Terms of Reference UI/UX Designer (Individual Consultant)

Who We Are

Girl Effect is an international non-profit that builds media that girls want, trust and need. From chatbots to chat shows and TV dramas to tech, our content helps adolescent girls in Africa and Asia make choices and changes in their lives. We create safe spaces for girls, sharing facts and answering questions about health, nutrition, education, and relationships, empowering girls with the skills to negotiate and redefine what they are told is possible “for a girl”.

Our reach is 50 million and counting, and we use technology to reach girls at scale so every girl can choose to be in control of her body, health, learning and livelihood.

Because when a girl unlocks her power to make different choices that change her life, it inspires others to do so too. She starts a ripple effect that impacts her family, community, and country.

That’s the Girl Effect.

Girl Effect in South Africa

Since 2018, Girl Effect South Africa has been building digital and media spaces that support and empower older adolescent girls and young women aged 18–24. Over time, we’ve developed a multi-product ecosystem that blends storytelling, information, and support — available wherever and whenever young people need it.

Our current products include:

• Big Sis – launched in 2018, Big Sis is a free, AI-powered WhatsApp, Moya, and Web chatbot that provides a safe and private space for girls to explore topics like love, sex, relationships, and mental wellbeing. It also connects users to relevant health and support services, supported by a concierge-style human service available via toll-free call and chat.
  
  
• JiK’iZiNTO – introduced in 2023, JiK’iZiNTO is a vibrant social content brand that inspires and enables positive behaviour change through authentic, youth-driven storytelling on our web-app, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.
  
  
• Dichipi – launched in 2024, Dichipi is a TV drama series that brings to life real issues faced by young women in South Africa, using relatable storylines to spark reflection, conversation, and action among viewers.
  
  

Together, these platforms form the backbone of Girl Effect’s work in South Africa — designed to reach girls where they are, in ways that feel natural, relatable, and empowering.

Upcoming projects

• Mental Wellbeing & AI Innovation
  Building on the success of Big Sis, Girl Effect South Africa is deepening its work in the mental wellbeing space, exploring how AI and digital tools can create more supportive, human-centred experiences for young people. This includes early testing of new features that make conversations more responsive and empathetic, alongside stronger safety and ethics frameworks to guide responsible innovation.
• Coining Campaign
  We’re currently running the Coining Campaign, a creative digital movement that invites young people to express how they experience and talk about mental health, hoping to spark open conversations and community connection.
• Expanding GBV Content
  In line with user feedback and platform data, Girl Effect is aiming to expand its gender-based violence (GBV) content and support pathways, ensuring that more users can access the right information, tools, and referrals at key moments.
• User Experience Improvements
  Alongside these initiatives, the team is working to enhance the overall user journey — from onboarding to service connections — to ensure that Big Sis continues to be an accessible, engaging, and impactful space for girls and young women across South Africa.

The scope

The objective of this consultancy is to investigate and provide actionable recommendations for improving the user experience across Girl Effect South Africa’s digital ecosystem, focusing on Big Sis, JiK’iZiNTO, and related platforms. The consultant will assess how users interact with the platforms, identify friction points, and recommend UX and UI improvements that strengthen engagement, reduce drop-off, and support service uptake.

This work will build on existing user personas, journey maps, and research, and will focus on understanding the lived realities of South African youth, including those with limited digital access or low-tech familiarity, enabling them to engage openly and honestly with the platforms.

The consultant will work closely with the Senior Program Manager and Digital Delivery Specialist to ensure alignment with project priorities, operational realities, and technical constraints. This collaboration is central to translating findings into practical recommendations.

Key Responsibilities:

UX Analysis

• Conduct a thorough assessment of the current UX design, identifying usability challenges and opportunities for improvement. mapped across the full user journey on all platforms
• Engage with stakeholders, service delivery partners, and target audiences through focus groups, interviews, and surveys to understand user needs and operational realities. integrating insights into UX recommendations.
• Conduct concept and usability testing in the field with users to validate research findings during and after prototype development. Analyse and document platform and service data (e.g., drop-offs, completion of critical flows, referral follow-through) to optimize and enhance user experience and product engagement
• Develop a detailed report with actionable recommendations for UX improvements and enhancements to stakeholders and developers.

UI Analysis

• Utilize the insights from the UX analysis to redesign and enhance the visual appearance of the platform's user interface, ensuring a consistent and cohesive user experience.
• Review existing UI components, including navigation, interaction patterns, content presentation, and visual hierarchy, to determine usability challenges and recommend UI improvements to enhance usability, engagement, and clarity, aligned with UX findings.
• Develop wireframes, interactive prototypes, and mockups to illustrate proposed UI changes. Incorporating interactive elements to enhance usability and convey complex concepts effectively.
• Implement modern design principles, including responsiveness, consistency, accessibility, and inclusivity,  ensuring interfaces support users with limited digital literacy or device access while aligning with our brand identity.

Big Sis Chatbot Mapping

• Conduct a full mapping of the Big Sis chatbot, documenting user flows, decision points, impact pathways, and operator handovers.
• Identify drop-off points and friction areas, and highlight opportunities for improved user support.
• Provide visual and written representations for stakeholders.

Reporting and Recommendations

• Produce a comprehensive diagnostic report summarising UX and UI findings, friction points, and systemic challenges.
• Include prioritized, actionable recommendations for platform improvements, onboarding, impact flows, service directory usability, and operator support.
  Provide supporting visuals, including journey maps, diagrams, annotated screenshots, and flow charts.
• If capacity allows within budget and time, support the development of in-scope action plans with internal teams to optimise existing features and workflows.

Collaboration and Stakeholder Engagement

• Work closely with the Digital Delivery Specialist to ensure alignment, operational feasibility, and translation of findings into actionable plans.
• Engage with internal teams, external partners, and chat operators to validate findings and co-create recommendations.
• Ensure all insights and recommendations are sensitive to local context, youth realities, and ethical considerations.

Deliverables:

• Full user journey and ecosystem analysis, including friction points and bottlenecks.
• Comprehensive mapping of the Big Sis chatbot and service linkage pathways, including all key flows and operator handovers.
• UX and UI diagnostic report with prioritized, actionable recommendations and implementation plan. Including supporting visuals and materials to communicate insights and recommendations.
• Conduct design sprints, test, and iterate on recommended product enhancements and features for deployment 
• Conduct user testing and feedback cycles in the field to ensure all new features are relevant and effective, with active involvement of young people in the design process.
• Where capacity allows, assistance with in-scope action plans and optimisations, in collaboration with developers and internal teams, aligned with budget and time constraints.

Who You Are

Skills, Experience, and Requirements:

• Based in South Africa, able to attend occasional in-person sessions in Johannesburg or Cape Town.
• Must have excellent verbal and written skills in English, and proficiency in at least one other official South African language is a plus.
• 4+ years in design consultancy or a similar role, working with multidisciplinary teams.
• Solid experience in Human-Centred Design, from research and synthesis through ideation, prototyping, and testing.
• Skilled in Service Design, UX, and UI, and comfortable with tools like Figma, InVision, Miro, etc.
• Solution-focused and adaptable, willing to step outside your core discipline to find the right design solution.
• Creative, culturally aware, and resourceful — able to navigate complexity and find practical ways forward.
• Strong communicator, able to explain ideas clearly and engage both colleagues and young people in a friendly, relatable way.
• Experience with websites, applications, chatbots and conversational interfaces.
• Demonstrable experience making data-driven recommendations

Bonus Points:

• Experience in health or behaviour-change content, especially around Sexual and Reproductive Health, Mental Wellbeing and Economic Empowerment (our core focus areas).
• Basic understanding of Natural Language Processing or Machine Learning.
• Experience designing for cross-cultural contexts, ICT4D projects, or emerging markets.
• Experience working with developers in agile sprints, ensuring designs are translated smoothly into workable solutions.
• Familiarity with tools like Google Suite, Asana, or Slack is a plus.

Your Approach and Attitude:

• Comfortable working in complex organisations with multiple stakeholders and shared decision-making.
• A proactive “doer-thinker”, able to balance independent problem-solving with teamwork.
• Enthusiastic about connecting with people from different backgrounds and geographies; happy to do presentations, workshops, and field engagement.
• Highly empathetic and context-sensitive, able to balance different needs and priorities thoughtfully.
• Mission-driven, passionate about making a real difference in the lives of young people and vulnerable communities.

Expected Commitment 

• The assignment will take approximately 3-6 months to complete
• The consultant will be expected to spend max 5 days a week or up to 40  hours each week on this assignment, depending on the programme's needs.
• The consultant's assignment period is from mid-November 2025 - March 2026, budget & scope dependent.

Location

The consultant must be based and have extensive experience in South Africa. The Assignment is to be carried out in South Africa.

Management

The consultant will have a primary point of contact with Girl Effect, South Africa’s Senior Program Manager and Digital Delivery Specialist, supported by the wider tech and South Africa team. The language of the materials and reports shall be English. The contract supervisor shall approve all deliverables submitted by the agency before any payment is made.

Tentative Timelines

• Terms of reference published: 21 October 2025
• Bid Submission Deadline:  4 November  2025
• Supplier selection, contracting, and briefing: Mid-November 2025
• Project commencement: Immediately following supplier selection, contracting, and briefing

Proposal Submission

Interested consultants are asked to submit the following to support their candidature (Max 10pages):

• Your understanding of the brief and why you feel you are well-placed to advise us on this
• Credentials/Profile/CV - Please showcase any previous work that you consider relevant to what we are trying to achieve and how we approach our work, and the audience we cater to. Describe the qualifications, experience, and capabilities of the consultant in providing the requested services.
• Reference - Provide at least two references for similar contracts with a description of the service provided, the value of the contract, and the contract periods of performance.
• Breakdown of Costs with applicable taxes and other charges clearly identified in ZAR. Consultants should provide their discounted monthly costs. All applicable taxes should be quoted separately.

In their proposal, the bidder must demonstrate an understanding of the requirements described in the RFP and demonstrate how the bidder will meet the requirements of the evaluation criteria.

GE is not liable for any cost incurred during the award/contract preparation, submission, or negotiation of the award/contract. All submitted documentation and/or materials shall become and remain the property of GE.

VALIDITY of the proposal shall be for 90 days from the date of bid closure.

Evaluation Criteria

The criteria against which proposals will be evaluated are listed below:

Technical Evaluation

• Interpretation and understanding of this TOR-10%
• Relevant experience as demonstrated by CV/Profile - 20%
• Technical UI/UX deliverable execution experience - 20%
• Geographical Experience in South Africa -10%
• Evidence of a minimum of two contactable references - 10%

Financial Evaluation

• Value for money/proposed budget breakdown - 30%

How to Apply

Please submit proposals, as described above, to suppliers@girleffect.org by  4 November 2025. Please clearly mark your email with the subject 'South Africa UI/UX Designer.'

Tax

Girl Effect is obliged by the South African tax authorities to withhold taxes on service contract fees as well as ensure that VAT is charged where applicable. Applicants are advised to ensure that they have a clear understanding of their tax position regarding provisions of South African tax legislation when developing their proposals

Copyright

All materials/documents arising from this consultancy work shall remain the property of Girl Effect.

Disclaimer

GE South Africa reserves the right to determine the structure of the process, the number of short-listed participants, the right to withdraw from the proposal process, the right to change this timetable at any time without notice and reserves the right to withdraw this tender at any time, without prior notice and without liability to compensate and/or reimburse any party. GEEI shall inform ONLY the successful applicant(s). The process of negotiation and signing of the contract with the successful applicant(s) will follow. 

Please note: We will evaluate only proposals submitted following the application process outlined in the TOR and using our specified email address (suppliers@girleffect.org).

Safeguarding

You may be required to undertake safeguarding checks. Shortlisted consultants will be assessed on our organizational values at the interview stage, and the successful consultant will be expected to adhere to our safeguarding policy. We encourage you to read and understand our safeguarding policy, the executive summary of which can be found here. We have zero tolerance for all forms of violence against children, beneficiaries, and staff. 

Equal Opportunities

Girl Effect Services is committed to equal opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender, gender identity or expression. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. 

We are committed to building an organization that is increasingly representative of, and works extensively with, the communities that we serve. To this end, due regard will be paid to procuring consultancy service organizations and individuals with diverse professional, academic and cultural backgrounds.