AWURA Project: Baseline and Context Analysis At Urgent Action Fund-Africa

1. Who we are

Urgent Action Fund-Africa (UAF-Africa)is a feminist, pan-African Rapid Response Fund committed to transforming power relations through resourcing African feminists and women’s human rights defenders and their formations as an act of solidarity. Recognising the need to move resources rapidly on a continent where opportunities and threats arise and decline quickly, UAF-Africa uses a Rapid Response Grant making mechanism to support unanticipated, time-sensitive, innovative, and unique initiatives that promote women’s agency in peace and political participation, social and economic power building, as well as natural resources governance and stewardship. The Fund works to support African Women’s Human Rights Defenders (AWHRDs), particularly in the feminist and women’s rights movements, in their actions, which enable them to support and sustain themselves, each other, and their work before, during, and after urgent situations.

UAF-Africa mobilises resources from a broad base of international and increasingly local funders committed to protecting and advancing women’s rights and feminist agendas in Africa. Our primary purpose is to provide funding to AWHRDs and their groups, organisations and the movements to help them prepare for and navigate urgent situations with appropriate actions.

UAF-Africa is registered in Kenya and Zimbabwe. The Fund boasts of strategic physical presence in East Africa: North Africa; Cairo, Egypt; Nairobi (Kenya), Kampala (Uganda); Central Africa: Douala & Yaoundé (Cameroon); Southern Africa: Harare (Zimbabwe), Lilongwe (Malawi), Antananarivo (Madagascar); Johannesburg, Pretoria & Cape Town (South Africa), Gaborone (Botswana), and West Africa: Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

2. Background

The Africa Women United for Digital Rights and Autonomy (AWURA) consortium is made up of seven partners, namely, The Coalition on Violence Against Women (COVAW), Defenseurs Sans Frontieres (DSF), Femme Plus, Musasa Project, Association for Women’s Rights in Developmant (AWID) and The Engine Room and UAF-Africa. It is a multi-year initiative to be implemented in Cameroon, Kenya, Togo and Zimbabwe with support from Agence Française de Développement (AFD). The project seeks to strengthen feminist CSOs, women’s rights organisations and local actors to prevent and respond to technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV), advocate for safer and more equitable digital environments, and build evidence-informed strategies for survivor-centred care, feminist documentation, grantmaking and policy engagement. The baseline and context analysis will therefore provide the evidence needed to understand current conditions, capacities, gaps and opportunities in each project country before implementation moves forward.

To this end, the consortium is seeking to engage four consultants, one per country, to conduct country context analyses and baseline studies for AWURA in Cameroon, Kenya, Togo, and Zimbabwe. Each consultant will be responsible for a single assigned country, ensuring that the analysis is grounded in the country’s specific legal, policy, social, and digital contexts while contributing to a coherent, consolidated evidence base across the consortium.

Overall Objective:

The overall objective of this consultancy is to produce country-specific baseline and context analysis reports on technology-facilitated gender-based violence in Cameroon, Kenya, Togo and Zimbabwe. Each report must clearly distinguish between two components. The Country Context Analysis will use the PESTEL framework to examine the legal and policy environment, key actors, digital environment, TFGBV prevention and response landscape, risks, gaps and opportunities in the assigned country. The Baseline Study will establish measured values for all relevant AWURA MEAL indicators, including data sources, means of verification and disaggregation requirements. These two components answer different questions and should be presented as separate sections in each country report to support clear consolidation at consortium level.

Each consultant will produce a standalone baseline and context analysis report for their assigned country. The four country reports will then inform a consolidated evidence base to support project-wide learning, grantmaking, advocacy and MEAL processes across the AWURA consortium. UAF-Africa will consolidate the four country reports into a single consortium-level baseline and context analysis report; UAF-Africa will provide a common report template, shared core tools, and a harmonized indicator sheet consultants are therefore required to follow the standard report structure, indicator matrix format, and core tools provided by UAF-Africa.

Specific Objectives

Conduct a PESTEL-based Country Context Analysis for the assigned country.
Conduct a Baseline Study to establish measured values for all relevant AWURA MEAL indicators.
Assess the capacity of feminist CSOs, WROs, partners and grantees to prevent, document and respond to TFGBV.
Assess existing digital safety practices, survivor-centred support systems, referral pathways and response mechanisms across the project countries.
Assess baseline levels of awareness, knowledge and perceptions of TFGBV among target groups, using measures that can be replicated at midline and endline.
Identify key gaps and recommendations to inform advocacy, policy engagement, feminist documentation, institutional responses and MEAL follow-up.

The baseline and context analysis will help UAF-Africa and consortium partners understand where partners, communities, systems and policies currently stand so that future progress in prevention, response, digital safety, survivor support, feminist documentation and advocacy can be measured clearly.

Detailed Scope of Work

Phase 1: Inception, Document Review and Methodology Development

The consultants will review relevant AWURA project documents and develop a clear, feminist and participatory methodology for the two report components described above.

Document Review: Review the AWURA proposal, MEAL framework, logframe, indicator reference sheets, partner documentation and any relevant country-level TFGBV resources.
Inception Consultations: Hold inception discussions with UAF-Africa and selected consortium partners to clarify expectations, confirm information needs and align on the research approach.
Methodology and Tools: Develop an inception report outlining the methodology, workplan, sampling approach, ethical and safeguarding considerations, data collection tools, data management protocols and analysis framework. The inception report should include separate tools, data sources, analysis plans and reporting structures for the Country Context Analysis and the Baseline Study, while showing how both components will inform one coherent country report.
Technical Approach: The assignment should use a mixed-methods approach that combines desk review, key informant interviews, focus group discussions where safe and appropriate, and structured data collection against the AWURA MEAL framework. The methodology should be feminist, survivor-centred, trauma-informed and digitally secure, with clear protocols for informed consent, confidentiality, referral information, safe data storage and risk mitigation.
Ethics and safeguarding: Consultants must comply with UAF-Africa’s safeguarding standards and apply survivor-centred, trauma-informed and feminist ethical principles throughout the assignment. This includes obtaining informed consent, avoiding unnecessary collection of identifiable or sensitive data, protecting confidentiality, providing referral information where appropriate, managing risks linked to participation and ensuring that no data collection activity exposes participants or organisations to additional harm.

Phase 2: Data Collection, Country Context Analysis and Baseline Study: Each consultant will collect qualitative and quantitative data in their assigned country to generate evidence for both the PESTEL-based Country Context Analysis and the Baseline Study against the AWURA MEAL indicators.

Each consultant shall engage relevant partners, grantees, feminist CSOs, WROs and other key informants in their assigned country using agreed tools and ethical data collection protocols.

Phase 3: Analysis, Validation and Learning: Analyse the collected data against the MEAL framework, consolidate the findings for the assigned country and participate in a validation process with UAF-Africa and consortium partners to confirm findings, fill gaps and strengthen ownership of the analysis.

Phase 4: Reporting and Recommendations: Prepare a baseline and context analysis report for the assigned country, presenting baseline indicator values, key gaps and recommendations for grantmaking adjustments, advocacy strategies, policy engagement and future MEAL processes.

Evaluation criteria: Applications will be assessed based on demonstrated experience in feminist research, GBV or TFGBV, digital safety, MEAL and baseline studies; understanding of the assigned country context; quality and feasibility of the proposed methodology and workplan; ethical and safeguarding approach; experience working with feminist CSOs, WROs and movement actors; quality of previous relevant work; and reasonableness of the proposed budget.

Table of Outputs (Deliverables)

Output & Deliverable

Description

Deadline

No. of Days

Inception Report and Tools

Country-level inception report setting out the methodology, workplan, sampling approach, ethical protocols, analysis framework and tools for both report components.

18 September 2026

Baseline Data Collection Completed

Data collection completed using agreed feminist, participatory and survivor-centred tools, generating evidence for both report components.

29 September 2026

Draft Country Baseline and Context Analysis Report

Draft country report presenting the Country Context Analysis and Baseline Study as separate sections, including the completed Baseline Indicator Matrix, findings, gaps and emerging recommendations.

6 October 2026

Validation Session

Facilitated validation meeting with UAF-Africa and consortium partners to review the draft findings, baseline values, gaps and recommendations across both report components.

8 October 2026

Final Country Baseline and Context Analysis Report

Final country report incorporating validation feedback and presenting the Country Context Analysis and Baseline Study as separate sections, with consolidation-ready findings, recommendations and the completed Baseline Indicator Matrix.

14 October 2026

Total Number of Days (per consultant)

Duration and Timelines of the Assignment

The consultancy will run from 15 September to 14 October 2026.

Contracting and inception: 15 September 2026.
Data collection period: 19 to 29 September 2026.
Validation session: 8 October 2026.
Final report submission: 14 October 2026.

Consultants’ Expertise

The Consultants should demonstrate strong experience in feminist research, baseline studies, context and needs analysis, MEAL, GBV and TFGBV, digital safety, survivor-centred approaches, qualitative and quantitative data collection, and working with feminist CSOs, WROs and movement actors across African contexts. A working knowledge of the specific country they are applying for is a requirement.

Required Qualifications

A minimum of a Master’s degree in social sciences, gender studies, development studies, monitoring and evaluation, public policy, human rights, digital rights, research methods or another relevant field.
At least five years of demonstrated experience conducting baseline studies, context analyses, evaluations, feminist research or applied research in development, human rights, gender justice or digital rights contexts.
Strong technical knowledge of gender-based violence, technology-facilitated gender-based violence, digital safety, survivor-centred approaches and feminist ethical research principles.
Proven experience using qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis methods, including key informant interviews, focus group discussions, surveys, desk reviews and indicator-based baseline measurement.
Demonstrated experience working with feminist CSOs, women’s rights organisations, movement actors, community-based organisations or human rights defenders in African contexts.
Excellent analytical, writing and reporting skills, with the ability to produce clear, evidence-based and consolidation-ready reports in English or French, depending on the assigned country context.
Strong knowledge of the assigned country’s legal, policy, social and digital rights context, including actors and referral systems relevant to TFGBV prevention and response.
Ability to work independently, meet tight deadlines and coordinate effectively with UAF-Africa and consortium partners.

How to apply

How to Apply

Interested candidates are required to submit two proposals; technical and financial demonstrating their understanding of the assignment, workplan and detailed budget. Consultants may apply for only one country and must clearly indicate the country for which they are applying. The call for applications is open from 5 August to 19 August 2026. Applications should be submitted to procurement@uaf-africa.org on or before the 19th of August 2026 0000 GMT.