Consultancy for an external evaluation of the ongoing project “Reducing the Culture of Impunity in Nepal” At TRIAL International

TERMS OF REFERENCE

Consultancy for an external evaluation of the ongoing project “*Reducing the Culture of Impunity in Nepal” 01.09.2019-31.08.2022.*

1. Introduction

Background information about TRIAL International

TRIAL International (TRIAL) is a Geneva-based non-governmental organization fighting impunity for international crimes. The organization provides legal assistance, litigates cases, develops local capacity and pushes the human rights agenda forward. TRIAL started working on Nepal in 2009 to support conflict victims in their quest for justice, to strengthen the capacity of local actors and to engage in advocacy activities.

Background information about Human Rights and Justice Centre

The Human Rights and Justice Centre (HRJC) is a not-for-profit Nepalese organization created in 2017 with the support of TRIAL International and based in Kathmandu. The HRJC aims to improve access to justice for victims of human rights violations in Nepal such as torture, enforced disappearances, extrajudicial executions and sexual violence.

2. Project description

The project “Reducing the culture of impunity in Nepal” is a project implemented by TRIAL International and the HRJC and financed by MISEREOR and other international donors.

The project started in September 2019 with the aim of supporting Nepalese victims of international crimes to obtain access to justice, by offering free legal assistance and representation at the national and international levels, training local actors (including human rights defenders and lawyers), analysing the compliance of the domestic legislation with international standards, monitoring the progress of the transitional justice process, and advocating for the implementation of the decisions of the Human Rights Committee.

The overall goal of the project is to reduce the culture of impunity in the country and to strengthen the rule of law. Its specific objectives are:

• Increasingly, victims of international crimes achieve access to justice and redress.
• Local actors who provide legal support are strengthened and they cooperate more closely with each other.
• Access to justice and redress remains an important topic in the national and international context.
• The Human Rights and Justice Centre becomes more and more autonomous.

  3. Purpose of the evaluation

The evaluation’s purpose is to provide insights and understanding of the project strengths and weaknesses and serve as a venue for reflection in order to improve the design and performance of future similar projects.

The evaluation’s findings and recommendations are expected to capture project achievements, challenges and best practices and contribute to a learning process that will enable TRIAL to drawn lessons from this experience and that will help HRJC to improve or re-orient its future activities in support of Nepali victims of gross human rights violations.

The evaluation therefore should not only assess how well the project has performed, but also seek to answer the ‘why ‘question by identifying factors contributing to (or inhibiting) the successful delivery of the project results in the given context, with a particular focus on HRJC’s development and capacity to self-sustain.

4. Evaluation scope

The external project evaluation will be undertaken during the last quarter of the project’s implementation period and will comprise a review and assessment of all activities carried out from inception until date.

The evaluation should address the following principles of Development Assistance Criteria (DAC) of Relevance, Coherence, Effectiveness, Efficiency, Impact and Sustainability[1].