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Ref.
2026/MOYAWITMS/15731

Job offer type
Experts

Type of contract
Service contract

Deadline date
2026/07/13 14:43

Duration of the assignment
Short term

Contract
Freelancer

Duration
20 Days total

Mission description

The African-European Museum Partnerships is the result of a process that started in 2022 Berlin among a group of African and European museum directors who shared the assessment that too few formats existed for African and European museums to interact, share knowledge and set up partnerships that transcend bilateral cooperation. In April 2023, 60 African and European museum directors from 28 African and 12 European countries gathered at an international forum in Dakar. Via the Dakar Declaration, the signatories expressed their shared ambition to strengthen partnerships between museums in Africa and Europe.

The “African-European Museum Partnerships” Initiative has three pillars – exhibitions, collections, and empowerment – and aims to achieve the following two results:

1               .   Strengthen EU-Africa and intra-Africa cultural cooperation and promote intercultural dialogue and cultural diversity across the continent.

2               .   Protect and promote African cultural heritage to become a vector for social cohesion, stability, cultural tourism, jobs and sustainable growth.

Target groups are mainly African and European museums, museum professionals, universities and specialised training organisations or initiatives. Beneficiaries include youth, schools, communities of origin and diaspora communities, civil society, artists, public sector entities (e.g. ministries of culture, education, tourism, foreign affairs), and private sector actors.

This Initiative will place partnership and co-creation at the centre of its activities with the implementation of two governance bodies: an African-European Strategic Steer and an African-European Advisory Board to foster a genuine Team Africa Europe Approach. The innovative governance and implementation approach aims to ensure that the ambition of the partnership will remain in line with the vision set by the African and European museum directors signing the Dakar Declaration of 2023.

The initiative has a budget of EUR 19,9M, financed by the European Commission and including additional contributions by EU Member States Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands. Implementing partners are the Goethe Institute (GI) and Expertise France (EF). A Technical Assistance team supports the coherence of the implementation work across all activities.

Italy has joined the African-European Museum Partnerships, pursuing the same objectives, by a parallel project entitled “Strengthening African-Italian Museum Partnerships”. This initiative concentrates on the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, and Uganda. Its budget of an additional EUR 4M is implemented by the Italian cooperation agency (AICS).

In this context, youth, women, and community initiatives play a central role. These groups are currently absent from museums at several levels: as visitors, professionals, and co-creators of content. The workshop aims to design concrete approaches to integrate them, through innovative and inclusive mediation techniques. The focus will be on francophone Sub-Saharan African countries, as well as the European Union. The ideas emerging from the workshop will feed into the broader programme activities. The workshop should be designed as a replicable format for museums, encouraging professionals to critically reflect on their practices and assumptions.

Project or context description

1)     General objective 

To design and facilitate a participatory workshop – in the form of a creative hackathon – promoting innovation, collaboration, and creative problem-solving around the engagement of young people and women in the museum sector, with a view to increasing their participation as visitors, professionals, and co-creators of cultural content.  

2)     Specific objectives

•       Identify and share innovative approaches to public engagement – particularly youth and women – in museums in sub-Saharan Africa and Europe;

•       Develop and test cultural mediation techniques adapted to Sub-Saharan African contexts, enabling the sustainable inclusion of these groups;

•       Identify the main barriers and levers to the participation of youth and women in the museum sector;

•       Generate ideas and actionable proto-projects to improve the engagement and participation of these groups;

•       Strengthen professional networks between youth, women, and museum professionals in Sub-Saharan Africa and Europe;

•       Formulate recommendations for future programme activities: calls for projects, mobility schemes, technical assistance, and ad hoc expertise;

•       Create a tool to be used by museums to question themselves on the implication of women and youth in their institution. 

 

 3)     Anticipated results

•       A benchmark of good practices and case studies in sub-Saharan Africa and the EU is produced and shared;

•     A group of around 25 diverse participants with on-going initiatives on the topic – balanced African (francophone)/European representation, gender parity, and diversity in age groups – is selected and mobilised through a call for applications;

•       A participatory workshop is successfully delivered, including mediation, ideation, and prototyping sessions;   

•       Project sheets or concept notes are produced during the workshop;

•    A replication protocol is formalised to enable other museums or territories to reproduce the approach and reimagine their structures to include these audiences;

•       New partnerships and professional networks are established;

•       A workshop report summarising discussions, insights, and recommendations is produced.

 

Required profile

A.     Qualifications and skills - Expert 1 (Europe Profile):

Each expert should have a profile combining sector-specific expertise in museums and cultural heritage with solid experience in designing and facilitating participatory workshops. Collectively, the two experts should cover the required qualifications below:

 •       Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement skills, particularly with cultural institutions, museums, and community heritage actors;

•  Proven ability to design and facilitate collaborative and participatory processes (hackathons, ideathons, design thinking workshops, World Café, collective intelligence) in cultural contexts;

•    Strong experience in knowledge sharing, public engagement, and capacity building, particularly with youth, women, and cultural practitioners;

•    Strong command of inclusive cultural mediation approaches applied to museum or heritage contexts;

•    Analytical, documentation, and report-writing skills (including the production of concept notes and policy/programmatic recommendations);

      Excellent command of French and English (spoken and written).

 

     B.     General professional experience

•  At least 5 years of professional experience in the museum, cultural, or heritage sector, with at least one expert demonstrating strong experience in the European Union, while having a strong understanding of the Sub-Saharan Africa’s context;

•    Proven experience in designing and facilitating large-scale participatory workshops (hackathons, ideathons, creative workshops);

•  In-depth knowledge of the Sub-Saharan African and/or European museum and institutional ecosystem (national museums, cultural centres, civil society organisations, regional dynamics), covered across the two experts;

•   Experience working with multilateral institutions or international cooperation projects is an asse

C.      Specific professional experience

•    Demonstrated experience in engaging youth and/or women in the cultural or museum sector, including the development of mediation programmes tailored to these audiences;

•    Knowledge of specific challenges and opportunities of museums in the European Union;

•    Experience in designing replicable protocols or tools for cultural institutions;

•    Familiarity with participatory methodologies applied to cultural innovation and heritage: design thinking, co-creation, collaborative project approaches;

•    Experience in documenting and reporting workshops (production of structured reports, project sheets, programme deliverables).

A.     Qualifications and skills - Expert 2 (Sub-Saharan Africa Profile):

Each expert should have a profile combining sector-specific expertise in museums and cultural heritage with solid experience in designing and facilitating participatory workshops. Collectively, the two experts should cover the required qualifications below:

•       Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement skills, particularly with cultural institutions, museums, and community heritage actors;

       Proven ability to design and facilitate collaborative and participatory processes (hackathons, ideathons, design thinking workshops, World Café, collective intelligence) in cultural contexts;

•       Strong experience in knowledge sharing, public engagement, and capacity building, particularly with youth, women, and cultural practitioners;

•       Strong command of inclusive cultural mediation approaches applied to museum or heritage contexts;

•       Analytical, documentation, and report-writing skills (including the production of concept notes and policy/programmatic recommendations);

•       Excellent command of French and English (spoken and written).  

B.     General professional experience

•    At least 5 years of professional experience in the museum, cultural, or heritage sector, with at least one expert demonstrating strong experience in Sub-Saharan Africa, while understand the European Union’s context;

•       Proven experience in designing and facilitating large-scale participatory workshops (hackathons, ideathons, creative workshops);

•    In-depth knowledge of the Sub-Saharan African and/or European museum and institutional ecosystem (national museums, cultural centres, civil society organisations, regional dynamics), covered across the two experts;

•       Experience working with multilateral institutions or international cooperation projects is an asset.

C.      Specific professional experience

•       Demonstrated experience in engaging youth and/or women in the cultural or museum sector, including the development of mediation programmes tailored to these audiences;

•    Knowledge of specific challenges and opportunities of museums in Sub-Saharan Africa (oral heritage, community museums, restitution, representation issues);

•       Experience in designing replicable protocols or tools for cultural institutions;

•       Familiarity with participatory methodologies applied to cultural innovation and heritage: design thinking, co-creation, collaborative project approaches;

•       Experience in documenting and reporting workshops (production of structured reports, project sheets, programme deliverables).

Additional information

Applicants are requested to carefully review the attached Terms of Reference (ToR) for the detailed scope of work and deliverables. 

Shortlisted candidates may be invited for an interview. Financial terms will be negotiated with the highest-ranked candidate(s) following the technical evaluation. 

Expertise France intends to contract directly with individuals holding the required license. Where a selected candidate does not hold such a license, the appropriate contracting arrangement will be discussed at the contracting stage.

Selection criteria for applications

The selection process for candidates will be based on the following criteria :

  • Candidate’s training/diplomas related to the expert assignment
  • Candidate’s skills linked with the expert mission
  • Candidate’s understanding of cooperation project stakes
  • Candidate’s understanding of the mission’s role in the cooperation project

Deadline for application : 2026/07/13 14:43

File(s) attached : ToR_Ideathon.docx - Finicial offer Expertise France mp.xlsx

Expertise France is the public agency for designing and implementing international technical cooperation projects. The agency operates around four key priorities :

  • democratic, economic, and financial governance ;
  • peace, stability, and security ;
  • climate, agriculture, and sustainable development ;
  • health and human development ;

In these areas, Expertise France conducts capacity-building initiatives and manages project implementation, leveraging technical expertise and acting as a project coordinator. This involves combining public sector expertise with private sector skills to drive impactful results. 

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