ASSIGNMENT PERIOD August 1 – September 30, 2026

LAUNCH SUPPORT October – December 2026

ORGANIZATION Southern Africa Trust Fund

 The Southern Africa Trust Fund is seeking a consultant or consulting team to develop a feminist Solidarity Economy Standards Paper for use across its grant-making and economic justice portfolio. The assignment supports the RISE initiative and will provide a framework for identifying, assessing, and supporting community-led economic models that advance care, solidarity, gender equality, and locally driven development.

The paper will define solidarity economy concepts, principles, and models relevant to Southern Africa, including cooperatives, savings and credit groups, community banks, mutual aid networks, burial societies, and other forms of collective economic organizing. It will clarify which models the Trust Fund is best positioned to support and establish standards, criteria, care indicators, and gender indicators for decision-making. These standards will be translated into grant-making criteria, scoring guidance, and accompaniment considerations for the 2026-2027 regranting cycle, through which eight to ten small grants will be awarded, including targeted support for women-led and youth-led groups.

The consultant will conduct a literature and framework review, examine the Trust Fund’s strategy and regranting approach, and undertake eight to twelve consultations with staff, partners, practitioners, feminist economists, and community-based organizations. The methodology must be participatory, feminist, intersectional, and decolonial, while remaining responsive to lived community realities.

Deliverables include an inception note, a draft standards paper of no more than 25 pages, a validation workshop, a publication-ready paper and grant-making annex, and presentation materials for the regional launch. The assignment will run from August 1 to September 30, 2026, with launch support continuing into the final quarter.

DOWNLOAD THE FULL TERMS OF REFERENCE For detailed information on the assignment scope, deliverables, eligibility requirements, and application process, please download the full Terms of Reference (ToR) here.