Apply by 6th October 2025 at 5:00PM (E.A.T)

Call for Consultant:

2025 State of Youth Civil Society Report Consultancy

About Restless Development

Restless Development Uganda is the nonprofit agency for youth-led change; we support the collective power of young leaders to create a better world. Our work advocates for youth voices, decent livelihoods, and sexual health, while shifting power to marginalized youth and communities. We have a strong track record of delivering impactful programmes that respond to the issues young people care about most. Our impact is driven through four priority areas: Voice and Democracy, Education and Livelihoods, Gender and Sexual Health, and Climate Justice. For more information, please visit:
www.restlessdevelopment.org

Background

Youth civil society plays a pivotal role in advancing social change, advocacy, and community development in Uganda. Across the country, youth organizations and movements are mobilizing communities, creating opportunities, and amplifying young people’s voices on the issues that matter most. Despite these contributions, the sector operates in a difficult environment. Access to funding is scarce, and where resources exist, they are often tied to rigid donor conditions that limit flexibility. Civic space is narrowing, with increasing restrictions on how youth organizations can advocate. They also face barriers to meaningful participation in decision-making processes, which further weakens their influence. Additionally, many YCSOs have capacity gaps and lack the technical expertise to deliver at scale or sustain their work.

Restless Development is currently implementing the Connect Project: Strengthening Youth Civil Society and Coordination, a project that seeks to mobilize, coordinate and strengthen Youth CSOs to meaningfully participate in democratic and governance processes. By mobilizing and strengthening youth leaders, we will foster a resilient and networked youth civil society that holds duty bearers accountable, drives policy change, and positions young people as critical stakeholders in national development processes. To kickstart this project, it is essential to further generate evidence that captures the realities of youth civil society today and informs the strategies needed to strengthen this sector in Uganda.

Purpose of the Consultancy

Restless Development is commissioning this research to produce the 2025 State of Youth Civil Society Report. This report will provide a comprehensive picture of the state of youth civil society in Uganda. It will highlight the opportunities and challenges facing diverse youth civil society actors. It will set out the actions needed to build and sustain a stronger, more vibrant youth civil society in Uganda. It will also provide actionable recommendations for stakeholders, including donors, government, and development partners, on ways to support a more resilient and effective youth civil society in Uganda.

Overall Objective:

• To assess the current state of youth civil society in Uganda, identify key challenges and opportunities that will inform strategies to strengthen youth-led action.

Specific objectives:

• To assess how governance limitations, leadership challenges, and restrictive policy environments affect the operational effectiveness and long-term sustainability of youth civil society organizations.

• To examine the impact of recent donor funding cuts on the financial resilience and operational capacity of youth civil society organizations.

• To identify  alternative funding and resource mobilization strategies adopted by youth civil society organizations in response to a shifting donor landscape.

Key Research Questions

• What extent do governance limitations, leadership challenges and restrictive legal environments affect the operational effectiveness and sustainability of youth civil society
• How have recent funding cuts impacted the financial resilience and operational capacity of youth civil society organizations?
• What alternative funding or resource mobilization strategies are youth civil society organizations adopting to adapt to a changing donor landscape.

Scope of Work

Evidence Review:

• Conduct a desk review of existing research, reports, and evaluations on youth civil society in Uganda to map the current evidence base, identify knowledge gaps, and inform the design of primary data collection tools.
• Develop tailored questionnaires, interview guides, and data collection tools for both digital surveys and qualitative consultations, ensuring alignment with the research objectives.

Youth Civil Society Consultations:

• Lead primary data collection with youth-led and youth-focused organizations through an online survey or in call discussions, ensuring participatory and inclusive approaches.
• Conduct key informant interviews with relevant stakeholders, including government agencies (e.g., Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development), umbrella bodies (e.g., Uganda NGO Forum), and regulatory institutions (e.g., NGO Bureau), to gather perspectives on the enabling environment for youth civil society.

Data Analysis and Reporting:

• Analyze qualitative and quantitative data, identifying trends, gaps, and opportunities across the sector.
• Synthesize findings into a clear, coherent narrative that provides an accurate picture of the current state of youth civil society, including sectoral challenges, effective strategies, and lessons learned.
• Highlight actionable recommendations for strengthening youth civil society, addressing barriers, and enhancing sustainability.
• Produce a draft report for review, facilitate at least one validation workshop with key stakeholders, and deliver a final report incorporating feedback.
• Produce both a comprehensive long-format report and a concise short-format report/brief tailored for wider dissemination.

Responsibilities of Restless Development

• Induction and Briefing: Provide background, strategic guidance, and clarify requirements and timelines to align the consultancy with organizational priorities.
• Review and Feedback: Review draft outputs and reports at each stage, providing timely, constructive feedback to ensure quality and relevance.
• Validation Support: Organize a stakeholder validation meeting and ensure feedback is incorporated into the final report.
• Technical Guidance: Offer ongoing support on sector context, networks, and youth civil society engagement as needed.

Key Deliverables

• Inception Report: Detailed methodology, work plan, and finalized data collection tools for digital surveys, interviews, and focus group discussions.
• Comprehensive Desk Review: Synthesis and analysis of relevant documents, policies, and previous reports, identifying knowledge gaps and informing primary data collection.
• Draft 2025 State of Youth Civil Society Report: Presenting preliminary findings from both primary and secondary research, including initial recommendations.
• Validation Workshop Report: Documenting stakeholder feedback, key insights, and suggested revisions from the validation process.
• Final 2025 State of Youth Civil Society Report: Incorporating feedback from the validation workshop, with finalized analysis, actionable recommendations, ready-for-publication content. (A comprehensive long-format report and a concise short-format report/brief)

Timeline:

• Inception Phase: 13th–20th October 2025 (7 days)
• Data Collection: 27th Oct–7th November 2025 (12 days)
• Analysis & Draft Report: 7th –13th November 2025 (7days)
• Stakeholder Validation: 17th November  2025 (1 day)
• Final Report Submission: 21st November 2025

Our approach to safeguarding

Restless Development considers the welfare and protection of children, young people and vulnerable adults to be an organisational imperative with primacy over the success of programmes or strategic objectives. We recognise that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility and we expect all of our staff, volunteers and partners to ensure we protect the communities in which we operate from harm and abide by our
Safeguarding Policy.

About you

We are looking for people with the right competencies and skills for the role, and who demonstrate the personal qualities consistent with:

our values.

Our value: HEART – We are who we serve. We are brave.

Behaviour:  Manages their time effectively to deliver quality against individual goals. Ensures value for money when utilising resources and efficiently processing finances.

Our value: HEAD – Delivers Quality. We are 100% professional.

Behaviour: Upholds the Restless Values at all times, demonstrating professionalism in their day-to-day work.

Our value: VOICE – We generate leaders. We are proud to carry the banner for youth-led development.

Behaviour: Actively seeks to develop their own leadership skills. Is seen as a leader to beneficiaries and other young people.

Our value: HANDS – We are in it together. We listen and learn.

Behaviour:  Actively listens and learns from those around them. Uses effective two-way communication to build rapport and relationships in the community.

Required Qualifications and Application Process

Experience and desired skills;

• Minimum 7 years of experience in policy analysis and youth-focused research.
• Demonstrable expertise in Uganda’s youth development landscape.
• Strong track record in producing high-quality research reports for national-level stakeholders.
• Experience in participatory research methodologies and youth engagement.
• Qualifications in Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) will be considered an added advantage.
• Excellent analytical and writing skills in English.
• Proficiency in qualitative and quantitative data analysis tools.
• Strong facilitation and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Ability to synthesize complex information into clear, actionable insights.

Application Process: Interested individual consultants should send:

• An Expression of interest stating eligibility for the assignment. (Max 2 pages)
• A technical proposal, not exceeding 3 pages outlining the proposed methodology and a schedule of planned activities.
• Curriculum Vitae of the consultant to undertake the assignment
• Required documents should be shared by 6th October 2025.
• Young people/ youth leaders are encouraged to apply

Please note that Restless Development does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process.