TERMS OF REFERENCE For the selection of 3 experts to assist the Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR) with the implementation of the “Securing integrity, efficiency and independence of the justice system in Moldova – #Justice4Moldova” Project

1.  Brief project description

The Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR) Netherlands – in consortium with the Institute for European Policies and Reforms (IPRE) – is implementing the EU-funded “Securing integrity, efficiency and independence of the justice system in Moldova – #Justice4Moldova” project.

The #Justice4Moldova project officially began in March 2023, and will run until February 2026. As a partner in the project’s IPRE-led consortium, IWPR’s contribution to the project – as detailed below – is due to begin in November 2023, with recruitment now ongoing in order to deliver its core outputs.

Donor: European Commission

Implementation period: March 2023 – February 2026

The general objective of the project is to contribute to an increased role of civil society and media to support independence, integrity, efficiency, and accountability of the justice system in the Republic of Moldova.

Specific objectives:

1. Enhance the capacity of the civil society and policy experts to advance the implementation of justice sector policiesin a transparent and accountable manner in line with European rule of law and human rights standards and Association Agreement.
2. Increase the independence, integrity and efficiency of justice and anti-corruption actors through scrutiny and support by civil society, policy and media organisations.

The main activities of the project are:

• Developing and delivering a capacity-building training program for civil society and policy experts aiming at enhancing their capacity in conducting independent policy development, monitoring activities, policy dialogue and advocacy in the justice sector policies.
• Mobilisation of the Group of Justice Experts (GEJ), which will contribute to the promotion of a transparent, systemic, and accountable process of justice sector reform in Moldova through monitoring, policy development and advocacy activities.
• Drafting of 10 position papers covering topics on justice and anticorruption policies.
• Organisation of 10 thematic policy dialogue events linked to the topics of the position papers delivered.
• Development of Shadow Reports on the implementation of the Strategy on ensuring independency and integrity in the justice sector.
• Implementation of an awareness raising and information campaign #Justice4Moldova
• Conduct an advocacy visit to the EU to promote justice sector and anticorruption reforms.
• Conduct 2 public opinion surveys on the integrity in the justice system.
• Conduct a functional analysis of one justice and anticorruption institution.
• Provide technical expertise and support to justice and anticorruption bodies to enhance capacities and performance.
• Conduct a capacity building training program for investigative journalists and vetting analysts aiming at enhancing their capacity in conducting independent investigation of high-level corruption cases and integrity background check of justice actors.
• Conduct an international study visit for investigative journalists and vetting experts to learn from best practices on independent background integrity checks of justice actors in other contexts.
• Development of an online application (IT tool) to facilitate integrity checks of justice actors.
• Conduct independent integrity checks of justice actors with contribution of the investigative journalists and vetting analysts trained within capacity building training program.

Target groups:

• TG1: 15 civil society and policy experts that will be empowered to conduct policy and advocacy activities in the justice sector policies.
• TG2: 10 vetting experts will be trained to conduct independent integrity check of judges and prosecutors.
• TG3: 10 journalists will be trained and equipped to conduct independent investigation of high-level corruption cases.
• TG4: 10 media online, tv and radio organisations will become partners in implementation of the action.
• TG5: approx. 150 justice actors, in particular judges and prosecutors, will participate in project activities (including approx. 20 who will participate in focus groups, 30 that will be subject to independent integrity check and at least 5 justice actors champions of integrity and reforms will be identified).
• TG6: National authorities and justice and anticorruption bodies, EU and international stakeholders that will be part of the policy and advocacy activities of the project.
• TG7: approx. 2000 citizens/residents of the Republic of Moldova who will participate in public opinion survey on integrity in the justice system.

Final Beneficiaries:

• FB1: The citizens/residents of the Republic of Moldova who will benefit from a more integer, efficient and resilient justice and anticorruption actors.
• FB2: Civil society organisations and mass-media, which will benefit from enhanced capacities to advance the implementation of justice sector policies
• FB3: Justice and anticorruption institutions, which will benefit from justice sector reforms, including transitional justice measure, implemented in a transparent, inclusive and accountable manner. Implementing partners

2.  Scope of the assignment and key activities to be conducted by the selected experts:

IWPR envisages hiring a team of 3 experts that would be involved in various tasks aiming at achieving the project objectives. More specifically, tasks will include:

1. Developing a curriculum (toolkit) for the capacity-building training program for 10 journalists and 10 experts (vetting analysts) on independent investigation of high-level corruption and integrity checks of judges and prosecutors. The curriculum will take the form of a comprehensive toolkit to be published, allowing civil society experts and journalists to benefit from the tools and instruments, ultimately helping them to conduct integrity checks of justice actors.
2. Delivering a two-day training program for 10 journalists and 10 experts (vetting analysts) will include practices, lessons learned, tools and instruments, including open-source information, to be applied by vetting analysts and journalists in conducting independent investigations and background integrity checks of justice actors, focusing on concrete case studies and interactive engagement among participants.
3. Providing continuous mentorship support to selected two vetting analysts and two journalists as a result of the training programme mentioned above. Mentorship includes one-to-one support for journalists and vetting analysts in the specific investigative methodologies and thematic areas around the justice sector reform provided to conduct and prepare integrity check reports.
4. Peer-review of the integrity check reports, developed by investigative journalists and vetting analysts selected within the project.

3.  Deliverables and Timeline of project activities

3. Tasks distribution for each expert and allocation of expert days

IWPR reserves the right to award individual tasks to a single individual, or share tasks amongst numerous individuals, depending on applications received.

4. Requirements for experts
   • Master’s degree in journalism, communications, law, public administration, good governance, human rights, or anotherrelevant field;
   • Proven experience in developing, conducting analysis, monitoring and evaluation of public policies in the field of justice, anticorruption, good governance, human rights, or other relevant areas;
   • Proven experience in delivering effecting capacity building and mentoring programmes for journalists and civil society;
   • At least 4 years of experience in conducting of trainings and seminars on independent policy development, monitoring activities, public communication, policy dialogue and advocacy of public administration and justice sector policies;
   • Proven experience in investigative reporting specifically, and editing/supporting highly effective reporting in this regard;
   • Fluency in English (oral and written). Knowledge of Romanian and Russian is an advantage.
   • Excellent teamwork and communication skills including public communication skills.

The project activities shall be carried out remotely with one travel to Chisinau, Republic of Moldova for conducting two days capacity building training program for investigative journalists and vetting analyst. All the costs for the trip to Chisinau will be covered by IWPR.

5.  Evaluation grid

The evaluation of the applications will be carried out in two stages:

Stage 1: Analysis of the technical offers according to the specified criteria with the respective scoring, including verification of compliance with the ToR.

Stage 2: Analysis of financial offers and calculation of the score according to the unique calculation formula.

The evaluation score (maximum 100%) will represent a sum of the score obtained through the technical offer (which will represent 80%) and the financial offer (which will represent 20%).

In the first stage, the technical offer, submitted by each expert, will be evaluated against the minimum compliance requirements as follow:

The minimum qualification score for the technical offer – 75 points.

In the second stage, the Evaluation Committee will examine only the financial offers of the bidders that meet the minimum qualification score following the evaluation of the technical offers, mentioned above.

Contracts will be awarded on the basis of the most economically advantageous tender established for the call for tender under thebest price-quality ratio. A weighting formula will be applied.

Please note: IWPR internal experts are eligible to apply for this opportunity. Scoring will be completed independently, based on profiles received, as per the defined criteria.

6.  Submission of CVs

Interested candidates should submit:

1. The technical offer that should include:
   • CV in English, indicating for what expert position/positions they are applying (recommended EuropeAid format);
   • Methodology (i.e. general description of the implementation vision, which will include an indicative work plan for carrying out the tasks assigned to the expert position for which the candidate applies as per the ToR)
2. The financial offer indicating the proposed net daily rate to be paid for a full working day (8 hours) (using the template provided).

The offers will be submitted by email to [email protected]

Deadline for submission: September 30, 2023, 18.00 pm