Civil Rights Defenders Seeking Consultant for Evaluation
Civil Rights Defenders is seeking a consultant for an Evaluation of Civil Rights Defenders’ Program Support from Sida CIVSAM: Expanding the Space for Human Rights Defenders through Security, Capacity, Accountability and Awareness.
About Civil Rights Defenders
Civil Rights Defenders and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency’s (Sida) Unit for Civil Society (CIVSAM) entered into a Strategic Partnership Organisation (SPO) agreement with an activity period from October 2020 to December 2023 for the Program “Expanding the Space for Human Rights Defenders through Security, Capacity, Accountability and Awareness” with a total of SEK 178 682 644 (Contribution No: 13513). This evaluation is a requirement of that agreement.
Civil Rights Defenders is an international, non-profit, and independent human rights organisation, founded as the Swedish Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in 1982. For almost 40 years Civil Rights Defenders has worked on defending people’s civil and political rights. We partner with and support human rights defenders who work in some of the world’s most repressive regions across four continents. We expand the space for human rights defenders by improving the security and capacity of our partners and by increasing awareness and accountability in relation to civil and political rights. Through advocacy, litigation, and public campaigns, we advance people’s rights in countries where respect for human rights is at its weakest.
Civil Rights Defenders’ impact statement in the current Strategy for 2020-2022 is: Expanded space for human rights defenders, by improving security and capacity of our partners, and by increasing awareness and accountability in relation to civil and political rights. Civil Rights Defenders’ SPO Program Goal is based on its organisational Theory of Change and Strategy 2020-2022. The SPO Program Goal is: Contribute to strengthened global, regional and national human rights movements through security, capacity, advocacy and awareness to alter oppressive power structures to ensure that authorities are held accountable in respecting democracy and human rights.
Evaluation object and scope
The scope of the evaluation is to review and assess Civil Rights Defender’s organisational changes and the development of new ways of working, and the implementation of Civil Rights Defenders Strategy 2020-2022 so far. The purpose of the evaluation is to support Civil Rights Defenders in assessing
i) how it is progressing in terms of organisational development (e.g., strengthening human resources, development of routines and structures) and ii) implementation of its current Strategy. The evaluation will provide useful input for Civil Rights Defenders at the organisational level as Civil Rights Defenders continues the development of its new strategy (2023-onwards) and future SPO programming.
Evaluation assignment and questions
The evaluation shall conform to OECD/DAC’s Quality Standards for Development Evaluation. The evaluation questions will be finalised upon discussion with the consultants during the inception phase.
Relevance:
- To what extent are Civil Rights Defenders organisational developments and new ways of working relevant for helping contribute to the implementation of the current Civil Rights Defenders Strategy?
Impact:
- What is the overall impact of the organisational changes and developments so far? What are the intended and unintended, positive and negative, outcomes and/or impacts of these changes and developments?
Effectiveness:
- To what extent is the current Civil Rights Defenders Strategy and the re-organisation of Civil Rights Defenders on track to being realised? What factors may be limiting or contributing to this? What key lessons and recommendations can be taken into account in order to improve effectiveness?
Sustainability:
- Is it likely that the outcomes of the progress made so far are sustainable? What can be done by Civil Rights Defenders to improve the sustainability of the organisational changes and for future programming?
Time schedule and deliverables
The evaluation is planned to be carried out between April and June 2022. The timing of interviews, meetings, etc will be agreed upon with the evaluator in dialogue with Civil Rights Defenders.
The evaluator is expected to produce the following deliverables:
- An Inception Report of no more than 10 pages, including approved evaluation questions, methodology, work plan/schedule.
- Draft Evaluation Report of no more than 30 pages (excluding annexes). The draft report will be reviewed by and finalised with approval from Civil Rights Defenders. The report is expected to include:
- Table of contents; abbreviations/acronyms page
- Executive summary with a list of recommendations
- Introduction
- Evaluation methodology – noting evidence sources and limitations
- Findings in relation to agreed evaluation questions
- Overall conclusions and recommendations for both Civil Rights Defenders and Sida, which are concrete and actionable for improvement over the remaining duration of the program.
- Annexes, including a list of documents reviewed, consultations minutes, reports from interviews/meetings, etc.
- Final Evaluation Report, addressing any feedback from Civil Rights Defenders. The final report must be proofread and presented in a way that enables publication without further editing.
- Upon completion, the consultant must be available to present the final evaluation findings to Civil Rights Defenders.
All reports are to be submitted in digital form (in both Word and PDF versions).
Qualifications and tender process
Evaluator Qualifications
The evaluation will be carried out by a suitably qualified, independent, and experienced consultant. The competency profile of the successful consultant will include (as selection criteria):
Essential:
- Academic degree in relevant area(s)
- Strong track record in undertaking evaluations at an organisational level and of organisations of Civil Rights Defenders’ size and scope.
- Experience and understanding of civil society approaches to international development and advocacy work
- A solid understanding of evaluation methods; experience of theory of change, qualitative and participatory methods, and mixed methods approaches
- Experience in facilitating organisations to strengthen their capacity and improve relevance and effectiveness
- Excellent interpersonal and strong communication skills, in both written and verbal English. Swedish is not required but is a merit.
Desirable:
- Demonstrable experience, sound understanding, and/or technical expertise in human rights and democracy issues
Tender Process
Maximum budget of SEK 300 000 (inclusive of VAT, travel expenses, and any other fees/costs necessary to deliver the assignment outlined in this ToR).
To apply, please send the following by 20 April, 2022, to Gabrielle Gunneberg at gabrielle.gunneberg@Civil Rights Defenders.org
- Brief (max 4 pages) Curriculum Vitae (CV).
- Cover letter – indicating relevant experience and knowledge and how the consultant meets the experience and knowledge requirements.
- Workplan (max 6 pages) including proposed methodology to answer evaluation questions, schedule/work plan, timeline, and proposed budget in SEK (including all costs).
- Two professional references who can comment on the experience and suitability of the consultant (including one from a previous client/assignment).
- At least one, and if possible two, similar completed evaluation reports.
For questions about the assignment and terms of reference, contact Gabrielle Gunneberg, Global Programme Director, at gabrielle.gunneberg@Civil Rights Defenders.org.
Selection Process
The consultant will be selected by the Civil Rights Defenders steering group following Civil Rights Defenders Procurement Guidelines. Tenders will be reviewed according to the above selection criteria including qualifications, the suitability of the proposed approach and value for money.
More information: Terms of Reference Evaluation of Civil Rights Defenders 2022
