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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, as an implementing partner under the Africa Think Tank Platforms Project (ATTP), seeks to engage an individual consultant to review its existing resource mobilization and donor-engagement strategy and develop a comprehensive, innovative, and actionable Financial Sustainability Plan. This assignment contributes to the ATTP Project’s broader objective of strengthening the institutional sustainability, effectiveness, and long-term policy influence of African think tanks by supporting AFIDEP to develop a practical pathway for diversified and resilient financing.

AFIDEP is interested in diversifying its funding base through a balanced portfolio that may include philanthropic foundations and charitable trusts, high-net-worth individuals, private- and corporate-sector partners, individual giving, and other emerging funding sources. The assignment will identify relevant actors, explore suitable funding modalities, and provide a practical roadmap for strengthening AFIDEP’s financial resilience and long-term sustainability.

2. Objectives of the Assignment

The objective of the assignment is to review AFIDEP’s current resource mobilization performance, systems, and donor-engagement approach and develop a comprehensive Financial Sustainability Plan with a clear implementation framework, diversified funding pathways, institutional responsibilities, and measurable performance indicators. The assignment should also ensure the proposed plan is practical, prioritized, and aligned with AFIDEP’s strategic direction, institutional capacities, and decision-making processes to support effective internal ownership and implementation.

3. Scope of Services, Tasks and Expected Deliverables

3.1 Situational analysis

• Review AFIDEP’s institutional strategy, current resource mobilization and donor-engagement strategy, fundraising performance, revenue streams, practices, and relevant institutional documents.
• Analyze current donor-engagement approaches, funding relationships, opportunity pipelines, and proposal-development practices.
• Assess the external funding landscape and undertake a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats analysis Advise on ethical, inclusive, and context-responsive approaches to engaging women, young people, and other relevant groups.
• Review AFIDEP’s thematic and programme priorities to determine their positioning within the funding landscape.
• Map potential donors and funding partners across geographic and thematic areas and assess the feasibility of securing multi-year core, flexible, and programme funding.
• Identify key risks, assumptions, and constraints affecting AFIDEP’s financial sustainability and assess their implications for implementation of the proposed plan.

3.2 Financial sustainability strategy

• Develop strategies to diversify funding sources and reduce reliance on a limited number of donors.
• Recommend approaches for strengthening AFIDEP’s competitiveness and positioning for funding opportunities.
• Develop practical approaches for deepening engagement with existing donors and cultivating new funding relationships.
• Identify suitable funding modalities and partnership models, including opportunities involving philanthropy, charitable trusts, high-net-worth individuals, corporate partners, and individual giving.

3.3 Systems and capacity strengthening

• Recommend systems and processes for resource mobilisation planning, opportunity and pipeline tracking, and performance monitoring.
• Recommend approaches for donor engagement, stewardship, and relationship management.
• Strengthen proposal development, strategic positioning, bid/no-bid decision-making, and internal coordination processes.
• Assess internal capacity needs and propose realistic measures to address staffing, skills, systems, accountability, and governance gaps.
• Recommend practical arrangements for periodic review, learning, and adaptive management of the Financial Sustainability Plan, including roles for leadership, programme teams, and resource mobilisation staff.
• Propose simple tools or templates for opportunity tracking, donor relationship management, internal coordination, and periodic performance review.

3.4 Financial Sustainability plan and implementation roadmap

• Develop a comprehensive Financial Sustainability Plan setting out strategic objectives, priorities, target funding streams, and engagement approaches.
• Prepare a detailed and sequenced implementation roadmap with institutional roles, responsibilities, timelines, and resource requirements.
• Develop key performance indicators and a practical monitoring, evaluation, and learning framework.
• Facilitate internal consultations to promote ownership and alignment.
• Incorporate feedback from relevant internal and external stakeholders into the final plan.

        3.5 Expected deliverable

The Consultant will be expected to produce the following outputs:

1. Inception Report outlining the proposed methodology, approach, stakeholder consultation plan and work schedule.
2. Institutional and Funding Landscape Assessment Report presenting findings from the institutional and funding landscape review, donor mapping and SWOT analysis.
3. Draft Financial Sustainability Plan setting out proposed sustainability strategies, priorities and actions, supported by an implementation roadmap and monitoring framework.
4. Final Financial Sustainability Plan and Implementation Roadmap incorporating stakeholder feedback and providing clear actions, timelines and a framework for monitoring implementation.
5. 4. Required Qualifications and Experience

• A Masters degree in Development Studies, Public Policy, Economics, Business Administration, Finance, or a related field.
• At least 15 years of practical experience in philanthropy, development fundraising, resource mobilisation, financial sustainability, or donor engagement.
• Demonstrated experience developing and implementing resource mobilisation or financial sustainability strategies for mission-driven organisations.
• Strong knowledge of the global funding landscape, including philanthropic foundations, charitable trusts, corporate partners, high-net-worth individuals, and emerging funding modalities.
• Demonstrated ability to conduct institutional assessments, donor mapping, market analysis, and stakeholder consultations.
• Proven experience developing actionable implementation roadmaps, institutional systems, performance indicators, and monitoring frameworks.
• Excellent analytical, facilitation, writing, and presentation skills.
• Preference will be given to an individual or team with demonstrable experience working with African think tanks, research institutions, or policy institutes.

6. How to apply

Interested individual consultants should submit a current CV demonstrating the required qualifications and relevant experience, together with a technical and Financial proposal or brief statement of approach to recruitment@afidep.org. The deadline for receiving submissions is 3^rd November 2026   Only complete applications received through the designated channel and by the stated deadline will be considered.

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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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, consultations, 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.

7. 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 recruitment@afidep.org. The deadline for receiving submissions is 27^th October 2026   Only complete applications received through the designated channel and by the stated deadline will be considered.