81306980 - Technical support to Team Europe Democracy (TED) Initiative

The contractor contributes to the overall implementation of Output 3. This output aims to facilitate and provide technical expertise for joint efforts by EU Delegations and Member States in selected partner countries. The contractor is required to deliver on three work packages: (I) the first work package provides advisory services in the field of promotion and protection of democracy and democratic governance, rule of law and accountability, civic and political participation, media freedom and digital democracy based on expertise needs and demands of EU Delegations and Member States in partner countries. With the fast-changing political contexts in partner countries, the activities from this work package are intended to provide a flexible, timely response to the needs of the EU Delegations. In responding to the requests for support from EU Delegations, the experts will support the EU Delegations and EU Member States in operationalising and/or developing joint democracy efforts, with the aim of strengthening the coordination and complementarity of European interventions for democracy support. Additionally, and as part of the implementation of the support activities, the experts also undertake a substantial scoping for opportunities for sustained engagement to improve the coordination and coherence of EU democracy support interventions in the partner country. A total of six in-country missions shall be conducted within the assignment term in countries that have identified democratic governance as a priority for action under their MIPs and/or that intend to work on democracy support through a Team Europe approach, and that have requested TED"s support. At the point of publishing these ToRs, the list of countries pre-selected include Armenia, Brazil, Colombia, Ethiopia, Gambia, Georgia, Jordan, Kenya, Malawi, Moldova, Mongolia, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Sudan, Togo, Zambia. Please note that this list of countries is only referential and may be subject to change. (II) the second work package provides support products and services in the field of promotion and protection of democracy and democratic governance, rule of law and accountability, civic and political participation, media freedom and digital democracy, based on the needs of TED stakeholders. The activities included within this work package aim to strengthen the cooperation and coherence among, and foster a better understanding of, EU and MS actions in partner countries in support of democracy. While the activities may involve specific technical support, the provision of this work package aims at strategically improving the coordination of EU and MS democracy support measures in the country. Taking into consideration the findings gathered during in-country missions as well as research developed by the complementary project "Supporting Team Europe Democracy - Strengthening democracy evidence and communication around the Summit for Democracy" (STED), implemented by IDEA and partners, and other relevant institutions of the TED Network and/or worldwide, in this work package the contractor is expected to provide EU Delegations and member states with support products and services that help them better develop and deliver joint complementary actions to support democracy in selected partner countries. This will help EUDs to better cooperate with Member States representatives in the field, facilitating the rapid development of joint (EU-MS) actions in the framework of TED. A total of 4 support products shall be provided within this work package. For the elaboration of each support product, up to 2 in-country missions may be conducted. Up to two (2) experts shall be assigned and deployed per mission (ideally, one expert per pool). (III) the third work package provides Technical and methodological advice for TED long-term engagement in partner countries. Whereas work packages 1 and 2 focus on the achievement of specific indicators (3.3 and 3.4), this work package sets the focus on delivering methodological advice to the TED Secretariat and the EUD in the further development and implementation of strategies and measures to support TED long-term engagement in partner countries. The contractor, in close collaboration with the TED Secretariat, will develop strategies for ensuring long-term engagement in selected partner countries, including identifying and elaborating roadmap with clear milestones for EU and MS interventions for strengthening democratic governance. The strategies will offer concrete recommendations of feeding evidence into practice and vice versa. Within its technical proposal, the tenderer is expected to present two pools of experts: one pool of short-term international experts, and another pool of short-term national experts.