Background
The IUCN Global Gender Office is the institutional anchor of IUCN´s work on gender equality and women’s empowerment. The Office is based in Washington D.C. and operates at global, regional and national levels, providing technical support to institutions as diverse as multilateral development banks, United Nations agencies, the secretariats of international conventions, international development agencies, ministries of national governments, and women’s and environmental organizations.
Over the past two decades, the Office has carried out extensive work addressing gender issues within the environmental and energy sectors. Activities to date include:
- Publication of more than 70 gender tools specific to sectors in the environmental and sustainable development arena.
- Development of major institutional gender frameworks of United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), and United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR)
- Support to more than 15 national governments and regional bodies to develop landmark gender-responsive climate change and REDD+ national strategies.
- Support to Central American governments and local organizations to enhance their capacity to address gender considerations in the energy sector in Central America.
- Launch of the first global measurement system on gender and environment—the Environment and Gender Index (EGI).
- Spearheading of the Global Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA) and the Network of Women Ministers and Leaders for the Environment.
Gender Expert Network
In recent years, requests to the Office for technical support at the national level have multiplied, necessitating an additional layer of expertise and expanded human resources. At the same time, IUCN’s global partners are investing in the Office’s expansion to new countries.
Responding to these new opportunities, the Office is establishing a gender expert network on environment, climate change, and sustainable development. The network will be made up of gender experts already active in key developing countries—individuals who are motivated to exchange strategies, information, and build momentum across countries and regions. The gender expert network will anchor the Office’s work in key countries, connecting international commitments on gender in the environmental and sustainable development arena to national level policies and programmes. In some cases and as necessary, gender experts may be offered the opportunity to provide professional support to IUCN’s activities—including technical inputs; advocacy; research; training; strategic networking and communications.
Opportunities
Members of the Gender Expert Network will be exposed to the following opportunities:
- Information and strategy exchange with the Office, and with peers in other countries and regions.
- Participation in the Office’s national and regional activities as noted below.
- Trainings on emerging topics and trends when they are scheduled in key countries or regions.
- In some cases there may be opportunities for a professional consultancy as needed.
National and Regional Level Activities
Members of the Gender Expert Network may be invited to participate in the Office’s national and regional activities, which include but are not limited to:
- Developing new initiatives on gender, environment, climate change, and sustainable development.
- Supporting IUCN country offices or regional offices on integrating gender in their work.
- Promoting the participation of women and women’s organizations in key opportunities.
- Providing trainings.
- Conducting research, collecting case studies and best practices, and analyzing lessons learned.
- Preparing manuals and other capacity development materials.
- Supporting governments and other stakeholders to develop public policies, including national strategies for mainstreaming gender in climate change and REDD+.
- Collaborating with governments and other stakeholders to identify actions for implementation out of the national strategies.
Thematic areas
IUCN will seek a balance of expertise in the following thematic areas:
- Gender mainstreaming methodologies
- Gender and natural resource management, including biodiversity and protected areas
- Gender and climate change: adaptation, mitigation, REDD+, and climate finance.
- Gender and energy, with emphasis on access to energy and renewable energies.
- Gender, water, and drylands.
- Gender and disaster risk reduction.
Qualifications
Members of the Gender Expert Network will have the following characteristics:
- Graduate degree in a relevant discipline, such as gender, sustainable development, environment, climate change, and/or the social sciences.
- 7+ years in the field of gender and environment, including demonstrated knowledge of challenges and solutions.
- Experience working with networks in the areas of gender and environment, sustainable development, and climate change.
- Working knowledge of the international policy environment, and national policy environments in the specified developing country.
- Experience conducting research and analysis in the area of gender and environment.
- Solid command of written and oral communications in English. Depending on the region, fluency in other languages such as Spanish, French, Arabic, or other languages.
Expression of Interest
Both women and men are encouraged to submit an expression of interest. Interested individuals should submit a CV and a cover email noting the country(ies) of specialty and describing why you are interested in participating in the network. The email is iucngenderoffice@iucn.org and the deadline is August 15, 2013.
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