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Call for tender: Capacity building events for the project “Sustainable Perspectives for Rural Areas in Ukraine and Russia”

Background

The project “Sustainable Perspectives for Rural Areas in Ukraine and Russia” enables citizens in rural areas of selected regions in Russia and Ukraine to recognize opportunities and to develop sustainable perspectives for their rural communities. Local actors are encouraged to identify the connections between global ecological, economic, and technological developments as well as local possibilities for action to create future-compatible solutions for their own region.

To implement these processes successfully and efficiently, productive collaboration between all relevant actors is essential. Collaborative stakeholder dialogue processes are increasingly used as an important tool to ensure a high degree of ownership. However, the success of establishing a functioning cooperation platform depends on the design and structure of dialogue and consultation processes. This requires a methodological capacity, especially by the “owners of the process” to design and implement complex processes. This requires different interest groups to be properly included and integrated in such a cross-sectoral and interinstitutional context in providing sustainable perspectives for rural areas.

Objective

The objective of the trainings is to enhance the capacities of project participants through training regarding network management and stakeholder engagement skills. Particular attention needs to be paid to build capacities to implement change within the complex process and interlinkage of developing skills to use existing resources sustainably for the benefit of the community. A further aim is to empower the project's stakeholders to represent their interests (e.g. development perspectives, social security, healthy environment) in public and in front of their political decision makers, in order to gain their support. The enhanced competences will also positively contribute to designing and implementing a collaborative approach to developing and implementing sustainable perspectives for rural areas in Ukraine and Russia.

The following objectives will be met through the trainings:

  • Participants acquire knowledge and practice-oriented qualifications in order to be able to build up constructive dialogue and cooperation structures in their community contexts.
  • Participants develop change management skills within their local communities.

Terms of Reference

For two groups each a two-day capacity building online event to support sustainable prospects for rural areas in Ukraine and Russia will be carried out - the first two-day online event with a group of 12 to maximum 15 participants from Ukraine; the second two-day online event with a group of 12 to maximum 15 participants from Russia.

  • Improve the network building skills: enable participants of the training to create a viable and self-sufficient structure of communication and collaboration within the network, as well as with key stakeholders at the local level
  • Strengthen the key stakeholders’ role as focal points for change agents and regional support teams of coordinators
  • Deepen capacity to foster peer-to-peer exchange at the international and local level and communicate results within the wider stakeholder group

Outputs and Deliverables

The scope of the assignment is as follows:

       1) Pre-Engagement and Preparation

  • Background reading on the current context of cooperation in rural areas in Ukraine and Russia
  • Support in developing background information for the event (one page)
  • Development and distribution of a questionnaire to up to 30 core participants selected by the DRA (first group max. 15 participants from Ukraine, max. 15 participants from Russia)
  • If required by the participants, conduct online interviews based on the information obtained from the questionnaires with the selected actors in order to involve them and better understand their interests, roles and commitment to rural development in their region; where appropriate, integrate the results into training
  • Synthesis of survey and pre-survey results and reflection of these results to DRA

       2) Implementation of two two-day online trainings (with two groups each of 12 to maximum 15 participants).  

  • Hold a pre-training orientation meeting with DRA team, including confirmation of goals, roles, participants and technical implementation for the training
  • Two groups of 12 to maximum 15 participants will be trained in the areas of stakeholder cooperation, dialogue, methods of engagement and consensus building
  • The trainings enable the participants to jointly design and implement activities to strengthen stakeholder groups in the participating rural communities and to design processes to improve the skills of the stakeholder group.

       3) Follow-up

  • Final report about the training with an analysis of the training results and written recommendations of the participants for the use of the achieved methods
  • Individual evaluation of the groups of participants

Tasks of Trainers

  • Carry out the above tasks
  • Prepare the training sessions based on program specific needs, including a review and analysis of the project goals
  • Prepare facilitation design and all training material
  • Technical preparation of online events in cooperation with DRA
  • Organize and implement the trainings with a facilitator. The training sessions shall be based on a combination of theory, personal reflection, and practical group exercises.
  • Prepare a debriefing report with recommendations
  • Conduct training and all reporting in English or Russian and Ukrainian as an advantage (as the participants will probably only speak Russian or Ukrainian)
  • The translation is carried out by the DRA

 Requirement of Trainers

  • Proven, extensive experience in delivering stakeholder dialogue, stakeholder collaboration, and collective leadership capacity trainings. This includes practical experience in bringing together divergent interests and stakeholders to develop a shared vision and strategy
  • Proven training experience of at least two years of the lead trainer, preferably also in the EECA region
  • Proven, extensive experience in supporting diverse actors in co-designing and co-planning processes to navigate complex change, including the co-development of effective, multi-stakeholder governance structures at all levels
  • Excellent English language skills of all instructors are essential, Russian or Ukrainian is an advantage
  • Experience with the implementation of online trainings

Requirement of the Training Concept

The concept of the training sessions shall not be developed as a new product that still requires testing. The basic concept is in place and is a standard training already tested in various contexts. The training concept should be specifically tailored to the context of the EECA (Eastern European and Central Asia) region. The DRA team can brief the contractor on the current collaboration of the stakeholders.

Financial offer

We kindly ask you to offer a lump sum price (e. g. per participant), which covers all costs relevant for the assignment of the training sessions.

Organisation, translation (written or spoken) – if required –, organization of online tools will be provided for by the DRA.

All online events can be held using ZOOM or other platforms.

Timeline

The two trainings (each 2 days) will be implemented in the following weeks:

07.09.2020 – 13.09.2020

14.09.2020 – 20.09.2020

Contact person for additional questions and to submit the offers to is Olesia Moroz (olesia.moroz@austausch.org).

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