1. Who we are

Oxfam is a global movement of people who are fighting inequality to end poverty and injustice. We are working across regions in about 89 countries, with thousands of partners, and allies, supporting communities to build better lives for themselves, grow resilience and protect lives and livelihoods also in times of crisis.

1. Background

Feminist Foreign Policy (FFP) has emerged globally as a response to widening inequalities and the systemic marginalization of women and girls. Rooted in the right to development and social justice, FFPs offer a pathway to more inclusive, equitable, and rights-based foreign policy. Women and girls in Africa face disproportionate barriers to economic, social, and political empowerment and FFPs offer a framework to address these inequalities through advocating for, in simple terms, resources, representation, and rights (3Rs), which are necessary to combat systemic discrimination.

While there is a general positive trend towards advancing gender equality, with numerous countries developing or institutionalizing Feminist Foreign Policy (FFP), some nations have recently chosen to deprioritize FFPs. A notable example is Sweden, one of the pioneers of the FFP concept, shifting away from its hallmark FFP under a new, more conservative government.[1] Additionally, the rise of far-right governments in countries like Argentina and the Netherlands signals a potential slowdown or even a backlash against FFPs. Notably, countries are diverging in their approach to FFPs, exposing key gaps in the framework as well as accountability mechanisms. For example, the 3rd International Feminist Foreign Policy conference held in Mexico in 2024 limited engagement from key stakeholders in civil society including from Africa. Yet, the conference underscored the importance of engaging grassroots and indigenous feminist movements in policy formulation.

The exclusion of African and Afro-feminist movements restricts the continent’s ability to shape the global feminist discourse and feminist ODA, ultimately hindering the realization of the 3Rs. For instance, under Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy, the Canadian government pledged to allocate 50% of bilateral assistance to sub-Saharan African countries by 2021.[2] However, Africa has long been viewed, and continues to be treated, as a humanitarian concern by Canada rather than a development partner.[3] Furthermore, Canada allocated a larger share of its ODA to Ukraine and other ODA-eligible countries. To counter these dynamics, African nations must develop their own FFP processes grounded in local feminist epistemologies, to drive African-led solutions.

Some African countries, like South Africa, have demonstrated leadership in gender-responsive policies and engaging a feminist foreign policy framework to different policy areas.[4] Others have faced challenges in adapting the policies and frameworks of FFPs to the African context.[5] Some of these challenges include:

1. Colonial and Imperial Underpinnings of FFPs: Many FFPs, particularly from the Global North, remain rooted in imperial histories and practices. These policies often fail to recognize their colonial past and present impact on African states. Instead of genuinely supporting African feminist goals, they risk co-opting and diluting the decolonial agenda, distancing it from the material realities of African women and marginalized groups.
2. Militarization and Contradictions in Policy: There are inherent contradictions in countries that claim to uphold feminist foreign policies while simultaneously increasing military budgets or engaging in conflict. Sweden’s shift away from its FFP to prioritize military intervention in Ukraine, along with Canada’s increased financial support to the same cause, exemplify this issue. Such contradictions undermine the decolonial feminist principles of peace and justice—values that are crucial to Africa’s engagement with FFP.
3. Climate Justice Gaps: Feminist foreign policies adopted in the Global North have tended to overlook the link between climate change and colonialism. For example, these policies fail to commit to reparative justice for African countries and do not recognize the displacement of indigenous communities under carbon market schemes. This not only neglects the role of colonial extractivism in perpetuating the climate crisis but also sidelines the feminist struggles association with environmental destruction.
4. Distortion and Co-opting of Feminist and Decolonial Agendas: The rise of the non-profit industrial complex has distorted the decolonial agenda. This distances the agenda from the needs of ordinary Africans, making it harder for grassroots movements to remain rooted in African knowledge systems. The tendency of FFPs to instrumentalize feminist language without addressing the systemic issues facing Africa, including neoliberal economic structures like the Bretton Woods institutions, further aggravates the problem.
5. Failure to Acknowledge Indigenous Knowledge Systems: FFPs often dismiss or ignore indigenous knowledge systems. This exclusion reflects a broader failure of FFPs to embrace alternative worldviews that are essential to tackling the interconnected challenges of gender justice, climate change, and peace.

Despite these challenges, the current global policy discourse around FFP presents an opportunity for African countries to chart a Pan-African feminist agenda that goes beyond the limitations of the current Global-North defined FFP. This agenda would be rooted in solidarity, reparative justice, and the experiences of African women and marginalized communities, providing a powerful alternative to the neoliberal, militarized policies that dominate the global foreign policy landscape today.

The AU’s legitimacy as a pan-African body positions it as a critical player in advancing FFPs in the continent, ensuring alignment with the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the Maputo Protocol. Furthermore, the AU’s inclusion in the G-20 (and other emerging global spaces) offers an opportunity to influence and reshape global foreign policy frameworks so as to reflect more equitable and just principles. By advocating for the inclusion of African feminist blueprints like the Maputo Protocol and the Gender Equality Forum as well as addressing colonial legacies, Africa can push the global discourse towards more inclusive and transformative policy outcomes.

This leadership from the AU would be critical to reclaiming and investing in African feminist knowledge production as well as protecting these systems from erasure through building up on already existing initiatives from the AU like the efforts towards Reparatory Justice and Racial Healing. This will also facilitate African feminist movements to critically engage and hold incumbent states accountable, as well as to build solidarity networks across different regions and sectors.

The last two years have been a growing trend in countries adopting FFPs, especially in the Global South. This presents an opportunity to push for a Pan-African feminist agenda within the Eurocentric FFP discourse, which has been historically neglected in current international foreign and development policy. However, the AU and most African governments lack a unified stance on FFP, and African Women’s Rights Organizations (WROs) have not yet effectively engaged in the global FFP policy discussions.

Recognizing the unrealized potential of FFP as a framework to be leveraged to more effectively push for policy that prioritizes the specific barriers to economic, social, and political empowerment that African women and girls face today, Oxfam is a key advocate for FFP globally. Oxfam seeks to develop a Pan-African Feminist Analysis to better understand the status of FFP on the continent and assess the technocratic and political goodwill for a pan-African FFP blueprint.

The Assignment:

The consultant will lead the development of a Pan African Feminist Foreign Policy (FFP). The FFP Analysis will inform Oxfam and partners’ ongoing and future advocacy efforts to advance FFP at the global, continental, national and local levels. These advocacy efforts include the development and dissemination of key messages and policy recommendations for different targets (AU, African governments, Global North governments), pan-African feminist network and movement building, and influencing activities at key continental and global policy moments, such as the upcoming International Feminist Foreign Policy Conference in France in June 2025.

This assignment has the below objective:

1. Develop a Pan-African Feminist Foreign Policy Analysis: The analysis will review the current state of play of FFP on the continent. It will particularly assess the opportunities and challenges to advance a Pan-African FFP agenda at the continental level and in key African countries.

Specifically, this analysis will:

1. Assess previous and ongoing actions of the African Union, African governments, and African civil society in relation to Feminist Foreign Policy.
2. Outline the current demands and priorities of FFP from African actors, as well as their main concerns with the current FFP global discourse. Assess considerations for an Afro-feminist view on FFP, which includes centring the perspective of African civil society, including marginalized indigenous feminist movements.
3. Assess how to leverage African feminist theories and existing policy frameworks, such as the African Feminist Charter, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the Maputo Protocol, in the formulation of a FFP blueprint for Africa.
4. Provide recommendations for how to adapt FFP frameworks to the African context, in accordance with a pan-African feminist agenda, including key policy recommendations and issue areas for inclusion.
5. Provide recommendations to push forward a pan-African FFP agenda, including policy windows, advocacy opportunities, existing networks, etc.

Methodology:

The consultant will utilize different methods to carry out the development of the Pan-African FFP Analysis .These may include:

1. Desk research / Literature Review: Review of existing literature, policies, and studies related to African government approach and perspective on FFPs, current discourse around FFP among African academics, government and civil society groups, and efforts to
2. Stakeholder consultations: Organizing interviews and consultations with relevant stakeholders (including CSO partners, feminist and women’s rights networks, government officials) to gather and document diverse perspectives
3. Data analysis: Analyzing data collected during the review process.

Deliverables:

The consultant is expected to deliver the following outputs:

1. An inception report: To be the first output following the awarding of the contract. The inception report should refine the terms of reference, propose a more detailed conceptual framework, provide a draft work plan with major deadlines, and the methodology to be used. The inception report will be submitted to the Oxfam management team for review and approval.
2. Draft of the Pan-African Feminist Foreign Policy Analysis: A draft Analysis will be developed and submitted to go through Oxfam’s peer review process. A group of Oxfam staff, partners, and other key external stakeholders will review the drafts and provide feedback to the consultant (s).
3. Final Pan-African Feminist Foreign Policy Analysis: The consultant will ensure to review, respond and collate inputs from Oxfam’s peer reviewers to produce the final product. The final analysis should include an executive summary that summarizes the key findings and recommendations. The consultant will be expected to make a presentation on the key findings.

Consultant specifications:

Oxfam is looking for a qualified and experienced consultant, or team of consultants. Ideal specifications include:

• Proven experience in conducting policy reviews, policy analysis, and development of analytical reports or similar assignments in the field of gender justice, decoloniality, governance, aid and development finance, or related areas.
• Demonstrated knowledge of the subject matter of Feminist Foreign Policy as well as experience working with and/or understanding of African and Afro-feminist movements.
• Strong analytical and reporting skills with the ability to analyze data and identify key trends.
• Excellent communications skills with experience in working with a multitude of stakeholders from various disciplines and backgrounds including government, civil societies and communities, development partners and donors.
• Experience in advocacy efforts in feminist movement building and women’s rights in Africa will be preferred.

Timeline:

The assignment is estimated to be completed within 60 days from the date of the signing of the contract.

Management:

The consultant will report to the Senior Gender Advisor at Oxfam in Africa. Additionally, independent peer reviewers will be identified to provide feedback on the report.

Applications:

Interested candidates are invited to submit the following application documents:

• A copy of the CV of the consultant/s who will be assigned to conduct the work including two referees to whom similar services were provided.
• A technical proposal (max 3 pages- excluding CVs) detailing: consultants’ relevant experience and their approach to the assignment, including what literature will be reviewed, what organizations and persons will be interviewed and a draft outline of the report.
• A financial proposal outlining the exact number of days per deliverable and daily rate.
• A sample of relevant products or publications or hyperlinks were available.

[1] https://centreforfeministforeignpolicy.org/2022/12/25/press-release-sweden-government-scrapping-of-feminist-foreign-policy-is-a-setback/

[2] Canada launches new Feminist International Assistance Policy – Canada.ca

[3] Canada needs to start seeing Africa as a collaborator (irpp.org)

[4] https://centreforfeministforeignpolicy.org/2019/07/10/2019-6-3-refugee-legislation-in-south-africa-a-feminist-foreign-policy-analysis-part-2/

[5] https://africanfeminism.com/defining-and-reclaiming-feminist-foreign-policy-in-africa/

How to Apply:

Please send applications to ssc.consultancy@oxfam.org by 30th May 2025