Assignment
Development of an Ecosystem Influencing strategy for ending child marriage in Malawi.
Commissioned by
The Malawi Accelerator Programme- Girls not Brides/ Girls not Brides Malawi
Type
Short Term Consultancy (individual or small team)
Location
Remote / home-based, with possible Lilongwe, Mzimba and Machinga travels
Duration
To be completed within 40 days of contract signing
Indicative level of effort
40 days over two months
Reporting to
MAP Technical Lead- Girls Not Brides
Essential requirement
Demonstrated experience in developing and implementing influencing and advocacy strategies
Knowledge of the Malawi country context in relation to ending child marriage, including contexts across the geo-graphical regions.
Language
English
Application deadline
8th October 2026
About Girls Not Brides
Girls Not Brides is a global partnership of more than 1,400 civil society organizations from over 100 countries committed to ending child marriage and enabling girls to fulfil their potential. Girls not Brides Malawi is an independent partnership of over 96 organizations working to end child marriage in Malawi. In this TOR ‘Girls Not Brides’ refers to the Global Partnership whilst ‘Girls Not Brides Malawi’ refers to the independent coalition in Malawi.
Girls Not Brides, in partnership with Girls not Brides Malawi, is leading the Malawi Accelerator Programme (MAP), a catalytic effort to accelerate action towards ending child marriage in Malawi. Now in its 2nd year, MAP seeks to mobilise, coordinate and influence the national end child marriage ecosystem, strengthening commitments and investments to end child marriage and advance girls’ rights. MAP supports the implementation of the Malawi National Strategy to End Child Marriage (NSECM), contributing to national efforts to reduce child marriage from 38% to 20% by 2030.
Background and purpose
MAP will be implemented jointly over a five-year period from 2026 to 2030 nationally and initially in two districts: Mzimba and Lilongwe. This strategy will serve the entire ecosystem of actors working to end child marriage in Malawi. It will be a shared, collective framework designed to align, harmonise and amplify the efforts of a diverse range of stakeholders, rather than the advocacy plan of any single organisation, programme or partner. It should foster coherence and complementarity across the movement, reduce duplication, and articulate a common agenda that diverse actors can each contribute to and hold themselves mutually accountable for.
The overall objective of the consultancy is to:
Develop a comprehensive, evidence-based influencing strategy to influence to accelerate progress towards the goals of the NSECM to contribute to ending child marriage in Malawi.
Other objectives include:
- Facilitate meaningful inputs and foster positive buy-in to the strategy process from key stakeholders
- Provide recommendations on the development of an umbrella influencing campaign that aligns with and supports the Malawi influencing strategy.
- Provide broader recommendations/strategic guidance to Girls Not Brides Secretariat on the application/adaptation of the Malawi influencing strategy framework to other countries
.
Scope of work and deliverables
Working closely with a small internal advocacy team, the consultant will lead the design process and deliver:
Deliverable 1: An inception report outlining how the assignment will be executed with detailed methodology, tools (e.g. workshop agendas, consultation questions) and budget.
Deliverable 2: A concise, up to datecontextual analysis, of the child marriage and influencing landscape in Malawi, including national-level context and opportunities, with special attention to TA Mbelwa in Mzimba and TAs Ngokwe and Nsamala in Machinga. A stakeholder map highlighting ECM key players and their roles.
Deliverable 3: Consultation report: A brief account (1-3 pages) of the key findings, insights, and any tensions/lack of consensus that emerged during the consultation process.
Deliverables 4: An evidence-based costed Influencing Strategy (document for the ECM ecosystem), covering the period 2027-2030, accompanied by an internal document outlining strategic resourcing and adaptation recommendations, including proposed review and adaptation points
Deliverable 5: Finalised Influencing strategy
Indicative timeline (40 working days over two months)
Days
Focus
7 days
Onboarding, inception report literature reviews, mapping and analyses.
7 Days
Strategy workshop planning and delivery and post-workshop evaluations and reports.
14 days
Detailed Strategy development
12 days
Internal validation and national coalition validation; finalise all design documents. Final report writing and final strategy development
The consultant is expected to adhere to the set timelines.
Who we are looking for
The consultant(s) should have the following qualifications/expertise:
- Post graduate degree in Social Sciences, Development Studies, Gender Studies, or others as may be relevant.
- Extensive experience and expertise of over 10 years in participatory advocacy strategy, development and design of advocacy programmes, projects and or campaigns.
- Knowledge of the Malawi country context in relation to ending child marriage, including contexts across the geo-graphical regions. (Essential).
- Demonstrated experience designing partner-engagement, coalition-building or movement-building strategies,
- Proven skill in multi-stakeholder facilitation and participatory, survivor- and youth-centred co-creation across multi-level (TA-to-national) contexts.
- Extensive experience of working with local communities, CBOs communities, CBOs, NGO’s and INGO’s.
- Extensive, senior-level experience in strategic communications, campaign design and management or similar in the eastern/southern Africa region, in the not-for-profit sector (ideally, in human rights, social development, gender or related fields). (Desirable)
- Extensive experience and expertise in designing and adapting multi-country campaign strategies for social impact (Desirable)
- Experience in working on progressive social movement building (e.g. feminist movements, youth movements, SRHR movements) (Desirable)
- Excellent writing, editing, attention to detail and organizational skills (Essential)
- Availability and ability to travel within Malawi to facilitate the two workshops.
11. Safeguarding
Girls Not Brides is committed to safeguarding the wellbeing and rights of children. The consultant will be required to adhere to our Child Safeguarding Policy and Code of Conduct and report any concerns in line with our procedures.
How to apply
We invite interested individuals and companies to submit the following application documents:
- Expression of interest letter detailing the qualities that makes them best suited for the consultancy.
- Technical and Financial proposal (should include detailed methodology, proposed schedule/work plan with time frame) of not more than 5 pages in standard 12 font size, 1.15-line spacing.
- Recent CV of the consultant/s who will undertake the assignment, with details of related previous assignment, in not more than 5-pages.
- Please send applications through the Girls Not Brides online hiring portal, Hireful, with the subject line consultant: development of an ecosystem influencing strategy for ending child marriage by 8th October 2026.
This position was originally posted by Girls not Brides and has been curated by PurposePhil Career. To apply, please visit the original listing on the "apply" link on the side. We are not affiliated with the employer organization of this job ad or consultancy, and provide this curated listing as a service to our users.