ActionAid Malawi
TERMS OF REFERENCE
Call for Consultancy Services to conduct contextualized feminist policy research, under the Valuing Women’s Work program
Background
ActionAid is a global justice Federation working to achieve social justice, gender equity and poverty eradication founded as a UK charity organization in 1972.
ActionAid Malawi (AAM) is an affiliate member of ActionAid Federation. It started working in Malawi in 1990. The organization was registered as a local Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) under the Companies Act (Reg. No. 8289) as a Company Limited by Guarantee. AAM has a two-tier governance system which is comprised of the General Assembly and Board of Directors.
In the new phase of the Valuing Women’s work program (2023-2024), AAM is working with feminist movements at the national and regional level to further scale-up the power of young women and their allies to challenge unjust economic policies that impede effective delivery of gender responsive public services, including on decent work and social protection. Graduates from the feminist macroeconomic academy will embark on a journey to challenge policy makers in the Malawi government, IFIs’ such as the IMF and World Bank on issues around women’s economic inequality by disrupting mainstream macro-economic policies, narratives, and institutions that fail to recognize and value women’s paid and unpaid work through obstructing delivery of gender responsive public services.
The main advocacy goal of this program is a feminist well-being economy and an economy that cares for its people and the planet. Research is a major aspect of the advocacy as it provides evidence-based data through which policies can be formed and presented to policy makers, decision makers, and government officials for the economy that is fair to women and girls’ rights. This consultancy call is, thus, being issued to interested firms or individuals to conduct a contextualized feminist policy research.
The policy research should aim to:
- Conduct a review of the current economic system and its impact on women and girls’ rights from a feminist, legal, and policy perspective.
- Conducting Key Informant Interviews and consultations with key stakeholders, including young women, government officials, civil society organizations, women’s rights activists, economists, and experts in relevant fields to understand the nuances, complexities, and implications of neoliberalism. These interviews will also help to identify potential solutions and policy recommendations for transition and or adoption of a feminist wellbeing economy.
- Analyse the National and International Labour laws in relation to decent work.
- Review effective and promising feminist interventions on crises.
- Develop a framework on the feminist articulation of crises, and on decent work for the women and youth.
- Develop a road map on women’s rights and feminist actors engaged in addressing and
responding to crises. - Conduct a review of effective and promising feminist interventions on macroeconomic policies.
- Analyze the 2023/2024 National budget in light of key gender responsive public services.
- Analyze the national policies that inform the health and education budgets and make key recommendations for areas that require reforms. Furthermore, assess how the IMF supported public sector wage bill constraints are affecting the budget.
- Provide recommendations based on identified gaps and needs in the labour sector.
Deliverables
a Brief document outlining the steps and timetable for the work and initial document review.
b Documentation of the impacts of neoliberal economic policies and women’s economic rights.
c Budget analysis in relation to the key gender responsive public services.
d A draft report mapping the key actors engaging in feminist responses to crises.
e Final report following a review of the draft.
f A draft and final report outlining effective and promising feminist interventions in crises.
g Framework on the feminist articulation of crises and proposed plan for the Feminist Framework on crises.
h A draft and final framework of feminist articulations of crises that need critical interventions.
i A Policy brief and position paper based on research findings.
Timeline
The consultancy is estimated to take 15 days, starting from the 4th of December 2023. Specific milestones and deliverable due dates will be agreed upon during the inception phase.
Required Knowledge and Experience of the Consultants.
The Consultant(s) should have at least the following:
a. Minimum of a Master’s Degree in any of the following fields: Public Policy, Social Sciences,
Development Studies, or Gender Studies.
b. Wide knowledge of the neoliberal policies, macro-economic policies
c. Demonstrated experience in conducting research and analysis on macroeconomics,
neoliberalism, gender equality, economic justice, and social justice.
d. Experience with gender analysis and feminist lens.
e. Excellent analytical and report writing skills, with the ability to present complex information in a clear and concise manner.
f. Strong communication and facilitation skills to engage effectively with stakeholders from
diverse backgrounds.
g. Familiarity with a feminist economics will be an added advantage.
h. Familiarity with research applications.
Budget
The budget for this consultancy should include all costs associated with data collection, research, analysis, stakeholder consultations, report writing, and presentation of findings. The budget should be inclusive of any travel, accommodation, and other logistical expenses.
Method Of Application
Send your application to:
The Chairperson
Internal Procurement Committee
ActionAid Malawi
P.O. Box 30735
LILONGWE 3
The deadline for submissions is the 27th November, 2023.