Duration: 10 Days

1. About FEMNET

The African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET) is a pan-African, feminist and membership-based network based in Nairobi, Kenya with over 800 individual and institutional members across 50 African countries and in the diaspora. FEMNET envisions a society where African women and girls thrive in dignity and well-being, free from patriarchal and neoliberal oppression and injustices.

Founded in 1988, FEMNET exists to facilitate and coordinate the sharing of experiences, information, and strategies for human rights promotion among feminists, activists and women’s rights organizations as a strategy for collective organizing; policy influencing & advocacy; strategic communication; capacity strengthening as well as feminist solidarity and movement building. For more information, visit www.femnet.org.

2. Background

The Meaningful Engagement for Transformative Action (META) Programme is a European Union-funded initiative implemented by the African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET), SDGs Kenya Forum, and Women Engage for a Common Future (WECF). The programme seeks to strengthen the capacity of community-based organisations (CBOs), youth-led organisations, organisations representing persons with disabilities, women’s rights organisations, and other civil society actors to engage effectively in policy and governance processes at county, national, regional, and international levels.

The META programme recognizes that meaningful citizen participation, inclusive policy dialogue, democratic governance, and sustainable development depend on the ability of civil society actors to understand policy processes, influence decision-making, engage duty-bearers, document community realities, and advocate for equitable and responsive public policies. However, many grassroots organisations continue to face challenges in accessing policy spaces, generating and using evidence for advocacy, engaging in structured dialogue processes, documenting their work strategically, and navigating evolving national and international policy landscapes.

To address these gaps, the META programme has developed a comprehensive capacity strengthening curriculum consisting of eleven training modules. The first eight modules focus on building foundational knowledge, skills, and practical competencies in policy engagement, advocacy, communications, data use, budgeting, and dialogue facilitation. These modules aim to equip META partners with the tools required to engage meaningfully with government institutions, development partners, civil society networks, and communities while strengthening their ability to influence policies, budgets, programmes, and development outcomes.

The training programme adopts a participatory and practice-oriented approach grounded in principles of inclusion, accessibility, gender equality, social justice, and community leadership. The curriculum combines conceptual learning, practical exercises, peer exchange, reflective practice, and real-world application to support organizational strengthening and sustained civic engagement.

To support the delivery of these modules, the META Consortium seeks to engage a qualified trainer (or training team) with demonstrated expertise in policy and governance, advocacy, feminist and gender-responsive approaches, participatory facilitation, civil society strengthening, and adult learning methodologies. These sessions are scheduled weekly between August and October 2026.

3. Objective/Purpose of Assignment

The assignment seeks to enhance the knowledge, skills, and practical competencies of META partner organisations in policy engagement, advocacy, communications, evidence generation and use, gender-responsive approaches, budgeting, and dialogue facilitation.

Specifically, the assignment aims to:

• Strengthen the capacity of META partner organisations to engage effectively in policy and governance processes at county, national, regional, and international levels.

• Strengthen the capacity of participants to cascade knowledge and skills within their organisations through a Training of Trainers (ToT) approach, thereby extending the reach and sustainability of the META capacity-strengthening programme.

• Enhance the ability of partner organisations to document, communicate, and amplify community voices and lived experiences in policy spaces.
• Strengthen participants’ capacity to collect, analyse, interpret, and utilise gender-responsive data for evidence-based advocacy.
• Support organisations to apply feminist and gender-responsive approaches in policy engagement, programme implementation, and organisational practice.
• Build participants’ skills in designing, facilitating, and documenting inclusive community dialogue processes.
• Strengthen organisational capacity to engage in structured dialogue with government institutions, development partners, civil society networks, and other stakeholders.
• Contribute to the overall objectives of the META Programme by strengthening grassroots civil society leadership, accountability, participation, and inclusive governance.

4. Scope of Work and Terms of Reference

The consultant will be responsible for:

• Reviewing and providing feedback on the META Training Manual and related programme documents.
• Preparing and adapting training materials for virtual delivery.
• Facilitating eight virtual training modules covering:
  • Orientation, Grounding & Foundations for Policy Engagement
  • Understanding Power, Policy Ecosystems & Entry Points for Influence
  • Storytelling, Communication, Documentation & Institutional Memory
  • Applying a Feminist Lens to Policy Engagement
  • Data-Driven Advocacy
  • Gender Responsive Budgeting for Civil Society Organisations
  • Designing and Facilitating Inclusive Community Dialogues
• Applying participatory, inclusive, and adult-learning methodologies.
• Ensuring accessibility and meaningful participation of all learners.
• Capturing key learning points, feedback, and recommendations from each session.
• Submitting a brief final training report.

5. Key Deliverables and Outputs.

The consultant will deliver:

• Training materials adapted for virtual delivery, including presentations, exercises, and facilitation guides.
• Facilitate seven weekly virtual training sessions (three hours per session) for META partner organisations.
• Brief session reports summarising participation, key discussions, learning outcomes, and recommendations.
• A final consolidated training report highlighting achievements, lessons learned, challenges, and recommendations for future capacity-strengthening initiatives.

6. Required Qualifications, skills and Competencies.

The consultant/firm should have:

• A relevant degree in Public Policy, Governance, Gender Studies, Development Studies, Social Sciences, Communications, or a related field.
• At least 5 years’ experience in training, facilitation, advocacy, governance, policy engagement, or civil society capacity strengthening.
• Demonstrated experience working with community-based organisations, civil society organisations, youth-led organisations, and women’s rights organisations in Kenya.
• Strong understanding of African feminist principles, feminist leadership, movement-building, and gender-transformative approaches.
• Proven knowledge of advocacy, public participation, policy processes, data-driven advocacy, and organisational strengthening.
• Experience designing and facilitating participatory and virtual learning programmes.
• Excellent facilitation, communication, and report-writing skills.
• Experience creating inclusive and accessible learning environments.
• Familiarity with EU development cooperation, civil society engagement, and gender equality frameworks will be an added advantage.

7. Duration of Assignment.

The training is expected to be undertaken over a period of 10 days, from 6 August to 24 September 2026, including preparation, facilitation, coordination and reporting.

8. Liaison, Coordination and Reporting.

The consultant will work closely with  META Programme Coordinator  at FEMNET Secretariat. Prior to the start date, the consultant will be required to have a briefing session with the mentioned staff to discuss the assignment and expected deliverables.

9. Selection of Consultant.

The consultant shall be contracted by FEMNET. The contract will include Withholding Tax (WHT) deduction in line with laws of contracting where FEMNET is headquartered. A WHT certificate will be issued to the consultant. Payment will be done through bank transfer to the consultant bank account. FEMNET will not meet the costs of bank charges. Payment schedule will be agreed upon with the consultant upon successful selection. In case of team/firm applicants, a designated assignment contract manager will be the contact between FEMNET and the team and responsible for all deliverables.

10. Intellectual Property Rights.

The consultant expressly assigns to FEMNET any copyright arising from the outputs produced while executing the service contract. The consultant may not use, reproduce, disseminate, or authorize others to use, reproduce or disseminate any output produced under the service contract without prior consent from FEMNET.

11. Terms of Service.

This is a non-staff contract and therefore the consultant is not entitled to insurance, medical cover or any other status or conditions as FEMNET staff.

12. Application Process.

Interested consultants are invited to submit:

• A cover letter outlining their understanding of the assignment, proposed approach, methodology, and relevant experience. The letter should also indicate their daily consultancy fees.
• A detailed CV(s) of the proposed consultant(s) highlighting relevant qualifications and experience.
• At least two examples of similar assignments undertaken, including references.

Applications are by e-mails only, sent to:  recruitment@femnet.or.ke. Please indicate the reference on the subject line as ‘FNT/EOI/29/2026 – Trainer – META Grantees Capacity Strengthening Series. Deadline for submission of applications is 20/07/2026.

Please note: FEMNET is committed to prevention any type of unwanted behaviour including sexual harassment, exploitation, abuse, and lack of integrity as well as other ethical breaches. All staff and consultants are expected to share this commitment through our code of conduct and Safeguarding Policy. Offers of employment will be subject to satisfactory references and appropriate screening checks, which can include criminal records and fraud.

We welcome people from the widest possible diversity of backgrounds, culture and experience. We will make any practical adjustments to enable people with disability participate fully in an inclusive working environment.

By submitting your application, you acknowledge that you have given consent to the collection, use and/or disclosure of your data by us for the purposes set out in this job description. Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted.