Call for Expert/ Expert Teams or Organizations To Conduct Semi-Project Assessment and Provide Recommendations To the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA)

1.  Introduction

Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) is one of the leading human rights organizations in Georgia, which was established in 1994 and has been protecting human rights for 28 years.  

Goals of the organization, according to its Charter are the following:  

-  Protection of human rights and freedoms.  

-  Development of the legal base of the civil society and legal state.

-  Raising legal awareness and establishing the rule of law in the society. 

-  Development of legal profession and establishment of norms of professional ethics.

The organization operates throughout Georgia, through 9 offices.

GYLA announces tender for selecting expert/group of experts or organization, which will conduct the assessment of interim and final progress of the project.   

Name of the project is “Safeguarding Human Rights and Democracy through Building Capacity of the Civil Society in Georgia, continuation”.

Donor: Brot Für Die Welt (Bread for the World)

Bread for the Worl (Brot Für Die Welt) is a globally active development and relief agency of the Protestant Churches in Germany. In more than 90 countries all across the globe it empowers the poor and marginalized to improve their living conditions. Key issues of its work are food security, the promotion of health and education, the access to water, the strengthening of democracy, respect to human rights, peace keeping and the creation of integrity.

Terms of project implementation:  01.01.2021 -31.12.2023

Project goals:  

- Improvement of civil society working environment in Georgia.  

- Strengthening of independent media in Georgia 

- Strengthening of consultancy, advocacy and research activities on environmental challenges in Georgia.  

The project is implemented throughout Georgia with the support of GYLA Tbilisi and 8 regional offices

Beneficiaries of the Project are:

- Population affected by the August war 

- Persons with Disabilities 

- Ecomigrants

- Media representatives

- Refugees

- Non-Governmental organizations  

- Peaceful demonstrators/persons subjected to illegal detention or pressure  

- Environmental activists etc.  

Last evaluation was conducted in July 2020 on the predecessor project. 

2. The purpose of the evaluation is:

The purpose of the external evaluation is to monitor the progress of the project objectives. Project's compliance, efficiency-effectiveness, impact and sustainability will be evaluated during the evaluation process. Results of the evaluation will help the project team, if necessary, to change the strategy, to consider the developed recommendations to achieve the goals of the current project as much as possible, as well as to correctly plan and successfully implement future project/future activities.       

Therefore, the evaluation purpose is:  

1. The assessment the current progress of the project.

2.  Provision of recommendations how to consolidate (reinforce) the results of the project before its completion.

3. Consultations on developing the strategy of the following stage/future project.  

An evaluation should include: 

1. Evaluation of the current stage of the project, which is expressed by: 

1.1. Project relevance (compliance) – especially with respect to the needs of target stakeholders.

1.2. Project effectiveness – how far are the overall goal and the specific tasks achieved; what following steps should be taken to achieve them until the project is completed; which activities worked especially good in terms of outcomes and which activities have not produced desired results.   

2. The evaluator shall develop recommendations on how the outcomes of the project will be consolidated until the project is completed, especially with regard to the following issues:   

2.1. Project sustainability. It should be analyzed how sustainable is the current project; evaluators shall develop recommendations on how to consolidate the sustainability of the project after its completion.   

2.2. Project challenges – recommendations shall be provided on identified challenges and on how to turn these challenges into sustainability after its completion.   

3. Consultations in developing the strategy for the next phase for 2024-2026:

3.1.  Focus and priorities – as for the possible shortcomings identified from the current phase of the project, based on them we will adopt recommendations on potential focused spheres/priorities, which will be used during next project planning.  

3.2. Based on the outcomes we will determine which activities should be continued or should not be planned in the next phase.   

3.3. Methodology and structure – based on the achievements and possible shortcomings of the projects current stage we will make recommendations on methodology of the next potential project (including management system, main partners, cooperation, instruments etc.).

3.4. Provision of various scenarios for the next project (content, focus, methodology) with its advantages and disadvantages.

The following shall be implemented at the project stage: 

- Evaluation on how far the project achieved its goals, whether it has a satisfactory level and proper balance in interventions and types of partners.

-  Evaluation of project impact and possible indirect effects.  

- Proposing ideas and advice on how to increase effectiveness, impact and sustainability of the future project; exploring if additional measures/activities are required with the target groups to ensure sustainability and flexibility in variable context; evaluation of sustainability of project outcomes.   

3.  Task description

The expert/group of experts/organization is required to conduct analysis of the work of GYLA – in particular, in the abovementioned particular project.  

Specific key issues that need to be addressed/ evaluation questions: 

The project evaluation builds upon the six DAC criteria for evaluating development assistance[1]. Specifically, it shall address the following issues and questions:  

Relevance (compliance)

- To what extent is the project, especially its goals, implementation correspond to the project description, aligned with the actual current needs in the country and of the beneficiaries?  

- In how far does the project adequately address national problems and challenges in the context of Georgia?    

Efficiency:

-  To what extent were the project's inputs (financial, human and material resources) used economically in relation to the outputs (products, capital goods, and services) provided? To what extent is the relationship between the inputs and the outputs achieved by the project appropriate (allocation efficiency)?

- To what extent were the outputs produced on time and within the planned timeframe? 

- To what extent could the outputs of the project have been increased by an alternative use of inputs?Effectiveness:

- To what extent have the project objectives and outputs been and are expected to be achieved? Which further steps must be taken in order to achieve them until the end of the project?

- To what extent did the activities and outputs contribute to the achievement of the project objectives? What factors were decisive for the achievement or non-achievement of the project objectives? Which activities particularly functioned well in terms of bringing about outcomes and which activities did not generate sufficient results? 

- Does the project implementation methodology allow for effective solutions to challenges? Does the implementation of the project ensure that the outcomes are directly achieved?    

- In how far are the developed Rapid Response Mechanism as well as the set up Media Support Center working and effective in supporting human rights and environmental activists as well as journalists and local media?

 Impact:

- Will the project contribute to the attainment of the overall development goal of strengthening the resilience of Georgian civil society? Which factors were decisive for the achievement or non-achievement of the developmental effects?

- Are and, if so, which intended/non-intended or positive/negative effects ascertainable or foreseeable? Have the do-no-harm principles been applied consistently?

- To what extent did the project lead to structural or institutional changes? 

-  Does the implementation of the project enable the defined impact to be achieved?    

- Is there any other indirect impact that was not likely at the planning stage?

-  What is the scale of the impact and how can it be checked?  What is the extent of the impact and how can it be verified? 

Sustainability:

- Will the project achievements/results continue after the project is completed?  How sustainable are these achievements? To which degree will the intended positive changes foreseeably have a lasting effect?

- To what extent did the project contribute to strengthening the resilience of the target groups?

- What tools are applied to increase the project sustainability?

-  In how far have recommendations of the previous external evaluation been taken into account into this project’s design and implementation?

Coherence

- To what extent does the project fit in with other human rights measures in Georgia? 

- To what extent are the project design and its implementation coordinated with the activities of other donors in this sector and in Georgia? 

-  To what extent are existing systems and structures (of partners/other donors/international organizations) used for the project?

4. Technical description and deliverables

The analysis shall include the following chapters/content:  

1. Improving the operating environment of the civil society – project achievements; what can be improved? how can GYLA achieve more and better impact?  

2. Strengthening of independent media – project achievements; what can be improved? how can GYLA achieve more and better impact?   

3. Strengthening of consultancy, advocacy, and research activities on environmental challenges in Georgia - project achievements; what can be improved? how can GYLA achieve more and better impact?   

Each chapter should contain the following parts/sub-chapters:

1.  Analysis of the external work of GYLA and comparison with the needs in the country, its relevance and effectiveness and the quality of impact.

2.  Recommendations on improvement and specific, effective advice how to further improve achieved outcomes.  

The final evaluation report submitted by the selected expert/group of experts/organization shall be in line with the following technical criteria:

1.   Shall not exceed 40 pages in each language. 

2.  Standard footnotes

3.  Font - 11 Calibri

4.. Single interval

5.  Submitted in Georgian and English languages 

6.  Should follow the following structure:

Cover sheet with

- Project title

- Project number

- Implementing organisation

- Evaluator (author)

- Report date

- Region/country

- Possibly project period

Table of contents

List of abbreviations

Summary

- Short presentation of the subject matter of the evaluation, possibly including key framework conditions

- Brief information on the evaluation: Cause and objective, assessment period

- Key findings

- Key recommendations

1. Short description of the subject matter of the evaluation

- Project/programme/instrument (idea, target group, formulated objectives)

- Implementing organisation, term, donors

2. Framework conditions (only as far as relevant to the subject matter of the evaluation)

- Political, economic, ecological, societal and socio-cultural factors

- Risks to project success, assumptions/prerequisites

- Relevant activities of other organisations/private-sector companies

- Role of government actors

3. Description of the evaluation and the methodology used

- Timing of the evaluation within the course of the project

- Composition/expertise of the evaluation team

- Methodology

- Groups of people involved, number of participants

- Potential difficulties in conducting the evaluation and how to deal with them

4. Results

• 4.1 Relevance
• 4.2 Effectiveness
• 4.3 Efficiency
• 4.4 Impact
• 4.5 Sustainability

5.  Recommendations (based on findings, realistic, specific and addressed)

6.  potentially: General conclusions (lessons learned)

- for the project type (including exemplary nature)

- regarding the procedures and instruments

7. Appendix

- Travel and working procedure

- Sources (discussion partners, documents, specialist literature, field research etc.)

- Overview chart/map

- Terms of Reference

5. Methodology:

The analysis of expert/group of experts/organization must contain diversity of the research methods:  

1. Deskt research (GYLA reports, selected complaints/rulings, public statements, research, project reports, evaluation report of predecessor project).

2. Interviews and/or focus groups (with selected beneficiaries, personnel, management);

3. Quantitative research (Case Bank Database-registered cases in GYLA database; visibility on media etc.)

Before submitting the final research, the workshop with GYLA management and project team on preliminary findings and for discussing future project before submission of evaluation report.

6.  Qualification requirements:

An applicant must have minimum 5 years’ experience in the following spheres:  

·      -  HR management, organizational management

·       - Leadership and management  

·       - PR, communications

·       - Psychology, sociology  

·       - Public policy and government strategies. 

·      -  Academic writing skills in Georgian.

·       - Fluency in English (C1 Level).

·       - Track –record in Evaluation experience in human-rights sector.

·       - Professional use of quantitative and qualitative research methods.

Applicants must not have conflict of interest or political affiliation or other limitations, which may have negative effect on the quality of work or impartiality.

7. Terms:

The final report of the evaluation mush be submitted by 5 July 2023. 

8.  Submission of the applications:

To participate in the contest, please submit the application to the following email:  GYLA@GYLA.GE 

Deadline: 18.05.2023

Please indicate in the subject line:     GYLAEVALUATOR

An application package should contain:  

1. External page (brief description of expert/group of experts/organization qualification; requested budget; requested time and major advantage of the applicant).

2. One page description of the proposed methodology and terms  

3.  One page description of team members and their qualification

4.  Detailed CVs of the members of the group

5.  Excel file with detailed breakdown of requested budget and costs (with justification of amounts and rates;  Complete cost estimate includes both, the fee as well as any ancillary costs to be incurred, such as transport, accommodation, taxes, fees and costs of workshops in the scope of the evaluation etc.)

Incomplete documentation will not be considered.

The formats of these annexes can be defined by the applicant.  

Please be advised that we will contact only selected applicants.  

[1] https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/543e84ed-en/index.html?itemId=/content/publication/543e84ed-en