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Exciting remote consultancy open globally at CIVICUS as a Senior Advisory Consultant for the design of CIVICUS’ Digital & Civic Space Strategy

Ednah Carrick May 12, 2026

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Closing Date: 31 May 2026

Exciting remote consultancy open globally at CIVICUS as a Senior Advisory Consultant for the design of CIVICUS’ Digital & Civic Space Strategy

Overview

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 Senior Advisory 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 CIVICUS

CIVICUS is a growing global alliance of more than 15,000 members in 175 countries. CIVICUS works together to expand civic and democratic space. CIVICUS strives to promote excluded voices, particularly from the global south.

CIVICUS 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.

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.

Key responsibilities

This remote 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.

Scope of Work

This remote consultancy is expected to cover two interconnected streams of work: the development of five thematic Advisory Notes and the design and facilitation of a multi-stakeholder consultation process. The scope of work includes, but is not limited to, the following tasks:

Stream 1: Thematic Advisory Notes

The Senior Advisory consultant will develop one Advisory Note for each of the five thematic focus areas identified in the Strategy Design Blueprint. Each Advisory Note should be approximately 8 to 12 pages in length and should serve as a standalone analytical and strategic reference document. Each Advisory Note should:

Provide a concise mapping of the global landscape in the thematic area, inclusive of key trends, actors, risks, and opportunities, as well as draw on existing literature, DDI programme evidence, and the consultant’s own expertise.
Summarise the most significant insights and lessons generated by the DDI in that thematic area, including both what worked and what did not.
Identify the strategic choices, tensions, or gaps that the CIVICUS Digital Civic Space Strategy must address in that area.
Propose concrete strategic recommendations — for objectives, activities, partnerships, and positioning — grounded in evidence.
Be written in accessible, non-technical language suitable for a civil society audience, including CIVICUS members and networks not directly specialised in digital rights.

The five Advisory Notes will cover:

Advisory Note 1 — Digital Security and Resilience: individual and organisational digital security; rapid-response resilience support; psychosocial and holistic resilience; legal compliance in digital contexts; peer trainer networks within civil society.
Advisory Note 2 — Information Integrity, Disinformation, and Electoral Civic Space: disinformation monitoring and fact-checking infrastructure; deepfake detection and AI-generated content literacy; electoral integrity technologies; counter-narrative production; platform accountability advocacy.
Advisory Note 3 — Civic Technology and Digital Democracy: AI-powered tools for civic use; accountability and legal empowerment technologies; offline and low-bandwidth civic participation; the Civic Tech Lab as an integration and scaling mechanism; the civic technology commons.
Advisory Note 4 — Digital Rights and Policy Advocacy: tracking digital restrictions globally; advocacy on digital legislation affecting civil society; engagement with global norm-setting processes; platform accountability; AI governance advocacy; coalition building for digital rights.
Advisory Note 5 — Digital Inclusion and Equity: supporting CSOs working with digitally marginalised communities; offline and hybrid civic participation design; digital literacy as civic competency; regional equity within CIVICUS programmes; the gendered digital divide and feminist digital organising.

Stream 2: Multi-Stakeholder Consultation Process

In parallel with the development of the Advisory Notes, the Senior Advisory consultant will design and facilitate a structured consultation process with the following stakeholder communities:

CIVICUS DDI community: grantees, Digital Action Lab participants, hackathon alumni, Regional Support Mechanism partners, and others who have engaged with DDI programming across the six regions.
CIVICUS staff across programmes, including research, advocacy, communications, innovation and membership teams with relevant expertise or implementation responsibilities.
Partner organisations working on digital rights and related fields: organisations with specialised expertise in digital security, information integrity, civic technology, digital rights advocacy, and digital inclusion, including DDI Implementing Partners and other relevant civil society actors.
CIVICUS members and networks: the broader CIVICUS membership base, including those not directly engaged with digital programming but whose civic space experience and perspectives should inform the strategy.

Desired Knowledge and Experience of the Consultant

CIVICUS DDI is seeking an experienced researcher, strategist, or civil society expert or consultant (individual or team) with expertise spanning digital rights, civic technology, and civil society strategy development with following experience:

A post-graduate degree in Political Science, International Relations, Technology Policy, Law, Digital Rights, Communications, Development Studies, or related fields.
Strong expertise across thematic focus areas of the strategy, with a demonstrated understanding of how they interact – particularly the intersections between digital security, information integrity, and civic technology.
Proven experience producing high-quality strategic documents, thematic briefs, or policy analyses for civil society, multilateral institutions, or international NGOs.
Experience designing and facilitating participatory processes with diverse stakeholder communities, including in multi-lingual, multi-regional contexts.
Familiarity with the global digital rights landscape, including key organisations, coalitions, norm-setting processes, and advocacy spaces such as the Internet Governance Forum, UN Special Procedures, and regional human rights mechanisms.
Understanding of the civil society sector and the specific digital challenges faced by civil society organisations, activists, and human rights defenders, particularly in the Global South.
Demonstrated ability to synthesise complex, cross-cutting material into accessible and actionable insights for non-specialist audiences.
Excellent writing and analytical skills in English. Proficiency in additional languages – particularly French, Spanish, Arabic, or Portuguese – and familiarity with political and technological contexts in the Global South are highly desirable.
Experience working with global civil society networks, digital rights coalitions, or international civil society alliances is strongly preferred.

Reporting Requirements

The consultant will report to the Programme Quality & Innovation Lead. Regular progress updates and milestone reviews will be conducted throughout the consultancy to ensure alignment with the strategy development process and overall timelines.

Application Process

Interested consultants should submit the following documents to [email protected] with the subject line “Proposal: Digital Civic Space Strategy ” by the application deadline.

Cover letter (1 to 2 pages) explaining your qualifications, interest in the consultancy, and how your expertise spans the thematic areas covered.
A detailed CV highlighting relevant professional experience, skills, and publications or work products.
A detailed proposal outlining your approach to developing the Advisory Notes and facilitating the multi-stakeholder consultation process, including proposed methodology, tools, and techniques, with a work plan detailing the timeline, key milestones, and deliverables.
A detailed budget proposal, including your proposed daily remuneration rate in US$, estimated number of workdays per deliverable, and any additional costs.
Two samples of previous work directly relevant to the consultancy – for example, thematic briefs, strategic analyses, or facilitation frameworks.
Contact information for three individuals or organisations that can attest to the quality and impact of your previous work.

Please read the application process carefully and follow all steps. Only applicants submitting the application in the required format and with all required components will be considered. Kindly do not share application documents through external download links.