Background
Over the last decade, the Government of Tajikistan (GoT) has undertaken a number of legal reforms to establish a framework for an effective and efficient justice system. However, judicial bodies and executive government authorities responsible for law implementation face severe technical and financial constrains including insufficient budget allocations, low capacity of staff and high turnover.
To support the GoT’s efforts, in 2013 the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in partnership with Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation (Helvetas) launched the ‘Access to Justice in Tajikistan’ (A2J) project. Funding for the project was provided by the Swiss Development Corporation (SDC). The goal of the project was to contribute to better access to justice for marginalized and vulnerable persons, particularly women. This was to be undertaken by several methods, including training, capacity building, raising public awareness, and establishing mechanisms for dialogue between the government and civil society. However, the most public function of the project is the operation of 25 legal aid centers (LACs). These LACs provide free legal aid to women and vulnerable persons all across Tajikistan. An additional goal of the project is to help the Government of Tajikistan (GoT) pilot its own system of state-supported free legal aid, starting in late 2015.
The A2J project is currently funded through the end of November 2016. A mid-term evaluation (MTE) of the project is now due. An experienced international consultant is sought to undertake this MTE.
Project Outcomes
The key strategic objectives of the project are:
- Legal awareness raising fosters legal protection of vulnerable and marginalised groups (>seventy per cent women) in project areas;
- Legal aid services provide better access to legal protection for vulnerable and marginalized groups and individuals (>seventy per cent women) in project areas;
- Effective and responsive government services provide legal information and support to vulnerable and marginalised groups and individuals (>seventy per cent women) in project areas;
- Key challenges in Access to Justice/Rule of Law, which are identified, are raised in a policy dialogue with government authorities and other stakeholders leading to concrete responses for improved access to justice.
Project Outputs
The project has the following outputs aligned to the above strategic objectives:
- Legal literacy campaigns through mass and social media, implemented at national level with outreach to project areas;
- Assistance, including legal information and awareness, is provided to at least 80,000 citizens (of which > 70% are women);
- Quality legal aid is provided to at least 9,000 vulnerable and marginalized (>70 % women) in project areas;
- The GoT establishes mechanisms for dialogue on rule of law/access to justice reform;
- The capacity of civil society to advocate for relevant reforms is enhanced.
Duties and Responsibilities
Goals and objectives
The Consultant will be responsible for conduction of mid-term evaluation (MTE) of the A2J project. The purpose of the mid-term evaluation (MTE) is to assess and determine the performance of the A2J Project over the past 1.5 years of implementation with regard to its key strategic objectives, in order to specifically a) ascertain the progress towards achieving agreed project outputs and targets, b) determine appropriate measures for refocusing project strategies where necessary and c) highlight areas of strength and opportunities for achieving the desired project results and d) capture effectively lessons learnt.
Duties and Responsibilities
Under the overall guidance of Assistant Resident Representative/Programme, and direct supervision of UNDP Program Analyst and Rule of Law and Access to Justice Programme Manager, the Consultant will ensure the provision of development services and products (commensurate with the scope of the Programme) meeting the set quality and time standards.
The scope of the MTE for this project reflects the project’s diverse range of activities. The MTE will assess the effectiveness of the implementation strategy to ascertain whether the specific and overall interventions and approaches were appropriate and effective. This will include the implementation modalities, coordination, partnership arrangements, institutional strengthening, beneficiary participation, replication, sustainability of the programme. It will also look forward; it will make recommendations for adjustments or changes in the latter part of the project and recommend areas for improvement and learning.
The MTE will include a review of the project design and assumptions made at the beginning of the project and the development process. It will assess the extent to which the programme results have been achieved, partnerships established, capacities built, and cross cutting issues such as gender, and human rights have been addressed. Further, the evaluation will investigate the specific activities relating to each of the project objectives listed above including training and technical support. The training design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation initiatives will also be reviewed.
Specific tasks:
- Conduct document review, evaluation design, methodology and elaborate detailed work plan;
- Conduct inception meeting initial briefing with reference group;
- Conduct document review and meetings consultations with stakeholder;
- Develop inception Report;
- Organize at least three field visits;
- Draft evaluation report based on the consultations and documents review;
- Conduct preliminary data analysis, debriefing and present draft evaluation Report;
- Conduct validation workshop with reference group;
- Conduct final data analysis, finalize mid-term evaluation report incorporating additions and comments provided by all stakeholders and submit to UNDP;
- Develop final Mid-term Evaluation Report.
Competencies
Corporate Competencies:
- Demonstrates commitment to UNDP’s mission, vision and values;
- Exerts strict adherence to corporate rules, regulations and procedures.Familiarity with the internal control framework and results-based management tools is a must;
- Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
- Ensures that programmes and projects are consistent with UN/UNDP values;
- Treats peers fairly by maintaining consistent values inspiring trust and confidence through personal credibility;
- Accepts responsibility and accountability for the quality of the outcome of his/her decisions.
Functional Competencies:
- Good knowledge and understanding of the UN system, familiarity with UNDP mandate an asset;
- Knowledge of issues concerning access to justice in developing countries, with particular reference to women's rights and gender equality;
- Specific knowledge in the subject area (e.g. rule of law, access to justice, and GBV);
- Thorough knowledge of results-based management and strategic planning processes;
- Excellent facilitation and communication skills;
- Ability to deal with multi-stakeholder groups;
- Ability to write focused evaluation reports;
- Willingness and ability to travel to the different project sites in the country.
Required Skills and Experience
Education:
- Master’s degree in Law, Public Policy and Management, Public Administration, Development studies, International Development, or any other relevant social science degree.
Experiences:
- At least ten years of accumulated experience in programme/project monitoring and evaluation, of which at least five years should be in international settings – preferably in post-conflict or fragile state contexts;
- Wide experience in quantitative and qualitative data collection methods and –analysis including surveys, focus group discussions, key informant interviews etc.;
- Proven experience of using a mix of evaluations tools in the areas of Access to Justice and Rule of Law programmes/projects; applying a variety of mixed-methods evaluation approaches;
- Demonstrated experience in gender-sensitive evaluations of Access to Justice and Rule of Law programmes or projects including experience using a range of quantitative and qualitative data gathering techniques to assess programme/project results at individual, institutional, sector and policy level;
- Proven experience in evaluating a variety of different modalities in international development evaluation;
- Evidence of formal evaluation and research training, including familiarity with UN norms and standards for development evaluation;
- In-depth understanding of Access to Justice issues in a post-conflict context and/or in countries in transition;
- Preferably in-depth knowledge of legal/judicial reform, legal aid, gender-based violence (GBV);
- Experience in engaging with government institutions and handling sensitive information.
Language:
- Fluency in spoken and written English required;
- Russian or Tajik/Persian is an asset.
Application Procedure:
Please follow the link to the Individual Consultant Procurement Notice:
UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.