Technical Assistant to the National Gender & Soclal Safeguards Officer

The Ogun State Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security is a vital government organ dedicated to enhancing food productivity, driving industrialisation, and improving the livelihoods of smallholder farmers across Ogun State, Nigeria

Ogun State Program Implementation Unit of the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ) Program invites applications from eligible candidates to fill the position below:

Job Title: Technical Assistant to the National Gender & Soclal Safeguards Officer

Location: Idi-Aba Abeokuta, Ogun

Estimated Duration of the Assignment: twelve (12) months with the possibility of extension based on program needs, satisfactory performance and conduct

Background

• The Ogun State Government through the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) has secured a facility from the African Development Bank (AfDB), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) to implement a five-year AfDB/IFAD/ISDB-Assisted Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ) Program in partnership with Private Investors.
• The seven (7) participating states of Imo, Kaduna, Cross River, Kwara, Oyo and Ogun as well as the Federal Capital Teritory (FCT) in the first phase of program implementation.
• The implementation of a government-enabled/private sector driven SAPZS is a major investment program of the Federal Government of Nigeria, driven by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (FMAFS) in collaboration with relevant Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to develop agro-processing clusters in areas of high agricultural production across the country.
• It is a strategic move to rapidly develop modern Agro-processing capacity to serve the vast and growing local markets, create sustainable market for farmers and reduce post-harvest losses of local agricultural produce and thereby create wealth for farmers, promote import substitution and create sustainable agriculture-related jobs.
• This clustering approach is to help address investment challenges in the development of agro- processing enclaves across Nigeria, including poor access to quality infrastructure, inadequate feedstock supplies and other challenges confronting agro-processing environment SAPZS, therefore, will be developed with requisite infrastructure for agro processing environment which will help reduce cost absorptions and engender competitiveness in agro-industrial production that is critical to further unlocking the potentials of Nigeria's agriculture to create ready markets and wealth for farming communities and reduce rural poverty.
• The SAPZ is made up of two building blocks which include the Agricultural Transformation Centres (ATCs), which are community-based rural institution within the host community, equipped with desirable infrastructure to create modern agro-processing environment where secondary value addition will take place.
• The Agro-Industrial Processing Hub (AIH) will draw its processing feedstock from the ATCs where activities of the production clusters and Aggregation Centres are being coordinated.

Scope of Service and Responsibilities

Gender Mainstreaming and Inclusion:

Under the direct supervision of the Gender and Social Safeguards Officer, the Technical Assistant will perform the following tasks:

• Support implementation of the SAPZ Gender Action Plan (GAP) with clear linkage to IFAD gender policy (targeting at least 50% women beneficiaries);
• Track and report on key log frame indicators such as:
• Number of women provided with nutrition support
• Number of persons receiving services (disaggregated by sex and age);
• Percentage of women beneficiaries;
• Percentage of youth beneficiaries;
• Support identification and mobilization of women farmer organizations, youth groups, and vulnerable populations;
• Support the integration of Gender Action Learning Systems (GALS) and other gender transformative tools;
• Support interventions that enhance women's economic empowerment, decision-making, and access to productive assets;
• Support and ensure inclusion of people with disabilities and other marginalized groups in programme activities.

Nutrition and Household Resilience:

• Support integration of nutrition-sensitive agriculture interventions (eg., home gardening, dietary diversity promotion)
• Track nutrition-related indicators such as improved dietary diversity and adoption of nutrition practices;
• Assist in documenting outcomes related to improved household nutrition and food security;
• Support coordination of nutrition training and awareness activities aligned with SAPZ nutrition strategy.

Gender Mainstreaming and Gender-Transformative Responsibilities

The Technical Assistant shall provide dedicated technical and operational support to ensure that gender equality and women's empowerment are systematically integrated across all SAPZ programme components in line with IFAD Gender Policy, log frame indicators, and the SAPZ Gender Action Plan (GAP). Specifically, the Technical Assistant will undertake the following tasks:

Gender mainstreaming in programme implementation:

• Support the integration of gender perspectives into all programme activities, including value chain development, agribusiness support, infrastructure interventions, and capacity-building initiatives;
• Ensure that all programme interventions are designed and implemented in a gender-responsive manner, addressing the specific needs, constraints, and opportunities of women, men, and youth;
• Review workplans, budgets, and activity designs to ensure alignment with gender equality objectives and SAPZ gender targets (minimum 50% women participation);
• Support the identification and removal of gender-based barriers to participation, including access to land, inputs, finance, markets, and decision-making platforms.

Implementation of the Gender Action Plan (GAP):

• Support the operationalization and monitoring of the SAPZ Gender Action Plan at the state level;
• Track progress against GAP targets and ensure alignment with IFAD's gender transformative indicators;
• Facilitate the integration of gender actions into annual work plans and budgets (AWPB);
• Provide technical input for periodic GAP performance reviews and reporting.

Women's Economic Empowerment:

• Support interventions that enhance women's access to productive assets, financial services, technologies, and markets within SAPZ-supported value chains;
• Promote women's participation in agribusiness enterprises, cooperatives, and processing activities;
• Support development of gender responsive business models and enterprise support mechanisms;
• Track and report on outcomes related to women's income, employment, and economic empowerment.

Gender-Transformative Approaches (GALS and Social Norms):

• Support the introduction and scaling of Gender Action Learning Systems (GALS) or similar gender-transformative methodologies;
• Facilitate household-level and community-level dialogues aimed at addressing discriminatory social norms and intra-household inequalities;
• Promote joint decision-making, equitable workload distribution, and increased agency of women within households and communities;
• Document behavioral and social norm changes as part of programme results.

Targeting and Inclusion:

• Support participatory and inclusive targeting processes in line with IFAD targeting policy, ensuring effective inclusion of women, youth (minimum 40%), and vulnerable groups;
• Assist in profiling beneficiaries to ensure equitable access to programme benefits;
• Ensure that targeting strategies are culturally appropriate and context-specific to Ogun State.

Gender-Responsive Monitoring and Reporting (ORMS-Aligned):

• Ensure systematic collection and reporting of sex-disaggregated and age-disaggregated data across all programme interventions;
• Track key gender indicators, including:
• Outreach to women and youth;
• Women's participation in decision-making structures;
• Women's access to services, assets, and economic opportunities;
• Support integration of gender indicators into M&E systems, reporting templates, and digital databases;
• Contribute to ORMS reporting, Annual Outcome Surveys (AOS), and supervision mission documentation.

Capacity Building on Gender Equality:

• Support the design and delivery of gender training for SPIU staff, implementing partners, contractors, and beneficiaries;
• Facilitate Training of Trainers (ToT) on gender equality, gender mainstreaming, and gender-transformative approaches;
• Support the development and adaptation gender training materials, manuals, and toolkits aligned with SAPZ and IFAD standards;
• Promote institutional strengthening for gender-responsive programming within the SPIU.

Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and SEA/SH Risk Mitigation:

• Support the implementation of measures to prevent and r