--- title: "Freedoms, Reforms and Elections in Ethiopia (FREE) EME" ocid: "ocds-b5fd17-2c9efd50-2228-4a7b-b7e2-09ad6078d181" canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-b5fd17-2c9efd50-2228-4a7b-b7e2-09ad6078d181" markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-2c9efd50-2228-4a7b-b7e2-09ad6078d181.md" json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-2c9efd50-2228-4a7b-b7e2-09ad6078d181.json" source: "Contracts Finder" current_stage: "Planning" buyer: "FOREIGN COMMONWEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT OFFICE" published: "2024-05-01" --- # Freedoms, Reforms and Elections in Ethiopia (FREE) EME Buyer: FOREIGN COMMONWEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT OFFICE Current stage: Planning OCID: ocds-b5fd17-2c9efd50-2228-4a7b-b7e2-09ad6078d181 [View canonical contract page](https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-b5fd17-2c9efd50-2228-4a7b-b7e2-09ad6078d181) [Download OCDS JSON](https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-2c9efd50-2228-4a7b-b7e2-09ad6078d181.json) ## Summary The Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office is planning a tender titled "Freedoms, Reforms and Elections in Ethiopia (FREE) EME" in the industry category of Foreign affairs and other services. The procurement process is at the planning stage, with an engagement end date set for 15th May 2024. The primary focus of the tender is to promote an open, inclusive, and active democratic space in Ethiopia ahead of the general elections in June 2026. This tender presents opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and voluntary, community, and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations to engage in advocacy, promote accountability, and enhance technical capacity in oversight institutions. Businesses with expertise in civic engagement, media, oversight work, and political analysis would be well-suited to compete in this procurement process aimed at safeguarding Ethiopia's democratic space and fostering civic participation. ## Notice FREE brings under it strands of UK democratic governance work (on civic actors, institutions, and elections) that were previously housed under separate programmes. The programme aims to promote an open, inclusive, and active democratic space by directly engaging with civic actors (for e.g., civil society and media) and autonomous and oversight bodies (for. e.g., parliament), so that they can freely engage and hold government to account on issues that matter to them. The enabling environment that is needed for Ethiopia's next general elections (slated for June 2026) is a key lens through which FREE's activities around civic actors and institutions need to be understood. The main components of the programme, which correspond to the needs it addresses, are: - Support to civic actors (e.g., civil society and media) because they play a vital role in maintaining open societies and promoting accountability - as well as providing services to, and speaking out for, the most marginalised. - Support to oversight Institutions and oversight work, that preserve and promote democratic governance, accountability, and effectiveness of development assistance. This work includes Fiduciary Risk Assessments. - Rapid analyses to ensure that interventions are responsive and adaptive to the context, emerging opportunities and promotes democratic space. This work includes Political Economy Analyses. What are the expected results? Outcome: Ethiopia's democratic space is protected from further rollback as nascent gains achieved in civic space, institutional reform and enfranchisement of the electorate are sustained. Outputs: - Empowered civic actors (CSOs, media, political parties) engage in advocacy, promoting accountability, service delivery, and representation of citizens, including marginalized groups (women, girls, IDPs, PWDs). - Increased technical capacity in oversight institutions for fiscal discipline, efficiency and accountability in public spending and fiduciary risks management. FREE builds on the lessons, challenges, and successes, as well as recommendations from previous interventions and acknowledges the transformed context it will be operating in and is realistic about what it will be able to achieve with the resources available. The proposed programme budget is PS13m (inclusive of VAT and local taxes) over 4 years. The primary implementing partners will be media and civil society organisations and their sector representative bodies and oversight and autonomous bodies selected for targeted capacity support. The supplier and their potential partners would need to obtain registration under the relevant department as laid out by rules of the government of Ethiopia. ## Key Details | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication source | Contracts Finder | | Latest notice | https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/fff85d81-ea03-48ff-b233-34b84fb497c6 | | Notice type | Market Engagement Notice | | Procurement type | Standard | | Procurement category | Not specified | | Procurement method | Not Specified | | Procurement method details | Not specified | | Tender suitability | SME, VCSE | | Awardee scale | Not specified | | All stages | Planning | ## Dates | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication date | 1 May 2024 | | Submission deadline | Not specified | | Future notice date | 15 May 2024 | | Award date | Not specified | | Contract period | Not specified | | Recurrence | Not specified | ## Values | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Tender value | Not specified | | Lots value | Not specified | | Awards value | Not specified | | Contracts value | Not specified | ## Status | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Tender status | Planning | | Lots status | Not specified | | Awards status | Not specified | | Contracts status | Not specified | ## Buyer | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Main buyer | FOREIGN COMMONWEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT OFFICE | | Locality | LONDON | | Post town | South West London | | Postcode | SW1A 2AH | | Country | England | | ITL 1 | TLI London | | ITL 2 | TLI3 Inner London - West | | ITL 3 | TLI35 Westminster and City of London | | Local authority | Westminster | | Electoral ward | St James's | | Westminster constituency | Cities of London and Westminster | | Delivery location | Not specified | ## CPV Codes ### Divisions - 75 - Administration, defence and social security services ### Codes - 75210000 - Foreign affairs and other services ## Release History - 1 May 2024 at 08:18 - Planning - Market Engagement Notice - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/fff85d81-ea03-48ff-b233-34b84fb497c6 ## Documents - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/fff85d81-ea03-48ff-b233-34b84fb497c6 1st May 2024 - Early engagement notice on Contracts Finder - https://forms.office.com/e/DPtT6WYM8h Registration link for the EME event ## Provenance This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-b5fd17-2c9efd50-2228-4a7b-b7e2-09ad6078d181. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-2c9efd50-2228-4a7b-b7e2-09ad6078d181.json.