Background
horizont3000 is an Austrian non-governmental organisation working in sustainable development cooperation. Based in Vienna, with offices in the four focus areas East Africa, Central America, Senegal and Mozambique, the organisation is backed by eleven Austrian Catholic grassroots organisations.
The horizont3000 (h3) global Framework Programme 2023-2026 “Gender Equality4Sustainable Development”, co-funded through the Austrian Development Agency (ADA), aims at advancing Gender Equality and the empowerment of women in two main sectors across ten countries: Human Rights & Civil Society and Sustainable Livelihoods, with a focus on Gender Equality, Climate Action and Policy Dialogue. We work with communities who have been marginalised in claiming their rights and leading self-determined lives, foremost with smallholder farmers, disadvantaged women, children and youth, women’s and human rights groups as well as Indigenous people.
The programme aims to address the deep-seated structural causes of gender inequality by combining project level gender mainstreaming efforts with specific targeted transformative actions. Additionally, the programme recognizes that gender equality and climate action are inseparably linked and seeks to ensure that the two are addressed together. All project interventions are implemented through our local partner organizations, which include Community-Based Organizations (CBOs), national NGOs, and Catholic Dioceses with their development offices. These partners are central to our work, driving the planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of their own project ideas with support from h3.
Purpose of the Assignment
horizont3000 seeks to engage a specialized consultant to develop a cutting-edge resource for operationalizing gender-transformative approaches through dialogue. This toolkit will be a key resource for the h3 and partner organization project teams across diverse geographical and cultural contexts, primarily in East Africa, Senegal, Mozambique and Central America. They will utilize it to build their own awareness and skills, and to effectively prepare and train their community-based facilitators, including farmer field school trainers, farmer to farmer trainers, community animators, paralegals, gender champions etc. Therefore, the guidance must be simple, highly relevant, and designed to go beyond mere inclusion (gender-sensitive) to actively questioning and transforming responsibly the root causes of inequality (gender-transformative). This work is critical to challenging harmful social norms, advancing gender equality, and fostering sustainable outcomes within h3 partner organizations and their sector programmes.
Objective of the Consultancy
The main objective of this consultancy is to research, collate, sense-make and simplify a set of creative and evidence-based tools and methods for facilitating gender-transformative approaches through community dialogues tailored to different target groups and cultural contexts, including norm setters and community members.
The core topics of the toolkit, which focus on challenging deeply held beliefs and practices to advance gender equality and social justice, include:
– Challenging gender norms and gender roles- including gendered division of labour
– Power dynamics and decision-making
– Access to resources and opportunities
– Participation and leadership
– Addressing gender-based violence
– Organizational gender dialogue
Scope of Work and Key Deliverables
| Scope of Work | Deliverables | ||
| Research and Collating | Drawing from institutional, academic, and multilateral toolkits and resources, undertake a comprehensive desk review of the most effective evidence-based, gender-transformative tools and methods for community gender dialogue, as well as gender dialogues at organizational level. | Preliminary Table of contents/ Toolkit outline, and (preliminary) overview of selected tools and methods | |
| Tool Development & Adaptation | Simplify and tailor the identified tools and methods, with practical examples as well as key messages for different target groups (e.g. norm setters, men, women, youth) and sectors, specifically focusing on sustainable livelihoods and human rights programmes. Guidance on when and how to use the tool. Suggestions on visual simplification and participant materials (e.g., flashcards, picture-based exercises, storytelling techniques) for core tools with a particular focus on catering to non-literate participants. | A simplified toolkit/ Guide to Gender-Transformative Approaches and Dialogue, with key messaging for individual and collective action, and proper citation/ acknowledgement. | |
| Handling sensitive and challenging topics | Adapt specialized tools to help communities navigate and discuss deeply challenging and uncomfortable topics like: Gender-Based Violence- GBV (including appropriate support and referrals in case of GBV disclosures), Common Harmful Cultural Practices (HCPs), sexual and reproductive health and family well-being. | A dedicated section in the toolkit focusing on Facilitating challenging and uncomfortable topics, complete with detailed session guides and precautions. | |
| Introduction and Overview | Introduction to the toolkit with general guidance and recommendations: primary purpose and target audience, principles of effective gender dialogue, critical facilitation skills, ethical considerations, Do No Harm etc. | Comprehensive general guidance incorporated. | |
| Final Synthesis and Validation | Sense-make and synthesize all collated, adapted materials into a cohesive, user-friendly Gender-Transformative Approaches and Dialogue Toolkit | Final Gender-Transformative Approaches and Dialogue Toolkit (editable and print-ready versions). A final presentation/briefing to the organization’s team | |
Technical Expertise
• Advanced Degree in Gender Studies, International Development, Sociology, Anthropology, or a related field.
• Minimum of 8 years of demonstrable experience working in gender equality and social inclusion programming
• Expertise in Gender Transformative Approaches to shift power relations, challenge social and structural barriers, and address intersecting inequalities
• Proven expertise in designing, adapting, and field-testing community-level facilitation tools and methodologies in the context of h3 partner countries.
• In-depth understanding of sensitive development issues, including GBV, harmful cultural practices as well as sexual and reproductive health, and ethical approaches to discussing them in community settings.
Core Skills
• Exceptional research, sense-making, and collation skills to draw evidence-based practices from disparate sources.
• Strong ability to simplify complex concepts and tailor materials for cultural appropriateness and low-literacy audiences.
• Strong facilitation and training skills
• Expertise (advising) in incorporating effective visuals and illustrations
• Fluency in English is mandatory.
Location and Timeline of Assignment
• Duration of assignment: Appr. 20 days between 15 December 2025 to 15 February 2026.
• Location: Remote. Must be able to conduct virtual meetings with teams across different time zones.
Submission Requirements Interested applicants should submit the following:
1. A Technical Proposal outlining the methodology and work plan to achieve the objectives (max 5-6 pages).
2. A detailed Financial Proposal (including daily rate and estimated total cost).
3. A comprehensive Curriculum Vitae (CV) highlighting relevant experience.
4. A portfolio or links to previously developed gender-transformative tools or facilitation guides would be an asset.
The offer should be sent until December 2, 2025 to Daniela.Pfeffer@horizont3000.at (h3 Team Coordinator Knowledge Management) and Maureen.Obbayi@horizont3000.org (International Gender Expert). horizont3000 reserves the right to extend the deadline if offers received by that date do not meet the requirements.
