Type of contract: Consultancy
Location: Home-based, preferably in the MENA region (the evaluation is conducted remotely; no travel to Libya and no international travel is foreseen)
Duration of contract: up to 25 working days
Start Date: As soon as possible (contract signature and kick-off); final deliverables due by 15 December 2026
Summary
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) is seeking a qualified consultant to conduct the final external evaluation of a multi-year project on documentation and accountability for gross human rights violations in Libya (September 2022 to September 2026), implemented in a high-risk operating context and supported by an institutional donor grant.
Stakeholders include Libyan civil society organisations, lawyers and human rights defenders, victims and their representatives, and ICJ’s local implementing partner organizations.
Overview of the ICJ
Composed of 60 eminent judges and lawyers from all regions of the world, the ICJ promotes and protects human rights through the rule of law, by using its unique legal expertise to develop and strengthen national and international justice systems. Established in 1952 and active on the five continents, the ICJ aims to ensure the progressive development and effective implementation of international human rights and international humanitarian law; secure the realization of civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights; safeguard the separation of powers; and guarantee the independence of the judiciary and legal profession.
Evaluation Overview
The primary users of the evaluation report will be the funding agency and the ICJ MENA Programme, which will use the findings and recommendations to account for the results achieved under the award, to inform the design of the next phase of the ICJ’s accountability work on Libya, and to strengthen its partnership and localisation model with Libyan and regional civil society. The secondary users will be the project partners, the members of the documentation network, the ICJ Legal and Policy Office and the ICJ Programme Management and Donor Relations team, which may refer to the conclusions and recommendations to inform the ICJ’s approach to programme management in general (from design to monitoring and closure).
Objectives and criteria
The general objective is to assess, in an independent manner, the relevance, coherence, efficiency, effectiveness, impact and sustainability of the project against its stated objectives and its approved M&E plan, and to draw lessons for future programming. The evaluation should assess the achievements of the project against its expected results and indicators over the full period, including a re-examination of the relevance of the expected results and of the project design, with particular attention to a change of partners during implementation and to the constraints of operating remotely in Libya. It shall identify the significant factors that facilitated or impeded the delivery of outcomes, including security, access and partner-capacity constraints. The evaluation should have a strong learning objective and lead to concrete, specific and prioritised recommendations. Below are sample evaluative questions for each criterion; the evaluator is expected to refine them in the inception report.
Relevance and coherence
- To what extent were the project design, objectives and theory of change appropriate to the accountability landscape in Libya, and did the project adapt adequately to changes in the context and in the partnership set-up?
- To what extent did the project respond to the needs and priorities of its target groups (Libyan documenters and lawyers, victims and victims’ groups, civil society organisations), including from a gender and victim-centred perspective?
- How coherent was the project with the other interventions of the ICJ in Libya and with the work of other actors supporting documentation and accountability in Libya, and did it create synergies rather than duplication?
Efficiency
- Were the human, financial and time resources used efficiently to deliver the outputs, and was the balance between ICJ-implemented activities, activities delegated to partners under fixed-amount sub-awards and directly contracted network lawyers appropriate?
- Did the project management, monitoring and reporting arrangements support efficient and timely implementation?
- Were the project management and financial capacities of the ICJ and its partners sufficient to ensure efficient delivery, and how were delays, the partner transition and relevant security constraints managed?
Effectiveness
- To what extent were the expected outputs and outcomes achieved against the targets of the approved M&E plan?
- What were the major factors influencing the achievement or non-achievement of the objectives, including the security environment, access to victims and witnesses inside Libya and the capacity of partners?
- How well have the partnerships with the partner organisations worked, in particular the mentoring model between an experienced regional documentation organisation and Libyan partners, and how effective were the network, the documentation database and the manuals in producing material usable by accountability mechanisms?
- To what extent did the submissions to international and regional human rights mechanisms, the coordination among NGOs, the victim-led advocacy and the universal-jurisdiction case files contribute to concrete accountability steps, to the empowerment of victims and to increased international attention to the violations documented?
Impact and sustainability
- Is there evidence that the capacities built within the documentation network and the partner organisations are being applied beyond the project activities, and that victims and their representatives are better able to engage accountability mechanisms?
- To what extent are the results likely to be sustained after the end of the project, in particular the database and data-management system handed over to the Libyan partner, the network of lawyers and documenters and the case files prepared for universal-jurisdiction proceedings?
- What unintended results, positive or negative, did the project produce, and what lessons and recommendations can be drawn for the next phase of the ICJ’s accountability work on Libya?
The ICJ MENA Director, the MENA Programme Manager and the ICJ MEL Officer will review the methodology proposed by the evaluator. Ideally, it will include (i) a desk review of pertinent project documents and records (the approved proposal, the cost-extension package, the logical framework and M&E plan, quarterly performance reports to the donor, indicator tracking tables, the internal mid-term review, partner reports and deliverables, and project outputs such as submissions and workshop reports); and (ii) primary data collection, which, given the security context, will be conducted remotely. Primary data should combine qualitative and quantitative methods, including interviews with ICJ staff, partner organisations, members of the documentation network, lawyers, victims’ representatives, participants in workshops and roundtables and relevant international interlocutors, and a short online survey of network members and workshop participants (in Arabic). All data collection must respect informed consent, confidentiality and the safety of respondents, many of whom are at risk of reprisals inside Libya; the evaluator will propose a data-protection protocol in the inception report.
Evaluation Implementation
The evaluation should start by as soon as possible with the final deliverables due and the contract concluded by 15 December 2026.
ICJ staff will provide logistical and technical support as appropriate throughout the evaluation process (compilation of project documents, introduction to partners and network members, assistance in scheduling of interviews and focus groups).
A total of up to 25 working days will be available for:
- Evaluation preparation (including finalising the evaluation methodology and matrix, performing the initial desk review of project materials, creating and testing data-collection tools and drafting the inception report) – four working days;
- Data collection (interviews, focus groups and online survey)
- Data analysis and synthesis (including data aggregation, triangulation and writing the draft report) – six working days;
- Validation workshop, presentation of findings to the ICJ and its partners and incorporation of feedback into the final report – two working days.
The final deliverables for this evaluation will include:
- An inception report and evaluation plan, including the evaluation matrix, the final list of key informants, the data-collection tools and the detailed work plan, submitted to the ICJ for approval within five working days of the kick-off meeting and before any interview takes place;
- A draft evaluation report (maximum 30 pages excluding annexes) detailing key findings, supporting evidence, conclusions and pragmatic recommendations, structured by evaluation criterion and including an assessment of results against the approved indicators, due to the ICJ by 20 November 2026;
- A final evaluation report incorporating the feedback of the ICJ and its partners, following the ICJ evaluation report structure (executive summary, introduction, methodology, findings and conclusions, lessons learned, recommendations table with a maximum of 15 recommendations, lessons-learned table), together with a two-page summary that can be shared with the donor and other stakeholders, due by 15 December 2026;
- One validation workshop presenting the preliminary findings to the ICJ team and partners after submission of the draft report, and one oral presentation of the final findings to relevant ICJ staff.
Application Guidelines
The selected consultant should have demonstrated expertise in results-based project evaluation. Previous experience of evaluating human rights, transitional justice or accountability programmes, preferably in the legal field, is required. The following are additional requirements:
- Master’s degree in law, political science, social sciences, international relations, human rights or a related field, or a Bachelor’s degree combined with equivalent professional experience;
- Minimum six years of experience in designing, overseeing and implementing project monitoring and evaluation, including at least three final or mid-term evaluations as lead evaluator;
- Experience of evaluating accountability, documentation, transitional justice or human rights projects implemented remotely or in conflict-affected contexts, preferably in the MENA region; knowledge of the Libyan context is a strong asset;
- Experience with qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis methods, including remote data collection with at-risk respondents, and familiarity with results frameworks and indicator-based reporting (experience with government-funded projects is an asset);
Additional desired qualifications:
- Experience working in politically sensitive or insecure contexts, with the ability to maintain security, data-protection and confidentiality considerations throughout the evaluation process and beyond;
- Excellent inter-cultural communication skills and the ability to build trust with judges, lawyers, civil society organisations and victims of human rights violations;
- Strong facilitation, presentation and communication skills, including the ability to run remote interviews and focus groups;
- Strong ability to communicate effectively in English, both verbally and in writing; working knowledge of Arabic is strongly desired;
- Team player with the ability to collaborate closely with ICJ staff, local partners and project stakeholders, and to work under a tight timeline.
Budget Guidelines
The consultant should submit an all-inclusive financial offer covering the fees for all working days, communication, survey tools and any other cost necessary to deliver the assignment. No international travel is foreseen.
Conditions of the assignment
The consultant will be contracted by the ICJ under an ICJ consultancy agreement; payment will be made in USD against the approved deliverables (30 per cent on approval of the inception report, 70 per cent on approval of the final report). The consultant must not appear on any applicable sanctions or debarment list; the ICJ will carry out this screening before contracting. The consultant will keep all evaluation records and raw data available to the ICJ for the retention period required by the donor and will comply with the ICJ Code of Conduct, the ICJ policies on safeguarding and data protection, and the principles of the ICJ Evaluation Policy (utilisation, participation, impartiality, respect of participants, informed consent and anonymisation of data).
The ICJ reserves the right not to award the contract, to award it to a team rather than an individual, or to negotiate the number of days and the deliverables with the selected candidate within the budget ceiling.
How to apply
Interested applicants must send all materials outlined below to recruitment@icj.org , by 27 September 2026 (23:59 Geneva time), quoting “481 – Final Evaluation” in the subject line. Applications received after the deadline will not be considered.
Interested applicants should provide (i) a current CV; (ii) a technical proposal of maximum three pages outlining the candidate’s key skills and experience relevant to this evaluation, a concise description of the proposed evaluation approach, methods and key standards and principles that will inform the work, and the identification of possible data limitations and ways to mitigate them (recognising that the applicant is operating with only the limited information provided herein); (iii) a financial offer stating the daily rate, the number of working days proposed and the all-inclusive total in USD; (iv) one example of a previous evaluation report authored by the candidate; and (v) the names and contact details of two recent references. Applications from teams of two are accepted provided the lead evaluator is clearly identified and the total remains within the budget ceiling.