Gender Specialist

AECOM International Development

Palestinian Energy Project

Contract No. AID-294 -TO- 16-00006

SCOPE OF WORK

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

USAID’s Palestinian Energy Project (PEP) aims to advance the Palestinian energy sector to support affordable and sustainable energy independence in the West Bank and Gaza. The project focuses to improve the Palestinian Authority’s efforts to modernize and diversify the Palestinian electricity sector. The project focuses on improving access to and reliability of electrical services by strategically incorporating renewable energy, which will increase the Palestinian Authority’s control of its electrical supply and improve affordability over time.

As part of the project, PEP will strengthen and commercialize the electricity distribution sector to improve collections, increase revenues, and enable uninterrupted payment to supplier.

BACKGROUND

USAID’s Palestinian Energy Project (PEP) aims to advance the Palestinian energy sector to support affordable and sustainable energy independence in the West Bank and Gaza (WBG). The project focuses on improving the Palestinian Authority’s efforts to modernize and diversify the Palestinian electricity sector. The project focuses on improving access to and reliability of electrical services by strategically incorporating renewable energy, which will increase the Palestinian Authority’s control of its electrical supply and improve affordability over time.

Despite a long tradition of women’s engagement in political life and aspirations for gender equality, a traditionally male-dominated social structure and cultural values prevail in the West Bank. Unfortunately, although women are primarily responsible for energy usage at the household level, women still lack influence over decision-making and access to information about modern energy carriers. The transition to other sources of renewable energy in the WBG, which will be supported through PEP, can create tangible benefits and opportunities for both women and men, such as employment generation, greater access to information through marketing and outreach opportunities, greater social cohesion across communities, and even improved health conditions.

In the first year of the project, a Gender, Youth, Conflict, and Sustainability Assessment was produced, and it included a set of recommendations to better integrate gender considerations in project activities.  The following activities represent a concrete set of interventions aimed at accomplishing this goal.

TASKS:

ACTIVITY A: Establish mCircle in Palestine and Women’s Engineering Association in Palestine

This activity aims to promote career development and create networking opportunities for women in Palestine, particularly those working in the energy sector.  With support from AECOM’s Senior Gender and Social Inclusion Adviser, PEP home office engagement manager, and the PEP management team, the gender specialist will establish/launch mCircle, which is AECOM’s women’s mentorship and empowerment platform that supports career management, skills development, and networking. mCircle provides women leaders with constructive guidance on career growth and helps advance the role of women in promoting better policies and attitudes in the workplace.  Specific activities include:

1. In coordination with PEP team, identify anchor institution(s) and organize mCircle launch event, convening women representatives of the energy sector (public and private sectors, academe, etc.)
2. Prepare for and convene regular mCircle meetings on a quarterly basis.
3. Using AECOM’s experience elsewhere in creating women’s energy associations (e.g. AWESK in Kosovo), look into viability of establishing a Women’s Energy Association in Palestine, using as a base mCircle membership
4. Working closely with AECOM Senior Gender and Social Inclusion Specialist, and with support from PEP home office engagement manager and PEP management team, establish and launch Women’s Energy Association in Palestine

Estimated Level of Effort: 25 days

ACTIVITY B: Women Energy Champions

This activity aims to change the commonly-held belief that the energy sector is a male domain by creating and widely circulating success stories featuring successful women (‘Women Energy Champions’) who have excelled in this field and then organizing role modeling events where these women speak at high schools and universities to encourage students to pursue careers in the energy sector.  Specific activities include:

1. In coordination with PEP team, identify successful women in the Palestinian energy sector
2. In coordination with the PEP communications specialist, prepare 1-page success stories on these ‘women champions’ on, at minimum, a quarterly basis, to be posted on the project and AECOM websites, social media pages, and circulated to USAID and project counterparts  
3. Organize roundtables/events at in the community during International Women’s Day (or similar international awareness day event) where these women energy champions speak to women to encourage them to pursue careers in the energy sector
4. Support the communications manager in developing press releases on these roundtables/events.

Estimated Level of Effort: 15 days

Activity C:  All-Women Solar Technician Training Course

Solar energy is the main indigenous source of energy in Palestine and the most widely utilized for various applications (residential, commercial, industrial).  There is tremendous employment potential in this sector. This activity will specifically target women who have been known to excel elsewhere in the developing world as solar technicians and entrepreneurs after receiving basic training.    Specific activities include:

1. With support from the PEP team, develop selection criteria and identify women trainees (20-25) for a week-long solar technician and entrepreneurship training course
2. Work with a solar PV expert (to be provided by PEP) to ensure training material incorporates a gender module and a module on employment opportunities for women in the sector
3. Ensure that gender considerations are addressed during duration of training, e.g. that timings are conducive to women’s schedules, coordinate with project counterparts to provide childcare if needed/feasible
4. Coordinate with JEDCO regarding possibility of integrating all-women solar technician course into their training curriculum

Estimated Level of Effort: 15 days

ACTIVITY D: Internship Program for Female Engineers

To help Palestine develop highly qualified and skilled personnel for the future, this activity aims to build the capacity of female students enrolled in engineering programs and provide them with the opportunity to be closely acquainted with both technical and business processes within key Palestinian energy sector institutions.  Specific activities include:

1. In coordination with PEP management team, identify potential universities and organizations/agencies to be part of the internship program
2. Assist the PEP team in developing a clear methodology and expected outcomes for the program.  The methodology will include criteria for selection, the application and selection process, and a sample MOU
3. Assist in developing clear MOUs between the universities and the organizations/agencies
4. Assist the PEP communications specialist in developing outreach materials to be distributed among students to explain the program and encourage students to apply for the program as well as outreach materials to publicize the program (e.g. success stories)

Estimated Level of Effort: 25 days

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QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree in Gender studies or related field from an accredited University;
• Demonstrated experience in designing, implementing and monitoring a gender equality strategy for a large-scale and complex international development program;
• Demonstrated experience providing in-depth quality advice on implementing and integrating gender equality practices in a developing country context;
• Commitment to women’s empowerment and demonstrated understanding of principles of gender equality and gender mainstreaming;
• Experience working with energy projects preferred;
• Excellent oral and written English skills;
• Understanding of cross-cutting issues including environment, gender equity and social inclusion; and
• Strong interpersonal and cross-cultural skills required.

Submission Guidelines:

Qualified applicants should submit a resume and cover letter to [email protected] no later than August 1, 2018.

Please indicate the name of the position in the subject line. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.