We are Expanding Our Service Provider Database

The Southern Africa Trust (The Trust) is a regional intermediary grant-maker, fiscal host, and activist fund working to end poverty and inequality in 16 countries in Southern Africa. Established in 2005 and based in Johannesburg, The Trust’s vision is an integrated Southern Africa where all people live empowered and fulfilled lives. Our mission is to amplify the voice and agency of impoverished and excluded people in Southern Africa by empowering them to access their full rights. Our mandate is to pursue change with those who live in poverty resulting from inequalities and exclusion.

The Trust is currently in the process of registering group/individual consultants/service providers to expand our service provider database. We are inviting registered, reputable, and qualified service providers to express interest in joining our vetted supplier database. As we continue advancing our mission to strengthen the voice and agency of people living in poverty across Southern Africa, we are seeking service providers who can support our work across our strategic focus areas across the SADC region. Join us as we work towards a Southern Africa where all people live empowered and fulfilled lives.

Categories of services

Professional and Consulting Services

• Strategy and organisational development,
• Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning (MEL),
• Human Resources and Change management,
• Action research and policy analysis
• Training and workshop facilitation.

Creative, Communications and Knowledge Services

• Photography and videography
• Copyediting
• Public relations management
• Video editing and motion graphics animation
• Graphic design, branding & communications
• Advocacy and movement building coaching
• Editing, printing & publishing
• Rapporteuring and documentation

Operations and Logistics Services Call

• Events management
• Travel, logistics and transport services
• IT services (hardware, software, network support)
• Catering
• Office and facilities management
• General supply of goods and services

Governance, Legal and Financial Services

• Legal advisory services
• Board Secretariat services
• Internal Audit
• External Audit
• Payroll Services
• Finance professional services

Why Partner with Us?

We welcome service providers who share our commitment to:

• Amplifying community voice and agency, especially among marginalisedand excluded groups
• Advancing climate justice, economic justice, gender justice and social justice
• Strengthening social protection and equitable economic recovery
• Supporting youth leadership and engagement

Women-led, youth-led, and community-rooted service providers from across the SADC region are strongly encouraged to express interest.

How to express interest:

Please submit:

• Company profile
• Compliance documents (including registration, tax clearance, etc.
• Summary Portfolio of work and/or client references
• Contact information for key personnel

Email submissions and enquiries should be directed to: info@southernafricatrust.org

When submitting your expression of interest, please ensure your email subject line reads:

“Database EOI – [Name of Role/Service Category]” (e.g., “Database EOI – Graphic Design” or “Database EOI – Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning”).

Submissions that do not follow this format may not be processed.

Closing date: On Rolling Basis

Note: Please note that submission of requested documents does not automatically translate to an offer. It also does not translate to a contractual agreement with The Trust. Successful registration in the database does not automatically translate to a contractual agreement to be commissioned to offer services and products. Instead, it means you will be considered for future short-term or long-term assignments as opportunities arise.

Download Call Here.

 

Inside the PAMOJA Critical Minerals Alliance Launch

Something powerful happened in Harare.

Over two days ( 25 and 26 February 2026 ) we had the privilege of being in the room as history was made. The PAMOJA Critical Minerals Alliance officially launched, and with it, a bold, collective African voice on one of the most urgent issues of our time: who really benefits when Africa’s minerals fuel the world’s green energy revolution?

We were there. And we want to bring you into that room with us.

Why This Moment Matters

Right now, the world is racing to build electric vehicles, solar panels, and wind turbines. And at the heart of that race? Africa’s minerals ; lithium, cobalt, graphite, rare earth elements, platinum group metals. The demand is surging. The deals are being signed. But for too many communities living on top of these resources, the story remains the same: displacement, environmental harm, broken promises, and wealth that leaves without looking back.

That cannot continue.

That is exactly why PAMOJA exists and why this convening was so significant.

Two Days That Changed the Conversation

The workshop brought together an extraordinary cross-section of voices: grassroots activists, Indigenous leaders, trade unions, women’s movements, youth advocates, disability rights representatives, and policy actors from across the African continent. These are people on the frontlines, in the mining corridors, in the communities, in the halls of advocacy, and for two days, they sat together, spoke honestly, and built something real.

Day 1 was about truth-telling. Each constituency brought its lived reality to the table. Women spoke about the invisible burdens of mining expansion, the care work that multiplies when environments are disrupted, the exclusion from decisions that reshape their lives. Indigenous leaders named what is too often unnamed: the violation of land rights, the absence of consent. Youth delegates refused to be tokens, they demanded genuine seats at the table, not symbolic gestures. Labour voices tied the fight for decent work directly to the push for beneficiation. Every voice added a layer. Every story reinforced the same truth: extractive governance is everyone’s issue.

Day 2 was about action. The energy in the room shifted from reflection to resolve. Participants mapped solidarity, designed campaign strategies, and worked through the architecture of a governance structure that could hold this alliance together across borders and movements. The sense of collective purpose was unmistakable.

And then came the moment that crowned it all the adoption of the PAMOJA Declaration and the official launch of the Alliance.

The PAMOJA Declaration: A Line in the Sand

The Declaration is not a wish list. It is a set of demands grounded in justice and backed by a continent-wide movement.

It says: Africa’s minerals must build Africa’s future. It says Africa First! Raw material exports without value addition, without industrialisation, without transparent revenue management, that era must end.

It says: Communities are not obstacles. They are rights-holders. Free, Prior and Informed Consent is not a courtesy , it is a legal and moral obligation. Transparency and meaningful participation are non-negotiable.

It says: A green transition that exploits Africa is not a just transition. Supplying the world’s clean energy inputs while bearing the social and environmental costs is not development, it is a new face of the same old extractivism.

The Declaration frames this as what it truly is: a question of power, governance, and the kind of future Africa chooses to build.

What the Southern Africa Trust Brought and What We’re Taking Forward

We are proud to have co-facilitated this convening alongside SARW. Our role was to hold the space ,to sequence conversations with intention, to bridge diverse constituencies, and to help a room full of passionate, politically sharp people move from dialogue to declaration.

It was some of the most meaningful facilitation work we have done. And it reminded us of why this work matters.

We left Harare with more than memories. We leave with a continent-wide network of civic actors ready to move together. We leave with deeper partnerships, new insights, and a clearer sense of where the Trust can add the most value in gender-responsive governance, in regulatory literacy, in linking mineral justice to broader economic sovereignty debates.

The movement is building. And we intend to build with it.

The minerals are African. The future must be too. Africa First

The Southern Africa Trust works at the intersection of climate justice and natural resource governance, supporting communities, movements, and policy actors across the region to advance equitable, inclusive, and accountable development.

By Janet Zhou (Country Manager: Zimbabwe) and Yvonne Muto (Partnerships and Resourcing Officer)

Limuru, Kenya -1st to 4th February 2026

Reflections, highlights, and what comes next

The Southern Africa Trust team was proud to support and participate in the recently concluded Regional Climate Resilience Convening for Comic Relief–supported partners, held in Limuru, Kenya.

The convening brought together over 20 civil society organisations from East Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa, and Latin America, creating a rare and valuable space for partners working in diverse contexts to pause, reflect, learn, and collectively shape a shared climate action agenda for 2026.

This was an intentional space for dialogue, one that enabled partners to speak openly about their experiences of strengthening climate resilience in communities facing the intersecting pressures of climate change, inequality, and shrinking civic space.

One of the strongest themes to emerge was that organisations are at different stages of their climate action journeys. Some partners have been working on climate resilience and justice for many years, with established approaches and deep, long-standing community relationships. Others are newer to the space, still learning how to integrate climate justice into their programming and advocacy.

Despite these differences, the lessons shared resonated widely. Partners reflected on what it takes to respond to floods, droughts, displacement, and extractives-related impacts, while remaining accountable to the communities they serve. Across regions, there was a shared recognition that climate resilience is not merely technical, it is deeply political, social, and relational.

Across the conversations, partners highlighted common challenges, including limited access to climate finance for grassroots actors, pressure to deliver short-term results in long-term struggles, and persistent power imbalances between communities, governments, the private sector, and funders.

At the same time, there was strong consensus that community knowledge must sit at the centre of climate action. Partners repeatedly emphasised that locally grounded, community-led approaches are more adaptive, more sustainable, and more just. When communities, particularly women and young people, are leading, climate responses are stronger and more responsive to lived realities.

A key outcome of the convening was a shared commitment to move beyond dialogue towards ongoing collaboration. Partners agreed to establish five thematic working groups that will continue working together beyond the convening, focusing on:

1. Research and learning
2. Policy advocacy
3. Climate resilience practice
4. Inclusion and community engagement
5. Climate finance

These working groups aim to strengthen collaboration, cross-learning, and solidarity across regions, while ensuring that community voices meaningfully inform research, advocacy, and funding conversations.

Key takeaways

For the Southern Africa Trust, several reflections stand out.

First, cross-regional exchange matters. Learning from diverse contexts deepens collective analysis and expands the possibilities for more effective and just climate action.

Second, climate resilience work must remain politically grounded. It cannot be reduced to technical solutions alone; it must engage directly with questions of power, inequality, and justice.

Third, the need to strengthen the broader ecosystem and infrastructure for climate resilience, beyond climate justice interventions.

Fourth, that context matters, in crafting responsive interventions.

Finally, collaboration is essential. The scale and urgency of the climate crisis demand shared strategies, shared learning, and a strong collective voice.

Looking ahead

As partners return to their communities, the real work continues. The relationships built, insights shared, and commitments made in Limuru provide a strong foundation for deeper collaboration in 2026 and beyond.

The convening served as a powerful reminder that while the climate crisis is ever evolving, complex, and profoundly unjust, there is real strength in solidarity and collective, community-led action, and that strength grows when civil society comes together across regions, experiences, and struggles.

1. Background

The Southern Africa Trust (The Trust) is a regional organisation committed to influencing policies to end poverty across Southern Africa. Following an internal review, the organisation has identified opportunities to strengthen its policy framework — both by updating existing policies and addressing areas not previously covered.

A total of 16 policies and enabling strategies have since been updated, developed, or commissioned. These span governance, human resources, finance, information technology, safeguarding, programming, and organisational sustainability.

As The Trust approaches its Board meeting in June 2026, there is a need to ensure that all policies and strategies are finalised, properly standardised, and packaged for review by the relevant Board Committees before formal approval by the full Board. The Trust wishes to outsource the policy standardisation and finalisation process to a qualified service provider, under the oversight of the HR and Management team.

2. Objective of the Assignment

The primary objective of this assignment is to support the Southern Africa Trust in standardising, right-sizing, and finalising its suite of 16 policies and enabling strategies, ensuring they are ready for Committee review in May and Board approval at the June 2026 Board meeting.

3. Scope of Work

The selected service provider will be expected to carry out the following tasks:

3.1  Policy Review and Standardisation

• Review all 16 existing draft policies and strategies listed in Section 6 of this ToR.
• Ensure each policy is right-sized (approximately 15 pages or fewer), clearly separating policy statements from Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and tools.
• Standardise language, formatting, and presentation across all documents — including consistent use of organisational name (Southern Africa Trust ), consistent terminology (e.g. ‘grantees’ vs ‘implementing partners’), and alignment of cover pages.
• Use the approved policy shared by the team as the benchmark for structure, flow, and presentation.
• Ensure all policies are aligned to The Trust’s organisational values, principles, and culture, and are appropriate to the size and nature of the organisation.

3.2  Cover Notes and Policy Register

• Develop a concise cover note for each policy, highlighting: what is new; what has been changed, removed, or updated; and key policy statements that Board Committees should pay particular attention to.
• Develop a Policy and Key Strategies Register for the organisation, capturing policy name, responsible owner, applicable legislation, approval date, and next review date. The register should be structured for quarterly updates.

3.3  Packaging for Committee Review

• Compile and package the finalised policies into the appropriate Board Committee review packs in line with the guidance provided.
• Ensure each Committee pack includes the relevant policies, cover notes, and a summary overview document.

3.4  Coordination and Handover

• Work closely with the designated The Trust HR/Management team contact to obtain source documents, feedback, and approvals at each stage.
• Submit draft versions for internal review at agreed milestones before finalising.
• Incorporate feedback from the Board committees and the full board meeting for each policy and strategy document.
• Provide all final documents in both editable (MS Word) and PDF formats.
• Conduct a brief handover session to walk the internal team through the completed policy pack and register.

4. Deliverables and Timeline

#	Deliverable	Target Date
1	Inception note: proposed approach, work plan, and timeline	Within 5 working days of contract signing
2	Standardised drafts of all 16 policies/strategies submitted for internal review	To be agreed in inception note
3	Revised drafts incorporating internal feedback	Within 5 working days of receiving feedback
4	Cover notes for each policy/strategy	Submitted with revised drafts
5	Policy and Strategies Register	Submitted with revised drafts
6	Fully packaged Board Committee review packs (4 Committees)	No later than 30 April 2026
7	Revised documents incorporating Board Committee and full Board feedback	Prior to 25 June 2026 Board meeting
8	Handover session with The Trust HR/Management team	30 June 2026

5. Required Qualifications and Experience

Proposals are invited from individuals or firms with the following:

• Demonstrated experience in policy development, review, and standardisation, preferably within the non-profit, development, or public sector.
• Proven ability to produce clear, professionally presented organisational documents.
• Strong understanding of governance and Board processes in civil society or similar organisations.
• Excellent written English communication skills and editorial ability.
• Ability to work to tight deadlines and manage multiple documents concurrently.
• Prior experience working with regional African organisations is an added advantage.
• Knowledge of the social justice sector in Southern Africa

6. Reporting and Oversight

The service provider will report directly to HR and will work closely with the CEO and Management team as required. All work will be subject to the oversight and final approval of HR and Management team before being shared with Board Committees.

The service provider is expected to communicate proactively regarding progress, risks, or delays, and to flag any issues that may affect the quality or timelines of the deliverables.

7. Submission of Proposals

Interested service providers are invited to submit a technical and financial proposal that includes:

• A brief profile of the individual or firm and relevant experience.
• Proposed approach and methodology.
• A detailed work plan with milestones and timelines.
• Financial proposal (daily rate or fixed fee with breakdown).
• At least two references from similar assignments.

Proposals should be submitted to:

Email: recruitment@southernafricatrust.org

Closing date for submissions: 16^th March 2026

The Trust reserves the right to accept or reject any proposal and is not obliged to provide reasons for its decisions. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

9. Enquiries

For any queries regarding this Terms of Reference, please contact:

Candice Mchunu | candice.mchunu@onehr.co.za

Thembisa Bekwa | thembisa.bekwa@onehr.co.za

By Janet Zhou

Ending gender-based violence (GBV) requires us to move beyond elitist tools and frameworks. It demands that we confront the very architecture of violence at its roots in families, communities, and societal structures. The Midrand Forum on GBV Prevention held between 19-21 August 2025, provided a critical moment for reimagining strategies in Southern Africa, challenging us to build bridges from the ground up rather than relying solely on policy blueprints. The theme, “Building Bridges: Strengthening Collaborative Efforts for GBV Prevention and Response in Southern Africa” resonated. This reflection goes beyond summarising the Forum. It distils insights into guiding principles and next steps for governments, civil society, and communities seeking to prevent GBV in sustainable and people-centred ways.

Understanding the Architecture of Violence

GBV does not emerge in a vacuum. It is deeply rooted in cultural, social, and economic systems, reinforced through family dynamics, community norms, and systemic inequalities.

• Family can be the first site where harmful gender norms are instilled, reproduced or disrupted.
• Communities often reinforce silence and stigma, making survivors carry the weight of violence without support.
• Institutions from schools to justice systems can perpetuate inequality when they fail to address gender discrimination.

One key insight from the Midrand Forum was the need to engage men and boys as partners in prevention efforts, and to transform education systems into sites of resilience and change.

Care Economy and Structural Inequalities

Another theme brought within the Forum by the Trust was the care economy, which sustains households but leaves women disproportionately carrying unpaid and underpaid care responsibilities.

This burden leaves women economically dependent, undermines their autonomy, and heightens vulnerability to exploitation and violence. At the Forum, the presentation of The Trust’s scoping study on the Care Economy showed how valuing and redistributing care work is essential to addressing the structural roots of GBV.

Integrating care justice into GBV prevention requires:

• Recognising unpaid care in economic and social policy.
• Supporting redistribution of caregiving responsibilities across genders.
• Building public investment into care systems as a prevention strategy.

 Why Elitist Tools Fall Short

Too often, GBV strategies rely on top-down and elitist frameworks that fail to resonate with survivors’ lived experiences. Policies can be disconnected, technocratic, or overly reliant on donor logic and state-led interventions.

The Forum exposed the gap between policy and practice, reminding us that prevention cannot be reduced to only blueprints, toolkits, or one-size-fits-all frameworks. True transformation happens when solutions emerge from the ground up.

 Going Back to Basics: Building Bridges from the Foundation Up

1. Families as the First Line of Defense
   Healthy relationships, positive parenting, and open conversations in families create early resistance against harmful gender norms. Prevention must begin here.
2. Community-Led Solutions
   The Forum showcased examples such as dialogue circles and community initiatives where communities themselves took ownership of prevention. These solutions are sustainable because they are embedded in context.
3. Education as a Foundation for Change
   Schools and universities are critical sites for reshaping social norms. Integrating GBV awareness into curricula and establishing safe, inclusive spaces for young people emerged as a strong call from the Forum.

Bridging the Gap Between Policy and Practice
Policies must reflect lived realities. Translating them into action requires local leaders, educators, and activists to be central actors not passive implementers.

Technology as a Tool
As discussed on Day 3 of the Forum, technology has potential, but it cannot replace community-led prevention. Digital reporting tools or awareness apps must complement, not substitute, community action.

 Building Sustainable Bridges

1. Collaborative Efforts
   GBV prevention requires coalitions of collaboration across governments, civil society, traditional leaders, and communities. The Forum’s theme of “Building Bridges” highlights the importance of connecting diverse stakeholders for collective power.
2. Shifting Focus to Community-Centred Approaches
   Resources and accountability must be redirected to community actors who know the realities of their contexts. This is more so, important in the context where gender justice has generally been deprioritised as funding keeps shrinking.
3. Next Steps for All of Us

• It takes a village to end gender-based violence (GBV). Every member of our community, from individuals to institutions, has a crucial role in creating lasting change. As duty bearers at various levels, we all share responsibility for collective, sustainable action toward ending GBV. Here are the next steps we can all take as part of this village: Policymakers: Embed community voices into decision-making.
• Civil society: Support community led and centred initiatives and create platforms for survivor leadership.
• Communities: Confront harmful norms and nurture collective responsibility for prevention.

 To end GBV, we must dismantle the architecture of violence at its foundation families and communities while building bridges that connect every level of society. The challenge is urgent, but the pathway is clear: start at the roots, build from the ground up, and connect across the system.

The final question remains: What role will you play in building these bridges?