THE BANK:

Established in 1964, the African Development Bank is the premier pan-African development institution, promoting economic growth and social progress across the continent. There are 81 member states, including 54 in Africa (Regional Member Countries).  The Bank’s development agenda is delivering the financial and technical support for transformative projects that will significantly reduce poverty through inclusive and sustainable economic growth. In order to sharply focus the objectives of the Ten-Year Strategy (2023 – 2032) and ensure greater developmental impact, five major areas (High 5), all of which will accelerate our delivery for Africa, have been identified for scaling up, namely: energy, agro-business, industrialization, integration and improving the quality of life for the people of Africa. The Bank is seeking to build a management team that will lead the successful implementation of this vision.

THE COMPLEX:

The Vice Presidency for ‘Agriculture, Human, and Social Development’ is a Sector Complex focusing on the Bank’s Ten-Year Strategy High 5s priority of “Feed Africa” and “Improve Quality of Life for the People of Africa”. The complex objectives are (i) to develop, policy and strategy; (ii) provide deep sector expertise to the Regions by gathering pool of experienced individuals who can be consulted to provide sector expertise on complex transactions; (iii) develop new financing instruments; (iv) the Vice President will act as the spoke person to represent the Bank with external stakeholders on aspects of “Feed Africa” and Improve Quality of Life for the People of Africa”.

THE HIRING DEPARTMENT/DIVISION:

The role of the Gender, Women and Civil Society Department is under the Agriculture, Human and Social Development Complex focusing on the Bank’s Ten-Year Strategy High 5s priority of “Feed Africa” and “Improve Quality of Life for the People of Africa”. Furthermore, “Improve Quality of Life for the People of Africa” will be operationalized with focus on Gender, Women and Civil Society.

The Gender, Women and Civil Society Department is designed to improve coherence and coordination across complexes on Gender and Civil Society Organization issues. The department will ensure strategic priorities are reflected in resources allocation, enhance monitoring and management of performance, and strengthen the focus on results. 

As part of the Gender, Women and Civil Society Directorate, the manager, Civil Society and Women Empowerment Division will provide leadership on mainstreaming Gender in operations.

THE POSITION:

The objective of Division Manager Position is to provide strategic guidance to the Bank’s work on gender and women empowerment and ensuring that a gender lens is applied across Bank operations and investments. The incumbent will build and maintain excellent external relations with development partners and alliances at the global level to advance the gender work. He /She will support the Division Director in regional and global advocacy efforts on promoting the gender and women empowerment agenda.

KEY FUNCTIONS:

Under the supervision of the Director – Gender, Women and Civil Society, the Division Manager - Gender and Women Empowerment shall:

1. Manage and Supervise the Division:

• Plan, organize and coordinate the activities of the Division;
• Set the overall objectives, develop work programs and oversee their execution and ensure that deadlines are met and that the Division’s outputs reach the highest technical standard quality;
• Establish a feedback mechanism and workflow management and assignments system in compliance with the Bank’s policies, guidelines and monitoring procedures.

2. Lead policy development and monitoring:

• Lead policy/strategy development/revision to enhance gender mainstreaming in the African Development Bank;
• Develop innovative approaches to the implementation of the High5s and coordinate annual reporting on gender disaggregated results;
• Provide support to the Bank’s knowledge management work on gender and target high return Economic and Sector Work to strengthen the quality of the bank’s policy dialogue, advisory services and involvement in the gender, women and civil society development debate;
• Advise the Department on emerging matters of strategic, policy and institutional significance, including the formulation/update of the Bank Group’s Gender Policies, Strategies, and Guidelines.

3. Enhance Gender Mainstreaming into Bank operations:

• Lead internal gender mainstreaming efforts to ensure quality at entry of projects (collection of gender data, statistics analysis, impact evaluation, and capacity building for Monitoring and Evaluation);
• In collaboration with relevant Bank Departments, help to design a monitoring and evaluation system for gender mainstreaming in the Bank at the operational, policy and corporate level;
• Enhance gender responsiveness of the Bank’s quality assurance and results frameworks within the operations manual and guidelines;
• Lead the development and application of mainstreaming tools for Country Strategic Papers, project design & supervision;
• Active involvement in the Bank’s review process country and regional team meetings;
• Operational support for project design, monitoring and evaluation;
• Strengthen Bank institutional capacity through training and other means;

4. Strengthen External Engagement and Partnerships:

• Strengthen partnerships with key multi and bi-lateral organizations, United Nations agencies, the Private Sector, Civil Society Organizations and others and enhance collaboration and networking;
• In collaboration with gender experts in operations, represent the bank in key regional and international events relevant to the work of the Division;
• Lead the organization of events (major conferences and seminars) in key sector-related thematic areas to inform operations, and share knowledge and good practices;
• Coordinate the Department’s relationship with other Multilateral Development Banks, International Organizations, bilateral agencies, research organizations etc., to monitor and analyze developments, and share and learn best practices on gender in Africa and the world.

COMPETENCIES (skills, experience and knowledge):

1. Hold at least a Master’s degree in Development Economics, Gender studies, Management, Sociology, Anthropology, or closely related disciplines;
2. Have a minimum of eight (8) years of relevant professional experience; of which three (3) years should be at the managerial level in the formulation and implementation of policies, strategies, programs and projects;
3. Demonstrated skills to combine strategic thinking with a good understanding on how to translate ideas into products in a participatory manner, navigating the shortest institutional way possible;
4. Proven leadership and team building skills in a diverse regional workforce; results orientation and ability to work in a multicultural environment;
5. Good listener with demonstrated ability to make ideas work and make effective and timely decisions;
6. Sound knowledge of and/or practical experience of public policies in African Government is desirable;
7. Experience of coordinating or leading corporate assignments across institutional boundaries;
8. Ability to network and build partnerships with a broad range of internal and external stakeholders;
9. Strong knowledge and understanding of regional social and economic issues;
10. Knowledge of operational policies, rules, procedures and practices of the Bank or comparable institution: major bilateral and multilateral partner development agencies in African countries or other developing countries is desirable;
11. Ability to communicate effectively (written and oral) in English or French, with a working knowledge of the other language;
12. Competence in the use of standard Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint); knowledge of SAP is desirable.

THIS POSITION IS CLASSIFIED INTERNATIONAL STATUS AND ATTRACTS INTERNATIONAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT.