Evaluator of the Strengthening Legal Representation of Workers and Trade Unions in Mexico Project
Mexico
Contracted
Experienced
Evaluator of the Strengthening Legal Representation of Workers and Trade Unions in Mexico Project
Grant Award No: CanGov-6239357
Background
The American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) was created in 1990 as an ABA public service project to promote the Rule of Law around the world and has launched legal reform programs in more than 100 countries, designing programs that respond to local needs and prioritize sustainable solutions. ABA ROLI’s expertise in training serves as a core strength of our capacity to address the problem presented. Throughout more than 20 years of experience in Latin America, we have supported several countries, including Colombia, El Salvador, Haiti, Panama, Perú, and Mexico, in the implementation of large-scale legal reforms, including the use of ADR mechanisms and trial advocacy. Training justice institutions and other interested parties to successfully execute foundational legal changes has been among our most noteworthy contributions towards strengthening the rule of law, increasing access to justice, and upholding citizens’ rights. With our two decades of experience, ABA ROLI has become an expert in teaching ADR mechanisms and oral litigation skills.
Since the enactment of the 2019 Labor Reform—which was seen as a significant reform of Mexico’s labor laws—Mexico’s Federal Labor Defense Attorney's Office, State Labor Defense Attorney's Offices, and the Federal Public Defender's Institute have been responsible for providing free labor advice and legal representation to workers and unions under the new labor justice system. This reform transformed the labor justice system into an oral-based system, requiring specialized litigation skills. This shift has posed significant challenges for public servants tasked with navigating this system. Additionally, fostering effective dialogue with unions remains an unresolved challenge for authorities.
In 2023, with the support of the Government of Canada, ABA ROLI launched the Strengthening Legal Representation of Workers and Trade Unions in Mexico program. This program aims to enhance the protection of workers' rights through capacity-building initiatives and multi-stakeholder dialogues. It also supports labor justice institutions, including the Federal Attorney General's Office for the Defense of Labor and State Attorney General Offices—in several states such as Chihuahua, Coahuila, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Mexico City, Querétaro, Tamaulipas, and Veracruz.
Grant Award No: CanGov-6239357
| Project: | Strengthening Legal Representation of Workers and Trade Unions in Mexico |
| Type: | Midterm Evaluation |
| Purpose: | The purpose of the mid-term evaluation is to assess the effectiveness and relevance of the activities implemented by the Project towards the achievement of desired outcomes. |
| Primary Methodology: | Outcome Harvesting |
| Period of Performance: | The mid-term evaluation will cover 18 months (November 2023 – April 2025) |
Background
The American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) was created in 1990 as an ABA public service project to promote the Rule of Law around the world and has launched legal reform programs in more than 100 countries, designing programs that respond to local needs and prioritize sustainable solutions. ABA ROLI’s expertise in training serves as a core strength of our capacity to address the problem presented. Throughout more than 20 years of experience in Latin America, we have supported several countries, including Colombia, El Salvador, Haiti, Panama, Perú, and Mexico, in the implementation of large-scale legal reforms, including the use of ADR mechanisms and trial advocacy. Training justice institutions and other interested parties to successfully execute foundational legal changes has been among our most noteworthy contributions towards strengthening the rule of law, increasing access to justice, and upholding citizens’ rights. With our two decades of experience, ABA ROLI has become an expert in teaching ADR mechanisms and oral litigation skills.
Since the enactment of the 2019 Labor Reform—which was seen as a significant reform of Mexico’s labor laws—Mexico’s Federal Labor Defense Attorney's Office, State Labor Defense Attorney's Offices, and the Federal Public Defender's Institute have been responsible for providing free labor advice and legal representation to workers and unions under the new labor justice system. This reform transformed the labor justice system into an oral-based system, requiring specialized litigation skills. This shift has posed significant challenges for public servants tasked with navigating this system. Additionally, fostering effective dialogue with unions remains an unresolved challenge for authorities.
In 2023, with the support of the Government of Canada, ABA ROLI launched the Strengthening Legal Representation of Workers and Trade Unions in Mexico program. This program aims to enhance the protection of workers' rights through capacity-building initiatives and multi-stakeholder dialogues. It also supports labor justice institutions, including the Federal Attorney General's Office for the Defense of Labor and State Attorney General Offices—in several states such as Chihuahua, Coahuila, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Mexico City, Querétaro, Tamaulipas, and Veracruz.
The objectives of the Project are:
The purpose of the mid-term evaluation is to assess the effectiveness and relevance of the activities implemented by the Project towards the achievement of desired outcomes. This assessment will include a review of the project design, and will capture lessons learned, challenges faced, and best practices obtained during implementation to inform the next phase. The mid-term evaluation will cover 18 months (November 2023 – April 2025).
The evaluation objectives are the following:
Evaluation questions and methodology:
Evaluation questions1
1 The evaluation questions have been designed considering the OECD’s DAC criteria to analyze interventions and its results. The specific criteria have been selected considering the scope of the mid- term evaluation.
- Improve the legal advice and representation provided to workers by labor justice institutions in selected Mexican states.
- Improve the access to labor justice services by trade unions seeking to assert their collective bargaining rights in selected Mexican states.
The purpose of the mid-term evaluation is to assess the effectiveness and relevance of the activities implemented by the Project towards the achievement of desired outcomes. This assessment will include a review of the project design, and will capture lessons learned, challenges faced, and best practices obtained during implementation to inform the next phase. The mid-term evaluation will cover 18 months (November 2023 – April 2025).
The evaluation objectives are the following:
- Assess the relevance of the implemented activities by the Project towards the achievement of the desired outcomes.
- Assess the effectiveness of the Project’s implementation strategy towards the achievement of the desired outcomes.
- Identify lessons learned, good practices and recommendations for the next phase of the Project.
Evaluation questions and methodology:
Evaluation questions1
- What are the observed changes in behaviors, relationships, practices, and/or policies reported by the program’s beneficiaries and other stakeholders in the judiciary system since the start of the Project?
- To what extent are these changes aligned with the anticipated results of the project, and is the project on track to achieve its desired results?
- What role have the project activities had in creating these changes? What other factors (internal or external) have contributed to or hindered these changes?
- What key lessons learned, strengths, and opportunity areas have emerged from project implementation?
- What recommendations can be made for the next phase of the project?
- To what extent is the project design and strategy aligned with the needs of stakeholders and local context?
- How effective has the partnership strategy with Federal and State AGOs been?
1 The evaluation questions have been designed considering the OECD’s DAC criteria to analyze interventions and its results. The specific criteria have been selected considering the scope of the mid- term evaluation.
- To what extent are project outcomes likely to be sustained after project closure, and how can the project enhance sustainability of outcomes in future implementation phases?
Evaluation methodology
Evaluation as an extraction of behavioral changes finds its strength in human experience and firsthand contact. In qualitative research, knowing how to formulate the right questions in the right structure can be the key to providing enough insight to understand said changes, as well as strengths, weaknesses and areas of opportunity; Outcome Harvesting is a methodology that collects evidence on what has changed and whether specific interventions have contributed to those changes.
This methodology focuses on identifying the observable and unobservable changes (planned and spillovers), resulting at least in part from a Project’s intervention. Using an outcome mapping approach, working backwards allows the evaluators to build, if existent, an implicit causal chain from the Project’s interventions to the changes (outcomes) in the behavior, relationships, actions or practices of an individual, group, organization or community, For this Project, we aim to comprehend if the capacity building activities (courses, training of trainers, mock trials) and engaging activities (state-level dialogues between trade unions and federal/state AGO representatives) have contributed to verifiable changes (outcomes) reported by the Project’s beneficiaries. When analyzing results, the evaluator should also utilize OECD-DAC criteria (Relevance, Efficiency, Effectiveness, Coherence, Impact and Sustainability) as guiding principles when making evaluative judgements about the project.
- Proven experience performing evaluations with the Outcome Harvesting methodology.
- Experience in the use of mixed methods for evaluation of social policies, programs and/or projects.
- Experience in data collection, analysis, interpretation, and visualization using mixed methods.
- Excellent writing and reporting skills.
- Fluent in English, with Spanish as native tongue.
- It is desirable that the consultant has knowledge of the Mexican judiciary system, and the latest reforms.
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