Social and Gender Specialist – Sierra Leone

Aninver Development Partners SL (www.aninver.com) is looking for a Social and Gender Specialist for a water sanitation consultancy assignment financed by UNCDF in Sierra Leone.

Aninver Development Partners is seeking a qualified Social and Gender Specialist for an upcoming consultancy assignment in Sierra Leone supporting UNCDF. The assignment involves assessing community-level impacts, perceptions, and societal changes resulting from interventions in informal settlements that focused on sustainable water management, local economic empowerment, and peacebuilding.

The successful candidate will play a pivotal role in evaluating how community attitudes towards gender roles, women's leadership, and local governance have evolved. Working within a multidisciplinary team, the expert will ensure that all survey instruments, data collection protocols, and analytical frameworks fully integrate robust gender and social inclusion perspectives.

Aninver is preparing a proposal for this assignment. The selected expert will be part of the proposed team; the engagement is conditional on the contract being awarded to Aninver. The full Terms of Reference for the position are shared with shortlisted candidates.

Objectives of the assignment

• Evaluate community perceptions and attitude changes regarding gender roles and women's participation in local decision-making and water management.
• Assess the effectiveness of project interventions in promoting gender-sensitive civic spaces and women-led dialogue.
• Examine levels of civic engagement and empowerment among women and youth in community governance.
• Analyze disaggregated survey data to identify differential impacts of the project on women versus men across target communities.

Scope of work

• Contribute to the desk review of relevant project documents, baseline data, and gender equality frameworks.
• Support the design of survey instruments, ensuring quantitative and qualitative questions effectively capture gender dynamics and social cohesion indicators.
• Contribute to the development of gender-sensitive sampling strategies and community sensitization protocols.
• Assist in training field enumerators on gender sensitivity, Do No Harm principles, and handling sensitive topics such as local conflicts or gender-based violence.
• Support field data collection oversight, ensuring ethical research practices and safe engagement with vulnerable populations.
• Perform qualitative and quantitative data analysis, ensuring all findings are appropriately disaggregated by gender and age.
• Contribute to the drafting of the final endline survey report, highlighting gender-specific outcomes, conclusions, and recommendations.

Your role as Social and Gender Specialist

• Lead the integration of gender and social inclusion dimensions across all phases of the endline perception survey.
• Review and refine survey questionnaires to ensure appropriate framing of gender attitudes, women's leadership, and civic participation.
• Train enumerators on gender-sensitive interview techniques, ethical considerations, and mitigating bias during data collection.
• Supervise qualitative data collection and conduct thematic analysis of open-ended feedback and community perceptions.
• Disaggregate and interpret survey results by gender and age to evaluate shifts in women's empowerment and community cohesion.
• Contribute to the preparation of comprehensive reporting deliverables, ensuring clear articulation of gender-related findings and actionable recommendations.

Requirements

• Advanced university degree in gender studies, sociology, social sciences, international development, or a related field.
• Minimum of 5 years of professional experience in conducting social research, perception surveys, or evaluations with a strong focus on gender equality and women's empowerment.
• Demonstrated expertise in qualitative and quantitative research methodologies, gender analysis, and inclusive data collection in developing country contexts.
• Strong understanding of peacebuilding, social cohesion, and community-based water or natural resource management dynamics.
• Excellent interpersonal and training skills, with proven experience in sensitizing field teams on gender-sensitive and ethical research practices.
• Fluency in English (written and spoken) is required, along with strong report-writing skills.

Desirable

• Familiarity with the socio-political and cultural context of Sierra Leone and proficiency in local languages such as Krio.
• Previous professional experience working on assignments funded by UNCDF, the UN Peacebuilding Fund, or similar international donors.

A dedicated Social and Gender Specialist with extensive experience in evaluating women's empowerment, peacebuilding, and community-level social dynamics, ready to deliver rigorous gender-responsive analysis in Sierra Leone.

Assignment details

• Location: Sierra Leone
• Financed by: UNCDF
• Sector: Water sanitation
• Contract: individual consultancy (conditional on award)

About Aninver Development Partners

Aninver is an international development consulting firm headquartered in Spain. It supports governments, development banks, UN agencies and bilateral donors with feasibility studies, technical assistance, evaluations and capacity building across Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia and Asia-Pacific, working with a network of international and national experts.

Why apply

• Join a multidisciplinary team on a UNCDF-financed project in Sierra Leone.
• Individual consultancy: flexible, output-based engagement with an experienced proposal team.
• Your CV stays in Aninver's expert network for future assignments that match your profile.

How to apply

Sign in (or create a free account) and upload your CV in English. Add your LinkedIn profile, indicative daily rate and availability to speed up the assessment. Aninver will contact the shortlisted candidates.

Frequently asked questions

Is the position confirmed? The engagement depends on the contract being awarded to Aninver. Shortlisted experts are included in the proposal with their consent.

Can I apply if I am not based in the country? Yes, unless the requirements say otherwise; relevant regional experience is an asset.

What happens with my CV? It is used to assess your fit for this and future positions and is not shared with third parties without your consent.