Gender Specialist Consultant | Consultoría Especializada en Género

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Consultancy title: Consultancy to Develop a Gender Strategy for RFUS Programs

Contract Type: Consultancy

Duration of the Consultancy:  short-term - less than 12 months

Location: Home-based remote, Americas location preferred

Expected Places of Travel: N/A

Department Client:  Programs Department

Organizational overview

For over 30 years, Rainforest Foundation US (RFUS) has worked to address climate change and safeguard biodiversity by promoting the rights of indigenous peoples and supporting their efforts to protect and defend their rainforests. Science shows that forests managed by indigenous peoples are healthier, suffer less deforestation, capture more carbon, and contain more biodiversity than forests managed by private or public entities--including nationally protected areas. What’s more, scientists tell us that protecting forests is as important as reducing greenhouse emissions if we hope to stem the tide of ecological collapse.

RFUS works in partnership with indigenous communities and their representative organizations to protect tropical rainforests by supporting their efforts to secure rights to their lands, strengthen monitoring and land security, influence laws and policies that protect their resources, and build strong and sustainable community leadership. By investing directly in indigenous communities, RFUS connects the people rooted in the land with the tools, training, and resources to be effective advocates and protectors of the forests they call home. RFUS currently operates four country programs in Brazil, Guyana, Panama and Peru, and hosts a number of regional partnerships in Central America, the Amazon Basin and across the tropical belt.

Consultancy overview

As part of its ongoing programs, RFUS has worked with women-led organizations and indigenous and community women’s organizations in the Latin America region for many years. Over the past few years, RFUS has begun to take steps to implement programmatic strategies to help ensure the effective participation of women in the activities we carry out, and to think more strategically about how to support women’s empowerment within the indigenous movement and progress on meeting the priority aspirations of the indigenous women’s movement. This short term consultancy will work with the RFUS Program Team to develop a gender strategy for the programs department which will detail short, medium and long-term actions to be taken to enhance gender sensitive programming in the region.

Objectives of the consultancy

• Facilitate and lead a participatory process with RFUS staff and partners to design a short, medium and long term gender strategy for RFUS programs
• Build capacity of RFUS program team on gender issues relating to our work

Scope of Work and Deliverables

• Review paper: Review of current practices, synthesis of experiences to date, and assessment of opportunities for growth/improvement.  Literature review and recommendations on best practice for structure of strategy and its elements across similar organizations (including RF Norway strategy)
• Current practices evaluation: Conduct rapid assessment of current gender policies, programs and strategies across main partner organizations and indigenous women’s movement organizations, as well as interest in developing further practice
  • Using virtual interviews and/or focus group methodology, include main RFUS partners, as well as their women’s arms and women’s leaders.
  • Synthesize findings and provide interview notes, share with RFUS and partners
  • Discuss with RFUS gender working group, reach agreement on main elements of the strategy to be developed
• Develop draft strategy for RFUS, taking into consideration partner interests and recommendations; current RFUS practices and capacities (staffing, finance, etc).
• Discuss with WG, reach agreement on main priorities in light of the current needs, context and funding landscape
• Propose a short, medium and long term RFUS gender strategy implementation plan
• Strategy document: Finalize strategy, monitoring framework, and implementation budget
• Training: Conduct a gender training session with all program staff

Consultancy Requirements

• At least 5 years' experience in gender analysis and gender strategy development;
• Proven success in identifying and implementing strategies to meet multiple programmatic and fundraising goals
• Demonstrate superior writing skills,
• Proven success in overseeing the development of organizational gender strategies
• Experience with outreach to indigenous and community organizations in Latin America
• Experience developing and implementing department-level policies and protocols
• Possess highly attuned interpersonal skills and experience working constructively across teams to manage multiple priorities on short deadlines
• Languages: Professional working proficiency in English. Spanish and Portuguese is ideal, but not required - we’re flexible.

Monitoring and Control process: The consultancy will require launch and closing meetings and bi-weekly meetings to coordinate and monitor the progress of deliverables.

Compensation:  The total budget for this consultancy is USD $7,000

Application instructions

• Interested applicants are advised to study the consultancy scope of work carefully, reflect in the letter of intention how your work and experience help you meet the requirements we are looking for, and share any initial thoughts on how to conduct the proposed work. Applications will not be considered without the submission of a letter of intention and a consultant resume. Providing a link to a portfolio of past work is an advantage.
• If you're interested, visit our website: https://rainforestfoundation.org/about/join-our-team/ and apply. You can also visit this direct link to apply for the position: https://rainforest.bamboohr.com/careers/85?source=aWQ9NTk%3D
• Please note that the consultancy will be listed as open until filled. Interested consultants are encouraged to apply early. Only those consultants that are short-listed for interviews will be contacted.

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_​​Rainforest Foundation US does not and shall not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion (creed), gender, gender expression, age, national origin (ancestry), disability, marital status, sexual orientation, military status, or any other protected status under federal, state, or local laws, in any of its activities or operations. We are committed to an inclusive and welcoming environment for all members of our staff, volunteers, contractors, vendors, and partners. Black, Indigenous, and other people of color communities are highly encouraged to apply.
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