Short Term Consultancy – Capacity Strengthening for Gender Just Organization

Consultancy Title                                 Short Term Consultancy – Capacity Strengthening for Gender Just Organization

Project Title                                         Geared for Success (GFS)

Consultancy Timeframe                      August - October 2023

Application Submission Deadline      August 23, 2023 (5PM EST)

Reports to                                               Manager, Humanitarian (Oxfam Canada)

Supported by                            GFS M&E Focal Points, South Sudan and Uganda; GFS Project Managers, South Sudan and Uganda; project management, program impact and M&E focal points, Canada

Organizations

Oxfam Canada is an affiliate of the Oxfam International Confederation networked in more than 90 countries as part of a global movement for change. Its vision is “A just and sustainable world” and its mission is “We fight inequality and patriarchy to end poverty and injustice”.

Since its foundation in 1963, Oxfam Canada has been working directly with communities, partners, and women's rights organizations to challenge the systems that perpetuate inequality and keep people poor. They seek to influence those in power to ensure that women trapped in poverty have a say in the critical decisions that affect them, their families and entire communities.

War Child Canada is an international charity organization registered in Toronto, Canada, dedicated to helping children and their communities overcome the devastating effects of active and post war.  Its vision is “Accelerating Peace by disrupting the cycle of violence” and its mission is “Driving Generational Change for The Hardest Hit by Investing in The Power of Local Communities”

Since being founded in 1999, War Child Canada has worked in 20 countries across the world and we are currently operational in Afghanistan, Yemen, Sudan, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Uganda.

About the project

The Geared for Success Project: War Child Canada (WCC) and Oxfam
Canada (OCA) in partnership with six community-based organizations in South Sudan and Uganda will be implementing the $13.8m Global Affairs Canada(GAC) funded project “Geared for Success (GFS)’ – Internally Displaced Persons (IDP)- led and Refugee-led organizations driving education in Uganda and South Sudan.

WCC, OCA, and our partners will implement the 5-year gender-responsive project (2022- 2027) in South Sudan and Uganda and a public engagement component in Canada. Although GFS will directly reach people in Canada, the ultimate project participants are students/learners in Uganda and South Sudan.

The project uses the Canadian Government’s Results-Based Management (RBM) approach to assess project progress and achievements. The ultimate outcome of the project is: “enhanced equitable and inclusive learning outcomes for ‘refugee, internally displaced and host community children and youth, particularly girls and adolescent girls’ in the districts of Yumbe, Terego and Obongi in Uganda and Wau, Malakal and Awerial in South Sudan”.

The intermediate outcomes of the project are outlined below.

• Improved performance of Community Based Organizations (CBOs) working on gender-responsive education
• Increased access to gender-responsive quality education for refugees and internally displaced children and youth, particularly girls and adolescent girls, enabled by CBOs
• Enhanced collective action of CBOs to advance the right to gender- responsive quality education for refugee and internally displaced children and youth, particularly vulnerable groups

GFS will achieve this outcome by increasing access to gender responsive quality education for ultimate project participants, driven by local refugee-led organizations and internally displaced people (IDP)-led community-based organizations. The project CBOs are a mix of these organizations.

CBOs are on the front lines of providing essential education services for refugees and IDPs. To ensure that CBOs are ‘geared for success’, this project willfacilitate and provide technical and financial resources to strengthen their capacity -with more women’s leadership and community support, allowing them to enable access to education and to successfully advocate for the right toeducation for ultimate project participants. GFS will also strengthen Canadians’ (including diaspora) contribution to education for refugees/IDPs and to the‘Together for Learning’ Campaign and will advance the evidence base on therole of CBOs enhancing gender-responsive quality education for refugees and
IDPs.

Consultancy summary

The first pillar or intermediate outcome of the project (1100) is ‘Improved performance of CBOs working on gender-responsive education’. The implementation of this first pillar is led by OCA. The first pillar includes three interconnected outcomes: (1110) strengthened organizational capacity of CBOs working in the education sector so they are empowered and effective at delivering gender-responsive education programming; (1120) the enhanced ability of women to manage their own time and have agency to play leadership roles in CBOs working in the education sector; and (1130) improved social attitudes by host communities, refugees, IDPs, and key government stakeholders in support of the role of CBOs working on gender-responsive education, especially for girls. The focus of this consultancy is on outcome 1110 – strengthening organizational capacity of partner CBOs.

OCA plans to update our current iteration of the Capacity Assessment Tool for Gender-Just Organizations (CAT4GJO) to reflect the broader goals and contexts of triple nexus programming. OCA considers there to be an inherent link between programming, advocacy and influencing, and organizational capacities, where organizations can do better work when their own internal structures, processes, and work are more sustainable, gender-just and democratic.

About CAT4GJO

In 2009, as part of the Engendering Change project (2009-2014) OCA piloted a set of tools with diverse civil society partners, including a self- directed Capacity Assessment Tool (CAT). Our experience and feedback received from partners encouraged us to share them widely and led to their formalization through the development of OCA’s (2012) The Power of Gender-Just Organizations: A Conceptual Framework for Transformative Organizational Capacity- Building, and The Power of Gender-Just Organizations: Toolkit for Transformative Organizational Capacity-Building. In 2019, OCA updated the original CAT to reflect evolving discussions, learning, needs, and priorities of partners working in the women’s rights and gender justice sector, resulting in the revised CAT for Gender-Just Organizational Strengthening (CAT4GJO). Currently, the CAT4GJO consists a detailed PDF manual to facilitate organizational capacity-strengthening discussions. OCA has also developed a “training of trainers” (TOT) to accompany the CAT4SRHR and CAT4GJO.

Once the CAT4GJO update is complete, a training of trainers (TOT) will be held with CAT facilitators, and key project staff in Uganda and South Sudan.

OCA is seeking an experienced and qualified consultant (individual(s) or firm) to lead the update of the CAT4GJO toolkit and conduct the TOT with key staff.

Approach and Deliverables:

The consultant will review key project documents (project implementation plans), the current CAT4GJO toolkit, hold discussions with relevant project staff in South Sudan, Uganda and Canada from both WCC and OCA and partners (as required), and other triple nexus projects in order to carry out this assignment. The finalization of the CAT toolkit should be completed in collaboration with the program impact lead from OCA.The consultant will provide the following deliverables:

• Detailed workplan based on agreed upon format
• Final Triple Nexus CAT4GJO toolkit, with GFS specific adaptations (if necessary)
• Triple Nexus CAT4GJO TOT module and detailed final agenda with activity descriptions and workshop content, adapted for GFS TOT
• Send relevant documents to GFS partners and staff 2 weeks before workshop (including Simplified Agenda and any pre reading materials)
• Facilitate the in-person Triple Nexus CAT4GJO TOT
• Hold before and after-action reviews for the Triple Nexus CAT4GJO TOT
• Workshop report (maximum 5 pages) with recommendations and next steps

Budget should include 5 days for the Triple Nexus CAT4GJO GFS workshop to be held in Uganda, relevant travel, and additional 5 (or more) days for preparation of GFS workshop content and familiarization with the project content. The workshop is planned to occur at the end of September, with dates to be confirmed end August 2023.

Experience, skills

Consultant or consultancy team must demonstrate the following:

• Advanced knowledge of international NGOs, particularly organizations working to advance women’s rights and gender equality and organizational capacity strengthening. Prior knowledge of OCA or WCC is an asset
• Strong analytical understanding of, and demonstrated experience in, gender equality, women’s rights and organizational capacity strengthening
• Neutral, non-judgmental facilitation skills that can foster constructive conversations around sensitive subjects amongst diverse stakeholders
• Experience in using participatory and engaging workshop facilitation methodologies (strongly preferred)
• Experienced in balancing gender and power dynamics in workshop settings
• Ability to contextualize the toolkit content and use appropriate examples and explanations
• Experience in facilitating organizational development (OD) and management assessments and planning (desirable)
• Experience working on projects related to children’s rights and protection issues and education programs in similar context
• Strong understanding of child safeguarding and PSEA practices
• Strong understanding of the GAC program design, result-based model, and evaluation system and standards
• Experience working in Uganda and South Sudan
• Strong English language skills required; other local languages an asset

Travel

Workshop will be held in person in Kampala, Uganda

Application process

Interested applicants/firms are invited to submit the following:

• A cover letter outlining relevant experience in similar work (1-2 pages)
• CV of the consultant(s) and/or information about the firm
• List of proposed key activities and timeframe
• Financial proposal

The application package should also include:

• A list of three references that can attest to their expertise as it relates to this assignment
• Confirmation of availability for assessment period and ability to travel to workshop location

Email to: rotbah.nitia@oxfam.org

Please ensure your submission email has the subject heading: “Geared for Success CAT4GJO Consultant”.

Final candidates will be vetted in accordance with War Child Canada and Oxfam Canada’s safeguarding policies, including Child Safeguarding Policy as well as appropriate reference and security checks.

Only those applicants selected for an interview will be notified. For more information about War Child Canada, please visit www.warchild.ca. For more information about Oxfam Canada, please visit www.oxfam.ca.

Oxfam Canada is committed to diversity and equity around the globe and in our workplace. All our work is led by three core values: Empowerment, Accountability, Inclusiveness. We welcome applications from: women, Aboriginal persons, persons with disabilities, ethnic minorities, persons of minority sexual orientation or gender identity, visible minorities, and others who may contribute to diversification and share our values. If you are invited to continue the selection process, please notify us as soon as possible of any particular adaptive measures you might require. Applicants are encouraged to share accessibility needs in the application process, and every attempt will be made to accommodate them.