment with special attention to international best practices when it comes to women waged employment in the private sector and access to leadership in both private and public sectors. The ideal researcher should have international experience on regulatory framework of women’s waged employment, robust knowledge in relation to women’s economic empowerment globally and is an experienced legal researcher. This position is temporary and will be working remotely with virtual meetings with the team in Amman, Jordan. It is expected that the level of effort will not exceed 10 days and the expected start date will be September 20, 2022.

KEY RESPOSIBILITIES:

• Conduct secondary research from published reports and data on international best practices and international regulatory frameworks for women’s economic empowerment including the cooperative model;
• Analyze primary and secondary data related to regulatory and policy dimensions of women’s economic empowerment and women’s waged employment practices;
• Analyze Jordan situation within the international indexes related to Women Economic empowerment and gender gaps (based on the required indexes by the project team);
• Prepare a technical report based on the international desk review and data analysis;
• Work closely with other Makanati legal consultants and respond to legal research requests on best practices pertaining to women, youth, and vulnerable groups in the workforce and its legal and regulatory framework; and
• Other duties as assigned by Makanati

Qualifications & SKILLS:

• International consultant
• MA degree in law or international law from recognized university or bachelor’s degree in law with minimum of 5 -7 years of professional experience
• Detail oriented
• Strong analytical skills
• Demonstrated experience in conducting secondary legal and policy research on women, youth, and vulnerable groups in the workforce
• Native English speaker and Working knowledge of Arabic preferred.
• Previous experience working in Jordan or in the MENA region
• Strong writing skills in both Arabic and English required

Nathan is an Equal Opportunity Employer

Nathan is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer with a commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or national origin. EOE Minorities/Females/Disabled/Veterans.