Recruitment: Consultant, Malawi Programme

Irish Rule of Law International’s Access to Justice Programme in Malawi

Consultant for Development of New Programme Proposal

Terms of Reference

1. INTRODUCTION

Irish Rule of Law International (IRLI) seeks the services of a consultant to assist it in developing a new multi-year project proposal for the Embassy of Ireland.

Irish Rule of Law International (IRLI) is an initiative of the Law Society of Ireland, the Bar of Ireland, the Law Society of Northern Ireland and the Bar of Northern Ireland, dedicated to promoting the rule of law in developing countries.

IRLI’s programme in Malawi aims to improve access to justice for unrepresented accused persons in the criminal justice system in targeted areas in the Central Region of Malawi. The approach is two-fold: capacity building of criminal justice institutions, and support of direct legal service provision. A Programme Lawyer (PL) is seconded to each of the key criminal justice institutions, namely the Legal Aid Bureau (LAB), Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), the Malawi Police Service (MPS) and the Malawi judiciary. IRLI also works with the Ministry of Gender on a child diversion programme for children in conflict with the law.

In each institution, the PLs work to build relationships based on mutual trust and respect, in order to support the institution in enhancing access to justice for vulnerable persons. IRLI seeks to remove obstacles to access to justice in the short term in order to bring about immediate change at the beneficiary level, while also developing systemic, sustainable interventions aimed at providing long-term benefits in the wider criminal justice sector.

The current programme is funded primarily by the Irish Embassy to Malawi (July 2016 - August 2020), with a new grant approved from September 2020 – August 2021, and was funded by the European Union Delegation (December 2016 – December 2019, with a no cost extension until March 2020).

2. PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF PROGRAMME PROPOSAL

As the current programme is coming to an end, IRLI needs to develop a comprehensive and exciting multi-year project proposal for the Embassy of Ireland that complements the Embassy’s strategic plan (to be provided). This consultant will capitalise and build on the lessons learned and successes achieved from the previous programme, while also eliciting and identifying what did not work and engaging with the Malawi team to devise suitable alternatives.

The consultant will bring to the programme previous design process experience from developing and writing successful integrated, multi-sectoral, proposals involving several stakeholders for institutional donors. It is desirable that the consultant also brings a good understanding of issues relating to access to justice, Malawian law, international law and human rights. Building upon this experience, the consultant will help develop the programme proposal for responding to the needs of the justice sector. This will require scoping, reviewing, analysing, and integrating existing plans, projects, and areas of expertise. 

An organisational review of IRLI has recently been conducted, as has an end-of-programme evaluation of the Malawi programme specifically; the consultant will use the findings and recommendations of these reports to further inform the project proposal.

The evaluation aims to:

1. Collate and analyse lessons learned, challenges faced and best practices established during the implementation period.
2. Develop a comprehensive and dynamic project proposal for the Embassy of Ireland;
3. Develop an informed and appropriate monitoring and evaluation framework for the proposal;
4. Develop an accurate and ambitious budget proposal.

3. EVALUATION METHODOLOGY

The evaluation will combine qualitative and quantitative data collection and evaluation techniques using the following methods:

• • Desk-based review: The consultant will review relevant programme documents and content produced before and during programme implementation, including previous evaluations, programme proposals, work plans, annual and interim reports;
• • Retreat with the Malawi Team: a retreat with the Malawi Team will be conducted to offer a structured and focused opportunity for the team to feed into the proposal;
• • Focus Group Discussions: Data will also be collected using focus groups discussion with programme beneficiaries and other project stakeholders, particularly the Embassy of Ireland, using a pre-designed focus group discussion guide;
• • Lessons learned/best practice workshop: Facilitate a workshop to analyse and compile lessons learning and best practice with IRLI staff.

4. DELIVERABLES AND TIMEFRAME

IRLI's Access to Justice Programme in Malawi