The Gender-Transformative & Social Inclusion Expert leads the project’s GTSI workstream and is accountable for the end-to-end implementation of the Gender-Transformative and Socially Inclusive Framework Strategy over the transition phase. This is the central purpose of the post.

This is not a gender mainstreaming or advisory role. The distinction is deliberate and material. Mainstreaming integrates gender considerations into existing systems; the gender-transformative approach adopted by the project — structured across the strategy’s three stages of Access → Agency → Transformation — sets out to reshape the institutional norms, power relations and structures that produce inequality. The Expert is expected to operate this approach: to work from the project’s Theory of Change, to drive the five interdependent transformation pathways in parallel, and to translate the strategy’s Action Plan into delivery down to activity level.

Climate change adaptation is addressed within the project’s Agrifood Systems and Climate-Smart Agriculture (AFS-CSA) workstream and is not part of this position. The Expert contributes a gender and inclusion perspective to that workstream where relevant.

1. To lead the implementation of the Gender-Transformative Framework Strategy

·       Operate the Theory of Change. Drive the five transformation pathways — inclusive governance; equitable and safe learning environments; gender-responsive work-based learning; safeguarding and GBV prevention; inclusive transition to employment and entrepreneurship — as a single integrated system, advancing them in parallel rather than as isolated activities.

·       Translate strategy into delivery. Convert the strategy’s Action Plan into detailed annual and quarterly operational programming: sequencing, responsibilities, milestones, budget lines and monitoring calendars, fully reflected in project workplans.

·       Secure OECD-DAC Marker 2 compliance. Lead the classification, indicator design (DAC 1 & 2 aligned, sex-, age- and disability-disaggregated), evidence base and EU reporting required to sustain the project’s Marker 2 status, in liaison with the MEAL Officer.

·       Provide technical direction across the team. Guide the other Technical Experts, Project Advisors and RTB counterparts so that gender-transformative and inclusion requirements are embedded in curricula, work-based learning, infrastructure design, procurement specifications and terms of reference across all workstreams — not carried by the GTSI workstream alone. Lead the GTSI Technical Working Group.

2. To design and deliver advanced capacity-building content

·       Author high-level training material. Personally design, write and quality-assure competency-based training content, facilitator guides, participant handbooks, audit tools and assessment instruments across all levels of the project’s Training Architecture. The authorship of this material is a core deliverable of the post.

·       Deliver and certify. Facilitate or co-facilitate training for school teachers and leadership, project and RTB staff, private-sector work-based learning host companies, and students; operate the associated certification and recognition framework with RTB.

·       Engage beyond the schools. Develop and implement the engagement approach for private-sector actors, cooperatives, farmers and adult learners, including Inclusion Compacts, employer awareness sessions and workplace inclusion standards.

·       Build sustainable learning systems. Establish and animate Communities of Practice so that gender and inclusion competency is sustained beyond direct project interventions.

3. To manage the GTSI activity package end to end

·       Programme and deliver. Own operational planning, sequencing and delivery of the full GTSI activity package to the standard set by the Action Plan.

·       Manage procurement and consultants. Prepare terms of reference, contribute to procurement in liaison with the PSU, and technically supervise national and international consultants mobilised on GTSI assignments, including quality control and technical validation of their deliverables.

·       Manage the budget. Plan, propose and track GTSI budget lines, including gender-responsive budgeting, ensuring sound execution and donor compliance.

·       Monitor, evaluate and report. Track progress against disaggregated indicators, capture lessons learned, operate the GTSI dashboard/MIS in liaison with the MEAL Officer, and report to project leadership, RTB and the donor.

4. To support the transition of the schools into TVET Centres of Excellence in Agriculture

·       Institutionalise the gender-transformative agenda. Support Kisaro TSS and AEF Nyagahanga to embed gender equality and social inclusion in governance, planning, budgeting, staff performance frameworks and accountability systems, including scorecards and community accountability forums.

·       Secure inclusive access to practice. Operationalise measures ensuring equitable access for female learners and learners with disabilities to practical training units, dual training and internships, including the control points needed to counter guidance bias and de facto exclusion.

·       Institutionalise safe learning environments. Support the establishment of GBV/SEAH reporting mechanisms, accessible grievance channels and safeguarding referral pathways aligned with PSEA standards.

·       Promote inclusive campuses. Provide technical inputs during design, construction and renovation so that facilities are accessible to women, persons with disabilities and other disadvantaged groups.