Issue date: 10 September 2020
Proposal submission deadline: 25 September 2020
Title: Evaluation of Resonant Voices Initiative in the EU
The Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA) is seeking to contract an experienced evaluator to carry out an evaluation of the soon-to-be completed project funded by the European Union’s Internal Security Fund – Police, under the call ISFP-2017-AG-CSEP. The evaluation is expected to provide an overall assessment of the project’s methodology and its results, and future direction recommendations relevant for the project Consortium and the donor.
Background:
The Resonant Voices Initiative in the EU (RVI EU) is an online campaign intended to counter radicalization and polarization in the European Union.
The target audience of the campaign are the online communities of the Western Balkans diaspora in Austria and Germany, as well as different communities in Croatia.
It is implemented by the Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA), Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN), and Propulsion Fund (PF), as part of the Civil Society Empowerment Program (CSEP) under the EU Internet Forum.
Scope of work:
Using data collected through the lifecycle of the project by the RVI assessment team and interviews with Consortium representatives, the evaluation will examine the effects the RVI EU campaign on the target audience as well as the extent to which the project contributed to the advancement of methodologies and practices in the field of radicalization counternarratives.
The final evaluation report should present a concise and accessible analysis of the project’s ability to deliver on its objectives, deepening insight into assumptions and approaches underpinning the project, and provide recommendations based on these findings.
The evaluation should primarily provide answers to these two questions:
– Was the overall concept of the campaign and methodologies applied in its design, implementation, and evaluation appropriate and effective, and did the project meaningfully contribute to its stated objectives?
– To what extent did the outputs and deliverables of the project contribute to the expected outcomes and deliverables of the ISFP-2017-AG-CSEP Call?
Campaign Objectives:
– Expose and challenge terrorist and extremist online propaganda;
– Provide the target audience with credible alternatives and positive narratives;
– Address push and pull factors of terrorist and extremist content online;
– Actively contribute to promoting tolerance and EU/democratic fundamental rights and values.
Program Outcomes:
– Behaviour change:
dissuading target audience from promoting terrorism and violent extremism and/or using violence; growing civic engagement and taking active stance in democratic processes by target audiences;
– Enhancing (digital) resilience and critical thinking of the target audience against terrorist and extremist propaganda on-and offline;
– Halting radicalization and recruitment processes.
Project Deliverables:
– Online communication campaign developing an alternative or counter narrative for a well-defined target audience that is vulnerable to radicalisation, combined, where appropriate, with off-line activities designed to maximise the impact of the campaign;
– A quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the reach and impact of the campaign, accompanied by a set of lessons learned and good practices for future similar campaigns, to be shared amongst the CSEP and RAN network.
Specific tasks, deliverables, and timelines:
1. Review of project documentation – 2 days
2. Analysis of campaign materials and data collected as part of audience research, and campaign monitoring and evaluation – 5 days
3. Interviews with key project members representing all consortium member organisations – 3 days
4. Preparation of written final evaluation report, summarizing overall campaign’s performance and results – 5 days
Selection criteria:
1. Quality and innovativeness – proposals should demonstrate nuanced understanding of audience effects in the context of communication campaigns countering hate, misinformation and extremist propaganda.
2. Policy relevance – proposals should demonstrate how they will address the evidence needs and priorities of the donor, and other policy makers and stakeholders and discuss their approach to informing future programme and policy decision-making.
3. Qualifications and experience of the evaluator/evaluation team.
4. Ability to deliver the evaluation within the timelines indicated.
5. Value for money.
Desirable Qualifications and Experience:
● Proficiency using qualitative and quantitative research methods;
● Experience conducting evaluation of EU funded projects;
● Knowledge of EU policy framework pertaining to security, countering hate speech, terrorist propaganda, and misinformation online;
● Ability to produce compelling reports supported by rigorous analysis.
Terms and Conditions:
This is a short-term assignment estimated at 20 working days in the period from 1 October to 25 October 2020.
Indicatively, CIJA has set aside a maximum amount of 4,000 EUR for the external evaluation services.
Applications:
All applications must include:
1. Technical proposal not exceeding three pages describing the proposed approach, including an operational work plan with timelines;
2. Itemised budget specifying expert fees and other direct costs;
3. CV or CVs of key team members, including their responsibilities in the project;
4. Examples of previous work (if publicly available). Alternatively, a short description of similar services performed in the past can be provided.
Contact details:
The applications should be submitted via email to hr@cijaus.org by 25 September 2020, midnight CET, with the RfP title in the subject heading.
All inquiries should be sent to the same address.
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