Background

Starting from 2013, UN Women, with the support of the European Union (EU), has been implementing the project “Innovative Action for Gender Equality in Georgia” (IAGE), the overall objective of which is to adopt and implement relevant policies and legislation to address specific healthcare, social, and economic needs of women from excluded groups in Georgia. The specific objective is to support women’s initiatives aimed at confidence building and social stability through addressing healthcare, social, and economic needs of ethnic minority, imprisoned, IDP and conflict affected women and women living in remote mountainous areas in Georgia.

The project is aimed at realizing three interrelated outputs/results:

  • Capacity of gender equality and women’s rights advocates increased to advocate for integration of issues of excluded groups of women and girls in relevant policies and legislation;
  • Willingness and capacity of state structures increased to incorporate issues of excluded groups of women and girls in relevant policies, legislation and services on national and local levels;
  • Partnerships among the government and women’s civil society groups as well as women’s people-to-people diplomacy initiatives increased for promotion of social stability and confidence building.

IAGE achieved its expected results as spelled out in the project document that can be summarized as follows:

The project established important knowledge base through four baseline studies on the needs and priorities of the following groups of women in Georgia: 1) ethnic minority women, 2) imprisoned and former prisoner women, 3) women residing in isolated mountainous settings, and 4) single, elderly and disabled women among the groups of IDP, and conflict-affected women. In addition to the fact that the recommendations of these studies were used by the CSOs for advocacy and implementation of relevant projects and the government for development of relevant programmes and action plans, each of the study can form the bases for future projects aimed at addressing the needs of the above target groups. IAGE also developed two training manuals on Evidence-based Advocacy for civil society actors and on Gender Mainstreaming (GEM) for government officials, as a result of capacity development of CSOs and government officials respectively.

As a follow-up to the baseline study recommendations, IAGE:

  • Funded six innovative projects of civil society organizations (IAGE grantees) that included concrete advocacy plans aimed at addressing the needs of excluded groups of women.
  • Established a partnership with the Ministry of Corrections (MOC) and the Public Defender’s Office (PDO) to address the needs of prisoner and former prisoner women. In particular, technical assistance was provided to the MOC to develop an Action Plan on Female Prisoners, where 75% of study recommendations were incorporated. Support was provided to the PDO in developing a monitoring tool for female prisons in accordance with the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders (Bangkok Rules) and conducting respective monitoring.
  • TV and Radio talk shows were conducted on the problems and recommendations uncovered by the studies through both local and national media outlets. Four Public Service Announcements (PSAs) were produced focusing on the key problems identified in the studies. The PSAs are aired through regional and national media outlets.

IAGE established partnerships among conflict-torn societies through a summer school on Women’s Role in Confidence and Peacebuilding for youth from South Caucasus that resulted in jointly developed projects and their implementation; a Pen Marathon for Peace and Equality for Georgian, Abkhaz and South Ossetian writers (three from each region) both women and men resulting in writing and publishing of stories on each other’s experiences during the war; and  retrieval from the National Archive of Georgia Abkhaz traditional folk songs and production of respective CDs that were distributed among the wide range of stakeholders, who have contacts and ties in Abkhazia-Georgia and were able to share the CDs with their Abkhaz counterparts.

As IAGE project is at its final stage of implementation, final external evaluation of the project will be undertaken as agreed with the project donor, the European Union. The final, end-of-project evaluation will be conducted by an independent, external, international consultant. The evaluation will assess programmatic progress (and challenges) at the outcome level, with measurement of the output level achievements and gaps and how/to what extent these have affected outcome-level progress. It will consist of a desk review, country visit, in-depth interviews with UN Women staff, and in-depth interviews with key stakeholders and beneficiaries. It will contribute to results-based management through a participatory approach that documents results achieved, challenges to progress, and contributions to the creation of a more conducive environment for addressing needs of 1) ethnic minority women, 2) imprisoned women, 3) women residing in isolated mountainous settings and 4) single, elderly and disabled women among the groups of IDP, and conflict affected women in Georgia.

IAGE established strong and meaningful partnerships with relevant stakeholders - government and civil society actors to enhance delivery of the project and ensure ownership of its results at the national level. The expectation from the final evaluation is to assess the success of the project results and to shed light on its challenges and lessons learned.

The Programme has established a very productive cooperation with the Gender Equality Council (GEC) of the parliament of Georgia, the chair of the GEC is a member of IAGE Steering Committee along with EU and UN Women representatives. Terms of Reference (TORs) of the four studies were developed in close consultation with the Chair of the GEC and representatives of the Ministries of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Accommodation and Refugees (MIDPOTAR), Corrections (MOC), Labour, Health and Social Affairs (MOLSHA), Regional Development and Infrastructure (MRDI), Reconciliation and Civic Equality (MRCE), as well as the Public Defender’s Office (PDO). The approach contributed to increased ownership of the process and findings and recommendations of the studies, as the stakeholders were involved since their design stage. IAGE trained government officials on Gender mainstreaming into policies and thus developed a network of contact persons/focal points in the ministries/local administrations that has been utilized for work-related reasons throughout the IAGE implementation.

The Programme has established a very productive cooperation with the Ministry of Corrections (MOC) and provided technical assistance in developing an Action Plan on Female Prisoners, where over 75% of the study recommendations were incorporated. IAGE engaged in a fruitful cooperation also with the PDO and provided technical assistance in developing a women prison monitoring tool in accordance with the Bangkok Rules and also supported the PDO to conduct respective monitoring.

The project scope and expected results, as well as the TORs of the four studies, were also presented to the Civil Society Advisory Group of UN Women. As a result, forty-one civil society organizations (CSOs) working on gender equality and women’s rights voluntarily participated in the NGO capacity needs assessment in evidence-based advocacy and then in the follow-up capacity assessment undertaken by the IAGE project. These NGOs, together with additional twenty-nine CSOs, were trained in evidence-based advocacy and they eventually applied for participation in the small grants’ competition, a separate intervention of the IAGE aimed at the follow-up to the findings of the four studies of the different excluded groups of women. Consequently, IAGE signed Project Cooperation Agreements with five NGOs and one CBO: Women’s Club PEONI, Centre for Civic Integration and Inter-ethnic Relations (CCIIR), Fund for Women Entrepreneurs (FWE), Partnership for Human Rights (PHR), IDP Women’s Association “Consent”, and the CBO Shida Kartli Community Fund for Peace and Development.

Evaluation Purpose and Use

Findings of the evaluation will inform the development process of UN Women Georgia Strategic Note for the years 2016-2020. IAGE project is coming to an end in 17 November 2015. An initial Concept Note of follow-up project on Gender Equality for Good Governance in Georgia, with duration of five years, is already drafted and submitted to Donor for review. However, the external evaluation will further identify lessons learned, best practices and challenges of the IAGE project and will greatly inform the development of the follow-up project.

The information generated by the evaluation will be used by different stakeholders to contribute to building of the evidence base on effective strategies for addressing the needs of ethnic minority women, imprisoned women, women residing in isolated mountainous settings and single, elderly and disabled women among the groups of IDP, and conflict affected women and to facilitate UN Women’s strategic reflection and learning for programming on addressing their needs.

Evaluation Objectives, Criteria and Key Evaluation Questions:

The specific evaluation objectives are to:

  • Analyze the relevance of the programmatic strategy and approaches exploited by the IAGE;
  • Validate the project results in terms of achievements and/or weaknesses toward the outcomes and outputs, with a critical examination of how/to what extent the project supported efforts and strengthened the capacities of civil society organizations in evidence based advocacy and relevant government entities to mainstream needs and priorities of excluded groups of women into the relevant policies and programmes;
  • Assess the potential for sustainability of the results achieved by IAGE;
  • Document lessons learned, best practices, success stories and challenges to inform future work of UN Women and EU in addressing gender equality within the context of addressing the needs of excluded groups of women; and
  • Document and analyze possible weaknesses in order to improve next steps of UN Women interventions in the area of provision of technical expertise aimed at gender mainstreaming into policies that target excluded groups of women in Georgia.

The evaluation will address the criteria of Project Relevance, Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Sustainability.. More specifically, the evaluation will address the key evaluation questions:

  • Relevance: A) How does the project design match with the complexity of national structures, systems and decision-making processes? B) How does the project reflect and align with national strategic plans and normative frameworks as well as Georgia’s international obligations and commitments in the field of women’s rights and gender equality? C) Is the project design based on quality analysis, including gender and human rights based analysis, risk assessments, socio-cultural and political analysis? D) Were the programmatic strategies appropriate to address the identified needs of beneficiaries?
  • Effectiveness: A) What has been the progress made towards achievement of the expected outcomes and expected results? What are the results achieved? B) What are the reasons for the achievement or non-achievement of the project results? C) To what extent have capacities of government actors in gender mainstreaming and NGOs in evidence based advocacy been strengthened? D) Does the project have effective monitoring mechanisms in place to measure progress towards results? E) What is the influence of the specific country context and circumstances on the achievement of results and operational effectiveness? F) How adaptable and rapidly does the project react to changing situations? G) How well does the project analyze and manage the risks inherent in engagement in conflict affected areas?
  • Efficiency: A) Have resources (financial, human, technical support, etc.) been allocated strategically to achieve the project outcomes? B) Have the outputs been delivered in a timely manner? C) To what extend were relevant stakeholders and actors included in the project planning and implementation, as well as policy advocacy processes? 
  • Sustainability A) How effectively has the project been able to contribute to the generation of national ownership of the project outputs, the establishment of effective partnerships and development of national capacities? B) What is the likelihood that the benefits from the project will be maintained for a reasonably long period of time after the project phase out? C) To what extend has the project identified strategic partners that could pick up on supporting continued government and non-governmental action when the project comes to an end? D) Do national/local institutions demonstrate leadership commitment and technical capacity to continue to replicate some project activities? E) To what extend have the project’s exit strategy been well planned and successful? F) To what extend has the UN Women been able to promote replication of project successes?

Scope of the Evaluation:

The final evaluation of the project is to be conducted externally by an international external evaluator with substantive support from UN Women Georgia office (including provision of a translator to the meetings/working groups as needed). It is planned to be completed in 29 working day in the period of 1 September – 30 October 2015.

The evaluation will cover almost the full project implementation period that started in January 2013 and was initially scheduled to end in mid-July 2015. After the no-cost extension it will end on November 17, 2015.

The review will be conducted in Georgia, where the project has been implemented, in the capital Tbilisi with a travel to Qvemo Qartli region and Kutaisi (Imereti region) (the regions where IAGE small grant projects are implemented) to collect data as defined by the evaluation plan.

Evaluation Design, Process, and Methods

The evaluation methodology will be mixed (quantitative and qualitative research methods and analytical approaches) to account for complexity of gender relations and to ensure participatory and inclusive processes that are culturally appropriate. A theory of change approach will be followed and the evaluation consultant is expected to reconstruct, validate and identify the gaps in the project’s theory of change The reconstructed theory of change should elaborate on following how UN Women IAGE project has contributed to supporting excluded groups of: prisoner and former prisoner, internally-displaced/conflict-affected and ethnic minority women and women residing in isolated monotonous settings in accessing justice, social, and economic services. Assumptions should be tested and explain both the connections between early, intermediate and long term project outcomes and the expectations about how and why the project has brought them about. By reconstructing the ToC the evaluator is also expected to identify challenges and gaps in the implementation of the project for future improvement.  Hence an eventual next phase of the project will benefit from a refined and tested ToC.

The evaluation process is divided in five phases: 1) Preparation, mainly devoted to structuring the evaluation approach, preparing the TOR, compiling programme documentation, and hiring the evaluation team; 2) Inception, which will involve reconstruction of theory of change, evaluability assessment, inception meetings, inception report and finalization of evaluation methodology; 3) Data collection and analysis, including desk research and preparation of field missions, visits to project sites 4) Data analysis and synthesis stage, focusing on data analyzed, interpretation of findings and drafting of an Evaluation Report; and 5) Dissemination and follow-up, which will entail the development of Management Response, uploading it into UN Women GATE system.

The consultant will be responsible for inception, data collection and data analysis and synthesis phases:

  • Inception phase: at the beginning of the consultancy, the consultant will be provided with key sources of information for an initial desk review. At the end of this phase an inception report that will include the refined evaluation methodology will be delivered. The inception report will be validated and approved by UN Women.
  • Data collection phase: based on the inception phase, the consultant will carry out further in-depth desk review, and field missions will be conducted to complete data collection and triangulation of information. Interviews and focus group discussions with key stakeholders, as relevant, will take place.
  • Data analysis and synthesis phase: The collected information will be analyzed and final evaluation report will be delivered. A validation meeting will be organized where the consultant will validate the final report with UN Women and the ERG and approved by UN Women.

UN Women IEO has developed the GERAAS, which has adapted UNEG Standards for Evaluation in the UN System to guide evaluation managers and evaluators on what constitutes a ‘good quality’ report at UN Women. All evaluations in UN Women are annually assessed against the framework adopted in GERAAS and hence the consultant should be familiar with GERAAS quality standards.

In addition, UN Women is a UN-SWAP reporting entities and the consultant will take into consideration that all the evaluation in UN Women are annually assessed against the UN-SWAP Evaluation Performance Indicator and its related scorecard. The evaluation will be conducted in accordance with UN Women evaluation guidelines and UNEG Norms and Standards for evaluation and the UNEG Code of Conduct for Evaluations in the UN System (UNEG Ethical Guidelines : http://uneval.org/papersandpubs/documentdetail.jsp?doc_id=102; The UNEG Code of Conduct for Evaluation: http://uneval.org/papersandpubs/documentdetail.jsp?doc_id=100)

Stakeholders Participation and Evaluation Management

The evaluation will be a consultative, inclusive and participatory process and will ensure the participation of grassroots women and CSOs representing various groups of women from various regions in Georgia that have been targeted by the project.

The evaluation will be Human Rights and Gender responsible and an Evaluation Reference Group (ERG) will be established.

The Evaluation Reference Group is an integral part of the evaluation management structure and is constituted to facilitate the participation of relevant stakeholders in the design and scope of the evaluation, raising awareness of the different information needs, quality assurance throughout the process and in disseminating the evaluation results. The Evaluation Reference Group  will be engaged throughout the process and will be composed of relevant representatives of state and non-state stakeholders. The ERG group will review the draft evaluation report and provide substantive feedback to ensure quality and completeness of the report and will participate in the inception and validation meeting of the final evaluation report.

The UN Women Georgia Programme Specialist / Monitoring and Evaluation Focal Point will serve as the Evaluation task manager, who will be responsible for day-to-day management of the evaluation. The evaluation process will be supported by the ECA Regional Evaluation Specialist.

Coordination in the field including logistical support will be the responsibility of the Georgia IAGE project Team, including provision of translator to the evaluator as needed.

Within six weeks upon completion of the evaluation, UN Women has the responsibility to prepare a management response that addresses the findings and recommendations to ensure future learning and inform implementation of relevant projects.

This is a consultative/participatory final project evaluation with a strong learning component. The management of the evaluation will ensure that key stakeholders will be consulted.

Duties and Responsibilities

 Expected Deliverables, Duties and Responsibilities

Detailed Inception Report which contains evaluation objectives and scope, findings from inception meetings with all relevant stakeholders, initial desk review, description of evaluation methodology/methodological approach, data collection tools, data analysis methods, key informants/agencies, evaluation questions, performance criteria, issues to be studied, work plan and reporting requirements. It should include a clear evaluation matrix linking all these aspects - by 9 September, 2015 (7 working days).

Conducted field visits and key informant interview and focus group discussions, observations to collect the data and analyzed data- by 23 September, 2015 (10 working days).

Power Point Presentation on preliminary findings highlighting key evaluation findings and conclusions, lessons learnt and recommendations- by  -- 25 September, 2015 (2 working days).

Draft and Final Evaluation report in English taking into consideration comments and feedback collected. The report shall include the following chapters: Executive Summary (maximum five pages), Introduction and Background, Evaluation approach and methodology, Findings, Conclusions, Lessons learnt, Recommendations and relevant Annexes - by 16 October, 2015 (10 working days). 

In further details the duties and responsibilities of the international consultant will be as follows:

  • To elaborate and submit the detailed inception report which contains evaluation objectives and scope, findings from the online inception meetings with all relevant stakeholders, desk review, description of evaluation methodology / methodological approach, data collection tools, data analysis methods, key informants/agencies, evaluation questions, performance criteria, issues to be studied, work plan and reporting requirements. It should include a clear evaluation matrix linking all these aspects.
  • To elaborate and finalize the data collection methodology such as guides, questioners/tools to be used with the key informants/interviewees;
  • To conduct individual interviews and focus groups discussions if necessary with the relevant stakeholders;
  • To prepare a Power Point Presentation and an outline on preliminary findings and present to UN Women staff including IAGE project team and reflect the feedback shared at this presentation in the final report;

To produce and submit the final evaluation report in English. Format of the final evaluation report shall include the following chapters: Executive Summary (maximum five pages), Project description, Evaluation purpose, Evaluation methodology, Findings, Lessons learnt, Recommendations and Annexes (including interview list- without identifying names for confidentiality, data collection instruments, key documents consulted, Terms of Reference).

The timeframe for the work of international consultant is planned in the period of end of September, 2015 – October 2015 for 29 working days..

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

  • Past experience of work in an international environment;
  • Excellent writing, presentation/public speaking skills;
  • IT literacy.

Core Competencies:

  • Familiarity with UN and UN Women System;
  • Sound understanding of cooperating with different government, civil society and other external agencies for supporting RBM application on country or regional levels'
  • Demonstrate strong oral and written communication skills;
  • Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • University Degree (masters) in economics, sociology, international development, gender/women studies or related areas.

Experience:

  • At least 7 years practical experience in conducting evaluations of strategies, policies and programmes.

Language:

  • Fluency in English.

Evaluation procedure:

The candidates will be evaluated in three stages: according to minimum qualification criteria; technical and financial evaluation. The candidates must possess minimum qualification criteria to be eligible for further technical evaluation.

Technical evaluation criteria (including minimum qualifications):

  • At least a master’s degree in economics, sociology, international development, gender/women studies or related areas (30 points);
  • At least 7 years practical experience in conducting evaluations of strategies, policies and programmes (70 points);
  • Experience and knowledge on gender equality and women’s empowerment, gender mainstreaming, gender analysis (70 points);
  • Experience/knowledge of women’s movements in general and Georgia’s women movement in particular (70 points);
  • Excellent analytical, facilitation and communications skills and ability to negotiate amongst a wide range of stakeholders (70 points);
  • Proficiency in English; fluency in written and spoken Georgian and/or Russian will be considered an asset (40 points).

Maximum total technical score amounts to 350 points. Only candidates who have passed over the minimum qualification criteria and have accumulated at least 245 points out of maximum 350 under technical evaluation will qualify for the next stage i.e. evaluation of their financial proposals.

Evaluation of submitted financial offers will be done based on the following formula: S = Fmin / F * 150

S – score received on financial evaluation.

Fmin – the lowest financial offer out of all the submitted offers qualified over the technical evaluation round.

F – financial offer under consideration.

The winning candidate will be the candidate, who has accumulated the highest aggregated score (technical
score + financial score).

Management arrangements: The UN Women M&E Focal Point in Georgia will serve as the evaluation task manager. The evaluation task manager will be responsible for day-to-day management of the review. Coordination in the field including logistical support will be the responsibility of the Georgia IAGE Project Team.

The review will be conducted in accordance with UN Women evaluation guidelines and UNEG Norms and Standards for evaluation and the UNEG Code of Conduct for Reviews in the UN System (UNEG Ethical Guidelines : http://uneval.org/papersandpubs/documentdetail.jsp?doc_id=102; The UNEG Code of Conduct for Evaluation: http://uneval.org/papersandpubs/documentdetail.jsp?doc_id=100).

Financial Arrangements: Payment will be disbursed in 2 installments upon the satisfactory submission of the deliverables cleared by UN Women M&E Focal Point to certify that the services have been satisfactorily performed: 40% will be paid upon submission of Inception report and 60% will be paid upon submission of final report.

Application submission package:

  • CV;
  • Dully filled Personal History Form PHF11 that can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment
  • Financial Proposal (in GEL)  - Lump sum financial proposal/offer*, aggregated  including all necessary expenses, fee per day, travel expenses and any other expenses essential to undertake the task.

Applications submission deadline: 22 July 2015.

Only Short listed candidates will be contacted.

Please group all your documents into one (1) single PDF document as the system only allows to upload maximum one document.

Note:

Ethical Considerations:

UNEG Ethical Guidance should be applied to the selection of methods for the evaluation and throughout the evaluation process. The consultant will signed the “Evaluation Consultants Agreement Form – UNEG Code of Conduct for Evaluation in the UN System” prior to the initiation of the evaluation process.

TOR Annexes: