Конкурс пропозицій для надання консультативних послуг з розробки Стратегії життєздатності громадянського суспільства України

This Request for Proposals (RFP) is a part of the USAID/ENGAGE Activity to Enhance Non-Governmental Actors and Grassroots Engagement. The purpose of USAID/ENGAGE is to increase citizen awareness of and engagement in civic activities at the national, subnational and local level.

 Since 2008, Pact has been implementing USAID’s civil society programs in Ukraine, including the USAID/ENGAGE activity, which was launched in October 2016 (www.facebook.com/usaidengage). One of ENGAGE’s main objectives is to develop local capacity to ensure long-term civic engagement in democratic reforms. In order to achieve this objective, ENGAGE will design and develop a Sustainability Strategy for continued home-grown democratic development, civil society policy advocacy, and resource mobilization, including grant-making. The Sustainability Strategy will guide the USAID/ENGAGE activity to promote durable civic engagement in democratic development.

 Overview

Financial viability is one of the greatest challenges facing Ukrainian civil society organizations (CSOs), particularly those engaged in government oversight and advocacy initiatives. Although organizations have had some success in generating funds in recent years, CSOs that aim to pressure government representatives and institutions to adhere to democratic principles and expose violations, corruption and other illegal acts are less prone to generate the level of independent resources needed to carry out their citizen engagement activities and advocating for democratic solutions with the Ukrainian government. To ensure long-term sustainability of the civil society sector, ENGAGE-related activities aim to lay the foundation for sustained civic engagement in Ukraine’s democratic reforms after the ENGAGE activity ends.

Citizen apathy and lack of understanding of basic democratic principles undermines the ability of Ukrainian CSOs to draw support from the general population[1]. The ENGAGE activity implements both formal and informal civic education activities that encourage citizens to take an active and constructive role in democratic development and fulfill their responsibilities within a democratic society. ENGAGE concentrates on ingraining the notion of citizens’ ability to influence policies and hold government accountable at all levels. By cultivating responsiveness to citizens and institutionalizing mechanisms for engagement, ENGAGE strengthens the relationships necessary to ensure that Ukrainians actively participate in advocating for and overseeing reform processes. ENGAGE helps CSOs serve as conduits in this process, worthy of citizens’ moral and financial support. Fostering these citizen/CSO linkages will help to promote long term sustainability of the sector.

Building on USAID’s 2016 Feasibility Study on a legacy advocacy mechanism in Ukraine[2], and its experience with the wider Central and Eastern European region, ENGAGE aims to develop an actionable vision for a sustainable path for Ukrainian civil society advocacy. Under the ENGAGE activity, Pact takes a systemic approach to understand sustainable civil society requirements, including robust organizational and technical capacities of CSOs and activists, dependable access to financial resources, and an enabling environment that promotes civic activism and CSO access to financial and other resources. ENGAGE combines this sustainability vision with focused investments in CSOs, resulting in a conducive ecosystem for civil society.

Pact seeks to procure the services of one or more consultant to develop the Sustainability Strategy on designing and developing local mechanism(s) for effective long-term civil society advocacy support.

The goal of this contract is to develop a systemic and actionable Strategic Sustainability Plan, implementing which would ensure long-term citizen and CSO engagement in democratic reforms at the national, regional and local levels.

Taking the USAID/UNITER Feasibility Study (http://bit.ly/2scJsev) as a starting point, the objectives of the contract are to:

• Make clear recommendations on pursing one of the financing models outlined in the UNITER Feasibility Study or alternative models;
• Present subsequent alternative business plans that offer self-sustainable models, mitigate potential risks, and maximize social return in terms of democratic development, reform advocacy, and citizen engagement;
• Include actionable steps for pursuing parallel elements of sustainability, such as local resource mobilization, private sector engagement, and supportive government policies.

Upon completion of the Sustainability Strategy, Pact will organize presentations and feedback sessions with civil society and other relevant actors to review models and recommendations in the second half of 2017.

 Tasks:

1. Conduct a review of international lessons of sustainability mechanisms, especially those of Central European countries which went through political and economic transition and have graduated from international donor funding.
2. Describe CSO advocacy and watchdogging in the European Union context.
3. Assess the feasibility of establishing a new entity that would encourage, build capacity of, and sponsor important advocacy and monitoring initiatives in the country.
4. Conduct interviews key informants, including donors, business, government, civil society organizations and coalitions.
5. Design and develop a comprehensive strategy, projecting strategic considerations including but not limited to regarding employees, customers, analysts, competitors, investors, vendors, and partners. The strategy should include consideration of potential risks and consequent mitigating approaches, as well as critical legal statutory considerations. It should present one or more business models that maximize social return in enduring democratic development, reform advocacy, and citizen engagement (see more under Illustrative Strategic Considerations).
6. Present the Strategy to Pact and USAID.
7. Present the Strategy at feedback sessions with civil society and other relevant actors.

Illustrative strategic considerations:

• What are the most successful models that demonstrated impact in long-term support of advocacy organizations?
• To what extent do existing organizations share a long-term strategic vision?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of choosing to invest in one or another model of local sustainability?
• What are the expected roles of organizations (state and/or non-state actors), and what should be their focus and strategic directions?
• Where does crucial financial and intellectual support exist for current impactful civic activists in Ukraine and internationally?
• What are the potential sources of funding for a future sustainability mechanism?
• How to ensure buy-in from local sources?

 Deliverables:

1. Written Sustainability Strategy with appropriate elements, including but not limited to return-on-investment calculation, legal/statutory considerations, risk assessment, and mitigating approaches.
2. Written annexes, as appropriate, including but not limited to international lessons learned, European practices, domestic and international lessons from impact investing and social enterprises, social return-on-investment measurements.
3. Timeline of the Strategy implementation.
4. Presentation of the Strategy in a visual (PowerPoint, Prezi, etc.) format (in English and Ukrainian).
5. Presentation of the Strategy to Pact, USAID, and peer review stakeholders (in English and Ukrainian).
6. Meeting and interview reports (in English and Ukrainian, as appropriate).

Pact seeks to obtain services of an individual, organization or business.

Required Qualifications:

• Knowledge of civil society in Central and Eastern Europe and especially the experience of graduating countries and civil society support mechanisms.
• Knowledge of innovative impact investing, entrepreneurial approaches, especially those in partnership between the U.S. Government and private entities.
• Deep understanding of USAID funding approaches and especially USAID Forward / Local Capacity Development initiative.
• Excellent analytical and writing skills.
• Experience in assisting strategic decisions of international donors, preferably USAID.

 Evaluation criteria

Each proposal will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

• Demonstrated knowledge of civil society in Central and Eastern Europe. (10 points)
• Demonstrated knowledge of modern day resource mobilization. (25 points)
• Proven experience in research around civil society and organizational sustainability. (15 points)
• Proposed methodology, approach, timeline and outputs. (45 points)
• Institutional references. (10 points)
• Reasonableness of the cost proposal. (45 points)

 Proposals must include:

• Technical overview with proposed methodology, draft workplan, expected timeline, and previous experience of organization.
• Composition of expert team and their CVs with relevant experience.
• Cost proposal with detailed figures. Maximum billable LOE: 45 days. Daily rate: should not exceed the USG maximum consultant daily rate, and to be accompanied by supporting documentation. The budget form is downloadable from ly/RFPsSupportingDocuments.

Timeline:

All activities, including the production of the final report, are expected to start in August 2017 and to be completed by mid-September 2017. Presentations and stakeholder peer review is expected on or around the second half of September 2017. The final timeline will be approved with the workplan of the assessment.

 Important Notices:

• Proposals must be submitted in English.
• Bidders will be notified of the status of their application in writing by e-mail.
• Decisions are final and cannot be subject to reconsideration.
• Submitted proposals cannot be returned or reviewed.

 Schedule and Logistics:

Pact Ukraine will be responsible for identifying, managing and overseeing the evaluation consultant(s), as well as for organizing in-country background materials, meetings, interviews, briefings, and travel arrangements.

Deadline for proposal submission is July 21, 2017, 12:00. Submit proposals by e-mail to [email protected] with the subject: “RFP for Sustainability Strategy.”

Questions

Questions regarding this RFP may be sent to [email protected] no later than July 14, 17:00, with the subject: “Questions re: RFP for Sustainability Strategy.” Pact has no obligation to provide clarifications to questions received after this date. Replies will be provided by July 18, 18:00. To ensure fairness and transparency of the selection process, Pact cannot give a prior opinion on proposals. No individual replies will be given to questions. All questions and answers as well as other important notices during the selection process will be sent to all bidders who submitted questions, as appropriate, and announced on USAID/ENGAGE Facebook page www.facebook.com/usaidengage.

Find more information here.

[1] “Trust in Social Institutions and Social Groups” http://kiis.com.ua/?lang=eng&cat=reports&id=579

[2] “Feasibility study on a legacy advocacy mechanism in Ukraine” http://bit.ly/2scJsev