[Consultancy] Gender & Finance Consultant

Position title: Gender & Finance Consultant

Position location: Hybrid - Remote & in person in Colombo with optional domestic travel

Reports to: Project Director

Duration: 9 Months

Expected Start Date: 1st May, 2026

Application Deadline: 20th April, 2026

WUSC is a Canadian global development organization working to catalyze positive education and economic outcomes for young people. We bring together and collaborate with a diverse network of partners (including students, volunteers, schools, governments, not-for-profits, and businesses) who share this mission. Together, we influence systems change, and foster inclusive, youth-centered solutions that enable young people to thrive and belong. We work with all young people, with a focus on women and displaced populations. WUSC currently operates in 28 countries across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as in Canada, with an annual budget of approximately CAD $65 million. Our global team includes over 100 staff in Canada and more than 250 staff internationally, implementing a diverse portfolio of development projects in collaboration with numerous multilateral and bilateral donors, and philanthropic foundations.

The Growth, Resilience, Investment and Training (GRIT) program is a 6-year collaborative initiative with an ultimate outcome of improved economic well-being, especially among women in the North of Sri Lanka (SL). It will build sustainable pathways to enhance economic empowerment, well-being and inclusive growth by testing innovative, sustainable models to improve the enabling environment and reduce gender-specific barriers to increase equitable and sustainable growth of start-up, early-stage and growth-stage enterprises. GRIT aligns with Canada’s commitment made towards Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 (gender equality and empowerment), SDG 8 (decent work for all), Canada’s FIAP action area on growth that works for everyone and Whistler Principles to accelerate innovation for development impact.

The project will be implemented in close collaboration between Sri Lankan partners, notably the Lanka Impact Investment Network (LIIN), Hatch, and YARL IT Hub. International support will be provided by DMZ at Toronto Metropolitan University.

Nature and Scope:

Recent evidence on the results of Incubators & Accelerator services indicates that, outside of advanced economies, participation in business acceleration programs does not tend to lead to increased access to early-stage investment (GALI, 2021). This is owing, at least in part, to the limited pools of investment funds available in these geographies. For this reason, a key assumption of the project is that facilitating access to acceleration alone will not enable enterprise growth without parallel support to the pooling of capital and support to the development of appropriate investment vehicles. GRIT will therefore work to facilitate increased equitable access to capital for entrepreneurs, especially women.

Consultations and a growing body of research indicates that female entrepreneurs, and smaller growth stage enterprises in general, need smaller ticket sizes (<$50K CAD) via a wider number of products that are tailored to their needs, including various forms of mezzanine capital and convertible debt, among others - beyond what is currently available in the market. There are a small number of investment funds in Sri Lanka that have recently launched or are in the process of being designed which target the early stage, small ticket sizes that are aligned with GRIT’s targeted entrepreneurs.

To ensure that funds managed by implementing partners, as well as others in the market, are well placed to develop appropriate and flexible investment vehicles that meaningfully integrate a gender lens, WUSC, aims to support ecosystem actors to offer gender-responsive and inclusive investment vehicles that can serve the needs of the project’s target enterprises. As part of this, it will be particularly important that funds’ offerings to entrepreneurs reflect a deep understanding of the entrepreneurial culture in the North, including gender dynamics and related intersections which impact areas such as their business growth aspirations and capital needs.

Gender lens capacity strengthening will go beyond supporting funds to focus purely on gender diversity at different levels of the enterprise. Instead, it will ensure that gender considerations are integrated throughout the entire investment process and also reflect power dynamics that level the playing field between investors and investees to foster mutually beneficial relationships between these parties.

In addition to investment capital from fund managers, there is an increasing body of evidence that diaspora communities can also be drivers of investment. Diaspora investors are often assumed to have better knowledge of local business opportunities than other international investors, and a greater willingness to accept sub-market returns. Many have demonstrated significant interest in supporting the Sri Lankan entrepreneurial community through both financial and non-financial means, and shared examples of existing support they have made, including philanthropic and business investments as well as mentorship roles. However, they have also pointed to limited knowledge regarding the identification of investment pipelines, structuring of investments and term sheets, and effective monitoring and coaching of investee companies as well as understanding the particular gendered dynamics around investment.

WUSC is seeking an external Consultant to provide strategic advice and technical assistance to the project team assigned to facilitate Gender Lens Investing initiatives in collaboration with the entrepreneurial and financial ecosystems.

The Consultant will work closely with the GRIT project team at the Country Office, Global Technical Advisors, other project consultants with required consultations with field teams to get their input and ensure relevance to the local contexts of operation.

The duration of the consultancy will be 5 Days per month for 9 Months, not exceeding 45 days in total.

Key Responsibilities & Tasks:

• Co-create the Gender Lens Investment (GLI) Advocacy and Intervention Strategy with Work Plan for 2 Years jointly with the Project Director and Senior Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) Advisor;
• Contextualise the Global Toolkit - ‘Using Finance and tool for Social Change’ to the local context - This includes the Glossary of Terms, the Facilitator Guide and the Training Modules with the adaptability for different audiences, i.e. fund managers, women’s rights organizations, banks. etc.;
• Work closely with the Project GESI Team to jointly plan and deliver the training for Fund Managers including advice on the relevant participants for the training through a training of trainer (ToT) model;
• Observe and support the GESI team to deliver the training for selected Women’s Rights Organizations (WRO);
• Work with the Project Director to structure the Innovation Grant for Fund Managers to incentivize GLI investments and adaptations, particularly its deployment, process and monitoring advice on determining the agenda for the Orange Forum coming up in October 2026 and the project’s role in this forum to advance GLI in SL;
• Advise on the content and delivery of a tailored Angel Investor Training that will be carried out in the second half of 2026 by an expert volunteer to ensure that investors who would connect with the project are aware of the risks involved, including facilitating investor participation for the training workshops;
• Work closely with the project’s Diaspora Liaison Consultant to catalyze diaspora investment from high net worth Sri Lankan and diaspora individuals to existing funds;
• Support the organization of one GLI networking and Investment Forum to promote business opportunities complemented by a small number of investment tours of diaspora in Canada to SL to visit potential investees and participate in demo days;
• Provide advice to the project team and its partners to facilitate investment in multiple funds, including those managed by implementing partners as well as through demo days hosted during the course of the project;
• Support the Sri Lanka Country Office’s advocacy efforts, including during key intergovernmental and finance inter-agency discussions and provide substantive input towards achieving the GLI advocacy objectives.
• Production of Briefing Notes or Case Studies, documenting the lessons learned to inform future interventions and continued engagement with the ecosystem, on access to capital by women entrepreneurs and advancing GLI.
• Plan and facilitate a “Reflect and Reset” session with the project team, selected ecosystem actors or partners after the Orange Forum to document what worked and what didn't regarding GLI advocacy, strategies applied and scalable best practices.

Qualifications and Competencies:

Education:

• A Masters Degree in gender studies, international development/relations, social anthropology, law and women’s rights, finance, socio-economics, or other field directly related to the substantive area identified in the title of the post is required.

Knowledge and Experience:

• 7 years of increasingly responsible professional experience in the area of gender equality and inclusion, of which at least three years at the international level is required;
• Knowledge and experience in gender and finance within the Sri Lankan context, with demonstrated experience working with stakeholders in both of these areas, is essential
• Demonstrated experience developing training curriculum and facilitating training sessions using participatory approaches
• Understanding of human rights dimensions of gender, finance, including promoting the rights of marginalized groups, essential
• Experience in culturally sensitive programming is essential
• Experience in engaging with the finance ecosystem, sectors and key stakeholders is essential
• Strong interpersonal skills
• Excellent communication and writing skills
• Knowledge and experience of working with civil society in support of gender equality and inclusion
• Strong track record of technical advisory, publications, and proven ability to produce demonstrable results;
• Experience working for INGOs is preferred.

Languages:

• Full fluency in English; Sinhala or Tamil fluency is strongly encouraged.

Applications:

WUSC’s activities seek to balance inequities and create sustainable development around the globe; the work ethic of our staff, volunteers, representatives and partners shall correspond to the values and mission of the organization. WUSC promotes responsibility, respect, honesty, and professional excellence and we will not tolerate harassment, coercion, sexual exploitation or abuse of any form. Successful applicants will be required to undertake an enhanced criminal record check where appropriate.

WUSC is an equal opportunity employer. We welcome and encourage applications from people with disabilities. Only those candidates selected for an interview will be contacted. No telephone calls please.

Interested consultants (individuals) are asked to provide the following:

1. Technical proposal (maximum 4 pages) to include:

• The consultant’s proposed methodology and approach
• Work plan and timeline
• Relevant experience delivering similar work

2. Financial proposal, to include:

• Daily rate and number of consulting days.

3. Consultant CV