The Southern Africa Trust is seeking a consultancy to undertake an assessment of the impact of financial aid flows on the policy work of regional civil society in Southern Africa as part of its ongoing work to engage with donors on financial aid flows to Southern Africa but also as a way of strengthening its work around supporting increased aid flows to civil society for them to be able to effectively to influence policy to overcome poverty. Expressions of interest must be submitted by 28 May, 2008, 15.00pm The aid effectiveness debate has now emerged as a central theme in addressing development issues globally. More recently, several commitments such as the Paris Declaration and the Windhoek Declaration made by donor countries calling for more effective utilization of development resources. However, these declarations still remain challenges in their implementation even amongst the donor community. Moreover, within the context of Southern Africa, civil society have not been explicitly addressed in these declarations nor are there any specific frameworks for guidance for their contribution in planning and organizing development programmes, especially in relation to enhancing the voices of the poor in developmental policy processes. Some multi-donor approaches are contributing positively towards support to civil society in Southern Africa to increase their networking and learning capabilities, reducing duplication, and to increase their voice in regional policy processes within the spirit of the Paris and Windhoek Declarations but the level and of coherence in implementation of these declarations still needs more attention. Although the programme of work of civil society dealing with policy processes in Southern Africa may have also changed overtime, also due to changes in the political climate of the region, there has been ongoing contention from donor agencies as to the level of delivery from civil society, particularly in terms of civil society institutional and absorptive capacity to address poverty reduction and socio-economic development. Still, the models and mechanisms available for civil society support as well as the ongoing debates on the need for greater collaboration and a shift in aid effectiveness policies are also increasingly enhancing dialogue and collaboration between civil society and donors in their respective roles in development support. The consultant is expected to review case studies or any relevant literature of policy work of regional civil society, with a focus on those undertaking policy work with a regional impact on poverty. The case studies or other evidence-based lessons will highlight issues, best practices and enabling conditions for improving the relationship of between CSOs themselves, between CSOs and donors, government, business and other development actors. The assessment will also involve interviews with key players, reviewing of key literature, including similar work undertaken by other organizations, and will provide policy recommendations for further action by the Trust and its partners. If you are interested in doing this work, please do send to a 2 page motivation of why you think you can do this work, how you will do it and how much it would cost, samples of previous work related to this topic, and recommendations on different angles this kind of work could take. Expression of interest should be emailed or posted by Wednesday 28 May 2008, 15.00pm, to: The Regional Poverty Observatory Unit Southern Africa Trust 4 Midridge North, International Business Gateway, 6th Road (off New Road), Midrand, South Africa OR Email: bkalima-phiri@southernafricatrust.org No phone calls will be entertained. PLEASE NOTE THAT A CLOSED TENDER PROCESS WILL BE ISSUED TO ONLY SHORT LISTED CANDIDATES.