1.GENERAL INFORMATION
Title of assignment: Final Evaluation
Beneficiary / beneficiaries: Non-State Actors and community members
Country: Syria (Northeast and Northwest)
Estimated budget or total number of planned days: 25,000 EURO (30 days)
2.BACKGROUND
2.1 General context
The Syrian conflict continues to have a devastating and long-lasting impact on the country and the wider region. Now in its twelfth year, humanitarian needs remain overwhelming. Over a decade of conflict has significantly reshaped Syria’s power dynamics. An estimated 15.3 million people are in need of assistance, with areas such as Raqqa, Deir-ez-Zor, Hasakeh, and eastern Aleppo among the most severely affected. Basic services, including health, education, water, and electricity, remain disrupted and fragmented, particularly for the most vulnerable population groups, including women and children. The continued influx of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and returnees places additional pressure on overstretched service providers.
After thirteen years of conflict, the Assad regime fell on December 8th, 2024. The new interim leadership, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and allied opposition groups, has pledged to steer an inclusive political transition. As part of this effort, HTS convened a National Dialogue Conference on February 25th, gathering over 600 representatives from Syria’s political, civil, and religious institutions, alongside academics and journalists. The goal was to develop nonbinding recommendations for interim governance and constitutional reform. However, subsequent violence in Syria’s coastal region raised serious concerns about the credibility of this process. Key groups, including the Syrian Democratic Forces and Druze representatives, were excluded from the dialogue, and growing restrictions on civic space further undermine trust. A surge in sectarian tensions, threats against minority communities, and new waves of displacement highlight the risks of renewed fragmentation and instability.
These dynamics are further compounded by Syria’s deep economic collapse, driven by poverty, resource scarcity, sanctions, and a prolonged liquidity crisis. Public services are largely defunct, armed groups retain territorial control, and widespread trauma persists. Projected increases in displacement and returns, expected to increase in the fall, could exacerbate competition over already strained resources and inflame local tensions between host communities, returnees, and IDPs. In this fragile and volatile environment, Syrian civil society plays a critical role in mitigating violence, promoting inclusive dialogue, and responding to urgent community needs.
Civic Space in Syria
During the conflict, civil society actors stepped in to fill the gaps left by a retreating state, providing essential services and giving voice to previously suppressed social demands. Civil society organizations (CSOs) emerged both in opposition-held areas and in regime-controlled zones, where the state attempted to channel civic engagement to reinforce its support base. Alongside individual CSOs, networks were established to increase efficiency, share resources, and reduce duplication. Today, 12 civil society networks bring together around 200 local organizations.
Years of conflict and the resulting territorial fragmentation have severely constrained civil society’s growth and influence. Although some CSOs have become more focused and institutionalized, the overall civic space has contracted. For the past period of time, CSOs have faced substantial barriers, including limited legal frameworks, political repression, and security threats. In regime-controlled areas, civic actors contended with restricted freedoms, fear of foreign engagement, and bureaucratic hurdles in registration and funding. In non-regime areas, de facto authorities may impose similar constraints, leaving civil society in a precarious position regardless of location.
Operational challenges are compounded by financial instability. Most CSOs rely on short-term project-based funding, which limits their strategic planning and institutional growth. Many operate with minimal staff capacity, often depending on part-time workers or volunteers. The absence of sustainable financing, coupled with a lack of technical expertise in policy analysis and advocacy, further limits their ability to influence decision-making processes.
The policymaking environment in Syria remains largely centralized and exclusive, offering little space for civic participation. Civil society actors struggle to access formal policy processes or influence public agendas. Furthermore, fragmentation within the civil society landscape, driven by ideological, political, and geographic divisions, weakens collective action and coordination. Despite these constraints, Syrian CSOs continue to demonstrate resilience, adapting flexibly to changing conditions and addressing urgent community needs. However, their capacity to drive long-term policy change or represent citizen interests in governance remains severely limited without structural reforms and sustained international support.
Non-State Actors
In this context, non-state actors have the potential to emerge as essential actors advocating human rights and local communities’ claims and providing services. According to the EU 2023 Roadmap for Engagement with Civil Society, a Civil Society Organisation (CSO) is defined as a “non-State, not-for-profit structure, non-partisan and non-violent, through which people organize to pursue shared objectives and ideals, whether political, cultural, social or economic. Non-state actors are considered as CSOs but are not necessarily registered as NGOs”. They include organizations that are partly or entirely autonomous from central government funding and control, and emanate from civil society at large, including economic and civic actors, such as:
- Professional Associations, syndicates and cooperatives such as Bar Association, Journalists association, medical association, Pharmacists Syndicate, Teachers Syndicate, Federation of Chambers of Commerce, etc.
- Local Initiatives, Representative Associations and Grassroots Movements: Various local initiatives and grassroots movements have emerged in Syria to address specific community needs and advocate for change. These initiatives can be community-led projects, women’s empowerment groups, youth movements, or initiatives focused on reconciliation and peacebuilding, parents’ association, patients association, students’ association and other shared-interest groups.
- Media and Communication Networks: Independent media outlets, citizen journalists, and online platforms have played a crucial role in documenting and reporting on the conflict in Syria. These non-state actors contribute to raising awareness, disseminating information, and providing alternative narratives to the mainstream media.
However, for non-state actors to effectively contribute to policy dialogues and decision-making processes, they need to strengthen their organizational capacities and internal governance and to enhance advocacy skills and technical knowledge.
2.2 Project overview
Title of the action: Empowered Non-State Actors as Agents of Change
Location(s) of the action: Northern Syria (NWS + NES)
Implementing partner: Expertise France
Operational partner (local partner): 26 Non-State Actors
Implementing period: 1st of February 2024 – 30th of November 2025 (possible extension)
Project budget: DG NEAR: 940 000 €
French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs: 260 000€
Project objectives: Specific Objective: To enhance the ability of Civil Society Actors to contribute constructively to decision-making processes and shape policies at the local level that address the needs and aspirations of Syrian communities.
These objectives will be reached through achieving two connected outputs that will be implemented in parallel:
• Output 1: Non-state actors are strengthened and able to engage in local-level policy dialogue on technical/sectorial issues.
• Output 2: Dialogue, coordination and sector-based initiatives are established, experimenting with sectorial dialogue and geographical coordination.
Main activities implemented: • Capacity Building for Non-State Actors
• Grant initiative to 26 Non-State Actors and 7 joint initiatives (cross-regional and/or cross sectorial)
The ENSAAC project is part of the broader“Strengthening Civic Space in Northern Syria” initiative. It aims to foster an inclusive and sustainable civic space by supporting 26 Non State Actors (NSAs) to play a constructive role become effective contributors in policy dialogue and local governance. The project is funded by DG NEAR and the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs and implemented by Expertise France. The project provides tailored support to a diverse group of set of community based initiatives, professional associations and local organizations. These efforts span priority themes including women’s empowerment, public health, climate resilience and civic engagement—contributing to inclusive local development through capacity strengthening, technical support and thematic dialogue.
With regard to its partnerships, 15 NSAs are based in NES, primarily in districts such as Qamishli, Hasaka, Raqqa, Tabqa, and Amouda, while 11 NSAs are in NWS, with a concentration in districts like Idleb and Azaz. Some NSAs, such as the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) and the Syrian Women Journalist Network, operate across both NES and NWS, highlighting their potential to foster cross-regional collaboration. The targeted NSAs are engaged in a variety of sectors, according to the distribution below. The project is expecting to support a total of 26 individual initiatives and 7 joint initiatives (partially cross-regional and partially cross-sectorial within the same governorate of intervention).
How to apply
8 How to apply
- All inquiries related to this call for submissions must be sent via email to erbil.office@expertisefrance.fr no later than September 14th, 2025, at 11:59 PM (Baghdad time). Expertise France will provide responses to all submitted questions within five (5) working days, or sooner where possible. To ensure proper processing, the email subject line must be clearly stated as: Question_ENSAAC.
- Interested applicants are required to submit their applications, along with all supporting documents, no later than September 27th, 2025, at 11:59 PM (Baghdad time) to erbil.office@expertisefrance.fr , with the email subject line clearly stating: ENSAAC Final Evaluation.
- Please be informed that our email server can receive files up to a maximum size of 9 MB. Applications exceeding this limit will not be delivered to the tender email address. Therefore, it is strongly recommended to compress your application into a ZIP file or submit it via an easily accessible online platform to ensure successful delivery.
For comprehensive information on the application, kindly refer to the following link, which provides access to all relevant application documents in full detail: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Z9CjQYRVDbFUB4ksgduEyOJ63bc7ZjU9?usp=sharing