Individual strategic advocacy support

About the project:

This assignment is part of the project “Eastern Partnership – COVID-19 Solidarity Programme”, funded by the European Union and implemented by People in Need. The project aims to support Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and contribute towards longer-term socio-economic resilience of vulnerable groups. Within this project both well established and grassroots CSOs receive support from People in Need Moldova.

The project is divided in two phases. First phase which is finishing this summer, is focused on service delivery and operational capacity of the CSOs. It aims at mitigation of short to medium-term negative impact of COVID-19. Within the first phase, 4 Calls for Proposals have been launched, and 11 grantees have been funded with several more to be selected through the grassroots call. The second phase focuses on the barriers that prevent the vulnerable population from exercising their rights and contribute to the resilience of the CSO sector. One of the key elements of this phase is building advocacy capacity and creation of advocacy strategies for 6 CSOs. This phase has been launched on July 16, with a Call for Partnerships which aims at identifying CSOs to advocate for the improvement of services and policies intended at mitigating the negative impact of COVID-19 on psychological well-being of people.

The identified CSOs will focus on one or several targeted groups: youth, people with disabilities, vulnerable households including elderly women and men. The CSOs will be selected by an evaluation committee based on the written application and the interview.

Main objective:

People in Need Moldova is looking for two skilled Trainer(s)/Experts(s) to facilitate a development of advocacy strategy with CSOs and provide them with coaching support at the beginning of its implementation. The advocacy strategy will be prepared during a participatory workshop (2 days and 1 day follow-up session), the coaches are as well expected to deliver ad hoc practical coaching support in an amount of 2 to 8 hours a month per each organization in the period of 12 months. The organizations will also receive financial support (up to 4,000 EUR) to implement their advocacy strategies.

The delivery of the workshop, a follow-up session, facilitation of the development of advocacy strategies and on-the-job training will be offered in total to 6 grassroots and well established CSOs. The advocacy strategy should be developed in a participatory manner with the involvement of the CSO.

Each trainer will provide the workshop and other activities for 3 CSOs. A 2 days workshop, 1 follow-up day for each organization, and on-the-job training throughout the year should be delivered, the number of hours will be discussed with the selected candidates. Planned duration of the workshop is indicated in working days (1 day = 8 hours, 50% of planned workshop time will be added to workshop preparation which is also applicable for the follow-up day). The workshop would preferably take place offline, depending on the restrictions at the time they can also take place online.

Workshops could be delivered in Romanian and potentially Russian if there are representatives of the CSOs who possess only Russian language skills.

Both individuals and legal entities can apply for this call.

Responsibilities:

The expert will be responsible for:

• Designing of the participatory advocacy strategy planning workshop (2 days session and 1 day follow-up session) of 3 civil society organizations based on information from self-assessment of CSOs, with close cooperation with PIN project team:
  • Advocacy strategies should contain: defining advocacy goals, objectives, target audiences, advocacy approach, risks, messages and plan of concrete activities for 12 months.
• Delivery of the above-mentioned workshop in cooperation with PIN project team in period of September to December 2021. The follow-up coaching sessions should be delivered through the period of 12 months.
• Submit deliverables in a timely manner:
  • Brief capacity building module description.
  • Workshop agenda.
  • Support materials (including any presentations, worksheets).
  • Photos/screenshots from the training sessions.
  • List of participants.
  • Outline of recommendations for follow-up.

Remuneration:

The total available budget per expert is projected at the amount of 150 EUR (including all the taxes and social/medical contributions) per working day (including preparation for workshop, workshop delivery and coaching support).

Qualifications and expertise required:

• Extensive experience in advocacy and campaigning work.
• Experience with advocacy strategy planning and process of preparation of advocacy strategy.
• Experience in leading and facilitation of participatory workshops and trainings.
• Fluent in Romanian and preferably Russian. English is an asset.
• Ability to perform tasks and fulfil responsibilities within the fixed time-frames.
• Proven communication and collaboration skills, openness to learning new things.
• Experience with coaching, mentoring and consultancy considered as advantage.
• Knowledge of Moldova civil society environment, as well as political environment considered as advantage.

Application:

Interested individuals are encouraged to submit a file containing:

1. CV indicating the expected qualification.
2. A brief concept of the participatory advocacy strategy planning workshop matching the indicated requirements.
3. Availability to commit for 12 months.
4. 2 references related to leading similar type of workshops/trainings.

The decision-making process:

Applications will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

• Demonstrated advocacy and facilitation experience of the coach.
• The quality of the proposed concept.

Application package to be submitted in electronic version to concurs.moldova@peopleinneed.cz with Individual Strategic Advocacy Support – name of the organisation/individual in the subject line. Questions can be submitted to the abovementioned email until August 12.

Deadline: September 3, 2021

Only short-listed applicants will be contacted.