About Peace Nexus
The PeaceNexus Foundation (PN) is a Swiss-based operational foundation. They provide a range of capacity building services with the objective of strengthening the effectiveness of organizations that play a role in building peace. Their service areas include organisational development; developing organisational capacities for conflict sensitivity; and supporting inclusive dialogue with business to develop solutions to local peacebuilding challenges. They provide support to international partners and to local partners in their focus regions of West Africa, Central Asia, Western Balkans and Southeast Asia (Myanmar).
Background about the regional pool of consultants
What we do in the Western Balkans
In the Western Balkans (WB), they provide support on organisational development and conflict sensitivity to partners from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia. PeaceNexus has been operating in the WB since 2014 and currently supports eight organisations across the region (click here for more information on the WB programme). They select their partners in view of (a) their peacebuilding potential (capacity to contribute to greater inter-ethnic collaboration within and across states and/or ability to mobilise citizens in support of transitional justice and democratic reforms) and (b) their interest to engage in a process of internal change.
Civil society in the Western Balkans is vibrant, diverse and has already made great contributions to the social and political development of the region. However, the turbulent and fast-changing political context of the region creates significant internal challenges for organisations, regardless of their size and of the level at which they operate. They see that many organisations working on social change face challenges related to their strategies, leadership, internal systems and sustainability. In a context where many underlying lines of tensions remain present and where polarisation is on the rise, organisations need to be adaptable and inventive to stay relevant to peaceful democratic development.
It is to meet these challenges that PN supports high-potential organisations on organisational development (OD) and conflict sensitivity (CS). They select their partners in a competitive manner (open call) based on their relevance to peaceful and democratic development in their context and based on their internal readiness to tackle OD or CS challenges. Their support to their partners takes the form of a financial contribution to cover the costs of the process (fees of external consultants, meeting costs) and direct process accompaniment from PeaceNexus staff who stay closely engaged throughout the partnership and provide feedback along the way. Following selection, they establish a participatory assessment with their partners which leads to the identification of priority internal challenges that will be addressed through the OD or CS process. This assessment process, facilitated by PeaceNexus staff, also leads to the identification of areas that will require additional accompaniment from external consultants. Each process supported by PN is different and tailored to the needs of the partner. Areas that most often require the accompaniment of external consultants relate to: strategy development, restructuring, monitoring, evaluation and learning, governance and communication.
Why the pool
Since the support provided by PN is typically longer-term (2-3 years), their partners have the space to make in-depth investments in their development and tend to make available consultancy opportunities that span several months. Consultants then play a key role in enabling reflection, working through difficulties and helping PN partners meet their own internal goals.
By creating a pool of consultants, they want to make sure that their partners can have access to high quality experts who can provide them with tailored advisory services, grounded in solid change management and thematic experience, in-depth knowledge of the Western Balkans context and a commitment to participatory approaches. They want to make sure that each consultancy recruitment of their partners is successful and timely and ultimately results in stronger impact of their partners. The pool is meant to ease their partners’ selection process and help ensuring a good match between partners and consultants
How the pool will work
Selection: They’ll shortlist applications according to the profile requirements listed below. Shortlisted applicants will then be asked to complete a (remunerated) written task. The process will conclude with an interview. They expect to conclude this first round of selection by May. If you can’t apply for this round, please note that you can send your application anytime: applications will then be reviewed on a quarterly basis.
Benefits for selected consultants
If you are selected for the pool, you will:
- be informed by PeaceNexus about consultancy opportunities made available by the foundation (about 60/year);
- be contacted personally whenever there is a specific opportunity matching your profile within the Western Balkans programme and receive their recommendation where suitable;
- have the opportunity to see your profile added in the non-profit builder database, a platform where several Foundations store and seek consultant profiles and where additional consulting opportunities can come up through different programs for grantees;
- have access to learning products and events organised by PeaceNexus.
Application process
Profile requirements
They are looking for consultants who can demonstrate the following accompaniment and change management competences:
- Previous advisory experience on organisational development and/or conflict sensitivity;
- Demonstrated experience in (change management) process design;
- Demonstrated experience in working with civil society organisations;
- Strong facilitation skills;
- Ability to work with diverse groups with an inclusive approach;
In addition, candidates should have relevant thematic experience in at least one of the following areas:
- Strategy development
- Governance/Board development
- Restructuring
- Human resources management
- Stakeholder engagement
- Monitoring, evaluation and learning
- Communications
- Conflict/context analysis
- Organisational integration of conflict sensitivity
- Fundraising & income-generation
- Diversity and Inclusion
- Programme design and development
Finally, please note that the following will be considered as assets:
- Familiarity with the Western Balkans context
- Fluency in one of the languages spoken in the Western Balkans
- Thematic knowledge on peacebuilding/human rights/dealing with the past
Application package
All interested candidates should send the following documents:
- CV (not exceeding 3 pages, and indicating 3 references)
- Application form (download)
- Brief letter of interest (max 1 page)
Deadline for application: All applications should be sent out to besart.lumi@peacenexus.org, no later than March 14th 2022.