Terms of Reference (TOR) for Revision of Ethiopian Lawyers Association (ELA’s) Strategic Plan

Background

The Ethiopian Lawyers’ Association (ELA) is more than a half century old non-governmental non-profit professional association established in 1965 and currently re-registered at Authority for Civil Society Organizations with License no. 1422. ELA is a founding member of the Pan African Lawyers Association (PALU), the International Bar Association (IBA), African Center of Excellence in Access to Justice (ACEAJ) and other national, regional, and international organizations, contributing for the solidarity and fraternity of the legal community at both national and international levels.

ELA works for the interest of its members, integrity of legal profession and provision of community free legal service through promoting:

• Rule of law, good governance, human rights and democracy;
• Enhancing the right to access to justice through strategic advocacy and providing free legal aid service for the poor, vulnerable host communities, refugees, migrants and IDPs in Addis Ababa and Regional states;
• Undertakes Research and Publication activities and has its own law journal known as "Journal of Ethiopian Lawyers Association" for this purpose;
• Organizes continuous legal education workshops on various legal agendas to build the capacity of lawyers and stakeholders;
• Works with government and other stakeholders in the legal and judicial reform.

The ELA’s strategic plan for 2015-2020 clearly outlines values, vision, mission, and strategic goals, setting a strong direction for the organization and guiding the implementation of pillar programs. However, due to current internal and external dynamics, including the need to streamline program development with evolving strategies and recent legal reforms and changes, a revision of this strategic plan document is necessary. ELA would like to engage a qualified consultant/consultancy firm to undertake this strategic planning revision exercise for 2026-2030).

The evolving global and national civic and political environment, characterized by shifting power dynamics and pervasive instability with legal and human rights implications requires a comprehensive re-evaluation of our strategic plan. the Consultant must rigorously assess program performance, refine strategic alignments, and prioritize institutional growth and sustainability to effectively navigate these challenging circumstances.

2. Objectives of the TOR

The main objective of this ToR is to guide the revision of the strategic plan document for ELA, revising the existing one taking into account the current internal and external operating environment in order to enhance ELA’s effectiveness and sustainability in the areas that the organization is mandated to operate.

The specific objectives are:

• Revise the existing strategic plan that reflects current conditions and future goals.
• Prioritize focus areas and strategic interventions.
• Emphasis for self-sustained and robust Association that depends mostly on its own means to execute its activity.
• Refine institutional capacity and resource strategies.
• Enhance stakeholder engagement.
• Develop a monitoring, evaluation, and learning framework.

3. Scope of Assignment

The consultant will conduct a desk review of the existing strategic plan and related documents of ELA to guide the revision process.

Conducting consultation with the Executive Committee at the beginning of the work.

• Review and revise ELA’s vision, mission, strategic areas, and objectives.
• Conduct a situation analysis (SWOT, PESTLE, stakeholder analysis).
• Refine focus areas, long-term priorities, and strategic interventions.
• Review organizational structure and resources against identified objectives.
• Propose sustainability plans for financial and human resources.
• Map stakeholders and develop strategies for engagement.
• Conduct a risk analysis and propose management approaches.
• Develop a monitoring, evaluation, learning, and reporting framework.
• Conduct a validation workshop to gather inputs on the draft with stakeholders and partners; and finalize the Strategic Plan and budget.
• Conducting a validation workshop and gathering inputs on the draft of the revised strategic plan with stakeholders and partners of ELA.
• Finalize the Strategic Plan and budget.

4. Deliverables:

The consultant shall submit the following deliverables to ELA:

• Inception report to ELA within 5 days from the award of the work with methodology, timelines, and contextual analysis.
• Needs assessment report highlighting current status and gaps.
• Draft of the revised strategic Plan within 20 days from the award of the work.
• Report of the validation workshop on the draft strategic plan with stakeholders and partners.
• Final and refined Strategic Plan including review feedback and inputs gathering from the validation workshop;
• Report to ELA with major activities, workshop highlights, and evaluation.

5. Duration of the work

The Consultant shall complete and handover the final draft of the revised strategic plan within 30 days from receiving the award of the work including all feedback and inputs from the validation workshop and ELA team.