Terms of Reference

Consultancy to Support the Development of the African Regional Advocacy Strategy Process, Power Map and Action Plan

Submission deadline: 30 June 2026

Strategy publication target: 31 March 2027

Consultancy start date: July 2026

Location: Flexible (Remote work) 

Budget: €20,000, all taxes included  

1. Background and Rationale

Forus is an innovative global network of national NGO platforms and regional coalitions working to strengthen civil society’s collective voice, influence and capacity to drive social change. It brings together 74 National NGO Platforms and 8 Regional Coalitions from Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and the Pacific, representing more than 24,000 civil society organisations worldwide.

National platforms of CSOs and regional coalitions play a unique and irreplaceable role in coordinating diverse civil society actors, influencing policy for sustainable development, and strengthening civil society’s enabling environment at national, regional, and global levels.

In 2025–2026, Forus developed its new global Strategy (2026–2030) through an inclusive, consultative process with its members. Forus’ new Strategy 2026–2030 is built around three pillars: Connect, Support, and Influence, underpinned by Network Health. The Strategy aims to ensure the network is resilient, interconnected, and influential at all levels. To deliver on this ambition, Forus is supporting members in different regions to translate the global strategy into practical regional advocacy roadmaps.

These regional advocacy strategies are intended to reflect the political, civic space and development realities members face; the regional and sub-regional power arenas that matter most; concrete opportunities for regional and inter-regional learning and joint influence; the specific role of national platforms and regional coalitions as bridges, convenors and amplifiers of civil society priorities.

In Africa, Forus members have identified the need for a process that recognises the continent’s diversity and avoids a top-down continental strategy. The process should begin from national and regional realities, working across five proposed African regions/sub-regions — West Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa and North Africa / MENA — and then identify common priorities, complementarities and collective advocacy opportunities at continental level.

The consultancy will support Forus members in Africa to develop concise, practical regional advocacy strategies or roadmaps, together with a lighter continental advocacy vision or framework, through a twophased approach:

• Phase 1 — Development of sub-regional advocacy strategies across five African sub-regions: West Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and North Africa.
• Phase 2 — Development of a continental advocacy vision drawing on cross-regional commonalities identified through the sub-regional strategies.
  

The process should help members identify shared priorities, leverage points, advocacy opportunities, institutional entry points and concrete next steps for regional, continental and inter-regional collaboration.

This process is member-led. The consultant or consultant team will not define advocacy priorities on behalf of members. Rather, they will facilitate and accompany a structured, participatory process through which members can analyse their context, identify shared priorities, map influence opportunities, and agree on practical advocacy directions.

The available budget is intended to support expertise and service delivery through this consultancy.

2. Purpose of the Consultancy

The purpose of this consultancy is to support Forus members in the Africa region, through a facilitated member-led process, to develop practical sub-regional advocacy strategies and a continental advocacy vision that translate the Forus Strategy 2026–2030 into clear priorities, influence opportunities and concrete next steps.

The consultancy should support members to:

• Ground the Forus 2026–2030 Strategy in each sub-regional context, including members’ priorities, narratives, risks, and opportunities;
• Identify where members have leverage for joint advocacy objectives, including mapping key actors, spaces, moments and pressure points at sub-regional and continental levels;
• Define key sub-regional advocacy priorities or influence tracks to implement the Forus’ global strategy at continental and regional levels, differentiated by sub-region where necessary;
• Identify common priorities, differences and complementarities across regions/sub-regions to inform the Phase 2 continental advocacy vision;
• Develop practical action plans clarifying possible roles at national, sub-regional, continental and global levels;
• Identify concrete opportunities for inter-regional collaboration within the Forus network;
• Propose light monitoring markers to help members follow progress and adapt the strategy over time. 

For the purpose of this consultancy:

• Africa Region" refers to the Forus Africa membership as a whole; 
• Sub-regions" refers to West Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and North Africa.
• National Platforms" refers to Forus member platforms operating at country level; 
• Regional Coalitions" refers to sub-regional civil society coordination mechanisms where they exist; 
• Continental Vision/Framework" refers to a shared advocacy framework derived from sub-regional priorities and intended to support collective engagement with continental institutions and processes. 

3. Scope and Analytical Approach

The consultancy will produce evidence-based, member-driven and action-oriented sub-regional advocacy strategies and a continental advocacy vision, rooted in the experiences of Forus members in Africa, including national platforms and regional coalitions across all five sub-regions.

The analysis should draw on:

• Forus strategic documents and relevant internal materials;
• Member strategies, reports and advocacy priorities where available;
• Relevant civil society monitoring evidence on civic space and enabling environment conditions, development finance and related advocacy areas;
• Consultations with Forus members across the five African sub-regions;
• Relevant previous Forus and/or Forus member studies on civil society dynamics in Africa, including the 2019/2020 Africa study where available;
• Targeted external sources relevant to the priorities emerging from member consultations, including civic space and enabling environment trends, regional and continental policy processes, development finance, Agenda 2030 / post-2030 discussions, and civil society participation opportunities, where useful for identifying advocacy entry points and windows for influence. 

The assignment is not expected to provide a comprehensive analysis of the full civil society landscape across all African countries, nor detailed country-by-country political or legal assessments. Instead, it should use the collective experience of Forus members as the primary evidence base for identifying key priority areas for sub-regional and continental influence, key stakeholders, potential allies, advocacy opportunities and realistic pathways for collective action.

The methodology should be structured around the five sub-regions: West Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and North Africa. Each sub-regional workstream should produce a distinct sub-regional advocacy strategy (Phase 1).  These outputs will then feed into a synthesised continental advocacy vision (Phase 2). The methodology must therefore be designed to capture both sub-regional specificity and crosscutting continental themes.

The process should pay particular attention to regions where Forus does not currently have a dedicated regional coordination platform (East Africa) or where coordination arrangements need clarification. The consultant should propose a practical approach to ensure meaningful engagement across all five proposed regions/sub-regions. The consultant will be expected to engage directly with interested Forus members in East Africa and North Africa especially, where relevant, support interim coordination.

Opportunities for inter-regional collaboration should also be identified, in connection with Forus’ global influence workstreams and the Connect pillar of the Forus Strategy 2026–2030. The conceptual architecture of the strategy — distinguishing clearly between “region” (Africa as a whole), “sub-region” (the five geographic groupings), national platforms, and regional coalitions — must be consistently maintained throughout all deliverables.

Application deadline: by the 30th June 2026.

Applications should be submitted in electronic format to: recruitment@forus-international.org (subject line: “Consultancy – Africa Regional Advocacy Strategy”).

For questions about these terms of reference, please contact: recruitment@forus-international.org

For detailed information, please check the complete version of the ToR attached below.