LAC-01

Organization title: Millennium Challenge Account-Honduras and Millennium Challenge Corporation
Field Location: Tegucigalpa and rural communities in several Honduran Departments
Policy Location: Washington, D.C.

DESCRIPTION OF ORGANIZATION

Millennium Challenge Account-Honduras Program is a Honduran government institution, created in 2005 and established to receive and oversee Millennium Challenge Corporation funds allocated for Honduras. MCC is responsible for the stewardship of the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA), which receives funds appropriated by Congress every year.

The objective of the MCA-Honduras Program is to promote accelerated and inclusive economic growth, supporting the goal of the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) of Honduras, which is to increase annual real GDP growth to at least 4.5% on a sustainable basis and to reduce the poverty and extreme poverty indexes by 1.6 percentage points annually. To this end, the Program supports interventions to eliminate obstacles of growth in urban and rural areas and to strengthen the central logistical corridor of the Honduran economy.

The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) "is a United States Government corporation designed to work with some of the poorest countries in the world. Established in January 2004, MCC is based on the principle that aid is most effective when it reinforces good governance, economic freedom and investments in people. MCC’s mission is to reduce global poverty through the promotion of sustainable economic growth." MCC includes, among others, specific Food security and Gender programs.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The fellowship will focus on the following MCA-Honduras field programs: Farmer Training and Development Activity (FTDA), Farmer Access to Credit, and Agricultural Public Goods Grants Facility. The Farmer Training and Development Activity´s primary objective is to sustainably increase the profitability of 8,255 men- and women-owned agribusinesses, thereby increasing overall rural incomes and employment opportunities. The Farmer Access to Credit mains activities are providing technical assistance to financial institutions, offering loans to such institutions and supporting the expansion of the national lien registry system. The Agricultural Public Goods Grants Facility will provide funding to support projects that enhance and accelerate the development of market-based commercial agriculture, particularly the horticultural sector. The Parties expect that these grants will fund two types of projects: Pure Public Good and Quasi-Public Goods.

FIELD PLACEMENT

The fellow will work in close coordination with the MCA-Honduras´ Environment and Social Director. S/he will also work with MCA-Honduras PMU Staff. Although MCA-Honduras has a Gender Policy based on the MCC´s gender policy, there has not been a real appropriation of the policy by MCA-H staff and project managers. The overall role of the fellow during the field and policy year will be to first investigate and analyze how MCA-H programs are incorporating gender integration issues in their different components, including PMU operations, and then to transform the existing policies and create a toolkit to make these policies operational, taking into account the local context.

POLICY PLACEMENT

During the policy year the fellow will be working in close coordination with the Director of Social and Gender Assessment. The fellow’s main responsibilities will include assessing the potential social and gender impacts of projects proposed by Compact-eligible countries; assist in the development of MCC's gender integration strategy in order to incorporate gender analysis, gender planning, and gender impact monitoring into MCC's guidance to eligible countries; and utilize lessons learned from gender analysis and integration from Honduras to provide overall policy recommendations for gender integration for all MCC eligible countries.

EDUCATION/EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

• Advanced degree in social sciences (women’s studies, public policy, international development, public policy or related field)
• At least 5 years of work experience in gender related issues including: gender analysis and integration on program design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and development and implementation of a gender policy.
• Expertise in gender integration in multi-sector projects (particularly in rural development, agriculture, and financial institutions) planning and implementation
• Demonstrated ability to analyze social, cultural, political, and legal constraints to achieving gender integration in sectoral projects
• Experience designing and teaching gender themed workshops/ trainings.
• Effective cross-cultural communication with fluency in Spanish and English.
• Experience working in Latin America
• Experience working with civil society and NGOs, government, and forming community partnerships
• Sociological or anthropological training is helpful, with an in-depth understanding of gender roles and relations in context.
• Knowledge and experience with the Moser gender analysis framework and gender audit and participatory gender audits