Link to Atlas Project

Documents

Overview

Background:

Malawi’s new Legal Aid Bureau was established under the Legal Aid Act No 28 of 2010 as an independent national institution taking over from the then Legal Aid Department of the Ministry of Justice. The Bureau formally came into operation on 16th March 2015. The Legal Aid Act No. 28 of 2010 was enacted “to make provision for the granting of legal aid in civil and criminal matters to persons whose means are insufficient to enable them to engage private legal practitioners and to other categories of persons where the interests of justice so require; to provide for the establishment of a Legal Aid Bureau; to provide for the establishment of a Legal Aid Fund; to allow for limited eligibility of other persons, besides legal practitioners, to provide legal aid for the purposes of this Act and to provide for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto”.

Currently the Bureau is operating three regional offices in Blantyre, Lilongwe and Mzuzu. As a newly established entity, the Bureau is operating on an interim strategic action plan coupled with the national legislation relevant to Legal Aid Bureau. The establishing of an independent Bureau emanated from the need to revamp the old Legal Aid Department and make it more efficient in the delivery of legal aid services in the country.

It is against this background that the Legal Aid Bureau intends to prepare a 2016-2020 strategic plan that is aligned to the Democratic Governance Sector Strategy and the overall national strategy in order to set out its objectives during this period and how they will be achieved. It is envisaged that the strategic plan will help the Bureau to advance its mandate and strategic themes in an efficient and effective manner. The process also coincides and builds on the thrust provided by the institutional reform processes being undertaken under the Democratic Governance Sector-Wide Approach (DGSWAp) as well as the Public Sector Reforms that are being championed by Government.

Scope of Work: 

The purpose of the consultancy is to support and lead the Malawi Legal Aid Bureau and its stakeholders in a technically grounded, consultative and participatory planning process, to include extensive consultations with public sector partners and the private sector. The substantive outcome will be a five-year strategic plan aligned to the Democratic Governance Sector Strategy for the period 2016-2020 in line with the Bureau’s gazetted Mandate, and  including institutional arrangements, specific activities, proposed programmes, timelines, targets and a detailed costing. The consultant should also provide a communication and monitoring plan.

The consultant will work with a Technical Reference Group from the DGSWAp Thematic Working Group under the guidance of the Legal Aid Bureau and Democratic Governance Sector Coordinator. The Bureau staff have already undertaken considerable groundwork through the preparation of an interim draft strategic framework and strategic action plan. The consultant will lead and guide the process of developing the full five-year strategic plan. This will include:

1. A review of existing Bureau’s plans, policy frameworks, laws, approaches, national implementation plans and other relevant documents;
2. Development of an economically sound methodology for the strategic plan for how the Bureau can most effectively meet its objectives;
3. Collection of additional data;
4. Needs assessment of the Bureau;
5. Stakeholder mapping and consultation;
6. Situation analysis, including identification of constraints and opportunities for sustainable development

Development of a vision and mission statement;

1. Development, validation, finalization and costing of a strategic plan 2016-2020 including a theory of change or log frame, and a detailed implementation plan and general activities and;
2. Monitoring and evaluation strategy and communications plan.

For more details, please read through the attached detailed Procurement Notice which includes detailed TOR and the P11 Form for your completion.