Background

Womankind Worldwide is an international women’s rights organisation and funder,  working with women’s rights groups and feminist movements across the world to end gender inequality. We have influenced governments and other decision-makers to commit to ending violence against women, enable women to gain economic independence and ensure their voices are heard. As a feminist organisation, working to dismantle systems of oppression that discriminate against women, girls and people of all genders is at the heart of what we do. This is why decolonisation and antiracism inform how we work.

As a UK-based organisation, we want to increase our positionality with the UK government, something partners have fed back is very important to them about what we offer. As part of this, we want to extend and compliment the work we do in partnership with other UK-based NGOs to develop a brief of our key calls to action for the UK government. This will involve a review and refresh of our existing calls directed at the UK across our thematic areas, including partners in the review and co-creation process. The refreshed calls will be informed by partners’ voices and priorities as well as the current political landscape—i.e. which levers are most likely to achieve success and cause Womankind to be invited into decision-making spaces and increase our influence and that of our partners.

A year into the Labour government’s first term, national policies and the international context have created a difficult policy environment for advocating on gender equality.

The aid cut to 0.3% will have a devastating impact on gender equality funding and programmes. In addition, comments signalling a general de-prioritisation of gender in the FCDO’s work have caused widespread concern. This takes place amidst similar cuts happening worldwide, notably the US Aid cut, which has already had a hugely detrimental impact on the work of feminist movements and women’s rights organisations worldwide, including that of Womankind’s Majority World partner organisations. Meanwhile, across Europe and internationally, the rise of right-wing populism combined with religious fundamentalism has contributed to a growing backlash to gender equality; while neoliberal, colonial systems harm people and the planet.

Purpose of the Consultancy

We want to contribute to influencing positive change on UK policy and commitments to gender equality. Furthermore, the UK has significant influence in certain settings, and we would like to see this channelled to influence action—for example, championing reform of International Financial Institutions, corporate accountability, and tax justice.

While we recognise the difficulty of making cut-through with advocacy calls in this challenging policy environment, it is more important than ever that we advocate on aspects like ending femicide, tackling Tech Facilitated Gender Based Violence (TFGBV), and stopping corporate abuse.

Womankind has traditionally conducted its advocacy in partnership with other UK NGOs, including through the GADN and CJC. While this is a vital and continuing strategy, the moment has arrived for us to refine and build on our own calls as an organisation and engage directly with the UK government on them as Womankind. 

The brief will be a means of using our power and positionality as a UK registered organisation to conduct relevant, timely and meaningful advocacy informed by and seeking to address UK positions on relevant issues and in the context of global developments affecting the feminist ecosystem. Those reading it should come away knowing:

• Who Womankind is (if they don’t know already)
• Our key calls across our thematic areas of WER, WPL and VAWG
• What we want them to do—through easily understandable actions they can take.

As the political climate is rapidly changing, as far as possible, the recommendations should be future-proof. Therefore, while specific current realities can and should be referenced, the over-arching calls will be medium to long-term in nature.

Key Tasks:

• An audit of existing calls – involving interviews and shared documents from team members.
• A review of calls including partners through interviewing them to collect their views on recommended updates, amendments and gaps.
• Recommendations in the form of a preliminary findings report of 3-5 pages to Policy and Advocacy team for decisions on which content to include.
• Skeletal outline of the brief.
• Development of policy brief (including an anticipated three drafts for colleagues’ inputs before finalisation) with aim to increase Womankind’s influence with the UK government

Deliverables

Deliverable 1

Audit of existing calls

• Review existing calls through shared documents.
• Audit of existing levers with UK government, new or previous means of influencing, and best space to share the brief.
• Call/s with Policy and Advocacy team members to understand which are current and outdated and what gaps there might be
• Conduct online session/s with partners gathering feedback to inform which should feature in the brief and co-create emerging calls.
• Research of key influencing spaces and groups in Parliament to inform what will land best, optimum time to launch based on emerging realities.

Deliverable 2

Preliminary findings report and outline

• Preliminary findings report recommending calls and content to include in brief (3-5 pages).
• Skeletal outline of brief (1-2 pages).

Deliverable 3

Produce policy brief

• Work with P&A team to incorporate any new calls and decision on how much/which to include for maximum impact.
• Produce three drafts of policy brief and engage with Womankind team to incorporate their inputs and feedback.
• Produce finalised policy brief of approximately 12 pages Womankind’s direct access to and influence with the UK government, as well as that of our partners.
• Produce key calls summary one-pager.

Organisation and Management

This will involve close work with the UK Advocacy Lead and interviews with all members of the Policy and Advocacy team. The Policy and Advocacy team will assist the consultant with:

1. Access to all internal reports /contents and data relevant to the assignment. These will include content to be developed and other relevant documents to support the development of the policy brief.  
2.  Support and assistance to gain access to relevant stakeholders for consultations to the extent possible.
3. Orientation with the consultant and outline the parameters of the required services.
4. Provide and agree with the consultant on the revised work schedule, timelines, and deadlines.
5. Provide relevant feedback and evaluation of the service provided and outputs submitted.

Interviews will take place with Policy and Advocacy team members, co-CEOs, relevant team members from across the Programmes and Learning and Fundraising directorates, trustees, partners and informal groups.

Key qualifications/skills

We are looking for a feminist professional with an anti-racist and de-colonised approach who has the following skills and experience:

1. The consultant should be an expert in UK government and parliamentary advocacy on international development and gender equality with deep understanding of the current policy environment and challenges.
2. Ability to both map political opportunities and engage with Majority World partner representatives in a way that shares power and recognises their expertise in their contexts and work areas.
3. Excellent writing, interpersonal and communication skills (in English).
4. Outstanding analytical skills.
5. Effective time and project management skills.

Application process and timeline

It is envisaged that the consultant will start work in December, with the brief itself complete and ready for presentation by end of June 2026. Please refer to the deliverables for tentative timelines.

Please note, the budget for this consultancy is £5,500

Applicants will need to provide:

• A technical proposal (up to 3 pages) for how they would complete the brief. This should include a workplan outlining how the consultancy days will be utilised.
• An accompanying financial proposal – we have a total budget of 5,500 GBP inclusive of taxes for this assignment. Please include an itemised budget/breakdown of the anticipated costs (1 page).
• A CV/resume outlining the professional, educational and personal achievements that make them a fit for the consultancy.
• 2 samples of written work—please include samples of similar policy briefs or documents.
• Two references from individuals who have previously contracted the applicant for similar work. References should explain why the applicant is the most suitable contractor for this work and include contact details for follow-up.     

Application Timelines:

1. Deadline for applications: 9 AM UK 3rd November

2. Panel Interviews Dates: w/b 17th November

3. Interview Outcome: As above.

4. Proposed Start Date: 1 December 2025