horizont3000 is an Austrian non-governmental organization (NGO) formed by 11 grassroots Catholic Church organizations. It focuses on development cooperation, working with nearly 100 partner organizations across East Africa, Mozambique, Senegal, and Central America. The organization’s core areas of focus include Human Rights & Civil Society and Sustainable Livelihoods, with special emphasis on Gender Equality, Climate Action, and Policy Dialogue.

The East Africa Regional Office, based in Kampala, Uganda, oversees projects in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, managing a total of 25 projects with an annual budget of around EUR 3 million. One of the flagship initiatives is the “Thrive Digitalisation” project, which aims to enhance digital skills and support digital transformation for 25 partner organizations (POs) and their target groups across Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. Running from December 2022 to November 2024 (with an extension to March 2025), the project has a total budget of EUR 555,555.

The “Thrive Digitalisation” project focuses on addressing the digital divide and promoting gender equality in digital spaces by empowering marginalized groups, including women, youth, and smallholder farmers. The project aims to improve digital literacy, provide digital solutions, and foster inclusive digital ecosystems for sustainable development. The project also contributes to several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 5 (Gender Equality), SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), and SDG 16 (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions).

Key Project Outputs:

• Output 1: The 25 partner organizations across Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania have been equipped with digital skills in the Principles for Digital Development, online communication, content creation and management, digital monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning (MEAL), as well as data storage practices. This ensures that partners are capable of integrating digital technologies into their work and improving their operational efficiency.
• Output 2: The project promotes Gender Equality in digitalization by providing sensitization, trainings, and privileged access to digital tools for marginalized groups, with a specific focus on empowering women and girls in line with SDG 5. This output ensures that vulnerable groups are not left behind in the digital transformation process.
• Output 3: Three partner organizations in Uganda have scaled up digital marketing, knowledge-sharing on improved farming techniques, and agricultural extension services, benefiting 21,730 smallholder farmers in their project areas. This output directly contributes to SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) by improving agricultural productivity and livelihoods through the use of digital tools.
• Output 4: Two partner organizations in Uganda have capacitated 625 youth from rural and semi-urban areas to use digital services in order to realize their business ideas. Additionally, 500 students have benefited from improved digital tools and training, enhancing their education. This output aligns with SDG 4 (Quality Education) and SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) by promoting education and entrepreneurship.
• Output 5: In Tanzania, two partner organizations have digitalized their legal consulting services in the areas of land rights and human rights protection, benefiting 2,250 individuals. This output contributes to SDG 16 (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions) by providing better access to justice and legal support through digital means.
• Output 6: The horizont3000 team in Kampala has been skilled in digital principles, improving their own digital capacities. This enables them to facilitate structured learning and knowledge sharing among the 25 partner organizations, ensuring that digital solutions are effectively disseminated, adopted, and scaled across the project.

Evaluation:

The evaluation of the “Thrive Digitalisation” project will focus on several key aspects:

1. Relevance: Assessing how well the project addresses the needs and interests of the beneficiaries, particularly in terms of digital skills and access.
2. Effectiveness: Evaluating whether the project has met its objectives and achieved its desired outcomes in digital literacy, empowerment, and sustainable development.
3. Sustainability: Understanding the long-term impact of the digital solutions implemented and how well knowledge from the project has been institutionalized and adopted by the partner organizations.
4. Facilitating and Hindering Factors: Identifying the factors that have either supported or hindered the project’s success, and providing insights into how these lessons can be applied to future projects.

The evaluation will take place between December 2024 and March 2025, with data collection in Uganda and Tanzania, and online assessments for the remaining partner organizations. The final evaluation report is expected by March 25, 2025.

For more detailed information, please refer to the full evaluation document via the link.
ToR Evaluation_Thrive Digitalisation Project East Africa.pdf

How to Apply:

A technical and financial offer must be submitted (max. 15 pages – without annexes).

Tenders must include:

• The curriculum vitae, experience and references of the evaluators.
• Suggestions on the methodology, timetable and action plan and, if necessary, suggestions and recommendations to the mandate
• The number of working days planned for the assignment, including daily rates
• A detailed budget, which must be presented in Euros and must include all taxes, travel costs, logistics (including workshop costs etc.) and other expenses. (horizont3000 is not allowed to deduct VAT – the offer must therefore stipulate:
  • The net budget of the evaluation (before VAT, as basis for the assessment of financial proposals)
  • the gross budget of the evaluation (including VAT)

The maximum budget available for this evaluation is EUR 25.000 (including VAT)

For all tenders within the budgetary framework, the following evaluation grid will be applied:

• Methodological quality of the technical offer: 80%
• Financial offer: 20%.

The offer should be sent to until December 9, 2024 12:00 EAT to friedbert.ottacher@horizont3000.at and joel.chemusto@horizon3000.org. horizont3000 reserves the right to extend the deadline if offers received by that date do not meet the requirements.

The payment will be distributed as follows:

• 30% on signing the service contract
• 40% at the end of the feedback session and delivery of the draft report
• 30% after validation of the final report by the coordination team.