CONSULTANCY TO CARRY OUT GENDER AUDIT FOR HEALTH DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE AND IMPLEMENTING PARTNERS

GENERAL INFORMATION:

Contract Type: Individual Consultancy (IC)

Duration: Until the completion of the assignment

Expected Start Date: Upon Signing the Contract

INTRODUCTION:

Health Development Initiative (HDI) is a Rwandan non-profit organization with a vision for a society in which everyone has the opportunity to enjoy the highest attainable standard of health and well-being, regardless of social, cultural, economic, or any other status. Our mission is to empower individuals, communities, and institutions to improve community health and development in Rwanda. 

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HDI recognizes that gender norms – the societal expectations of how men and women should behave – deeply influence an individual’s sexual and reproductive health, agency, and ability to exercise their rights. Despite a strong legal and policy framework, inequitable gender norms persist in Rwanda, hindering the full attainment of sexual and reproductive health and rights for all. As a human rights organization, HDI places great importance on gender inclusion and mainstreaming. At the organizational level, HDI is guided by a Gender Policy and prioritizes equal participation of all genders in our staffing, projects, and departments. Yet, we recognize HDI can and should do more to ensure that our programming emphasizes gender mainstreaming and takes a gender-transformative approach.  

Furthermore HDI partners with and provides sub-grants to small and emerging civil society organizations – particularly those led by or representing marginalized groups, such as LGBTQIA+ people. By partnering, we aim to amplify their voices and help build their organizational capacity. HDI will support organizational capacity strengthening of our implementing partners by conducting gender audits of their organizations and ensuring the results of the audit inform the work they will do through our collaboration.

OVERALL OBJECTIVE OF THE CONSULTANCY:

Overall, the aim of the gender audit is to provide a baseline for progress on HDI and implementing partners’ gender mainstreaming initiatives, inform the development of improved gender-responsive and gender-transformative programming, guide the work in implementing gender mainstreaming, validate the usefulness of existing gender best practices in programmes/projects, policies and strategies for HDI and its implementing partners. 

Specific Objectives:  

The consultant will be required:

1. To identify the existence of HDI and implementing partners' internal practices, policies, human resources and related support systems for gender mainstreaming and the effectiveness of these interventions;
2. To assess the extent of integration of a gender and the gender transformative approaches in the policies, programmes, strategies and initiatives, staffing and human resources, budgets and decisions of HDI and implementing partners;
3. To document best practices and identify gaps in gender mainstreaming of HDI and implementing partners and build ownership on gender responsiveness;
4. To assess the progress in achieving gender equality and equity and identify the current challenges and areas of concern in regard to gender mainstreaming;
5. To contribute to building a Baseline of Gender Mainstreaming Indicators for HDI and implementing partners that informs their future assessments/targets on gender mainstreaming moving forward;
6. To formulate key recommendations to ensure HDI and implementing partners effectively address identified gaps.

The Gender Audit will cover the gender mainstreaming work and gender transformative approach of HDI and its implementing partners between 4 and 6 (list will be provided) to provide a baseline for progress on gender mainstreaming, inform the development of gender mainstreaming strategy for HDI and its partners guide the work on Gender Mainstreaming and beyond, validate the usefulness of existing gender checklist specific to the programming context for HDI and its implementing partners.

The gender audit will focus on gender mainstreaming in the following assessment areas:

1. Strategic Positioning (e.g: strategic objectives, strategic plan, etc)
2. Governance (e.g: board, membership, policies, constitutive documents, etc)
3. Leadership and decision making (e.g: management structure and leadership)
4. Human resources (e.g; organogram, staff composition, gender focal points and human resource procedures, staff capacities in gender, etc) 
5. Programming (e.g., programe design, target constituencies / beneficiaries etc)
6. Tools and resources (e.g., internal organisational tools and resources)
7. Resourcing, Planning and Budgeting (e.g.; budget formats, engendered budgetary allocations for programmes and the resources allocated towards gender mainstreaming)
8. Monitoring, evaluation and learning (e.g., MEL processes, tools and learning)
9. Organizational culture (e.g: workplace issues including sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment, language, team relations, etc)
10. Communications (e.g: gender-responsive language, internal and external communication mechanisms and tools
11. External positioning and communications (e.g., partnerships, external communications, branding, etc)
12. Other assessment areas as may be defined during by HDI and implementing partners

METHODOLOGY:

It is expected that the External Consultant will:

1. Develop and implement a participatory Gender Audit methodology in collaboration with HDI and implementing partners’ Gender Focal Point (including a kick-off workshop) to assess whether internal practices and related support systems for gender mainstreaming are effective;
2. Articulate gender indicators and establish a baseline to measure the state of gender equity and gender mainstreaming within HDI and implementing partners.
3. Go through HDI and implementing partners' strategies, policies and programme/project formats to assess how well these support gender mainstreaming, and suggest adjustments.
4. Suggest training needs, as well as checklists for programming, communications and advocacy to help HDI and implementing partners ensure gender mainstreaming in activities and support systems.
5. Conduct consultations through interviews, focus group discussions, self-assessments, surveys or other channels with HDI and implementing partners staff, key partners and key board members to:

• Assess the level of resources allocated and spent on gender mainstreaming and gender activities;
• Explore to what extent gender equality is mainstreamed in high-level policy objectives and priorities;
• Assess the extent to which gender-responsive policy intentions are actually carried out in specific initiatives;
• Assess gender-sensitivity in use of language and communications products;
• Examine the extent to which human resources policies are gender-sensitive;
• Analyze how gender is mainstreamed in the implementation phase of the policies, programmes and initiatives, using existing information;
• Identify and share information on mechanisms, practices and attitudes that have made a positive contribution to mainstreaming gender in an organisation;
• Identify critical gaps and challenges in gender mainstreaming;
• Recommend ways of addressing these gaps and challenges towards making gender mainstreaming more consistent throughout HDI and implementing partners’ work; and
• Share and discuss the main findings with HDI and implementing partners.

6. Provide regular updates to HDI on progress of the assignment.

EXPECTED OUTPUTS:

The consultant will be expected to deliver the following outputs:

1. Inception report and tools elaborating the key participatory methodologies to be used and key timelines.

2. A detailed Final Gender Audit Report that: 

• Details the findings of the Gender Audit and highlights the key gender issues for HDI and implementing partners;
• Has clear strategies and recommendations on how to address gender mainstreaming moving forward;
• Proffers recommendations on how HDI and implementing partners can make gender considerations more consistent throughout their organisations for improvements and concrete actions for follow-up;
• Proposed a checklist for HDI and implementing partners to use throughout the programme and project cycles, and in HDI communications and advocacy work, to ensure a gender sensitive approach;
• Makes suggestions for revisions of HDI and implementing partners project formats to ensure a gender sensitive lens;
• Has a Baseline of Gender Mainstreaming Indicators for HDI and implementing partners that informs their future assessments/targets on gender mainstreaming moving forward and;
• Has annexes of the assessment tools and key people/institutions consulted during the audit.

3. Presentation of the draft report and facilitation of a discussion of the findings with HDI management team and board.

4. End of Consultancy Report report that proffers recommendations for HDI and implementing partners’ consideration.

DURATION AND TIMELINE:

The consultancy is expected to be completed within 4 months from the date of the signing of the contract.

APPLICATION PROCESS:

• Letter of Interest (cover letter) with indication of applicant’s ability, availability and start date
• CV or Resume explaining how your background and experience are relevant to the
  consultancy work assignment and the qualifications, competencies, knowledge and skills
• A technical proposal with the proposed methodology for undertaking this assignment, along with a high-level work plan with timelines. The technical proposal should also include a summary of how the support and the expertise of the national consultant will be optimized during the assignment
• Samples of work undertaken (at least two) that demonstrate strong technical skills in gender, research and ability to support countries especially on gender assessments or reviews
• Your fee proposal or price proposal by indicating daily rate (in RWF) to undertake the terms of reference above, including travel costs, insurance and accommodation and other related costs. Bids shall be provided in Rwandan francs, including applicable taxes, and shall be valid for at least 90 days after submission.
• The contact details of three referees.
• Applications should be sent electronically to info@hdirwanda.org or submit hardcopies at our office with the subject TECHNICAL AND FINANCIAL PROPOSAL - GENDER AUDIT no later than 10/09/2023 at 5:00 PM CAT.

QUALIFICATIONS:

The consultant should have the following qualifications:

• At least a Masters in socio-economic studies, gender studies, social sciences, sexual and reproductive health, human rights or any related development fields
• Significant experience in conducting gender audits or similar gender-related evaluations for civil society organizations; public institutions or development partners of at least 6 years;
• Understanding of the Rwandan country context
• Sensitivity around and understanding of the diverse gender spectrum
• 10 years of experience in working on women’s development and gender issues
• Extensive experience working in the area of SRHR and/or human rights is essential

EVALUATION CRITERIA:

• The following criteria will be used to evaluate the proposals submitted:
  • Relevance of the proposed methodology to the ToR.
  • Clarity and feasibility of the proposed methodology.
  • Demonstrated experience and expertise in conducting gender audits or similar gender-related evaluations for civil society organizations; public institutions or development partners.
  • Qualifications and experience of the consultant and the proposed team members.
  • Reasonableness of the proposed budget.
  • Ability to deliver quality outputs within the given timeline.

NB: Please note that the consultant will assume complete financial responsibility for all gender audit responsibilities. Furthermore, the consultant will manage all field activities, including the payment and supervision of any data collectors, as well as handle transportation and accommodation logistics. Additionally, it is the consultant's responsibility to refine the draft report based on feedback, make any necessary adjustments, and ensure its final approval.