National Senior Manager - Gender and Safeguards

Conservation International protects nature for the benefit of humanity. Through science, policy, fieldwork, and finance, we spotlight and secure the most important places in nature for the climate, biodiversity, and for people. With offices in 30 countries and projects in more than 100 countries, Conservation International partners with governments, companies, civil society, Indigenous peoples, and local communities to help people and nature thrive together.

Conservation South Africa (CSA) is an independent affiliate of Conservation International that seeks to secure key reservoirs of nature across South Africa for the benefit of all drawing on best practices from our global affiliate. Our Vision is a South Africa where growth and development are catalyzed through the sustainable stewardship of nature. We do this through working closely with the government, local communities, NGOs, and the private sector to create scalable green economic demonstrations underpinned by climate science within the Namakwa District Municipality (Northern Cape), Alfred Nzo District Municipality (Eastern Cape), and the Greater Kruger Landscape (Mpumalanga and Limpopo). We deliver benefits for people and nature through four integrated portfolios – Jobs 4 Nature; Healthy African Rangelands; Climate Positive Planning & Finance; and Ocean Conservation at Scale.

CSA has a vacancy for a National Senior Manager - Gender and Safeguards, who will be responsible for mainstreaming gender and safeguards approaches to economic inclusion in rural economies with a specific focus on rural livelihoods, green enterprises, and nature-positive work experiences.

The National Senior Manager - Gender and Safeguards will work to promote gender equity, safeguards, and economic inclusion in project design, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation. The incumbent will be responsible for ensuring that all project activities follow CSA’s gender and safeguards policies. This role will work closely with project teams to identify gender-based constraints and opportunities and develop and implement gender-responsive programming strategies. The National Senior Manager: Gender and Safeguards will also be responsible for working directly with the Jobs 4 Nature portfolio to create tangible opportunities for women, youth, and members of the LGTBQ+ to participate in enterprise development, improved livelihoods, and work experience. This will be done in partnership with the Jobs 4 Nature team.

POSITION SUMMARY - This position is based in Johannesburg, South Africa 

Conservation South Africa is committed to the economic inclusion and empowerment of women, youth, and LGBTQ+ community members in three climate-vulnerable communities in rural South Africa. We are undertaking a bold initiative to increase the economic empowerment and financial inclusions of the target groups (Women, Youth and LGBTQ+) in rural communities by supporting and promoting their access to, and decision-making authority over, communal grazing land, livestock, and entrepreneurship opportunities.

The Gender and Economic Inclusion Manager will work closely with existing teams to provide targeted support on addressing gender and economic inclusion in all aspects of CSA’s work – but with a particular focus on our Jobs 4 Nature, Africa Rangelands, and Climate Positive Planning and Finance portfolios. The position will be a blended role which addresses core technical gender work (for example safeguards, DEI, and gender training), project management support for all gender-specific grants and the development of technical support materials for ensuring the economic inclusion of women, youth and members of the LGTBQ+ community in all aspects of our work. The position will also be responsible for monitoring and evaluation related to gender and economic inclusion for priority organizational projects. The Manager will support the development of high-quality gender and safeguard plans and project documents, ensuring projects comply with CSA’s gender and safeguard policies and requirements to meet project targets. The position will support the development of outreach and training materials, conduct online and in-person safeguard training, and collect, analyze, and present gender and safeguards performance data.

CSA has a well-established safeguards system that will be applied to this project. The Gender and Economic Inclusion Manager will support the implementation, management, and capacity building of CI’s Gender and Safeguard Systems at the project level. Comprised of policies, standards and procedures, guidance, capacity-building processes, and a grievance redress mechanism, CI’s Safeguard System is designed to avoid or mitigate adverse environmental and social impacts in projects.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Lead and ensure that gender mainstreaming, safeguards mainstreaming and the economic empowerment of women, youth, and LGTBQ+ is achieved across CSA’s programming and with key implementing partners, and targeted farmer organisations, SMMEs, and co-operatives:

• Develop and implement CSA’s gender, DEI, and economic and social inclusion policy, and ensure compliance with relevant gender and safeguards policies, national laws and regulations.
• Conduct gender analyses to assess project activities, policies, and institutional arrangements to identify gender-based constraints, needs, and opportunities.
• Work with project teams to develop gender-responsive programming strategies for projects, including the development of gender action plans – with a focus on economic inclusion.
• Develop and pilot women-owned restoration and regeneration businesses and community-based finance models within priority ecological corridors in the GLTFCA.
• Empower women, youth, and vulnerable groups through the implementation of gender-responsive Conservation Agreements, OECMs, Hearding for Health (H4H), and conservation stewardship models.
• Provide guidance and support to project staff on gender, DEI, and economic and social inclusion issues through training, coaching, and mentoring.
• Develop and implement a gender and safeguards monitoring and evaluation system to track progress, identify gaps, and inform programmatic decisions.
• Represent CSA and promote gender equity and economic and social inclusion in external meetings, workshops, and conferences.
• Work collaboratively with project partners, donors, and stakeholders to integrate gender awareness, DEI, economic and social inclusion principles in their activities.
• Participate in relevant safeguard subject area networks and stay updated on safeguards standards pertinent to conservation.
• Undertake reviews of progress/monitoring reports on the environment, economic and social safeguards for ongoing projects in coordination with relevant M&E units.

Provide support to the effective operation of project-level grievance redress mechanisms, including assisting in dealing with complaints from external parties affected by CSA projects concerning the application of safeguards

Design and support the implementation of specific economic empowerment interventions that target rural women, youth, and members of the LGTBQ+ community:

• Work alongside the African Rangelands, Jobs 4 Nature, ProNature, and Oceans teams to design specific economic empowerment initiatives for rural women, youth, and members of the LGTBQ+ community that result in increased income and/or work experiences.
• Mobilize gender-sensitive investors and private sector partners seeking to unlock the economic empowerment of rural women, youth, and members of the LGTBQ+ community to ensure adequate support for economic inclusion initiatives.
• Participate in gender-sensitive skills, livelihood, and career pathway mapping exercises and work with relevant skills providers to develop gender-sensitive skills programs.
• Design specific gender-sensitive SMME or Enterprise Development initiatives that complement existing work in unlocking nature-positive rural economies.

Other duties as assigned by supervisor.

WORKING CONDITIONS

• Up to 30% travel within South Africa and partner countries forming part of the GLTFCA landscape.
• Incumbent must be legally able to work in South Africa.
• Guidance on flexible work arrangements will be shared during the interview process. 
• This role will be a fixed-term assignment, anticipated to begin in May 2025 and end in January 2027

QUALIFICATIONS

Required

• Bachelor’s degree in Gender studies and a short course on economic/environmental safeguards plus 5 to 7 years of work experience in producing and disseminating knowledge management products and training materials.
• Work experience must be in gender and economic empowerment inclusion programming and implementation in a development or conservation context.
• Knowledge and experience in designing, applying, and monitoring environment and economic safeguards (stakeholder engagement, gender mainstreaming, grievance mechanism)
• Strong understanding of the social and risks and impacts, particularly the economic inclusion of vulnerable and marginalized peoples, gender equality, Indigenous Peoples, benefit-sharing, conflict, and grievance redress.
• Relevant experience with gender-responsive programming, including the design and implementation of gender action plans.
• Relevant experience in enterprise development and/or rural livelihoods and/or work experience programming
• Strong capacity to communicate with government agencies, local communities, civil society organizations, Indigenous peoples, and other stakeholders.
• Commitment to diversity, equity, and economic inclusion at both a project and institutional level.
• Ability to work independently and /or remotely, to meet deadlines and commitments.
• Strong interpersonal skills and capacity to work in team environments, including building productive partnerships across a diversity of stakeholders.
• Attention to detail and discretion in the discussion of sensitive risk-related issues.
• Excellent English oral and written communication, facilitation, and training skills, including public speaking.
• Strong analytical and writing skills, including experience in writing gender analyses and reports.\
• Knowledge of international gender and economic safeguards policies and standards.
• Familiarity with the conservation sector and/or environmental issues is a plus.
• Willingness to travel and work in remote field locations in the region.

Preferred

• Master’s or Honor’s degree in Gender studies, business studies, rural development studies, economic and/or other topics related to the economic inclusion of rural women.
• Honors degree in Gender studies and a short course on economic/environmental safeguards.
• Experience in working with M&E Teams, including developing performance indicators, designing surveys, analyzing data, and presenting findings in a user-friendly manner.

To apply for this position please submit a resume and cover letter.

Application Deadline: April 15, 2025  (11:49 PM EST)

See all Conservation International Career Opportunities HERE

Conservation International is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all individuals. We believe in hiring based on merit and qualifications, ensuring a fair and inclusive hiring process for everyone.