Job Title: Consultant – Gender Intervention Curriculum Design and Facilitator Training
Position: One (01)
Project Location: Bangladesh (primarily Dhaka; remote for design phases)
Employment Type: Short-term, deliverable-based consultancy (60 days)
Salary: Negotiable

Position Summary

BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), based at BRAC University, seeks a short-term national Consultant to design a group-delivered gender intervention curriculum for a pilot randomised controlled trial (RCT) on work-family guilt and female labour force participation among office-working couples in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Under the supervision of the Principal Investigators and the BIGD project lead, the Consultant will design two distinct participant-facing curriculum tracks and one active-control curriculum, develop all accompanying facilitator materials and fidelity tools, and train and assess the field facilitators who will deliver these sessions.

A successful candidate will have demonstrated experience designing gender interventions (for example, programs addressing gender norms, women’s empowerment, or psychosocial wellbeing) for group-based delivery; and proven experience designing manualized curricula and training lay facilitators. Candidates may come from clinical or counselling psychology, social work, or a comparable applied background. Fluency in Bangla and English is required. Candidates must have authorization to work in Bangladesh.

About BIGD

BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), BRAC University, is a Bangladesh-based social science research and academic institute dedicated to generating and sharing knowledge through education, research, and public and policy engagement in equitable partnerships with national and global actors.

BIGD conducts rigorous, multi-method social science research on governance and development challenges and leads research on the socioeconomic empowerment programs of BRAC, the global leader among NGOs focusing on poor and marginalized people, including programs on gender justice and diversity, community empowerment, skills development, microfinance, and urban development.

Research Context

This consultancy sits within a pilot RCT on the gender guilt gap: the finding that women experience substantially more guilt than men when paid work takes time away from children, while men experience more guilt than women when caregiving takes time away from breadwinning. These internalized emotional costs may suppress household labor reallocation, reducing women’s labor force participation and men’s caregiving, even when external constraints such as childcare access or household income are not binding.

The study targets working couples in Dhaka in which the woman holds a full-time office job. Qualitative scoping with this population has confirmed that guilt actively shapes labor decisions: women report reducing hours or leaving the workforce due to internalized work-family guilt, and men describe discomfort with visible caregiving under breadwinner norms.

The Consultant is responsible for designing all three curricula (women’s track, men’s track, and active control) and training the facilitators who deliver them.

Primary Responsibilities

1. Curriculum Design

• Design two participant-facing gender intervention curricula:

• Women’s track: Group sessions targeting work-family guilt through cognitive reframing of guilt-triggering thoughts (e.g., guilt about missed milestones, delegating childcare, asking for workplace flexibility), peer normalization of maternal employment, and resilience-building against guilt-triggering social messages.
• Men’s track: Parallel group sessions reducing breadwinner-norm pressure through cognitive reframing of caregiving as compatible with masculine identity and easing guilt associated with reducing work hours.

• Design one active-control curriculum of matched intensity and format on a topic unrelated to gender, guilt, or work-family tradeoffs (e.g., financial literacy or health/nutrition) that provides comparable social contact and group engagement without affecting the study’s outcomes of interest.
• All three curricula must be session-by-session plans specifying objectives, facilitator scripts, structured activities, timings, and materials. Session count and duration should align with a 6–8 week group program (~12–16 sessions) unless revised after the cognitive interview phase.

2. Cognitive Interview and Needs Assessment Support

• Participate in or review cognitive interviews conducted with the study population to understand how guilt is experienced, described, and distinguished from related constructs (shame, stress, social pressure) in this context.
• Use findings to adapt curriculum language, vignettes, and scenarios so that sessions resonate culturally and are anchored to guilt specifically rather than to general emotional distress.

3. Facilitator Manual

• Develop a comprehensive facilitator manual covering all three tracks, including: facilitation techniques; how to handle sensitive disclosures; safeguarding protocols; and a referral pathway for participants who disclose significant distress.

4. Participant Materials

• Develop participant workbooks, take-home materials, and any visual or job aids required for delivery across all three curricula, adapted for the literacy and time constraints of the target population.

5. Fidelity and Adherence Tools

• Design session-level fidelity checklists, structured observation forms, and attendance logs, with clear guidance for the research team on how to monitor and document implementation quality.
• These tools are critical for the research study and must meet standards appropriate for an RCT context where treatment fidelity will be reported in academic publications.

6. Facilitator Training

• Design and deliver in-person facilitator training in Dhaka covering: the curriculum for all three tracks; group facilitation skills; how to handle sensitive disclosures and safeguarding situations; research ethics; and the use of fidelity tools.
• Conduct end-of-training competency assessments and provide written feedback on facilitators’ readiness to deliver each curriculum.

7. Pretest Support and Finalization

• Support the pretest of all three curricula with a small group of participants (~20 couples).
• Revise curricula, facilitator manuals, participant materials, and fidelity tools into final, field-ready versions based on pretest findings.

8. Other responsibilities

• Any other related responsibilities assigned by the Principal Investigators or the BIGD project lead within the scope of this consultancy.

Engagement Timeline

The consultancy spans approximately 60 days on a part-time basis (50%-time commitment), structured in two phases:

The Consultant will work primarily remotely during the design phase and must be available for in-person sessions in Dhaka during the training and pretest period. Exact dates and the weekly time commitment will be confirmed at contract signing.

Skills and Qualifications

Education: Master’s degree or higher in psychology, social work, gender studies, or a closely related field.

Gender intervention design expertise: Demonstrated expertise in designing and delivering gender interventions (e.g., programs on gender norms, women’s empowerment, or psychosocial wellbeing) for group-based delivery.

Curriculum and training design: Proven experience designing manualized intervention curricula with session-by-session facilitator scripts, particularly for group delivery by non-specialist or lay facilitators in low-resource settings.

Facilitator training and supervision: Experience training and supervising non-specialist facilitators, with a demonstrated approach to maintaining intervention fidelity.

Research context experience: Familiarity with the fidelity standards and documentation requirements of RCT research contexts is an advantage. Candidates who have worked on academic research studies or with research-implementing organizations are preferred.

Ethics and safeguarding: Strong understanding of research ethics and safeguarding, particularly for sensitive topics involving couples, gender, and mental health.

Thematic experience: Experience with gender, women’s empowerment, work-family, or gender-norms programming in Bangladesh or a comparable context is preferred. Familiarity with the psychological measurement of guilt and shame (e.g., the GASP scale) and with mental health measurement tools (e.g., PHQ-9) is an advantage.

Language: Fluency in Bangla and English required.

Location: Based in Bangladesh and available to be present in Dhaka for the training and pretest period.

Reporting and Base

The Consultant will report to the Research Director or designated Research Fellow at BIGD, in close coordination with the Principal Investigators. The Consultant will be based remotely during the design phase and in Dhaka for in-person activities.

Eligibility

BIGD will recruit an individual with the right to work in Bangladesh. BIGD recognizes the value that diversity brings to the organization in terms of experience, skills, talent, and cultural perspectives. The organization is committed to building an environment and culture where all staff feel valued and are treated fairly and respected. BIGD is committed to providing equality of opportunity for all current and prospective staff members and will not discriminate on grounds of sex (female, male, or other) race, age, gender, sexual orientation, citizenship, medical condition (with certain exceptions based on job role), class, caste, ethnicity, disability, location, pregnancy, maternity or paternity, or religion.

BIGD’s commitment to equal opportunity covers all aspects of employment, including but not limited to recruitment, selection, compensation, promotion, professional development, termination, and participation in BIGD-sponsored employee activities.

How to apply:

Applications that do not include all three components will not be considered. Applications should be submitted through the prescribed online application: Apply

Applications will be considered on a rolling basis. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for an interview.

Please submit:

1. A CV of no more than three pages.
2. A short technical and financial proposal (no more than 3–4 pages) explaining your proposed approach to the curriculum design and facilitator training described above, including a brief (half-page) description of a manualized curriculum or facilitator training program you have designed and delivered previously, and a proposed budget (in BDT) for the consultancy. The total available budget for this consultancy is approximately BDT 400,000–600,000, depending on experience and proposed scope.
3. The names and contact details of at least two professional references who can speak to your expertise in curriculum design, gender intervention facilitation, or facilitator training.

Last Date of Application: 15 October, 2026