TITRE DU PROJET : Programme SHINE – Supporting Health, Inclusivity and Equality for Everyone
COUNTRIES: Bulgaria, Croatia, Spain, France (including French Guiana), Italy
1_Context
In 2025, the European Union (EU) is experiencing a period of intense political and social tension, marked by worrying setbacks in human rights, equality, and solidarity. Furthermore, in the June 2024 European elections, far-right parties achieved historic results, illustrating the rise of nationalism and populism. In France, the National Rally (RN) obtained 31.5% of the vote; in Germany, the AfD became the second-largest party with 16.2%; in Italy, Brothers of Italy reached 28.8%; in Austria, the Freedom Party (FPÖ) obtained 25.5%; and in Croatia, the re-elected conservative government formed a coalition with far-right parties. This significant increase strengthens the influence of sovereignist and conservative groups in the European Parliament, undermining common policies on rights and inclusion. At the same time, anti-gender and anti-rights networks are gaining strength throughout the EU. These movements target, among other things, the rights of women, LGBTQIA+ people, the rights of foreign nationals, and the principles of equality in general, notably by influencing political and legislative agendas. Official Development Assistance (ODA) from EU member states fell by 8.6% in 2024, reaching USD 88.7 billion, or 0.47% of Gross National Income (GNI). Funding for the least developed countries decreased by 3%.
Asylum applications in the EU decreased by 13% in 2024. Implemented policies prioritize border control, outsourcing procedures to third countries (Tunisia, Egypt, Mauritania), increased deportations, and even the temporary suspension of asylum application registration (Greece). The European Pact on Migration and Asylum, adopted in 2024, provides for harmonization of returns and prolonged detention, while the Dublin III Regulation continues to impose frequent transfers between Member States – particularly of vulnerable individuals. In 2024, more than 167,000 transfer requests were issued via the Dublin III Regulation, resulting in disruptions to continuity of medical care, especially for chronic illnesses, mental health, maternity, and contraception. Furthermore, policies of forced return and prolonged detention (up to 24 months) seriously threaten the right to health. According to Doctors of the World Belgium and PICUM (2025), migrants in detention and in some European Union countries have access only to emergency care, with no guarantees for mental health, contraception, or prenatal care. The use of medical data for migration control also violates confidentiality and discourages people from seeking care, exacerbating health and psychological risks.
On the other hand, at the European Union level, gender inequalities persist and are being reshaped in a context marked by heterogeneous legal frameworks and unequal levels of protection depending on the Member States.
Despite progress, gender-based and sexual violence persists in the EU: 1 in 3 women has experienced physical or sexual violence, and the femicide rate reaches 4.1 per million inhabitants [1] . Investigations and prosecutions remain insufficient, according to the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights. Indeed, in matters of gender-based violence (GBV), mechanisms for prevention, protection of GBV survivors, and prosecution remain fragmented, with low reporting rates and widespread impunity.
Access to voluntary termination of pregnancy (abortion) within the European Union also remains particularly unequal, ranging from guaranteed rights to severe restrictions, or even de facto bans, limiting effective and free access to sexual and reproductive health care.
These disparities particularly and disproportionately affect women in precarious situations, migrants, and gender minorities. These gender inequalities are also evident in disparities in access to employment and income, the overrepresentation of women in precarious jobs, and in care work (providing care and support to individuals).
These inequalities are reinforced by intersectional dynamics linked to migration status, social origin, age, sexual orientation, and gender identity.
Brief overview of the project
The SHINE (Supporting Health, Inclusivity and Equality for Everyone) program , implemented jointly by Doctors of the World France, MdM Belgium, MdM Spain, and MdM Italy, aims to strengthen access to quality healthcare, particularly sexual and reproductive health (SRH), for women, girls, and gender minorities living in precarious conditions. Launched in July 2023 for a three-year period, it is part of a comprehensive approach to reducing inequalities and combating discrimination. In the European countries where it operates (Bulgaria, Croatia, France – including French Guiana – Italy, and Spain), people living in precarious environments or temporary accommodations face systemic obstacles: substandard living conditions, administrative and linguistic barriers, stigmatization, multiple forms of discrimination, and more. These difficulties result in limited access to essential services, increased exposure to gender-based violence, and persistent inequalities in sexual and reproductive rights.
Between November 2023 and November 2024, rapid gender analyses were conducted across all SHINE projects, identifying the specific barriers and needs of women and gender minorities, and subsequently, advocacy priorities. At the program’s annual seminar in October 2025, the consortium members agreed to produce a cross-cutting advocacy report focusing on the barriers, levers for action, and initiatives implemented to strengthen access to sexual and reproductive health and rights, including safe abortion and contraception . This report will compile diverse data and testimonies from people living in various precarious contexts and environments to demonstrate that these obstacles are systemic in the European Union . The report aims to share the findings of frontline field teams working daily with affected individuals in different European contexts. While these contexts vary from country to country, they share strong similarities, both in the barriers encountered and in the responses and alternatives offered. The report aims to offer a vision rooted in the reality on the ground, with a dual focus: Centering advocacy on access to health and rights, to denounce repressive and stigmatizing policies for migrants, Roma and other marginalized people, highlighting in particular the contradictions between the promotion of gender equality, the fight against discrimination and the anti-social and anti-migration policies promoted at the European level (and often at the national level); Highlighting the involvement of the people concerned, by truly giving them a voice – not only to denounce, but to propose solutions and testify to their realities, their resources, while taking care not to victimize them.
This cross-cutting advocacy report will complement the national/local advocacy actions of consortium members, propose joint recommendations and amplify the voices of those concerned, in all their plurality, in order to influence European, national and local policies and practices.
2_Objectives of the consultancy
General objective
The overall objective of the advocacy report is to document the various systemic barriers hindering access to sexual and reproductive health and rights for women, girls and gender minorities living in precarious environments in the European Union, and in particular regarding access to safe abortion and appropriate contraceptive provision; and to highlight the levers for action and various initiatives carried out by SHINE projects with the people concerned.
Specific objectives
More specifically, the following objectives will be targeted:
- Synthesize the actions, results and data from the SHINE projects.
- Identify the points of convergence between the experiences of women, girls, and gender minorities in their access to sexual and reproductive health in different intervention contexts, as well as the specific contextual factors.
- Highlighting the tools, common practices and specificities in the responses provided by field teams
- To value the testimonies of those affected in order to focus advocacy on their experiences and lived realities.
- Identify and promote a positive, feminist and non-victimizing narrative, driven by the people concerned themselves, in order to highlight their experiences and proposals to improve access to their health and meet their needs.
- Formulate strategic recommendations for external dissemination to partners, decision-makers and institutions at European, national and local levels
- Strengthen local and national advocacy actions through the dissemination of the report as a tool and contribute to a national and supranational dynamic for each of the 10 SHINE projects.
The report will focus on contextual data and activities, particularly in sexual and reproductive health and rights, as well as observations from field teams since 2023 in each of the 10 SHINE projects, i.e., in MdM projects:
- In France : the CASO in Bordeaux, the 4i program in Nantes, and the program in Cayenne (French Guiana).
- In Bulgaria : in Sliven
- In Croatia : in Zagreb, Kutina and the Međimurje region
- In Spain : in Almeria, Albacete, Extramedura, Mallorca
- In Italy:Â in Calabria
TARGET AUDIENCE
- Local and national institutional actors
- Advocacy actors/participants
- rices supranationaux
A dual quantitative and qualitative methodology will be used to draft the advocacy report.
The quantitative data used will be drawn from the reports of the 10 SHINE projects, existing project documents, including local advocacy reports and desk reviews, in order to link them to the contexts of each country and the European context.
The qualitative data used will come from interviews that the project teams have already conducted with the individuals involved and transcribed into project documents such as success stories and/or rapid gender analyses. The report should highlight the experience of the field teams and the verbatim statements of the individuals involved. If necessary, further interviews with the field teams may be conducted.
The analysis of this data will be conducted using a comparative approach (quantitative and qualitative data), identifying areas of convergence, employing a people-centered approach (verbatim transcripts, testimonies), and incorporating a critical feminist perspective within the current European context. This analysis will highlight learning at various levels, encompassing both the responses adopted to barriers and the issues identified with the individuals concerned, their resources, practices, tools, and so on.
This will also be highlighted by the formulation of recommendations for each advocacy target (at the European, national, operational, donor, etc. levels). A proposed report structure will be included as an appendix and can be further developed during the scoping phase.
Advocacy Report
The main text of the advocacy report, in Word format, respecting the MdM graphic charter, should comprise about fifteen pages, 11 font and single spacing, and should include 3 main parts:
- Introduction + Context : SHINE intervention context, barriers to access (common and specific) for those concerned to SRHR in the countries concerned, general context in Europe and in MdM intervention countries in Europe, MdM’s positioning in SRHR and feminist health.
- Lessons learned : each lesson learned is supported by verbatim quotes and testimonies from people on the ground and/or supplemented by “success stories”
- Field recommendations : to be grouped by emerging themes and by level of recipients of the recommendations (summarize the recommendations at the beginning of the document)
The report will also include an executive summary , which will be part of the report and can also be extracted from it, outlining the background, methodology used, key findings and recommendations, and a list of acronyms. The report should be advocacy-oriented, visually appealing, and written in an accessible style.
The report must be submitted in at least French and English. If possible, a version in Spanish, Italian, and Croatian can be produced using AI tools. A review by MdM France’s translation service will then be carried out at a separate cost.
Restitutions and dissemination
The advocacy report will be printed and distributed in the respective languages ​​of all SHINE projects, after translation into English, French, Italian, Spanish, and Croatian as mentioned above. It will also be published on the intranet site of MdM France and the MdM network and sent to stakeholders (institutions, NGOs, local, national, and European partner networks, etc.). The report will also be submitted to ECRI for monitoring in France before June 5, 2026.
A transnational advocacy event will be organized by MdM France with the participation of all representatives of the SHINE projects, members of the MdM network, local partners, and stakeholders who contributed to the report. The European target groups of this report will be invited to participate in this event. A separate budget has been allocated for organizing the event.
Each project will organize a feedback session tailored to the stakeholders involved in drafting the report, sharing the results and recommendations with them. Presentations of the report’s findings will be prepared by the consultancy to facilitate these sessions in each country by the project teams.
Maximum budget available: 30,000 EUR including tax.
3_Desired Profile
- Proven experience in advocacy and strategic writing.
- Demonstrated experience in the humanitarian, development and/or civil society sectors.
- Knowledge of the associative and/or NGO environment in at least one of the SHINE intervention countries (Bulgaria, Croatia, Spain, France, Italy).
- Mastering European institutions (EU, Council of Europe) and European legislation.
- Understanding the EU’s community strategy on migration and gender equality.
- Ideally, have technical expertise on one or more themes: sexual and reproductive health (SRH), migration, gender, public health, inclusion of Roma populations.
- Possess analytical and synthesis skills (processing of qualitative and quantitative data).
- Having a mastery of artificial intelligence tools
- To have a sensitivity to feminist and person-centered approaches.
- Excellent writing skills.
- Fluent in French and English; knowledge of Spanish, Italian or Croatian is an asset.
- Ability to facilitate feedback sessions and to work in multicultural coordination.
4_Indicative Calendar
- Deadline for expressing interest: January 15, 2026 at midnight, Paris time
- Deadline for a complete proposal: January 25, 2026 at 12:00 PM, Paris time
- Preparation phase: February 2nd to February 9th, 2026 (7 days)
- Estimated duration of the field phase: February 11 to March 6, 2026 (10 days)
- Report drafting phase: March 6 to May 15, 2026, including drafting the provisional report, review and feedback from the steering committee, and finalization of the report by taking into account the committee’s comments (22 days)
- Return: May 15, 2026 to June 15 (5 days)
This schedule is indicative and may be subject to change.
How to apply
5_Documents to submit
Service providers wishing to express their interest are invited to provide the following two items:
- Up-to-date curriculum vitae (CV) of no more than 3 pages for the members of the proposed team, specifying where applicable the consulting firm to which each member of the team is attached.
- A letter of interest of a maximum of three (3) pages indicating: experience in similar missions, at least two (1) references concerning the execution of similar contracts, the provisional schedule of the mission as well as an estimate of the daily staff costs, the financial proposal including the total project cost including tax, the budget breakdown including tax of the expenditure items (fees, living expenses, etc.)
The expression of interest will only be considered complete if it includes these two elements. It must be sent to the email address: < doi.applications@medecinsdumonde.net > with the subject line ” SHINE Consultancy – Advocacy “. Expressions of interest submitted through any other channel will not be considered.
A maximum of four candidates will be shortlisted and invited to submit a full proposal in response to the terms of reference that will be sent to them.
The information collected in response to this call for expressions of interest is processed electronically to create and archive a professional file for each application received and in the event of an audit of our internal procedures. The recipients of the collected data are: the Health and Advocacy Department of MdM-F. In accordance with applicable French and European legislation, you have the right to access and rectify your personal information, which you can exercise by contacting <dsp@medecinsdumonde.net> or by writing to: Médecins du Monde France, Health and Advocacy Department, 84 avenue du Président Wilson, 93210 Saint-Denis, France. You may also, for legitimate reasons, object to the processing of your personal data.
To be allowed to apply, bidders must be able to provide evidence, at MdM-F’s discretion, that they meet the required legal, technical and financial conditions and that they have the necessary capacity and sufficient resources to carry out the mission.
[1] https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/fr/web/products-eurostat-news/w/edn-20251125-1