Gender Mainstreaming Consultancy

1. Introduction

Closing the gender gap and achieving gender equality is a critical global and regional concern. According to the 2024 Gender Gap Index, based on current data, it will take 134 years to achieve full parity—approximately five generations beyond the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target. The global gender gap score in 2024 for 146 countries stands at 68.5% closed. The Middle East and North Africa region ranks last, with a gender parity score of 61.7%. Egypt ranks 135th out of 146 countries, dropping one position from 2023 despite a positive trajectory since 2017, recording a gender parity score of 62.9% in 2024 (World Economic Forum, 2024).[1]

Egypt has made significant strides in some areas of gender equality, including women’s political participation, female beneficiaries of microfinance, maternal mortality rates, and literacy rates. However, several challenges persist, including low female labor force participation, high unemployment, and gender-based violence (GBV). Female labor force participation stands at just 15%, compared to 67% for men, while the unemployment rate for women is 24%, compared to 6% for men. Women and girls are particularly vulnerable to various forms of GBV, including domestic violence, sexual violence, early and forced marriage, female genital mutilation, and sexual harassment. Such violence severely limits women’s ability to contribute to and benefit from development initiatives, restricting their agency—their ability to make choices and act. Despite progress in reducing the gender literacy gap, the adult female literacy rate is 65.5%, compared to 76.5% for men (World Bank, 2024).[2]

The Sawiris Foundation for Social Development (SFSD), established in 2001 with an endowment from the Sawiris family, is one of Egypt’s first national philanthropic foundations. SFSD’s 2023-2028 strategy focuses on two main objectives: 1) Reducing multidimensional poverty in Egypt, and 2) Empowering agents of change in the country. SFSD focuses on five governorates with the highest incidence and intensity of extreme poverty, including Assiut, Sohag, Qena, El-Fayoum, and El-Minya. Women have always been a central focus of SFSD’s projects, particularly in economic empowerment, social empowerment, and education, as they are one of the most vulnerable and marginalized groups facing poverty and social exclusion. SFSD currently implements various initiatives specifically targeting women. However, addressing gender inequality has not been approached in a systemic or strategic manner within the foundation’s work until 2023.

As an evidence-based philanthropic organization, SFSD recognizes the global, regional, and national gender gap challenge. In response, SFSD has identified the need to integrate gender more comprehensively across its programs. As part of its 2023-2028 strategy, SFSD is committed to mainstreaming gender throughout its projects and interventions to intensify its efforts to reduce the gender gap. Gender mainstreaming is “the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programmes, in all areas and at all levels. It is a strategy for making women’s as well as men’s concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic and societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated.”( UN ECOSOC,1997/2)[3] SFSD’s goals of gender mainstreaming are to foster gender equality, avoid perpetuating inequality or causing harm, achieve better development outcomes, and influence effective policies.

This Terms of Reference (TOR) outlines the scope of work, deliverables, and responsibilities for an external consultant to assist SFSD in mainstreaming gender within its operations and programs.

[1] Kali Pal, K., Piaget, K., & Zahidi, S. (2024). Global Gender Gap Report 2024. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/publications/global-gender-gap-report-2024/in-full/

[2] World Bank Group. 2024. Egypt – Gender Equality and Climate Change: Background Note to the Climate Change and Development Report. © Washington, DC: World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/41182

[3] UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), UN Economic and Social Council Resolution 1997/2: Agreed Conclusions, 1997/2, 18 July 1997, https://www.refworld.org/legal/resolution/ecosoc/1997/en/41501

2. Objective

The primary objective of this consultancy is to integrate and mainstream gender considerations into SFSD’s operations and programs. The results of the consultancy will provide a detailed gender analysis to better understand the gender equality situation in order to ensure that SFSD’s programs can systematically and effectively promote gender equality and women’s rights and empowerment. Additionally, the results of the consultancy will provide a comprehensive gender mainstreaming strategy to identify specific targeted and integrated actions to promote gender equality across the different programs and operations.

3. Expected Role

This outlines key tasks for a Terms of Reference (TOR) for a gender mainstreaming task, covering both technical sectors and internal guidelines/practices for the Sawiris Foundation.

I. Assessment and Analysis

• Gender Analysis of SFSD’s programmatic interventions:
  • Review existing project documents, implementation plans, monitoring data, and evaluations to identify gender gaps, needs, and opportunities.
  • Conduct stakeholder consultations (including women and men from diverse backgrounds) to gather qualitative data on gendered experiences, challenges, and priorities related to the Foundation’s technical sectors.
  • Analyze the impact of existing programs on women and men, considering both intended and unintended consequences.
  • Identify best practices and lessons learned related to gender mainstreaming within the Foundation and in similar organizations.
• Contextual gender Analysis to investigate the gender equality situation in the specific development context of the five governorates (includes travel):
  • Identifying gender dynamics, including gender norms, power relations between women and men, through conducting a desk review and/ or primary research within the communities and sectors where the Foundation works.
  • Identify major areas and the underlying causes of gender-based inequality, discrimination, and exclusion, including for example, laws, policies, regulations and institutional practices.
• Gender Analysis of the Foundation’s Internal Policies and Practices:
  • Conduct desk review and interviews to review SFSD’s HR policies and guidelines, budgeting and recruitment processes, communication strategies, organizational culture, and leadership structures through a gender lens to evaluate the status of the foundation’s operations, identifying gaps, opportunities and challenges for integrating gender considerations.
  • Conduct an organizational capacity need assessments
  • Analyze the extent to which gender considerations are integrated into decision-making processes.
  • Identify any gender biases or barriers within the Foundation’s internal operations.

II. Strategy Development and Planning

• Develop a Gender Mainstreaming Strategy and Action Plan:
  • Based on the results of the gender analysis, develop a comprehensive gender mainstreaming strategy with clear set objectives, targets and indicators for gender integration across programs and internal operations.
  • Define specific actions and interventions to integrate gender considerations into all stages of the project cycle (design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation) for each technical sector.
  • Identify potential areas for targeted actions and interventions that focus specifically on addressing gender equality gaps and challenges.
  • Define specific actions and interventions to integrate gender considerations into all internal practices including HR, procurement, finance, etc…
  • Identify potential risks (financial, operational, organizational, political, and sociocultural), rank their likelihood and severity, and develop risk mitigation strategies for each to minimize impact on results.
  • Identify areas where the gender mainstreaming strategy intersect and align with other crosscutting themes – climate change, diversity, disability and inclusion- and SFSD’s emergency strategy, ensuring that these cross-cutting strategies complement rather than overlap each other.
• Develop Gender-Sensitive Monitoring and Evaluation Framework including Gender-Sensitive Indicators and Data Collection Tools:
  • Develop specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) indicators to track gender-related outcomes and impacts.
  • Design gender-sensitive data collection tools and methodologies to capture both quantitative and qualitative data.

III. Capacity Building

• Conduct Training for Foundation Staff:
  • Based on the organizational capacity needs assessments, develop a plan for strengthening the foundation’s internal capacity for gender mainstreaming, including training and awareness-raising for staff.
  • Design and deliver training programs on gender concepts, gender analysis, gender mainstreaming principles, and practical tools for integrating gender into projects and programs.
  • Tailor training content to the specific needs of different staff members (e.g., program staff, M&E staff, HR staff).
  • Provide ongoing support and mentorship to staff on gender mainstreaming.
• Develop Training Materials and Resources:
  • Develop user-friendly training manuals, guidelines, and other resources on gender mainstreaming for both internal and external stakeholders.

IV. Implementation Support

• Provide Technical Support to Project Teams:
  • Offer ongoing technical assistance to project teams on how to implement the gender mainstreaming strategy and action plan.
  • Support the integration of gender considerations into project proposals, budgets, and work plans.
  • Help project teams to monitor and evaluate the gender-related outcomes of their projects.
  • Design accountability mechanisms that make reporting and coordinating roles on gender equality a shared responsibility among all personnel.

V. Prepare a Comprehensive Report:

• • Document the entire process, including the assessment findings, strategy and action plan, capacity building activities, monitoring data, and recommendations.
  • The report should be clear, concise, and accessible to a wide audience.

4. Deliverables

The consultant will be responsible for delivering the following, with each deliverable considered complete and approved upon receiving final sign-off from the Foundation. All deliverable documents need to be in Arabic:

• A comprehensive gender analysis report
• A gender mainstreaming strategy and action plan document.
• Training materials and resources for capacity-building sessions.
• Training Reports
• Monitoring and evaluation framework including gender sensitive indicators and data collection tools
• A final report summarizing the consultancy activities, achievements, and recommendations for ongoing gender mainstreaming efforts.

5. Budget Allocation

The budget for the consultancy will be allocated based on the completion of these deliverables, with the percentages and installments specified below:

• Inception report and work plan: 20%
• Gender analysis report: 20%
• Gender mainstreaming strategy: 20%
• Capacity building report/sessions: 10%
• Monitoring & Evaluation tools: 10%
• Final report: 20%

6. Timeline

The consultancy is expected to commence in [April 1, 2025] and conclude by [September 1, 2025], with the following key milestones:

7. Qualifications and Experience

The consultancy is expected to be performed by a team, with one of them acting as team leader to steer the process and assure quality of deliverables. The ideal Team leader – should possess the following qualifications and experience:

• Advanced degree (PhD preferred, minimum of a master’s) in gender studies or related disciplines such as social sciences.
• 8 to 10 years of relevant work experience.
• Proven experience in conducting gender analysis and developing and implementing gender mainstreaming strategies within development organizations.
• Strong understanding of gender mainstreaming approaches and best practices.
• Experience in conducting capacity-building and training programs.
• Excellent analytical, writing, and communication skills.
• Ability to work collaboratively with diverse teams and stakeholders.

8. Submission of Proposals

Interested consultants are requested to submit the following documents to external.consultancies@sawirisfoundation.org with the subject line “Gender Mainstreaming Consultancy” by March 6, 2025:

• A technical proposal of the assignment, including a brief implementation plan outlining the proposed approach, methodologies and timeline.
• A detailed portfolio indicating previous experience in gender mainstreaming.
• An initial financial estimation.
• CVs of the consultant and key team members (if applicable).
• Previous work of the company in similar assignments and scopes.
• The organizational structure of the consultancy team accompanied by the CV of all team members.
• Tax Card, Commercial Registration, and VAT Certificate.

For inquiries or additional information, please contact us at external.consultancies@sawirisfoundation.org by March 3, 2025.

Additionally, an online Q&A session will be held on February 24, 2025 at 1:00 pm via this link. Questions are preferred to be sent via the inquiry email mentioned above prior to the session by February 20, 2025.

9. Reference Documents

• SFSD Strategy (2023-2024)
• National Strategy for the Empowerment of Egyptian Women 2030