Eurasia Partnership Foundation (EPF) has accumulated 18 yearsof experience in programimplementation,grantmaking,and cooperationwith the Armeniancivilsociety. EPF has shaped a unique portfolio of services to position itself as a ‘think and do’ tank with expertise lying in the nexus of project design and management, network building and consortium management, civil society capacity building, policy research and advocacy, alternative content development, and peace building. EPF’srecentexperienceincludesengagingandempoweringyouth, promotingfundamentalfreedoms suchasFreedomof ExpressionandFreedomof Information, supporting independent media and new media practitioners, advancing European integration and religious tolerance, addressing corruption and conflict of interest, building confidence across the Armenia-Azerbaijan and Armenia-Turkey divides, and building local capacity for evidence-based research and policy advocacy.

Overview

At present, EPF, in a Consortium with Caucasus Research Resource Center (CRRC), Media Initiatives Center (MIC), Goris Press Club (GPC), Support for Noyemberyan NGO (SN), and Martuni Women Community Council (MWCC), is implementing the “CSO DePo: CSO Development Program” (hereinafter, the Program) under USAID’s Development Grants Program (DGP).  The Program started in June 2014, and it will be implemented through May 2019. 

The “CSO DePo: CSO Development Program” fosters sustainable civil society development through strengthening the capacity of CSOs as critical actors to advance and oversee reform, improve services and contribute to the development of more effective governance in the economic, democratic, health and social spheres.

 The goal of the Program is to expand the pool of strong local CSOs by delivering capacity strengthening services so they may become a) successful actors in building a ‘more engaged, prosperous and well-governed Armenian society’ and b) successful potential partners for USAID/Armenia. The objectives are: a) to make CSOs more sustainable; and b) to increase the involved CSOs’ capacities to better deliver services and advocate and monitor reforms in governance, economy, and public health. As a result, the direct participants will become business-oriented and sustainable intermediary providers and capacity developers, at least 70% of beneficiaries will show steady improvement in organizational capacity and sustainable development, at least two models for CSO sustainability will prove successful, and civil society support actors will be ready and able to support CSOs. 

The Program will be implemented in several stages. First, the Consortium will develop a special Armenia-tailored CSO Capacity Measurement Tool. The Consortium will then proceed with building its own capacities and conducting a CSO Comprehensive Market Assessment, which will result in the elaboration of several CSO sustainability models to be offered to beneficiary CSOs. At the next stages, the Consortium will establish a CSO Management School that will become a hub of support to civil society. The School will offer trainings on project management, organizational development, business planning, advocacy, gender mainstreaming, service provision, and other needed skills. The School will be strengthened by a Civil Society Portal (CSO Portal) that will offer up-to-date tools and information on CSO development and funding opportunities. In parallel to the CSO Portal, the School will establish a CSO Multimedia Solutions facility to facilitate effective communication among CSOs and between CSOs and other stakeholders. The Consortium expects that over the five years, up to 160 CSOs will undergo training, either in-person or on-line. At the next stage, trainings for trainers will take place, and new generations of trainers will graduate. The most advanced CSOs will be invited to bid for accompanied grants to support their capacity development.

An Opportunity to Join the CSO Pool of Experts

EPF invites trainers and consultants in CSO capacity building to join the Program’s Pool of Experts. The selected specialists with be engaged in the works of the CSO Management School in the capacity of trainers and ToT trainers, consultants, and mentors throughout the course of the Program.   

The selected experts will be expected to perform their work in Yerevan and in the regions of Armenia.

The Program shares the principle of the openness of the outputs to a wider audience. To comply with this, the selected experts will be expected:  a) to provide relevant materials, e.g. training modules, for further use by beneficiary CSOs, as well as b) to allow EPF to record their classes to make them available through the CSO Multimedia Solutions for an unlimited use by the beneficiary CSOs within and beyond the lifetime of the Program. 

The Pool of Experts featuring contact information of each individual expert along with his/her portfolio will be highlighted in the CSO Portal, so that other CSO development actors could access the engaged specialists whenever necessary. 

Candidates should have experience in CSO capacity building, and demonstrate proven training/consultancy/mentoring experience in one of the areas in the following three categories:  

-          General:  fundraising, strategy development, project management, organizational development, CSO communications; service provision, policy writing (legal drafts), monitoring, advocacy, citizen mobilization, public participation, constructive engagement with the government, constituency building.

-          Profile-specific:   gender, environment, anti-corruption, business development, public-private partnership; etc.

Applicants are also encouraged to add to this list of topics based on their additional competencies and their knowledge of the needs of CSOs in Armenia.

Applicant Eligibility

EPF recognizes that a number of non-profit non-state institutions have valuable organizational experience in CSO capacity building; therefore the current Call is open both for individual and institutional applicants located in and outside of Armenia. 

In case of individual applicants, freelance experts, as well as experts who have an institutional affiliation are eligible to apply. 

In case of institutional applicants, non-profit, non-state institutions, as well as for-profit institutions specializing in relevant fields are eligible to apply. 

An individual applicant should meet the following criteria: 

• Advanced university degree in one of the following: Business Administration and Management, Political Science, Public Administration, Gender Studies, Social and Development Studies; Communication Studies or in any other relevant field;
• Relevant experience in CSO capacity development and/or related trainings;
• Flexibility and readiness to invest innovation and modifications in training programs, adjusted for different audiences;
• Understanding of the Armenian legal system, policies and development strategies, as well as of issues and challenges of the NGO sector in Armenia;
• Demonstrated capacity of accomplishing similar assignments in the past;
• Excellent writing and presentation skills in Armenian and/or English and/or Russian;
• Penchant for innovation;
• Strategic vision for CSO development;
• Capacity to work in Armenian and English or Russian and English.

In case the applicant is an institution, either the leader of the team should meet these criteria or the institution should have a proven record of these criteria in their organizational history.

Application Package

Applicants should submit:

-          A Letter of Interest (in either Armenian or English) with description of the experience in the field of CSO capacity building and training methodologies;

-          Training Portfolio:  sample(s) of training modules; and/or samples of training/consultancy/mentorship delivered by the applicant (the language of training modules and samples of training/consultancy/mentorship could be either Armenian or English or Russian). 

-          CV/CVs (in either Armenian or English)

Review Process and Selection

The submission is open from August 20 to December 20, 2014. Applications should be submitted to the following e-mail address: [email protected]  (with a CSO DePo Pool of Experts in the subject line).

Shortlisted applicants will be invited for an interview. Successful applicants will be notified and assigned tasks and negotiated engagements as the need arises starting from early 2015 through spring 2019. 

This Call for Letters of Interest (CoI) is issued within the frames of the CSO DePo: CSO Development Program, which is made possible by the generous support of the American People through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents of this ToR are the sole responsibility of Eurasia Partnership Foundation, and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.