Associate Director, Gender and Social Inclusion
Mindseeker Inc.

Title: Associate Director, Gender and Social Inclusion
Location: Washington, DC

Introduction:
Mindseeker is looking for an Associate Director of Gender and Social Inclusion (GSI) to join the Mindseeker Team and support the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). MCC has contracted with Mindseeker for the provision of Personal Services Contractor (PSC) staffing to selected areas of the agency. The selected candidate will work as a PSC member of MCC's GSI Practice Team led by the Senior Director for Gender and Social Inclusion and with other staff in order to strengthen engagement across sectors in current thinking, approaches, strategies, tools, and practices related to gender and social inclusion in large-scale international development programs. Mindseeker will be the employer of record. The Associate Director of Gender and Social Inclusion will have advancement opportunities and may be promoted to Director if tenure and performance goals are met. The Director of Gender and Social Inclusion may also be available for well-qualified candidates.

Major Duties and Responsibilities:

• Ensures that MCC's Gender Policy and related policy and guidance documents are followed throughout the compact process.
• Contributes to gender and social integration work as a member of the multi-disciplinary MCC team or through providing guidance to other GSI colleagues engaged with country counterparts to ensure that political economy analysis and analyses of social and gender differences and inequalities inform the development and implementation of programs to be funded through the Millennium Challenge Account.
• Assesses opportunities and constraints for different stakeholder groups to participate and benefit from MCA-funded projects.
• Assesses the soundness of a country's proposed programs in the context of a political economy analysis, and relevant social and gender analyses.
• Ensures that results produced through political economy and social and gender assessments are integrated in the design, due diligence, and final design of development projects across a variety of sectors, and appropriately monitored throughout implementation.
• Provides technical advice and counsel on social and gender issues related to policy analysis, consultations, program design, project assessments, implementation plans, monitoring and evaluation of Compact and Threshold funded projects and activities.
• Develops terms of reference and evaluates the technical adequacy of project-specific studies and plans such as gender assessments, political economy analysis, stakeholder mapping, human trafficking risk management plans, and social and gender integration plans.
• Provides input to develop approaches and terms of reference to monitor, assess and evaluate social and gender performance, outcomes and impacts of MCC-funded projects, including feedback loops that enable learning and adaptation during implementation.
• Collaborates with economic analysis and monitoring and evaluation staff to ensure that research design (quantitative and qualitative), data and collection and analyses incorporate gender and social inclusion dimensions.
• Provides technical input in developing a training and capacity building program on gender integration and social inclusion, as well as other social risk management issues such as human trafficking and societal cohesion (particularly in vulnerable states). Participants can be MCC staff and consultants, MCA partner country staff, consultants and implementers, and training may be held in MCA countries as well as Washington, DC.
• Provides technical contributions to the development and refinement of guidance documents, operational procedures, performance standards and other social/gender practice-related priorities.
• Develops budgets, timelines, and cost estimates, and conducts evaluations for procurement actions.
• Manages contractors, inter-agency agreements, and other entities to ensure that deliverables and work products are acceptable.
• Develops, regularly updates, and assists in implementing the Gender and Social Inclusion team knowledge sharing and management plan, including knowledge events on the subject.
• Provides technical input in the assessment, documentation and presentation of best practices related to gender and social integration and the management of these dimensions.
• Represents MCC to senior U.S. Government officials, representatives of foreign governments, and a variety of other stakeholders, both domestic and international. Strengthens external partnerships to enhance attention to gender and social dimensions of development.
• Performs other related duties as assigned.

Required Qualifications:

• Advanced postgraduate degree (Masters or PhD) in social sciences such as international development, applied economics, gender or a related discipline.
• 5+ years of experience in applied research, analysis of social and economic inequalities, including identification of barriers that prevent or limit the ability of women, poor people, and other disadvantaged groups to participate in, access and benefit from economic growth and development.
• 5+ years of experience in designing and implementing projects to further inclusion and/or gender equality and equity in at least one of the main sectors in which MCC works, including energy, water and sanitation services, transport, agriculture and land, and human capacity development.
• Experience undertaking contract planning and management, including experience integrating social/gender risk management measures into project designs and procurement and contract documents.
• Experience with training and other capacity-building methods and tools for increasing the social and gender competency of development professionals in both the donor and recipient countries through a range of learning formats and techniques.

Preferred Qualifications:

• 7+ years of experience in applied research, analysis of social and economic inequalities, including identification of barriers that prevent or limit the ability of women, poor people, and other disadvantaged groups to participate in, access and benefit from economic growth and development.
• 7+ years of experience in designing and implementing projects to further inclusion and/or gender equality and equity in at least one of the main sectors in which MCC works, including energy, water and sanitation services, transport, agriculture and land, and human capacity development.
• Experience working with MCC and/or demonstrated understanding of MCC's policies and approaches to the integration of inclusion and gender throughout its investments.

• At least a "general professional proficiency" in French, including in oral and written communications.

Work Environment:

• Candidate must be able to work in a hybrid office setting in Washington DC, with at least two days per week for an initial period.
• The work is primarily sedentary, although some walking, bending, or carrying of light items may be involved.
• International and/or domestic travel is required, which may include countries with limited infrastructure and physically challenging environments.

Suitability Requirements:

• All employees supporting MCC must be able to pass a thorough background investigation, including credit and reference checks, prior to starting.

Current direct hire federal employees who are considering applying to this announcement should immediately contact your Agency Ethics Officer for post-employment counseling.

Selectee will be required to work directly with MCC's Office of General Counsel to complete a Confidential Financial Disclosure Form (OGE-450) due as a new entrant within 30 days of onboarding and then due annually by February 15th. Selectee is not requested to submit the Disclosure Form prior to the onboarding.

EEOC Statement:
Mindseeker provides equal employment opportunities to all applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.

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