Consultancy on Gender, Gender-Based Violence and Trauma-Informed Programming for GHN Members in Slough

About Amna: Founded in 2016, Amna (Refugee Healing Network CIO) builds community capacity for healing. Its vision is a world where refugees can shape their futures free from the effects of conflict and displacement. Amna partners with community and humanitarian organisations worldwide on refugee-led, community-based psychosocial care. Its model is non-clinical and evidence informed. It creates safe spaces for collective healing and uses movement, storytelling, mindfulness and art to address grief, chronic stress and trauma. Its programmes are run by trained professionals and aim to build joy, belonging and emotional safety. Amna's value-led, trauma- and identity-informed approach counters the dehumanisation of war and displacement and offers an inclusive, participatory alternative to top-down humanitarian care.

Consultancy Overview: Amna leads the Global Healing Network (GHN), a community of practice working to strengthen trauma-informed MHPSS for displaced communities. Amna is seeking a consultant or team to help GHN members integrate gender and GBV into their work. The consultant will assess members' needs, design a tailored learning plan, and deliver four participatory sessions with practical tools. The work focuses on 10 member organisations in Jordan and Lebanon, with other members welcome to join, up to 35 participants per session.

Amna's Pedagogy and Partnership Approach: Amna's approach to learning is relational and participatory, treating participants as holders of knowledge rather than recipients of expertise. Sessions should mix technical input with reflection, dialogue, case studies and practical exercises, and should never require participants to disclose personal experiences of trauma or violence. The focus is practical. International frameworks are reference points, and the core is what practitioners can do differently in culturally and spiritually diverse communities in Jordan and Lebanon. The consultant should build on members' existing expertise and co-develop content with Amna and participants. Materials should be practical, editable and reusable, and the sessions should form a connected learning journey from reflection to application in members' own programmes.

Purpose: The consultancy begins with a needs assessment that shapes a tailored learning programme. By the end, members should be better able to understand the links between gender, GBV and trauma. They should also be able to integrate gender and GBV across their programmes, apply survivor-centred and do-no-harm principles, reduce risks of harm, and use practical tools co-developed with Amna.

Scope of work: The work runs from October to December 2026 in three phases. It includes four learning sessions, subject to the assessment findings. There will be no more than two sessions a month, scheduled around consultant and members' availability.

• Phase 1: Needs assessment: The consultant designs an accessible online survey. The GHN programme team and MEL manager approve it before it goes to members. It covers three areas:

• members' knowledge of key concepts, such as gender norms, GBV, survivor-centred and gender-transformative approaches, and trauma-informed practice
• how members currently integrate gender and GBV across their work, from needs assessments and design through to MEL, safeguarding, referrals and staff wellbeing
• capacity gaps and priorities, including how needs differ by experience, geography, programme type or role

• Phase 2: Analysis and design: The consultant produces a concise analysis of capacity levels, gaps, priorities, learning pathways, sequencing, peer-learning opportunities, and needs for extra technical support. They then develop a learning and capacity-strengthening plan for the rest of 2026. For each topic, the plan sets out the rationale, objectives, duration, methodology, resources and how participants will apply the learning.

• Phase 3: Development and delivery: For each agreed session, the consultant develops a full package: objectives, agenda, presentation and participant materials, exercises, case studies, tools, pre- and post-session activities, and further resources. The GHN programme team, MEL manager and Amna's technical focal point or Training Manager review the materials. Sessions must be participatory and in line with Amna's pedagogy. They should work for participants with different levels of knowledge, be adapted to members' contexts, and avoid a one-size-fits-all model.

Learning Topics and Content: There is no fixed curriculum. The consultant will set the final topics, sequence and format with Amna's Programmes team and Training Manager. They will draw on three things: the needs assessment findings, co-design sessions with GHN members, and consultation with Amna. The consultant turns the identified gaps into a practical, prioritised programme suited to members' needs, roles and contexts. The ToR gives ten illustrative topics, not a set list. They include:

• GBV risks for displaced communities
• gender-responsive, trauma-informed programme design
• GBV risk mitigation
• safeguarding and safe referral
• gender-sensitive MEL
• integrating gender into proposals and budgets

The consultant may also recommend further technical support, tools or peer-learning activities. Where possible, members should bring their own programmes, proposals or ideas to work on in sessions. This shifts the emphasis from knowledge transfer to practical application.

Target participants and group size: The core group is 10 GHN member organisations in Jordan and Lebanon, each sending two to three representatives. They get priority throughout. Other GHN members can join individual sessions if there's space, with a cap of 35 participants per session. The assessment and sessions should allow for varied levels of experience.

Language and Accessibility: Sessions will be delivered mainly in Arabic. The consultant needs professional fluency in spoken and written Arabic and English and must be able to facilitate participatory sessions in Arabic. Core materials, presentations and participant resources should be in both English and Arabic, unless Amna agrees otherwise. Non-Arabic-speaking GHN members may join some sessions. Amna will arrange and pay for interpretation into other languages. The consultant must be comfortable working with interpreters and should share materials and key terminology early enough for interpreters to prepare. Sessions should be accessible and inclusive. That means clear language, participatory methods, and materials that interpret well and work for people with different levels of technical knowledge.

Deliverables: The consultant delivers six things:

• Inception report: methodology, workplan and needs assessment survey.
• Needs assessment report: findings, capacity mapping and priority learning areas.
• Capacity strengthening plan: topics, objectives, sequencing and methods, covering 2026 and Q1 2027.
• Session materials: slides, participant materials, exercises, case studies, tools and resources for each session.
• Session delivery: the number, length and format are agreed after the assessment, with delivery in 2026 and possible extension to March 2027.
• Final report: work done, findings, outcomes, remaining gaps and recommendations for GHN's future gender and GBV work.

All deliverables should be produced by the consultant with little or no use of AI.

Payment Terms: The consultant will be paid against agreed deliverables and milestones, subject to satisfactory completion and approval by Amna. The proposed payment schedule is:

• 1st payment: Approval of the inception phase, including the proposed methodology, workplan and needs assessment tools - 30%
• 2nd payment: Completion of the agreed learning sessions and submission of the associated session materials and resources - 30%
• 3rd payment: Completion and approval of the final consultancy report - 40%

Total: 100%

Consultant profile: Payments will be made following submission and approval of the relevant deliverables and upon receipt of a valid invoice. The final payment will be subject to satisfactory completion of all agreed consultancy deliverables. The financial proposal should clearly state the consultant's total fee, proposed number of consultancy days, daily rate, and any applicable additional costs. Amna will confirm the final payment schedule and terms with the selected consultant as part of the contracting process.

Essential experience covers:

• gender equality, gender analysis and gender mainstreaming
• GBV prevention and response
• trauma-informed approaches
• humanitarian or displacement contexts
• programme design
• participatory training
• developing practical tools
• designing and delivering gender, GBV and trauma-informed training in the Middle East

Desirable experience includes:

• working with refugee-led or community-based organisations
• working across several contexts and with organisations of varying capacity
• integrating gender and GBV with MHPSS
• knowledge of humanitarian standards and international guidance

Confidentiality: The consultant must keep all information strictly confidential. They must also follow Amna's safeguarding policies, GDPR principles, and security and communication protocols.

Contract and effort: The contract runs from October to December 2026, with a maximum of 25 consultancy days. This is a planning estimate, and performance is judged on outputs and milestones.

Application: Applicants should submit:

• a technical proposal, including their approach, methodology, workplan and an example needs assessment
• a financial proposal with daily rate, estimated days and costs
• CV(s)
• examples of previous work
• two references

Applications go to Randa Abumudallala at , copying Alexandra, by 2 October. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.