Gender and Land Tenure Specialist

Landesa is recruiting a Gender and Land Tenure Specialist for its Securing Women’s Land Project in Malawi.

Contract type: Consultant – Full Time
Location: Lilongwe, Malawi
Start date: 1 September 2026
Contract duration: 12 months
Closing date: 18 November 2026
Open to: Malawi nationals only

About Landesa

Landesa is an international NGO working to secure land rights for the world’s poor, rural women and men. Founded in the 1960s at the University of Washington School of Law and independent since 1981, it partners with governments, civil society and companies to develop pro-poor and gender-sensitive laws, policies and programmes, and has helped strengthen land rights for more than 720 million people in the last five years. It has worked in more than 65 countries, has offices in the U.S. (Seattle and Washington, DC), China, India, Liberia, Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Indonesia, Cambodia and Thailand, and is setting up in Malawi.

Scope of services

The role supports implementation of the Securing Women’s Land Project in Malawi:

• informing public discourse on women’s land rights in the context of customary land formalization;
• influencing policy reforms and programmatic interventions to advance gender equity and social inclusion;
• strengthening capacity to gather, analyse, validate and use gender-disaggregated data to track progress on land rights and national and regional commitments;
• mobilising and facilitating convenings of government officers, private sector, customary authorities, community-led organisations and development stakeholders;
• engaging in advocacy and communications targeting national, sub-regional and regional governmental bodies.

The consultant reports to the Africa Region Director and works closely with the Sr. Land Tenure Specialist and other Landesa staff. Standard 40-hour workweek plus additional hours as necessary; local travel within Malawi and limited regional and international travel; flexibility for time-zone differences with Nairobi, Seattle and Washington DC.

Key responsibilities

• Stakeholder engagement and partnerships with project partners WOLREC, WLA and CYECE (project funded by the Irene M. Staehelin Foundation).
• Mapping national, sub-regional and regional networks.
• Technical leadership on integrating Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) approaches, GESI assessments, monitoring and evaluation.
• Technical reviews of project documents, training curricula and legislative materials.
• Capacity strengthening through trainings and learning workshops for partners, government, private sector, civil society, traditional authorities and community members.
• Peer learning and exchange.
• Communication materials, including radio programming.
• M&E design, indicator extraction, data collection systems and reporting.
• Communications and advocacy outputs: op-eds, briefs, policy documents, newsletters, infographics and social media.
• Documenting project reports, policy briefs and significant change stories.
• Supporting proposal and budget development.

Required knowledge, skills and abilities

• Deep commitment to Landesa’s mission and core values.
• Strong research, analysis, synthesis and writing abilities, sufficient to work independently and lead projects.
• Strong problem-solving and interpersonal skills.
• Strong oral presentation skills for community, government, traditional authority, CSO, private sector and development agency audiences.
• Familiarity with land policy and legislative frameworks in Malawi and related economic, social, agricultural, environmental, institutional and geographic concepts.
• Ability to develop work plans and manage tasks to budget and schedule.
• Administrative and document management ability.
• Collaborative, cross-cultural working style.
• Exceptional written and oral communication in English and local languages.

Education and experience

• Advanced degree (or equivalent experience) in gender studies, social sciences, development studies, law, a land discipline, natural resource governance or a related field.
• At least 8 years of relevant professional experience in GESI programming; managing or implementing a women’s land rights project is a plus.
• Demonstrated experience developing GESI training manuals and curricula and validating them with government and civil society stakeholders.
• Experience designing and conducting GESI assessments and applying the findings to programme design, implementation, monitoring and learning, including gender-sensitive indicators and gender-disaggregated data.
• Experience integrating GESI in land governance, land administration and management, land policy research and analysis, design and implementation of land, agriculture, environment and rural development interventions, and women’s economic empowerment projects.
• Monitoring, evaluation, learning and data skills.
• Strong facilitation and training delivery skills.
• Strong report writing and documentation skills.
• Willingness and ability to travel within Malawi and regionally.
• Malawi nationals only.

How to apply

Apply online through the Landesa application portal
Submit your first name, last name, email address, phone number and CV.

Closing date: 18 November 2026.

Applications go directly to the employer, not to Malawi24.