Background and Purpose

IM Swedish Development Partner (IM) is an international non-governmental organisation based in Lund, Sweden, working for social and economic justice and strengthened civil society. IM operates through partnerships in Guatemala, Malawi, Moldova, Palestine and Ukraine.

IM has developed the Progress Tracker, a tool used to collect qualitative and quantitative data directly from rightsholders about changes in their lives and communities.

PROGRESS TRACKER
The Progress Tracker, developed by IM, uses a mixed methods approach to reduce research bias. Unlike traditional questionnaires, the Progress Tracker takes an indirect approach. Participants are first prompted to share a story about a recent experience, then respond to a series of pre-set follow-up questions.

A key feature of the Progress Tracker is its flexibility. Participants are encouraged to share any relevant experiences, fostering a wide range of replies. This approach helps avoid the common issue of participants telling researchers what they think they want to hear.

Purpose of the Assignment

IM seeks to procure a facilitator in Moldova for the period 2026–2028 to collect rightsholders’ experiences using the Progress Tracker tool 1–2 collection rounds per year.

This Terms of Reference forms the basis for a framework agreement, under which facilitators will be engaged per 1-2 data collection round. Collection rounds are scheduled based on the consultant's and partner organization's availability, without fixed dates.  

Scope of Work and Timeline

For each data collection round (“term”), the facilitator will:

• Collect 70 rightsholders’ stories per collection round. This is done by conducting face-to-face or hybrid micro-interviews (approx. 20 minutes each).
• Use IM’s Progress Tracker digital tool to record all responses. This will be done using the language of the respondents.
• Coordinate closely with IM’s partner organisation to ensure a representative selection of rightsholders.
• The timeline for the collection of stories will be decided mutually by IM and the chosen facilitator.

Methodology – Progress Tracker

The Progress Tracker uses an indirect, mixed-methods approach:

• Participants first share a recent experience and how it could be improved.
• The respondents then get follow-up questions where they tag their stories using different scales.
• The open-ended format reduces bias and encourages authentic perspectives.

Roles and Responsibilities

The facilitator will:

• Participate in a mandatory 2-hour online training on the Progress Tracker
• Coordinate logistics and scheduling of interviews
• Ensure informed consent and ethical interviewing practices
• Enter all data accurately into the Progress Tracker
• Provide regular progress updates to IM
• Submit all stories by the agreed deadline for each term.

Criteria for facilitator

• Able to build trust swiftly with rightsholders so that they feel comfortable to open about their personal experiences.
• Able to conduct interviews and collect stories in a manner that is more open-ended for participants to freely choose what stories and answers to give.
• Should be able to fill in digital surveys or download and use survey applications to pick up the use of the Progress tracker tool.
• Proven experience in interviewing individuals from vulnerable and marginalized groups (youth, PWDs, young, marginalized girls, etc.)
• Upholds the principle of non-discrimination in the work that they do, especially in relation to interviewing vulnerable and marginalized groups.
• Local language proficiency (Romanian).

Roles and responsibilities of facilitator

• Attend the Progress tracker Facilitator Training.
• Communicate and facilitate with IM’s selected partner organization the representative selection of at least 70 rightsholders per term whose contact information should be collected.
• Set up interviews with the selected rightsholders to collect stories. Facilitators are expected to explain to participants the purpose of the interview, the questions and how they can provide their answers in the geometric shapes; and to fill in participants’ answers into the Progress Tracker.
• Keep IM and partner organization updated on the progress of collecting stories.
• Submit stories from at least 70 rightsholders per term.

Ethical Standards and Data Protection

• All participation must be voluntary and based on informed consent
• Confidentiality must be always respected
• All data collected is the property of IM and may not be stored or shared by the facilitator
• Facilitators must adhere to IM’s safeguarding and Do No Harm principles and Protection against sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment guidelines.

Working hours

The number of hours/days will be determined depending on the logistics and travels. These following time frames could be used as input to the discussion.  

• Training and preparation - 6 hours.
• Interviews (3-5 days) – each interview should take around 20 minutes per interview. At least 70 stories per term should be collected. This may also include the additional time needed to input answers into the database depending on the facilitator’s method of capturing the data.

Selection Criteria

Facilitators will be assessed based on:

• Relevant experience and competence
• Quality and clarity of the proposed approach
• Financial offer
• Local language and contextual knowledge
• Familiarity working with IM and Progress Tracker is considered an advantage.

How to apply

Financial Offer and Submission

Interested facilitators are invited to submit:

• A brief CV detailing your qualifications and the intended set-up of the data gathering.
• A financial offer (in EUR) which indicates your hourly rate excluding VAT. Fees related to travel and logistic costs necessary for the execution of the task will be paid by IM, however these will be detailed later and covered separately. A fixed fee of 10 EUR will be paid for the time it takes to travel between different locations.
• A statement of availability throughout the duration of the evaluation.

Please contact Andreas Ulfsax at andreas.ulfsax@imsweden.org if you have any questions. Final proposals should be submitted by June 10, 2026 to olga.canaly@imsweden.org.  

The final decision will be communicated by the end of June 19 at the latest.