Consultant(s) - Community Engagement and Communication (CEC) to promote inclusive youth participation in TVET through campaigning

Terms of Reference – Consultancy

Consultant(s) - Community Engagement and Communication (CEC) to promote inclusive youth participation in TVET through campaigning

Position locations : East (Batticaloa &Trincomalee),

North (Kilinochchi, Vavuniya & Mullaitivu)

Reports to : Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Advisor, STRIVE

Application Deadline : October 15, 2026

Contract Period : November 2026 _ March 2027 (possible extension)

1. BACKGROUND & RATIONALE:

The World University Service of Canada (WUSC) is a leading Canadian International development organization committed to fostering human development and global understanding through education, training, and economic empowerment. Guided by its vision of a world where every young person thrives and belongs, WUSC works as a facilitator and convener, leveraging partnerships across civil society, government, academia, and the private sector. Active in Sri Lanka since 1989, WUSC strengthens systems and fosters collaboration to expand education, entrepreneurship, and employment opportunities for youth, particularly young women through gender responsive and sustainable development initiatives.

STRIVE_The Strengthening TVET Resilience and Inclusive Vocational Employment (STRIVE) Project is a new initiative designed to transform the economic prospects of young people specially young women in Sri Lanka’s Northern and Eastern Provinces. Over five years, the project seeks to reduce poverty, boost regional competitiveness, and propel sustainable economic growth, giving specific attention to advancing gender equality and strengthening resilience to climate and economic shocks. Using a collaborative approach, STRIVE will drive gender responsive, environmentally sustainable collective action among actors in the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) ecosystem. These actors will be supported to increase participation of young people, particularly young women, in enhanced TVET that leads to increased gender equitable employment and self-employment in key sectors facing current and future skills gaps, with emphasis on the green economy. The two priority sectors identified in the North and East include Agriculture, Hospitality and Tourism (H&T), with ICT as a cross-cutting sector for innovation and efficiency.

Grounded in WUSC’s Accessibility research and district-based recommendations papers across five target districts (three in the North and two in the East) this assignment applies a Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) lens to address systemic barriers restricting equitable access to TVET and employment. While TVET serves as a critical bridge to economic self-reliance, young women and youth face deeply entrenched attitudinal, structural, and institutional obstacles. Misconceptions among parents, community leaders, and employers limit participation in market-aligned paths like Agriculture and Hospitality & Tourism, while insufficient cross-cutting ICT training and weak employer linkages restrict graduate hiring and retention.

To translate research findings into actionable, community-driven change, WUSC is hiring two Consultants to support Community Engagement partners in social marketing campaigns in the Northern Province (Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu and Vavuniya) and the Eastern Province (Batticaloa and Trincomalee). The consultants will provide ongoing technical assistance and strategic oversight to selected community engagement partners in designing, executing, and monitoring targeted social marketing campaigns. These campaigns will engage parents, TVET institutions, local leaders, and private-sector employers to shift harmful social norms, dismantle entry barriers, and foster an enabling environment for inclusive youth participation in vocational training and employment.

The two consultants will work within a common STRIVE framework to promote consistency, cross-regional learning and local ownership.

2. OBJECTIVES:

The objective of this assignment is to provide ongoing strategic oversight and technical assistance to community engagement partners in Northern and Eastern Provinces to design, execute, and monitor research-informed social marketing campaigns that increase inclusive youth participation in vocational training and employment.

Technical Guidance : Provide continuous technical assistance to Community Engagement partners throughout the design and implementation phases of targeted gender responsive, ECC integrated social marketing campaigns.

Research Operationalisation: Support partners in the respective regions to translate evidence-based research findings into localized, community-driven campaign activities to actively challenge and shift restrictive social norms and entry barriers to cultivate a supportive environment for youth workforce and TVET integration.

Learning and Adaptation: Support CEC partners to monitor campaign reach and behaviour-change pathways, use emerging evidence to adapt campaign approaches, and document learning for sustainability and replication

3. SCOPE OF WORK

Reporting directly to the STRIVE GESI Advisor, the consultants will work in close coordination with the STRIVE technical team. The assignment requires active engagement with key stakeholders, including selected Women’s Rights Organizations (WROs), youth champions, TVET providers, private sector partners, and community representatives.

The assignment will require active engagement and coordination with selected partner organizations including key stakeholders, youth champions, TVET providers, private sector partners, community representatives, and other relevant local actors. Through these engagements, the consultants will support selected partners in the identification of barriers affecting young people’s participation in TVET, particularly young women and other underserved groups; facilitate locally relevant awareness and outreach initiatives; strengthen linkages among communities, TVET providers, and other stakeholders; and support communication and campaigning activities that encourage informed and inclusive participation in TVET and related skills-development opportunities.

Core Responsibilities:

Strategy Co-Design: Identify and challenge harmful social norms restricting youth and female participation in Agriculture and H&T TVET programs. Reframe climate-resilient practices and green careers as modern, profitable, and secure.

Review relevant STRIVE accessibility research, district-level recommendations, labour market/TVET ecosystem evidence and other relevant project documentation, and support CEC partners to translate findings into practical campaign priorities.

Support CEC partners to identify and target audiences and key influencers and analyse the social norms, attitudes, practices and accessibility barriers affecting young people’s TVET and employment choices, particularly those affecting young women and youth with disabilities.

Facilitate the development of clear behaviour-change pathways linking identified barriers with current behaviours, desired behaviours, key influencers, appropriate messages, engagement approaches and communication channels.

Support CEC partners and relevant ecosystem actors to co-design locally appropriate campaign strategies, messages, activities, communication channels and implementation plans, incorporating gender equality, disability inclusion and environmental sustainability considerations where relevant.

Provide ongoing technical coaching and accompaniment to CEC partners during campaign implementation, including support to strengthen facilitation, messaging, stakeholder engagement

Duration: November 2026 – March 2027 (working Days: Negotiable depending on project requirements)

Target Regions:(Northern Province: Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Vavuniya and Eastern Province: Batticaloa, Trincomalee)

4. METHODOLOGY AND APPROACH:

The consultancy will employ a participatory and evidence-informed design methodology to ensure strong local ownership, sustainability, and alignment with Gender Equality and Social Inclusion and climate-resilience principles. Working in close collaboration with WUSC, the STRIVE technical team, Women’s Rights Organizations (WROs), and community engagement partners, the consultants will execute the methodology acrossthree core phases:

Phase 1: Inception, Evidence Synthesis & Norm Prioritization

• Facilitate discussion with CEC partners to review existing discussion papers, sector studies, and project documents to establish baseline insights on target sectors (Agriculture and Hospitality & Tourism).
• Support CEC partners to map primary and secondary target audiences, prioritizing the specific social norms and attitudinal barriers restricting young women and youth with disabilities.

Phase 2: Co-Design of Strategy & Behaviour Change Communication (BCC) Pathways

• Support CEC partners to facilitate collaborative co-design workshops with WUSC, youth champions, and ecosystem actors to develop the unified Community Engagement & Social Marketing Campaign Strategy.
• Assist CEC partners to apply Behavior Change Communication (BCC) tools to map explicit behavior-change pathways (analyzing baseline vs. target behaviors and key influencers) and to reframe climate-resilient practices and green TVET careers as modern, profitable, and secure opportunities across both target sectors.

Phase 3: Actionable Implementation Planning & Ecosystem Ownership

• Facilitate CEC partners to translate strategy into a practical, step-by-step implementation plan and to define operational roles, build local capacity, and establish long-term campaign ownership.

5. KEY DELIVERABLES

The Consultant will deliver the following outputs in coordination with the STRIVE Technical Team:

Workshop Facilitation Reports – Materials and summary documentation for co-design workshops conducted with WROs, youth champions, TVET providers, and private sector partners.

Social Marketing & Engagement Strategy – Community Engagement & Social and Behaviour Change Campaign strategy integrating BCC tools and behavior-change pathways to challenge harmful social norms and promote green TVET careers in Agriculture and H&T.

Partner-Specific Implementation Plan & Progress Tracker – Practical operational plan and monitoring framework enabling local CEC partners and WROs to lead and track campaign progress.

Knowledge Transfer & Learning Synthesis – Consolidated report documenting field insights, design learnings, and recommendations for project sustainability.

Qualifications and Experience

• Demonstrated professional experience in developing campaign activities for community engagement, and BCC focused social marketing activities
• Experience applying gender equality and social inclusion principles, including working with women, youth and/or persons with disabilities.
• Experience facilitating participatory processes and strengthening the capacity of local organizations or community-based partners
• Knowledge of Sri Lanka’s TVET, youth employment or skills-development context is highly desirable
• Excellent communication and written Tamil skills required;
• Fluency in English is preferred and Sinhala is an advantage.
• Demonstrated ability to produce clear and concise quality reports and learning documents.

How to apply

Qualified and Interested candidates are invited to submit their application consisting the following details on or before October 15, 2026.

CVs. of the consultant/s, describing the experience in campaign strategy development, and process for community engagement and social marketing.

All documents should be submitted electronically via platform.

Any questions can be sent by email to [email protected] with the subject line “ INQUIRIES - STRIVE /Consultants- Community Engagement". Please note that questions via phone will not be accepted.