Management Systems International (MSI) is a Washington, D.C.-based development firm founded in 1981 with a corporate commitment to improving public sector management in the U.S. and abroad. MSI has significantly expanded its technical expertise to include implementation of a range of analytical and field projects in results based management including strategic planning and program performance monitoring and reporting, monitoring and evaluation, policy implementation, institutional development, and training. The firm recently joined Coffey International Ltd., a global multi-specialist consulting business, headquartered in Australia with more than more than 4,000 people working in more than 80 countries around the globe.

MSI is presently implementing the Good Governance in Georgia (G3) program under contract with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The objective of the G3 program is to promote transparency, accountability and responsiveness of government to Georgian citizens. Under Component 3, the G3 program promotes participation in public affairs by supporting ten Centers for Civic Engagement (CCEs), which provide a meeting space for national and local NGOs, community organization, media organizations and journalists, business associations, international NGOs and donor programs and academic and educational institutions. The CCEs function in Batumi, Ozurgeti, Kutaisi, Telavi, Sagarejo, Marneuli, Rustavi, Akhaltsikhe, Zugdidi and Gori.

Each CCE includes a meeting room suitable for at least 50 persons, a smaller meeting room, 5 public access computers connected to the internet, a resource library dedicated to topics in governance and democracy, and an administrative office for the 2-person staff. To date, the Centers for Civic Engagement hosted around of 2,800 public events with the participation of more than 85,000 citizens. Nearly 16,000 persons used internet services and 1,500 accessed the library facilities.

G3's Performance Management and Evaluation Plan (PMEP) includes an impact evaluation of the CCEs, which asks: "Have the CCEs made a significant difference on patterns of civic and political participation by providing a neutral, free-of-cost space to non-governmental organizations and civil society actors?" and "Does the presence of a CCE promote higher levels of political engagement?"

The evaluation uses a quasi-experimental design, applying a survey instrument to a sample of non-governmental and civil society organizations, and to individual citizens in the ten "treatment" localities (i.e., the municipalities in which CCEs are established) and to a similar sample in 23 "control" localities. The baseline survey was conducted prior to the establishment of the CCEs; and in 2013 the second, follow up survey will be conducted. The results of the two surveys will be analyzed in the treatment and control localities and appropriate statistical methods applied to measure changes in patterns of civic and political participation that can be attributed to the presence of the CCEs.

MSI is seeking to acquire services to design a follow-up survey to the initial impact evaluation, including the survey methodology, to conduct data collection in the treatment and control localities, and to carry out statistical analysis to measure the impact of the CCEs in the treatment localities.

source: jobs.ge