Consultancy Opportunities - CIVICUS Digital Democracy Initiative (DDI) Civic Tech Lab

Evidence and Methods Lab (EML) invites expressions of interest from qualified individual consultants to provide specialised technical support under the Civic Tech Lab (CTL), a programme of the CIVICUS Digital Democracy Initiative (DDI).

This call includes five individual consultancy assignments and one specialised firm consultancy.

1. Background

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.

EML therefore seeks qualified consultants for the following assignments:

2. Consultancy Areas

MERL & Scale-Readiness Consultant: Will support CTL co-creation and programme design; application of the Scale-Readiness Rubric; baseline, midline and endline technical assessments; milestone tracking; portfolio-level analysis; programme learning; and parallel review of cohort proposals alongside the technical team. The consultant will also assess whether proposed grant timelines of 6, 7, 8 or up to 9 months are appropriate to each solution's Phase 1 readiness position, technical support needs and outstanding Essential Readiness Conditions, and flag timeline-readiness mismatches.

Civic-Tech Governance & Digital Rights Consultant: Will provide specialist advisory support on civic-tech governance, digital rights, data protection and governance, civic-space risks, responsible AI and ethical use of emerging technologies.

Capacity Building & Knowledge Management Consultant for Civic-Tech Cohort Beneficiaries: Will support the design, coordination and delivery of technical learning, workshops, clinics, peer-learning and knowledge-management activities for CTL cohort beneficiaries, with additional support to relevant CIVICUS DDI capacity-building activities.

Monitoring & Evaluation Consultant: Will support the design and implementation of programme monitoring and evaluation, including data-collection tools, performance tracking, data-quality assurance, analysis, pilot studies, outcome assessment and evidence for programme reporting and decision-making.

Project Documentation & Knowledge Sharing Consultant: Will support systematic documentation of overall project activities and the development, editing, quality assurance and packaging of technical manuals, user guides, learning briefs, reports, case studies and other programme knowledge products.

ICT Systems Development & Technical Mentorship Firm:Will 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 for participating civic-tech solutions.

Detailed responsibilities, deliverables, qualifications and levels of effort are provided in the respective Terms of Reference for each consultancy.

3. Assignment Period

The consultancies will be undertaken during EML's CTL engagement period, July 2026-July 2027, according to the level of effort and assignment schedule specified in each Terms of Reference. The assignments are expected to be primarily remote, with participation in programme meetings, workshops, technical sessions or other engagements as required.

4. Submission Requirements

·       A brief Expression of Interest/Cover Letter indicating the consultancy position being applied for and demonstrating suitability for the assignment;

·       An updated Curriculum Vitae (CV) highlighting relevant qualifications and experience; and

·       Two relevant samples of previous work demonstrating experience applicable to the selected consultancy.

·       Applicants should clearly indicate the specific consultancy for which they are applying.

·      For the ICT Systems Development & Technical Mentorship Firm assignment, firms should submit a company profile, evidence of legal registration, the proposed technical team and CVs of key personnel, and at least two examples of comparable assignments. A detailed financial proposal for delivering the assignment, including professional fees and any applicable taxes or other costs.

5. Submission

Expressions of interest should be submitted electronically to hello@evidenceandmethodslab.org by 4th September 2026, 5:00 PM, and this will be on a rolling basis, with the subject line:

"Expression of Interest - CTL [Consultancy Title] - [Applicant Name]"

Only submissions received by the stated deadline and containing the required documentation will be considered.

6. Selection

Consultants will be assessed based on their qualifications, relevant technical experience, demonstrated understanding of the assignment, quality and relevance of previous work, and ability to deliver within the required timeframe.

The ICT Systems Development & Technical Mentorship Firm will additionally be assessed on demonstrated organisational capacity, relevant firm experience, suitability of the proposed technical team, and evidence of comparable systems-development and technical-mentorship assignments.

EML reserves the right to contact shortlisted candidates for further clarification or discussion before final selection.

Evidence and Methods Lab (EML) is an equal opportunity organisation and encourages expressions of interest from qualified individuals.