ThaiNGO

PROJECT:   Mekong Safeguards Program

TITLE:   Development and Delivery of Capacity Building on Inclusive Stakeholder Engagement to Strengthen Private Sector–CSO Engagement and Learning Exchange

CONTRACT TYPE:    Fixed Price Contract

DURATION:    October 2026 – Q2 2027 (TBC)

The Asia Foundation (TAF), through the Mekong Safeguards program supported by the Australian Government through the Mekong-Australia Partnership (MAP), is seeking an experienced consultant, organisation, or research institute (the Contractor) to design and deliver capacity-building activities for private sector actors on meaningful and inclusive stakeholder engagement in infrastructure-related sectors.

The assignment will support two linked capacity-building activities under Activity 3.2.1: (i) development and delivery of a webinar in late 2026 introducing practical approaches to stakeholder engagement (through engagement and dialogue with Civil Society Organisations), social risk management, and Gender Equality, Disability, and Social Inclusion (GEDSI); and (ii) development and delivery of a follow-up capacity-building workshop in 2027, potentially in-person or hybrid, building on lessons and capacity needs identified through the webinar.

Across both activities, the Contractor will support practical exchange between private sector participants and civil society organisations (CSOs), including relevant Organisations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs), Women's Rights Organisations (WROs), and/or other organisations with practical experience of community engagement in infrastructure development.

BACKGROUND

Infrastructure development across the Mekong subregion continues to expand, particularly in the energy, transport, and water sectors. Companies financing, developing, and operating infrastructure face increasing expectations to manage environmental and social risks and undertake meaningful engagement with affected stakeholders throughout the project lifecycle.

Expectations related to Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD), responsible business conduct, and sustainability reporting further reinforce the importance of effective stakeholder engagement. However, practical challenges remain, including identifying and engaging relevant stakeholders early, managing engagement in sensitive contexts, integrating Gender Equality, Disability, and Social Inclusion (GEDSI) considerations, and translating stakeholder perspectives into risk mitigation and business decision-making.

Under Activity on Strengthening Private Sector Stakeholder Engagement Practices and GEDSI Integration, Mekong Safeguards is partnering with the Global Compact Network Thailand (GCNT) to strengthen private sector knowledge and practical capacity on meaningful and inclusive stakeholder engagement. The collaboration positions stakeholder engagement within business-relevant priorities, including HRDD, environmental and social risk management, risk prevention, and project resilience.

The consultancy will support a sequenced approach: an initial webinar will build foundational knowledge and enable exchange between private sector participants and CSOs, while a follow-up workshop will deepen practical application based on identified needs. Learning from both activities will inform subsequent Mekong Safeguards–GCNT activities, including the planned multi-stakeholder dialogue and Good Practice Handbook.

OBJECTIVES

The overall objective of this assignment is to strengthen the knowledge and practical capacity of private sector actors in infrastructure-related sectors to undertake meaningful and inclusive stakeholder engagement as part of HRDD and environmental and social risk management.

Specifically, the assignment aims to:

• Strengthen private sector understanding of meaningful stakeholder engagement and its role within environmental and social risk management, and responsible infrastructure development.
• Build practical capacity to identify, prioritise, and engage affected stakeholders, communities, and CSOs throughout relevant stages of business and project decision-making.
• Strengthen understanding and practical application of GEDSI-responsive engagement, including consideration of women, persons with disabilities, and other marginalised or underrepresented groups.
• Enable practical learning and exchange between private sector participants and CSOs on engagement challenges, community perspectives, and approaches that can support more constructive engagement.
• Connect meaningful stakeholder engagement with business-relevant outcomes, including early identification and mitigation of social risks, conflict prevention, project resilience, and responsible business practice.
• Generate practical lessons and capacity needs to inform subsequent Mekong Safeguards–GCNT activities, including the planned Year 3 multi-stakeholder dialogue and Good Practice Handbook.

SCOPE OF WORK

The Contractor will provide technical content development, learning design, facilitation, delivery, learning documentation and knowledge-product development across the assignment, working closely with Mekong Safeguards, GCNT, and relevant CSO partners.

Phase 1: 2026 Webinar on Inclusive Stakeholder Engagement

The Contractor will:

• Review relevant Mekong Safeguards program documents, including Dialogue Readiness Assessment, GCNT partnership documentation, relevant workplan materials, and other technical references provided by TAF.
• Develop the overall technical content and learning design for a 1.5-hour webinar on inclusive stakeholder engagement, tailored to private sector participants in infrastructure-related sectors. The webinar should prioritise 3–4 core learning messages that can be meaningfully addressed within the session, with other relevant topics used as framing, examples, or areas for follow-up learning. Content should draw, as relevant, on:
  • meaningful stakeholder engagement and its relationship with HRDD and environmental and social risk management;
  • practical approaches to stakeholder identification and engagement, including engagement with CSOs and affected communities;
  • GEDSI-responsive stakeholder engagement, including consideration of women, persons with disabilities, and other marginalised groups; and
  • business relevance, including early identification of social risks, conflict prevention, responsible business practice, and project resilience.
• Incorporate practical infrastructure-related case studies, examples, or scenarios relevant to the Thai and/or Mekong context.
• Design interactive components such as polls, reflection questions, facilitated discussion, and Q&A to encourage participation and identify current practices, challenges, and capacity needs.
• Design the CSO–private sector exchange component, ensuring that CSO contributions provide practical, field-based perspectives and complement the technical content of the webinar.
• Support the preparation and curation of CSO contributions, working with CSO speakers identified by Mekong Safeguards and GCNT to help shape practical, relevant, and complementary inputs for the session. This may include briefing speakers on the webinar objectives and audience, jointly refining presentation topics and key messages, and preparing discussion questions, roles, timing, and facilitation arrangements.
• Support preparation of participating CSO speakers, including briefing on objectives, discussion questions, roles, timing, and facilitation arrangements.
• Work with TAF to ensure that the dialogue format is constructive, balanced, inclusive, and consistent with relevant safeguarding considerations.
• Develop all webinar materials, including presentation slides, facilitator/moderator guide, speaker briefing materials, interactive activities, discussion questions, and participant learning/feedback tools.
• Moderate/facilitate the webinar and support overall technical delivery of the session. 
• Prepare a concise post-webinar summary capturing key discussions, participant feedback, identified capacity needs, emerging good practices, and recommendations for the 2027 follow-up activity.

Phase 2: 2027 Follow-up Capacity-Building Workshop

Building on findings and participant feedback from Phase 1, the Contractor will:

• Review webinar findings, participant feedback, and emerging capacity needs with TAF and GCNT.
• Develop the learning objectives, agenda, methodology, and technical content for one follow-up capacity-building workshop, anticipated to be delivered in-person or hybrid in Q1 – early Q2 2027.
• Design the workshop to move from awareness and knowledge-building toward more practical application of inclusive stakeholder engagement approaches.
• Develop applied learning exercises, case studies, scenarios, or simulations that reflect real-world stakeholder engagement challenges in infrastructure contexts, enabling participants to practise responding to complex engagement situations and generate practical lessons to inform subsequent multi-stakeholder dialogue and the Good Practice Handbook.
• Strengthen practical application of GEDSI principles, including approaches for identifying participation barriers and enabling meaningful engagement with women, persons with disabilities, and other marginalised groups.
• Integrate practical CSO perspectives and, where appropriate, facilitate structured exchange between CSO contributors and private sector participants.
• Coordinate and prepare relevant CSO speakers/contributors in consultation with TAF.
• Develop all required workshop materials, including presentation slides, facilitator guides, exercises, participant materials, case studies, and feedback tools.
• Facilitate and technically deliver the workshop.
• Document participant feedback, lessons learned, examples of intended or early application, and recommendations for future private sector–CSO engagement activities.
• Prepare a concise final Capacity-Building Activity Report covering the webinar and follow-up workshop, including activities delivered, participant profile and participation data, key discussion and learning outcomes, participant feedback, GEDSI considerations, lessons learned, and recommendations for follow-up. The report should be prepared in a format suitable for TAF's program and donor reporting purposes.

Phase 3: Good Practice Handbook

Building on learning and practical examples generated through the webinar and follow-up workshop, the Contractor will:

• Develop a concise Good Practice Handbook on inclusive stakeholder engagement, documenting practical approaches and case studies that demonstrate how inclusive engagement with CSOs, affected communities, women, persons with disabilities, and other marginalised groups can contribute to improved infrastructure planning and implementation.
• Identify and curate relevant good practices, case examples, practical lessons, and approachesemerging from the capacity-building activities and other relevant sources agreed with TAF.
• Translate the learning into practical, business-relevant guidance that can support private sector actors in strengthening inclusive stakeholder engagement, including GEDSI-responsive approaches.
• Submit a draft Handbook for TAF review and finalise the Handbook incorporating feedback from TAF and relevant partners.

Cross-Cutting GEDSI and MEL Requirements

GEDSI considerations must be mainstreamed throughout all activities and deliverables under this assignment, including technical content, learning methodologies, case studies and tools, facilitation approaches, participant engagement, and development of the Good Practice Handbook. The Contractor should ensure that gender equality, disability equity and social inclusion are meaningfully reflected in both the design and implementation of activities, rather than addressed as standalone topics.

TAF will provide technical guidance and inputs throughout the assignment, particularly on GEDSI and MEL requirements, and will work with the Contractor to review relevant content, methodologies, data collection tools and analysis to support consistent GEDSI integration across deliverables.

DELIVERABLES, TIMELINE, PAYMENTS

EXPECTED OUTCOMES

The assignment is expected to contribute to:

• Improved knowledge and practical understanding among participating private sector actors of meaningful stakeholder engagement, HRDD, and GEDSI-responsive engagement.
• Improved understanding of approaches for engaging CSOs, affected communities, and diverse stakeholder groups in infrastructure-related decision-making.
• Greater awareness of practical community and CSO perspectives on barriers to meaningful participation and opportunities for improved engagement.
• Strengthened private sector–CSO exchange and readiness for deeper multi-stakeholder engagement.
• Practical lessons, participant feedback, and examples of intended or early application that can contribute to Mekong Safeguards' MEL reporting.
• A stronger evidence and learning base for the planned Year 3 multi-stakeholder dialogue and Good Practice Handbook.

QUALIFICATIONS

The Contractor/team should demonstrate:

• Substantial professional experience in meaningful stakeholder engagement, HRDD, business and human rights, environmental and social safeguards, responsible business conduct, or related fields, preferably with experience relevant to infrastructure development. 
• Demonstrated experience designing and facilitating practical capacity-building activities for private sector audiences, including online and in-person/hybrid formats.
• Demonstrated experience working with private sector actors, CSOs and/or affected communities, preferably including business–CSO or multi-stakeholder engagement.
• Strong knowledge of relevant international frameworks, particularly the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) and recognised environmental and social safeguard principles.
• Demonstrated understanding of GEDSI-responsive stakeholder engagement, including gender equality, disability inclusion, accessibility, and engagement with marginalised or underrepresented groups.
• Ability to translate technical safeguards and human rights concepts into practical, business-relevant content, tools, case studies, and learning activities.
• Experience in infrastructure-related sectors, particularly energy, transport, and/or water in Thailand or Southeast Asia, and relevant CSO networks in Thailand and/or the Mekong subregion would be an advantage.
• Fluency in English is required, and the proposed team must include Thai-language capabilitysufficient to support effective engagement, facilitation, and coordination with Thai private sector and CSO participants.

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENT

Interested consultants, organisations, or research institutes should submit:

• CV(s) of proposed consultant(s)/team members;
• Examples of relevant assignments, training programmes, stakeholder engagement work, or similar deliverables;
• Proposed team composition and level of effort;
• Technical proposal outlining the proposed methodology for the assignment
• Financial proposal inclusive of professional fees and anticipated reimbursable expenses.

Submission deadline: 28 September 2026

Submission email: Please submit all application documents to: mekong.safeguards@asiafoundation.org 

Email subject: Application – Inclusive Stakeholder Engagement Consultant