GESI Director Job Readiness Guide for Nigerian Applicants at Prosper Global
The GESI Director role is not a “soft” add-on to a climate-smart agriculture program. It is a leadership role that helps decide who benefits, who is protected, whose voices shape decisions, and whether the program reaches farmers who are often left out.
For Nigerian applicants, this role can be a strong fit if you have worked on gender equality, youth development, safeguarding, agriculture, livelihoods, humanitarian programming, or community-led development. The challenge is to show more than passion. You need to show technical depth, practical field judgment, and the ability to lead systems across teams, partners, and communities.
This guide explains what Prosper Global Nigeria is likely looking for, how to position your experience, and how to prepare for interviews with confidence.
Prosper Global Nigeria works at the link between livelihoods, resilience, and inclusion
Prosper Global Nigeria’s Climate-Smart Agriculture program should be understood through three connected goals.
The first is stronger agricultural livelihoods. Climate-smart agriculture supports farmers to produce more reliably while dealing with changing rainfall, soil stress, heat, pests, and market shocks.
The second is climate resilience. Programs in this space often promote practices such as improved seed use, efficient water management, soil conservation, crop diversification, weather information, and better post-harvest handling.
The third is inclusive development. This is where the GESI Director becomes central. Climate programs can unintentionally benefit people who already have land, credit, mobility, decision-making power, or access to extension services. In many Nigerian communities, women, young people, persons with disabilities, displaced people, and poorer households may face barriers that keep them from full participation.
A strong climate-smart agriculture program does not assume that one training, one input package, or one farmer group will work for everyone. It asks practical questions:
Who owns or controls land?
Who decides which crops to plant or sell?
Who attends trainings, and who is absent?
Who has phones, bank accounts, transport, or time?
Who faces safety risks when joining program activities?
Who can report harm without fear?
A GESI Director helps the organization answer these questions and turn the answers into program design, staff behavior, partner accountability, and measurable results.
The GESI Director turns inclusion and safeguarding into daily practice
A Gender, Safeguarding and Inclusion Director is usually responsible for both strategy and implementation. That means the role involves writing frameworks, guiding teams, training partners, reviewing data, handling sensitive risks, and advising senior leadership.
Gender integration must shape the program from the start
Gender integration is not limited to counting the number of women in a training room. A GESI Director helps the program understand how gender affects access, control, benefit, safety, and leadership.
In a climate-smart agriculture program, this could include:
Designing gender analysis tools before activities begin
Identifying barriers that women farmers face in extension, inputs, land access, irrigation, finance, and markets
Advising technical teams on training times, locations, language, childcare needs, and mobility concerns
Supporting women’s leadership in farmer groups, producer associations, and community committees
Helping teams track whether women benefit from increased yields, income, savings, or decision-making power
Reviewing program materials to remove stereotypes and promote equal participation
The best candidates can explain how they moved gender from a policy statement into project workplans, budgets, training modules, monitoring tools, and partner agreements.
Youth inclusion should go beyond attendance numbers
Youth inclusion matters in Nigerian agriculture because many young people face limited access to land, capital, skills, and decent work. Some see farming as hard labor with low returns. Others are interested in agribusiness, technology, logistics, mechanization, processing, marketing, and climate services.
A strong GESI Director helps a program create real entry points for young people. This may include:
Youth-friendly training methods
Mentorship and peer learning
Links to agribusiness networks
Skills for digital tools, record keeping, and market access
Safe participation for adolescent youth where relevant
Pathways for young women, not only young men
Applicants should show that they understand youth as a diverse group. A 19-year-old woman in a rural farming household may face different barriers from a 28-year-old male agripreneur in a peri-urban area. Good inclusion work recognizes those differences.
Safeguarding must protect people from harm
Safeguarding is one of the most sensitive parts of the role. It covers the systems used to prevent and respond to harm caused by staff, partners, volunteers, vendors, community structures, or program activities.
For this role, safeguarding may include:
Protection from sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment
Child safeguarding where minors are involved
Safe recruitment and staff conduct standards
Community reporting channels
Confidential case handling and referral pathways
Risk assessments for field activities
Partner safeguarding capacity checks
Training for staff, community volunteers, and vendors
A strong safeguarding approach is survivor-centered. That means dignity, safety, consent, confidentiality, and choice guide the response. Applicants should avoid language that sounds punitive only. Accountability matters, but the first concern is the safety and rights of the person who experienced harm.
The GESI Director also needs to help teams see safeguarding risks before harm occurs. For example, cash assistance, input distribution, transport support, youth engagement, recruitment of community volunteers, and selection of demonstration farmers can all create power imbalances if not managed well.
Strong applicants show technical, leadership, and field skills
The role usually requires a mix of education, experience, and judgment. A master’s degree in gender studies, sociology, development studies, agriculture, public policy, social work, law, humanitarian studies, or a related field may help. Years of field experience can also carry strong weight, especially if it includes leadership in donor-funded programs.
Technical knowledge matters
Applicants should be ready to show knowledge of:
Gender equality and women’s economic participation
Social inclusion for youth, persons with disabilities, and marginalized groups
Safeguarding, protection, PSEA, and SEA/SH risk management
Climate-smart agriculture and rural livelihoods
Community engagement and accountability
Gender-sensitive monitoring, evaluation, and learning
Nigerian policy and cultural contexts
Training design and facilitation
Partner capacity building
The strongest candidates can connect these topics. For instance, they can explain how women’s access to climate information affects planting decisions, or how youth employment activities can create safeguarding risks if mentors are not trained and monitored.
Leadership skills are just as important
A director-level role requires influence. You may not directly manage every activity, but your guidance should shape how technical, operations, grants, MEL, finance, human resources, and partner teams work.
Key leadership skills include:
Clear communication with senior leaders and field teams
Practical problem solving under time pressure
Ability to train and coach adults
Confidence handling sensitive complaints
Strong writing for policies, reports, and donor updates
Data use for decision-making
Diplomacy with community leaders and government actors
Courage to raise risks early
A useful question to ask yourself is simple: Can you show that teams changed the way they worked because of your GESI or safeguarding guidance?
Nigerian field experience gives your application weight
For a nationwide program, Nigerian context matters. Experience in states across different zones can be helpful, especially if you have worked with smallholder farmers, women’s groups, youth groups, cooperatives, extension agents, local government, traditional structures, or community-based organizations.
You do not need to know every state. You do need to show that you can learn context quickly, respect local norms, and still uphold rights, safety, and inclusion standards.
Your application should prove results, not just commitment
Many applicants say they are passionate about gender and inclusion. A stronger application shows evidence.
Build a focused CV
For this role, your CV should make GESI leadership easy to see within the first page. Tailor your profile summary to the job.
A strong profile might show:
Years of relevant experience
GESI and safeguarding leadership
Agriculture, livelihoods, or climate program exposure
Team or partner management experience
Donor-funded project experience
Nigerian field experience
Use accomplishment statements, not only task lists. For example:
Weaker wording | Stronger wording |
Conducted gender trainings | Trained field staff and partners on gender integration, then supported teams to revise activity plans for women and youth participation |
Worked on safeguarding | Helped establish safe reporting channels, trained staff on code of conduct, and supported confidential referral processes |
Supported women farmers | Led gender analysis that identified barriers to extension access and informed changes to training schedules and outreach methods |
If you have numbers, use them honestly. Do not inflate results. If you trained 120 staff, say 120. If you supported work across five states, say five states. If you do not have figures, describe the scale in plain language.
Write a cover letter that connects your experience to the program
A good cover letter should not repeat your CV in paragraph form. It should answer why your background fits this role at this program.
A simple structure works well:
State the role and your strongest fit.
Summarize your experience in GESI, safeguarding, and agriculture or livelihoods.
Give one short example of relevant impact.
Explain your leadership style.
Close with your interest in supporting safe and inclusive climate-smart agriculture.
Keep the tone confident and grounded. Avoid vague claims such as “I am a change agent.” Show the work.
Prepare a portfolio of evidence
Director-level candidates can stand out by preparing examples they can discuss, while respecting confidentiality.
Useful evidence may include:
A gender analysis you led or contributed to
A safeguarding training outline
A risk assessment tool
A GESI action plan
A referral pathway template with identifying details removed
A sample indicator matrix
A donor report excerpt with sensitive data removed
A case study showing how inclusion improved program delivery
Never share survivor details, complaint records, names, phone numbers, or confidential internal documents. Describe your role and the process without exposing people or organizations.
Interview preparation should focus on judgment and real examples
Interviews for a GESI Director role will likely test both technical knowledge and decision-making. Prepare using the STAR method, which means situation, task, action, and result. Keep answers structured, but speak naturally.
Questions you may be asked
Prepare for questions like these:
How would you conduct a gender and social inclusion analysis for a climate-smart agriculture program?
What barriers might women farmers face in adopting climate-smart practices?
How would you ensure youth are included in program design and not only invited to activities?
What does survivor-centered safeguarding mean in practice?
How would you respond if a community member reported sexual exploitation by a program volunteer?
How would you build safeguarding capacity among local partners with limited systems?
What indicators would you use to track gender and youth inclusion?
How would you handle resistance from staff who see GESI as extra work?
How would you adapt activities for persons with disabilities?
How would you balance respect for local culture with gender equality and safety standards?
How to answer safeguarding questions well
Safeguarding questions require calm, careful answers. A good answer should mention:
Immediate safety of the affected person
Confidentiality and informed consent
Referral to trained support services where available
Internal reporting through approved channels
Protection from retaliation
Documentation only by authorized people
Accountability for alleged misconduct
No investigation by untrained staff
Avoid saying you would “confront both parties” or “settle the matter with community elders.” Some concerns may require community engagement later, but survivor safety and confidentiality come first.
How to answer GESI integration questions well
When asked about integrating GESI, do not stop at “we will include women and youth.” Explain the full cycle:
Assess barriers and power dynamics
Co-design with affected groups
Budget for participation needs
Train staff and partners
Set indicators
Monitor who participates and who benefits
Adjust activities based on evidence
Report honestly on progress and gaps
Strong candidates show that inclusion is planned, funded, measured, and reviewed.
Further learning can sharpen your application
You do not need to read everything. Choose resources that fill your gaps and help you speak with more clarity.
Good areas to study include:
Climate-smart agriculture
Review basic concepts from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and other agriculture development resources. Focus on productivity, adaptation, resilience, and lower-emission practices where relevant.
Gender in agriculture
Learn how gender affects land, labor, finance, extension, technology adoption, unpaid care work, and market participation.
Safeguarding and PSEA
Study survivor-centered approaches, safe reporting, confidentiality, referral pathways, and organizational codes of conduct. Look for materials from recognized humanitarian and development networks.
Disability inclusion
Review practical guidance on accessible training venues, communication formats, assistive needs, and meaningful participation.
Youth livelihoods
Read about youth employment, agribusiness pathways, skills development, mentorship, and safe engagement of young people.
Nigeria policy and context
Stay familiar with national conversations on agriculture, climate adaptation, gender equality, youth employment, social protection, and protection from gender-based violence.
Monitoring and evaluation for inclusion
Build confidence with sex-disaggregated and age-disaggregated data, qualitative feedback, outcome tracking, and safe data practices.
Useful search phrases include:
`gender transformative agriculture`
`women economic empowerment agriculture`
`PSEA safeguarding development programs`
`survivor centered approach safeguarding`
`youth inclusion agriculture Nigeria`
`disability inclusion rural livelihoods`
`climate smart agriculture gender inclusion`
As you learn, create a short preparation note for yourself. List three examples from your career, three tools you understand well, and three risks you would watch closely in the first 90 days of the role.
The GESI Director role at Prosper Global calls for a rare mix of empathy, technical skill, and strong judgment. A competitive applicant will show that they can protect people, improve participation, influence program teams, and keep inclusion visible from design to delivery. Go into the process with clear examples, honest evidence, and a practical understanding of Nigerian farming communities. That is what can turn your experience into a strong case for leadership.
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