Terms of Reference

Gender Inclusive Leadership in Cooperatives

Background and Purpose

We Effect’s is an international non-governmental cooperative development organisation since 1958 with a vision of a sustainable and just world, free from poverty and hunger. We Effect’s head office in Stockholm Sweden together with five regions supports the global ambition ‘right to food for all’ through partner organisations in 20 countries in the Western Balkan, Southern and Eastern Africa, Latin America and in Asia. We Effect supports approximately 160 partner organisations, with a mix of cooperatives, membership organisations and women’s rights organisations in becoming a stronger organisation, gaining rights to food, sustainable livelihood, and adequate housing, by enhancing gender equality and sustainable environment and climate change. 

Next year UN General Assembly designate 2025 ‘International Year of Cooperative (IYC2025) with the theme ‘Cooperatives Build a Better World’. We Effect wants to take this opportunity to celebrate and strategically push for inclusive and gender transformative leadership within the cooperative movement to build upon their experiences and challenges, and recommendations on who the cooperative world could become stronger in addressing gender equality. This ambition intent to contribute to the key objective of developing new leaders. 

We Effect has strategically been working with gender equality for a long time within the cooperative movement and have had extensive achievements made in terms of increasing women’s participation in cooperatives, and successfully pushed women’s taking on leadership, and men embracing gender equal principles in leadership within partner organisations. These achievements have been made in conjunction to gender sensitise the organisations in various ways (care services, gender-based violence prevention, having the workplace free from harm), and where both women and men have been taking on gender inclusive leadership (mainly through gender mainstreaming).

As part of the yearlong celebration, We Effect wants to expand on learning – internally achieved and externally gaining through research - to promote inclusive, gender transformative, feminist leadership in cooperatives and ensure gender equal principle that will support this delivery.  

Objectives

• ·       Gather learning and knowledge on how to achieve gender inclusive leadership in member driven organisations.
• ·       Unpack the effect gender inclusive leadership has in cooperative workplaces and programmes / productions.
• ·       Get basis for developing recommendations and influencing, this to pursue guidance / principles for gender inclusive leadership within the cooperative movement.

Method with non-conclusive set of aspects to be considered:

·       Overview of research on gender inclusive leadership within the cooperative movement.

o   Outline criteria for gender inclusive leadership, what the challenges are and how they can be overcome.

o   Pinpoint benefits of gender inclusive leadership within cooperations and its contribution to gender sensitised production / services at multiple levels.

o   Summaries what approaches, methods, strategies that successfully support the development of gender inclusive leadership in membership organisations.

·       10-15 in-depth interviews on women / male gender inclusive leaders within We Effects partnership and member organisations from all our regions including Sweden. Gathered as testimonies with images and quotes as well as an analysis of trends among the KIIs.

o   Self-definition of their leadership.

o   Who / what supported the process of gaining gender inclusive leadership skills / position.

o   Unpack challenges in becoming / being gender inclusive leader within the cooperation and how they were overcome.

o   Descriptions of change (what) they have achieved during their leadership and change process (how).

o   Summaries recommendations for the cooperative movement to be able to ‘achieve a better world’ in terms of gender inclusive leadership principles and actions.

·       2 FGD with We Effect programme staff engaged in capacity support and monitoring of gender equality and women’s rights, and 1 FGD with external actor addressing similar kind of work.

o   Outline approaches, strategies and methods proven that has been successful in achieving gender inclusive leaders. Consider the contextual restraints, and if relevant the need to gender sensitised to achieve result.  

o   Outline type of resistance that has been encountered – within the organisation and contextual – and strategies applied to overcome them.

o   Summarise recommendation from programme management perspective on who to bring forward gender inclusive leadership within the cooperative movement.

o    

·       Annual / final / evaluation reports – We Effect and partner organisations.

o   Summarise good practises of achieving gender inclusive leadership and how they were achieved.

o   Summarise recommendation moving forward.

Deliverables:

·       Inception report to be delivered no later than two weeks after signatory of agreement by both parties.

·       Literature review of gender inclusive leadership in the cooperative movement.

·       Desk review of organisational documents, such as a samples of partner organisations annual reports and programme evaluations.

·       Online KII and FGD with gender inclusive leaders, We Effect programme staff, and external actors.

·     Analyse findings and present in a report in English (max 25 pages) including findings, photos of KIIs, recommendations for guidance and policy formulation of gender inclusive leadership principle, possible areas of commitments and supportive actions. This includes We Effect having the opportunity to provide feedback to the report twice.

Timeline:

October – mid-December 2024

Qualifications:

·       Relevant academic and extensive work experience and knowledge in feminist political economy, women’s economic rights, gender transformative approach, and women’s / feminist leadership in civil society organising.

·       Analytical skills and able to digest large amount of qualitative data.

·       Experience from the cooperative movement – in practise and / or research.

·       Extensive methodological capacity and experience to conduct semi-structured interviews creating a safe space for sharing.

·       Collaborative with clear communicative skills; written and verbal English and Spanish.

·       Illustrate strong commitments of professionalism and integrity.

Costs:

·       A maximum of 30 days and 125 000 SEK including VAT will be renumerated.

·       The assignment involves no travels and subsequently no cost related to travels will be covered.

Application:

Please submit your tender by e-mail to maria.johansson@weeffect.org, no later than 22 of September 2024 including description of assignment, CV including reference to previous assignments relevant for the assignment, timeline, and budget where all costs include VAT. Please indicate “gender inclusive leadership” in the subject line.

Location: Anywhere in the world.

For more information:

Please contact Maria.Johansson@weeffect.org, Global Advisor in Gender and Conflict.