Gender and Social Norms Advisor

Posted date

21st August, 2025

Last date to apply

29th August, 2025

Country

Pakistan

Locations

Karachi

Category

Development Sector

Type

Contractual

Position

1

As a global leader, CARE is shaping the future of the humanitarian and development sector. Each year, we deliver support and services to millions of people in over a hundred countries. We do this by focusing on our mission and living the values that drive our organization. A career at CARE is an opportunity to be part of a movement that brings communities together to solve complex problems and foster lasting change throughout the world. We seek individuals who are passionate about humanitarian and development work, collaborate well with others, embrace learning and innovation, and deliver results.

Job Summary

The AAWAZ II programme focuses on social inclusion, and protecting the rights of women and children. Partnering with the CARE consortium, the initiative leverages CARE's expertise in preventing gender-based violence (GBV) and child marriage. The programme aims to foster social norms change, engage communities, and generate evidence-based interventions to address complex issues like child marriage, GBV, and the exclusion of special interest groups persons with disabilities, and religious minorities. Through coordinated efforts, the programme seeks to drive legislative and policy changes to support social cohesion and inclusion.

The Gender and Social Norms Advisor will play a critical role in providing technical guidance and support to the FCDO funding AAWAZ II project implemented by CARE International in Sindh, Pakistan. The Advisor will lead efforts to integrate gender-transformative approaches and promote social norms change across all project activities. Key responsibilities include conducting gender and power analysis, developing strategies to address harmful social norms, building capacity of project staff and partners, and fostering partnerships with key stakeholders to advance gender equality and social inclusion. The position will be a recognized expert in the project who will work to increase gender equality by shifting social norms at scale through community and stakeholder engagement. The incumbent is responsible for both strategic and tactical approaches to enhance the quality and impact of CARE's work on social norms under the project. S/he is responsible for providing technical leadership to a diverse group of individuals and implementing partners, including government players, and civil society organizations. This requires an advisor who is a subject matter expert, continual learner, results-focused, consultative, and politically savvy. The incumbent should be able to define strategy and process amid ambiguity, communicate complex ideas in simple and practical terms to a variety of constituencies, and develop networks and practical tools to strengthen capacity. The Gender and Social Norms Advisor will collaborate closely with the Senior Management Team (SMT) on resource mobilization, including the development of concept notes and the identification of potential funding opportunities.

This position will be based in Islamabad with frequent traveling (50%) to Sindh.

1- Gender Analysis and Monitoring (30% of time)

• Design and conduct participatory gender analysis to identify gender disparities, power dynamics, and social norms influencing project beneficiaries.
• Analyze the intersectionality of gender with other factors such as age, ethnicity, religion, disability, and socioeconomic status.
• Develop gender-transformative strategies and action plans to address identified gender gaps and promote positive social norms change.
• Integrate gender equality considerations into project design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation.
• Develop and implement participatory, gender-transformative monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to track progress, measure impact, and ensure accountability.
• Regularly review project data to assess the effectiveness of gender mainstreaming efforts and adjust strategies as needed.
• Contribute to the formulation of the risk mitigation and safeguarding strategy.
• Formulate tools to identify the harmful social norms that act as barriers to positive behaviours and outcomes and thus the context in which norms operate. Design guture oriented positive mesaages to overcome the identified social norms.
• Apply CARE's Gender Marker to monitor and ensure that the programme seeks to employ gender transformative or at minimum gender sensitive approaches throughout all activities. Support in design of action research to ensure inclusivity, data quality and adherence to do-no-harm principles while promoting gender equality and social inclusion.
• The Gender and Social Norms Advisor will collaborate closely with the Senior Management Team (SMT) and wok on resource mobilization, including developing concept notes and identifying potential funding opportunities.

2- Technical Support (25% of time)

• Provide technical guidance and support project teams on mainstreaming gender equality considerations across all project components and activities.
• Conduct gender audits and provide recommendations for enhancing gender mainstreaming efforts.
• Will provide all employees and volunteers with training on health and safety procedures, gender sensitivity, child protection, safeguarding, do no harm methods, and ethical behaviour in addition to orientation and induction sessions.
• Prepare regular reports, briefings, and presentations on gender equality and social norms outcomes for internal and external stakeholders.
• Ensure timely and accurate reporting to donors and partners, including compliance with donor requirements.
• Provide techical support to the partners to co-create feedback and accountability mechanisms using culturally sensitive tools, community platforms embedded in the programme (village, district and provincial forums), community meetings, digital platforms, information in local languages to all members including women, marginalised groups, transgender persons, persons with disabilities and religious minorities
• Provide expert advice on gender and social norm issues to internal teams, partners, and stakeholders.
• Provide support to the partner on technical assistance and specialist resource on gender justice and child protection across the districts with considerable experience.

3- Advocacy and Networking (20% of time)

• Engage with government agencies, donors, civil society organizations, and other stakeholders to advocate for policy changes and promote gender equality and social inclusion.
• Build strategic partnerships and networks to leverage resources and amplify the impact of gender-related initiatives. Foster partnerships and collaborations to support gender and social norm initiatives.
• Contribute to the development of policies and frameworks that promote gender equality and challenge harmful social norms.
• Advocate for policy changes and reforms at local, national, or international levels.

4- Capacity Building (20% of time)

• Design and deliver training sessions and workshops on gender sensitivity, social norm change, and related topics for staff, partners, and community members.
• Develop educational materials and resources to promote understanding and implementation of gender equality and social change.
• Provide training, mentoring, and technical support to project staff, partners, and community leaders on gender equality, social norms, and gender-transformative programming.
• Assess and strengthen the capacity of local organizations to mainstream gender equality and promote social norms change.
• Document and disseminate lessons learned, best practices, and success stories related to gender equality and social norms change.
• Contribute to knowledge-sharing platforms, conferences, and publications to enhance learning and promote evidence-based programming.

5- Other responsibilities as assigned (5% of time)

• Any other tasks or responsibilities based on organizational and programming needs as assigned by the Line Manager.

A) Qualifications (Know How)

Required

Bachelor's degree in social sciences, international development, gender studies, or a related field.

Desired

Master's degree in social sciences, international development, gender studies, or a related field is preferred.

B) Experience/ Technical Skills

• Overall 12 to 15 years of experience with minimum of 7 years of relevant experience on similar level role on gender equality, social norms change, and gender-transformative programming preferably with a reputable INGO or UN agency.
• Demonstrated expertise in gender analysis, gender-transformative programming, and addressing issues related to GBV and early child marriage.
• Strong understanding of gender issues, social norms dynamics, and their implications for development programming, especially in the context of Pakistan.
• Excellent communication, facilitation, and networking skills.

CARE participates in the Inter-Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. In line with this Scheme, we hereby request information from the candidate's previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the candidate left employment. All offers of employment are subject to satisfactory references and appropriate screening checks. By submitting an application, the job applicant confirms his/her understanding of these recruitment procedures.

CARE is an Equal Opportunity employer. We provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, sex, religion, ancestry, national origin, age, disability, marital status, or veteran status, or any other characteristics protected under applicable law.

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