Call for national mentors in Colombia and Guatemala

ICLD is making a call for national mentors in Colombia and Guatemala, for ICLD’s network for gender equality.

The main responsibility of the mentor is to support a team of public officials, politicians, and, in some cases, civil society representatives, from the local governments in Colombia and Guatemala in a program promoting gender equality within local governance.   

The overall task for a mentor will be to support the teams with the design and implementation of their problem oriented gender projects, through coaching, expertise, concrete tools (and materials (from ICLD learning toolbox) to help participants (public officials, politicians and civil society representatives) to deepen their understanding of gender issues and apply gender policies within their local governments. More information on the mentor’s role can be found in the mentorshandbook.  
  
Each team will be working on the design and implementation of a gender equality project. The programme is based on peer to peer and problem oriented learning and focuses on achieving democratic change within local governance by focusing on the core values of equity, participation, transparency and accountability, Neither participants nor the exact topic of each project have been determined yet. ICLD is currently in the process of identifying potential Swedish municipalities which would be interested in entering the partnerships with the municipalities from Colombia and Guatemala.The process will be completed tentatively during the fall, 2023.  
 

Qualifications and skills required:  

• be well versed in local governance, human rights and issues related to gender equality on local level;  
• be experienced in the planning, implementation and follow up of projects;  
• have knowledge of the national context from a local governance perspective;  
• be an experienced coach/educator (and ideally experienced in gender issues and peer to peer learning);  
• have an excellent command of Spanish and of English;  
• have connections, knowledge and/or experience on local government/municipalities;  
• have experience from an international context (training, work, education or other);  
• be experienced in change management, communication and coaching of others.  

Job description in short: 

• Support the recruitment of the best municipalities for the program, acting as main contact from ICLD to the interested applicants (proactively inviting them to apply, answering their questions and guiding them in the process).  
• Support a team of public officials, (if relevant) politicians and a civil society representative from four local governments in either Colombia or Guatemala.   
• Support and educate teams in the overall principles for local governance, human rights and gender issues as well as carry out a change process using the gender mainstreaming method  
• Carry out team visits (if relevant)   
• Be available over the course of 2024 and 2029 for consultation with ICLD project coordinators;   
• Deliver reports;  
• Participate and together with the ICLD project coordinators implement tools that promote genger equality as well as design 3 peer to peer training sessions. Some digital shorter sessions might also be organized by the ICLD where the mentor is expected to participate.  
• Previous knowledge of gender issues and/or interest in applying them in the local government context will be taken into consideration. 

How to apply

Interested applicants should send a CV and a letter of interest including answers to the mentor questions here below, to ICLD programme officer, Liene Ledaine, liene.ledaine@icld.se   

Shortlisted applicants will be contacted for a live interview during first weeks of September, 2023. 
Deadline for the applications: 30 October 2023.  

Mentor questions (the answers should be max 3500 characters): 

1. Why did you choose to apply to be a mentor?    
2. Describe your experience working with gender at the local level 
3. In your understanding, what are the strengths and challenges for local governments (from a perspective of institutionalizing gender equality in the Latinamerican context) to provide gender equal services to its citizens? 
4. How do you envision that you want to work with the team or teams assigned to you, to support them?      
5. How will you and your experience help the teams implement sustainable/organizational change in their municipality?    
6. List six local governments that you think are champions of gender equality and explain why.

Conditions of Employment:

National Mentor in the Network for Gender Equality.  

 Number of Mentors wanted in this call:    

1 person for 2-4 teams (consisting of 3 pers each) from Colombia.   

1 person for 2-4 teams (consisting of 3 pers each) from Guatemala.   

Duration of assignment:  Starting from 2024    

Total number of hours/working days and renumeration for this assignment: Exact amount of working hours and country specific hourly rates will be communicated after the selection is completed.