Human Rights Education Consultant – A New Generation of Human Rights Defenders

1. Project Description

The 2011 revolution in Tunisia created the political space for thousands of new NGOs to establish themselves. A decade later, only a few politically neutral human rights organizations exist in the country, and even fewer regularly produce human rights research. International human rights NGOs with offices in Tunisia have filled that gap to some extent, but the need for strong documentation by Tunisian NGOs has never been more urgent.

As the economic situation has worsened, the human rights narrative has weakened, allowing populist discourse to discredit human rights defenders. With the Kais Said’s power-grab in July 2021, growing authoritarianism, backsliding on human rights guarantees and empowerment of security services, dissenting voices are increasingly under threat.

This severe situation has also exposed the weaknesses of civil society in Tunisia on another level: some organizations have shown a lack of consistency in how they deal with human rights violations, taking positions according to political affiliations rather than human rights principles. There is an urgent need for strong independent reporting and monitoring of the human rights situation to protect human rights gains in Tunisia. Tunisian NGOs must develop the capacities to expose violations whenever they occur, including violations of economic and social rights, using the full toolkit of communications, advocacy, campaigning and legal work at a key moment in the country’s history.

This project seeks to unlock sustainable and long-term human rights progress in unstable political contexts, or even hostile environments, which is never an easy task. Isolated examples of strong human rights work are not enough to shift the general context. In MENA, capable human rights monitors and enthusiastic activists are often working individually without a collective vision and a strategy for community organising and mobilising.

Paving the way for a new generation of human rights defenders in Tunisia to hold governments and local governance bodies accountable and drive reforms through strengthening the human rights movement in Tunisia by building the capacity of human rights defenders in monitoring, documenting and reporting (MDR) and enhanced campaigning and Advocacy.

2. Aim of the Scoping

Amnesty International is looking to hire an expert consultant/s to carry out a “Mapping Exercise” in Tunisia. The assignment requires mapping and identifying active established and non-established youth activists, individuals and groups, and lawyers defending cases (individual and associations), bloggers, and different relevant networks with presence outside of the capital Tunis, and working on different human rights concerns (ESCR, FoE, political rights, Women Rights, LGBTQI++ etc.) . At least 70% of mapping should focus on non-traditional groups, NGOs, associations, networks, individuals present outside of the capital. The mapping will support advancing Amnesty International in quantitative and qualitative outcomes to feed into the kick off of AI Tunisia HRE program project” for 2023-2024.

3. Specific objectives of the assignment:

The consultant will be responsible to identify and map existing active and dynamic actors in Tunisia, their thematic focus and areas of work, and ensure an inclusive and diverse mapping of key actors identification, gender and geographic balance and representation, and relevance of actors in line with below general criteria:

1. Established organisations: Mapping of active networks, groups or individuals in terms of their thematic focus, geographic scope, how they define themselves (i.e. NGO, CBO, networks, coalitions, etc.). and their the form of legal presence (registered or not registered). The mapping should provide a holistic background overview and analysis of typology of individual actors identified and provide recommendations for Amnesty International of their needs and interests in ways of working on short and long term cooperation.
2. Non established groups: Mapping active (new) groups including individual group thematic focus and geographic scope, and how they are organised and whether they have any internal structure. Describe the key work of the group: if the group work is focused on research, what is their main research project, if activism or advocacy what is their relevant key initiative etc., and their key needs and interests, and recommendations for AI to support their initiatives.
3. Individual activists and Human Rights Defenders (HRDs)- identify individuals working on specific HR concerns including activists, lawyers and bloggers working on human rights causes. Describe their key work and relevant achievements, their needs and interests, and recommendations for AI on supporting their initiatives

Additionally, the consultant/s must ensure the below criteria are considered in their proposals methodology and tools applied and reflected in their action plan and final report.

1. Gender: Identification of above groups must ensure gender and geographic balance.
2. Mapping of HRDs who we can reach to and are interested to commit to a 2 years programs with focus on documenting human rights violations or campaigning and advocacy with maximisation of impact including and not limited to full programme participation and implementation of action plans, creation of small networks, submitting sustainability plans etc.
3. Thematic diversity: across all themes aligned with or having impact on access to human rights.
4. Minimum criteria: working towards change at a local or national level related to a human rights, even if not labelled as such.

4. Key deliverables

1. Mapping of established and non-established youth groups, individuals, bloggers, lawyers and different networks including reporting on their projects and/or activities and areas of intervention.
2. Needs assessment of potential target audience: specific areas of focus in MDR or campaigning and advocacy together with thematic areas as well as other relevant needs, for example: organisational development gaps and needs.
3. Identification of a preliminary list (database) of HRDs and youth activists (and contact details) interested in long term and sustained MDR or Campaigning and Advocacy work in Tunisia, including recommendations on capacity building needs, areas of focus, interventions and initiatives.
4. Recommendations for Amnesty International on an inclusive and diverse selection process, including developing or recommending the selection criteria. This may include the Application form, or call for participation for HRDs selection that can be agreed and discussed with team.
5. The final report should not exceed 20-25 pages, excluding annexes.
6. Participation in preliminary screening of applications.

7. Timeline Mid Jan 2023 – End of Feb 2023 (20 working days)

Key Tasks of the consultant/s –proposed methodology for consultant/s:

• Preparatory meeting with Amnesty International HRE team (1 day)
• Presentation and revision of the Methodology and tools development including i.e. online/offline survey, FGDs, KIIs, others, and operational planning (3 days)
• Desk review and production of inception report (3 days)
• Key Informants interviews: Face to face or online interviews (3 days)
• 3 focus groups with targeted groups (central, South, and North of Tunisia) (3 days)
• Data collection and analysis (3 days)
• Validation workshop with Amnesty International team and donor (1 day)
• Finalization of Mapping report findings and recommendations for Amnesty International HRE team 2023-2024 program direction, including application processes. (5 days)

Note: above proposed activities provide a general guideline on expected deliverables by the consultant/s, and your proposed methodology can include additional tools for your proposed methodology i.e. survey, online-offline tools, etc, and revised timeline.

8. Skills and Competencies

Amnesty International is looking for the services of individual consultants/consultancy firms who will work in close collaboration with Amnesty International HRE program with the following skills and competencies:

• Demonstrated knowledge and experience in the human rights ecosystem;
• Excellent knowledge of Tunisia CS and its ongoing developments;
• A good network of CSOs and socially engaged organizations and initiatives in Tunisia.
• Experience in working with youth audiences (15-20 years);
• Excellent research, interviewing, building new relations. communication and writing skills.
• Fluency in Arabic both spoken and written is a must given the nature of the assignment, and English or French is an advantage.

9. Duration

Work will start immediately after consultancy commencement and will be completed in 20 working days, and is expected to start by 15th of Feb 2023 until end of March 2023 depending on the consultant proposed methodology and approved operational plan following signing contract agreement.

10. Consultancy fees

Allocated budget amount: the overall allocated budget of this assignment is (7,000 USD gross amount). Each proposal will be evaluated based on their value of money and efficiency of proposed budget vis their narrative proposal. Indicative level of remuneration Proposed level of remuneration will be paid in two instalments as noted below:

• 1st Payment: Upon delivery of first draft report or operational plan.
• Final Payment : Upon delivery of final report including an executive summary.

11. Reporting lines

The consultant shall report directly to the HRE coordinator and the HRE project Manager and is expected to organise meetings and feedback sessions with AI team in Tunisia and the MENA region and the OSF.