Background:
The Democratic Governance Project (Project), spearheaded by the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovinaโs (Mission) Human Dimension Department (HDD), operates within a politically fragile environment marked by institutional dysfunction, clientelism, and corruption. The Project seeks to address issues such as political gridlock, ethnic division, and systemic corruption. Through strategic interventions in political dialogue, good governance, anti-corruption measures, and community-level social cohesion, the Project aims to foster democratic stability, transparency, accountability, and efficiency across government structures.
Since 2020, the Project has implemented strategic interventions focused on improving governance practices, enhancing inter-institutional co-operation, and strengthening stakeholder engagement. Through these efforts, the Project has supported the development of reform-oriented policies, bolstered mechanisms for transparency, accountability, and citizen participation, and promoted social cohesion initiatives.
The Project does this by:
- supporting efforts to strengthen executive and legislative bodies, helping them work for the benefit of citizens, ensure proper oversight, and achieve reform goals;
- helping combat corruption by supporting the creation, adoption, and promotion of anti-corruption regulations at all levels of government, ensuring their implementation, thereby establishing robust normative and institutional anti-corruption mechanisms; and
- enhancing community cohesion through the ongoing collaboration of civil society and public authorities in implementing locally developed Community Cohesion Action Plans (CCAPs).
These efforts contribute to the HDD Unified Budget objective, to promote stability and reconciliation, including by fostering improved governance systems. Namely, the Project supports democratic governance principles at all levels and focuses on ensuring that institutions are transparent, effective, responsive, and accountable to the public.
This external evaluation is pivotal in assessing the effectiveness of these efforts, identifying lessons learnt, and shaping future programming.
Objective of Assignment:
The Mission seeks to engage an international evaluation expert to conduct an independent external evaluation of the Projectโs effectiveness, relevance, sustainability, and impact, focusing on the period 2020-2024. The evaluation will examine the achievements and limitations of the Projectโs approach and suggest improvements to guide future interventions.
Duration of Assignment:
This is a consultancy assignment with an expected duration of approximate 25 working days.
Tasks and Responsibilities:
Under the direct supervision of the National Chief of Democratic Governance, and the overall supervision of the Head, Human Dimension Department, the international expert will be expected to lead in the completion of the following:
1. Conduct desk research and prepare for fieldwork during the inception phase, including:
a) Reviewing existing primary and secondary sources related to democratic governance in BiH;
b) Holding introductory meetings with the project manager and relevant Mission staff;
c) Developing evaluation methodology and a work plan; and
d) Identifying information gaps to inform the design of tools for primary data collection.
2. Submit an inception report that will include:
a) Objective and scope of the evaluation ensuring they are aligned with the resources allocated and the proposed methodology;
b) Evaluation questions;
c) Description of the proposed methodology (approach and data collection tools);
d) Key informants;
e) Organization of the evaluation;
f) Quality control for deliverables;
g) Work plan with evaluation phases and deliverables;
h) Report structure;
i) Identification of data gaps and risks;
j) Annex 1- evaluation matrix;
k) Annex 2- Draft survey/interview questions.
3. Design and carry out primary data collection, including:
a) Conducting data collection activities through interviews, focus groups, or other methods, as appropriate.
4. Analyse the collected data and assess the performance of Missionโs initiatives on democratic governance as per the agreed evaluation criteria.
5. Identify key findings, including:
a) Results achieved and progress against intended outcomes;
b) Strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement in programming and implementation.
6. Deliver a presentation of preliminary findings to the Missionโs senior staff.
7. Formulate actionable recommendations for future Democratic Governance Section programming with suggested timeline for their implementation, including:
a) Suggestions for new or adjusted activities for the near to mid-term;
b) Guidance on enhancing the effectiveness and sustainability of current efforts.
8. Prepare and submit a final evaluation report that:
a) Integrates feedback received from the Mission;
b) Provides a detailed account of methodology, findings, analysis, and recommendations.
Deliverables:
ยท Inception report โ submission within 15 days of contract start. Details of the content provided under Services/Duties.
ยท Preliminary findings presentation โ presentation of key findings and initial recommendations to the Mission for feedback and validation within 30 days of contract start. The presentation will serve to confirm data interpretation and guide final reporting.
ยท Draft final evaluation report โ submission of the final draft report within 60 days of contract start. The draft will be shared with the Mission for review and feedback. The draft evaluation report will follow the OSCE Evaluation Report template and will include all applicable sections.
ยท Final evaluation report โ submission of the final report, incorporating Mission feedback, within 90 days of contract start.
Necessary Qualifications:
- First level University degree in a relevant field [e.g, international relations, political science, public administration, social sciences, or a related field];
- Minimum seven years of professional experience in the field of delivering project/programme evaluation or impact assessments. Applicable skills include: programme evaluation research (especially in post-conflict or transitional environments), sampling, data collection and instrument development, and qualitative and quantitative data analysis;
- Proven experience in the field of democratic governance, anti-corruption, and social cohesion;
- Familiarity with gender equality, and gender and youth mainstreaming principles in context of governance and experience in conducting gender and youth analysis in evaluations;
- Familiarity with results-based management systems, and monitoring and evaluation methodologies; including experience in applying SMART (Specific; Measurable; Achievable; Relevant; Time-bound) indicators;
- Professional fluency in written and oral English;
- Excellent writing and reporting skills;
- Ability to work in close collaboration with in-country evaluation counterpart;-
- Ability to travel in BiH; and
- Familiarity with the region.
Remuneration Package:
Remuneration will be based on the selected consultant's/expert's qualifications, experience, the tasks and deliverables for this position and in accordance with the OSCE established rates.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
The applicants are encouraged to submit their financial proposals for the foreseen services, which will include:
1. A total number of days required to complete the task;
2. A total amount for a daily consultancy fee including all associated costs.
This position is open to international candidates, citizens of the OSCE participating states, only.
If you wish to apply for this position, please use the OSCE's online application link found under https://vacancies.osce.org/.
The OSCE retains the discretion to re-advertise/re-post the vacancy, to cancel the recruitment or to offer an appointment with a modified job description or for a different duration.
Only those candidates who are selected to participate in the subsequent stages of recruitment will be contacted.
The OSCE is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all religious, ethnic and social backgrounds to apply to become a part of the Organization.
Candidates should be aware that OSCE officials shall conduct themselves at all times in a manner befitting the status of an international civil servant. This includes avoiding any action which may adversely reflect on the integrity, independence and impartiality of their position and function as officials of the OSCE. The OSCE is committed to applying the highest ethical standards in carrying out its mandate. For more information on the values set out in OSCE Competency Model, please see