Policy Support Lead at Gender Mobile Initiative

Gender Mobile Initiative - We envision a just society devoid of all forms of gender-based violence that is capable of undermining the existence of girls and women in all forms and degree.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Policy Support Lead

Location: Abuja

Background

• Sexual harassment is a pervasive practice in Nigerian tertiary institutions. A plethora of studies reveals that at least one in three students on Nigerian campuses have been exposed to sexual harassment and violence either by classmates or lecturers (who are in loco parentis). The cultural contexts and the power dynamics in the broader Nigerian society and on campuses ensure that these incidents are rarely reported and/or investigated. It has also been found that in most cases, the affected campuses lack the institutional capacity to effectively respond to these incidents when they occur. In the limited cases where the capacity exists, the systems are often rigged in favor of the alleged perpetrators to the detriment of the victims who are often re-victimized.
• In response to this challenge, Gender Mobile has since 2017 been supporting Nigerian tertiary institutions to build the capacity of students’ associations to design holistic responses to sexual harassment on their campuses. Similarly, Gender Mobile is also pursuing a school-based sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) prevention program to provide adolescents with the necessary tools and information to identify and eradicate SGBV in their communities.
• Up till now, the fight against SGBV on Nigerian campuses has continued to recycle archaic and ineffective tools that hardly make any notable impact and expose the victim to more harm. Notably, despite the significance of mobile phone and internet penetration in Nigeria, telecommunications technology has not been successfully deployed to address this challenge.
• Gender Mobile in partnership with Ford Foundation is designing a technology based tool that ensures confidential reporting of sexual harassment on Nigerian campuses. The technology platform will reflect the SGBV policy framework which Gender Mobile will facilitate across Nigerian Campuses. Four Nigerian tertiary institutions have been selected as the pilot schools for this project.

Objectives

• The overall objective of this project is to end the menace of SGBV in Nigerian higher institutions, starting with the four institutions selected for the pilot phase of the project. This has expanded to accommodate one hundred and two (102) Institutions.
• The development of a model policy pioneered by Gender Mobile and its adoption by the regulatory bodies of higher education institutions in Nigeria.
• The adaptation of the adopted policies to suit the peculiar environments of at least 4 higher education institutions and the establishment of relevant structures to ensure continuity.
• A viable technology platform for students to report and track how their cases are being addressed has been developed.
• The generation of disaggregated data based on certain parameters like age, year of study and sex from the mobile data and sharing same with relevant institutions to enable action.
• Pilot institutions improve their response to sexual harassment on campus due to the confidential reporting and tracking function of the mobile app.
• A body of evidence has been generated to inform the development of the model sexual harassment and other GBV policies in higher education institutions.

Activities
Develop a model policy template:

• The model policy template will further be developed into full policies in consultation with the management of individual institutions, and relevant stakeholders.
• Provide technical support in piloting the policy and implementation in four (4) Higher education institutions: This entails working closely with the management to constitute
• the relevant committee for case management and also developing communication strategies for the policy and mobile app drive within the schools.
• Develop and launch the App for reporting of incidences, individual tracking of cases and generation of data: The adoption of the App will be driven by student ambassadors that will be drawn from student groups such as the Junior Chamber International (JCI), Rotaract among others.

Scope of Activities
The Policy Support Lead will have the following responsibilities:

• Develop and lead a coherent and coordinated anti-sexual harassment policy engagement in Tertiary institutions.
• Undertake consultations with internal and external stakeholder’s policy development.
• Undertake research.
• Provide technical support to Tertiary Institutions on anti-sexual harassment policy framework design.
• Track and monitor the effective implementation of Institutions' anti-sexual harassment policy.
• Ensure institutional compliance with policy guidelines
• Work closely with the executive director, project manager, members of the technology team and other support staff members and volunteers to ensure compliance with the timelines stipulated in the work plan.
• Produce a wide range of high quality written outputs and policy briefs.
• Review policy strategies on a need basis.
• Prepare periodic reports.
• Conduct periodic audits of the policy design and implementation phases of the project.
• Provide monthly data-based analyses and reports of the quality results achieved and the projections for the next month.

Core Competencies
The Policy Support Lead must:

• Be a Bachelor's or Master's Degree holder in Development Studies, Gender Studies, Economics, Public Policy or a closely related field. An applicant with a Bachelor’s degree must demonstrate at least four years’ experience in any of the aforementioned fields.
• Proven experience in leading the design of policy and development of research outputs.
• Have an excellent command of the English language (both written and oral).
• Ability to develop and maintain senior-level relationships with partners and stakeholders.
• Have a proven track record in gender-related work especially as it relates to policy and programming.
• Have a thorough understanding of the issues and values that underpin Gender Mobile’s work generally and the current project in particular.
• Possess excellent analytical, writing, and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to absorb complex information and communicate to different audiences in a clear and accessible way.
• Ability to understand diverse perspectives and be able to successfully influence and negotiate.
• Vast in policy development processes and implementation.
• Extensive knowledge of gender-related work.
• Ability to chair and lead meetings.
• Possess remarkable skills to work with others, take initiative and deliver on the projected outcomes within the stipulated timelines and with minimal supervision.

Duration

• The Policy Support Lead shall commence the services from the day of the award of the contract and shall be in the employment of Gender Mobile for a period of 15 months.

Application Closing Date
8th June, 2020.

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should send their CV and Cover Letter as a single MS Word or PDF document by email to: [email protected] and copy: [email protected] using the position title as subject of the mail.

Note: This role is in the Abuja Office. However, persons outside Abuja willing to relocate can apply.