1.       Scope of Work

a.       Conference Overview:

·       Name: Gender Flagship Conference on “Best Practices & Lessons Learned”

·       Location: Brussels, Belgium

·       Dates: 8 to 9 October 2025

The Gender Flagship Project has worked with 12 Beneficiary Authorities across nine Member States to support institutional change through gender action plans, gender-responsive budgeting, and capacity building. Over 43 months, the project has combined expert guidance, training, and peer learning to support more effective, inclusive policymaking.

This one-and-a-half-day event will gather around 60–80 participants including representatives of participating authorities, the European Commission, and around 15 local experts who have supported the project implementation. Conference agenda includes high-level opening speeches, panel discussions reflecting on participants’ journeys  and challenges around gender mainstreaming, and breakout workshops to foster peer learning and co-develop policy recommendations.

General Objective: The final conference of the Gender Flagship project will bring together project partners, Beneficiary Authorities, EU institutions, and expert partners to reflect on the progress achieved by the Gender Flagship project and explore future directions for gender mainstreaming in public policy and budgeting. It is designed to serve two key objectives:

§  To showcase the achievements, tools developed, and lessons learned from the Gender Flagship project, particularly focusing on Beneficiary Authorities supported. By highlighting concrete examples of institutional change, successful technical support, and implementation of gender mainstreaming tools, the conference aims to strengthen mutual learning and exchange among stakeholders.

§  To contribute to the broader policy debate on how gender mainstreaming can be more effectively reinforced across Europe.

To support the organization of this final conference external expertise is required for the overall co-facilitation of the conference.

On this purpose, the short-term expert (co-facilitator) will work under the overarching supervision of the Head of Project, while maintaining close coordination with the Lead Facilitator and the Gender Flagship Project Team. The co-facilitator will play a key supporting role in ensuring the smooth delivery, meaningful engagement, and coherence of the two-day conference. The co-facilitator will support the Lead Facilitator to guide discussions, moderate sessions, connect insights across panels and workshops, and help synthesize outcomes in an engaging, participatory, and inclusive manner.

b.      Expected Deliverables:

Facilitation concept note for the conference, including roles, instructions, ways of working principles, processes and formats for interaction, learning, active knowledge sharing, and reflection.

2.        Expert Responsibilities

Main tasks:

Ø  Participation in preparatory meetings and support to the finalization of Conference’s agenda/session formats.

Ø  Live facilitation and support to the moderation of the conference (8–9 October).

Ø  Support draft a short summary report (3–5 pages) with key outcomes and messages.

Ø  Participation in debriefing call with the organizing team.

·       Preparation (September – Early October 2025):

o   Contribute to the kick-off meeting with team members to identify the purpose, objectives and outcomes of the event.

o   Participate in preparatory meetings with EF and partner SG REFORM to align on conference objectives, format, and facilitator role.

o   Support the draft facilitators agenda, including roles, instructions, ways of working principles, processes and formats for interaction, learning, active knowledge sharing, reflection and sense making.

o   Review design of up to three (3) targeted sessions & provide feedback, iterate session design with partners / leads

o   Input to the script for the in-person facilitation sessions.

·       Facilitation (8–9 October 2025):

o   Co-moderate key sessions such as: Opening and introductory sessions; The high-level roundtable on Day 2; Report-back and final reflection sessions

o   Moderate panels and sessions in coordination with co-facilitators

o   Capture emerging insights and connect them to the broader objectives of the conference.

o   Provide real-time summarization or distillation of panel’s takeaways (verbal, visual, or in collaboration with rapporteurs).

o   Contribute to smooth logistics with the Gender Flagship project team in Paris.

·       Reporting (Mid–end of October 2025):

o   Participate in a debriefing session with EF and core partners.