Background: 

Land O'Lakes Venture37: is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit committed to helping communities around the world build economies by strengthening local agriculture, helping agribusinesses create jobs and linking farmers to markets. Since 1981, it has implemented over 315 integrated dairy, livestock and crops development programs in nearly 80 countries — creating lasting impact by linking farmers, businesses, and the public and private sector in local and global contexts. Land O’Lakes Venture37’s long-standing affiliation with Land O’Lakes, Inc. sets it apart. Land O’Lakes, Inc. is one of America’s largest farmer-owned cooperatives. It supports Land O’Lakes Venture37 project implementation with nearly 100 years of expertise in dairy, animal nutrition, crop inputs and agricultural insights and technologies. This gives Land O’Lakes Venture37 development projects a unique global view of agriculture, food, and the power of well-functioning market systems. Land O’Lakes, Inc. supports these efforts as part of its enterprise purpose of Feeding Human Progress at home and around the world

Project Summary:

Land O’Lakes Venture37 is the lead project implementer for the Nourishing Prosperity Alliance (NPA) project, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The purpose of the NPA project is to establish commercially viable and sustainable forage markets that equitably strengthen the regional competitiveness of the dairy industries in Kenya and Ethiopia. Forage markets will be developed through the implementation of integrated activities that drive demand for and use of optimized forage varieties among small-scale dairy producers, as well as improve the supply of climate-smart forage rations that are marketed to small-scale producers. Activities also aim to strengthen the enabling environment for forage market development over the life of the project, from July 2023 to June 2028.

Position Summary:

The Gender, Youth, and Social Inclusion (GYSI) Specialist will provide technical leadership in implementing inclusive programming and building GYSI skills through NPA project activities in Kenya and Ethiopia. The specialist will ensure GYSI integration in NPA project deliverables and will work closely with technical, operational, and monitoring, evaluation and learning staff to ensure gender and youth inclusion are considered in all activities, learning, data collection, and grant processes. This position is located in the NPA office in Ethiopia.

Reporting & Supervision:

The Gender, Youth, and Social Inclusion (GYSI) Specialist reports to the Forage Services Development Manager.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Design gender and youth-focused programmatic activities that are within scope of the NPA project goal and that align with best practices to achieve sustainable results.

• Build and support partnerships with Women’s organizations in Ethiopia and Kenya (e.g., UEWCA) and collaborate with the International Livestock Research Institute gender team.

• Provide technical assistance to micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and other private sector partners to reach women and put in place practices that support inclusion.

• Provide capacity building to project beneficiaries (MSMEs and farmer/producers) on GYSI and/or support GYSI program staff to provide capacity building.

• Providing support to Projects partners and building capacity

• Advise the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning team and partners on indicators, disaggregates, and data collection practices to ensure that women and youth perspectives are considered.

• Support the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning team to conduct internal program pause and reflect events to review progress and drive real-time learning and adaptive management processes in the project.

Job Requirements

• A Bachelor’s Degree in International Development, Gender Studies, Women studies, Agricultural Economics or other relevant field.

• A minimum of four (4) years of relevant experience designing and implementing women’s and/or youth integration and empowerment activities in agricultural development projects.

• Previous experience living and working in developing countries and managing donor-funded development projects in Ethiopia and Kenya

• Demonstrated expertise in incorporating gender and youth as a cross-cutting theme into agriculture, livestock and economic development projects.         Demonstrated experience and success in leading, supervising, coaching and developing others

• Excellent verbal and written (English) communication skills

• Demonstrated proficiency in Microsoft Office and Excel

• Right to work in Ethiopia

How to Apply

Interested and qualified applicants can apply Link The position described above is contingent upon activity award.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.