Job Description

Company Description
CARE is a leading humanitarian organization dedicated to fighting poverty and social injustice with a special emphasis on women and girls. CARE began working in Zimbabwe in 1992 in response to severe regional drought and has since expanded programming to address longer-term development issues. CARE Zimbabwe's FY2026–2030 Country Strategy focuses on four priorities: Humanitarian Response; Climate-Resilient Livelihoods; Empowered Girls and Women; and Women, Girls and Youth Economic Empowerment. The organization seeks to recruit outstanding candidates who are known for their excellence, professionalism, and integrity, and who are committed to making a difference.
Job Description
Position Summary

CARE International Zimbabwe is seeking a technically strong and advocacy-oriented Gender, Women, Girls and Youth Empowerment (GWGYE) Specialist. The role provides high-level technical leadership on women and girls' empowerment across CARE Zimbabwe's programming portfolio, anchored in Country Strategy Priorities 3 (Empowered Girls and Women: Health, Education and Rights) and 4 (Women, Girls and Youth Economic Empowerment). The Specialist drives gender-transformative programming, capacity building, evidence generation, and policy advocacy, and is central to CARE Zimbabwe's ambition to become a systems-level actor for gender equality.

Duties and Responsibilities

Key Responsibilities

1. Strategic Leadership & Technical Guidance (30%)

Lead the development and operationalization of CARE Zimbabwe's Women and Girls Empowerment strategy, ensuring alignment with Country Strategy Priorities 3 and 4.
Provide technical oversight across all women, girls and youth empowerment programming — including girls' education, SRHR, GBV prevention and response, child marriage prevention, and women's economic empowerment.
Embed gender-transformative approaches (SAA, START4Girls, VSLA+FFBS) across all programme pillars; lead gender analysis in project design, logframe development, and proposal preparation.
2. Capacity Building, Coaching & Partner Support (25%)

Design and lead gender training and capacity-building for CARE staff, implementing partners, and community-level actors.
Lead staff transformation processes as the foundational step in SAA rollout; develop and implement coaching plans to sustain frontline staff skills.
Facilitate capacity-building for partner organisations to lead gender-transformative programming independently, in support of CARE Zimbabwe's localization agenda.
3. Women & Girls' Economic Empowerment (20%)

Provide specialist technical support to the expansion and quality improvement of CARE Zimbabwe's VSLA programme, including digitalization with platforms such as EcoCash, Innbucks, and Mukuru.
Engage private sector partners to unlock collateral-free finance, digital credit scoring, and value chain linkages for women-led enterprises.
Support adolescent girls and youth with life skills, financial literacy, and economic empowerment pathways aligned with CARE's Give Girls a Chance initiative.
4. Advocacy, Learning & Policy Influence (20%)

Lead evidence generation and dissemination of lessons from WGE programming, including SAA, VSLA, GBV, SRHR, and girls' education interventions.
Drive CARE Zimbabwe's advocacy agenda on gender equality — including child marriage, SRHR policy reform, gender-responsive budgeting, and inclusive microfinance — through national coalitions.
Represent CARE Zimbabwe in relevant technical working groups, networks, and coalitions at national, regional, and global levels.

Qualifications and Experience

Qualifications
Education

Bachelor's degree in Social Sciences, Gender Studies, Development Studies, or a related field (required); Master's degree preferred.
Experience

Minimum 7 years of progressively responsible experience in gender equality, women's empowerment, and/or economic empowerment programming in an NGO or development context.
Demonstrated experience integrating gender-transformative approaches (e.g. SAA, gender mainstreaming) into programme design and implementation.
Proven track record in advocacy and multi-stakeholder engagement on gender and women's rights at national or regional level.
Experience with VSLA or similar savings and lending group models, SRHR, GBV, girls' education, or child marriage prevention programming is an advantage.
Key Competencies

Strong analytical skills in gender analysis, power dynamics, and intersectionality.
Excellent facilitation, training, and adult learning skills; experience with participatory methodologies.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, including for donor reporting, policy briefs, and external representation.
Committed to gender equality, safeguarding, and CARE's core values.