Call for Proposals: Development of a Training Curriculum for Traditional Leaders and Custodians of Culture on Women’s Political Participation, Voice and Agency

ORGANIZATION AND PROGRAMME BACKGROUND

The International Food Policy Research Institute is issuing this call through the CGIAR Gender Equality and Inclusion Accelerator.

The Accelerator supports gender equality and social-inclusion research and programming within food, land and water systems. Its work addresses structural inequalities that restrict women’s access to resources, decision-making, leadership and public participation.

Traditional leaders and custodians of culture influence community governance, cultural expectations and social norms. The assignment will develop a practical training resource that helps these leaders identify and address barriers affecting women’s political participation, voice, agency and leadership.

ASSIGNMENT PURPOSE

The selected organization will lead the development of a training curriculum for male and female traditional leaders and custodians of culture in Nigeria.

The curriculum must be locally credible and applicable across different regions, including conflict-affected areas. It should equip community leaders with practical tools, participatory approaches and advocacy strategies that support women’s formal and informal leadership and participation in community decision-making.

SCOPE OF WORK

• Develop a training curriculum addressing barriers and opportunities affecting women’s voice and agency in community governance.
• Help traditional leaders identify practical approaches for overcoming identified social and cultural barriers.
• Incorporate evidence syntheses, expertise and international examples supplied by IFPRI.
• Design content that engages both men and women in supporting women’s political and civic participation.
• Vet the draft curriculum with traditional leaders and cultural custodians across different regions of Nigeria.
• Include regions affected by conflict to ensure the curriculum is applicable beyond a single geographic or cultural setting.
• Revise the curriculum using feedback from regional consultations and IFPRI.
• Produce a technically sound curriculum suitable for future piloting and impact evaluation.
• Prepare the final product to a standard suitable for publication on CGIAR’s website.
• Keep the curriculum sufficiently concise for the time available to traditional leaders while ensuring that its content remains substantial and well designed.

DELIVERABLES

• A brief inception plan describing the proposed timeline, curriculum-development process, experts to be engaged and arrangements for collaboration with the project team.
• A proposed outline of the curriculum’s content.
• Version 1.0 of the training curriculum for use during regional vetting.
• Version 2.0 incorporating feedback from consultations with traditional leaders and additional input from IFPRI.

ELIGIBILITY AND REQUIRED EXPERIENCE

The call is open to organizations, including NGOs, civil-society organizations, research organizations and implementing partners.

Applicants must demonstrate:

• Experience designing and delivering training programmes in Nigeria.
• Experience developing or implementing gender-related training.
• Established relationships with networks of traditional leaders and cultural custodians across multiple Nigerian regions.
• Previous experience engaging traditional or religious leaders on community-level gender programming.
• Experience collaborating with research institutions on evidence-informed programme design.

Individual-applicant eligibility: Not specified. The official call expressly identifies eligible applicants as organizations.

SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES

• Training-curriculum design.
• Gender equality and social-inclusion programming.
• Women’s political participation and leadership.
• Engagement with traditional and religious leaders.
• Participatory training and consultation methods.
• Evidence-informed programme design.
• Cross-regional stakeholder engagement.
• Cultural sensitivity and contextual adaptation.
• Curriculum review, revision and quality assurance.
• Collaboration with research institutions.

CONTRACT OR ASSIGNMENT DETAILS

• Opportunity type: Call for proposals/organizational consultancy.
• IFPRI position code: 2026-032-004.
• Assignment period: August–November 2026.
• Geographic coverage: Multiple regions of Nigeria, including conflict-affected regions.
• Contract value: Not specified.
• Payment schedule: Not specified.
• Required team size: Not specified.
• Travel arrangements and reimbursement: Not specified.
• Working arrangement: Not specified.

SAFEGUARDING AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITY

Assignment-specific safeguarding requirements: Not specified.

Equality and nondiscrimination provisions: Not specified in the accessible official announcement.

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS

Applicant organizations must submit:

• Curriculum vitae for proposed team members.
• Estimated budget.
• Cover letter explaining relevant organizational experience.

All supporting documents must be combined into one PDF and uploaded in the application section identified for a CV or résumé.

Applications must be submitted through IFPRI’s official Taleo portal by 4 August 2026.