Gender Assessment Consultant at American Bar Association

The American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) opened its first Kazakhstan office in 1993 and has since worked with lawyers, law students, judges and citizens across the country.

The mission of the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative is to promote justice, economic opportunity and human dignity through the rule of law.

Background on the Kazakhstan Rule of Law Program

In October 2020, ABA ROLI began implementation of the USAID-funded Kazakhstan Rule of Law Program (KRLP), which aims to develop the legal climate for businesses to increase confidence and international investment in Kazakhstan, improve the legal framework for civil society organizations, and ensure the modernization of the judiciary and eliminate avenues for real and perceived bias to increase its independence in professionalism.

The American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative will bring in new voices to ensure a more effective application of laws in Kazakhstan through three Objectives:

Objective 1. Strengthen the legal enabling environment for business

The Program works with the Supreme Court, Academy of Justice, National Chamber of Entrepreneurs, bar associations, and the business community to strengthen the legal enabling environment for businesses and implement reforms needed to guarantee the protection of investors’ activities, including fair and transparent judicial considerations of investment disputes between investors and state bodies.

Objective 2. Strengthen the legal enabling environment for CSOs

The Program supports the Kazakhstan government to draft and implement legislation while increasing opportunities for CSOs, lawyers, and government entities to connect and cooperate with one another throughout the legislative drafting process. The Program organizes and coordinates work of a dialogue platform to strengthen the legal environment for civil society in cooperation with the Committee for Civil Society Affairs under the Ministry of Information and Social Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Objective 3. Strengthen the independence and professionalism of the judiciary

To promote an independent, accountable, well-functioning judiciary as a central pillar of the rule of law and access to justice, the Kazakhstan Rule of Law program works with the Supreme Court, the Union of Judges, the Academy of Justice, and other stakeholders to strengthen independence and professionalism of the judiciary. Activities include legislative analysis, provision of technical expertise, and sharing international practices.

1. Objectives of the Consultation:

The overall goal of the Gender Assessment is to understand gender norms, gaps, root causes of inequalities, and power relations relevant to the three Objectives of the Program, reflect on the gender inclusivity assumptions and proposed activities in the initial Program design and the first year of program implementation, and to ground potential activities to ensure gender considerations are mainstreamed into the program.

The specific objectives are:

1. Use the gender analysis methodological approach developed by ABA ROLI to develop data collection tools necessary to contextually ground truth and fill in gaps in the existing desk research.
2. Use the methodological approach (developed by ABA ROLI) and data collection tools (developed by consultant) to build on the desk research that has been conducted by ABA ROLI team, and conduct interviews, focus group discussions, and potentially surveys to collect input from relevant stakeholders, which could include national and local women’s committees, the legal professionals (judges, business associations), and civil society.
3. Draft and finalize the assessment report and findings.
4. Develop a preliminary Action Plan that will operationalize how the program will address the findings of the assessment to concretely integrate gender equality and female empowerment across the three objectives of the project throughout the program cycle (planning, design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation) going forward.

2. Expectations & Activities to be carried out by the Consultant/Expert:

The American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) office in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan is seeking a consultant to dedicate up to 30 days of work to conduct a gender analysis. The consultant will build on an existing methodology and desk research completed under ABA ROLI’s Kazakhstan Rule of Law Program. The consultant will be responsible for conducting targeted desk research, designing tools for data collection, writing a report synthesizing the overall findings and conclusions, and drafting an Action Plan that will operationalize how the program will address the findings of the assessment.

Geography and Scale

The gender assessment will cover Nur-Sultan city, Almaty city, Shymkent city and 14 regions of Kazakhstan. The consultant is not required to be based in Kazakhstan to be considered for this opportunity. The assignment can be carried out remotely. However, the consultant must be available to conduct focus group discussion and interviews during business hours in Kazakhstan.

Methodology

The existing gender analysis approach is in line with the requirements of the USAID Automated Directives System (ADS) 201.3.2.9 and ADS 205, the Gender and Social Inclusion Analysis aligned with the 2020 USAID Gender Equality and Female Empowerment Policy, and the 2016 updated U.S. Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence.

It is designed to determine gender norms, gaps, root causes of inequalities, and power relations relevant to the three Objectives. Secondary or existing data sources, including from other opinion/perception surveys, can also be used in complement, as appropriate.

Assessment methods include:

• Desk review of existing research and data, including gender national policies, to cross check with the developed methodology
• Group or individual interviews with main partners (the legal professionals (judges, business associations), and civil society, local women’s committees)).
• Focus group discussions with main partners (the legal professionals (judges, business associations), and civil society, local women’s committees))
• Surveys, if necessary

Data Collection Tools

The expert is requested to propose and design data collection tools, which could be both qualitative and quantitative to be used for the gender assessment, in keeping with the methodological approach.

Deliverables and Schedule

The anticipated period of performance to accomplish this SOW is January 10, 2022 to February 10, 2022. The SOW will include up to 30 days of LOE for all activities.

Tasks:

1. Conduct review of background documents, including project proposal, workplan, existing methodological approach, ethical research protocols, and desk research already conducted for this study. Identify areas to focus on for this phase of the research
2. Develop methodological tools for data collection, this could include KII guides, focus group guides, or surveys.
3. Identify research participants, scheduling and conducting data collection.
4. Develop draft report (first and final drafts) and present preliminary action plan.

Deliverables:

1. Refined methodological approach note that outlines gaps and areas for that require a deeper understanding.
2. Data collection tools.
3. Participant list, raw data.
4. 1^st and final draft of report detailing findings and recommendations. Preliminary action plan.

Expected Level of Effort: 30 days

Anticipated Period of Performance: January 10, 2022 to February 10, 2022

Location: Remote

Submission Deadline: December 15, 2021 at 5:00pm EST