Provision of research and evaluation services for the delivery of the Creative Climate Action Fund III (2026-2029) to the Creative Ireland Programme

Description

Creative Ireland is holding an open grant call for funding of approximately 10-15 Creative Climate Action projects lasting three years (36-month period) from 2026 to 2029. The successful grantees will likely include institutions and organisations with capacity to deliver large-scale projects, such as national cultural, climate and community organisations, NGOs, businesses, local authorities, networks and academic institutions working in the intersection of climate action, adaptation and creativity. There will be a focus on inter-disciplinary teams that include community partners, climate scientists, evaluators, and creative practitioners. The total value of grant funding is €6.5 million. A comprehensive, independent evaluation of the Creative Climate Action Fund III (2026-2029) initiative will provide an invaluable evidence-base to demonstrate to policymakers and funding Departments the impact and value of the initiative and its scalability. There is growing acknowledgement amongst policymakers that narrow macroeconomic measures like GDP do not capture the full range of citizens’ lived experiences. A sole focus on indicators like GDP can lead to other aspects of life – particularly those that cannot be easily assigned a monetary value, such as wellbeing, social inclusion and just transition – being undervalued. It is important that the final research equally balances both elements. It is envisaged that the process of the research will include, but not be limited to: * Coordination of 10-15 embedded evaluators at project level. The grantees are required to have an embedded evaluator in place at the beginning of the project. The successful tenderer is expected to develop a community of practice of the embedded evaluators group via 3-4 meetings per year to ensure a consistent approach to evaluation at project level. * Leading a workshop around evaluation methodologies and support in clarifying project outputs and outcomes for the embedded evaluators in 2026. * Regular update meetings between the Creative Ireland team and the successful tenderer, approximately 4 meetings per year, will be scheduled throughout the life of the contract * Focus Groups with participants across all projects. These focus group may be made up of different disciplines, difference themes, geographical relevance etc. 5-6 different focus groups are anticipated. * One-to-One interviews with a broad cross section of stakeholders. This stakeholder group will be selected in collaboration with the Creative Ireland team, and it is anticipated that approximately 20-30 interviews will be undertaken. * Coordination with other Creative Ireland evaluations (e.g. Shared Island) to ensure that participants in projects are not being evaluated by multiple different sources