Senior Project Officer (SPO) – Gender Equality and Women Empowerment (M / W)

Expertise France; Paris; Sur place; EUR 60 000 - 80 000; Plein temps

Résumé du poste

A public agency for international cooperation is seeking a Senior Project Officer for Gender Equality and Women Empowerment. This role involves overseeing project implementation in Latin America and the Caribbean, managing experts, and ensuring effective stakeholder engagement. Ideal candidates have extensive experience in international development and excellent communication skills in multiple languages.

Qualifications

• At least 8 years of experience in cooperation programmes in Latin America and the Caribbean.
• Proven project implementation related to Gender Equality in LAC.
• Ability to work collaboratively with diverse stakeholders.

Responsabilités

• Design and implement project activities focused on gender equality.
• Oversee recruitment of short-term experts for project activities.
• Organize and manage project-related events.

Connaissances

Gender equality expertise

Project management

Stakeholder engagement

Bilingual communication (English, French, Spanish)

Formation

Master’s degree in social sciences or related field

Description du poste

Expertise France is the public agency for designing and implementing international technical cooperation projects. The agency operates around four key priorities :

• democratic, economic, and financial governance ;
• peace, stability, and security ;
• climate, agriculture, and sustainable development ;
• health and human development ;

In these areas, Expertise France conducts capacity-building initiatives and manages project implementation, leveraging technical expertise and acting as a project coordinator. This involves combining public sector expertise with private sector skills to drive impactful results.

Under the direction and supervision of the EF Head of Project, the Senior Project Officer Gender Equality and Women Empowerment is in charge of the design, implementation, oversight and monitoring of the activities of Component 1, action line 1.1. The Senior project officer will supervise the Gender equality and other forms of inequalities Key Expert.

The SPO is responsible for day to day operational and technical implementation of the project in the 33 countries of the LAC region.

The SPO will search, recruit, coordinate and oversee high quality short-term experts. He / she is responsible for mobilizing the necessary resources to implement the project activities and for identifying and mobilizing necessary service providers.

The SPO will be responsible for the following non-exhaustive responsibilities and tasks :

Ø Project operational implementation :

• Identify the demands of the beneficiary countries in his / her area of competence and in relationship with the GGIA. Evaluate the relevance of these demands (political, sustainability, impact and high institutional priority) and its coherence with the objectives of the Project. Validate the demands which fulfil the above mentioned criteria;
• Elaborate an annual action plan for his / her component, gathering all the activities (national and regional) based on the demands identified to be validated by the KE and EF Head of Project;
• Ensure the implementation, monitoring, technical justification and follow up of these activities;
• Bring its own expertise in all aspects of the implementation of the activities of his / her component;
• Identify and mobilize specific expertise from different EU and LAC countries;
• Work closely with the Key Expert, other Senior Project Officers and Project Officers, in order to ensure a complementarity between activities, develop common activities and share good practices;
• Ensure the representation of its component (and possibly of the Project) on relevant activities and / or in regional or international meetings and forums;
• Ensure the visibility of the Project and the European Union in all the activities implemented by his / her Component;
• Maintain a constant dialogue with the relevant authorities of the participating countries;

Ø Capitalisation and event management

• Organize and manage events related to the project, ensuring effective planning, execution, and follow-up.
• Capitalize on the outcomes of project activities by documenting and disseminating best practices, lessons learned, and success stories.
• Participate to the evaluation of the activities under a double scope : for the Project, steered by the Coordination Unit, and for Expertise France, through the Head of Project which collaborates with CHDS / GOUV evaluation expert.

Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) are currently facing a challenging global geopolitical and economic environment characterised by uncertainty and a series of crises. The region is struggling to recover from the social and economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and return to the financial levels of 2019. According to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC, 2022), inflation rates are high, and labour informality is growing. Fiscal space remains limited. The pandemic added almost 50 million more people to the poverty line, and the region is trying to reduce poverty and inequality while experiencing a precarious recovery of jobs. The region continues to face high levels of inequality, particularly regarding income, making it one of the most unequal regions in the world. To collaborate in addressing these challenges, this Project aims to promote social cohesion, gender, socio-economic equality and tackle social issues.

This Project based on the long-standing strategic partnership of the European Union (EU) and Latin America and the Caribbean, aims to foster the social dimension of the Global Gateway (GG) in LAC, bringing a participatory and multistakeholder approach to the GG Investment Agenda (GGIA) and providing an opportunity for collaborations among the public, private, and non-profit sectors in their respective roles.

The Project main objective is to contribute to tackle gender and other inequalities, reduce poverty and social exclusion, and enhance social cohesion within and between LAC countries, through 3 specific objectives :

• Improving equal access to social rights, social services, and justice for vulnerable groups in all their diversity, notably women, children, and youth, and the bottom poorest 40% income or wealth households.
• More inclusive, accountable, and transparent public institutions promoting equity-driven and gender-responsive public finance models to reinforce social policies and protection systems, with special emphasis on women, children, and youth, and the bottom poorest 40% income or wealth households .
• New solutions able to foster and unblock investments that boost social innovation, the resilience of social systems, and just, socially, and inclusive green and digital transitions.

The Project is funded by the EU (DG INTPA) and implemented by six partners that have a strong commitment to work together with other EU Member States and partner countries to address global challenges, mitigate their consequences and allow a social, green, and digital transition while upholding human rights, democracy, good governance, the rule of law and gender equality. The members of the consortium are :

• The Spanish Cooperation (AECID and FIIAPP) – with FIIAPP as the leader of the consortium;
• The French Cooperation (AFD Group with Expertise France as main implementing agency);
• The German Cooperation (GIZ);
• The Italian Cooperation (IILA and AICS).

The Project started on the 17 December 2024 and will have a duration of 4,5 years. It aims to cover the LAC region with a focus on some strategic countries, with a total budget of 43M EUR.

The profile of the SPO should comprise the following elements :

• Minimum a Master’s degree in the social sciences, international development, or other related field;
• At least 8 years of work experience in national, regional or large scale co-operation programmes in Latin America and the Caribbean;
• Proven experience in implementing similar projects related to Gender Equality and other forms of inequalities, in particular in the LAC region;
• Prior experience in Regional multidimensional Programmes in Latin America under EU funding will be considered as an asset;
• Strong understanding of the Global Gateway and the bi-regional agendas on this theme, and their implications for social policy;
• Ability to work collaboratively with diverse stakeholders and build effective partnerships.
• Demonstrated ability to provide strategic and technical guidance in complex, multi-stakeholder environments;
• Ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously in a fast-paced environment, set priorities, and meet deadlines;
• Availability to travel in EU and LAC countries;
• Good knowledge of French cooperation system (EF, AFD) is an asset;
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English, French and Spanish is essential. Knowledge of Portuguese will be considered an asset.

Regular missions to the field