Organizational Development Consultant / Legal Evaluation

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Terms of Reference for Organizational Development Consultant / Legal Evaluation

1) Organizational Overview and Background

Peace Brigades International (PBI) is a non-governmental, international human rights organization that has worked since its foundation in the 1980s to open up spaces for peace in which conflicts can be dealt with non-violently. We use a strategy of international presence and concern to protect, support and enable the work of human rights defenders and local activists for peaceful social change. PBI is a non-hierarchical organisation comprised of different entities that operate by delegated consensus and places importance on relationships and processes as well as on outcomes.

• PBI Teams (formerly known as Country Groups) in Europe and North America are responsible for the incorporation and initial training of volunteers, project support networks, advocacy, fundraising, publications and improving the visibility of PBI and the organizations we accompany.
• PBI Teams (formerly known as Projects) in Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, Nepal and Nicaragua/Costa Rica carry out protection work, reporting, training and support to volunteers, advocacy and fundraising. They collaborate with other organizations and PBI entities to create and activate international support networks.
• International Office(IO) in Brussels is responsible for the strategic development, coordination, communications, fundraising of multilateral grants, financial management and administration.
• International Council (IC) is made up of independent board members and is responsible for governance and legal oversight.
• International Operations Council (IOC) consists of representatives from PBI Teams and is responsible for operational issues.

For further information, see www.peacebrigades.org.

2) Occasion and Objective of the Consultancy

As per a proposal approved on last PBI’s General Assembly, PBI is seeking to evaluate the possibility and conditions for PBI to change into a different legal registration, in a different country.

The reasoning is mainly that the administrative burden of a legal presence in the US consumes time and resources and exposes PBI to eventually avoidable risks (monitoring and compliance to a “distant” legal framework, deadlines, reports, etc.) both financially and legally. The distance of PBI to the US (both physical and regarding the organization's structure) has increased in the last few years.

With the approval of this proposal, PBI has set as an organizational goal to evaluate the impact of the termination of the USA registration, across several areas of work (financial, fundraising, legal, and others).

The purpose of this process is to assess and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the current registration of PBI, and to examine the implications of changing the location of that registration would have on PBI’s work and the fulfillment its mission.

3) Key Questions

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the current organizational setup of PBI, particularly in the context of a global governance structure? This includes examining:

Analysis should consider the points below:

• How would the process of closing the US entity look like.
• Consultation to all entities would take place, and inventory of all formal links between entities and the USA, Washington State entity.
• Where could PBI open a new entity? Should it be in Europe or somewhere else?
• Assess the need to, during a certain period, have a parallel structure: the current one in the US and the new organisation.
• How would the process of opening a new entity look like.
• What framework should be sought for analysis: what areas do we need to consider getting to a solid conclusion?
• What’s the timeline we should expect for this process?

These questions are meant to provide an initial orientation. They may be adapted in the course of the discussion and initial findings. Based on the answers to these questions, the consultancy should identify and elaborate recommendations regarding potential structural changes, including their potential benefits and risks, and first steps of implementation.

The goals of the proposal should also be considered:

• to save PBI resources
• simplify PBI’s admin, financial and legal
• to avoid unnecessary risks and liabilities
• align our structure to current PBI organizational life

4) Process Design and Methods

The consultant is expected to be self-motivated and able to work independently. They will be supervised and supported by PBI’s International Governance Coordinator and the International Council (IC) who will provide a general introduction to the work of PBI, relevant background documents, and contacts.

We envision a consultancy which includes:

1. Assessment of a potential closing down of the existing entity in the USA.
2. Analysis of potential alternative locations to open a new international PBI organization in a different location (focus on countries where PBI already as a fix set up, as Belgium or Spain, but others can be considered).
3. Desk review of internal documents, including bylaws, policies, existing legal registrations and obligations, and of current ISEC structure.
4. Interviews with people from across PBI as well as external, for data collection and analysis (key PBI staff, Governance bodies, partners and legal experts on specific areas affecting PBI’s work).
5. Team surveys, focus groups interviews and other methods the consultant see fit.

5) Duration and Timeline

The main goal is to have a conclusion on the proposed analysis by the end of January 2026, in order to be presented to the first councils meeting of the year

The following draft schedule can be considered as an hypothesis:

• July 2025: start of the consultancy
• August to October 2025: discussions and assessment
• November 2025: draft report detailing concrete data and preliminary conclusions
• December 2024 and January 2026: feedback cycle and finalization of report
• February 2026: report ready for presentation & recommendations to PBI´s councils

6) Outputs

In the course of the evaluation, we expect the following products:

• First draft report with preliminary findings and recommendations (Nov 2025)
• Final evaluation report, including findings, recommendations and an implementation plan. Language English. Maximum page number 20 including annexes.

7) Key Qualifications

We expect the consultant to have as many as possible of the following qualifications:

• At least 5 years’ experience collaborating with international NGOs, preferably in the human rights, development and/or peace and conflict transformation sector
• Previous practical experience working with decentralized structures (such as networks or federations)
• Experience undertaking evaluation processes
• Experience in strategic planning and organisational development
• Excellent report writing skills
• Excellent written and spoken English or Spanish and at least a good knowledge of the respective other language.
• Availability to fulfil the role and tasks within the stipulated timeframe

8) Terms and Conditions

This work will be undertaken as an external consultant.

Proposals should be sent to PBI including an estimation of the days needed to complete the work, and a detailed calculation of that amount indicating daily rate required.