About the role

Reporting in to the Global Head of Programme Policy and Practice, the Gender Justice Lead is designated as the single point of accountability for gender justice leadership across the organisation, including for policy and advocacy aligning with organisational values and goals.

The post-holder will directly lead on gender justice work as a standalone issue, while also overseeing the gender mainstreaming work led by the Senior Gender Adviser. The role is responsible for co-developing a thematic strategy, collaborating with the Strategy and Learning Manager in organisational effectiveness.

The role is ultimately accountable for the delivery of the thematic strategy on Gender (both mainstreamed and standalone work) and for reporting progress towards this at regular intervals to measure success and maximise impact, and provides strategic oversight of Christian Aid’s gender thematic global policy and advocacy work in global spaces to ensure the advocacy maximum impact.

The role collaborates with partners and faith groups, providing public policy analysis, positioning, research and writing, and is rooted in evidence and theological reflection to foster a mindset of connection. The post-holder will manage the Senior Gender Adviser.

Some of the main responsibilities of the Gender Justice Lead include:

• Co-develop, create and deliver a thematic strategy for the whole of the Gender Justice thematic priority, including policy and advocacy components, clear measures of progress and impact/success which are then reported against at regular intervals aligning with organisational values and goals.
• Manage the Senior Gender Adviser to clearly contribute to the delivery of the strategy, and to support and collaborate with programmes and partners to achieve organisational standards on gender mainstreaming, protection and inclusion.
• Lead as the organisational technical expert on gender justice programming, particularly as a standalone thematic focus, and collaborate with staff across the Impact and Income & Public Engagement departments so they are able to draw on gender justice expertise – ours and our partners’ – in order to design, fundraise for and facilitate the delivery of strong signature programme
  work on gender justice, maximising impact and income.
• Provides strategic oversight of the organisation’s policy and advocacy work on gender, supported by the Senior Gender Adviser, to maximise impact.
• Develops, shapes, steers and delivers Christian Aid’s thematic public policy analysis on gender, positioning, and research and writing, rooting this in programme experience and theological reflection, and promotes the exchange of ideas and knowledge, to maximise impact.
• Foster a culture of learning and improvement by identifying best practice among our partners and facilitating knowledge sharing across partners; by commissioning (or directly undertaking when appropriate) research and learning reviews to evidence good practice and course correct where needed.
• Build strong relationships with key policy and advocacy colleagues focusing on ensuring insight and learning from programme practice feeds into, and influences public policy development, and provides evidence for advocacy materials.
• Collaborate with the Strategy and Learning Manager and the Impact and Evidence Manager to ensure appropriate evidence is being gathered and consolidated to measure and communicate the impact of our work on gender justice and to adapt our signature programme approaches as necessary.
• Lead and build external networks so Christian Aid’s work on gender justice is presented and promoted nationally and internationally, including in global advocacy spaces, resulting in 1) an enhanced organisational profile within the sector to maximise our impact, 2) a portfolio of work that is innovative and in line with sector best-practice, 3) a pool of potential partners to engage and work with.
• Programme advisory and resource materials on gender justice are developed on the basis of organisational values, goals, strategies, adaptive programming approaches, and informed by ongoing learning of Christian Aid.

About you

Who we are looking for

Essential

• Postgraduate or equivalent in International Development or relevant discipline.
• Detailed understanding gender concepts, theory and practice, and of current thinking/debates on gender and social norms, in an international context.
• Detailed understanding of the role of faith-based actors in gender justice.
• Extensive experience of programme design, management and implementation on gender at country and local level and exposure to a range of gender programmes.
• Extensive experience of influencing global spaces and global institutions
• Highly developed communication skills in English (written and orally).
• Extensive experience of International Development, including familiarity with strategic planning and programme management.
• Detailed understanding of current thinking in sector-specific M&E, including adaptive management.
• Highly developed ability to apply analysis of power/social exclusion to programme design and management.
• Highly developed negotiation, facilitation, influencing, stakeholder engagement skills, and ability to promote critical thinking and reflection.
• Significant experience of providing training, technical support and/or advice.
• Significant experience of promoting culture change and organisational learning.
• Highly developed interpersonal skills, including the ability to discuss sensitive issues and inspire others to take up new challenges.