Manager for Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) and Cross-cutting Solutions

Position Title:	Manager for Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) and Cross-cutting Solutions
Component:	Stakeholder Engagement and Cross-cutting Solutions
Reporting:	BGA Chief of Party
Period of Performance:	Life of the project
Location:	Amman, USAID BGA Office

Background:

The USAID Business Growth Activity (USAID BGA) will enable Jordan’s small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to improve their productivity and competitiveness, create new jobs and innovation within a range of sectors, and advance Jordan towards a more prosperous, resilient, and inclusive future. Through a series of evidence-based interventions, the USAID BGA will support these enterprises with direct firm-level assistance and broad-based capacity building programs to mobilize millions in capital and address constraints through advocacy and public-private dialogue that complements USAID’s policy reform initiatives. The activity strives to allow growth-oriented SMEs to reach new markets and buyers, increase collaboration along value chains, and improve efficiency and quality to meet demand. The activity will empower these enterprises to access tailored and competitively priced debt, equity, and new hybrid financial products to operate within a more responsive business environment better informed by public-private dialogue and advocacy. This will allow SMEs to engage women, youth, and persons with disabilities, and increase sales, exports, and broad-based job creation.

Objective: The Manager for WEE and Cross-cutting Solutions will support the identification of public-private dialogue event topics relevant to SMEs and startups and work with USAID BGA stakeholders to lead these events and coordinate appropriate follow-up. The Manager will play a lead role in improving the quality, relevance, and inclusiveness of USAID BGA Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) and women economic empowerment (WEE)-specific activities and integrate GESI and WEE principles across all aspects of project implementation. Furthermore, the Manager will liaise with USAID, USAID EDE portfolio projects, private sector, other donors, and other stakeholders to align and integrate emerging opportunities that can be leveraged related to USAID BGA activities.

Roles and Responsibility: Under the direction of the BGA Chief of Party, the Manager for WEE & Cross-cutting solutions will be responsible for, but not limited to, the tasks detailed hereunder:

• Gender and social inclusion: Utilize the findings of BGA’s GESI analysis and design and implement GESI- and WEE-specific recommendations, in cooperation with the BGA technical team, tailored to USAID BGA objectives. The GESI activities are related to knowledge, and behaviors that promote women, youth, People with Disabilities (PWD) economic participation, and expanded access to finance, and related services for women-led and women-owned SMEs.
• Stakeholder Relations: Help USAID BGA maintain positive and productive working relationships with activity counterparts, including intervention partners (such as private sector entities [Chambers of Commerce, business associations, etc.], intermediaries, and other organizations working towards the same objectives as USAID BGA), and BGA implementers (subcontractors and grantees), as well as SMEs. Manage and support relationships and activities detailed in BGA’s Co-Work Plan Strategy.
• Work Plan Activity Leadership: Support USAID BGA work plan development and execution related to WEE and GESI, public-private dialogues (PPDs), and collaborative engagements between BGA and other USAID projects through implementing and updating the USAID BGA co-workplan with relevant USAID IPs.
• Engagement, Reporting, and Research: Support direct engagement with SMEs, private sector, donors, stakeholders, and other USAID EDE portfolio project to ensure cooperation and alignment. From these engagements identify any policy or other challenges that the SMEs face. Identify core issues, and conduct research & analysis as requested. Maintain a database of relevant information, policies, laws, and regulations that will feed into PPDs, as well as stakeholders’ contact information and other important details. Produce regular reporting required for relevant activities directly implemented by USAID BGA.
• Implementation: Support, draft, and manage scopes of work for short-term consultants, RFPs, and RFAs needed to engage external consultants and technical experts to assist in executing activities; prepare internal and external communication memoranda and reports.
• Coordinate closely with technical teams to ensure the use of GESI data in designing project interventions with USAID Jordan Women’s Economic Empowerment and Leadership Activity (WEELA) as well as with other relevant USAID and other development programs.
• Monitoring and Evaluation Support: Align the project’s WEE and social inclusion strategy with the workplan, Activity Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Plan (AMELP), and related project planning materials. Maintain ongoing monitoring and evaluation and learning of GESI-specific initiatives and activities, ensuring that GESI-specific activities are not siloed.
• Problem Solving: As a professional with years of experience, s/he is expected to monitor all assigned activities closely, identify any implementation problems as early as possible (“early warning”) whether technical or administrative, recommend solutions to problems as they arise, and work with USAID BGA executive team to execute agreed-upon solutions.
• Events: Work closely with the USAID BGA Communications Team to organize and manage project-related events, workshops, and seminars in coordination with USAID BGA teams and external stakeholders; helping prepare, deliver, and follow-up on all external events, training programs, workshops, and other related activities.
• Support other USAID BGA-related activities: Support will be provided as directed to the technical teams, and any other task assigned by the Chief of Party.

Skills and Knowledge

• SME development, WEE/GESI, public-private dialogue, innovation and crosscutting experience
• Project management, procurement, reporting, and evaluation
• Professional technical writing, problem-solving, and strategic thinking skills
• Professional presentation and communication skills: able to describe conditions and status verbally concisely and accurately, through presentations, and in writing
• Demonstrated interpersonal communications and professional relationship building skills
• Teamwork: must be an excellent team member, and able to work independently
• Experience with USAID technical reporting and monitoring & evaluation (M&E) requirements.
• Multi-tasking skills
• English and Arabic Proficiency (written and verbal)
• MS Office Proficiency (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Project)

Minimum Qualifications:

• Minimum of 10 years of professional experience in business development activities; innovation, SMEs development in Jordan, gender, youth, and women’s economic empowerment.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in Business Administration, Economics, International Development, Gender, Public Policy or a relevant field; Master’s degree is preferred.
• Knowledge of activity work planning and implementation
• Ability to work closely with the private sector, especially SMEs and startups
• Ability to work in focused activities to support social inclusion for women, people with disabilities and youth
• Experience managing and executing multiple projects and working with public and private stakeholder executives is preferred.
• Solid problem solving, organizational, time management, and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to represent USAID BGA professionally and confidently with its variety of stakeholders (private sector, international and Jordanian).
• Experience with economic growth programming, particularly small and medium enterprise support, and/or livelihoods-related programming, highly desired
• English and Arabic fluency

Duration of Assignment: Immediate hiring for a one-year contract renewable upon satisfactory performance. The duration of the USAID Business Growth Activity is 5 years, effective September 2021.

Application: Only the most qualified and suitable candidates will be invited to interviews. Interested qualified individuals may submit their CV, cover letter and three references to [email protected] by October 28, 2022. No phone calls will be accepted to inquire about the position. Persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply.

FHI 360 is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer whereby we do not engage in practices that discriminate against any person employed or seeking employment based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national or ethnic origin, age, marital status, physical or mental disability, protected status, or any other characteristic protected under applicable law.

FHI 360 will consider for employment all qualified applicants in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable local laws.

Deadline for application is October 31, 2022.

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