Technical Assistance for
Civil Society Organisations
Serbia Office
This project is funded
by the European Union.
Technical Assistance to the Civil Society organizations 2 (TACSO 2) from the IPA
Beneficiaries; EuropeAid/133642/C/SER/Multi
TERMS OF REFERENCE
For one Senior Short Term Consultant
To assist TACSO Serbia office in introducing transparent procedures for CSOs’ funding
from local budgets
Background of the assignment
The general objective of TACSO 2 project is to strengthen the overall capacities and
accountability of the Civil Society organizations (CSOs) within the IPA beneficiaries and to
guarantee the quality of services of CSOs and a sustainable role of the CSOs in the democratic
process. The main purposes of the project are to:


Increase and improve the capacity and actions of CSOs and to
Improve the democratic role of CSOs.
An important activity area under this heading is component 3 : Enabling environment for
CSOs. Although lot of improvements have been made, one of the key challenges for CSOs from
Serbia are still related to lack of practices for transparent CSOs funding, in particular from
local public budgets. There is a budget line called 481 that is supposed to serve for support of
citizens associations, both on national and local level. Although the structure of the internal
allocation is not still diversified in line with its main purpose, the major problem is the
nontransparent way of spending the allocated money, especially on the local level.
Both TACSO and the Government Office for cooperation with civil society confirmed the need
to put additional efforts and resources in this field in order to introduce functional and
transparent mechanisms in place. Local best practices have been identified, relevant Bylaw
on transparent procedure is in force, Annual Summary Report on budget expenditures
provided to the associations and other civil society organizations, and these successes
represent a solid frame for further actions in this field. There is also the Guidelines for
transparent funding of CSOs which serve as the useful tool for introducing required
procedure. The Guidelines has been produced and promoted by Office for cooperation with
CS and TACSO in 2013. It had been distributed and promoted among local self governments
and CSOs. Nevertheless, the Annual report still finds lack of data on 90 municipalities and
their procedures for spending public funds for CSOs activities. Practices of the rest of the
municipalities differ a lot and still are not fully consistent with legal regulations and demands
for transparency.
Scope of the assignment:
STE is supposed to assist TACSO Serbia team as follows:
1. To assist in developing methodology for the approaching of municipalities and CSOs
acting in respective territories aiming to improve existing status in the area of
funding CSOs from local public resources
TACSO Serbia Office • Bul Arsenija Čarnojevića 82, stan 9 • 11070 Novi Beograd • t: + 381 11 2606 265 • f: + 381 11 2603 456 • e-mail: info.rs@tacso.org
SIPU International AB Sweden • Ecorys International • Intrac United Kingdom • Foundation Partners for Local Development Romania
Euclid Network United Kingdom • SMART Croatia
2. To assist in delivering three workshops for targeted municipalities and respective
CSOs aiming to facilitate further concrete steps in each of participating municipalities
3. To assist in designing of follow up activities on municipal level that should result in
minimum of 8 local advocacy actions for transparency in public spending for CSOs
4. To provide online and exceptionally in house technical assistance for local actors on
their demand
The assignment will be conducted in close coordination with other team members from
the Office for cooperation with CS and TACSO Serbia office .
Deliverables:

Document consisting of: concept note, methodology for capacity building of targeted
municipal representatives and respective CSOs aiming to enable environment and
dialog among them for introducing and implementing transparent procedures for
funding CSOs on the local level.

Design, agenda, implementation and report on three workshops for up to 25
participants each

Guide for follow up activities on local level and reports of support provided

Final mission report
Duty station: Belgrade
Performance station: Belgrade and two selected cities / Vojvodina and Central Serbia
Duration and timing of the assignment:
The assignment is to take place between April 2014 and December 2014 , totaling 6 senior
working days.
Profile of the STE:
She/he has to have:
 Advanced university degree in Political or Social Science, Economics or other suitable
disciplines;
 At least 10 years of working experience in a related working field, stated under Scope
of assignment for senior STE
 Proven working record as a consultant in the field of CSO and capacity building
 Proven working record as the consultant for the governmental structure;
 Excellent communication skills and fluency in spoken and written English;
 Good understanding of the context in which CSOs in the country operate.
 Deep understanding of public funds for CSOs issues and specific experience in that
field
 Research and analytical work experience
Monitoring and evaluation of the STE
The activity will be monitored by the Serbia TACSO Resident advisor (RA).
Application:
This is an Open call and all qualified candidates are invited to apply.
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Deadline for application is April 6th 2014 by 5 PM
Application set should consist of:
1.CV1 in EU format ( in English)
2. Application letter (stating main personal references related to the assignment
requirements. Applications should be sent to the following e mail address:
expert.rs@tacso.org with the subject title: STE application – transparent procedures for CSOs
public funding
Note:
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. Applicants who don’t receive any information
by April 15th should consider her/his application not successful.
Applicants must be independent and free from any conflict of interest. Note that civil
servants and other staff of a beneficiary public administration may not be recruited as STE
unless a prior written approval has been obtained from the Contracting Authority.
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Members of TACSO STE pool should not submit CV again unless it is updated with very relevant
information
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