Consultancy – Leadership Development for community-based organizations

The Girls First Fund is seeking Uganda-based consultants to provide training to Girls First Fund’s grantee partner community-based organizations in Uganda who are implementing projects to prevent and respond to child marriage and gender inequality. This engagement is expected to take place over six months between 1st November 2024 – 30th May 2025.

This document contains an overview of the Girls First Fund and outlines expectations for the project and proposal submissions.

Overview of the Girls First Fund

The Girls First Fund is a donor collaborative supported by leading philanthropic organizations and individual philanthropists who have come together to champion community-led efforts so that all girls can live free from child marriage and create their own future. The fund was born out of a foundational belief – shared by the founding donors – that community-based organizations (CBOs) hold a unique position to develop locally relevant solutions, identify and engage girls most vulnerable to child marriage, understand the local cultural norms that enable child marriage to persist, and engage local stakeholders. 170 organizations across six countries[2] are currently implementing strategies to prevent and respond to child marriage and gender inequality with funds from Girls First Fund.

Girls First Fund in Uganda

The Girls First Fund provides grants to 33 community-based and -led organizations in Uganda. These grantees are located across 26 districts throughout Uganda and work to prevent and respond to child marriage and gender inequality primarily through social and behavior communication change, girls’ leadership, and sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Background to the Assignment

Effective leadership is crucial for ensuring successful implementation of programs, managing healthy teams, navigating complex social and cultural environments, fostering sustainable community impact and being gender transformative. The urgent need to address child marriage and early unions highlights the necessity for strong leadership among leaders of community-based organizations that the Girls First Fund supports. Recognizing this, it is imperative to support the leadership capacities of these leaders to enhance their people management, strategic planning, governance, gender transformative practices, and operational efficiency.

This consultancy aims to address these needs by providing tailored leadership development mentorship and accompaniment to leaders working to end child marriage and early unions. It will equip them with the skills and knowledge necessary to drive the vision of their community forward and achieve greater impact. The consultancy will focus on key areas such as strategic leadership, change management, stakeholder engagement, and adaptive capacity, ensuring that these leaders are well-prepared to meet current and future challenges. This will support their organizations to deliver gender transformative programming to tackle/prevent/ reduce child marriage and also support them to be more adaptable and sustainable.

Purpose of the Consultancy

The purpose of this consultancy in leadership development accompaniment is to strengthen leadership competencies among a cohort of 6-8 grantee organizations’ key leaders. This will enable them to effectively manage their organizations, build team resilience, promote organizational development, mobilize resources, and plan for succession. Each organization will be expected to have 2-3 leaders together attending the training.

OBJECTIVES OF THE ACCOMPANIMENT

1. Enhance leadership competencies by developing leadership skills among senior leaders to foster strategic thinking and decision-making abilities.
2. Support organizational leaders to reflect on their own leadership styles and mechanisms in place to support and promote self- and team-care, inclusion, examining power dynamics, collaboration, transparency, and accountability on their team.
3. Strengthen organizational management through improved ability of senior leaders to manage their organizations efficiently and promote best practices in governance, financial management, and operational efficiency.
4. Build organizational resilience by equipping leaders with the tools and knowledge to enhance their organizations’ resilience and develop strategies for crisis management and long-term sustainability.
5. Promote organizational development through a culture of continuous improvement and innovation
6. Facilitate succession planning through clear succession plans to ensure leadership continuity and develop a pipeline of future leaders within the organization.

By the end of the consultancy participating grantee partner leaders will have:

1. Enhanced strategic planning and Vision: Grantee partner leaders will develop stronger skills in strategic planning, enabling them to set clear, achievable goals and create comprehensive plans to advance the community’s mission of ending child marriage and early unions.
2. Strengthened team culture and management: Grantee partner leaders will strengthen their abilities to lead a team that values all team members, fosters a safe and inclusive environment, promotes diversity and inclusion, examines and addresses harmful power dynamics, and encourages collaboration, transparency, and accountability.
3. Improved Governance and Operational Efficiency: Leaders will gain knowledge and tools to enhance their governance structures and operational processes, resulting in more efficient and effective organizational management.
4. Strengthened Change Management Capabilities: Participants will acquire change management skills to effectively navigate and lead their organizations through transitions and challenges, ensuring resilience and adaptability in dynamic environments.
5. Increased Stakeholder Engagement: Leaders will learn strategies to better engage with stakeholders, including community members, marginalized communities, persons with disabilities, donors, and partners, fostering stronger relationships and collaboration to support their initiatives.
6. Enhanced Adaptive Capacity: Grantee partners build their capacity to adapt to changing, volatile circumstances and emerging challenges and crises, ensuring their organizations remain sustainable and impactful over the long term.
7. Improved Communication and Leadership Skills: Participants will enhance their communication and leadership abilities, empowering them to inspire and guide their teams more effectively.
8. Development of a Supportive Leadership Network: Leaders will establish a network of peers and mentors, providing ongoing support, shared learning, and collaboration opportunities beyond the training program.
9. Increased Confidence and Motivation: Leaders will experience increased confidence and motivation to tackle the complex issues surrounding child marriage and early unions, driving forward their organization’s mission with renewed energy and determination.

Approach and Methodology

To deliver on the above objectives, we recommend the following key activities. We also welcome the addition of alternative activities to meet the objectives in submitted proposals, so long as these activities fit within the budget allocated in Section j.

1. Identification of participants: Support the Girls First Fund team in finalizing a list of participating organizations, based on the organizations’ expressions of interest.
2. Needs Assessment: Conduct a needs assessment to understand the specific challenges and development areas for each organization.
3. Interactive Workshops: Utilize interactive and participatory methods in workshops to engage leaders and facilitate practical learning.
4. Case Studies and Real-World Examples: Incorporate case studies and real-world examples to illustrate key concepts and best practices.
5. Feedback and Adaptation: Gather regular feedback from participants to adapt the program and ensure it meets their evolving needs.
6. Next Steps: Support the grantee partners leaders to develop a leadership challenge project to work on for the next six months as their leadership challenge. This will be reported on at the end of the project in terms of progress made.
7. Follow-Up Support: Provide ongoing support and follow-up to ensure the implementation of action plans and continued development.

DELIVERABLES

1. Training Program:
   • Design and deliver a series of workshops and training sessions covering key leadership competencies, organizational management, and resilience building.
2. Deliver a structured training to grantee partners
3. Customized Action Plans:
   • Work with each organization to develop tailored action plans addressing their specific needs and challenges.
   • Include strategies for immediate improvements and long-term goals.
   • Offer personalized coaching sessions for leaders to address individual leadership challenges and goals.
   • Graduate the cohort of leaders trained at the GFF grantee partner convening in 2025.
4. Final Report:
   • Provide a report summarizing the activities undertaken, progress made, and key outcomes achieved.
   • Include recommendations for further development and sustainability.

Final deliverables

1. Interim report on the accompaniment being provided that includes details of the groups, and progress being made.
2. End of consultancy report that details the support provided, progress, made, action plan and recommendations.

BUDGET

A maximum budget of $35,000 (USD) is available for this work. This budget includes all consultancy fees, applicable taxes, and consultant travel-related costs. The consultancy rate is subject to change if the estimated number of grantee partners to be accompanied is less than anticipated.

TIMELINE

The consultancy is expected to last for 6 months between 1st Nov 2024- 30th May 2025.

MANAGEMENT AND MONITORING

An in-country Girls First Fund Program Advisor will monitor and coordinate the work by:

• Facilitating the entry meeting with the consultant.
• Coordinating initial contact with Girls First Fund grantee partners.
• Monitoring progress of the assignment by phone or in person.
• Providing and facilitating inputs from the Girls First Fund team on the drafts of the deliverables.
• Reviewing and approving deliverables.

KEY COMPETENCIES

• Legally compliant and able to implement the requested work in Uganda
• Proven track record in leadership training especially tailored to community-based organizations
• Understanding of various leadership theories and models, including feminist leadership principles and gender transformative programming
• Experience in coaching and mentoring
• Experience working with grassroots organizations
• Experience with remote and hybrid learning models including familiarity with use of virtual platforms and online engagement

PAYMENT TERMS

Payments will be made in the following instalments:

• The first installment of 30% upon the following deliverables.
  1. Signing of the contract
• The second installment of 40% is upon the following deliverables.
  1. Selection of final grantee partners to receive accompaniment
  2. Completion of the in-person training
  3. Completion and agreement on change projects to be implemented by grantee partners
  4. Submission of an interim report describing progress
• The third and final installment is 30% upon the following deliverables.
  1. Completion of virtual one on one mentoring and follow up support for grantee partners to complete their change projects
  2. Graduation of grantee partner participants
  3. Submission and approval of the final consultancy report detailing the accompaniment undertaken, grantee partner change projects, lessons learnt, challenges and recommendations