TERMS OF REFERENCE

1. Background

The Carter Center is guided by the principles of our founders, former President Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter. Founded in partnership with Emory University on a fundamental commitment to human rights and the alleviation of human suffering, the Center seeks to prevent and resolve conflicts, enhance freedom and democracy, and improve health.

The Carter Center’s Rule of Law Program (RLP) works in partnership with governments, civil society, and international and regional bodies to improve governance and transform lives through a meaningful right of access to information and justice. Since 2006, the Carter Center has worked in Liberia by increasing citizen awareness of the right to information and justice, as well as helping Liberian security and justice actors to improve accountability and build community trust, with specific attention placed on reaching women and other marginalized groups.

The Carter Center is considering expanding its Rule of Law Program into Sierra Leone. The Carter Center has previously worked with the Sierra Leonean government to apply the Center’s access to information legislation implementation assessment tool, collaborated with Sierra Leone’s Information Commission, provided international observers for elections, and worked with the Mano River Women’s Union to hold a successful, multi-state conference on the role of women in peacebuilding. In expanding its Rule of Law Program into Sierra Leone, the Center will build from lessons learned by implementing related projects not only in Liberia but also in other countries while leveraging existing relationships with key government and civil society partners in Sierra Leone to facilitate successful and sustainable programming.

To determine whether and how the Carter Center may contribute to rule of law strengthening in Sierra Leone, the Center seeks a Sierra Leone-based consultant or consulting firm to assess the status of access to justice, social accountability, and law enforcement accountability in Sierra Leone. The selected consultant/firm will be responsible for designing, planning, carrying out, and presenting a Needs Assessment (NA) that will identify the key power relations, dynamics, and trends in governance systems, structures, and processes related to security and justice sector accountability in Sierra Leone; existing initiatives (from the government, civil society, and the international community) to strengthen access to justice, reform the security sector and/or hold law enforcement to account, and promote social accountability; and any ongoing needs or gaps in with respect to the identified areas.

The assessment should include an analysis of the status of civil society organizations in the country, as the Center contemplates strengthening CSOs’ capacity to work with civil society and government on social accountability, including requesting the provision of social services to women and their families. The consultant/firm will also help organize and facilitate a one-week scoping mission for Carter Center staff from Atlanta, GA.

• Objectives

The primary objective of the assignment is to identify justice and accountability gaps and needs in Sierra Leone. The consultant/firm will be expected to deliver a final report of no more than 25 pages with: a one-page executive summary; a brief description of the research approach and methodology, including any limitations and sampling approach; key findings and analysis of the desk research and fieldwork; conclusions and recommendations that identify select communities to prioritize for potential programming by the Carter Center in the future. Appendices that contain the data collection and analysis tools used will not count towards the 25-page limit.

Specifically, the final report of the assessment should describe:

1. Mapping of government, civil society, and international community initiatives in the areas of access to justice, security sector reform/law enforcement accountability, and social accountability and how such services relate to broader state institutions.
2. Current roles of women, youth, men, key populations, and other groups in decisions and actions related to justice and security sector accountability.
3. Any unmet needs of formal and informal justice of individuals and communities, particularly in conflict-sensitive areas.
4. Any existing mechanisms, laws, and policies that hold law enforcement accountable, including for corruption, use of excessive force and torture, and commend officers.
5. Gender dynamics in law enforcement, including women’s professional participation in policing.
6. Policies, past experiences, and legal constructs (if any) that institutionalize social accountability at subnational and community levels.
7. Any other critical actors or agents, structures, and institutions that facilitate or block access to justice, law enforcement, and social accountability in Sierra Leone.
8. Visible, invisible, or hidden relationships between actors and institutions that exercise significant control over the decision-making processes, attitudes, perceptions, and practices.
9. The results and findings from at least one qualitative or quantitative original research activity conducted and designed by the consultant/firm under this assignment.

• Deliverables and Timeframes

The assignment is expected to commence upon contract signing, as follows:

Deliverable	Approximate Due date/Timeline
Inception report, which includes:   Proposed data collection methodology, key questions, choice of instrument, and approach) submitted for feedbackRecommend key informants/stakeholders Carter Center staff should meet for review	Due by October 30, 2022
Arrange meetings with up to 15 key informants   Conduct data collection processes in conjunction with Carter Center in-country visit	November 4, 2022   November 1-18, 2022
Draft assessment report submitted	November 25, 2022
First draft of final report submitted for Carter Center feedback	December 6, 2022
Presentation and facilitation of validation workshop with stakeholders	On or before December 15, 2022, subject to the availability of stakeholders
Final draft report submitted	December 23, 2022

• Reporting Arrangements

The Consultant reports to the Atlanta-based Director of the Center’s Rule of Law Program.

5.0 Duty Station

Based in Sierra Leone, with several visits to relevant agencies and surveys in different sectors, districts, civil society organizations, private sectors, and areas covered by the proposal. All travel and transportation costs should be included in the financial proposal. The consultant will be expected to arrange meetings for Carter Center staff for up to 5 days in Freetown. Applicants based outside of Freetown, Sierra Leone, must include at least one trip to Freetown in their financial proposal.

6.0 Budget

The maximum budget available is $18,000.

7.0 Selection Criteria

Interested applicants should submit a technical proposal that combines the below into one PDF document. Documents that exceed the requirements will not be reviewed.

• A CV(s) of no more than three pages. Firms should submit CVs for all personnel included in the proposal. No CV may exceed three pages. CVs should demonstrate superior skills that provide confidence in the successful completion of all deliverables.
• A six-page proposal outlining the consultant/firm’s proposed methodology for the assessment, data collection methodology, and how their experience satisfies the requirements of the TOR.
• Up to ten pages total of relevant previous work. Samples of relevant work include previous assessments, survey analyses, and data analysis presentations. Samples should clearly indicate the applicant’s role in designing, delivering, and drafting the product.
• Financial proposal, including all professional fees, travel costs, per diem rates, transportation, and other relevant expenses and/or costs as applicable for the number of anticipated working days.

Incomplete applications and applications that do not meet the requirements will not be considered. Short-listed applicants may be invited for an interview at the Carter Center’s discretion.

The evaluation criteria are:

Category	Max Score
Proposed technical approach	40
Demonstrated experience supported by CVs and samples of relevant work	30
Interview (only for short-listed candidates)	20
Financial Proposal	10
Total	100

Interested applicants should submit their applications online at https://airtable.com/shrBLzeH6GiaW4xoY with an indicative budget included in the Expression of Interest by close of business on Wednesday, October 12, 2022, at 5 PM GMT. For questions, email us at sierraleonerecruitment@cartercenter.org.