Position: Program Officer-Gender (BUPGP)
Reporting Line: Program Management Unit – Lead (BUPGP)
Project- Bihar Urban Poor Graduation Program (BUPGP)
Location: Patna
Duration: 1 year
Project Background:
Similar to the Satat Jeevikoparjan Yojana (SJY) program in rural Bihar, there is a felt need for a graduation focused program in urban areas of Bihar for the urban ultra poor. Project Concern International, under the aegis of BRAC India, would therefore, work towards poverty alleviation of urban ultra poor, in two urban wards of the two districts Gaya & Patna. The Bihar Urban Poor Graduation Program (BUPGP) is envisaged to build on the knowledge of SJY program and partner with key stakeholders in urban Bihar to pilot this Graduation program in an urban context. The BUPGP would be piloted from July 2023 to March 2024 in the aforementioned geographies. The BUPGP is envisaged to have four pillars ; (1) facilitating social protection to support basic income security and immediate needs, such as food consumption support, crisis relief, and access to health, and education; (2) livelihoods promotion consisting of an asset transfer and/or skills training, or cash transfer, to manage the asset or access (self)employment opportunities; (3) financial inclusion to ensure direct access to convenient, formal or informal financial services, accompanied with financial literacy training; and (4) social empowerment through regular check-ins with Graduation coaches and life- skills support that build confidence and resilience. To successfully execute, the above-mentioned program, PCI would embed a team of 5 officials under Bihar Skill Development Mission (BSDM) to set up a program management unit (PMU). The farsighted approach of the program is to enable co-designing and implementing of program in close coordination with government department for attaining programs sustainability. For this the PMU, shall closely work with the following government departments; BSDM, the State Urban Livelihood Mission (NULM), the Urban Development and Housing Department (UDHD), and JEEViKA for converging efforts of multiple departments towards the program.Over the period, the program is expected to develop urban graduation coaches, enable access to government entitlements for the program participants, build an urban graduation ecosystem, establish linkages for financial inclusion through leveraging government programs, develop IEC & capacity building products along with robust MIS, for systemic program adoption and upscaling.
Position Brief:
The Program officer – Gender for BUPGP would be responsible for leading and coordinating gender-focused interventions and strategies within the urban ultra-poor program. S/he would play a crucial role in addressing gender disparities, promoting women’s empowerment, and ensuring the inclusion of marginalized women in program activities. The Program Officer is expected to collaborate and synergise efforts of key government stakeholders like JEEViKA & WCDC in co-designing gender-responsive interventions and advocate for gender equality in urban poverty reduction efforts. Furthermore, the professional is expected to work under the supervision of PMU-lead and take up any responsibility as assigned by her/him.
Key Responsibilities
A.Lead Gender Mainstreaming & Analysis (40%)
Conduct gender analysis to understand the specific challenges faced by urban ultra-poor women, including socio-cultural, socio-economic, and structural barriers.
Design and develop gender-responsive interventions and strategies along with government departments within the urban ultra-poor program framework.
Integrate gender perspectives into program planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation frameworks in close collaboration with PMU members and government departments across the livelihoods, social protection, health, education, and housing program components.
Integrate a robust monitoring and evaluation framework in government’s M&E systems to ensure that gender indicators and targets are developed and tracked to measure the impact of the program on gender outcomes.
Support the development of gender-sensitive tools, guidelines, and training materials for program implementation.
Facilitate capacity-building workshops and training sessions to enhance the understanding and skills of government and program staff in gender-sensitive programming.
Engage with program participants and their communities to ensure active participation and inclusion in program activities.
B.Support Program Planning & Management (50%)
Support in development and refinement of program strategies, goals, and objectives to address the needs of the urban ultra poor population.
Support collaboration with key stakeholders to identify program priorities and ensure alignment with organizational objectives.
Support in designing and implementation of a comprehensive program management framework to track progress and achieve program targets.
Support the design and structuring of all major knowledge products (including reports, Lessons Learnt Documents, workshop reports, etc.)
Identify best practices and lessons learned to guide programme improvement and strategy planning for scale up.
Support in developing the MIS dashboard in consultation with the government partners.
Support PMU lead in strategic interface with the key government stakeholders & personnel of the project on day-to-day basis.
Regularly undertake field visits and handhold program beneficiaries for guiding them throughout the pilot.
C.Reporting & Documentation (5%)
Submit the progress reports to and attend meetings with the donor representatives under the supervision of PMU Lead.
D.Other responsibilities (5%)
To carry out any other relevant duties as required.
Qualifications, Experience and Competencies:
Qualifications:
Minimum post-graduate/master’s degree preferably in women studies, social sciences, development from premier institutes.
Experience:
Candidate should have minimum 5 years of experience in women empowerment, capacity building, working with government, livelihoods promotion, project management, with significant experience of working on large scale development programs.
Skills and Attributes:
Strong knowledge of gender issues, social norms, and gender-based violence prevalent in urban settings.
Demonstrated experience in gender mainstreaming, women’s empowerment, or gender-focused programming.
Familiarity with approaches and methodologies for gender analysis and gender-responsive program design and implementation.
Experience in conducting capacity-building activities and training on gender-related topics.
Knowledge of ultra poor projects.
Knowledge of large-scale women empowerment programs.
Good analytical and problem-solving skills.
Excellent oral and written command in English & Hindi.
Sound knowledge of database systems, and PowerPoint.
Application process:
Interested Candidates can apply for the position of Program Officer-Gender by 16th June,2023
PCI India is an equal opportunity provider and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion (creed), gender, gender expression, age, national origin (ancestry), disability and/or marital status
Female candidates are encouraged to apply