Consultancy Service for Conducting an Intersectional Gender Analysis of the Ethiopia Local Governance Project (ELGP) in Sidama Region

About this role

Terms of Reference (ToR): Consultancy Service for Conducting an Intersectional Gender Analysis of the Ethiopia Local Governance Project (ELGP) in Sidama Region 1. Background The Ethiopia Local Governance Project (ELGP) is a three-year governance and accountability initiative to be implemented by HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation in partnership with Sidama Development Association (SDA), Amhara Women Association (AWA), Wag Development Association (WDA), and Women Empowerment Action (WE-Action). The Austrian Development Agency (ADA) is funding the action ELGP as part of International Partnerships Austria, and ADA’s Ethiopia Country Strategy 2025-2028 (Outcome 2). ELGP aims to improve local governance, people’s participation, accountability, and responsive service delivery. The project will be implemented across the Amhara and Sidama Regions. A core principle of ELGP is the promotion of inclusive governance and meaningful participation of women, men, youth, persons with disabilities, and other underserved or marginalised groups in local decision-making processes. The project recognises that inequalities in power, participation, representation, and access to resources, and services continue to limit women's and men’s (including young people and from and marginalised groups’) engagement in governance structures and public affairs. Despite policy commitments to gender equality in Ethiopia, preliminary assessments for the ELGP in the Amhara and Sidama regions indicate that socio-cultural norms, gender roles, and power relations continue to restrict women’s and underserved or marginalised groups’ (including men and young people) meaningful participation and leadership in local governance. Specifically, unequal access to resources, disproportionate household and care responsibilities, and institutional, economic, environmental, and political barriers limit their influence over community planning, budgeting, oversight, and service delivery. A deeper analysis of these context-specific dynamics is therefore required to inform evidence-based, gender-responsive, and socially inclusive project interventions. ELGP integrates ADA’s Gender Equality Policy three-pronged strategic approach, namely political/policy dialogue, gender mainstreaming, and gender equality in alignment with the EU Gender Action Plan (GAP) III Objectives 1 and 3 [1] . According to the OECD/DAC Gender Policy Marker, ELGP has been classified as a Gender Marker 1 (Gender Significant) project. ELGP includes specific interventions designed to address gender and inclusion barriers and inequalities, with affirmative actions that strengthen women's and marginalised groups’ participation (including men and young people), leadership, representation, alongside Gender-Responsive Budgeting (GRB), enhanced accountability mechanisms, and social norm transformation. To ensure these interventions are grounded in evidence and tailored to the Sidama context, the project is commissioning a comprehensive Intersectional Gender Analysis. Findings will directly inform implementation strategies, targeting approaches, indicator refinement, learning priorities, and adaptive management throughout the project period. 2. Purpose of the Intersectional Gender Analysis The overall purpose of the Intersectional Gender Analysis is to establish an evidence base on the gender and inclusion dynamics, power relations, and exclusion mechanisms affecting women’s and men’s (including young people and from marginalised groups’) hereinafter women’s and men’s, meaningful participation, representation, and leadership in local governance and public service delivery within the ELGP intervention areas of the Sidama Region. The findings and actionable recommendations will be used directly during the ELGP inception phase to refine implementation strategies, inform annual work planning, guide indicator target-setting, and support adaptive management. Specifically, the analysis will operationalise and strengthen ELGP’s core gender-focused interventions, including inclusive leadership and mentoring initiatives, pre-planning and council women's caucuses, GRB, inclusive community platforms, survivor-centered grievance redress mechanisms, and social norms transformation approaches 3. Objectives of the Intersectional Gender Analysis The Intersectional Gender Analysis will pursue the following specific objectives: Contextual & Multi-Level Analysis: Examine the social, cultural, economic, environmental, institutional, and political factors—including household decision-making, unpaid care burdens, resource access, and formal/informal power structures (such as Luwa and Songo )—that shape women’s and men’s participation and leadership across household, community, and institutional levels. Intersectionality: Analyse how gender intersects with age, disability status, economic status, marital status, health status (including PLHIV), education, environment, and geographic location to identify which subgroups of women and men face the most exclusion. Demand-Side Participation & Voice: Identify specific barriers and enabling factors affecting women’s and men’s engagement in Integrated Community-Based Participatory Planning (ICBPP), community/constituent platforms, consultation forums, Community Score Cards (CSCs), and community-based advocacy. Supply-Side Responsiveness & Institutional Capacity: Assess the extent to which local councils, executive bodies, the five pro-poor service sectors, and local CSO/CBO partners promote or constrain gender equality, inclusive leadership, social inclusion, and GRB. Safeguarding, Do-No-Harm & Risk Mitigation: Identify risks of gender-based discrimination, harassment, violence (GBV), or social backlash against women’s and men’s civic participation, and assess the accessibility, confidentiality, and survivor-centered referral capacity of local grievance redress mechanisms. Social Norms & Male Engagement: Identify actionable entry points for positive social norms change, focusing on engaging spouses, religious leaders, and traditional elders to champion shared household responsibilities and more inclusive participation and leadership. Operational Recommendations: Formulate a practical, time-bound GAP with concrete recommendations to guide gender-responsive implementation and monitoring across all ELGP outcomes, considering short-, mid- and long-term timeframes. 4. Scope of the Assignment Geographic Coverage: The Intersectional Gender Analysis will be conducted only in the Sidama Region across the North and South Sidama Zones. Primary data collection will cover a representative sample of woredas and kebeles drawn from the project’s six target woredas ( Malga, Gorche, Hawassa Zuria, Bursa, Teticha, and Hula ) and 60 target kebeles. Complementarity and Triangulation with Existing Studies: This study will complement the pre-existing Intersectional Gender Analysis from the Amhara region (ALGP+ previous project) alongside the concurrent Sidama Baseline Assessment and the Political Economy and Conflict Analysis (PEA). To avoid duplication and stakeholder fatigue, the consultant(s) will review, leverage, and triangulate secondary data and emerging findings from these assessments, focusing primary fieldwork strictly on filling analytical gaps related to gender norms, intersectional barriers, and institutional gender capacities in Sidama. Thematic and Institutional Ecosystem: The assessment will cover both the demand and supply sides of the local governance ecosystem relevant to ELGP, encompassing: (i) community-level planning and priority-setting structures (ICBPP and community/constituent platforms); (ii) legislative and oversight bodies (Woreda and Kebele Councils and their Standing Committees); (iii) public service delivery and budgeting institutions (Woreda Finance/Plan Bureaus and the five pro-poor sectors: health, education, water, agriculture, and roads); (iv) formal and informal grievance redress mechanisms; and (v) civil society partners (SDA, the Sidama Action CSO Network, and local CBOs) etc. Stakeholder Engagement: The study will engage a diverse, representative cross-section of stakeholders, including diverse women, men, young people, Persons with Disabilities (PWDs), women and men councillors, Woreda executives and sector service providers, traditional and religious leaders ( Luwa and Songo representatives), and CSO/CBO leaders. 5. Key Analysis Questions The analysis should address, but not be limited to, the following indicative questions (to be further elaborated and operationalised into detailed data collection tools by the consultant(s)) considering cultural and context sensitivity and adapting according to the type of interlocutor: Individual Level How do women and men with different background and status currently participate in community planning and local governance decision-making processes, and how do women and men perceive their actual influence over community priorities? How do personal and practical factors—such as literacy, confidence, mobility, financial resources (wealth and livelihoods status) and daily time burdens/unpaid care work—facilitate or constrain women’s and men’s civic participation and leadership (including optimal scheduling for community meetings)? Household and Community Level How do household decision-making dynamics, spousal relations, and unequal rights to economic resources (such as land and livestock inheritance) affect women’s and men’s civic engagement? What role do social norms and formal/informal community structures—including spouses, religious leaders, Luwa age-grade structures, Songo councils of elders, and Iddirs —play in either restricting or championing civic voice and inclusive leadership? What are the potential risks of household/ domestic or community backlash, harassment, or gender-based violence (GBV) against women or men who assume public or leadership roles, who speak up against local influential people, religious leaders and executives and how can spousal engagement and familial dialogues mitigate these risks, drawing on existing examples and good practices? How are the findings similar or different for women, men and their sub-groups? Institutional Level Who are the key formal and non formal institutions and actors, at different levels with directly or indirectly relevant mandates to support gender equality, rights and social inclusion and empowerment in all its dimensions across sectors. To what extent are Woreda and Kebele Councils, executive bodies, and the five pro-poor service providers (health, education, water, agriculture, and roads) gender-responsive in their internal rules, procedures, budgeting, and service delivery standards? What institutional barriers prevent women or men councillors, in particular from marginalized groups, from assuming leadership positions (e.g., in Standing Committees), and what specific support mechanisms are exist or are needed for them to effectively influence decisions? What are the existing capacities and gaps of government and civil society actors—including Sidama Development Association (SDA), the Sidama Action CSO Network, and local/women-led CBOs—to advocate for gender equality and represent women’s and men’s real interests and priorities, independently, no matter the political affiliations of the women and men, and the institutions or actors working with them? How effective (trusted, accessible, inclusive, coordinated, and survivor-centred) are local GBV services including protection, grievance redress and accountability mechanisms for women and men, including linkages to formal GBV referral pathways? How are the findings similar or different for women, men and their sub-groups? Structural Level What regional and local policies, legal frameworks (such as the ICBPP and Administrative Procedure Proclamation [APP]), tax and licensing, and customary practices support or hinder gender equality and social inclusion in Sidama? To what extent are woreda planning and budgeting processes responsive to women’s and men’s, practical and strategic priorities—including natural resource/climate resilience priorities—and what institutional mechanisms exist to track GRB allocations? What strategic opportunities and risks exist for advancing gender-responsive and more inclusive governance, particularly in light of anticipated local council elections and social norm transformation initiatives? How are the findings similar or different for women, men and their sub-groups? 6. Methodology Overall Approach & Analytical Frameworks: The Intersectional Gender Analysis will adopt a participatory, mixed-methods, and intersectional approach to generate both analytical insights and actionable recommendations for ELGP implementation in the Sidama Region. The consultant is expected to propose a contextually grounded analytical framework that examines power relations, gender roles, and institutional rules across the household, community, institutional, and structural levels. Specifically, the analysis will apply the 5Cs Framework —examining C onfidence, C are/childcare responsibilities, C onstituency/candidate support, C ash/access to economic resources, and C ulture/social norms—complemented by participatory time-use tools (such as 24-hour daily activity clocks to inform meeting schedules under Activity 1.1.4) and institutional gender analysis. Throughout, an intersectional lens will be applied to assess how gender interacts with age, disability status, economic status, marital status, health status (including PLHIV), education, exposure to violence, conflict, and/or environmental hazards, and rural/urban location to shape exclusion and leadership opportunities. Desk Review & Synergy with Concurrent Inception Studies: The assignment will begin with a comprehensive desk review of relevant project, policy, and contextual documents. This includes the ELGP Project Document and Logframe. This includes noting gaps in contextual, institutional, actor, and harmonization analysis, to be included in the inception and final reports. Furthermore, the consultant(s) will review ADA’s Environmental, Gender, and Social Standards (EGSS) Checklist; national and Sidama regional legal/policy frameworks (including the ICBPP manual and APP); and lessons learned from the predecessor ALGP+ project (including the Amhara Intersectional Gender Analysis and Endline Evaluation) and the Sidama Preliminary Assessment. To avoid duplication and respondent fatigue during the inception phase, the consultant(s) will cross-reference with the Sidama Baseline Assessment and PEA , leveraging and triangulating available and emerging data rather than repeating baseline household surveys. Primary Data Collection (Qualitative & Quantitative): Primary data collection across the sampled woredas and kebeles will combine qualitative and targeted quantitative methods: Qualitative Methods: Key Informant Interviews (KIIs), Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), community consultations, direct observation of local governance processes, and short case studies. To ensure safe and open dialogue free from patriarchal or institutional intimidation, FGDs and consultations must include sex- and age-segregated sessions (e.g., women-only, female youth, and women councillors), keeping in mind that women are not a homogenous group and that there can also be power and influence dynamics between them. Additionally, mixed dialogues will be facilitated in Sidaamu Afoo by experienced female researchers. Quantitative & Institutional Data: Rather than conducting a standalone household survey, quantitative analysis will draw on: (i) institutional and administrative data collected from Woreda/Kebele Councils, Standing Committees, Woreda Plan Offices, and the five pro-poor sector offices (tracking sex-, age-, and disability-disaggregated representation, leadership positions, and GRB allocations); and (ii) gender-specific indicator data generated in coordination with the ELGP Sidama Baseline Survey. At the same time, the consultant(s) will note relevant gaps in availability of relevant gender and inclusion statistics and data. Ethical Standards, Safeguarding & Quality Assurance The methodology must systematically integrate Human Rights-Based Approaches (HRBA), gender-equality principles, disability inclusion (ensuring physical and communication accessibility for PWDs), conflict sensitivity, and Do-No-Harm principles across tool design, fieldwork, validation, and reporting. The consultant(s) must adhere to ethical research standards, HELVETAS’ Code of Conduct , Regulations on Prevention of Sexual Exploitation, Abuse, and Harassment (PSEAH) , mobbing and abuse of authority, Child Protection , and the ADA Data Protection/Privacy Notice —ensuring informed consent, strict confidentiality, data anonymisation, and safe referral preparedness (linking with the Bureau of WCSA should any GBV disclosures arise, without directly probing for personal trauma). Findings from secondary sources, institutional records, and primary qualitative and quantitative methods will be systematically triangulated to ensure analytical accuracy, validity, and operational utility. 7. Expected Deliverables and Timeline The assignment comprises a total Level of Effort (LoE) of 30 working days spread across 40 calendar days from contract signing (including two 5-day review windows for HELVETAS and ADA). The consultancy will be implemented in four sequential phases: Phase 1: Inception and Tool Design (7 Working Days) The consultant(s) will conduct a comprehensive desk review of relevant project, policy, and contextual documents (including the ELGP Project Document, Logframe, ADA EGSS Checklist, ALGP+ Amhara Intersectional Gender Analysis, and emerging Sidama Baseline/PEA documents). Based on this review, the consultant will submit a draft Inception Report not more than 15 pages (excluding the annexes) outlining the methodology, analytical framework, sampling strategy, gender analysis matrix, detailed workplan, quality assurance/safeguarding protocols, and draft data collection tools and consent forms in English. HELVETAS and ADA will provide consolidated feedback within 5 days. The consultant(s) will then incorporate the feedback, finalise the Inception Report, and translate the approved tools and consent forms into Amharic and Sidaamu Afoo prior to field deployment. Phase 2: Field Preparation and Data Collection (10 Working Days) Following approval of the Inception Report, the consultant(s) will train field researchers (including on Do-No-Harm, PSEAH, and ethical consent), pre-test the translated tools to ensure cultural and contextual clarity and sensitivity and undertake qualitative and institutional/quantitative data collection across the sampled Sidama woredas and kebeles. At the conclusion of fieldwork, the consultant will facilitate a brief Preliminary Findings Debriefing (PowerPoint presentation) with the ELGP team and Sidama Development Association (SDA) to validate initial observations and identify any analytical gaps requiring follow-up prior to drafting the report. Phase 3: Data Analysis and Draft Report Preparation (8 Working Days) The consultant(s) will clean, transcribe, and triangulate the qualitative and quantitative data collected from primary and secondary sources to prepare a comprehensive Draft Intersectional Gender Analysis Report with short-, mid-, and long-term Action Plan recommendations . The report will include: Executive Summary; Methodology and Limitations; Context, Policy, and Institutional Analysis; Multi-Level Intersectional Gender Findings (Individual, Household/Community, Institutional, and Structural levels); Safeguarding, Backlash, and GBV Risk Analysis (aligned with the ADA EGSS Checklist); Strategic Implications and recommendations for improving ELGP Flagship Interventions (Mentor–Mentee initiative, Women's Caucuses, Spousal Dialogues, GRB tracking, and ICBPP/CSC platforms); Proposed refinements and target benchmarks for ELGP gender-responsive indicators; and A draft Operational GAP Matrix outlining concrete actions, responsible actors, budget/resource considerations, and timelines mapped to ELGP Outputs. HELVETAS and ADA will review the draft report and provide consolidated feedback within 5 days. Phase 4: Validation Workshop and Finalisation (5 Working Days) The consultant(s) will prepare a summary presentation and facilitate a one-day Validation Workshop in Sidama to present the draft findings and validate the Intersectional GAP with HELVETAS, SDA, government stakeholders (Regional/Woreda Councils, Plan Bureau, WCSA, and pro-poor sectors), and community/CSO representatives. Incorporating feedback from the workshop and the written review, the consultant will submit the final Gender Analysis package: Final Intersectional Gender Analysis Report (maximum 25 pages excluding annexes, incorporating the validated Operational GAP Matrix and Indicator Recommendations) in both editable Word and PDF formats. Standalone Operational GAP & Indicator Matrix in editable Word/Excel format, detailing specific actions, target adjustments, responsible stakeholders, and implementation timelines across ELGP’s 3 outcomes. Concise Intersectional Gender Analysis Brief (maximum 8 pages) summarising the methodology, key findings, conclusions, and strategic recommendations, in both Word and PDF formats (plus the PowerPoint slide deck used for validation). Hard Copies: Two (2) bound and signed hard copies each of the Final Report and the 8-page Brief. Finalised Research Instruments: All final data collection tools, field guides, and informed consent forms in English, Amharic, and Sidaamu Afoo . Anonymised Datasets and Transcripts: All cleaned quantitative/institutional datasets, qualitative interview and FGD transcripts, coding frameworks, analysis files, and digital metadata (e.g., Kobo Toolbox exports). In strict compliance with ethical standards and the ADA Privacy Notice , all datasets and transcripts must be fully anonymised/de-identified prior to handover to protect respondent confidentiality. 8. Reporting and Management Arrangements The consultancy will be managed by HELVETAS Ethiopia under the ELGP project. The ELGP MEAL Officer will serve as the primary focal person for technical coordination, quality assurance, review of deliverables, and stakeholder engagement. The consultant(s) will work closely with the ELGP team and SDA throughout the assignment. 9. Payment Modality Payments for this consultancy will be made upon satisfactory completion and approval of the agreed deliverables by HELVETAS, as follows: 20% of the total contract amount shall be paid upon submission and approval of the Inception Report , including the detailed methodology, work plan, data collection tools, and inception presentation. 30% of the total contract amount shall be paid upon submission and approval of the Draft Gender Analysis Report . The remaining 50% of the total contract amount shall be paid upon submission and acceptance of all final deliverables, including the Final Intersectional Gender Analysis , Executive Summary , cleaned datasets and data collection tools , and incorporation of all comments and feedback provided by HELVETAS and relevant stakeholders. HELVETAS shall deduct the applicable withholding tax from all payments in accordance with the tax laws and regulations of Ethiopia. [1] https://ada.cdn.kontainer.com/cdn-static/66062f94/CPEIB9gpgRSn/policy-document-gender-equality-2024-2030.pdf