USAID/Somalia Market-Based Resilience for Marginalized Populations (MB-RMP)

SCOPE OF WORK

TITLE: Gender & Social Inclusion Specialist

DURATION OF CONTRACT: Long-Term (LTTA)

LOCATION: Mogadishu, Somalia

SUPERVISOR: Deputy Chief of Party

Project Background:

The USAID/Somalia Market-Based Resilience for Marginalized Populations (MB-RMP) activity will build social, economic and climate resilience in Somalia, including by promoting and facilitating drought-resistant agriculture, livelihood diversification for rural and urban households, and robust private sector engagement that helps expand inclusive economic opportunities for marginalized groups. MB-RMP’s targeted support and capacity-building will specifically emphasize inclusion of populations that have long been neglected or underserved as essential participants in local markets and economies, including women, youth, members of marginalized clans, and people with disabilities.

Position Summary:

The Gender and Social Inclusion Specialist will provide essential support to MB-RMP’s activities that focus on increasing access to economic opportunity among marginalized Somalia citizens living in the program’s Geographic Focal Zone (GFZ). The G&SI Specialist will lead or support activity design, trial & iteration, and scaling phases oriented to promoting economic agency of (a) women and (b) other marginalized groups, as circumstances and opportunities dictate. This work will encompass: (a) building greater awareness of cultural and structural barriers that restrict the economic participation of Somalia’s women and other marginalized groups; (b) conceiving and contributing to market-based solutions to these barriers; (c) helping women, youth, minority clans and other marginalized groups improve and refine their marketable skills and capacity to diversify and improve their livelihoods. The G&SI Specialist will work with Somali government institutions, the private sector, and other key stakeholders to improve access to critical information, opportunity, and skills; to ensure greater inclusiveness in economic policymaking; and to scale high-potential markets in a way that supports inclusive systemic change across multiple sectors.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Support the design and implementation of internal training of DT Global staff across the life of the Activity.
• Support technical teams (Agriculture, Economic Agency & Inclusion, and IDP support) in their respective efforts to leverage market-systems opportunities specific to marginalized communities across the GFZ, especially women, youth, minority clan-members, and people with disabilities.
• Ensure and support integration of gender and social inclusion considerations into the Activity’s analytic, trial & iteration, and MEL deliverables.
• Support design, implementation, and reporting of workplan activities in the arena of strengthened economic agency and inclusive economic opportunity for women.
• Provide technical leadership with respect to (a) addressing deep social prejudices that hinder market access to marginalized groups, especially women; (b) building accessible, relevant opportunities to link women to critical life and work skills; (c) harnessing economic opportunities that can help women and other marginalized citizens overcome entrenched barriers to economic participation and success;

(d) strengthening access to finance and other capital among marginalized groups; and (e) improving women’s access to critical market services, including transport, business development services, quality improvement, etc.

• Develop and maintain relationships with government agencies and other relevant stakeholder groups

– such as thought-leaders, sector associations, women’s business groups, training and academic institutions, and others – which themselves have an interest in promoting gender and social inclusion.

• Work across technical divisions (including those dedicated to climate-resilient agriculture and economic empowerment of IDPs) and grant-management teams to ensure achievement of gender and social inclusion program and workplan targets in a holistic way.
• Support stakeholder capacity-building initiatives on upskilling, social inclusion and economic agency, women’s economic empowerment, inclusive access to finance, and other relevant topics.
• Contribute to mapping of marginalized groups in GFZ and market-based analyses of economic opportunities relevant to these groups, coordinating with other MB-RMP teams, as appropriate.
• Represent MB-RMP, as appropriate, at relevant international and national meetings.
• Other tasks as assigned by the G&SI Specialist’s supervisor.