Terms of Reference (TOR) Mentorship… at Girl Effect Inc · Nigeria

Who We Are

Girl Effect is an international non-profit that builds media that girls want, trust, and need. From chatbots to chat shows and TV dramas to tech, our content helps adolescent girls in Africa and Asia make choices and changes in their lives.

We create safe spaces for girls, sharing facts and answering questions about health, nutrition, education, and relationships, empowering girls with the skills to negotiate and redefine what they are told is possible “for a girl”.

Our reach is 50 million and counting. And we’re using technology to reach girls at scale so every girl can choose to be in control of her body, her health, her learning, and her livelihood.

Because when a girl unlocks her power to make different choices that change her life, it inspires others to do so too. She starts a ripple effect that impacts her family, community, and country.

That’s the Girl Effect.

Our Approach

Girl Effect uses a branded media approach towards delivering behavioural change messaging.

We reach girls across the world, where they are -online and offline, to support them at the critical moments in life when choices around their health, education, and economic future need to be made.

We use our expertise in behaviour change science to motivate and equip girls with information and support to help them see a different future for themselves, act on those choices, and drive greater demand for the opportunities and services available to them.

Girl Effect builds youth brands **** that girls love and trust, reaching **** girls where they are and creating change. Chhaa Jaa in India, Tujibebe in Tanzania, Yegna in Ethiopia, Ni Nyampinga in Rwanda - these are some of our youth brands. They exist across multiple channels - digital ( Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, WhatsApp), TV, radio, print, and offline. Together, these brands reach over 50 million girls worldwide.

Girl Effect in Nigeria

Girl Effect’s goal is to inspire over 10 million girls and young women in Nigeria to defy gender norms and take control of their futures. Girl Effect has been piloting different approaches to change in Nigeria for the last ten years.

In 2014, we developed a mobile platform that trains young women to become technology-enabled girl ambassadors to conduct peer-to-peer research in some of the hardest-to-reach communities in Borno, Adamawa, Yobe, and Kano states. In 2014, we launched a zero-rated online mobile platform available on the web and social media called Springster. Providing entertaining content written by girls, for girls, Springster gave users access to an A-Z of everything they needed to know to thrive in English and Hausa. We learned we can use digital channels to engage girls at scale in Nigeria and that there’s a real thirst for honest, authentic content related to topics that girls are too scared to talk to their friends and family about.

In 2021, we partnered with Meta to use Instagram and Facebook to deliver social behaviour change communication campaigns designed to tackle myths around COVID and the COVID-19 vaccine, working with influencers like Taaooma and Kate Henshaw to break through the clutter to reach more than 9 million people.

In 2025, we successfully developed and launched two significant campaigns: Oya (HPV), which focused on increasing HPV vaccine uptake among 9-year-old girls in Ondo, Ekiti, Oyo, Delta, and Kaduna states, and Saabi (SRHS), which aimed to boost Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) uptake among young couples aged 18–24 years. Both initiatives effectively leveraged a comprehensive strategy, including grassroots implementation, community outreaches, the Champions program, and the strategic use of social media and relevant tools to successfully reach and make a significant impact on our target audiences.

About the New Program - Kano State

Girl Effect Nigeria is deploying a new program in Kano state, the CIFF ECM project**.** The objective of this program is to sustainably reduce child marriage in Rimin Gado LGA by shifting harmful social norms, expanding girls’ access to education, strengthening protection systems, and increasing economic resilience for girls and their families, through a government-led, community-owned model.

TOR Objective

Girl Effect seeks to engage a qualified curriculum development consultant to design age-appropriate, culturally relevant, gender-responsive, and safeguarding-informed Life Skills and “My Future First” curricula for in-school and out-of-school adolescent girls in Rimin Gado LGA, Kano State. The curricula should equip girls with practical life skills, personal development competencies, educational support tools, and future-oriented mindsets that contribute to increased resilience, confidence, school retention, safety, and informed decision-making.

Target Group

• In-school and out-of-school adolescent girls (9 - 17-year-olds)

Facilitators

The facilitators for these sessions will be the Youth Advisory Panel members (YAPs) and the school guidance and counsellors. The YAPs are particularly well-suited to serve as facilitators for the “My Future First” curriculum in Rimin Gado because of their unique positioning as peers, role models, and community insiders. Their involvement will enhance cultural relevance and contextual understanding, **** engagement, participation, and strengthen the sustainability of the program.

Expected Outcomes

The assignment is expected to result in:

• Development of structured and engaging curricula tailored for girls aged 9–13 and 14–17;
• Improved access to age-appropriate life skills and educational support content;
• Increased confidence, aspirations, and protective knowledge among girls;
• Availability of practical facilitation materials for Youth Advisory Panel members and school counsellors;
• Strengthened safeguarding and rights-based messaging within community learning environments.

Scope of Work

Expectations

Curriculum Development

Develop two structured curricula (Life Skills Curriculum and My Future First Curriculum for In-School Girls ), ensuring they are:

• Age-appropriate and context-specific for girls ages 9-13 and 14-17 years
• Gender-sensitive and culturally relevant
• Reflective of field insights
• Participatory and engaging (activity-based learning)
• Adaptable for low-literacy audiences (especially for out-of-school girls)
• Simple and easy to understand
• Include facilitator and participant materials

Curriculum Content

Life skills curriculum (Girls 9-13)

Topics

• Bodily autonomy
• Puberty
• Personal hygiene
• Healthy nutrition habits
• Savings
• Child abuse and molestation
• Mentorship and growth ( how to dress, act, etc., in a workplace )

Life skills curriculum (Girls 14-17)

Topics

• Bodily autonomy
• Self esteem
• Personal hygiene
• Savings and investment
• Abstinence/ negotiating safe relationships ( safe sex)
• Child abuse and molestation
• Mentorship and growth ( how do you address people as a business owner)

My Future First Curriculum for in-school girls

Academic sessions (How to prepare for examination, studying tips and tricks, good essay writing skills, critical thinking skills)

Topics: (Ages 9-13)

• Goal Setting for School (Short-term goals - e. g, I want to move from B to A in Maths)
• Simple study habits ( develop a reading time table with an aim to passing your exams, building confidence, dealing with anxiety, etc)
• My Favorite Subject: Why it matters and careers linked to it
• Smart girl protocol, Sabi girl schedule (Balancing school and home responsibilities, time for books and helping with home chores, Dealing with Distractions, etc)
• Speaking Up in Class: Confidence to answer questions

Topics: (Ages 14-17)

• Goal Setting for School (Short-term goals - e. g, I want to move from B to A in Maths)
• Study Skills That Work, Note-taking, past questions, group study, teaching others with an aim to passing your exam, building confidence, dealing with anxiety, etc)
• Choosing My Subjects, Science vs Arts: What it means for my future
• Smart girl protocol, Sabi girl schedule (Balancing school and home responsibilities, time for books and helping with home chores, dealing with distractions, etc)
• Girls Can Do STEM: Breaking myths, female role models in science/tech

Stakeholder Engagement

• Conduct consultations with key stakeholders (teachers, community leaders, parents, and girls) to ensure alignment with local context, cultural and social norms, while maintaining rights-based approaches in the development of the curriculum

Validation and Revision

• Facilitate a validation workshop with stakeholders
• Revise the curriculum based on feedback

Deliverables

The consultant is expected to deliver:

1. Draft curricula (in-school My Future First and age-appropriate Life Skills Curriculum ), including facilitator and participant materials
2. Validation workshop report
3. Final revised curriculum package
4. Final process report

Deliverable Timelines (20 days across May - June 2026 - The consultant is expected to be available for the period of 20 days of the curriculum development**):**

Tentative Timelines

• Terms of reference published: 13th May, 2026
• Proposal Submission Deadline:18th May, 2026
• Commencement: May, 2026

Who You Are

Skills and expertise:

The consultant should have:

• Advanced degree in Education, Social Sciences, Gender Studies, Public Health, or related field
• At least 5 years of experience in related or similar theme curriculum development, especially for adolescents, with samples of previous work done.
• Demonstrated experience in girls’ education, life skills, or gender programming
• Experience working in Northern Nigeria or similar contexts is an added advantage
• Strong understanding of safeguarding and child protection principles

Attitudes we are looking for:

• Highly responsive and able to manage short turnaround times under pressure.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to take creative direction and adapt to Girl Effect's brand and guidelines.
• Reliable, punctual, and self-organised.
• Commitment to ethical storytelling and safeguarding principles when working with vulnerable populations, particularly young girls.

Reporting and Supervision

The consultant will report to the Project Manager and work closely with program staff throughout the assignment.

Location

The consultant will be engaged remotely, able to be available physically at the office upon request, and should ideally possess a strong understanding of the Nigerian context.

Proposal submission

Your proposal should be 5 pages max and cover the following:

• Cover letter - **** Please tell us why you feel you are well-placed to advise us on this
• Credentials/Profile/CV - Please showcase any previous work that you consider relevant to what we are trying to achieve, how we approach our work, and the audience we cater to. Describe the qualifications, experience, and capabilities of the firm or consultant in providing the requested services.
• Reference- Provide at least three references for similar contracts with a description of the service provided, the value of the contract, and the contract periods of performance.
• Breakdown of Costs with applicable taxes and other charges clearly identified in Naira. Consultants should provide their daily or hourly billing rate or their proposed fixed fee for the requested deliverables.
  • All applicable taxes should be quoted separately;

In their proposal, the bidder must demonstrate an understanding of the requirements described in the TOR and demonstrate how the bidder will meet the requirements of the evaluation criteria.

GE is not liable for any cost incurred during the award/contract preparation, submission, or negotiation of the award/contract. All submitted documentation and/or materials shall become and remain the property of GE.

VALIDITY of the proposal shall be for 90 days from the date of bid closure

Evaluation Criteria

The criteria for evaluating proposals are listed below.

Technical Evaluation:

• Relevant curriculum development experience-30%
• Understanding of adolescent girls' programming -20%
• Clear and Concise Profile/CV demonstrating relevant technical expertise - 30%

Financial Evaluation:

• Value for money/proposed budget breakdown - 20%

How to Apply

Please submit proposals, as described above, to Girl Effect’s procurement team (suppliers@girleffect.org) by the 18th of May 2026. Please mark your email with the subject line, ‘‘Proposal - Mentorship Curriculum Consultant: Kano state, Nigeria.’

Tax

Girl Effect Nigeria is obliged by the Nigerian tax authorities to ensure all taxes are charged where applicable. Applicants are advised to ensure they have a clear understanding of their tax position under Nigerian tax legislation when developing their proposals.

Equal Opportunities

Girl Effect is committed to equal opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender, gender identity, or expression. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.

We are committed to building an organization that is truly representative of the communities that we serve. To this end, due regard will be paid to procuring consultancy services of organizations and individuals with a deep understanding and experience of our programming markets and diverse professional, academic and cultural backgrounds.

Safeguarding

You may be required to undertake safeguarding checks. Shortlisted consultants will be assessed on our organizational values at the interview stage. The successful consultant will be expected to adhere to our safeguarding policy. We encourage you to read and understand our safeguarding policy, the executive summary of which can be found here. We have zero tolerance for all forms of violence against children, beneficiaries and staff.

All curriculum content developed under this assignment must:

• Be technically accurate;
• Be age-appropriate and culturally sensitive;
• Align with safeguarding and child protection principles;
• Be reviewed and approved by Girl Effect before implementation.

Copyright

All materials/documents arising from this consultancy work shall remain the property of Girl Effect.

Disclaimer

GE reserves the right to determine the structure of the process, the number of short-listed participants, the right to withdraw from the proposal process, the right to change this timetable at any time without notice and reserves the right to withdraw this tender at any time, without prior notice and without liability to compensate and/or reimburse any party. GE shall inform the ONLY successful applicant(s). The process of negotiation and signing of the contract with the successful applicant(s) will follow.

Please note: We will evaluate only proposals submitted following the application process outlined in the TOR and using our specified email address (suppliers@girleffect.org).