National Inclusion and Institutional Strengthening Consultant

Open to Laos Nationals. Assignment Period: November 2026 – February 2027 (completion no later than February 2027) Up to 40 working days (subject to confirmation during contracting).

Program Background
Partnerships for Infrastructure (P4I) Phase 2 is an Australian Government initiative to support quality infrastructure development that drives inclusive growth in Southeast Asia. P4I-2 is a 10-year initiative to December 2035, with an initial period of five years from January 2026 to December 2030. P4I works with partners to strengthen policy and regulatory frameworks related to infrastructure development. It also addresses obstacles to project development, including through advice on financing strategies (with an emphasis on mobilising private finance). P4I works closely with Australian Government and industry to help bring relevant solutions to Southeast Asia’s infrastructure development challenges, in line with Australia's Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040. P4I currently works in four sectors: land transport resilience, maritime decarbonisation, integration of renewables into energy systems, and telecommunications. P4I incorporates inclusion (gender equality, disability and social inclusion) and climate (mitigation and adaptation) across these four sectors.

P4I implements two programs in Laos: (1) the Laos-Australia Connectivity Partnership which focuses on the transportation sector, and (2) the Laos-Australia Sustainable Energy Partnership, focusing on the energy sector. This consultancy will take a shared approach to supporting both programs in their common request to progressing their respective gender mainstreaming strategies.

More information about P4I is available at www.partnershipsforinfrastructure.org

The Role
The consultant will provide locally grounded gender equality, organisational gender mainstreaming, and institutional-strengthening expertise to support MPWT (under LACP), and MOIC (under LASEP). The consultancy is tasked with producing concise high-level diagnostic reviews of MPWT and MOIT’s gender mainstreaming strategies and activities and providing recommended next steps.

The assignment will establish the preliminary evidence and ministry ownership needed for a subsequent decision on whether to proceed to full successor strategy drafting in the case of MPWT, and updates in the case of MOIC. The consultant is not expected to independently draft and hand over complete gender mainstreaming strategies during this assignment.
The approach should emphasise co-working and learning by doing. The consultant will work alongside MPWT and MOIC to strengthen capability, support ownership and identify practical next steps.

Responsibilities

For LACP – MPWT:

• Review implementation of the 2014-2025 Women’s Strategy, and relevant annual workplans and implementation reports, and identify achievements, gaps, constraints and lessons. This should be considered in context of P4I’s support provided in P4I Phase 1 so as to not make duplicate efforts.
• Support MPWT to identify key features, goals and objectives that should manifest in the successor strategy.
• Support MPWT to identify and prioritise two or three feasible flagship actions.Provide actionable recommendations for next steps in developing a successor strategy.

For LASEP - MOIC

• Review of MOIC’s draft 10-year Gender Mainstreaming Strategy with respect to bolstering the energy sector relevance.
• Review institutional and gender equality policy documents that meaningfully relate to the energy sector.
  Identify key priorities, strength, weakness, threats and opportunities including gaps and constraints in the draft MOIC 10-year Gender Mainstream Strategy as they pertain to the Lao energy sector.
• Ensure participatory approach is utilised, where key stakeholders i.e., National Convention for the Advancement of Women (NCAW), Sub-NCAW at MOIC, Lao Women Union (LWU), National Assembly (NA), Lao Youth Union (LYU), are involved.
• Provide actionable recommendations on embedding energy sector strategies / actions into the draft MOIC 10-year Gender Mainstreaming Strategy.

For both LACP – MPWT and LASEP-MOIC:

• Support counterpart capability through co-working, facilitated analysis and practical knowledge transfer.

Click on the link or copy paste it to access the full Terms of Reference for this position:
https://tinyurl.com/yc6738ky

About You
Required Qualifications and Experience

• Advanced university degree in gender studies, social sciences, public administration, organisational development, human resource management, development studies or a related field.
• At least seven years of relevant professional experience in gender equality/equity and social inclusion, institutional strengthening, public-sector reform, organisational development or workforce systems in Lao PDR.
• Demonstrated experience working with Lao government institutions; experience with MPWT and MOIC is highly desirable.
• Demonstrated ability to conduct qualitative diagnostics, analyse institutional constraints and translate findings into feasible recommendations.
• Strong facilitation and co-design skills, including experience engaging senior officials, technical staff, women’s organisations and provincial stakeholders.
• Sound understanding of gender equality and equity, disability inclusion, safeguarding, confidentiality and ethical consultation practice.
• Excellent written and spoken Lao and strong working proficiency in English.
• Ability to produce concise, high-quality reports and presentations and deliver within a short timeframe.