Scope of the Mission

• Period covered: 2024/2025

• Covered components: Component 1 and 2

• Geographic areas: Albania and North Macedonia mainly, Montenegro to a smaller extent

• Documentary resources: The project has a shared workspace where all project deliverables are stored. A selection of resources useful for capitalisation will be made during the expert's assignment.

• Stakeholders that will contribute to the capitalization:

o   Beneficiaries and Participants to the Workshops: Ministries of Justice and Environment, Judicial Staff, Selected Municipalities, local authorities, magistrates, CSOs, beneficiary citizens, Project team

o   Coordination: Expertise France Project Manager and M&E department.

o   Animation and facilitation : Consultancy

Objectives and Expected Results of the Capitalization

Object :

The object of the capitalisation mission will be mainly on Component 1 and Component 2 and will focus on the following tasks :

1.  Identifying and assessing the institutional and behavioral change levers deployed to enhance access to environmental justice and citizen participation in Albania, North Macedonia, and Montenegro, in alignment with the Aarhus Convention standards and EU accession criteria.
2. Documenting and evaluating the learning and adaptation mechanisms used by the project team and partners, and their impact on the quality and relevance of interventions.
3. Mapping and highlighting the project’s key pathways to change, including the role of local keyplayers, intermediaries, and sustainability dynamics in driving and sustaining progress.

Objectives:

·         Building capacities by identifying good practices, tools and experiences in the field of environmental justice and citizen participation

·         Analyze cooperation modalities between institutions, civil society, and citizens

·         Draw lessons with an evaluative approach on results of the project

Expected results:

·         A consolidated knowledge corpus on participatory environmental governance.

·         Practical and strategic recommendations disseminated to partners.

·         Progressive valorization via thematic workshops, webinars, and written outputs.

·         A final capitalization report including analyses, case studies, tools, and lessons learned.

Capitalization Axes and guiding questions

A. Change Strategies and Levers

·         What strategies and tools were most effective in driving institutional or behavioral change?

·         How were entry points identified and negotiated in sensitive or complex governance contexts?

B. Learning and Adaptation in Practice

·         How did the team learn and adapt during implementation? What feedback loops were used?

·         How did partners contribute to iterative improvements?

C. Contribution Pathways

·         What were the most significant pathways through which the project contributed to change?

·         What role did local champions or intermediaries play in sustaining momentum?

Evaluation Questions

Evaluation questions are structured around OECD-DAC criteria and the project’s logical framework. These will be refined in the inception report.

Relevance

•         To what extent do the project’s objectives respond to the contextual needs related to environmental justice in each country?

•         How well does the project address gaps in access to justice, citizen engagement, and environmental awareness?

Coherence

•         How coherent is the project with national strategies, EU integration priorities and other donor-funded programs?

•         How have synergies across project components and between national actors been fostered to reinforce systemic change?

Effectiveness

•         To what extent have planned results and outcomes (as per logframe) been achieved?

•         What key drivers and barriers affected the achievement of each specific objective?

•         Which adaptations were made and how did they contribute to the effectiveness of the intervention?

Efficiency

•         Were resources (human, financial, technical) used optimally to achieve results?

•         Were project modalities and delivery mechanisms appropriate for the country contexts?

Outcomes and Change Pathways (via Outcome Harvesting)

•         What observable changes (in behavior, policy, practice, cooperation, attitudes) have occurred among key actors (justice sector, civil society, local authorities)?

•         What can be plausibly attributed to the project’s contribution?

•         How did the project catalyse or accelerate systemic or institutional changes?

Sustainability

•         What evidence suggests that results and changes will be sustained beyond the project timeframe?

•         Are there clear ownership and institutional anchoring strategies?

•         What are the conditions or risks affecting sustainability?

Cross-cutting questions

•         How has the project integrated environmental justice with human rights and participatory governance?

•         What mechanisms have promoted cooperation between the Justice and Environment sectors/institutions?

•         What lessons can be drawn for similar EU accession contexts or environmental justice programs?

•         What recurring obstacles limit convergence towards the Aarhus Convention?

Methodology and Procedure

The mission will be conducted in the form of beaded capitalization. However, the following list is not exhaustive and some activities might be added during the scoping meeting :

1. Preparatory phase:

·         Documentary review and initial interviews

·         Scoping meeting with contributors of the project and coordinators from Expertise France

·         Development of an inception report which will serve as a contractual document (including final evaluation plan, capitalization plan and methodology with milestones)

2. Preparation and implementation sessions (in-person and remote):

2.1 Beaded Capitalization

·         Collect tools; prepare interviews; and draft workshop agendas

·         If needed, support the logistics of the workshops

·         Organize 2 Participatory multicountry workshops (February and June 2026) with stakeholders

·         Organize 2 national Thematic webinars per country

·         Continuous collection of qualitative experiences (with interviews)

2.2 Final Evaluation

·         Interviews with contributors

·         Quantitative and qualitative surveys

·         1 workshop at the end of the project (November 2026)

3. Progressive production:

3.1 Beaded Capitalization

·         Thematic tools (after each workshop/session)

·         Capitalization sheet (according to the Expertise France’s template)

2.2  Final Evaluation

·         Progress evaluation report

·         Thematic synthesis Powerpoint; Executive Report and Final Report

4. Final restitution:

·         Consolidated capitalization report (June 2026)

·         Capitalization validation workshop and dissemination to key actors

·         Evaluation validation workshop and dissemination to key actors

Expected Deliverables

·         Methodological note and capitalization plan

·         Intermediate notes (after each phased session)

·         Good practices and tools fact sheets

·         Final capitalization report (approx. 40-50 pages)

·         Presentation support for dissemination

Scope of the Mission

• Period covered: 2024/2025

• Covered components: Component 1 and 2

• Geographic areas: Albania and North Macedonia mainly, Montenegro to a smaller extent

• Documentary resources: The project has a shared workspace where all project deliverables are stored. A selection of resources useful for capitalisation will be made during the expert's assignment.

• Stakeholders that will contribute to the capitalization:

o   Beneficiaries and Participants to the Workshops: Ministries of Justice and Environment, Judicial Staff, Selected Municipalities, local authorities, magistrates, CSOs, beneficiary citizens, Project team

o   Coordination: Expertise France Project Manager and M&E department.

o   Animation and facilitation : Consultancy

Objectives and Expected Results of the Capitalization

Object :

The object of the capitalisation mission will be mainly on Component 1 and Component 2 and will focus on the following tasks :

1.  Identifying and assessing the institutional and behavioral change levers deployed to enhance access to environmental justice and citizen participation in Albania, North Macedonia, and Montenegro, in alignment with the Aarhus Convention standards and EU accession criteria.
2. Documenting and evaluating the learning and adaptation mechanisms used by the project team and partners, and their impact on the quality and relevance of interventions.
3. Mapping and highlighting the project’s key pathways to change, including the role of local keyplayers, intermediaries, and sustainability dynamics in driving and sustaining progress.

Objectives:

·         Building capacities by identifying good practices, tools and experiences in the field of environmental justice and citizen participation

·         Analyze cooperation modalities between institutions, civil society, and citizens

·         Draw lessons with an evaluative approach on results of the project

Expected results:

·         A consolidated knowledge corpus on participatory environmental governance.

·         Practical and strategic recommendations disseminated to partners.

·         Progressive valorization via thematic workshops, webinars, and written outputs.

·         A final capitalization report including analyses, case studies, tools, and lessons learned.

Capitalization Axes and guiding questions

A. Change Strategies and Levers

·         What strategies and tools were most effective in driving institutional or behavioral change?

·         How were entry points identified and negotiated in sensitive or complex governance contexts?

B. Learning and Adaptation in Practice

·         How did the team learn and adapt during implementation? What feedback loops were used?

·         How did partners contribute to iterative improvements?

C. Contribution Pathways

·         What were the most significant pathways through which the project contributed to change?

·         What role did local champions or intermediaries play in sustaining momentum?

Evaluation Questions

Evaluation questions are structured around OECD-DAC criteria and the project’s logical framework. These will be refined in the inception report.

Relevance

•         To what extent do the project’s objectives respond to the contextual needs related to environmental justice in each country?

•         How well does the project address gaps in access to justice, citizen engagement, and environmental awareness?

Coherence

•         How coherent is the project with national strategies, EU integration priorities and other donor-funded programs?

•         How have synergies across project components and between national actors been fostered to reinforce systemic change?

Effectiveness

•         To what extent have planned results and outcomes (as per logframe) been achieved?

•         What key drivers and barriers affected the achievement of each specific objective?

•         Which adaptations were made and how did they contribute to the effectiveness of the intervention?

Efficiency

•         Were resources (human, financial, technical) used optimally to achieve results?

•         Were project modalities and delivery mechanisms appropriate for the country contexts?

Outcomes and Change Pathways (via Outcome Harvesting)

•         What observable changes (in behavior, policy, practice, cooperation, attitudes) have occurred among key actors (justice sector, civil society, local authorities)?

•         What can be plausibly attributed to the project’s contribution?

•         How did the project catalyse or accelerate systemic or institutional changes?

Sustainability

•         What evidence suggests that results and changes will be sustained beyond the project timeframe?

•         Are there clear ownership and institutional anchoring strategies?

•         What are the conditions or risks affecting sustainability?

Cross-cutting questions

•         How has the project integrated environmental justice with human rights and participatory governance?

•         What mechanisms have promoted cooperation between the Justice and Environment sectors/institutions?

•         What lessons can be drawn for similar EU accession contexts or environmental justice programs?

•         What recurring obstacles limit convergence towards the Aarhus Convention?

Methodology and Procedure

The mission will be conducted in the form of beaded capitalization. However, the following list is not exhaustive and some activities might be added during the scoping meeting :

1. Preparatory phase:

·         Documentary review and initial interviews

·         Scoping meeting with contributors of the project and coordinators from Expertise France

·         Development of an inception report which will serve as a contractual document (including final evaluation plan, capitalization plan and methodology with milestones)

2. Preparation and implementation sessions (in-person and remote):

2.1 Beaded Capitalization

·         Collect tools; prepare interviews; and draft workshop agendas

·         If needed, support the logistics of the workshops

·         Organize 2 Participatory multicountry workshops (February and June 2026) with stakeholders

·         Organize 2 national Thematic webinars per country

·         Continuous collection of qualitative experiences (with interviews)

2.2 Final Evaluation

·         Interviews with contributors

·         Quantitative and qualitative surveys

·         1 workshop at the end of the project (November 2026)

3. Progressive production:

3.1 Beaded Capitalization

·         Thematic tools (after each workshop/session)

·         Capitalization sheet (according to the Expertise France’s template)

2.2  Final Evaluation

·         Progress evaluation report

·         Thematic synthesis Powerpoint; Executive Report and Final Report

4. Final restitution:

·         Consolidated capitalization report (June 2026)

·         Capitalization validation workshop and dissemination to key actors

·         Evaluation validation workshop and dissemination to key actors

Expected Deliverables

·         Methodological note and capitalization plan

·         Intermediate notes (after each phased session)

·         Good practices and tools fact sheets

·         Final capitalization report (approx. 40-50 pages)

·         Presentation support for dissemination