Call for Experts for drafting the Strategy for Public Legal Education

Terms of Reference

Title: National Expert

Start of assignment: 01.12.2017

End of assignment: 30.05.2019

ALTRI Center, in co-operation with the “Justice for All” Coalition, has drafted a project proposal on “Enhance Citizen Access to Justice through Public Legal Education” in the framework of the project “The Civic Engagement for a Functional Judiciary System and Access to Justice in Albania”, financed by the European Union and implemented by Save the Children and the Centre of Integrated Legal Services and Practices.

In this framework ALTRI Center in cooperation with the Albanian “Justice for All” Coalition is looking for a team of experts (1 Team Leader Expert and 5 national experts) to draft the Strategy for Public Legal Education.

Background

Public Legal Education (PLE) has been highly disregarded in the context of the many reiterations of the justice system changes that have taken place in Albania in the last 20 years. The report commissioned by the Ad Hoc Parliamentary Committee on the Justice System Reform, in June 2015 highlights the following main concerns related to PLE:

• Activities that intend to provide PLE are conducted at random, are unplanned and disorganized.
• There is no national strategy on PLE and no state or municipal budget funds allocated to PLE.
• Even though several public institutions are mandated to provide or/and contribute to PLE, they have done nearly nothing to fulfill this mandate. No public institution has any plan or project to promote PLE.
• Until now, PLE has been provided primarily by non-profit organizations (NPOs) that operate in this area and with the support by international partners.
• PLE efforts have been poorly coordinated: no public or other institution has taken over the responsibility to promote, coordinate, or monitor PLE activities; there is no division of tasks related to PLE between public institutions and NPOs.

At the same time, the report highlights the great need for PLE in the context of the justice system reform that is unfolding in Albania since 2015. Among other things, this profound and extensive reform is a pre-requisite for the country’s progress in its quest to become a member of the European Union. The report concludes that:

• The level of basic legal knowledge among citizens in Albania is very low. This affects negatively the implementation of laws, family relationships, business transactions, public health, security, environment, etc.
• The body of laws in Albania is complex and constantly changing, so citizens and, sometimes, even legal professionals, are not updated on the legal provisions that affect their lives and their rights in multiple ways.
• Due to lack of knowledge or information about the legal framework, citizens feel disconnected from public and private institutions, and cannot exercise their rights.
• For the current justice system reform to succeed, citizens must be well informed on the new laws that will be approved and amended, as well as on the new justice system institutions that will be established, as part of the reform.

Based on the findings of the Analysis of Albania’s Juridical System report, in 2016, Albania’s National Assembly drafted the first ever National Strategy of Public Legal Education (NSPLE) and discussed this draft document with a number of relevant stakeholders, including the Coalition. These consultations revealed that: (i) no reliable PLE needs assessment was conducted prior to developing the draft NSPLE; and (ii) the draft NSPLE was not developed through a participatory process from the start, a process that should have included public, educational, nonprofit, and private sector institutions that are mandated to provide, currently provide, or are interested in providing PLE. As it stands, the draft NSPLE is a good start but a rather weak document suffering from major gaps, such as:

• Poor analysis of the current status of PLE in Albania and of the needs for such education;
• Lack of clearly defined and stated vision, goals, and strategic priorities for NSPLE;
• Gaps in identifying all public, private, educational, and nonprofit sector institutions that would be involved in implementing NSPLE;
• Fragmented and unclear definitions of actions, coordinating mechanisms, and timeline for implementing NSPLE;
• No provisions related to the monitoring and evaluation of NSPLE’s implementation;
• No analysis or estimation of the budget required to implement NSPLE;
• No Action Plan that would operationalize NSPLE’s implementation.

Goal and Expected Results

Through this consultancy, ALTRI and the Coalition aims to lead to an expanded and more efficient access to justices for all citizens, including those from disadvantaged groups by drafting a Strategy for Public Legal Education. Developing and introducing NSPLE as a solid, well-thought, and funded official document approved by the National Assembly, that is the highest decision-making body in Albania, will pave the way for implementing NSPLE thus enabling relevant public, nonprofit, educational, and private sector institutions to provide PLE to various social groups throughout Albania, including disadvantaged groups.

Responsibilities of experts

The experts will work in close synergy with the National Assembly and ALTRI Center in consultation with institutions that work with public legal education. The work of experts consists on:

• Conducting the PLE Needs Assessment Report.

The working group of experts will develop the Need Assessment Report through: (i) conducting desk research of the existing reports and materials related to PLE activities in Albania to date; (ii) conducting desk review of best practices of PLE in Albania and internationally; (iii) conducting interviews with relevant public, nonprofit, educational, and private sector institutions that are engaged or could be engaged with PLE.

• Draft NSPLE outline.
• Draft NSPLE.

The working group of the experts will draft the NSPLE after developing the Needs Assessment and discussing and reflecting the feedback and comments of the Assembly regarding the NSPLE outline.

• Assist the Commission to organize public consultations on the draft NSPLE.

In this framework the working group will: i. design a presentation of draft NSPLE before the Parliamentary Legal Commission; ii. will provide suggestions on groups and individuals that the Commission should reach out to and invite to public hearings about the draft NSPLE; iii. will engage in discussions with participants during the public hearings and consultations; iv. will hold the minutes of the consultative meetings and disclose them.

• Finalize NSPLE and assist the Parliamentary Legal Committee to get it approved.

The working group will develop: i. discussion with the Commission on the reflection of incoming suggestions; ii. engagement in discussions with participants of other parliamentary committees; iii. meetings with the heads of the parliamentary committees that review the NSPLE, as well as with the Speaker of the Parliament to seek their support for the NSPLE as it will be presented by the Parliamentary Legal Commission; iv holding the minutes of the meetings and disclose them; v. reflecting the suggestions received from the consultation process and drafting the final version of NSPLE.

• Organize consultation to develop NAP.

After the drafting of NSPLE, the working group will draft NAP. In this framework they will organize consultations by participating in focus groups with various groups, including lawyers, advocates, journalists, civil society activists, as well as with citizens from disadvantaged groups etc to identify their specific needs and ways of getting information on legal matters; ii. will assist the institutions to budget for the PLE activities that they are mandated to implement or could implement, as this step will make the activities more feasible and effective.

• Draft NAP.

To draft NAP the working group of experts will i. partecipate in the meetings organized with the public institution responsible for the implementation of the NAP and other institutions that will contribute to this process; ii. contribute in the concrete actions that they can take in the next two years to implement NSPLE; iii. assist these institutions to budget for the PLE activities; iv. draft the first draft of the NAP; v. reflect the suggestions of the Leader Team to improve the draft.

• Hold public consultations on draft NAP and finalize NAP.

The working group of experts will i. present the content of the draft NAP during public consultation events; ii. develop presentation of the consultation process at the institutions and the reflection of the current suggestions; iii.be engaged in discussions with participants during the public consultation events; iv. keep the minutes of the public consultation events and revealing them.

• Provide training/workshops to institutions on implementing NSPLE and NAP.

In order to have an effective NSPLE and NAP the working group of experts will i. develop the training modules; ii reflect the suggestions of Team Leader to improve the training modules; iii. develop the modules during the organized training sessions.

• Conduct public education campaign on NSPLE and NAP.

In the framework of developing public legal education the working group of experts will i. participate on appearances on popular TV and radio shows ii. contributing to the design of posts/ads in social media and ad to be broadcasted through the Network of Local Radio Stations; iii. contribute to the broader sharing of information; iv. Participate in discussion during the meetings of all Coalition member organizations with their constituencies to present NAP for NSPLE; v. keep the minutes of meetings and disclose them.

• Organize Progress Review and Next Step Event.

To conclude the project it is foreseen to organize a progress review and to define the next step event. To realize that the working group of experts will i. design the materials and presentations needed at the Project Closing Event; ii.introduce the initiative, NSPLE, NAP, recommendations etc. as project products; iii. review and assess progress and participate in the discussion for next steps that need to be undertaken to ensure that this strategy and its NAP are putted into practices.

Responsibilities of Team Leader Expert

The PLE Expert Team Leader will lead the work of the expert team. The Team Leader will:

• Guide and orient the work of experts in conducting the PLE Needs Assessment Report in the main components of need assessment (desk research, desk review and interviews): (i) will divide the work among the experts; (ii) will identify together with experts the relevant public and private institutions to be interviewed; (iii) will orient experts for questions and issues that should be addressed during the interviews; (iv) will review the product of desk research and interviews drafted by experts;
• Guide the experts in drafting NSPLE outline;
• Guide the experts in drafting NSPLE
• Guide the experts during the public consultations on the draft NSPLE;
• Udhëzojë ekspertët gjatë konsultimeve publike mbi draft- SKELP;
• Finalize NSPLE and assist the Parliamentary Legal Committee to get it approved;
• Will participate and lead the experts team during the organization of the consultation to develop NAP;
• Guide the experts in drafting NAP;
• Guide the work of experts during the public consultations on draft NAP and finalize NAP;
• Give feedback and suggestions to improve the trainings modules of experts for the trainings/workshops for the institutions on implementing NSPLE and NAP;
• Guide the work and actions of expert team in the framework of the public education campaign on NSPLE and NAP;
• Guide the team experts regarding the materials and the presentation for the Progress Review and Next Step Event.

Deriverables:

The products that should be provided are the:

• PLE Needs Assessment Report
• NSPLE outline
• First draft NSPLE
• Finale NSPLE
• First draft NAP
• Final NAP
• The training modules for the training/workshops of institutions on implementing NSPLE and NAP

Time frame:

Raporti i vlerësimit të nevojave të ELP

Products	Deadline
PLE Needs Assessment Report	12 December 2017
NSPLE outline	15 December 2017
First draft NSPLE	31 January 2018
Finale NSPLE	30 March 2018
First draft NAP	30 July 2018
Final NAP	29 September 2018
The training modules for the training/workshops of institutions on implementing NSPLE and NAP	31 October 2018
Materials for the public education campaign on NSPLE and NAP	31 January 2019
Recommendations for future steps	15 May 2019

Submission of application::

Interested candidates should present their professional CV in English to qendra.altri@gmail.com; info@altri.al by 22nd November, 17:00.

Applicants may also submit their application in hard copy to the following address:

A.L.T.R.I Center

Street “Asim Zeneli”, Nr. 15

Tiranë, Shqipëri