JOB DESCRIPTION

Project title: ‘’EU Facility supporting policy dialogue and technical assistance in Iraq’’

Brief description of the project: The specific objective of this assignment is to strengthen public institutions and develop capacities for policymaking, planning, and implementation in view of engaging with non-state actors, responding to citizens’ needs and contributing to general socio-economic development including domestic revenue mobilization. Within this framework, the purpose of this contract is to provide on-demand technical assistance open to all Government entities targeted by EU interventions in Iraq through EU Special Measures and the EU multi-annual indicative program 2021-2026, as well as technical assistance directly to the EU delegation and support to the EU delegation for policy dialogue.

For an assignment: Gender Inclusion Advisory

DAI is looking to recruit: NKE 1 SENIOR NON-KEY EXPERT: GENDER EXPERT

ASSIGNMENT PURPOSE

• This assignment will provide the EUD with a refreshed gender inclusion assessment, an interactive training workshop for EUD staff based in Iraq, and recommendations on how the EUD’s Cooperation section could further strengthen EU efforts to promote the inclusion of women and gender equality between men and women.

ASSIGNMENT DELIVERABLES

Through the previous gender audit assignment, which covered 17 EU-funded projects, the assessment team found that gender equality remains stronger in proposals than in implementation. While most actions referenced gender inclusion, few made it operational in management or oversight structures. Project teams and steering committees often lacked gender balance; gender was rarely a standing agenda item in coordination meetings, and mentorship opportunities for women were limited. Only a few projects had dedicated budget lines for gender capacity-building or clearly distributed responsibilities for gender mainstreaming among team members.
The assignment made a core recommendation to operationalize gender equality across management, planning, and oversight, finding that EUD staff need targeted, practical training to strengthen quality assurance and oversight. This follow-on assignment will deliver training to EUD Cooperation staff through two half-day workshops where the NKE will deliver priority modules, including:

1. GAP III, DAC/OECD, ERBD/EIB frameworks and, to a lesser extent, Iraq’s gender policy landscape, including international treaties and national legal/administrative frameworks;
2. Applied gender analysis and baseline design (how to scope, commission, and judge adequacy of inception-phase analyses);
3. Gender-responsive logframes and indicators (building/assessing sex-disaggregated data, outcome-level qualitative indicators on attitudes/norms, and indicator placement in ROM/Results frameworks);
4. Gender-responsive budgeting and procurement (how to check budgets for training, gender expertise, and enabling measures like childcare, safe access, and reasonable accommodation);
5. Developing a case study approach, selecting one (or two) sector-specific lenses for male-dominated fields (energy, water, construction, etc.), including case exercises on steering committee composition, mentorship designs, and finance linkages for women beneficiaries.

Delivery should be hands-on with an expected duration of two half-days (eight hours of content), and ask participants to prepare in advance, ensuring immediate applicability to one or more programs currently under development or implementation. The Consultant is expected to engage with EUD PMs before finalising training materials.
Workshop content will be developed after a desk review of the previous gender audit conducted by the TAF, and a refreshed analytical view, developed from a concise set of interviews, of the measures that EU programmes and projects are undertaking to institutionalize equality and the empowerment of women and girls in program strategies, project decision-making processes, organizational structures in the corresponding budgets, activities, and log frames, to assess improvements and remaining challenges for mainstreaming efforts.

Following the refreshed assessment and workshops, the NKE will provide recommendations on how the EUD’s Cooperation section could further strengthen EU strategic engagement and a Team Europe approach to the inclusion of women and equality between men and women.

The expert will carry out the following tasks:

• Overall leadership of the activity, including consultations with EUD staff and programmatic stakeholders, training design and delivery, analysis, and production of the reports/recommendations as described in this ToR.
• Flexibility to undertake other tasks, as required for successfully completing the overall assignment ToR.

Qualifications, experience, and skills required:

• Master’s degree in international development, gender studies, or a closely related field, and 10 years of experience relevant to the assignment.
• Demonstrated experience with EU-funded projects in a GESI-focused role, designing, implementing, and/or supporting gender inclusion in assistance projects.
• Demonstrated experience in designing/implementing GESI-related activities and leading training/capacity building sessions.
• Experience in working in post-conflict countries, or countries in the MENA region, especially Iraq, is an added value.
• Excellent communication and facilitation skills, with a demonstrable capacity to translate technical concepts to managerial audiences.
• Excellent oral and written communication and drafting skills in English.

Duration of the assignment: 20 working days
Period of the assignment: TBD 2026
Place of assignment: Baghdad, Republic of Iraq. Remote work is limited to no more than 20% of the total working days.

The interested candidates are invited to submit their CVs in English no later than 21st of November!

Please note that only short-listed candidates will be contacted!

Level of Education: Bachelor Degree

Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: No requirements