Individual Consultant: Gender Inclusion Specialist (Eastern Cape Landscape)

Job Description

Funded by Program name and background:

Funded by the European Union Delegation in South Africa.

The Economic Inclusion and Empowerment of Women, Youth and LGBTQIA+ Community Members (ECOWYL) Programme will contribute to achieving the EU Roadmap for Engagement with Civil Society in South Africa, by strengthening the partnership between the Delegation of the EU to South Africa and South African Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to achieve transformational change at grassroots level, addressing intersectional issues related to inequality, unemployment, discrimination and the democratic accountability gap.

ECOWYL targets three climate-vulnerable communities in rural South Africa – in the Northern Cape at the Namakwa District, Mpumalanga/Limpopo in Kruger to Canyons at the Ehlanzeni District and the Eastern Cape in the Alfred Nzo District. These terms of reference are specific to only the Eastern Cape landscape.

Overall Objective of the Project

ECOWYL is to increase the economic empowerment, entrepreneurial and financial inclusion of rural women, youth and LGBTQIA+ community members through improving their access to, decision-making authority over, communal grazing land, livestock and entrepreneurship opportunities in three climate vulnerable districts of rural South Africa.

Economic exclusion is one of the key challenges facing women, youth and LGBTQIA+ community members in South Africa. This challenge is intensified for rural women, youth and LGBTQIA+ community members (the Action’s main target groups) who depend on livelihood activities regulated by patriarchal land management practices, and experience structural exclusion from male-dominated economic activities such as livestock farming, ecotourism, recycling and landscape restoration. In addition, the impacts of climate change and extreme weather events (floods, droughts and fires) are felt more strongly by women and other vulnerable community members as the economic and social disadvantages they face often lead to limited adaptive capacity. ECOWYL also taps into cultural heritage preservation and indigenous knowledge and recognises the unique challenges and potential of rural areas, particularly those impacted by historical underdevelopment and economic exclusion. Most economic development opportunities in small towns and villages in South Africa are linked to the natural environment and Small Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) opportunities for ecotourism, agriculture, and natural product value chains are significant.

Consultancy Services Required

Conservation South Africa (CSA seeks to work with a Gender Inclusion Specialist to identify and target rural women, youth and LGBTQIA+ community members who seek to participate in rural land management governance and rural economic activities within the Alfred Nzo District of the Eastern Cape Province. Working alongside existing structures such as farmer organizations, informal women’s groups and youth groups at village-level, the service provider will stage a series of capacity building workshops for 200 vulnerable and interested rural women, youth and LGBTQIA+ community members and 50 male decision-makers from a Traditional Authority/Local Municipality who are responsible for decisions about the land and economic opportunities in the area.

The Service Provider is expected to build the capacity and voice of youth and marginalised community members’ networks in the form of Key Messages Resource materials to be disseminated to a larger audience to reach beneficiaries and strengthen the digital skills of vulnerable groups. CSA will draw on the Service Provider’s experience in reaching millions of young South Africans through various digital media platforms. CSA will use the service provider’s existing media platforms to distribute the content to a broad audience and raise awareness of the key issues facing rural women, youth and the LGBTQIA+ community in access to economic inclusion.

Definition of the goods or services required with detailed specifications

The Services required are:

• Local travel - 1 site visit to the landscape
• 16 Capacity building workshops at the landscape
• 3 Intergenerational Dialogues and policy workshops
• 1 Intergenerational Dialogue and policy workshop with focus on decision-making structure, suchas the traditional authorities and local municipal structures in the landscape
• 9 Workshops to identify key messages from target groups in the landscape
• 10,000 people access digital content regarding the specific barriers faced by rural women, youthand LGBTQIA+ community members in their efforts to safely and equitably participate in green transition value chains, including land governance and access financial resources in traditionally male rural economic activities such as livestock farming, ecotourism, recycling, and landscape restoration. Communications Plan to be developed stating innovative delivery channels to be utilized.
• Develop a Gender Action Plan for the Traditional Authority
• Capacity building reports with signed attendance registers
• Pre and Post Workshop Evaluation reports
• Workshop Training Certification where applicable
• Digital content statistical reach reports on monthly basis

CSA will provide the following:

• Workshop Branding (banners, branded stationery)
• Venue Hire where necessary
• Provide Catering
• Provide transportation for CSA project team members to and from training sites
• Provide the necessary workshop and stakeholder meetings consumables (markers andpermanent markers, paper, chart paper, etc.)

Offeror requirements:

The below listed criteria represent the minimum requirements for all offerors responding to the RFP.

Skills and Knowledge Required

The service provider must:

• Have 3-5 years experience in Economic Inclusion and Gender Mainstreaming
• Have 3-5 years experience in youth, women and community engagement
• Have a strong understanding of rural community learning patterns
• Be able to leverage varying communication delivery channels to deliver messages
• Have a proven track record in conducting work in the specified rural areas of training sites andsurrounds

Submission instructions:

All correspondence, including submission of Proposals and Clarifications should be sent by email to procurementza@conservation.org
The subject line of the email must reference the RFP name of this solicitation and its RFP Number. All submissions are due to CSA by 19 September 2025 at 17H00 SAST.

About the Organization

CI works in over 40 countries, almost exclusively developing countries in the tropical and sub-tropical regions to conserve the world's heritage of biological diversity while improving the economic and social well-being of people who depend most heavily on those natural resources. Our investments are focused on about 30 biodivsersity hotspots and five high biodiversity wilderness areas. These geogrpahic foci are mostly larger landscape and seascape corridors. Our financial support comes in roughly equal portions from individuals, corporations, foundations, and bilateral and multilateral public development agencies. Our annual operating budget is approximately $120 million, making us one of the top international conservation organizations.