Background
The 1987 Constitution of the Philippines, as well as the Magna Carta of Women (MCW) of 2009, provide a strong legal foundation to protect the rights of women and promote gender equality in the Philippines. The MCW states that women have the right to protection and security in times of disasters, calamities, and other crisis situations, especially in all phases of relief, recovery, rehabilitation, and reconstruction. The MCW also provides for the inclusion of women's welfare and concerns in the peace agenda and their participation in the planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of corresponding interventions, with special consideration for the specific needs of women and girls. Gender-responsive disaster risk reduction and management, gender and development (GAD) budgeting, and laws against violence against women and children also contribute to a comprehensive legal and policy framework that meaningfully addresses the situation and role of women and girls in the Philippines.
Civil society, civil society organizations (CSOs), Indigenous peoples, and their organizations are important actors and contributors in promoting gender equality, equity, peace, and justice in society. They are also rights-holders and a critical mass of civil society. In situations of armed conflict, civil society actors and Indigenous peoples can promote a nuanced understanding of the conflict-induced vulnerabilities and suffering of marginalized groups, as well as their capacity to address the root causes of conflict — thereby shaping conflict transformation efforts. Women, girls, persons with disabilities (PWDs), and sexual minorities, who all experience conflict differently and have different needs during conflict and the post-conflict recovery phase, are cases in point. Capacity and resource constraints are among the limiting factors civil society actors face when trying to promote the role of marginalized groups such as women and girls during and after armed conflict. Targeted capacity-strengthening and awareness-raising interventions are effective remedies in this regard.
This also applies to Indigenous women, who play important roles as caregivers, culture bearers, peacebuilders, and leaders in community decision-making. However, their participation in formal and informal conflict resolution spaces, such as husay (a traditional Indigenous conflict resolution and mediation practice in the Caraga region), often remains limited, under-recognized, or constrained by traditional gender roles. Enhancing women's and men's awareness, knowledge, and capacity is catalytic to gender-sensitivity and to their increased role and contribution across community life — including informed participation in policy and programming, and gender-responsive conflict transformation and development.
Training participants can apply their enhanced understanding of gender-responsive conflict transformation to analyze gender-based discrimination, take on leadership roles, engage women and girls in different spaces, affirm women's rights to participation, protection, prevention, relief, and recovery, and claim influential roles in implementing and localizing peace- and conflict-related policy frameworks such as Women, Peace and Security (WPS). The Philippine government's National Action Plan on WPS (2023–2033) demonstrates its commitment to recognizing and addressing the dynamic and complex roles played by women of diverse and intersecting identities before, during, and after conflict.
Formulating regional/provincial and local government-level plans on WPS, and incorporating them into government programs and budgets, is essential for the full implementation of the NAPWPS. This localization of the WPS agenda — and any related implementation effort — is impossible without aware and informed civil society actors and communities. Building a basic understanding of gender and power dynamics in gender relations helps men and women understand WPS and claim their roles and entitlements in relation to concerned government agencies and stakeholders.
forumZFD has planned three training modules for its partner organizations. The first module covers the fundamentals of gender. The second module is expected to cover areas such as understanding conflict and peacebuilding; gender and conflict; women as peacebuilders; gender, protection, and justice; and gender-responsive programming. The third module will progressively build on this, covering topics that may include government policies and programs relating to WPS; knowledge, skills, and motivation for advocacy; and thematic areas including an introduction to WPS, the Philippine WPS framework, institutions and stakeholders relating to WPS, localization of WPS in Caraga, and advocacy and influencing.
Objectives of the Training
The overall objective of the training is to strengthen participants' capacity to understand and analyze gender relations, the multiple and intersecting forms of women's marginalization, and the gendered experiences of conflict and insecurity in their specific context. The training also aims to build participants' capacity to design and implement gender-responsive programs informed by national and international WPS frameworks, to promote inclusive peacebuilding, to claim women's rights and entitlements, and to engage duty-bearers for accountability and improved protection and services. Training objectives are formulated under each module below. Each module is planned to be delivered over three days.
Module One: Introducing and unpacking the concepts of gender, gender relations, and gender discrimination in the Caraga region
This module has already been designed and delivered.
Module Two: Understanding the effect and role of women in the context of conflict
Objectives:
- To strengthen capacity to identify and appreciate the roles of women in community-level dispute/conflict resolution and conflict prevention.
- To identify entry points for securing women's meaningful participation in conflict resolution and prevention efforts, enabling more inclusive, just, and sustainable peacebuilding out-comes.
- To build understanding of the differentiated vulnerabilities and needs of women and girls during conflicts and disasters, the roles they play, and gender considerations in relief, rehabilitation, protection, and justice.
- To introduce gender and women's rights in peace and security contexts, and to provide skills and tools for conducting gendered conflict analysis.
Possible thematic areas this module could cover (all with a strong focus on Caraga): understanding conflict and peacebuilding; gender and conflict; women as peacebuilders; gender, protection and justice; and gender-responsive programming.
Module Three: Advocacy towards women's meaningful participation
Objectives:
● To introduce global and national processes on WPS; relevant content from regional/pro-vincial and local government-level plans and GAD plans; concerned line agencies and institutions for the implementation and localization of WPS; and the roles, opportunities, and space available to civil society, CSOs and IP communities.
● To identify the relevance of WPS, the advocacy agenda, and stakeholders, and to develop action or advocacy plans on WPS at the regional, provincial, and local government levels.
The third module focuses on gender-related policies and programs designed and implemented by national and local government agencies, with strong emphasis on WPS. An in-depth overview of relevant policy frameworks and laws will lay the foundation for participants' knowledge, skills, and motivation to advocate for gender-transformative change through women's meaningful participation in peacebuilding and beyond, in the Caraga region, as a subsequent step.
The Training Consultant is expected to further refine and prepare the detailed plan, prepare training curricula, share with forumZFD Philippines for feedback and consent and facilitate the training.
Scope of Work and Approach
The Training Consultant will have the following specific roles and will follow these basic approaches, among others, in undertaking the assignment:
● Design the detailed training modules and session plans, grounded in the framework out-lined above and share with forum team for review and approval.
● Facilitate and deliver the second and third training modules based on the detailed session plan and corresponding curriculum.
● Ground gender concepts in the Indigenous communities' own culture, traditions, and val-ues, rather than presenting them as external frameworks.
● Identify and relate to local WPS action plans and any existing conflict and peace initiatives from Caraga.
● Take into account the particular vulnerabilities women face in conflict and disaster set-tings, without losing sight of their strengths and agency.
● Apply participatory and engaging training methods.
● Deliver sessions in the local dialect wherever possible; keep language simple throughout; avoid legal terminology and technical jargon.
● Translate handouts, guides, and reference materials so they are accessible to partici-pants.
● Build in both joint and separate spaces for men and women to unpack patriarchal norms and share experiences safely.
● Establish a training space that is safe, inclusive, and trauma-informed, with separate ses-sions for men and women built in where appropriate.
● Hand over training materials, a final report, and recommendations, including remaining gaps and follow-up needs.
● Support participants in developing action plans.
● Recommend and create roles and space for relevant government agencies and stake-holders to share institutional updates and perspectives during the training.
● Provide follow-up support to help participants carry out their plans.
Participants
The training will bring together 25–30 civil society actors from Caraga, including representatives from Indigenous Peoples' organizations, IP-based CSOs, community organizations, other CSOs, and religious organizations, as well as women, men, and youth. Participants also represent civil society advocacy networks.
Deliverables and Timeline
The Resource Person/Consultant is expected to accomplish the following:
● A training content/curriculum, design/workplan covering session outlines, learning objec-tives, thematic content, and methodology for both Module 2 and Module 3.
● Finalized training materials — presentations, handouts, activity guides, and reference ma-terials — simplified in language and translated where needed into the local dialect.
● Pre- and post-training assessment tools to track changes in participants' knowledge and confidence and share with forum’s PMEL advisor for review and finalization.
● Facilitation of trainings for both modules on the schedule agreed with forumZFD.
● A brief completion report for each module, including participant feedback, analysis of pre- and post-test data, and recommendations for future needs and follow-up action.
Detailed design and planning of the training modules should be finalized within August 2026. Module 2 and Module 3 trainings should be delivered between September and November 2026, spaced a few weeks apart. The assignment is expected to take 15-20 person days.
Qualifications and Experience
The Resource Person/Consultant should bring:
● At least 3–5 years of experience working in gender and development, gender-based vio-lence prevention or response, conflict transformation, or women's rights programming.
● Strong understanding of gender, gender rights and roles, GESI concepts, WPS agenda and UNSCR1325, UNSCR1325, Philippines Plan of Action and legal and constitutional provisions on women’s rights and gender.
● A track record of designing and running trainings for civil society, community-based, and Indigenous groups, including mixed-gender participants.
● Strong facilitation skills grounded in adult learning principles, with a demonstrated ability to break down technical or legal concepts for people without a legal background.
● Genuine sensitivity to Indigenous culture, gender dynamics, the conflict context, and trauma-informed facilitation.
● Working knowledge of a local language or dialect spoken in the target Caraga communi-ties is a plus.
● Experience with Indigenous communities, civil society networks, or peacebuilding pro-cesses such as husay is an advantage.
Coordination and Reporting
The Resource Person/Consultant will work under the overall guidance of the forumZFD Project Manager, coordinating closely with project officers located in Butuan City.
Application Process
Interested applicants should submit:
● Application letter
● Technical and financial proposal
● Curriculum vitae of the consultant, including any team members
Applications should be emailed to abayon@forumzfd.de with the subject line: "Application – Training Consultant for Women, Peace and Security Training".
Format for CV
Photo; personal details (name, surname, date of birth, place of birth, and current place of residence); educational background; work experience. We recommend keeping the CV simple and clear, evidencing relevant experience — especially against the requirements above. It will be reviewed by international staff who may not be familiar with local institutions, so please include clarification where needed for a foreign reader.