TERMS OF REFERENCE

Assessment of Needs and Capacities within the EU SEE Network

Submission deadline: 20 November, 2024

Estimated start date: 9 December 2024

Location: Remote

Background

The EU System for an Enabling Environment for Civil Society (EU SEE) is a civil society-led monitoring system designed to continuously assess the state of the enabling environment for civil society. It is a six-year programme that engages and supports civil society organisations in 86 countries where civic space is under pressure. The aim of the programme is to strengthen the capacity and ability of civil society partners to detect and respond to situations of a deteriorating or improving enabling environment, as well as to address and contribute to structural and systemic prerequisites for such an environment.

The EU SEE programme is implemented by a global Consortium of Partners composed of civic space and democracy support organizations and networks, including CIVICUS, Democracy Reporting International, the European Partnership for Democracy, Forus, Hivos (Coordinator) and Transparency International.

The EU SEE Global Consortium of Partners seeks to improve the capacity and ability of civil society partners (at global, regional, and partner country levels) to detect and respond to situations of a deteriorating or improving enabling environment and address and contribute to structural and systemic prerequisites for such an environment. This will be achieved through a coordinated and comprehensive EU-funded, gender-sensitive, CSO-based system that respects the security needs of the members involved, for an enabling environment. The project involves the development of an inclusive methodology for enabling environment monitoring and early warning, capacity strengthening for civil society, and enhanced engagement and advocacy with decision-makers.

The core of the programme is the Early Warning Mechanism to support the anticipation and rapid response to emerging threats and opportunities. This will be complemented by EU SEE Country Focus Reports with civil society members in 86 countries (Network Members). Together, they make up a civil society-led system assessing the state of the enabling environment in each country. Additionally, the program will support civil society partners to advocate for an enabling environment at national, regional, and global levels, through knowledge exchange, policy dialogue and advocacy actions.

Objectives of the service

The primary objective of the Needs Assessment is to engage a consultant (or team of consultants) to identify the capacity strengthening needs and opportunities to share knowledge within the EU SEE network. The consultant(s) will work alongside consortium partners to comprehensively map the existing capacities (knowledge, skills, and experience) network members have the possibility to share about, as well as identify capacity needs or opportunities for improvement for the network. The overarching goal is to leverage the collective strengths within the EU SEE initiative and identify topics that address the most common/key needs to detect and respond to situations of a deteriorating or improving enabling environment and address and contribute to structural and systemic prerequisites for such an environment. The data collected will serve to design a Capacity Sharing Action Plan moving forward, its timeline and continuous updates, so the plan can remain relevant and useful for the Network.

Scope

The consultant will be responsible for the following activities:

Literature Review: Conduct a preliminary review of existing capacity assessments and training materials and recent assessments’ results carried out by Consortium Partners and other relevant actors in their respective networks relevant to civil society organizations (CSOs) in the targeted countries. The analysis of this review will be available for all Consortium Partners and selected trends and information will be available in the project’s platform.

Co-design and carry out existing Capacities to share/Needs Assessment: Develop and conduct surveys and interviews with EU SEE network members to identify skills/knowledge and capacity areas such as project management, advocacy, monitoring and evaluation, digital security, financial management, and other relevant areas to promote/ensure an enabling environment for civil society to operate. Areas will be determined in conversation with the Consortium partners, network members and consultant(s).

Evaluation of capacities to share and to grow: Assess the overall capacity of the Consortium Partners and network members to preserve and promote the Enabling Environment for civil society,  their possibility and interest to support EU SEE capacity sharing initiatives, and what would be needed for this support to take place.

Data Analysis: Analyse the results of the surveys and interviews to identify common themes, gaps, and training/exchange of knowledge needs. The result of this analysis will be a scorecard/baseline that explains the spectrum where the EU SEE Network is placed and where its members capacities’ would be needed to share/or to develop to preserve and promote the Enabling Environment.

Draft Capacity Action Plan: Prepare a comprehensive plan summarising the findings, including recommendations for capacity-sharing interventions, preferred training formats, and timelines.

Workshops/Meetings: Facilitate virtual at least 2 workshops to discuss preliminary findings and validate the results with EU SEE network members.

The capacity evaluation should assess the following components:

Organisational Capacity to protect and promote an enabling environment for civil society: Current organisational capacity (internal structures, operations and dynamics) of partners to protect and promote an enabling environment in their country.

Support for Capacity Strengthening Mechanisms: Capacity and interest of partners to contribute to peer-to-peer exchanges, participate in learning and sharing sessions, and other learning mechanisms.

Areas of Expertise: Specific areas where partners can share knowledge/skills/experience and their expertise in relevant topics related to the promotion of an enabling environment for civil society. These can include skills in areas of litigation, intercultural dialogue, facilitation and negotiation, digital communications, public speaking, storytelling, etc.

Enablers to share capacities/engagement: Requirements for network members to effectively engage in capacity strengthening activities.

The successful consultant is expected to work remotely, and no travel is envisaged under this contract.

Principles underpinning this work are:

• Participatory and culturally sensitive process valuing knowledge and approaches from within the context.
• Cross-cutting consideration for inclusion of multiple identities, ensuring that factors related to gender, age, race, cast, culture and language are taken into consideration.
• Credibility of the consultant or team of consultants, through use of appropriately skilled experts.
• Usefulness of the mapping findings and recommendations for strategy design, through timely presentation of relevant, productively critical, clear and concise information, and commitment to building capacity and strengthening the overall EU SEE project’s plans and implementation.

Deliverables

The following are the expected deliverables for this assignment:

• Inception Report: A detailed methodology, list of interviewees, survey tools, and a work plan.
• Research Instruments: Finalized questionnaires and interview guides as well as an ongoing assessment tool.
• Draft Report: Summary of findings from the literature review, survey, and interviews, including preliminary recommendations.
• Evidence based Capacity Sharing Plan: incorporating data and feedback from the validation workshops, detailed recommendations to draft a capacity-sharing plan, along with a monitoring, evaluation and learning plan to assess the effectiveness of the capacity-sharing plan. The results of the assessment must be presented as a baseline to evaluate the project’s efforts to strengthen the capacities of its partners.

Workshops: At least 2 virtual workshops to validate findings and discuss recommendations.

Assignment Duration

• Location: Flexible. The research consultant can work remotely and carry out the literature search online and field research through online interviews. Collaboration on the mapping study can also be done online and remotely.
• Duration of the research work: The work can be conducted over a three-to-four-month period (November 2024 – January/February 2025). The consultant(s) can also develop the study within a shorter timeframe to be explained in the application. The assignment is estimated to be in the range of 30 days of work

The work will be carried out by a specialized consultant or team of consultants reflecting the intercultural nature of the EU SEE project. The EU SEE Learning Community Working Group- with Forus at its lead- will support the steering of the work to be conducted, in close collaboration with all EU SEE Consortium partners.

The successful consultant is expected to work remotely, and no travel is envisaged under this contract.

ACTIVITY	TIMELINE
Opening of Call for Proposals	24 October 2024
Enquiries	24 October – 15 November 2024
Deadline for Receiving Proposals	20 November 2024
Proposal Evaluation and Feedback	21 November – 29 November 2024
Contract Signing	6 December 2024
Expected start date for the study	9 December 2024

 

Qualifications and Experience of the Consultants

The preferred consultant(s) must have:

Academic Qualifications: Relevant academic degree (Master’s or PhD) in social sciences, development studies, or a related field to organisational management, and strategy.

Experience: At least 10 years of experience in the non-profit sector, with a focus on capacity sharing, organizational development, behavioral science, organisational management and conducting needs assessments, international and multicultural research projects and data management, analysis and visualisation. Preference for experience in innovative and inclusive research practices.

Skills: Demonstrated skills in research, data analysis, interpersonal and multilingual skills, critical and complex thinking, digital security, data management and analysis, workshop facilitation and report writing and presentation. Experience in working with civil society networks, international human rights organizations, think tanks and a broad understanding of diverse global contexts, with experience in or knowledge of multiple regions relevant to our work. Ability to quickly research and adapt to varied cultural, political, and economic environments. Technical skills with data analysis tools and knowledge of data management regulations and protocols.

Languages: Proficiency in English. Knowledge of additional languages spoken in the targeted countries is an asset.

Application procedure

Interested consultants are invited to submit the following documents by 10 November 2024:

• Motivation Letter: Detailing relevant experience and understanding of the assignment.
• Technical Proposal: Outlining the proposed methodology, work plan, and timeline.
• Financial Proposal: Detailed budget including daily rates and any other costs. VAT must be included (even in case of intra-European services).
• CV: Detailed curriculum vitae of the consultant and any team members involved describing experiences designing capacities/ needs assessments for international organizations and networks.

References: Contact information for three references from similar previous assignments.

Submission Deadline:

Proposals must be submitted by COB 20 November 2024 to recruitment@forus-international.org, with the following email addresses in copy: elisa.novoa@forus-international.org

The maximum for this project is EUR 15,000 including all taxes and costs.

Contact Information: For any inquiries, please contact Elisa Novoa at elisa.novoa@forus-international.org

The consultant must ensure that all suggestions for capacity strengthening take into consideration the needs of the network and the capacity of the implementing partners of the Consortium at the global level. Recommendations should be practical, feasible, and tailored to the diverse contexts of the 86 targeted countries.

Conflict of Interest

Applicants should clearly highlight any current or previous working or personal links to Forus or other EU SEE Consortium partners, as well as any risks around conflicts of interest.

Proposal Evaluation

The proposals will be evaluated in accordance with the European Union procurement regulations regarding handling of such procurement processes. The Quality-and Cost- Based Method will be used to score the applications.

Payment Schedule

A deliverable based payment system will be used under this contract.

 

NO.	DELIVERABLE	PERCENTAGE
1.	Inception Report	25% of the contract value
2.	Research Instruments (questionnaires, survey, interview guides, focus group etc.) and Draft Report	35% of the contract value
3.	Acceptance of Final Report, EUSEE Capacity Sharing Plan based on the evidence from the assessment and validation workshops.	40% of the contract value
	Total	100% Total contract value