National Gender Specialist

Organizational Context

Serbia, a climate-vulnerable nation, relies heavily on its forests for livelihoods, energy, and climate mitigation. However, these ecosystems face degradation from unsustainable practices and climate impacts. Rural women are particularly vulnerable due to limited resource access and a gender gap in forest governance. The FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia (REU) supports regional priorities, overseeing the FAO Project Office in Serbia. The GCF-funded FOREST Invest project aims to enhance forest resilience, supporting climate-adaptive management and sustainable biomass value chains, with FAO as the Executing Entity.

Job Purpose

The National Gender Specialist will ensure effective gender mainstreaming across all project components of the FOREST Invest project in Serbia. This role is crucial for promoting women's participation and decision-making in forestry and climate action, and for enhancing equitable access to resources and knowledge. The specialist will contribute to evidence-based, gender-responsive project implementation by collecting and analyzing sex-disaggregated data, aligning with the project's Gender Assessment and Gender Action Plan (GAP). Key responsibilities include mainstreaming gender into capacity building and awareness-raising activities, and mitigating social risks, ensuring compliance with FAO, national, and Green Climate Fund (GCF) requirements.

Responsibilities

The National Gender Specialist will provide technical and operational support for the refinement and implementation of the Gender Action Plan (GAP), ensuring its alignment with the project workplan and monitoring framework. This includes conducting gender analyses to collect baseline data, identify barriers for women, and inform gender-responsive forest management. Regular field visits will monitor progress and address participation barriers. The specialist will support the development of a capacity-building plan focused on gender equality and women's empowerment for project staff, government institutions, and forest users. Contributions will be made to gender-responsive awareness-raising initiatives to promote understanding of gender issues and inclusive practices. Promoting gender-balanced participation in consultations and decision-making bodies is also a key task. Furthermore, the role involves supporting the timely collection, analysis, and reporting of sex-disaggregated data and gender-sensitive indicators, maintaining data quality, and contributing to project reporting on gender equality and social inclusion results, proposing corrective actions as needed.

Work Experience

A minimum of three years of progressively responsible professional experience in gender mainstreaming and social inclusion within agriculture, forestry, rural development, or natural resources programmes is required. Experience working with international organizations, development partners, or climate finance projects is considered an asset. Practical experience in gender equality and women's empowerment programming, particularly conducting gender assessments in rural Serbian areas, is highly desirable.

Skills

Essential skills include results focus, teamwork, communication, building effective relationships, and knowledge sharing. Demonstrated experience in preparing and implementing gender equality and social inclusion assessments, analyses, and action plans, preferably in forestry, agriculture, natural resources management, climate change, or rural development, is crucial. Familiarity with FAO Gender Equality Policy, GCF Equality Policy, or similar international frameworks is a strong asset. Excellent oral and written communication skills are required. Experience with international organizations or climate finance projects is advantageous.

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