Consultant-Kazakhstan Rule of Law Program

The Kazakhstan Rule of Law Program, funded by USAID and implemented by American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI), supports the legal framework for civil society organizations (CSOs), investment climate and professionalism of judiciary. The program builds on a nearly three-decade partnership between Kazakhstan and the U.S. to modernize the judicial system, build public trust in the judiciary, and implement judicial reforms. The program supports judicial transparency and openness by providing opportunities for businesses, CSOs, lawyers, and other interested stakeholders to interact with each other and advocate for change. The effective date of this Program is October 1, 2020. The estimated completion date is September 30, 2025.

Program activities include working on improving the legal investment climate, establishing better cooperation between GoK and CSOs, and improving capacities and professionalism of judiciary. The Program is divided into three Objectives, where each objective consists of targeted activities that will lead to overall improvement of Rule of Law sector in Kazakhstan.

The purpose of the evaluation is to conduct a mid-line evaluation of performance in accomplishment of results outlined in the theory of change and each of the program objectives. The evaluation is scoped to review performance from October 2020 to March 31 2023.

The evaluation is commissioned by ABA ROLI’s Kazakhstan to measure the program’s effectiveness in 3 areas:

(1) Developing a legal climate for businesses that increases confidence and spurs international investment in Kazakhstan;

(2) Improving the legal framework for civil society organizations, enabling them to assume their role in a democratic society; and

(3) Ensuring the judiciary continues on its path of modernization, eliminating avenues for real or perceived bias and increasing independence and professionalism.

The evaluation is commissioned to support future programming in this area, and will also provide useful information for counterparts (i.e. training/education institutions and justice system) on directions for development and sustainability mechanisms introduced and supported under the Program.

Primary users of this evaluation are ABA ROLI offices in Kazakhstan and Washington, D.C. and USAID mission in Kazakhstan. Secondary users of this evaluation are judicial personnel, judges, advocates and other stakeholders of the KROL program.

The evaluation intends to answer the following questions:

(a) whether KROL is on track to reach the proposed outcomes (What is the pace of progress towards the outcomes at the halfway point of the implementation? Is there any delay in the implementation?);

(b) whether KROL has the right tools to measure the outcomes; and

(c) whether KROL is using these tools effectively

The midterm evaluation aligns with above goals and objectives by providing information useful for counterparts to review the various factors that indicate and affect performance. The effectiveness of the Program is assessed in line with the overall theory of change, specifically assessing progress towards outcomes of trainings, dialogue platforms, legislative outputs and other capacity building efforts.

In order to accomplish these objectives, the evaluation consultant may utilize outcome harvesting or contribution analysis and employ a range of data collection methods such as document review of progress reports to date, court observation, or survey of past and current stakeholders of the program (CSO representatives, judges, judicial personnel and other stakeholders) to conduct analysis and provide answers to the evaluation questions.

Past experience shows that performance evaluation is a sensitive process. Qualitative approaches will provide an opportunity to engage with judges and court staff in identifying outcomes that may be felt or experienced without wholly relying on performance targets. At the start of the program, ABA ROLI Team will identify cohorts from the main beneficiary groups (the judiciary, the business community, civil society, and the legal community) who will participate in the evaluation. Then consultant will engage relevant groups (for example, the civil society cohort following the trainings on their rights and responsibilities) to understand whether and how key outcomes have progressed. In particular, Consultant will assess the ability and comfort of CSOs to participate in and lead legislative reforms, and the relative confidence that stakeholder groups have in their perception of the judiciary over time, among others.

Professional qualifications, experience and expertise required for the evaluation consultant:

The consultant (an organization or an individual) should be proficient in conducting performance evaluations and in the context of the program.

Consultant must have:

· At least a master’s degree in public policy or administration, social or political science, or other related field with no less than seven years of experience conducting program evaluation OR a bachelor’s degree in these same fields with more than 10 years of experience in conducting program evaluations

· Must have previous experience in conducting evaluation in Kazakhstan; experience conducting evaluations with public sector particularly the legal sector is a plus

· Must have excellent English and Russian communications and writing skills

· Must demonstrate proficiency in the use of MS Office and other applications for online surveys and data analysis.

-Must submit the required documentation along with the Technical Proposal: Profile of the consultant, explaining why they are the most suitable for the work, methodology, CV and cost proposal.

Reporting Lines:

The consultant will report directly to the KROL Monitoring & Evaluation Manager. The consultant must provide all deliverables defined in these terms of reference. At the request of the Monitoring & Evaluation Manager, the consultant may be required to deliver intermediate milestones (such as notes, outlines, drafts for review, etc.) in addition to deliverables that are listed.

Payment will be tied to successful completion of deliverables according to acceptable quality standards as determined by the Monitoring & Evaluation Manager.

Deliverables:

All deliverables must be written and presented in English. However, certain presentations and discussions may be conducted in Russian.

· An inception report / work plan prepared in consultation with the Monitoring & Evaluation Manager that includes design and methodology, data collection activities and analysis, and a clearer description of the scope of the evaluation based on feasibility and purposes stated for the Program.

· Relevant tools for data collection and collated data

· Draft evaluation report that includes preliminary findings, conclusions and recommendations. ABA ROLI DC team and KROL team will review and submit comments and suggested revisions.

· A final evaluation report, including an executive summary, an explanation of the evaluation methodology with its limitations, the findings, conclusions and recommendations, appendices that contain the data analysis collection and analysis tools used.

· PowerPoint presentation and Q&A session with KROL team. The presentation must include findings, conclusions and recommendations of the evaluation.

· Databases with machine-readable information that have the quantitative data collected in the evaluation, mostly created from surveys carried out during the evaluation.