Global Learning Partner Request for Letters of Interest

Onboarding to Project (Q3 2024) 

The CSL team will share materials for document review, and we will look to the learning partner to create an inception plan for our work together over the following 18 months. This inception plan will include prioritized learning questions that map to strategic and operational decisions; overall project plans, finalized methodologies (including sampling approaches), and preliminary instruments (acknowledging that these may change depending on data from the country-level assessments and evaluation). We will also use this period to introduce the global learning partner to those doing research in-country.  

Cross-geography Synthesis (Q4 2024-Q1 2025) 

Mainly analysis of secondary data, with minimal primary data collection 

Once these assessments are complete, there will be an opportunity to learn across the two geographies. In the assessments, we are seeking to learn about the strengths and weaknesses of civil society, opportunities to intervene and support; and the enabling conditions and constraints affecting the work of our partners and others in the ecosystem. While this information is highly contextual, we also expect that there will be insights and lessons that span geographies – as well as illuminating differences. We aim for the assessment to identify these overarching takeaways and important contrasts to complement the geography-specific learning and wrap up our research streams in a coherent narrative that helps us make informed decisions about our approaches and allocation of our resources.  

We expect this stage may involve review, synthesis, and analysis of two assessment reports, as well as other secondary materials related to work on global civic space; 1-2 focus groups with advisors and stakeholders from both priority geographies and global civic space organizations; and a sensemaking sessions with the CSL team, team members from other Foundation initiatives, and possibly some external partners.   

Cross-Geography Learning (Q3 2025-Q1 2026) 

Combination of secondary data analysis and primary data collection 

In preparation for reporting on the first two years of our initiative, we would look to the global learning partner to lead a process of learning across geographies and at the global level, informing Packard Foundation decision-making, as well as contributing to the broader fields of philanthropy and civil society. Though it will be early in our implementation period, we will seek to gain early insights into preliminary outcomes; how, if at all, our investments across strategic pathways are reinforcing each other; and how our funding and voice have contributed to stronger civil society organizations, infrastructure, and enabling conditions.  

While we would seek to develop together the research design, with input from our in-country evaluation partners, we imagine the process would be informed by:  

• Review of baseline assessments, incorporating prior synthesis and the assessment from the third geography 
• Collaboration with in-country evaluators on additional country-level data collection (which might be from interviews, focus groups) 
• Primary data collection from global civil society grantees (currently there are twelve organizations total), as well as any other global stakeholders deemed relevant – methods TBD 
• 1-2 focus groups with advisors and stakeholders from priority geographies and globally 
• Analysis of 2-5 evaluation reports from intermediaries administering CSL-funded programs 
• Sensemaking session with the CSL team and Foundation staff from other initiatives