Tender for Empire, Slavery & Scotland’s Museums Project Evaluation

Description

Empire, Slavery & Scotland’s Museums is a Scottish Government-funded project which explores how Scotland's museums can contribute to our understanding of the legacies of historic slavery, empire and colonialism. MGS is currently coordinating a national consultation to establish public and expert perspectives on this subject. An independent Steering Group, which is representative of relevant interests and diverse in its membership, will then make concrete and sustainable recommendations to the Scottish Government on how the Scottish museums and galleries sector can better address the legacies of historic slavery, empire and colonialism at every level. The recommendations will also investigate how to ensure people in Scotland are aware of Scotland’s involvement in historic slavery, empire and colonialism and how that manifests itself in our society today. This will include how to reflect, interpret and celebrate the wide-ranging and positive contributions that the full diversity of the Scottish population has made, and continues to make, to Scotland. These recommendations will investigate the best mechanism of delivery of our shared past. The recommendations will be provided to the Scottish Government in May 2022 and MGS seeks to appoint a contractor to undertake a project evaluation following conclusion. The successful contractor will work with MGS and the Steering Group to evaluate the approaches taken within the project as a whole, assessing the efficacy of the approaches taken by the Steering Group, project team, and external advisors to delivering the work. Empire, Slavery & Scotland’s Museums is a Scottish Government-funded project which explores how Scotland's museums can contribute to our understanding of the legacies of historic slavery, empire and colonialism. MGS is currently coordinating a national consultation to establish public and expert perspectives on this subject. An independent Steering Group, which is representative of relevant interests and diverse in its membership, will then make concrete and sustainable recommendations to the Scottish Government on how the Scottish museums and galleries sector can better address the legacies of historic slavery, empire and colonialism at every level. The recommendations will also investigate how to ensure people in Scotland are aware of Scotland’s involvement in historic slavery, empire and colonialism and how that manifests itself in our society today. This will include how to reflect, interpret and celebrate the wide-ranging and positive contributions that the full diversity of the Scottish population has made, and continues to make, to Scotland. These recommendations will investigate the best mechanism of delivery of our shared past. The recommendations will be provided to the Scottish Government in May 2022 and MGS seeks to appoint a contractor to undertake a project evaluation following conclusion. The successful contractor will work with MGS and the Steering Group to evaluate the approaches taken within the project as a whole, assessing the efficacy of the approaches taken by the Steering Group, project team, and external advisors to delivering the work. The contractor will produce a report outlining the findings, which will be distributed amongst MGS, Steering Group and Scottish Government staff, as well as being made public. The report should be in a format that can be repurposed, for example for presentation to MGS’s Board. Other than exploring the methodology and efficacy of the approaches taken in delivering the overall project, including the coordination of the consultation period and producing recommendations, the report will also analyse the social and economic impacts of the project, including value for money. The contractor should also include an analysis of the wider impact in terms of how it might shape MGS’s approach to future projects involving a similar framework. MGS welcomes innovative approaches to this analysis. It is important that the programme is evaluated in five key areas: 1. Project Steering Group and external advisors 2. Staff of Museums Galleries Scotland (including project team) 3. Organisations and individuals involved in the project (e.g. research contractors) 4. Scottish Government Stakeholders 5. Participants across three main research and consultation strands (museum workforce, public, priority communities) In each of these areas, the report should explore the success of the project in terms of the Project Overview and Human Rights framework. The successful contractor will have access to all relevant project documentation and will have the opportunity to meet with steering group members, research contractors, Scottish Government Stakeholders and relevant MGS staff including the project team. MGS particularly welcomes submissions from POC-led organisations, organisations with an understanding of racial equalities work, and those with experience evaluating projects that seek to implement Human Rights Based Approaches. Although the project itself is specific to Scotland, this evaluation tender opportunity is open to organisations outside of Scotland.