A Peace Corps Response Volunteer (PCRV) is needed to serve as a Gender Policy Specialist in the Municipality of Escazu. In 2012, the Municipality of Escazú developed its first plan to promote gender equality. It specified general guidelines to move towards the goal of promoting the equality between men and women. It was soon determined that in order to attend to the growing concerns and needs related to gender promotion, a stronger effort was needed by the Municipality in terms of action planning. As a result, the Municipality of Escazú decided to develop its first Municipal Gender Policy in 2017. The document identified specific actions, goals and requirements for all municipal entities related to gender promotion and equality in a ten year plan. In spite of efforts by the Social Development Department to mainstream the Policy within the municipal entities, it has been challenging process given that the different municipal authorities do not necessarily identify themselves with the purposes of the policy, and continue working as usual, often with a low level of awareness of their role in the policy. For this reason, the Municipality seeks a Peace Corps Response Volunteer (PCRV) who can join the Social Development Department as a Gender Specialist and support the mainstreaming of the policy with innovative ideas, staff training, and identifying an action plan to achieve the policy goals. The PCRV will perform their duties under the Equality and Gender Equity Unit of the Municipality and will work hand in hand with the two psychologists in the Unit.

A PCRV with a Bachelors’ degree in any field relevant to gender policy and professional experience in the design and implementation of community gender training is needed to help design and execute a Training and Awareness Program on gender promotion and on the Municipal Gender policy for all municipal agencies. The Volunteer will work within the Social Development Department, as part of the professional team that oversees Equality and Gender Equity at a municipal level and establish a monitoring and evaluation model to be able to measure the progress of the different municipal units on the Gender Policy. The primary goal of this assignment is to help implement the Gender Policy of 2017.

Please note that departure dates and other details of this project could change because of the uncertainties as Peace Corps and local partners resume volunteer operations. Candidates selected for this position will be arriving in Costa Rica together as a group, so while the departure dates for the whole group could change, dates cannot be changed for individual candidates.

Municipalidad de Escazú

• High tolerance for ambiguity and high level of flexibility – some details of this project could change because of the uncertainties as Peace Corps and local partners resume volunteer operations
• Bachelor’s degree in any field relevant to gender policy.
• Professional experience in the design and implementation of community gender training.
• Proficiency in Spanish as a second language (Advanced Spanish). While immediate counterparts can communicate in English, trainings/engagement with Municipal staff and community members will need to occur in Spanish.
• Strong cross-cultural skills that allow the Volunteer to understand or to quickly learn about the social and cultural differences of the Costa Rican context.
• Experience in monitoring and evaluating gender focused programs.