Consultancy Opportunity

Terms of Reference: Drafting of the GCE Gender Strategy

Overview

Title: Consultancy to draft the GCE Gender Strategy

Location: Johannesburg, South Africa or anywhere globally within GCE’s regions

Type of contract: Short-Term consultancy

Duration of contract: Consultancy report due end-July 2021

Reports to: Head of Policy, Advocacy and Campaigns

Working relationships: Global Coordinator, Senior EOL Programme Manager, Policy, Advocacy and Campaigns Unit, Communications Team, Regional Coordinators and National Education Coalitions Coordinators.

Deadline for applications: Sunday, 28^th February 2021, you can also download the opportunity here.

Summary:

The consultant is required to undertake the participatory preparation and drafting of the GCE Gender Strategy. To inform the development of the strategy the consultant will outreach and engage individually with GCE members, especially with regional and selected national education coalitions on their understanding on gender issues, including LGTBQI+, girls and women’s right to education.

About GCE

The Global Campaign for Education (GCE), founded in 1999, is a global civil society movement working for the full realization of the human right to education, in particular for children, women and those from excluded communities.

GCE members bring together civil society organisations, NGOs, teacher unions, child rights activists, parents’ associations, young people and community organisations, who work together in coalition in more than100 countries. GCE promotes education as a basic human right, and mobilises the public to put pressure on governments and the international community to fulfil their promises to provide free, compulsory, high quality public education for all.

GCE provides core support to its members’ work on education advocacy and campaigning all around the world, and represents civil society organisations in education at the highest level.

1. Background and Context of the Assignment

Several obstacles need to be removed to eliminate the roots of gender inequality and civil society organizations have a key role in this regard. Although global figures show that gender inequality in net enrolment in primary school has been reduced in recent years, considerable disparities prevail at local and regional levels and girls and women are still the most excluded. The notion of gender inequality includes gender disparities related to unfair distribution of education opportunities for both men and women regardless of their gender diversity or sexual orientation. In this regard, the notion of gender inequality acknowledges the multiple forms of exclusion and discrimination faced by members of the LGTBQI+ communities.

In all parts of the world, people who challenge the norms related to gender and sexuality are subjected to various forms of violence and oppression during their education, which has consequences for learning and their opportunities in professional life.

According to the Education 2030 Steering Committee, no region has achieved gender parity. Female participation rates in technical-vocational programmes are lower than male participation rates in all regions, except Latin America and the Caribbean, where male participation rates are lower.

Girls are not the only out of school children, boys and men are also affected. In Latin America and the Caribbean and South-Eastern Asia, for example, the number of excluded boys slightly surpasses the figure for girls: 3.6 and 3.3, respectively (UNESCO, 2016).

The goal of our work is to ensure equal rights to education and the promotion of gender-transformative approaches, pedagogy, teacher training and whole-of-education sector planning is a critical factor to achieving gender equality in and through education.

2. Purpose and Scope of Work of the Assignment

The overall purpose of this consultancy is to develop the Gender Strategy for the movement linked to the GCE Strategic Plan, from which concerted and concrete actions can be derived for the defense and promotion of the right to education of a) women, b) girls, c) young women, d) the LGTBQI + population, as well as to promote critical and transformative reflections on masculinities. The transdisciplinary and intersectional approach is essential.

The Consultant will undertake a participatory work with GCE members and partners, including but not limited to UNGEI, FAWE and CLADEM, which will allow the identification of the diverse needs and interests existing in the movement.

With this strategy, it is expected that:

1. GCE will reinforce its gender transformative potential, turning its plans and strategies into more effective vehicles and sensitive to the change that is intended to be obtained in public policies at the national, regional and global levels;
2. Achieve a lasting and profound impact on the realization of the right to education of girls, adolescents and women;
3. Strengthen the inclusion perspective and address the needs and rights of sexually diverse people;
4. Advance the enforceability of the human rights, including the deconstruction of masculinity roles; and
5. Inspire internal changes in the GCE member’s organizations, so that the gender perspective is mainstreamed.

Potential entry points for developing this strategy are:

1. Teachers’ role in advancing gender equality, especially to advocate for adequate initial teacher education and in-service professional development that includes gender equality
2. Gender reviews of curricula where pertinent, and for in-service professional development for teachers to have the resources needed to implement any changes;
3. Policy trends on gender equitable financing of education: education finance and budgets should be sufficient and benefit both girls and boys equally;
4. State of knowledge mobilization and advocacy for implementation of policies and programs that eliminate School Related Gender Based Violence (SRGBV),
5. Knowledge mobilization to engage communities, families, and adolescents on discussions about policies and rules differentially preventing girls, boys and LGTBIQ+ persons from learning or accessing education.
6. Identification of under-addressed issues related to gender equality in education and education financing to direct policy advocacy efforts, depending on national and regional contexts (e.g. SRH LGTBIQ+ access to education and lifelong learning opportunities)

3. Deliverables

The Consultant will be paid on delivery of the following deliverables:

1. Inception meeting with key GCE staff, Board Members and other relevant actors and delivery of work plan with clear timelines based on agreements made during the inception meeting.
2. Implementation of the work plan and subsequent calls. The work plan should include the production of these products:

2.1. Consultation process with GCE members on gender issues and systematization of responses.

2.2. A Background Paper aimed at identifying the legal, social, and cultural practices which led to gender discrimination within and across education systems, which limit the right to education for all, with a description of challenges and successful practices across the movement. The background paper should include an analysis of the responses received from the above-mentioned consultation.

1. Draft GCE Strategy for consultation with Secretariat and Board.
2. Final report, including a proposal of a GCE Gender Strategy.

4. Contract Period and Duration

The consultant will have to deliver the preliminary report by end of June 2021 for a finalised version to be approved by end-July and translated /disseminated by August 28th.

5. Implementation Arrangements

The consultant should provide regular feedback on the progress of the assignment and should ensure strict adherence to agreed timelines. The consultant is expected to work from the GCE Johannesburg office (other locations can be considered if relevant with the scope of the consultancy) and to be fully self-sufficient in terms of office equipment and supplies, communication, accommodation and transport.

6. Required skills and experience

• The consultant to be appointed will need the following competencies:

• Gender expert on education
• Master or Ph.D. on related disciplines
• Familiar with the Global Campaign for Education
• Proven experience in research, data collection, network engagement particularly experience of working with and building coalitions, including cross-cultural, cross-movement sector coalitions; including making and maintaining effective contacts and relationships, with local partners and all relevant stakeholders to build networks and alliances to ensure support for campaign objectives;
• At least ten years’ experience in advocacy campaigns focused on gender equality with successful track record of analysing (educational) issues in terms of campaign opportunities and in terms of overall strategic objectives;
• Experience in conducting consultation processes using participatory young and adult learning techniques;
• Fluency in English and competency in one or more of GCE’s other official languages (French, Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese).
• Desired: experience in research and education budget analysis and education financing mechanisms.

7. Submission of Applications:

Eligible applicants are invited to apply by submitting the following documents on or by end of day on Sunday, 28^th February 2021 to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

1. Consultant’s CV/Resume including relevant experience of personnel/Previous projects of similar nature.
2. Brief technical proposal outlining the approach to the consultancy.

• A cover letter, confirming availability for the dates outlined and including a financial proposal.

Proposals will be reviewed on a rolling basis and in that case the advert may be withdrawn at any time from sites without notification.

Requests for clarification should be made in writing and sent to the Head of Policy, Advocacy and Campaigns, Vernor Munoz to the following email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.