Expression of Interest – Training AAZ Staff in Gender Transformative Approaches

Job description

Introduction

ActionAid Zambia (AAZ) is a part of the ActionAid Global (AAG) Federation, sharing common values and aims to drive social change towards a just, equitable and sustainable world. The ActionAid Federation builds the active agency of people living in poverty, their organizations, and movements, to address the structural causes of social injustice, gender inequality and poverty.

In Zambia, our program implementation is guided by our Country Strategic Paper which outlines priority areas for the period 2023 to 2028. These include Environmental Sustainability and Climate Justice; Civic Participation and State Accountability; and Transformative Youth-led Engagement. Our vision is to see A just equitable and sustainable Zambia in which every person enjoys freedom from poverty and oppression for enjoyment of their right to a life of dignity.

Background

The Strengthening Civil Society Effectiveness in Promoting Good Governance and Increasing Citizens’ Awareness and Demand for Human Rights project is a multi-year initiative funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), running from 2024 to 2028. The project aims to enhance participatory governance, deepen democratic accountability, and promote human rights across Zambia by strengthening the capacity and effectiveness of civil society organizations (CSOs), particularly those working at grassroots level.

A key component of the project involves sub-granting to selected CSOs to implement community-based interventions that promote civic engagement, transparency, accountability, and human rights awareness. To ensure these interventions are inclusive and equitable, the project prioritizes gender-transformative programming that challenges existing power relations, addresses systemic inequalities, and promotes the rights and agency of women, girls, and marginalized groups.

In alignment with ActionAid’s commitment to feminist principles and Gender Transformative Approaches (GTA), this two-day training aims to strengthen the capacity of project staff to apply a power-aware, intersectional, and rights-based approach to their work. This will also enable staff to provide effective technical support to sub-granted CSO partners in mainstreaming GTA principles into their programming and monitoring frameworks.

General objective 

To strengthen the capacity of project staff to apply Gender Transformative Approaches (GTA) in promoting inclusive, equitable, and rights-based governance and human rights programming, and to support sub-granted CSO partners in integrating gender responsiveness and feminist principles into their work.

Specific Objectives

1.     Deepen staff understanding of ActionAid’s GTA framework, including feminist leadership, power analysis, and intersectionality.

2.     Build staff skills in conducting gender and power analyses to inform programme design, implementation, and monitoring.

3.     Equip staff with tools and strategies to support sub-granted CSO partners in mainstreaming gender-transformative approaches in their interventions.

4.     Strengthen staff capacity to track, measure, and report on gender-transformative outcomes using feminist and participatory monitoring and evaluation tools.

5.     Co-develop a practical action plan and support framework for enhancing gender responsiveness in sub-grant management and partner engagement.

Expected Outcomes

1.     Enhanced understanding of GTA approach and application in civic and governance contexts.

2.     Strengthened capacity among staff to support sub-granted CSOs in conducting gender and power analysis.

3.     Increased confidence in advocating for and tracking transformative outcomes, not just participation or representation.

4.     Development of a practical support plan and checklist for integrating GTA in sub-grant management processes.

Key Content Areas

1. Understanding Gender Transformative Approaches, the ActionAid Way
2. Gender Neutral, Gender Sensitive and Gender Transformative Programmes
3. Power, Patriarchy, and Systems of Oppression in Governance & Rights Work
4. Intersectionality and Feminist Analysis of Exclusion
5. Gender and Power Analysis Tools (including ActionAid’s Human Rights-Based Approach)
6. Strategies for Supporting Sub-Granted CSOs to Adopt GTA Principles
7. Monitoring Gender Justice and Transformative Change (e.g., qualitative indicators)
8. Collective Development of a Gender & Power Support Action Plan for CSO partners.

Process

The Consultant will develop all necessary material required to meet the specific consultancy objectives in line with the timelines provided. The consultant will be expected to produce and deliver/share preliminary reports and/or draft reports with the Policy and Programs Manager (PPM) for review. Further, the Consultant will be expected to address all the comments and feedback from ActionAid and finalisation of a consolidated report, and subsequent submission to ActionAid Zambia.

Time schedule

The consultancy will be conducted over a period of ten day (10) working period including pre training preparations and submission of final report. The training will run for two days within the ten-day working period. Therefore, the Consultancy period will take place from 3rd July 2025 to 18th July 2025. The final report must be submitted by the Consultant no later than Friday, 21st July 2025.

Bid Submission

Prospective consultants should submit the following:

Not more than three (3) pages technical proposal highlighting how they intend to undertake the required deliverables – inclusive of timelines, methodology and approach for the training.
Proposed training agenda outlining key topics, methodologies, and activities.
Not more than three (3) pages of a detailed financial proposal.
A Resume outlining demonstratable experience in carrying out similar work and traceable references

Qualifications and Competencies

The consultant should have the following qualifications:

a)     Post graduate degree in Social Sciences, preferably in, development studies, gender, human rights or any other related social science.

b)     Demonstrated knowledge and experience in applying power analysis and gender transformative tools in civic space/ governance work

c)     Knowledge of ActionAid’s Feminist Leadership principles is highly recommended.

d)     Extensive, experience in undertaking complex and similar assignments with reputable civil society or research institutions.

e)     Good understanding of gender and social inclusion issues.

f)      Demonstrated ability to prepare timely and high-quality reports.

Applications must be submitted via e-mail to   Info.Zambia@actionaid.org .The subject line of the email should state “Consultancy Application – CSSP GTA Staff Training”. The deadline for submission of applications is 19th June, 2025.