Consultant to evaluate Belarus programme

Job - ForumCiv

1.    BACKGROUND   

1.1.    Implementing partner: 

ForumCiv is a politically and religiously unaffiliated development cooperation organisation with over 200 member organisations from Swedish civil society. ForumCiv has been active in Belarus since the late 1990’s, by supporting our member organisations as well as implementing our own programmes. Since 2012, ForumCiv has a Country Office for Belarus based in Vilnius, Lithuania and has been implementing granting programme for Belarusian civil society financed by Sida since 2013. 

1.2.    The program:

In the period 2021-2025, ForumCiv implemented a programme of support to Belarusian civil society titled “Build Bridges, not Walls: Reinvigorating Civil Society in Belarus”. The programme aimed to support the formation of the new grassroot groups in the country, develop existing initiatives to address issues affecting local communities, bridge the gap between new and experienced civil society, as well as those in country and in exile, and support the cooperation between grassroots groups and civil society organisations in joint actions to affect change in the country and influence decision-making processes. Precisely, the programme raised the following objectives:

Impact (Overall objective): Rights holders in Belarus are able to affect decision making processes and duty bearer practices through a reinvigorated and more representative Civil Society.

Outcome (Specific Objective): Civil Society, represented by grassroots groups (GGs) in collaboration with CSOs and their networks, learn to channel issues affecting rights holders into decision making processes thus making it more participatory and inclusive

Outputs: 

  • Unaffiliated rights holders are empowered to develop existing and initiate new GGs
  • GGs are active in reaching out to and creating new communities, organising and implementing actions to address local issues affecting rights holders
  • Linkages between GGs and CSOs are created through networking, mentoring and peer-based knowledge sharing
  • GGs collaborate with CSOs in joint actions to affect change in policy and influence decision-making processes

2.    THE ASSIGNMENT

2.1 Purpose of the assignment

The aim of this evaluation is to:

  • Assess the extent to which the EU-financed programme has reached the goals envisioned and listed above.
  • Assess the relevance and adaptability of ForumCiv and project partners in the declining conditions for civil society and shrunk civic space.
  • Assess tools and mechanisms used in the programme (capacity building – to the extent possible, mentoring, Third Party Financial Support, Community Forums, overall management of the programme, reporting, security and safety of partners) and changes implemented in order to answer to the security needs of partners
  • Assess the outcomes and effectiveness of the programme and draw conclusions for further improvement of the programme and provide recommendations for a potential future programme.
  • The evaluation should analyse the programme’s contribution to ForumCiv’s Indicators of Change, especially changes in behaviours, relationships, policies, or practices of social actors.

2.2 Main tasks 

  1. Map outcomes of the programme and their contribution to the development and sustainability of Belarusian civil society
  2. Assess effectiveness of the capacity building, mentoring, granting mechanism, and forums. Consider application and assessment procedures, management system, and support given to activists and initiatives in implementation.
  3. Assess results and (if possible) impact of supported projects, based on the representative sample.
  4. Provide insight and recommendations on how to improve procedures, system and support in order to increase effectiveness of a programme and its parts.
  5. Assess and discuss the sustainability of a selected number of projects within the programme.
  6. Assess to what extent Rights Based Approach (RBA), gender equality, environment perspectives and the Do No Harm principle have been integrated within the programme. Specifically, how these principles were applied across programme planning, implementation, and monitoring, and identify areas for strengthening.
  7. Analyse how the programme identified and navigated power dynamics and structural barriers affecting rightsholders’ participation. 

The evaluation and outcome harvesting should have a perspective of both ForumCiv Theory of Change and EU’s policy towards Belarus and specifically address the following questions:

  1. To what extent has the programme contributed to the envisioned goals?
  2. To what extent have supported projects contributed to both ForumCiv and EU’s strategies?
  3. Is the application and assessment process an effective way to support Belarusian civil society?
  4. How effective is management and reporting system of ForumCiv in assuring good management of funds by partner organisations?
  5. How effective was cooperation and coordination with other donors working with Belarus?

3.    METHODOLOGY 

The methodology and activity plan should be proposed by the evaluator including but not limited to:

  • Design of the outcome harvesting methodology, having in mind the security situation for civil society in Belarus
  • Design the evaluation of the granting mechanism and management systems ForumCiv uses
  • Desk review of literature, context of Belarus and background on civil society
  • Desk review of programme documents: reports, applications, result matrixes etc.
  • Focus group meeting/s with stakeholders.

4.    OUTPUTS AND REPORTING 

4.1 Outputs 

The report shall be written in English. The Consultant shall produce a report of maximum 30 pages (appendices excluded) that include major findings of i.e. analysis of assessment methodology, the results of analysed activities, and recommendations. The report shall have a traditional lay-out e.g. front cover, table of contents, short facts of consultant, methodology, results, discussion/ suggested improvements and a list of study material and interviewees. The structure of the report will be discussed and finalised with the consultant during the Inception Phase of the assignment. The draft report will be produced, presented and discussed with contracting partner prior to finalising.

5.    TIME SCOPE

The assignment is to take place from May to July 2025

6.    BUDGET

Available budget for the assignment is 20,000.00 EUR, including VAT, when payable.

7.    CONSULTANT QUALIFICATIONS

7.1 Anticipated Qualifications 

The consultant should meet the following expectations: 

  • Thorough knowledge and experience from international development cooperation through the NGO sector;
  • Knowledge and experience of work in and with civil society in Eastern Europe;
  • Good knowledge of the EU’s External Action and/or development policies;
  • Documented experience in consultancy assignments focusing on PMEL (planning, monitoring, evaluation and learning) issues;
  • Documented capacity in working with Logical Frameworks;
  • Good knowledge of human rights-based approach, gender equality and other development perspectives, preferably from assessments and/or evaluations;
  • Experience of work on rights-based approach, preferably from assessments and/or evaluations
  • Excellent communication and facilitation skills;
  • Full working proficiency in English; proficiency in Russian and/or Belarusian.

8.    PROCUREMENT TECHNICALITIES

8.1 Tender Procedure 

The procurement of these services is undertaken as part of the EU funded project “Build Bridges, not Walls: Reinvigorating Civil Society in Belarus (NEAR-TS/2019/413-467)” in which ForumCiv is the lead applicant.

The procurement is a subject to the price and quality comparison, handled directly by a FCEE assessment group. The tenders will be assessed considering the following aspects:

  • The contents of the tender (that all the required information is enclosed)
  • The experience of the tenderer in conducting similar evaluations
  • The cost for the tender 

Questions concerning this tender can be posed to the contact person indicated below until 30.05.2025. ForumCiv reserves the right to take references on the proposed candidate.

Final date of Submission: the tender, including stated documents is to be submitted to FCEE by e-mail to Ksenija.paksina@forumciv.org no later than 06.06.2025, 10.00 (EEST), subject of message: “Tender FCEE/TND 3”.

The decision will be made by FCEE on 13.06.2025 and the winning provider will be immediately notified.

8.2    Documentation and information required 

Documentation required for the tender are:

  • CV of consultant, with relevant experience and background for the assignment;
  • An evaluation work plan and budget with a description of the approach and methodology applied;
  • Security plan;
  • Documentation should not exceed 20 pages in total.

ForumCiv will provide all necessary contacts and documents for the review.

Location
Flexible
Miniatyr