Presentation of the organization
The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) is an NGO that brings together nearly 200 civil society organizations worldwide. Founded in 1922, it is committed to defending fundamental freedoms and the universality of rights as defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Independent of any government and recognized for its expertise, FIDH works to strengthen mechanisms for the protection of human rights and human rights defenders by conducting advocacy campaigns, investigating violations, and pursuing legal action. Its headquarters are in Paris, and its teams are present in Africa, Latin America, Asia, and Europe. FIDH also has delegations to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, the European Union in Brussels, the United Nations in Geneva, and the African Union in Nairobi. More information is available on its website: www.fidh.org.
Program description
Context
In the EEAC region, human rights defenders (HRDs) defending democratic values face three global challenges :
1. Russian influence, which hinders the development of democracy and is manifested, in particular, in the implementation of Russian repressive laws such as the recently adopted laws on foreign agents, anti-LGBTI+ legislation, anti-terrorist and anti-extremist legislation.
2. The fragmentation of the human rights defenders community, the lack of advocacy capacity and the deficit of young human resources.
3. Burnout, psycho-social and financial problems of human rights defenders, in addition to being criminalised and stigmatised as foreign agents or traitors of the nation or even terrorists in a context of violent negative narrative rhetoric against HRDs, especially against women and LGBTI+ defenders.
This is why this two-years project aims to bolster and expand a civil society network of HRDs for democracy in EEAC region; it ran from January 1, 2025, to December 31, 2026, was implemented in Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Belarus.
Objectives and activities
The project will contribute to bolster and expand a civil society network of HRDS for democracy in the EEAC region that are currently under strong pressure from Russia, to help them to stand up for human rights and to promote democratic values in the communities.
- The first objective is to strengthen the power to act of about 100 HRDs and pro-democracy activists in the region to enable them to unite and to amplify their voice before international protection human rights mechanisms as well as at national level in order to fight back the repressive laws used against them and their work.
- The second objective is to support and protect HRDs and human rights organisations with direct support (financial, legal and psycho-social), and to protect them when they are under threat, while at the same time promoting a positive narrative on the positive role they play as watchdog of human rights and democratic values.
In order to achieve these changes, the project is organised around four key components
of activities :
1. Peer-to-peer experience sharing and strategic reflections
2. Capacity building on advocacy and how to use the existing international inter-governmental leverages for the protection of human rights
3. Awareness raising
4. Protection and direct support to local HRDs and Human rights organisations in the region
Member organizations and partners of the program
Lead organisation: FIDH
Partners: Bir Duino (Kyrgyzstan) and The Human Rights Center (Georgia)
Target groups
The project was based on the views of FIDH member organisations from the EEAC region, taking into account their analysis of the situation and priority needs for the protection of democracy in the region.
Direct beneficiaries: HR organization will receive development grants and direct support to continue to do their work effectively and safely. Emergency grants will also be allocated to protect HRDs and groups when at risk.
The project expands the human rights community in the EEAC region, develops and improves cooperation between organisations from different countries in the region, as well as between NGOs and international bodies.
Indirect beneficiaries: The project is designed to improve the capacity of local HRDs regarding international advocacy. As a result, we expect that international bodies as duty bearers will receive more information from local civil society organisations which will help them to better understand the situation in the region and to act accordingly
Objectives of the external evaluation
The main objective of this evaluation is to provide FIDH and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland with an analysis of the project, its design, implementation, and results. It covers all activities carried out within the program. The aim is to determine the relevance and achievement of objectives, the coherence, efficiency, effectiveness, impact, and sustainability of the project.
The second objective is to collect the endline value for the following indicators:
- About 300 HRDs are united and connected with EEAC network of HRDs and with FIDH global network of HRDs organisations
- About 80% of interviewed strengthen HRDs report increased agency
- About 80% of interviewed supported HRDs report increased capacity to carr out their work effectively and safely
The evaluation must provide factual, credible, and useful information, enabling the lessons learned to be integrated into the future decision-making processes of FIDH and Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.
Criteria and search questions (max. 2 questions per criterion, 12 in total)
The evaluation will use the OECD-DAC criteria and corresponding questions. The consultant may review and revise the questions (but not the criteria) in consultation with the program team during the initial phase of the evaluation and as needed.
Relevance
The following questions need to be answered:
1. Does the project/program meet the needs of member and partner organizations? How do program beneficiaries and partners assess the relevance of the intervention strategy?
Conherence
The following questions need to be answered:
1. To what extent had the project succeeded in positioning itself in a complementary way to the other actions of FIDH member organizations in the region?
Effectiveness
The following questions need to be answered:
1. Did achieving the mid-term results lead to the realization of the project’s specific objective? What were the major factors influencing this achievement (or non-achievement)?
Efficiency
The following questions need to be answered:
1. What external and internal constraints impacted the efficiency of the project and to what extent were they mitigated?
2. Are the tools and methodologies produced internally directly replicable and optimizable?
Impact
The following questions need to be answered:
1. What were the direct and indirect impacts of the project intervention, both positive and negative?
Sustainability
The following questions need to be answered:
1. How has the knowledge generated by this project been documented and shared to inform FIDH’s overall strategy and improve future practices within the network?
1.1. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the program that can be capitalized on to ensure the continuity of activities on the ground?
Methodology
The methodological approach must be qualitative, participatory, and adapted to the specificity of human rights interventions, where probability sampling is not relevant. Data collection will rely on a strategic and intentional selection of cases and stakeholders.
Data sources and collection
The evaluation will be based on the triangulation of the following sources:
- Comprehensive document/desk review: Analysis of program documents (proposal,logical framework, activity reports, donor reports), public materials (press releases,videos, guides, analytical notes), and internal methodological documents. The consultant will receive all available documentation at the start of the assignment.
- Interviews and consultations: Conducting individual and group interviews with:
- The implementation and supervision team (International Secretariat in Paris, delegations in Geneva, Brussels, and regional offices);
- Member organizations, beneficiaries and partners of the program in the target countries.
Note: The precise list of people to be interviewed will be defined in the scoping note.
Methodological flexibility
The consultant will be required to provide a detailed methodology and work plan during the scoping phase. They will also be free to collect additional data or employ other rigorous methods to address all research questions and adapt to the specific project context. Final approval will be granted by the FIDH focal point.
Safety, Ethics and Quality Assurance
The proposed methodology must absolutely guarantee the safety of participants throughout the evaluation, as well as respect for research ethics:
- The entire assessment process must be guided by a rigorous analysis of the potential risks to the people concerned, following the "Do No Harm" principle.
- The consultant must ensure that no stage of data collection, analysis or dissemination exposes beneficiaries, partners or witnesses to reprisals, increased stigmatization or any physical, psychological or legal harm.
- Implementation of strict protocols for the physical and digital protection of witnesses and partners (systematic anonymity, secure communication channels, risk assessment before any contact), including the recruitment and training of research staff.
- Absolute confidentiality, protection of personal data, and informed consent procedures adapted to the age and abilities of the participants.
- Testing of survey, training of investigators on protection issues, and rigorous data cleaning and analysis processes.
Schedule and deliverables
This mission should start at the middle of September 2026 and must be completed no later than 15th January 2026.
Bidders must provide a detailed work plan estimating the number of working days
required for each activity. The provisional schedule of activities and expected deliverables
is presented below:
Steps (Activities) -> Associated deliverable -> Suggested deadline (To be completed by
the bidder)
1. Framing and Design
Initial document review consultation with the program team, and development of the final evaluation strategy. ->Deliverable 1: Inception Report (Detailed methodology, list of stakeholders, mission plan and schedule, collection tools) ->To be defined
2. Data Collection
In-depth literature review, interviews (on-site and/or remotely) with identified stakeholders ->No formal deliverable (production stage) -> To be defined
3. Initial Analysis and Drafting
Analysis of data according to OECD criteria and drafting of preliminary conclusions ->Deliverable 2: Provisional Evaluation Report (Full version submitted for review) ->To be defined
4. Finalization
Integration of comments from FIDH and management on the provisional report ->Deliverable 3: Final evaluation report (Final version, max 60 pages excluding annexes). Deliverable 4: Evaluation
summary and feedback -> 1 month after receiving the comments
Note: The "1 month" deadline indicated for finalization corresponds to the time allotted to FIDH
for the review and to the consultant for the integration of comments on deliverable 2 before the
submission of deliverables 3 and 4
Application process
Candidate profile(s)
- Demonstrated experience in evaluation of civil society actor consolidation programs, and experience in evaluation with the institutional donors is a strong asset;
- Excellent knowledge and proven experience in human rights issues. Experience with the global approach to promoting and protecting human rights and networking will be an asset;
- Strong knowledge of Central Asia, Georgia and Belorussian contexts
- Proven expertise in facilitating and conducting key informants interviews;
- Experiences in analyzing multi-stakeholder partnerships;
- Gender analysis experience;
- Good ability to synthesize information and excellent writing skills in English and Russian (French is a strong assets).
For obvious reasons of independence and externality of the evaluation exercise, members or employees of member organizations of the program and consultants related to it cannot participate in this call.
FIDH is committed to diversity and equality and does not discriminate in its hiring
practices. We strongly encourage and seek applications from women, people with disabilities, people of color, and members of the LGBTQI+ community. Candidates will not be discriminated against on the basis of race, religion, age, disability, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, health status, or any other characteristic protected by French law.
Budget
The budget for the external evaluation will not exceed 10 000 euros including VAT (direct and unforeseen costs included).
Terms
The external evaluation will be governed by a consultancy contract and payment will be
made in two installments:
- an initial payment upon signing the contract;
- a second one upon submission of the final evaluation report.
Coordination
The coordinator in charge of the program in Paris will be the main point of contact for the
evaluator/evaluation team throughout the evaluation process (provision of resources,
liaison with partners, schedule, focal point, etc.).
A steering committee, composed of the Deputy Director General (DGA), the Director of Operations (DOP), the MEAL manager and the relevant office manager, will also be mobilized on three key stages of the evaluation: the inception report, the analysis of preliminary results and the final report.
Application file
The lead consultant is requested to include the following elements in their application:
- CVs of deployed staff (including the field team)
- Team organizational chart (if applicable)
- Examples of previous work (maximum 10 to 20 pages) from at least two distinct projects; description of similar experience, including evaluation criteria, project details, area of intervention, and total budget
- Technical proposal including a detailed methodology and a work plan.
- A detailed financial offer.
Offers must be sent before 3rd August 2026 to nmorova@fidh.org and msimeon@fidh.org with the subject: External Evaluation EEAC_[name of the consultancy].
For any further information, you can send an email to these same addresses.
Selection procedures
The bids will be evaluated technically according to the following grid.
Point of the technical offer -> Weighting
Technical skills of deployed staff (CV, team organizational structure, experience in conducting similar final evaluation, examples of work) -> 30 points
Note on understanding the Terms of Reference ->20 points
Relevance of the methodology and work plan -> 20 points
Knowledge of human rights, the FIDH and Georgia, Central Asia and Belorussian contexts ->30 points
TOTAL 100 points
