Gender Expert – AFIDEP

Consultancy
Project	Africa Think Tanks Platform (ATTP) Project
Assignment Effort	30 days between October 2026 and August 2027
Application Deadline	27  October 2026

1. Background

The African Institute for Development Policy (AFIDEP) is a regional non-profit research and policy institute established in 2010 to help bridge the gaps between research, policy, and practice in development efforts in Africa. Its primary purpose is to contribute to sustainable development through the use of evidence and advocacy to strengthen political commitment and resource allocation for development issues; inform the design and implementation of effective interventions; and strengthen governance and accountability structures for tracking development challenges in Africa. www.afidep.org.

AFIDEP is one of the thirteen African think tanks participating in ATTP through the Building Resilience and Impact through Dialogue and Galvanizing Action for Evidence-Informed Policymaking (BRIDGE) Africa consortium. Through the project and its broader programme of work, AFIDEP contributes to research, policy engagement, and institutional strengthening on development priorities in Africa.

To support effective implementation of the ATTP Project, AFIDEP seeks to engage an individual consultant as a Gender Expert to ensure that gender considerations are systematically and rigorously integrated across the project’s human capital development and climate change studies. In particular, AFIDEP is undertaking a landscape study on country investments in policies, programmes, and interventions related to education, training, and skills development for harnessing the Demographic Dividend (DD) and Gender Dividend (GD). The Expert will play a key role in this study and contribute to related research and policy-engagement activities to strengthen gender analysis and gender-responsive outcomes.

This assignment contributes to the ATTP Project’s broader objective of strengthening the quality, inclusiveness, and policy relevance of African think tank research by ensuring that gender and intersectional perspectives are systematically integrated into study design, analysis, and evidence-to-policy engagement.

1. Objectives of the Assignment

• Provide technical leadership for integrating gender considerations across human capital development and climate change study designs, tools, analysis, reporting, and policy engagement.
• Lead the gender-responsive assessment of policies and investments in education, training, and skills development, with a view to advancing DD and GD outcomes.
• Strengthen the project team’s capacity to apply gender-responsive and intersectional approaches throughout the research and evidence-to-policy cycle.
• The assignment should also ensure that gender-responsive approaches are practical, contextually grounded, and embedded within AFIDEP’s research and policy-engagement processes so as to strengthen internal ownership, consistency, and long-term application.

1. Scope of Services, Tasks and Expected Deliverables

3.1 Gender mainstreaming in research design

• Provide technical guidance to ensure that study designs, analytical frameworks, tools, methodologies, and indicators are gender-responsive.
• Integrate gender and intersectional analysis, including age, location, disability, and socioeconomic status, across relevant research components.
• Support development and review of gender-sensitive quantitative and qualitative data-collection tools and indicators.
• Advise on ethical, inclusive, and context-responsive approaches to engaging women, young people, and other relevant groups.
• Support the identification and refinement of gender-responsive indicators, analytical questions, and evidence requirements to strengthen monitoring, learning, and reporting across relevant studies.

3.2 Gender analysis for the landscape study

• Lead application of a gender lens to assess the responsiveness of relevant policies, programmes, and investments.
• Analyse gender-related gaps in access, participation, retention, transition, completion, and outcomes in education and skills systems.
• Assess investments in gender-equitable education, technical and vocational education and training, and skills development.
• Support gender analysis of quantitative and qualitative data and robust interpretation of findings.
• Contribute to cross-country comparative analysis to identify good practices, implementation gaps, and transferable lessons

3.3 Reporting, policy engagement, and capacity strengthening

• Draft and review gender-sensitive report sections, policy briefs, recommendations, presentations, and other knowledge products.
• Provide technical support to stakeholder consultations and policy dialogues to ensure that gender perspectives are adequately represented.
• Translate gender evidence into clear, feasible, and actionable policy and programme recommendations.
• Design and facilitate capacity-strengthening sessions for the project team on gender mainstreaming and intersectional analysis.
• Maintain a concise record of technical inputs, consultations, and capacity-strengthening support provided.
• Contribute to clearly documented technical inputs, including annotated comments, reviewed tools, gender analysis notes, presentation inputs, and other agreed advisory outputs required during implementation.
• Support the documentation of key findings, lessons, and recommendations arising from gender-responsive analysis and stakeholder engagement processes.

3.4 Expected Deliverables

The Consultant will be expected to provide technical guidance to strengthen the integration of gender and intersectionality across the project’s research and policy work. This will include reviewing study designs, tools and analytical frameworks; contributing to the analysis and reporting of the landscape study; informing the development of policy and stakeholder-engagement materials; and strengthening the project team’s capacity to apply gender-responsive approaches. The Consultant will also provide periodic progress updates and a final summary of key contributions, lessons and recommendations.

1. 4Required Qualifications and Experience

• An advanced degree, preferably a Master’s degree or PhD, in Gender Studies, Development Studies, Economics, Education, Public Policy or related field.
• At least 8 years of relevant professional experience in gender analysis and mainstreaming in research, policy or development programmes.
• Demonstrated expertise in gender and education or skills-development systems, including technical and vocational education and training
• Demonstrated knowledge of DD and/or GD frameworks
• Strong experience in policy and programme analysis in African contexts.
• Proven experience conducting or contributing to multi-country or regional studies.
• Strong analytical skills and experience in qualitative and quantitative research methods.
• Excellent writing and communication skills, with a record of producing policy-relevant outputs.
• Experience working with think tanks, regional consortia, or donor-funded programmes is an advantage.

1. Skills and Competencies

• Strong analytical, systems-thinking, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to translate complex gender issues into clear and actionable recommendations.
• Excellent stakeholder-engagement, facilitation, and technical communication skills.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively within a multidisciplinary, multi-country team.
• Strong organisational skills, attention to detail, and ability to meet agreed deadlines.

1. Working Arrangements, Duty Station and Travel

• The assignment will be undertaken from Kenya, Malawi, or remotely/hybrid, as agreed with AFIDEP.
• The Consultant will work closely with the designated AFIDEP team and participate in virtual and/or in-person meetings, cons​_ultations, and the high-level policy dialogue as required.
• Any travel required for the assignment will be agreed and approved by AFIDEP in advance and undertaken in accordance with applicable AFIDEP procedures.
• AFIDEP will provide agreed access to relevant institutional systems, documents, meeting facilities, and counterpart personnel required for delivery of the assignment.

1. How to apply

Interested individual consultants should submit a current CV demonstrating the required qualifications and relevant experience, together with a technical proposal or brief statement of approach to [email protected]. The deadline for receiving submissions is 27th October 2026   Only complete applications received through the designated channel and by the stated deadline will be considered.