Спеціаліст/ка з гендерних питань / Gender Specialist

Program: USAID-funded GROW Project in Ukraine
Application Deadline: Until filled
Location: Kyiv, Ukraine

World Council of Credit Unions seeks a Gender Specialist for the GROW Project in Ukraine (hereinafter – GROW) to ensure gender is equally integrated into all GROW project activities to ensure they are equitable for women and gender-diverse individuals. She/he will work closely as a team member of GROW to manage communications of the GROW project and promote credit unions in Ukraine.

About the Project:

The GROW Project in Ukraine is a four – year project implemented by World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) and funded by USAID.

 The goals of GROW are to:

• Support MSME growth through increased lending
• Improve the enabling environment for credit unions
• Improve the operational capacity of Ukrainian credit unions to better serve MSMEs

The GROW Project will expand access to finance through credit unions for legal entities and private entrepreneurs, including farms, MSMEs, and cooperatives, as well as individuals in rural areas who are seeking to start or expand existing businesses. To facilitate this, GROW will address the supply of business financing, improve the enabling environment, and deepen the technical capacity of credit unions to provide and promote their financial services.

Duties:

The Gender Specialist will ensure that gender is equally integrated across all three GROW objectives and specific activities. The specialist will develop a Gender Action Plan that will inform specific activities and methodology. A cross-cutting approach shall be used to integrate gender in close collaboration with GROW team members. The Gender Specialist will report to Chief of the Party (COP) and work in close coordination with GROW partners as well as GROW team as required.

Specific duties are as follows:  

Technical responsibilities;

• Develop an overall GROW gender action plan for the project, including approaches and activities needed to ensure full gender integration into the project;
• Implement the gender action plan and review it annually to ensure it aligns with GROW implementation plans;
• Disaggregate market research and customer statistics by gender, including collecting gender disaggregated data of all borrowers and new members of credit unions;
• Review regulatory documents and policies to analyze whether they include potential impacts on women, identifying ways to mitigate negative impacts that exacerbate equity gaps;
• Make recommendations to the NBU on concrete ways to improve gender equity in its
  regulations;
• Monitor the credit union loan portfolio under the Liquidity Fund for gender equity;
• Partner with women entrepreneurship groups to deliver targeted services to women;
• Prepare and share with partner credit unions recommendations on specific ways of working with businesses led by women;
• Conduct webinars on gender and equity gaps in access to and ways to overcome them for various audiences – partners of GROW and credit unions’ members;
• Assess whether women and gender-diverse people are able to access leadership positions in credit unions, including seeking and obtaining promotions or advocating for policies to achieve gender equity; and
• Develop as needed a guide for an overall gender approach for team of GROW and partners, as required.

General

• Oversee all tasks that pertain implementation of gender action plan;
• Build and maintain effective working relationships with the GROW team and stakeholders to ensure integration of gender in all activities;
• Liaise with partner organizations, consultants, government officials, and other stakeholders as needed independently as needed for implementation of gender action plan;
• Contribute to the development of work plans, quarterly reports, reports to USAID, as well as GROW and partner annual reports, and reporting required for the project partners, recipients, and government as assigned by COP / Deputy Chief of Party (DCOP);
• Work closely with other GROW team members to ensure synergies, efficacy, and proper flow of work between various tasks and objectives;
• Travel outside of Kyiv, as needed, to reach rural credit unions and their members as needed; and
• Fulfill all tasks required to meet project goals under GROW’s activities as assigned and per request of the COP or DCOP.

Required Qualifications:

• Academic Background: Degree in
• At minimum 4 years of experience. 
• Experience working at similar and relevant positions in international organizations, activities and/or projects is essential.
• Good understanding of the work of international donor activities; experience with USAID is highly preferred.
• Excellent interpersonal skills; culturally and socially sensitive; demonstrated ability to work effectively in team; ability to work inclusively and collaboratively with a range of partners, including grassroots community members, local NGOs, and authorities at different levels.
• Excellent writing, research, and communication skills.
• Native Ukrainian fluency, both written and spoken.
• High proficiency in written and spoken English.
• Computer proficiency (Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint).
• Culturally sensitive and able to work with multiple stakeholders in Ukraine and understand their various positions/viewpoints.
• Ability to travel to rural areas as required by project needs.

Apply: Please send a cover letter, resume, and three reference contacts to [email protected] with the subject line: “MEL Specialist.” Only candidates who have been selected for an interview will be contacted. No phone calls, please. Thank you.