Regional Anti-Corruption Adviser (RACA)

ABA ROLI is a non-profit organization that implements legal reform programs in roughly 50 countries around the world. ABA ROLI has nearly 500 professional staff working abroad, and in its Washington, D.C. office. ABA ROLI’s host country partners include judges, lawyers, bar associations, law schools, court administrators, legislatures, ministries of justice and a wide array of civil society organizations, including human rights groups. Since 2002 the RACA program funded by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs has worked to combat corruption and promote transparency and integrity by: educating government officials in the Asia Pacific region about anti-corruption best practices and strategies for combatting transnational crimes; building the capacity of governments and NGOs to promote anti-corruption efforts; and helping to broaden key stakeholders’ understanding of regional and international anti-corruption conventions, including the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC). ABA ROLI seeks a monitoring and evaluation expert, ideally with demonstrated experience in anti-corruption programming, to support the identification of good practices/ lessons learned under the program and evaluates the impact of how partners have used the assistance and training materials to advance anticorruption efforts.

1. Specific objectives of the evaluation, intended use and users The summative evaluation will support the objective set for Activity 4.1 under the Program, which states, “Develop a compendium of good practices/ lessons learned that evaluates the impact of how partners have used the assistance and training materials under this grant to advance anticorruption efforts.” ABA ROLI will conduct a participatory evaluation – engaging long-time program partners such as UNODC and stakeholder countries to better capture program outcomes and results, primarily through an online survey. ABA ROLI will compile resources developed under this program and identify ways in which they have been used by other partners and stakeholders. The evaluation will address the core question - To what extent has the RACA Program contributed to the following: 5 a. Assisting Asia-Pacific countries to implement the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) and other anti-corruption commitments; b. Strengthening cooperation between government and civil society on fighting corruption in supported countries; c. Improve public understanding of citizens’ role in addressing corruption in supported countries; d. Help reduce private sector bribery in supported countries; and other results that may be highlighted through efforts, including those under the Pathfinder Project in 2016 and 2017. The compendium of good practices/lessons learned will cover the following core thematic areas of capacity building work:
2. Law Enforcement Integrity
3. Youth Integrity
4. Private Sector Anti-Bribery
5. Open Source Intelligence
6. Income and Asset Disclosure and Conflict of Interest
7. Anti-Money Laundering and Asset Confiscation
8. Transnational Crime (Human Trafficking, Wildlife Trafficking, Resource Extraction Crime) Relying primarily on a survey method, ABA ROLI will use a participatory approach in eliciting feedback to answer the questions and themes above. The compendium of lessons learned will be useful for future programming and continued sharing of practical examples and knowledge for anti-corruption efforts. It will specifically be useful to anti-corruption implementers like ABA ROLI and its local counterparts, the donor – for identifying and programming needs in the area of anti-corruption, and to main proponents for anti-corruption efforts in the supported countries.
9. Evaluation approach and methodology To respond to the questions identified above, the evaluator will guide the conduct of a participatory evaluation, engaging key stakeholders and partners in three levels of the evaluation process: (1) responding to evaluation questions; (2) survey-based data collection/ gathering; and, in selected cases, (3) initial analysis of lessons learned and results for each country and generally, for the region. The evaluator will work closely with the RACA Team in identifying stakeholders that will form respondents and co-evaluators for this process. The evaluator will consider the selective use of use of interviews and other types of data gathering techniques feasible within the time period identified. The evaluator will use contribution analysis to assess the extent of contribution of the Program, and will couple it with contribution analysis to assess the underlying causal questions that will take the evaluation questions into further detail. Specifically, the analysis will also describe (in addition to addressing the core evaluation questions): 5 a. How important the contribution of the program is in observed outcomes b. Why the observed results occurred (both negative and positive conditions) c. What role the intervention played in observed conditions d. Whether the program has made a difference, and what the preponderance of evidence says about how well the program is making a difference. Interview participants will be determined with consideration of the project’s context and timeframe and the potential sensitivities of the operating environment. Considering the COVID-19 pandemic and the limitations to travel and in-person discussion, the evaluator should expect to have to implement surveys and other data collection activities remotely, where needed.
10. Scope of the evaluation The evaluation will cover the Program period between Oct. 1, 2016 through today, covering the seven core thematic areas listed above. The most relevant countries for respondents include Lao PDR, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, and Vietnam, that were represented in different ways under the Program, and will form the main focus of the evaluation, although some questions will take on a regional perspective. The Evaluation adviser will: ● Prepare a brief inception report that includes the proposed methodology, data sources, and data collection tools that addresses this SOW; ● Work with the RACA Team in finalizing stakeholders or key informants and partners for the participatory evaluation tasks and finalizing questions for the stakeholder survey. ● Implement survey-based participatory evaluation question setting with key stakeholders and the RACA Team ● Engage a small number of selected key stakeholders in participatory data collection, lessons-learned reflection in areas where this is possible, and collect other data relevant to the evaluation ● Engage key stakeholders in contribution analysis where possible or where competencies for such type of analysis is observed. ● Analyze data and create a final evaluation report that answers the main questions listed above and includes key findings and recommendations for various users of the evaluation, especially key stakeholders who were engaged in the participatory evaluation process; and ● Collaborate with ABA ROLI to create a summary document of the evaluation and finalize the full report based on analysis undertaken. Translation requirements for surveys or interviews will be provided by ABA ROLI through a subcontractor.
11. Expected deliverables The Evaluation Report will specifically inform the final a compendium of good practices/ lessons learned supported by the following deliverables/outputs: 5  Concise Inception Report for ABA ROLI, including proposed methodology, data sources, and data collection tools;  Raw data and analysis results, including coding methodology, etc.;  Draft report for review by ABA ROLI  Final Report for ABA ROLI and key stakeholders that engage in participatory evaluation; and  Executive summary and short version(s) of the report produced for external audience.
12. Evaluation guiding principles, governance and management The evaluation shall be guided by the American Evaluation Association’s Principles for Evaluators. ABA ROLI is responsible for creating an evaluation team, consisting of key stakeholders to ensure participatory and utilization-focused process.
13. Timeframe The Evaluator is scheduled to spend approximately 45 working days over 7 weeks, starting in late July 2020. The evaluator will be available to coordinate with ABA ROLI staff during ABA ROLI’s review phase until a completed final report is produced and submitted by early September.
14. Budget Budget for this evaluation will be covered by the RACA grant. This evaluation is expected to take approximately 45 working days over a seven-week period.
15. Desired qualifications for evaluator and how to apply The evaluator will have the following qualifications: ● A university degree in law, public policy, public administration, development, international relations, monitoring and evaluation or other relevant discipline. ● At least 10 years of experience in program evaluation, including conducting key informant interviews, qualitative data analysis, and reporting on key findings, particularly for rule of law, governance, or human rights programs. ● Experience implementing participatory evaluation for cross country programs ● Experience implementing contribution analysis is preferred. ● Familiarity with anti-corruption programming and evaluation ● Fluency and effective communication skills in English is required. Knowledge of other local languages would be an advantage. ● Familiarity with international laws and standards for anti-corruption Please send a resume/CV, cover letter describing your relevant experience in program evaluation and anti-corruption programming, a writing sample from an evaluation report or similar, and your daily consultancy rate to Lori Yamamoto at lori.yamamoto@americanbar.org by July 23, 2020.

How to apply:

Please send a resume/CV, cover letter describing your relevant experience in program

evaluation and anti-corruption programming, a writing sample from an evaluation report or

similar, and your daily consultancy rate to Lori Yamamoto at

lori.yamamoto@americanbar.org by July 23, 2020.