Bulgarian Fund for Women (BFW) announces a call for external evaluators to participate in the evaluation and ranking of project proposals submitted by civil society organizations within the Feminist Opportunities for Resilience and Community Empowerment (FORCE) program, funded by the European Union under the “Citizens, Equality, Rights, and Values” program (CERV-2023-DAPHNE). 

About the Project  

The project aims to financially support the work of local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that work directly with victims of domestic and gender-based violence, develop advocacy activities to improve the legal framework, plan awareness-raising campaigns, organize training of professionals, etc. Additional capacity-building and/or capacity-raising opportunities tailored to the needs of the applicant organizations are also foreseen. These include organizational development training, fundraising workshops, advocacy and community mobilization, networking events, and experience sharing. The trainings, together with the provided funding, will help the supported organizations to achieve a higher level of institutional independence and their teams to develop an organizational culture for strategic planning, as well as to gain knowledge and skills to attract more and different types of financial resources.  

You can read more about the project HERE.  

About BFW  

BFW is the only Bulgarian foundation that supports activists, informal collectives and civil society organizations working for empowerment of women and girls and achievement of equality in all spheres of life.  

Scope of Activities  

BFW is seeking qualified experts to review, evaluate, and rank the project proposals received under the grant funding procedure, scheduled to take place between November and December 2024. 

Tasks for the Evaluators  

• To participate actively in the evaluation process of the submitted project proposals with technical (administrative), financial, and substantive evaluation and to contribute to its successful completion in time;  
• To evaluate the project proposals and related annexes in accordance with the evaluation guidelines of BFW and within the specified deadlines;  
• To carry out a detailed substantive evaluation of the submitted project proposals, providing a reasoned written opinion on the criteria set and in accordance with the BFW evaluation guidelines;  
• To provide professionally coherent and comprehensive comments and evaluations, which will be shared with applicants upon request and after the ranking has been announced, and the comments must reflect the scores set, with a reasoned decision on each question and section of the evaluation criteria;  
• To be familiar with the documents related to the call for proposals, such as the application guidelines, their annexes, and frequently asked questions concerning the funding procedure launched by BFW; 
• To participate in the mandatory induction training for evaluators conducted by BFW team before the start of the evaluation process, where the evaluation guidelines and tools will be presented;  
• To actively participate in other meetings and/or special training sessions organized by BFW as needed for the evaluation tasks;  
• To be prepared to provide additional comments in exceptional and justified cases at the request of BFW, for example in arbitration proceedings;  
• To treat with professionalism, care, and due diligence the confidential information that will be shared with them as evaluators and respect the principles of confidentiality, impartiality, and absence of conflict of interest*;  
• To respect the principles of gender equality, non-discrimination, and EU values in the evaluation. 

*Each external evaluator is obliged to sign a declaration of confidentiality and absence of conflict of interest when concluding a contract with BFW. If the evaluator considers that a conflict of interest situation may arise with regard to the applicants and/or their partners, he/she must declare this immediately. He/she will have to withdraw immediately from the evaluation of the proposal concerned and inform in writing the Senior Program Officer (BFW Director) and the BFW Project Coordinator. No information about any aspect of the evaluation may be disclosed by external evaluators to third parties outside the evaluation teams. 

Location and Time 

External evaluators are expected to work remotely, with the timing of the evaluation aligned with the Funding Program announcement. The exact work schedule will be determined once the call’s preparatory activities are completed.  

Provisional Schedule  

• September – November 2024 – Open call for proposals for grant funding.  
• November – December 2024 – Evaluation of proposals.  
• Introductory online training for evaluators – within one day in October 2024. 

Requirements and Competences 

• Experience in the development and implementation of EU-funded projects;  
• Good knowledge of the NGO sector and existing initiatives supporting the prevention and combating of gender-based violence and domestic violence, gender equality, non-discrimination, and human rights, as well as of relevant state and institutional policies in these areas;  
• Knowledge of the political, economic, and social situation in the country;  
• Experience in project evaluation is considered an asset, especially on human rights, gender equality and non-discrimination;
• Diploma of Higher Education;  
• Proficiency in Bulgarian;  
• Proficiency in English;  
• Computer literacy (MS Office – Word & Excel). 

External Evaluators CANNOT be 

Members of the management and supervisory bodies of the legal entities applying for the grant procedure or named as a partner organization in the project proposal;  

Individuals against whom proceedings have been initiated or who have been convicted of an offence in their official capacity with a final verdict or for fraud, corruption, participation in a criminal organization or any other illegal activity detrimental to the financial interests of Bulgaria and the Member States of the European Union – this fact shall be declared by the applicant in the email with which he/she submits his/her application to the open call, as well as in the special declaration he/she signs when concluding a contract with BFW if he/she is selected as an external evaluator. 

Remuneration 

The remuneration of the evaluators will be determined according to the amount of work done (number of projects evaluated). The remuneration shall be set at a net amount of EUR 30 for each project proposal evaluated promptly, following the contract for services as an external evaluator with the BFW setting out the rights and obligations of the parties, the method of calculation, the amount, and the conditions for payment of the external evaluator’s remuneration. It is foreseen that each evaluator will have a total engagement of 10-14 days in the evaluation of the project proposals submitted in the procedure for the award of grant funding. 

 
Application documents  

CV describing the competence of the applicant to participate in the evaluation of project proposals  
Please send the document to: office@bgfundforwomen.org with the subject heading: Open call for external evaluators.  

Deadline for submission: July 10, 2024
 

All applicants will be treated equally in the application process. We encourage people from disadvantaged backgrounds or belonging to vulnerable and marginalized groups to apply. All documents will be considered in the strictest confidence.  

BFW is a data controller and processes personal data following data protection legislation and Regulation (EU) 2016/679. Our data processing practices can be found HERE.  

BFW will send confirmation of receipt of documents to all applicants. Due to the high volume of communication, only selected candidates will be contacted further. Thank you for your interest and we wish you good luck! 

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The FORCE project is funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Commission Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.