Women’s and Adolescent Girls’ Health Consultant

Position Type: Independent Contractor (Remote)

Contract Length: 12 months

Estimated Time Commitment: 2 days/month

Start Date: July 2022

WOMENSTRONG INTERNATIONAL

WomenStrong International is a global community of organizations working with women and girls to end extreme urban poverty. We find, fund, strengthen, and share women-driven solutions that can transform lives in urban communities. These solutions are developed by our grantee partners – all trusted women-led non-profits, largely in urban settings, whose staff know best how to further girls’ education and empowerment, women’s and girls’ health, and to stop violence against women and girls in their respective communities. Partners’ solutions are then shared in WomenStrong’s Learning Lab, where they can be tested, sharpened, codified, and disseminated, with input from their fellow partners and by WomenStrong staff. In 2022-2023, WomenStrong’s Learning Lab is striving to deepen the ties among partners so as to further strengthen our community of knowledge-sharing. The Learning Lab encourages and cultivates the exchange of ideas through an online portal of tools and resources, web-based group discussions and knowledge-sharing, partner retreats, site visits and bilateral exchanges, the joint development of tools, and other community-building activities.

POSITION DESCRIPTION

WomenStrong is searching for an external consultant to support the Learning’s Lab’s work on women’s health and the health of adolescent girls. The consultant will work with the partners to tailor activities to the needs of the Learning Lab partners and will help them identify and access relevant resources and technical support, as needed. The consultant will also advise WomenStrong staff regarding best practices in developing community-driven, locally rooted, and culturally responsive approaches to improve women’s and adolescent girls’ health.

Responsibilities may include:

• Co-facilitating webinars, panels, and other in-person events with partners, focusing on specific topics related to women’s and adolescent girls’ health;
• Developing virtual community-building activities that create among partners an environment of trust, safety, and belonging;
• Work as a “thought partner” by providing geographic and issue-specific remote support to identify strengths and opportunities, while facilitating cross-partner learning and the harvesting of knowledge from partner activities;
• Identifying key evidence-based strategies that partners can apply in the field, to improve the health and lives of women and girls;
• Working with WomenStrong staff to create and manage a Learning Agenda that reflects the partners’ areas of work, as well as important themes in women’s and adolescent girls’ health, and that guides all related Learning Lab activities;
• Co-developing or contributing to, as appropriate, the development and adaptation of tools, resources, trainings and publications to improve women’s and adolescent girls’ health-focused program implementation and learning;
• Researching, identifying, and regularly updating a list of resources, new technical strategies, and women’s and adolescent girls’ health-related approaches;
• Supporting partners in applying the above-mentioned and other best practices through remote technical support;
• Identifying additional experts as needed, to provide support and expertise on specific areas within the field of women’s and adolescent girls’ health; and
• Assisting partners in identifying and applying for speaking and conference participation opportunities that can enrich their capacity, strengthen their leadership skills, and elevate their profile.

QUALIFICATIONS

Applicants must have knowledge and experience in women’s health, specifically in one or more of the following issues: adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights; quality of care, maternal health, including newborn survival, prenatal/antenatal care, and non-communicable diseases; and the integration of community-based health work into formal health systems, which may include programs with community-based health workers, midwives, or mobile clinics. Applicant must have extensive experience working with international programs and research in the above areas pertaining to women’s health and be knowledgeable regarding global trends and best practices in one or more of these fields.

Additional qualifications:

• Approximately 8-10 years of experience working in low-and middle-income countries and with culturally diverse teams;
• Proven ability to translate complex research insights into programmatic initiatives;
• Demonstrated ability to transfer knowledge to diverse audiences (capacity-strengthening) through consultation, training, mentoring, and other formal and non-formal methods, using adult learning methodologies;
• Excellent facilitation, moderation, and training skills;
• Demonstrated ability to engage in dialogue on racial and gender equity;
• Willingness to work outside of regular office hours to accommodate international time differences;
• Willing to travel internationally, if needed;
• Additional language abilities desirable, particularly French or Spanish; and
• Demonstrated ability to use online tools to facilitate engaging meetings and webinars is desirable.