TERMS OF REFERENCE
ICT SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT & TECHNICAL MENTORSHIP FIRM
Project | CIVICUS Digital Democracy Initiative (DDI) – Civic Tech Lab (CTL) |
Contracting Organisation | Evidence and Methods Lab (EML) |
Assignment Period | July 2026 – July 2027 |
Reporting to | Technical Lead and Programme Manager, EML |
The Civic Tech Lab (CTL) is a programme under the CIVICUS Digital Democracy Initiative (DDI). It is designed as a scale-up accelerator rather than an incubator or seed-funding mechanism, providing structured, time-bound support to advanced civic-tech solutions to help them move from tested prototypes towards deployable and scalable public-interest infrastructure. The programme supports a cohort of up to 28 mature civic-tech solutions across six regions and seeks to strengthen their technical robustness, scalability, civic relevance and sustainability.
Evidence and Methods Lab (EML) serves as a Technical Partner to the CTL under a 12-month engagement running from July 2026 to July 2027. EML's responsibilities include co-designing and operationalising the milestone framework; defining and applying the scale-readiness rubric; conducting technical assessments; providing structured technical mentorship and capacity building; strengthening documentation and deployment pathways; and generating portfolio-level learning. EML also provides broader technical accompaniment to CIVICUS DDI focal teams.
To support the technical development and deployment of participating solutions, EML will engage a specialised ICT Systems Development & Technical Mentorship Firm to provide solution architecture review and technical design validation, independent quality assurance and system testing, system integration and deployment support, data migration and configuration support, technical mentorship and knowledge transfer, and post-deployment go-live support and stabilisation.
The firm will provide specialised systems-development expertise and hands-on technical mentorship to strengthen the technical robustness, quality, deployability and sustainability of participating civic-tech solutions. Support will be tailored to identified technical gaps, agreed milestones and the deployment needs of individual solutions.
· Undertake solution architecture reviews and technical design validation, including review of relevant system architecture, technology stacks, infrastructure, databases, APIs, integrations and deployment configurations.
· Provide independent quality assurance and system testing to identify functional, performance, reliability, security and usability issues and recommend or support corrective action.
· Provide system integration and deployment support, including technical troubleshooting and configuration required to move supported solutions towards stable deployment.
· Provide data migration and configuration support where required, with appropriate attention to data integrity, security and continuity.
· Provide hands-on technical mentorship and knowledge transfer to participating civic-tech teams, strengthening their ability to maintain, improve and deploy their solutions.
· Provide post-deployment go-live support and stabilisation, including troubleshooting of priority technical issues arising during early deployment.
· Participate in relevant solution-specific technical reviews, mentorship sessions, technical clinics and milestone reviews as required.
· Review relevant technical evidence submitted against solution milestones and provide specialist technical inputs to the EML technical team.
· Coordinate with the Civic-Tech Governance & Digital Rights Consultant on data protection, responsible technology and other governance-related technical considerations where relevant.
· Document technical recommendations, actions completed, outstanding issues and follow-up requirements for supported solutions.
i) Solution architecture review and technical design validation outputs.
ii) Independent quality-assurance and system-testing findings, with recommendations and corrective-action inputs as required.
iii) System integration and deployment support outputs for assigned solutions.
iv) Data migration and configuration support outputs, where required.
v) Technical mentorship and knowledge-transfer support to participating civic-tech teams, with brief records of support provided and follow-up actions.
vi) Post-deployment go-live support and stabilisation outputs for supported solutions.
vii) Specialist technical inputs to relevant milestone reviews and technical evidence verification.
viii) Periodic summary of technical support provided, outstanding technical risks/issues and recommended next steps.
· Demonstrated experience in software engineering, systems development, systems architecture or related ICT services.
· Proven experience reviewing, developing, testing, integrating and deploying digital platforms or technology-enabled solutions.
· Strong expertise in system architecture, APIs and integration, databases, deployment environments, software quality assurance and technical troubleshooting.
· Demonstrated experience with secure software-development practices and data protection considerations.
· Experience providing technical mentorship, knowledge transfer or hands-on accompaniment to technology teams.
· Experience supporting digital solutions from prototype or early deployment towards robust, maintainable production environments.
· Ability to mobilise a multidisciplinary technical team appropriate to the technologies and needs of supported solutions.
· Strong technical documentation, communication and problem-solving capabilities.
The firm will report jointly to the EML Technical Lead and Programme Manager and will work closely with the wider EML technical team and relevant specialist consultants. The firm will primarily provide hands-on ICT systems development, quality assurance, deployment support and technical mentorship, while coordinating with other consultants to avoid duplication of assessment, governance, monitoring, capacity-building and documentation functions.
The firm will maintain the confidentiality of programme, organisational, technical and solution-level information accessed through the assignment and comply with applicable data-protection and information-security requirements. Source code, credentials, system documentation, data and other intellectual property accessed or produced under the assignment will be handled in accordance with the applicable contractual and intellectual-property arrangements.
