TERMS OF REFERENCE (ToR) for CARDʼs STRATEGIC PLAN REVIEW (2026-2030)

Introduction

Center for the Advancement of Rights and Democracy (CARD) is a board-led, for not profit organization registered in Ethiopia under the revised Civil Societies Law 1113/2019 with registry number 4307. CARD acquired its legal personality on 24 July 2019, aspiring to see Ethiopia where human rights are respected and democratic culture flourished. CARD has been working with a mission of advancing a conducive civic, media, and digital space to the respect of human rights and the promotion of democratic culture.

CARD’s strategic plan for 2022-2026 clearly outlines our values, vision, mission, and strategic goals, setting a strong direction for the organization and guiding the implementation of our pillar programs. However, due to current internal and external dynamics, including the need to streamline program development with evolving strategies and recent leadership changes, a revision of this strategic plan document is necessary

Objectives of the Consultancy

The main objective of this ToR is to guide the development of a new strategic framework document for CARD, revising the existing one, and taking into account the current internal and external operating environment in order to enhance CARD’s effectiveness and sustainability in the areas that the organization is mandated to operate. CARD would like to engage a qualified consultant/consultancy firm to undertake this strategic planning revision exercise. At the end of this consultancy, we expect that CARD will adopt a revised strategic framework document, building on the achievements brought forward as part of the implementation of 2022-2026 Strategic Plan and cognizant of its ever-changing operating environment.

Scope of Assignment

To achieve the above stated objective, the consultant will review and guide CARD in:

• Clearly elaborating and clarifying our Vision, Mission, Strategic areas and Objectives, including priority focus areas for the strategic period.
• Undertake a situation analysis, including a SWOT, PEA, PESTLE, Stakeholders and other relevant analysis.
• Through a combination of stakeholder engagement, external consultations and internal assessments as well as the application of appropriate tools of analysis, refine focus areas; long term priorities, strategic interventions and key result areas.
• Review the institutional capacity, organizational set-up, financial and administrative systems against The Center’s mandated objectives and the identified priorities, strategic interventions, and key result areas, KPIs and make necessary refinements, if any;
• Exploring our sustainability plan; including proposals for effective financial and human resource strategies
• Mapping our stakeholders and identifying relevant strategies to engage them to advance our stated objectives
• Conducting risk analysis and management approaches
• Undertaking a more in-depth analysis of current leadership gaps or challenges to inform recommendations for a robust organizational & leadership structure
• Propose monitoring, evaluation, learning, and reporting framework to enable effective implementation of the strategic plan
• Budgetary Cost of the strategic plan.
• Finalize Strategic Plan and submit the refined Strategic Plan

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Selection Criteria/ Required Qualifications of the Consultant

The consulting firm/team of consultants will submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) to CARD, including the following documents:

Technical and financial proposal

• Technical proposal: A concept note including the approach, methodology and work plan, flowchart and timeline of activities (maximum 4 pages).
• CV of proposed team
• Financial proposal: Detailed budget breakdown including taxes.

Detail of the organization/firm

• Organization profile with relevant experiences
• A copy of company/firm registration
• A copy of Tax clearance certificate
• VAT/PAN registration
• Audit report (latest year)
• Any other relevant documents

A suitability statement; including commitment to availability for the duration of the entire assignment