Call for proposals: Global Learning Hub for the Women’s Voice and Leadership Learning Partnership

Contents

1. Contents

2. The three-pillar approach

3. Scope of this call

4. Objectives and key activities

5. Principles

6. Budget and requirements

7. Eligibility and desired qualifications

8. How to apply

9. Evaluation criteria

10. Submission and review process

11. Additional considerations

Annex

Women’s rights movements and organizations are key drivers for creating change to advance, sustain and defend women’s human rights and gender justice worldwide. This is especially crucial in times of crisis and conflicts. To address systemic barriers and make it easier for women, girls and LGBTQI+ communities to live and thrive in dignity and peace, they advocate for changes in laws, policies, and societal and cultural norms. 

The Women’s Voice and Leadership Learning Partnership (Learning Partnership) seeks to accompany the renewed Women’s Voice and Leadership (WVL) program, a flagship initiative of Global Affairs Canada (GAC), to provide sustainable resources and programming to women’s rights organizations (WROs), groups representing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and gender non-conforming (LGBTQI+) communities and their movements. It is a five-year initiative, co-designed by GAC and IDRC, and its implementation is led by IDRC, with a budget of CAD10.85 million.

The Learning Partnership will support a learning agenda to enhance the efforts and impacts of the renewed Women’s Voice and Leadership (WVL) program to improve human rights and gender equality. It will complement the renewed WVL geographic projects with peer-to-peer learning and knowledge sharing, capacity-strengthening support to WROs, LGBTQI+ groups and movements and contribute to building the evidence around what works and does not work in terms of funding to support feminist and gender equality movements globally.  

More details about the renewed WVL program and approved geographic projects are available on this webpage: Women’s Voice and Leadership Program. 

The three-pillar approach  

The Learning Partnership centres around three pillars focused on knowledge exchange, evidence gathering and capacity strengthening for feminist monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning (MEAL):   

• Pillar 1 - Peer-to-peer learning and knowledge translation to share lessons and evidence emerging from the renewed WVL program implementation;
• Pillar 2 – Building and gathering the evidenceto deepen learning, evidence and synthesis of lessons from the renewed WVL partners’ efforts to improve human rights and gender equality; and
• Pillar 3 - Capacity bridging for partner organizations to bolster feminist MEAL and other organizational needs. 

IDRC will provide grants to organizations in the Global South to co-design and lead on key activities across all pillars. Activities will be co-designed and aligned with feminist programming principles: transformative, intersectional, locally led and flexible. In the second year, the Learning Partnership will support a series of participatory action research grants. These grants will enable a deeper and sustained evidence-gathering process (two to three years), adopting participatory and feminist data-collection methodologies. An emphasis will indicatively be placed on developing deeper findings and lessons about the impact (“what works”) of WROs and LGBTQI+ advocacy and interventions to protect and promote gender equality. These grants will be complemented by thematic, strategic evaluations that demonstrate the effectiveness of different programmatic and funding modalities. The Global Learning Hub will be the key point for consolidating learning from these complementary sources and translating these experiences into applicable, useful knowledge for renewed WVL partners. With an overall aim of improving gender equality, the pillars are designed to generate complementary types and depth of learning, knowledge and evidence, which will answer program learning questions to be co-created with renewed WVL partners and build on those that emerged from the first round of WVL projects.  

The Learning Partnership is expected to benefit about 2,200 women’s rights, feminist and LGBTQI+ organizations under the renewed WVL program across regions. They will gain new insights on strategies and practical ways to improve human rights and gender equality, whether in their ongoing advocacy or more specialized topics like utilizing feminist MEAL to support their practices and improve their sustainability. They will also strengthen their capacity for evidence-informed advocacy on human rights more broadly. Ultimately, the goal of this project is to contribute to increased respect for and protection of human rights by all women and girls and the advancement of gender equality in the renewed WVL countries.

Scope of this call 

This call for proposals seeks to recruit the host organization (or consortium of organizations) for the Global Learning Hub for a value up to CAD1.2 million. The Global Learning Hub will be responsible for facilitating a global community of practice for peer-to-peer learning and knowledge sharing among WROs, LGBTQI+ groups and their networks. As a first step, the Global Learning Hub will facilitate a participatory design process to co-create a learning agenda — shared learning questions and priorities across regions — with renewed WVL partners (“partners”). 

The Global Learning Hub will then support the partners in co-implementing the learning agenda and have the following elements: 

• Learning agenda co-design: Co-create a common set of questions, hypotheses or theories of change, and a workplan for generating, sharing and disseminating lessons learning on what works in partners’ efforts to strengthen human rights and gender equality;
• Knowledge dissemination: Administer an online portal for virtual exchanges between partners, and share resources publicly on lessons learned and results; and
• Community of practice: Action learning activities and peer-to-peer exchanges with partners to capture and share lessons in answer to learning agenda questions; track results with qualitative indicators, provide opportunities to reflect and do sensemaking; and help renewed WVL partners exchange and adjust strategies and approaches over the four-year period.

The Global Learning Hub project will work alongside four Regional Learning Hubs to support regional syntheses, contextualized and regionally grounded learning activities, evidence consolidation and lessons sharing related to the co-created learning agenda and questions, including learning on feminist MEAL. The Global Learning Hub will be invited to play a role in the distribution of responsibilities with the Regional Learning Hubs to ensure no duplication in objectives. Separate calls for proposals are expected to be launched in the fall of 2025. 

More details on the objectives and indicative activities for the Global Learning Hub follow.

Objectives and key activities

This funding opportunity seeks to support the creation and implementation of a Global Learning hub to accompany the renewed WVL program. Proposed activities can be designed and shaped with the selected organization in the inception phase of the project. We recognize the importance of conducting preliminary consultations and needs assessments with renewed WVL projects before finalizing a workplan. Nonetheless, proposals for the Global Learning Hub should align at a minimum with three (3) main objectives:

Co-design and implement a Learning Agenda

Includes activities such as:

• Co-develop a learning agenda to outline learning objectives and decide on key learning questions of relevance and interest to renewed WVL partners, based on extensive consultations and engagements with them.
• Implement learning activities in multiple forms/formats, including innovative approaches, with a view to enable responsive adjustments during project implementation. Wherever possible, promote capacity bridging based on existing strengths among renewed WVL partners.
• Ensure participatory and inclusive processes across all activities, acknowledging and actively addressing power imbalances and regional, thematic or context specificities.
• Make learning products available throughout the life of the project, rather than solely at the end, and promote spaces to discuss and make meaning on learnings and new knowledge gained from the agenda.
• Offer, as needed, support, guidance, training, etc., to partners on priority needs to guide renewed WVL learning and impacts, including feminist MEAL approaches that can be adapted to different implementing contexts.
• Integrate learnings and lessons coming out of other activities to be supported through the Learning Partnership. This includes evidence from participatory action-research grants as well as thematic and strategic evaluations to come in future years.

Knowledge translation and dissemination

Includes activities such as:

• Review and synthesize WVL partners’ documentation (reports, stories of impact, briefs) to generate practical insights that can improve their practices and online/offline strategies.
• Create and circulate toolkits, guides and manuals to support renewed WVL partners to be institutionally more resilient and sustainable.
• Experiment with different types of knowledge-translation strategies, such as documentaries, podcasts, storytelling and media outreach. Through different tools and approaches, strengthen capacity of renewed WVL partners to report on outcomes.
• Map and develop strategies to be present and visible at key strategic events, forums and spaces and disseminate feminist knowledge and successes from the renewed WVL program.

Facilitate a community of practice

Includes activities such as:

• Create and facilitate a community of practice for the renewed WVL projects and their networks to enable the projects to share information, learn from each other's experiences and potentially facilitate collaboration between projects as appropriate on priority topics, including a focus on feminist MEAL. Note that the community of practice will not be open to organizations outside of the renewed WVL program.
• Feed and stimulate participation on the digital learning platform, which will be a restricted part of the Learning Partnership (to come). This space will serve as a centralized platform for knowledge management and collaboration across the program. It should not only be seen as a repository for key documentation exchange but aim to stimulate dialogue and exchange.
• Organize online meetings and one global in-person convening to cement relationships and build effective solidarities. The Global Learning Hub will be responsible for organizing the convening (content-wise and associated logistics), and the costs associated with the event (venue rental, food /beverages for lunches and breaks, simultaneous interpretation, IT equipment, etc.). Participants from renewed WVL projects across regions are expected to cover their own travel expenses (airfare, per-diem, accommodation costs, visa, etc.).
• Organize online engagements at a minimum every three to four months, ensuring the development of a vibrant, dynamic community of renewed WVL partners.
• Track results with qualitative indicators toward a collective vision with desired outcomes and provide opportunities to reflect and do sense-making as a group.   

Principles

IDRC strives for equality in all aspects of its work. We support the generation of knowledge — including by individuals from all genders, communities, histories, and experiences — that tackles the systems which perpetuate inequalities based on identity. Inequalities exist across multiple and intersecting categories of identity, including, but not limited to, the following: gender, sexuality, age, class, race, caste, ethnicity, citizenship status, religion and ability. Taking an intersectional approach to gender equality recognizes these differences and understands diversity as central to advancing equality. Given that gender inequality is a significant barrier across all dimensions of diversity, IDRC invests specific efforts in ensuring its work promotes gender equality and inclusion. For additional background, please see IDRC’s Equality Statement.

Furthermore, activities will be co-designed and aligned with the renewed WVL feminist programming approach, which is based on four principles: transformative, intersectional, locally led and flexible. 

Transformative: This project must seek to address the structural forms of exclusion causing gender inequality. To do so, it must recognize power dynamics between key actors and seek to strengthen the power and sustainability of local WROs, LGBTQI+ groups and feminist movements. 

Intersectional: This project must ensure to provide support for a diverse group of WROs and the multiple identities they represent. The project must be designed to reach and empower the most structurally excluded, including women, girls and non-binary individuals facing multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination. It must seek to amplify their voices and stories.

Locally led: This project should be driven by the priorities of local WROs and LGBTQI+ groups and reinforcing strategies that shift power to local WROs and feminist movements. It must value local knowledge and expertise.

Flexible: This project must seek to respond to the needs and interests of WROs and LGBTQI+ groups, recognizing that it must adapt as local contexts and learning evolve. Wherever possible, the project should promote flexibility and agility in its ways of working to respond to the interests expressed by renewed WVL partners.

These four principles must clearly inform the content of proposals for this funding opportunity.

Budget and requirements

The Global Knowledge Hub recipient will receive a maximum of CAD1.2 million to cover its activities over the 48-month period. This includes costs associated with the one in-person global convening. 

The expected start date will be September 2025, with a planned project closure in September 2029. Project duration is fixed at 4 years/48 months. 

Eligibility and desired qualifications

This call is meant for women’s rights and feminist organizations, or consortia of organizations, that: 

• Are primarily governed, led and directed in the Global South [1]
  • Ensure that women and/or gender-diverse people make up a majority of the organization’s staff and board or oversight committee;
  • Have the promotion of the rights of women, youth, girls and gender-diverse people as their primary mission — and not only as the focus of some programs;
  • Can demonstrate that the Learning Agenda would build on existing work and is already integrated in existing feminist movements;
  • Can demonstrate sound experience in adult, peer-to-peer learning and facilitation approaches to bring diverse people together to learn, think and act collectively;
  • Can demonstrate sound experience leading adaptive, participatory methodologies to strengthen programming and advocacy to advance gender equality and empower women and girls;
  • Strong facilitation skills and track record in conducting training and workshops;
  • Experience in applying feminist MEAL practices, with an interest in demonstrating benefits of feminist or gender-transformative approaches;
  • Have the logistical, financial and institutional capacity to manage a collaborative project of this nature and scale;
  • Are able to perform services in English, French and Spanish, at a minimum. 

How to apply

To apply for this funding opportunity, you’ll need an account on SurveyMonkey Apply. If you don’t have an account yet, or need help with your existing one, please refer to our Account setup guide.

If you have any questions about this call, please contact the Learning Partnership team at lp-pa@idrc.ca before Tuesday, June 3, 2025, 23:59 EDT. Questions sent will be collected and anonymized, with answers available to all applicants on this page as soon as possible. 

An online information session will also be held on June 3, 2025, at 9:00 EDT, with simultaneous interpretation in English and French. To confirm your attendance and receive your invitation, please complete the registration form: https://forms.office.com/r/zbAswHfg4C

Evaluation criteria

Proposals will be assessed against the review criteria listed below.

Submission and review process

Eligible proposals must be submitted no later than Tuesday, June 24, 2025, 23:59 EDT. Proposals received after the deadline or incomplete proposals will not be considered. All applications must be submitted using the online application form. An acknowledgment of receipt of proposal will be sent following the timely submission. 

The review process will consist of the following steps, conducted by IDRC staff:   

1. Verification of eligibility requirements and proposal completeness: IDRC will review all submitted proposals to ensure they meet eligibility requirements and include all necessary application materials. Ineligible, incomplete and irrelevant proposals will not be considered further.   
2. Review and ranking of short-listed proposals: IDRC staff will review eligible proposals using the evaluation criteria presented above. Each proposal will be reviewed by at least two reviewers. Proposals will be ranked on the basis of scoring and subsequent discussion.
3. Recommending choices: Top three scoring proposals will be discussed with GAC’s counterpart for advice.
4. Final approval: IDRC will make the final decision on the proposal to be funded through this call.
5. Notification of results: Successful and non-successful applicants will be notified of the results no later than August 31, 2025.
6. Request for changes: IDRC reserves the right to request the successful applicant to make changes based on feedback from IDRC and GAC, if necessary.
7. Inception Phase: Upon selection and the signing of the Grant Agreement, the selected organization will be accompanied by IDRC staff over a period of three months called the Inception Phase. During this period, IDRC will support the selected organization to operationalize its proposal as well as refine its workplan and other elements necessary for the successful implementation of the project. 

Additional considerations

• As a Canadian Crown corporation, IDRC is subject to Canada’s Access to Information Act. Consequently, any submissions in response to this call for proposals will be held by IDRC in a manner consistent with the Access to Information Act, including IDRC's obligations to disclose documents requested by members of the public.
• By way of submitting an application under this call, applicants consent to the disclosure of the documents they submit to IDRC. If selected for funding, applicants further consent to the disclosure of their name and the title of the proposed project in any announcement of selected projects. Unsuccessful proposals will be destroyed within 360 days after the close of the application period.
• Applicants must publish data, evidence and research findings in the public domain in accordance with IDRC’s Open Access Policy.   
• The technical selection of a proposal does not constitute a formal commitment by IDRC to fund the project. The selected applicant will undergo an institutional assessment. This step assesses the potential risk of material loss of IDRC funds due to weaknesses in the capacity of an applicant’s institution to manage or report on the financial aspects of project activities, or because of economic and political conditions relating to the institution's operating environment. IDRC needs to review three broad areas in its assessment of what measures should be applied to minimize such risk: the materiality of the investment; the management capacity of the applicant’s institution; and the wider environment within which the organization operates. IDRC will have no obligation to issue any funds prior to the applicant returning an executed Grant Agreement issued to them by IDRC. The process for finalizing the project proposal, budget and administrative documentation is expected to take about two months.
• IDRC reserves the right in its sole discretion at any time to withdraw support for a project or recipient where the i) implementation, ii) monitoring of, or iii) access to a project is not possible or would jeopardize the safety of staff, contractors or anyone affiliated to IDRC. Additionally, where it is determined that a project or participation of an institution or individual would or could reasonably violate laws, sanctions or other obligations with which IDRC and/or the applicant must comply, support for the project may be withheld or withdrawn. 

Annex

About Global Affairs Canada and the Women’s Voice and Leadership program

Global Affairs Canada defines, shapes and advances Canada’s interests and values in a complex global environment. The Ministry manages diplomatic relations, promotes international trade and provides consular assistance. Global Affairs Canada also leads international development, humanitarian and peace and security assistance efforts. 

In June 2017, Global Affairs Canada announced the creation of the Women’s Voice and Leadership (WVL) Program with an investment of CAD150 million over five years. As part of Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy, this program was designed to meet the needs of local women's rights organizations (WROs) around the world. Canada’s support helps them advance gender equality and empower women and girls in all their diversity. It promotes and protects their human rights.

As part of the program, Canada has worked with partners to:

• enhance the sustainability of local and regional women’s rights organizations and lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex plus (LGBTQI+) groups;
• strengthen the capacity of women’s rights organizations and LGBTQI+ groups to program and advocate to advance gender equality and empower women and girls; and
• increase the effectiveness of local, regional and global women’s rights platforms, networks and alliances to affect policy, legal and social change.

In April 2023, Canada announced a further CAD195 million over five years and CAD43.3 million annually thereafter for the renewal and expansion of the program. It includes a greater focus on women’s rights organizations, LGBTQI+ groups and feminist activists and movements working in countries affected by crisis and conflict. 

This continued investment highlights Canada’s commitment to ensuring these organizations have the resources and support they need to carry out their important work for years to come.  

Read more about the program at Women’s Voice and Leadership Program.

About the International Development Research Centre

As part of Canada’s foreign affairs and development efforts, the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) champions and funds research and innovation within and alongside developing regions to drive global change. IDRC invests in high-quality research in developing countries, shares knowledge with researchers and policymakers for greater uptake and use, and mobilizes our global alliances to build a more sustainable and inclusive world.

IDRC’s head office is located in Ottawa, Canada, while five regional offices keep us close to the researchers and projects we fund. The regional offices are located in Montevideo, Uruguay; Nairobi, Kenya; Dakar, Senegal; Amman, Jordan; and New Delhi, India.

[1]Global Affairs Canada and IDRC, as part of Canada’s development efforts, must ensure its financial resources are invested in Official Development Assistance (ODA) countries. We however recognize that this can limit global organizations that predominantly work in countries that are ODA eligible. If this is the case, please contact lp-pa@idrc.ca for a case-by-case assessment.