The Digital Democracy Initiative (DDI) at CIVICUS is seeking a highly qualified consultant to support the operationalisation of the CIVICUS Digital & Civic Space Strategy design. The consultant will develop a series of thematic Advisory Notes corresponding to the five strategic focus areas identified in the Strategy Design Framework, and will facilitate a structured consultation process with key stakeholder communities -- including the CIVICUS DDI community, CIVICUS staff, partner organisations working on digital rights and related fields, CIVICUS members and networks -- to ensure the strategy is grounded in evidence, reflects diverse perspectives, and is positioned for effective implementation.
About Us
CIVICUS is a growing global alliance of more than 15,000 members in 175 countries. We work together to expand civic and democratic space. We strive to promote excluded voices, particularly from the global south.
Our Strategic Plan is built on the assumption that we are stronger when we work together. Expanding civic and democratic space requires a collective effort where our members and allies design and test sustainable solutions and deliver impact at scale.
To make this happen, CIVICUS works on five core objectives:
- Generate timely knowledge and analyses on civil society actions in relation to civic and democratic space
- Coordinate targeted advocacy to defend and expand civic and democratic space
- Contribute to stronger emergency and sustained support ecosystems for activists and organisations at risk
- Strengthen public discourse on civic space and reinforce civil society narratives
- Build counter power with the most affected groups and their movements
About the Digital Democracy Initiative (DDI) and the Digital Civic Space Strategy
The Digital Democracy Initiative (DDI) is a programme that emerged from Denmark's Tech for Democracy initiative in response to the shrinking democratic and civic space. Its objective is to promote and protect local inclusive democratic space in the digital era. The initiative is implemented by a Consortium of Partners comprising Access Now, CIVICUS, Digital Defenders Partnership, Global Focus, European Partnership for Democracy, Fundo de Mujeres del Sur, Witness, and IWGIA. The DDI - Project 1: Enabling and Amplifying Action for Civic Space and Inclusive Democracy Project is a constituent Project within the DDI Programme.
After two years of implementation across six regions -- East Asia, South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Eastern Europe and Central Asia -- the DDI has generated a substantial body of evidence, learning, and relationships that now form the foundation for a formal CIVICUS Digital & Civic Space Strategy.
The Strategy Design Blueprint, developed internally, proposes a structure and substantive content framework for the strategy. It organises the strategy around five thematic focus areas: (1) Digital Security and Resilience; (2) Information Integrity, Disinformation, and Electoral Civic Space; (3) Civic Technology and Digital Democracy; (4) Digital Rights and Policy Advocacy; and (5) Digital Inclusion and Equity -- and maps these against CIVICUS' five core work functions. The Blueprint also proposes cross-cutting considerations including AI governance, partnerships, and financial sustainability.
The next phase of strategy development requires both deepening the substantive content of each thematic pillar and ensuring the strategy is developed through a participatory process that reflects the perspectives of the communities it is designed to serve. This consultancy is central to both objectives.
Background
Civic freedoms are increasingly contested in the digital realm. Governments, big tech companies, and others are deploying digital tools -- from surveillance technologies and internet shutdowns to AI-generated disinformation and algorithmic suppression -- to restrict, monitor, and manipulate civil society. At the same time, digital technologies offer transformative possibilities: connecting movements across borders, amplifying marginalised voices, enabling real-time accountability, and building new forms of civic infrastructure.
Key responsibilities
This consultancy will address a critical gap between the Strategy Design Framework and Blueprint, and a finalised, implementation-ready strategy.
The Advisory Notes and consultation process will:
- Provide substantive depth to each of the five thematic pillars, grounded in current global evidence and the DDI's own programme experience.
- Surface the perspectives, priorities, and recommendations of the CIVICUS DDI community, CIVICUS staff, partner organisations, and CIVICUS members and networks - ensuring diverse civil society voices shape the strategy's direction.
- Identify gaps, tensions, and emerging challenges within each thematic area that the strategy must address.
- Generate accessible, shareable knowledge products that can support internal alignment, donor communications, and public advocacy.
- Inform the drafting of the final strategy document by providing the analytical and consultative foundation from which strategic choices can be made with confidence.
For complete job description and to apply, visit:
https://civicus.org/index.php/component/content/article/8316-terms-of-reference-consultancy-senior-advisory-for-the-design-of-civicus-digital-civic-space-strategy?catid=379&Itemid=2658