Assignment	Details
Type of contract	Individual consultant or small consultancy team
Duration	30 working days
Location	Home-based, with possible travel for the regional validation meeting
Programme	Spotlight Initiative 2.0 Africa Regional Programme (SIARP 2.0), supported by UNFPA

Sonke Gender Justice seeks a consultant to develop and validate a regional scorecard that tracks commitments and progress on positive masculinity and male engagement in ending violence against women and girls (VAWG) and harmful practices. The assignment runs from late October to early December 2026.

1. Background

The Spotlight Initiative 2.0 Africa Regional Programme (SIARP 2.0), supported by UNFPA, aims to strengthen legal, policy and institutional frameworks, prevent VAWG and harmful practices, promote sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), and build the leadership of women’s rights, youth-led and civil society organisations.

Sonke Gender Justice is an implementing partner under SIARP 2.0. From September to December 2026, Sonke is implementing regional interventions that promote positive masculinity and engage men and boys, mobilise faith and traditional leaders, advance advocacy on female genital mutilation (FGM) and other harmful practices, and strengthen women’s and youth leadership. This work contributes mainly to SIARP 2.0 Outcome B (prevention and social norms) and Outcome D (capacity of women’s rights and youth-led movements).

This assignment sits under Objective 1 of Sonke’s work plan, which seeks to strengthen the capacity of regional institutions, faith and traditional leaders and continental legislative actors to drive more coherent prevention of VAWG and harmful practices and to advance regional accountability mechanisms. Under this objective, Sonke supports the African Union (AU) and Pan-African Parliament (PAP) High-Level Positive Masculinity Initiative, which seeks to ensure implementation of the commitments made by the AU Circle of Champions, build a shared understanding of positive masculinity, and develop an accountability framework for male engagement.

African states have made a series of commitments relevant to this work, including:

the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol)
the AU Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (CEVAWG)
the Kinshasa Declaration and AU commitments on positive masculinity
continental and regional commitments on ending FGM and child marriage, including the East African Community (EAC) FGM Bill process and SADC frameworks on child marriage and gender

Despite these commitments, there are limited regional tools if any to track whether commitments on male engagement are being implemented, resourced and monitored, or to hold duty-bearers accountable for them.

2. Rationale and purpose

The scorecard will give regional bodies, Member States, parliamentarians and civil society one common, evidence-based tool to see which male engagement commitments are being honoured, where the gaps are, and who is responsible for closing them.

Commitments on positive masculinity are often made at high-level events but are rarely tracked afterwards. Male engagement programming if not implemented well also carries risks: it can divert resources from women’s rights organisations, reinforce male authority, or measure activity rather than change for women and girls. A well-designed scorecard can address both problems by:

turning political commitments into measurable, time-bound benchmarks
making progress and gaps visible in a simple, comparable format
anchoring male engagement in accountability to women and girls and their organisations
giving civil society, including women- and youth-led organisations, an advocacy tool for engaging the AU, PAP, Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and national governments
generating evidence that informs future programming under SIARP 2.0

The scorecard is a direct deliverable under the project’s results framework:

Level	Indicator
Output (OPI 1.3)	Number of regional scorecards developed and validated
Outcome (OCI 1.3)	Number of regional partners who received the scorecard to monitor progress and commitments on gender equality and prevention of VAWG and harmful practices
SIARP 2.0 (B.1.3)	Number of countries implementing continental framework/guidance that builds community support for legal reforms and policies protecting girls, boys and women, while promoting social acceptance of gender equality

3. Objectives

Overall objective: to develop and validate a comprehensive regional scorecard to monitor and assess progress, commitments and accountability on positive masculinity and male engagement in preventing and responding to VAW, FGM, child marriage and other harmful practices, and advancing gender equality across the region.

Specific objectives:

Map existing continental, regional and national commitments, frameworks and accountability tools on positive masculinity, male engagement, VAWG and harmful practices.
Develop a conceptual framework that defines positive masculinity and accountable male engagement for the scorecard, grounded in gender-transformative and women’s rights principles.
Design the scorecard: domains, indicators, scoring criteria, data sources and a user guide.
Validate the scorecard with regional stakeholders, including RECs, faith and traditional leaders, women’s rights and youth-led organisations.
Produce a final, ready-to-use scorecard and supporting materials that enable routine monitoring, advocacy, follow-up and accountability

4. Scope of work

Geographic scope. The scorecard is continental in framing, aligned with AU and PAP commitments, with a primary focus on East and Southern Africa through the EAC and SADC.

Thematic scope. Positive masculinity and male engagement as they relate to:

prevention of and response to VAWG, including intimate partner and sexual violence
FGM, child marriage and other harmful practices
SRHR and gender equality more broadly
the role and accountability of political, faith and traditional leaders in shifting harmful social norms
Meaningful male engagement in care work, equitable relationships, prevention and response services, without displacing women’s leadership or rights-holder-centred approaches

Levels of accountability. The scorecard should be usable at three levels: continental and regional bodies (AU, PAP, RECs); Member States; and, where useful, regional institutions and networks that have made commitments (for example faith and traditional leader councils).

Indicative scorecard domains. The consultant will refine these during inception:

Domain	What it assesses
1. Legal and policy commitments	Ratification and domestication of the Maputo Protocol and CEVAWG; laws on FGM and child marriage; national policies or strategies on accountable male engagement and positive masculinity
2. Institutional mechanisms and coordination	Focal points, champions, coordination structures and reporting on male engagement commitments
3. Financing and resources	Budget allocations for gender-transformative prevention, and safeguards so male engagement does not divert funding from women’s rights organisations
4. Programmes, services and implementation quality	Availability, coverage and quality of evidence-informed programmes engaging men and boys in prevention and response, SRHR, caregiving and ending harmful practices
5. Social norms, leadership and demonstrated actions	Public commitments and action by political, faith and traditional leaders; efforts to challenge harmful norms; and evidence of sustained practice and institutional change rather than one-off statements or events
6. Accountability to women and girls	Meaningful participation of women’s rights, youth-led and marginalised groups in design, monitoring and review of male engagement work

5. Methodology

The consultant will, in consultation with Sonke, submit a detailed method in the inception report.

Meet Sonke and UNFPA to agree on scope, stakeholders and the definition of positive masculinity used. Submit an inception report with a workplan and data collection tools.
Desk review and mapping. Review continental, regional, and national commitments (Maputo Protocol, CEVAWG, AU positive masculinity commitments, EAC and SADC instruments, Circle of Champions commitments).

Review existing scorecards and accountability tools, such as the AU and African Gender Scorecards, Maputo Protocol scorecards and CSO shadow reporting tools, to build on what exists rather than duplicate it.

Draft the conceptual framework, domains, indicators, scoring scale (e.g a four-point or traffic-light rating with clear criteria per score), data sources, and a scoring and verification process. Indicators should be few, measurable with available data, and comparable across countries.
Hold key informant interviews and small targeted consultations with key stakeholders such as relevant AU/PAP and REC representatives, government focal points, faith and traditional leaders, male-engagement practitioners, women’s rights organisations, youth-led organisations and other relevant civil society actors. Consultations should test the relevance, feasibility, clarity and potential unintended consequences of the proposed indicators and tool. Triangulate official reports with credible civil society, research and other independent evidence where available. Record differing views and document how they inform the design.
Validation and finalisation. Present the scorecard at a regional validation meeting, which may be linked to Sonke’s planned regional engagement on positive masculinity. Facilitate structured feedback on conceptual soundness, indicators, scoring, usability, accountability safeguards and intended use. Submit a validation report with feedback on the scan and how it was revised. Finalise the scorecard and user guide

Women’s rights and youth-led organisations must take part in every phase, not only validation, so that the tool measures accountability to women and girls and not only men’s participation.

6. Minimum technical requirements for the final scorecard

A clear conceptual framework defining positive masculinity and accountable male engagement and explaining how these relate to gender equality, prevention and response to VAWG, FGM, child marriage and other harmful practices.
A practical scoring template in Excel or an equivalent editable format, with clear instructions, indicator-level scores, evidence references, data-quality notes and domain-level summaries.
A documented scoring and aggregation methodology, including rules for missing, conflicting and non-applicable data and safeguards against unsupported comparisons.
Clear guidance on participation, safeguarding, confidentiality, responsible data use and avoiding harm, particularly when handling information relating to survivors or marginalised groups.
A short advocacy brief and orientation presentation suitable for regional partners, women’s rights and youth-led organisations, and relevant duty-bearers.

7. Deliverables, timeline and payment

The assignment is estimated at 30 working days between 26 October and 18 December 2026. Dates are indicative and will be confirmed at inception.

#	Deliverable	Days	Payment
1	Inception report: approach, work plan, stakeholder list, pilot countries, data collection tools	3	30%
2	Desk review and mapping report of commitments, frameworks and existing accountability tools (max. 20 pages)	6	—
3	Draft scorecard: conceptual framework, domains, indicators, scoring criteria, data sources, and draft user guide	7	40%
5	Validation meeting facilitation (presentation, session plan) and validation report	4	—
6	Final validated scorecard (Excel or equivalent scoring template), user guide, 4-page advocacy brief, and orientation presentation for partners	3	30%

All deliverables are submitted in English in editable formats. Sonke will provide consolidated comments within five working days of each submission. Payment follows Sonke’s approval of the deliverables listed.

8. Qualifications and experience

The assignment is open to individual consultants or small teams. Where a team applies, one lead consultant must be named.

Required:

Master’s degree in a related field such as Law, gender studies, development studies, public policy, social sciences, monitoring and evaluation
At least 10 years of experience in gender equality, VAWG prevention or harmful practices, including at least 5 years in male engagement or gender-transformative programming
Proven experience designing scorecards, indicator frameworks or accountability tools, with at least two examples
Strong knowledge of AU and REC frameworks, including the Maputo Protocol, CEVAWG and continental commitments on positive masculinity, FGM and child marriage
Experience facilitating multi-stakeholder consultations with regional bodies, governments, civil society, and faith and traditional leaders
Excellent analytical and writing skills in English

9. Application requirements

Interested consultants or consultancy teams should submit:

A technical proposal outlining understanding of the assignment, proposed methodology, stakeholder engagement, approach to scoring and verification, and quality assurance.
A workplan demonstrating how the assignment will be completed within 30 working days.
CV(s) of the consultant(s), identifying the lead consultant where applicable.
At least two examples of relevant scorecards, indicator frameworks or accountability tools developed or supported
A financial proposal, including professional fees and any anticipated travel or consultation costs

Submit your application to: martha@genderjustice.org.za and cc mpiwa@genderjustice.org.za

10. Ethical considerations and quality assurance

The consultant must use a do-no-harm approach and comply with applicable safeguarding, confidentiality and data-protection requirements. The scorecard must not require disclosure of identifiable survivor information. Evidence should be handled securely, and consultation processes should be accessible and inclusive. The consultant must disclose methodological limitations and potential conflicts of interest, distinguish verified evidence from stakeholder assertions, and ensure that scorecard findings are not used to legitimise harmful practices or undermine women’s rights and leadership.

ToR: Development and Validation of a Regional Scorecard on Positive Masculinity and Male Engagement

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