European Union/Council of Europe Partnership for Good Governance for Eastern Partnership countries - Phase III Contract related to: European Union/Council of Europe Partnership for Good Governance for Eastern Partnership countries - Phase III - The overall objective of this action is to contribute to strengthened good governance and rule of law in the Eastern Neighbourhood. Despite some progress, Eastern neighbourhood partners continue to face challenges to varying degrees on the rule of law, good governance and human rights and further efforts are needed in each country. However, the applications for EU membership by Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova have given a renewed emphasis to promoting and protecting democracy, the rule of law and human rights in the region. Russia¿s invasion of Ukraine and its consequences on the region¿s stability and security has also given new urgency to supporting these values and principles. This programme will take a comprehensive approach to monitoring state of play and progress in the good governance and rule of law area with a special focus on the role of civil society. It will also provide tailored technical capacity-building to Eastern neighbourhood countries to design and implement reforms. &nbsp;The action will also build on the achievements of the two previous EU-Council of Europe (CoE) Partnership for Good Governance Programmes (PGG), while focusing on the shortcomings and good practices identified under the current PGG. It will also address the immediate needs of Eastern Neighbourhood countries in the implementation of their domestic reforms, in line with European standards. The programme has two main components:The first component of the programme seeks to build on existing data such as the Justice Dashboard EaP to further promote evidence-based policy-making and to keep track of the progress of the key reforms through providing reliable data and developing necessary skills among the decision-makers and the civil society. In line with the ambitions of some of the partner countries, the focus will also be on measuring their alignment with the EU standards and where relevant their level of approximation to EU acquis. Systematic and reliable data will also allow for improved analysis of the results of the justice reform efforts and the impact of the support that has been provided within the framework of the Eastern Neighbourhood. Gender mainstreaming in the good governance and rule of law reforms will be facilitated by enhanced gathering and analysis of gender-sensitive and sex-disaggregated indicators and statistics.&nbsp;The second component aims to build on the achievements of previous cooperation and the regional analysis to further strengthen the rule of law, human rights and anti-corruption mechanisms. It will provide tailored support to partner countries to further align strategic, legal and institutional frameworks with international and European standards. It will continue to enhance the independence and competencies of relevant stakeholders and support the creation of stronger regional networks and cooperation through an increase of shared knowledge, information, and good practices. Ad hoc needs-based legal advice will be provided to partner countries to assist them with aligning their priority reforms with international standards and best practices.This programme will also support reforms in the area of human rights, including by strengthening the capacity of national stakeholders and civil society organisations, as well as by providing better redress mechanisms to victims of human rights abuses. It will promote gender equality and women¿s empowerment and support the prevention of gender-based violence.&nbsp;