Request for Proposals for Secretariat Services for the Brazil In-Country Working Group
Deadline for Submission of Proposals: Friday, September 12, 2025.
RFP# VPSHR222
The complete RFP and instructions for submission are available here.
Questions related to this RFP will be accepted until Friday, August 22, 2025. Answers will be posted at the bottom of this page on Tuesday, August 26, 2025.
The Voluntary Principles Initiative (VPI) is looking for an organization to provide secretariat services for the Brazil In-Country Working Group (ICWG) for a period of twelve months, renewable by mutual agreement.
Purpose of the RFP
The secretariat of the ICWG will provide policy leadership regarding the group’s work, and the logistical and administrative support that enables the group to function effectively.
The Brazil ICWG Secretariat will organize a minimum of four ICWG meetings per year and provide policy leadership and direction in the group’s meetings and activities. The ICWG Secretariat will also be responsible for providing the administrative, logistical, and operational support necessary for the effective functioning of the Brazil ICWG, ensuring the smooth coordination of meetings, communication, documentation, and the implementation of decisions made by the ICWG.
Proposals will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
- Proposed core activities implementation, based on the scope of work.
- Submitted budget.
- Experience on working on similar projects, for example, experience in multistakeholder consensus-building, experience leading collaborative groups, and experience in working on human rights issues.
- Capacity of the team that will implement the project and their functions.
Interviews of shortlisted bidders may be held.
Eligibility requirements
Bidders must meet the following eligibility requirements:
- Be a registered non-profit organization based in Brazil such as an NGO, civil society organization, academic institution, foundation, think tank, etc.
- Be able to demonstrate the administrative capacity, and expertise and knowledge of human rights issues (ideally, security and human rights).
- Demonstrate a high degree of fluency in English, with proven ability to draft documents and communicate in English.
Proposals must be submitted by e-mail no later than September 12, 2025, 5:00pm EDT (Eastern Daylight Time) to tenders@voluntaryprinciples.org.
Background
The Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights (VPSHR or simply Voluntary Principles) are an internationally recognized set of principles that guide companies on how to conduct their security operations while ensuring respect for human rights. The VPSHR is implemented in over 150 countries around the world.
To promote the implementation of the Principles, the Voluntary Principles Initiative (VPI) was created. The Initiative is comprised of over 75 members including companies, governments, and non-governmental organizations that share best practices and mutually support the implementation of the Voluntary Principles.
Since 2016, the VPI has been supporting multistakeholder In-Country Working Groups (ICWGs), intended to facilitate effective country-level implementation of the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights. These groups have proven effective in fostering multistakeholder dialogue on the ground through in-country coordination and engagement with national, state and local governments, embassies, companies (primarily in the mining and energy sectors), and civil society organizations. A key objective is building on-the-ground capacity to identify security-related risks and problems, to act on local in-country challenges related to the implementation of the Voluntary Principles and working to identify collective solutions to those challenges. The VPI currently has ICWGs in Ghana, Nigeria, Myanmar (suspended), Brazil, Chile along with partner working groups supported by companies or donors in Colombia, Peru, Mozambique, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The VPI members are supporting the creation of further ICWGs in the future.
To support the effective implementation of the VPSHR on the ground, the VPI is supporting ICWGs by providing Core/Administrative Funding on a renewable basis, where these will further the outcomes and impact of the VPI in local contexts.
The seed Core Funding is generally provided for 3 (three) consecutive years to VPI created ICWGs for core activities required to support and sustain a working group. The Brazil ICWG has so far received one year of core funding and is eligible for two further years, plus there will be other potential funding opportunities from donors and members.
Brazil ICWG
VPI Members have identified Brazil as a country with significant potential for a successful ICWG and strengthened in-country implementation, mainly due to strong demand on the ground by the membership and the likely effects of collective efforts to positively impact issues related to security and human rights.
In November 2022, the Brazil ICWG held its first meeting and since then the group has been meeting regularly. The Brazil ICWG developed a workplan of activities and implementation is currently underway.