Gender & Social Inclusion Officer

Host entity: IFAD KEN

Volunteer type: International

Areas of expertise: Project management, programme development, strategy, Community development

Application deadline: 08/09/2026

Mission and objectives

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) was established in 1977 as an international financial institution following the 1974 World Food Conference. It was created in response to global food crises, particularly to address hunger and poverty in rural areas of developing countries. IFAD is headquartered in Rome, Italy and is a specialized agency of the United Nations.

IFAD’s mandate is to eradicate rural poverty and hunger by investing in rural people and agricultural and rural development. It provides financing, grants, and technical support to governments and partners to help small-scale farmers, rural communities, women, youth, and other vulnerable groups improve their livelihoods.

Its work focuses particularly on:

Rural poverty reduction and food security
Smallholder agriculture and sustainable food systems
Climate resilience and environmental sustainability
Access to markets, finance and technology
Empowering women, youth and vulnerable rural populations

Assignment context

IFAD is a UN specialized agency and financial institution focused on reducing rural poverty and hunger by investing in rural communities. It funds projects that boost agricultural productivity, increase incomes, and promote policies for rural transformation.

The Office of Technical Delivery (OTD) provides expert guidance to ensure IFAD projects are high-quality and aligned with its mission. OTD promotes innovation and the use of global knowledge to address complex rural development challenges sustainably and inclusively. Within OTD, the ECG division leads efforts on gender, climate, environment, and social inclusion across IFAD’s programs. The UNV will be positioned under ECG.

Task description

Under the direct supervision of the Regional Technical Lead (RTL), and the Lead Technical Specialist - Gender and Social Inclusion, ECG, The Gender and inclusion Officer will:
• Provide technical guidance on gender and social inclusion to project design and supervision/ implementation support missions, ensuring consistency, cohesion and synergy in the application of technical advice.
• Provide programme development support facilitating knowledge flows and building of communities of practice. This includes operational aspects of the proiects, strengthening the policy environment, M&E and knowledge management aspects, partnership building and interdisciplinary linkages to other project activities such as agricultural production, rural finance, value chain development and nutrition.
• Provide capacity building for IFAD colleagues at the regional level.
• Produces well-structured and analytical reports and capture experience and knowledge from IFAD portfolio in the region for knowledge products development and wider dissemination.
• The Gender & Social Inclusion Officer will be required to travel in the East and Southern Africa region to perform the work of the Organization.

Skills and experience

• At least 3 years progressively responsible experience in, and demonstrated understanding of, gender and social inclusion issues in rural development initiatives.
• Technical expertise on gender equality and social inclusion for the design and implementation support of development projects and programmes (preferably investments).
• In-depth technical expertise, demonstrated by substantive work experience, and solid understanding of youth, indigenous peoples, people with disabilities and other social inclusion issues in rural development, ideally acquired by working on rural development or poverty reduction projects.
• Access to networks of technical and professional resources and expertise which can support IFAD's work on gender and social inclusion.
• Ability to provide technical guidance/knowledge to different audiences.
• Ability to listen and respond to client needs.
• Ability to analyze, report, monitor and document new field-level methodologies and techniques in gender, youth, and social inclusion.
• Ability to work constructively in a team and in a multi-cultural environment.
• Effectively applies project management tools and techniques.
• Interdisciplinary approach to work.
• Strong writing, presentation and facilitation skills.
• Good working knowledge of Windows-based computing, and electronic communication tools.

Competencies and values

• Focus on results
• Integrity
• Professionalism
• Respect
• Developing the business
• Working with others
• Achieving results

Living conditions

The Republic of Kenya is an equatorial nation on the coast of East Africa, neighbouring Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania, and the Indian Ocean. Kenya has two levels of Government; National Government and 47 sub-national Governments called Counties. Counties are further divided into sub-counties. Kenya is a multi-party state with Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches. Kenya’s population of more than 40 million is growing at an annual rate of 2.2%. The country is classified as lower, middle income with a GNP per capita estimated at purchasing power parity (PPP) is $975, and the GNP is growing at an average rate of 0.1% annually. More than 26% of Kenya’s people live below the international poverty line of $1 per day. Kenya’s main food crops are “maize, wheat, pulses, roots and tubers.” (FAO).

Nairobi is a modern metropolitan city where most essential goods and services, health facilities, public transport, telecommunication and banking services and educational facilities are readily available. The city is widely connected through its main airport, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and the smaller Wilson Airport. Air transport is also available to many up-country destinations. Getting around in Nairobi is easy with ride-hailing mobility apps such as Uber, Bolt among others. The city is home to some 3,000 UN personnel mainly attributed to the fact that it serves as the headquarters for both the UN HABITAT and UNEP.

The UNV will be living and working in a multicultural environment, comprising of diverse nationalities of a middle-class socio-economic status. Prevailing security conditions at the place of assignment are moderate. The topographic and climatic features of the assignment location is highland cool and warm
Conditions of Service

The Conditions of Service, available here: https://explore.unv.org/cos, outline the policies and rules governing UN Volunteer assignments. Full information on entitlements at the duty station can be accessed here: https://app.unv.org/calculator.

Full eligibility requirements, conditions of service and application instructions are available on the official UNV platform.