EED’s Statutes require EED to undertake an external evaluation of the Endowment and its activities at least every five years. The external evaluations of EED are commissioned by the EED Secretariat, conducted by an external party, and approved by the Board of Governors, based on a recommendation of the Executive Committee. In line with good practice, EED has decided to establish an Advisory Group for the 2025 Evaluation, which advises the EED Secretariat and Executive Committee throughout the evaluation process in order to strengthen the credibility, quality and independence of the evaluation.
The 2025 Evaluation is to build upon the previous evaluations. Following the advice of the Advisory Group, the evaluation is not to provide a broad assessment of EED’s work based on the OECD-DAC evaluation criteria, but instead to explore several key questions in depth. More specifically, the evaluation is to address the following key questions:
- What have been the main and most important results achieved with EED’s support? What has been the biggest impact of EED’s work? How can “success” be defined in the different contexts in which EED operates (e.g. using V-DEM’s typology of regimes: closed autocracy, electoral autocracy, autocratic grey zone, democratic grey zone etc.)? Does EED’s risk-taking approach pay off?
- To what extent has EED been able to effectively adapt and respond to the changing circumstances (e.g. democratic backsliding, violent conflict/war), and changing needs for support, in the countries of its operations? To what extent has EED seized “windows of opportunity” linked to important political events in the last five years?
- To what extent are EED’s grant selection, oversight, and support modalities fit for purpose, taking into account the significant changes in the context in which it operates (e.g. evolving geopolitical context, increased risks in sensitive and highly repressive environments)?
- To what extent has EED been able to complement other donor support, and avoid duplication? What was EED’s added value compared to other donor support? Do other donors build/follow-up on EED’s support (e.g. do other donors regularly take over support for certain groups after an initial EED grant)?
- To what extent has EED been able to safeguard the security of its grantees?
- Is EED’s support (too) scattered? Would it be beneficial for EED to focus its support more on specific areas/topics/types of support?
- To what extent have the recommendations of previous evaluations (especially the 2020 Evaluation) been accepted and institutionalised?
The evaluation will cover the period between January 2020 - December 2024.
The process is outlined in the enclosed Invitation for Expressions of Interest.
Interested consultant(s) should electronically submit an Expression of Interest to: secretariat@democracyendowment.eu. The Subject line of your application should be “2025 Evaluation”.
The Expression of Interest should include:
- A brief motivation letter – please highlight relevant expertise and experience and explain your interest in this evaluation
- CV’s of the proposed members of the Evaluation Team
- Overview of the organisation’s relevant track-record (if applicable)
- Examples (executive summaries) of recent evaluations conducted
- Daily rates of the proposed evaluation team members
The deadline for the submission of the expression of interest is 14 February 2025.
The Expression of Interests are reviewed by the EED Secretariat, which will identify around five candidates who will be invited to submit a full proposal (responding to detailed Terms of Reference), by 7 March 2025. Please note that only successful applicants will be contacted.
