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Terms of Reference (TOR)
Central Africa Regional Training Series: Methodology and Best Practices for long-term Human Rights Monitoring, Reporting, and Advocacy in Closed Spaces
September 2026
Background
In some countries in West and Central Africa, human rights defenders and democracy advocates operate within increasingly hostile and closed civic spaces, compounded by intersecting political and security crises. Governments use restrictive legislation, arbitrary arrests, and internet shutdowns to silence dissent, particularly amid the ongoing security challenges. Authorities frequently invoke national security or counter-terrorism justifications to criminalize the work of human rights organizations, creating an environment where speaking out against widespread abuses often invites severe state reprisals.
In environments where traditional forms of mobilization, such as protests or public confrontation, are met with extreme violence or legal persecution, data-driven advocacy can provide a resilient and effective alternative. Systematic, rigorous data collection enables civil society to pierce through state narratives and media blackouts by establishing an empirical record of human rights violations. By shifting the focus from subjective allegations to objective evidence, this approach shields activists from accusations of political bias while equipping them to engage in strategic, targeted advocacy. Leveraging a consortium model amplifies this impact; when multiple organizations coordinate their data collection, it not only strengthens the geographic scope of the data but also distributes the physical and political risks, as there is a higher cost to the state to carry out reprisals against all member organizations. The resulting advocacy - whether mobilizing international human rights mechanisms or applying pressure on domestic policymakers - is also strengthened by being backed by a unified coalition of diverse stakeholders.
Objectives
Overall Objective
This training curriculum is designed to equip members of civil society with the methodological understanding, technical skills, and strategic frameworks necessary to safely collect, analyze, and leverage human rights data for effective advocacy in closed civic spaces.
The objective of this documentation effort is to enable civil society organizations to systematically collect credible evidence that strengthens long-term monitoring of the human rights and democratic environment. The evidence generated will support sustained, evidence-based advocacy targeting national, regional, and international stakeholders, with the goal of promoting accountability, encouraging compliance with international human rights obligations, and advancing respect for fundamental rights, democratic principles, and civic freedoms.
Specific Objectives
To realize this overarching goal, the training series focuses on cultivating the following core competencies:
• Learn About the Fundamentals of Data Collection: Develop the foundational knowledge and practical skills required for accurate, reliable, and ethically responsible documentation. This involves applying core methodologies for collecting and triangulating information from multiple sources, conducting rigorous fact-checking to verify evidence, and utilizing appropriate digital tools to support structured and credible documentation processes. It also includes integrating ethical considerations, particularly the Do No Harm principle, to ensure that documentation activities are carried out responsibly and do not expose individuals or communities to risk or harm.
• Navigate Consortium-Based Data Collection: Explore the strategic opportunities, operational challenges, and best practices inherent in collective monitoring. This involves leveraging the consortium model to distribute physical risk, maximize geographic reach, and establish secure, coordinated workflows among diverse member organizations.
• Standardize Decentralized Methodology: Understand the critical importance of-and practical methods for-standardizing data collection across a decentralized network. This includes developing shared taxonomies, uniform reporting formats, and secure data transfer protocols to ensure consistency, verify reliability, and protect field sources.
• Develop Replicable Reports and Indices: Build the technical capacity to synthesize aggregated data into rigorous, objective analytical products. This requires designing methodologies that are sustainable, replicable, and aligned with international reporting frameworks, allowing consortia to track trends, adapt their metrics over multiple years, and establish an authoritative, long-term empirical record.
• Design and Execute Evidence-Based Advocacy: Translate empirical findings into actionable, targeted advocacy campaigns. Participants will be equipped to tailor data-driven messaging for distinct audiences, utilizing their reports and indices to bypass state propaganda, engage international human rights mechanisms, and safely push for meaningful reform in restricted environments.
Methodology
Delivery Format: The training series will be delivered virtually as an interactive six-part webinar series facilitated by (an) expert consultant(s). Each session will be approximately two hours in length and will combine presentations, practical demonstrations, interactive discussions, and scenario-based exercises to reinforce learning. To promote participant engagement and assess knowledge retention, each module should incorporate interactive quizzes or other formative assessments.
Training sessions will also be recorded and lightly edited to be made available for asynchronous viewing by consortium members without reliable network coverage or scheduling conflicts. Where feasible, quizzes and learning assessments should be adapted for offline completion or integrated into an online platform, allowing participants to complete them at their own pace while enabling NDI to monitor learning outcomes.
Instructional Approach: The consultant will employ an applied methodology tailored specifically to the operational realities of Cameroon.. Rather than purely theoretical lectures, the webinars will rely on practical case studies, real-world examples of successful human rights indices, and interactive discussions and small group work in breakout rooms. The instruction will bridge the gap between technical data science principles and the day-to-day survival tactics required in closed civic spaces. Where possible, the platform will utilize secure polling, Q&A features, and encrypted communication channels to ensure participants can engage safely and freely.
Curriculum Structure: The initial module breakdown is as follows; the consultant(s) may propose amendments. Working documents should be shared for advance reflection. Any work not completed during the session will be completed by participants offline in collaborative documents. These documents should be validated in a separate, dedicated follow-up meeting(s) ahead of the subsequent session. Working groups can be assigned to do this work as indicated.
Session 1: Methodology for Data Collection
• Methodology and General Principles of Documentation: This module introduces participants to the core principles and methodologies of documentation. The module will also explore the Do No Harm principle and other ethical considerations that should guide documentation efforts.
• Data Verification & Quality Assurance: Participants will learn how to collect and triangulate information from multiple sources, verify evidence, conduct effective fact-checking, and use digital tools to support accurate and credible documentation. They will develop a checklist for checking the quality of data once it is collected and through regular database reviews.
• Working group: Data quality assurance checklist
Session 2: Understanding the Types of Data That Can Be Collected
• Definition of data to be collected: Participants will learn to identify and prioritize the information they are likely to use to target their advocacy stakeholders. They will also learn the types of incidents and other information to include in reporting, as well as the appropriate collection methods for each (e.g., in-person or remote interviews, news/media monitoring, direct messaging, etc.).
• Working group: Agree on data needs and information that will be collected.
Session 3: Working on data collection and monitoring as a consortium
• Navigating Consortium-Based Monitoring: This module grounds participants in the mechanics of collective data collection. The expert will facilitate a discussion on structuring secure workflows, identifying potential physical and digital risks to collection agents (to be addressed more fully in the subsequent session), distributing physical risk across network members, and overcoming the operational hurdles of operating in highly restricted zones. Participants will learn how to safely map incidents, including an introduction to the responsible use of AI-assisted mapping tools, while critically examining the ethical implications, risks, and limitations of artificial intelligence in documentation and human rights work. Participants will also learn to harmonize documentation practices across multiple organizations, including developing a shared taxonomy, agreeing to a standardized terminology and coding system, reviewing reporting templates that can be adapted for their work, establishing minimum data standards, and implementing secure protocols for transferring information between organizations. The objective is to ensure that data collected by different actors can be integrated into a reliable, consistent, and high-quality centralized dataset.
• Working group: Workflow development, taxonomy, shared glossary, coding system, reporting templates, data standards, data communication protocol
Session 4: Data Management & Storage
• Documentation Databases, Data Management, and Secure Archiving: This module introduces participants to documentation database solutions that are appropriate to their operational context. Participants will select and learn how to use a documentation database, establish a secure virtual repository, organize and archive information, and apply best practices for data governance, access controls, backups, and encryption. The module will also cover database design principles, indexing, metadata, search functionality, and data retrieval techniques to ensure that information can be securely stored, efficiently managed, and easily accessed for analysis, reporting, and accountability efforts.
• Working group: Finalize data governance protocols and database mapping
Session 5: Transforming Data into Actionable Evidence
• Designing Replicable Indices: Moving from collection to analysis, this module focuses on synthesizing raw data into authoritative analytical products. The consultant will demonstrate to participants how to analyze and track longitudinal trends and establish a long-term empirical record. Participants will use dummy data to produce an example report and identify potential gaps in data.
• Aligning with International Frameworks: The expert will also explore how to map local findings directly onto international human rights frameworks, ensuring the resulting reports speak the language required by international diplomatic and human rights bodies.
• Working group: Finalize model report and report back on data gaps.
Participants
This training will be open to civil society organisations that NDI has worked with across West and Central Africa.
Location
This consultancy is remote.
Timeframe
The consultancy will be implemented according to the following schedule:
• Application deadline: August 7, 2026
• Preparation phase: August 5 - August 31
• Preparation for other modules can continue through September as long as the first session can take place at the beginning of September.
• Training delivery: September 1 - September 30
Applicants should indicate any anticipated scheduling constraints that may affect their availability during these periods.
Application Instructions
Interested applicants should submit the following:
• Letter of Interest, including:
• An indication of which training sessions the applicant is able to lead and which they are not (NDI does not anticipate that a single consultant will possess all the required expertise and may select multiple providers);
• A summary of relevant experience;
• A description of how the applicant meets the required qualifications;
• A brief vision or approach for accomplishing the consultancy tasks;
• Any suggested improvements or proposed modifications to the scope or terms of the consultancy described in this announcement; and
• Any anticipated scheduling constraints or availability limitations during the consultancy period, recognizing that this is not a full-time assignment.
• Curriculum Vitae (CV):
• Individual applicants: Current CV(s) of the applicant(s).
• Organizations or firms: An organizational profile highlighting relevant experience, together with the CV(s) of the individual(s) who would be assigned to the project.
• Cost Proposal:
• A financial proposal indicating the proposed daily or hourly rate; and
• an estimate of the number of days or hours required to deliver each training session for which the applicant is applying.
• Professional References:
• Contact information for two professional references familiar with the applicant's relevant work experience.
To Apply: Submit application documents to Lara Nuseibeh at lnuseibeh@ndi.org on o