The American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (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.
ABA ROLI seeks an Evaluator (Consultant) for its Legislative Assistance to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Criminal Procedures Codes Program.
I. Background
The Legislative Assistance to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Criminal Procedure Codes Program (from here on forward referred to as “the Program”) is a 36-month program awarded to the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) by the U.S. Department of State. The Program started in 2019 and will end in July 2022.
The Program’s goal is to organize and facilitate a Bosnian-led process to redraft the Federation of BiH CPC and Brcko District of BiH CPC and to update them, provide comments on the BiH CPC and Republika Srpska CPC on specific criminal procedure articles in the BiH CPC and RS CPC, as narrowed down and determined by the Program Working Group; eliminate contradictions, inconsistencies, and obsolete passages that they contain; align them with decisions from the BiH Constitutional Court; ensure the result is in compliance with BiH laws, EU standards, and international best practices; and educate future lawyers and legislators on how the legislative revision process should function. To accomplish the goal, activities under the Program fall within the following objectives: **
Objective 1: Design a systematic, Bosnian-led process for considering and redrafting all articles of the FBiH and BD CPCs, as necessary, and for drafting comments on the CPCs at the state and RS entity levels
Objective 2: Organize, fully support, and implement the plan of action to facilitate, consider, and redraft CPCs, including convening meetings of the working group
Objective 3: Work with local law schools to develop a “for credit”, or extracurricular activity, and internship for interested law school students to intern, support, and/or observe this project
II. Evaluation Objectives and Use
The evaluation is commissioned by ABA ROLI’s Europe and Eurasia Division to comply with the commitment set under the Program. The evaluation will provide evidence-based assessments of the Program’s achievements, lessons learned, best practices, and key takeaways for future programming.
Specifically, the evaluator will determine whether there is suggestive evidence that the Program contributed, in whole or in part, to any outcomes that helped achieve the Program’s goal (listed above). Specifically:
The evaluation will respond to the following questions:
a. To what extent has the Program achieved its objectives, specifically,
i. In designing a systematic, Bosnian-led process for considering and redrafting all articles of the FBiH and BD CPCs, as necessary, and for drafting comments on the CPCs at the state and RS entity levels on specific criminal procedure articles as narrowed down and determined by the Program Working Group;
ii. In organizing, fully supporting, and implementing the plan of action to facilitate, consider, and redraft CPCs, including convening meetings of the working group; and
iii. In working with local law schools to develop a “for credit”, or extracurricular activity, and internship for interested law school students to intern, support, and/or observe this project?
b. Has the Program contributed to increasing consistency, reduction of redundant provisions, and adherence to known standards and best practices for CPC formulation/amendment?
c. What positive results or benefits could be observed from the accomplishment of objectives and targets set out under the program? Of these changes, what would stakeholders identify as the most significant to their country or locality?
d. What can be learned from the effort, in terms of what worked and did not work, and what results/outcomes could be sustained in the longer term? What implications would these have to future efforts to support CPC assistance, or of projects in the same context and conditions?
The Evaluation will utilize outcome/ effectiveness evaluation and where feasible, will incorporate policy assessment methods to assess the effects of process and substantive aspects of the Program interventions.
The evaluation shall be guided by the American Evaluation Association’s principles for evaluators [1].
III. Uses and Users of this Evaluation:
This evaluation will be used by ABA ROLI and the donor to better understand program’s achievements, lessons learned, best practices, and key takeaways for future programming to better inform managers on future program design efforts.
IV. Scope
The evaluation covers activities, outputs and outcomes from 2019-2022 and all outputs and outcomes that were reported on or within the said period.
The evaluation may be conducted using document reviews, policy analysis, administrative data analyses, surveys, interviews and WG discussions. Documents to be reviewed will cover progress reports, minutes and discussion briefs, recommendations for amendments and other inputs, and other source documents available in the field in English and Bosnian. Records, such as tables with draft changes and amendments for the Federation of BiH CPC and Brcko District of BiH CPC and examples of cases studied during the work with local law schools may form part of the study. Post-tests and other surveys completed during the work with local law schools will as well be sorted and reviewed.
V. Deliverables
An Inception report, detailing the data collection methods and tools to be used for the evaluation; the inception report must include a work plan prepared in consultation with ABA ROLI’s project team. The inception report should include the data collection and analysis methods and the draft tools (i.e. survey questionnaires, interview and FGD scripts, data collection tables, or policy analysis sheets) to be used for the evaluation.
An Evaluation Report in English of not more than 35 pages, including an Executive Summary; a draft report to be submitted no later than May 31, 2022 and a Final Evaluation Report in English to be delivered to ABA ROLI no later than June 30, 2022 (in Microsoft Word, Times New Roman font size 12, single-spaced).
3. A report/addendum or notes for internal ABA ROLI review to be delivered as part of the Final Evaluation Report to be delivered to ABA ROLI no later than June 30, 2022. **
VI. What We Are Looking For
The consultant should be proficient in conducting mixed research and analysis, with relevant experience in conducting advocacy and policy evaluation. He/she must have:
● At least 7 years of experience undertaking outcome evaluations using mixed research methods, and in applying policy analysis in evaluations
● Required proficiency in speaking, reading and writing in Bosnian and in English
● Experience researching and evaluating human rights, legislative, justice sector strengthening, and legal education programs
● Proven ability to organize and coordinate evaluations or studies in the field, and with a group of program implementers in various locations
● Experience working in Balkan countries, BiH experience preferred
● Proficiency in in the use of MS Office and other applications for online surveys and data analysis; and
● Demonstrate abilities and experience in managing and mobilizing quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis.
How to apply:
Interested and qualified Consultants should submit the following as part of their application:
Cover Letter
Detailed Curriculum Vitae
Financial proposal (daily rate and total engagement cost proposed) & workplan for the assignment (timeline for delivery)
Sample evaluation report in English (optional)
Interested applicants should submit their application package to ee-recruitment@abaroli.org with email subject line: “**BiH CPC Final Evaluation - Recruit”. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis with an application deadline of Monday, January 24, 2021 at 23:59 Sarajevo time.** Due to the high volume of applications, only short-listed candidates will be contacted.