Antecedentes

Background of the Project

UN Women has been implementing a multi-year project “Women for Equality, Peace and Development in Georgia” (WEPD) since 2010 (I phase in 2010-2012 and II phase 2013-2015) with support of the Government of Norway. The aim of the project is to support the efforts and strengthen the capacities of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), conflict-affected and ethnic minority women’s groups, other partners from civil society, and government to advance gender equality and women’s human rights in Georgia.

The overarching goal of the project is to support the realization of gender equality and the reduction of feminized poverty through addressing women’s social, economic, and political needs, with particular focus on IDPs, and conflict-affected and ethnic minority women’s groups.

Towards this end, the project works at the three interdependent and mutually reinforcing levels:

• At national policy level, to ensure that strategies, policies, plans and budgets are in line with CEDAW and UN SC Resolutions on Women, Peace and Security (1325, et. al);
• At the level of national institutions, towards strengthening capacities to deliver better information and services for IDPs, conflict-Affected and ethnic minority women; and
• At the grassroots level, by supporting IDPs, conflict affected and ethnic minority women’s groups and communities to organize and participate actively and effectively in influencing policies and decisions that affect their lives.

The former Soviet Republic of Georgia experienced two internal conflicts (over its breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia) following the collapse of the Soviet Union and its independence in the early 1990s. Subsequently, the war of August 2008 over South Ossetia resulted in further civilian casualties, destruction and suffering, along with a new wave of forced displacements. Georgia has a total of 259,247 (According to data from MIDPOTAR, as of November 2014. http://mra.gov.ge/geo/static/55) Internally-Displaced Persons (IDP) as a result of its conflicts. Women and girls comprise approximately 54% of all IDPs. They are a special beneficiary group of WEPD II, along with conflict-affected women and their families, i.e. those citizens of Georgia who live in the villages that are adjacent to the breakaway regions, but are not displaced from their homes.

Georgia is a home to various ethnic minority groups, especially in the Samtskhe-Javakheti and Kvemo Kartli regions. According to the 2002 national census, Georgia’s main minority groups include Azerbaijanis 285,000 (6.5% of the country’s total population), and Armenians 249,000 (5.7%). Ethnic minority women and girls are, however, usually disadvantaged, not only in comparison with the ethnic majority counterparts, but also in comparison with ethnic minority men. The Azerbaijani ethnic minority represents 40% and Armenians 8% of the total population in the Kvemo Kartli region, one of the target regions selected in the WEPD II. The region was targeted by the Project in particular because it has the largest Azerbaijani population, as well as some Armenian ethnic minority groups.

The main development objective/outcome of the project is to support excluded groups of internally-displaced, conflict-affected, and ethnic minority women in accessing justice, social, and economic services, and gaining increased opportunities for participation in confidence-building activities. UN Women employs a holistic approach that involves working with national institutions at the national policy level, and with the beneficiaries at the grass-roots level. The Taso Foundation (TF) and the Women’s Information Centre (WIC) are the UN Women’s local non- governmental project partners since 2010, when the first phase of the WEPD project commenced.

The projects’ three expected outputs are:

• Output 1: Civil servants and service providers have an increased capacity to provide adequate legal, social and economic services to excluded groups of internally-displaced, conflict-affected and ethnic minority women;
• Output 2: Excluded groups of internally-displaced, conflict-affected and ethnic minority women have increased their capacity to demand, and benefit from, legal, social and economic services;
• Output 3: Increased role of women in confidence-building and conflict-prevention processes, as envisaged by the UN SCR 1325 National Action Plan of Georgia.

In close collaboration with the Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Accommodation and Refugees of Georgia (MIDPOTAR) UN Women WEPD Project established five legal clinics for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in five administrative centers of Georgia: Tbilisi, Rustavi, Gori, Kutaisi, and Zugdidi. As a major achievement of the WEPD project, the legal clinic of Tbilisi was taken over by the Ministry in July, 2012 after the phase out of WEPD I phase. Four Legal clinics in four administrative centers of Georgia continue to provide IDP women and their family members with free legal aid and court representation. Since 2010, the legal clinics have provided consultations to 58 701 IDPs (individual consultations- 20,628 and collective consultations - 38,073). Out of the total number of claims received by the legal clinics, approximately 66% were from women and 34% men.

Lawyers of legal clinics conduct outreach visits to the places of IDPs’ compact settlements on a monthly basis following their work plans, where they consult IDPs on the spot. Since 2010, visits to 2,257 compact settlements have been conducted where 38,073 IDPs received legal advice and consultation. Lawyers of legal clinics provide upon necessity Court representation of beneficiaries, which is a unique service existing within the Ministry. Since 2010 Court representation was provided to 851 persons (approximately 65% women).

A legal clinic for ethnic minority women was jointly established under WEPD II in close cooperation with the Public Defender’s Office (PDO) of Georgia in Marneuli in August 2013. The legal clinic provided individual consultations to 429 beneficiaries (45% women and 55% men) since its launch. Additionally, visits were made to 89 villages outreaching 1270 residents of Marneuli municipality. The legal clinic provided court representation to 18 ethnic minority representatives (11 women and 7 men) in the Kvemo Kartli region.

Moreover, the project pays special attention to community mobilization. In the first phase of the WEPD project (implemented in 2010-2012) there has been effectively applied the social mobilization strategy resulting in the establishment of about 45 Self-Help Groups (SHG) of internally displaced and conflict affected persons. The groups involved 255 individuals (89% women and 11% men) thus, reaching out to their families and more than 3 000 community members from 18 different villages in Georgia, including the Gali district of breakaway region of Abkhazia, Georgia. Within the project’s I phase under social mobilization strategy in total 52 small-scale projects, proposed by these SHGs, were funded in 2010-2012. WEPD II continues to effectively apply the social mobilization methodology initiated under WEPD I by supporting the establishment of 38 new SHGs, as a result of which a further 238 individuals (86% women) benefited. In total, the Project reached out to some 714 new community members from 20 different villages/communities to address issues of access to livelihoods, healthcare and social services. WEPD II has expanded the social mobilization methodology to new target groups of women from ethnic minorities in villages of Marneuli municipality, Kvemo Kartli region.

During the WEPD II phase, 44 joint local government-community initiatives received small-scale grants totalling USD 91,325, reflecting the strategic needs of IDPs, conflict-affected persons and women from ethnic minorities with regard to their economic and social empowerment.

UN Women WEPD project responsible party, the Women’s Information Centre (WIC), has been holding “One Stop Shop” meetings since 2010 to facilitate dialogue between representatives of different sectors of central and local governments and IDP, conflict affected and ethnic minority women and their families to address the immediate social and legal protection priorities of individuals, families and communities.

Since 2010, a total of 21” One Stop Shop” consultation meetings were organized by the WIC. Through this innovative mechanism, local government representatives engaged directly with IDP, conflict-affected and ethnic minority persons participating in the meetings, and followed up with coordinated efforts to address the problems that were raised. A total of 204 cases were presented in eight locations (Gori, Rustavi, Kutaisi, Samtredia, Sachkhere, Marneuli, Tetritskharo and Zugdidi) from 2010-2014. Primary beneficiaries in 98 cases were women, in 32 cases - men, 38 cases concerned a whole family and 36 had relevance for broader communities. 92 (45%) cases reviewed at these meetings were successfully resolved, providing individuals with access to adequate housing and legal protection and improving their access to social and healthcare services. Out of 204 cases, 41 cases (20%) have not been resolved and 71 cases (35%) are being monitored and expected to be resolved soon. The WEPD project is working towards institutionalization of ”One Stop Shop” methodology.

In its ongoing activities at the policy level, in its second phase the project pays special attention to the implementation of the National Action Plan adopted for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution #1325 on “Women, Peace and Security”. WEPD II has been significantly supporting national partners, especially the Gender Equality Council of the Parliament of Georgia, as well as the Office of the Prime Minister of Georgia in its coordinating role in the implementation of NAP 1325 in Georgia. Georgian NAP made significant achievement for the fulfillment of objective 5.5. - Coordination, monitoring and reporting (accountability) of National Action Plan implementation. For this purpose a National Coordinating Group (NCG) on the implementation of the NAP on UN SCR 1325, created in March 2012, continues to oversee the NAP implementation. The NCG consists of 27 members from all government agencies responsible for the NAP’s implementation. WEPD II is assisting the GEC and NCG with developing effective monitoring and reporting tools to ensure successful implementation of the UN SCR 1325 National Action Plan. The coordination group includes two permanent representatives from CSOs. One additional NGO representative from regions close to the ABL in the breakaway territories was also chosen to participate on a rotational basis.

During this reporting period UN Women’s WEPD II has provided the technical assistance to the GEC to conduct the mid-term evaluation of the 1325 National Action Plan implementation in Georgia with the purpose to track the progress, achievements and remaining challenges as identified by the implementing parties and government agencies. The evaluation was conducted by the local consultant in the period of 1 April – 5 July 2014. The report was presented at the second coordination meeting of the NCG highlighting the achievements and challenges, as well as strengths and weaknesses in the delivery of the NAP 1325 over the last 24 months and suggested the recommendations for its second phase.

In order to strengthen the women peace activists' initiatives, people-to-people (p2p) diplomacy  and confidence-building  to further women's human rights and engagement    in advocacy work, in line with UN SCR 1325, WEPD II and the IWPR held two trainings during the second phase, in Gender Aspects of Mediation Strategies for Increasing Women’s Role in Peace Building facilitated by international trainers. Each time, fifteen Georgian, Abkhaz and South Ossetian participants took part in the training.

The experience of women in p2p diplomacy and the impact of conflict on their lives is regularly communicated through a specially established information channel, “Women Connecting for Peace” (www.women-peace.net), operating in the Russian language to ensure its broad accessibility and usage by the communities across the ceasefire lines. The website contributes to strengthening people-to-people diplomacy and confidence-building efforts between the conflict- affected and divided communities by creating a joint platform for women peace activists and journalists to share their experiences and familiarise themselves with each other’s work.

WEPD project phase II has conducted several studies to generate information for programming and advocacy

Between June and October 2013, a study on the Needs and Priorities of Ethnic Minority Women in Kvemo Kartli was conducted under WEPD II, in collaboration with the Institute for Studies and Analysis, in seven municipalities of the Kvemo Kartli region: Bolnisi, Dmanisi, Gardabani, Marneuli, Rustavi, Tetritskharo and Tsalka. The final outcome of the study includes an overview of the basic needs of ethnic minority women and policy recommendations aimed at improving ethnic minority women’s legal, social and economic protection.

The Study on Access to Justice for IDP and ethnic minority women in target regions of the project was conducted by Institute for Social Studies and Analysis (ISSA) in July-October, 2013. The study was conducted in 6 target locations of the project: Tbilisi, Rustavi, Gori, Kutaisi, Zugdidi and Marneuli with the participation of 700 respondents: IDPs (500 respondents) and ethin minority (200 respondents) women who have already received legal clinics' assistance and those who have not received legal clinics' assistance yet. The baseline study generated important evidence that allowed the project to document the process of change and provide clear evidence on the project’s contribution and impact. By the end of the project, endline study on Access to Justice will also be conducted.

WEPD II, together with UN Women’s European Union-funded project “Innovative Action for Gender Equality in Georgia” (IAGE) conducted a study, entitled “Gender Analysis of Social Protection and Economic Policies.” The study aimed at identifying how/if at all, the specific needs of IDP and conflict-affected women, including disabled women, ethnic minority women, women residing in remote mountainous areas, and imprisoned and former women prisoners, are integrated into the Targeted Social Assistance Programme (TSA) and other relevant social policies and programmes. Social assistance is an increasingly important lifeline for Georgia’s poor population, especially with the government’s introduction of the TSA at the end of 2006. The study will be used for advocacy purposes to lobby several of its recommendations.

The final, end-of-project external evaluation will be conducted by an independent international expert, assisted by a national consultant/interpreter. It is mandatory final evaluation, undertaken as agreed with the donor of the project the Royal Government of Norway. The evaluation will assess programmatic progress (and challenges) for the duration of the second phase of the project i.e since January 2013 up to the actual evaluation period 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, visits to the regions, observations, in-depth interviews with UN Women staff (at country level), and in-depth interviews with the key stakeholders and beneficiaries and focus groups as relevant.

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 women IDPs, conflict affected and ethnic minority women;
• Facilitate UN Women’s strategic reflection, learning and further planning for programming on addressing the needs of IDP, conflict affected and ethnic minority women.

Results, recommendations and lessons learned from the evaluation will inform the drafting of the Strategic Note of UN Women CO Georgia for the years 2016-2020.

Evaluation Objectives, Criteria:

The specific evaluation objectives are to:

• Analyze the relevance of the WEPD II implementation strategy and approaches to the project’s results chain;
• Review the relevance of the logical framework and respective Monitoring and Evaluation Plan of the project;
• Validate project results in terms of progress toward the achievement of outcomes and outputs, with a critical examination of how/to what extent the project supported efforts and strengthened the capacities of IDP, conflict-affected and ethnic minority women’s groups, as well as other national partners from government and civil society to advance gender equality and women’s human rights in Georgia;
• Assess the potential for sustainability of the results and the feasibility of ongoing, nationally-led efforts in advancing rights of IDP, conflict affected and ethnic minority women’s groups in Georgia;
• Document lessons learned, best practices, success stories and challenges to inform future work of UN Women in the frameworks of Women, Peace and Security agenda and beyond;
• Document and analyze possible weaknesses in order to improve next steps of UN Women CO Georgia interventions in the area of women, peace, and security programming.

The evaluation will address the criteria of project relevance, effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability.

Scope of the evaluation

The evaluation will cover project implementation period from January 2013 until November 2015.

The evaluation will be conducted in Georgia, where the project has been implemented; in the capital Tbilisi with travel to Kvemo Kartli, Shida Kartli, Imereti and Samegrelo regions (the project target regions) to collect data as defined by the agreed evaluation work-plan.

The evaluation will examine all the relevant documents of WEPD project, including logical framework of the project, its Monitoring and Evaluation Plan, annual work plan, annual and shorter-term status reports to the donor, knowledge products produced in the frameworks of the project, mid-term review of the project conducted in the middle of 2014, etc. The evaluation will interview all key stakeholders involved in the WEPD project, including but not limited to UN Women staff, WEPD project team, WEPD project responsible parties –local NGOs (Women’s Information Centre, Taso Foundation), local NGO partners (Institute for War and Peace Reporting– IWPR) beneficiaries, legislative body, central and local government partners, etc.

For detailed Final Project Evaluation Terms of Reference please visit http://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_job.cfm?cur_job_id=58329

The evaluation will be conducted by the Evaluation Team, comprised of international evaluator and national consultant/interpreter in Georgia. Therefore, UN Women intends to hire the latter to provide assistance to the international evaluator during the process of project evaluation in Georgia

Deberes y responsabilidades

The national consultant/interpreter will work under the direct supervision of the International Evaluator and will benefit from technical and operational support of UN Women Country Office in Georgia.

In more specific terms,  the  national consultant/interpreter will  be responsible for the following:

• To provide assistance and interpretation to the International Evaluator in the process of programme evaluation in Georgia.

To fulfill the expected task, the national consultant/interpreter is expected:

• To collect, review and provide outline/translation in English of all key Georgian documents relevant for the programme implementation;
• To arrange meetings, focus group discussions, interviews with key beneficiaries and stakeholders of the programme;
• Participate in all the meetings, focus group discussions and interviews (in Tbilisi and in the regions of Georgia), provide interpretation, take substantive notes and prepare minutes in English;
• Provide input/clarifications to the reports prepared by the international evaluator;
• Be available if further clarification is needed by the international during the drafting and finalization process.
• To prepare a brief narrative report on fulfillment of all the tasks assigned by this ToR.

Key Deliverables and Timeframe:

• Outline/translation of all key Georgian documents, as needed collected, reviewed and provided to the international evaluator – by 30th of September, 2015 (2 working days);
• Meetings, interviews and focus group discussions as advised by the International Evaluator and UN Women CO Georgia arranged – by 2nd of October 2015 (2 working day);
• Translation provided in the meetings, interviews and focus group discussions, and relevant minutes prepared – by 23th of October, 2015 (7 working days);
• Input/clarifications provided to the evaluation report prepared by the international evaluator – by 25th of November, 2015 (2 working days);
• Brief narrative report on fulfillment of all the tasks assigned by this ToR submitted - by 30th of November, 2015 (2 working days).

The timeframe for the work of the national consultant/interpreter is planned in the period of 14 September, 2015 – 30 November 2015 for 15 working days.

Competencias

Functional Competencies:

• 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.

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Education:

• Graduate university degree in English Language and Literature or in social sciences or equivalent  working experience

Experience:

• At least 3 years of experience in the field of interpretation;
• Proven track record in arranging and participating in focus groups and ability to get different views and help analyze them;
• Experience and background in gender issues;
• Proven experience of providing interpretation and translation services.

Language:

• Fluency in English and Georgian.

Technical evaluation criteria (including minimum qualifications):

• Graduate university degree in English Language and Literature or in social sciences or equivalent  working experience (Max 30 points);
• Proven track record in arranging and participating in focus groups and ability to get different views and help analyze them (Max 70 points);
• Experience and background in gender issues (Max 70 points);
• Proven experience of providing interpretation and translation services (Max 70 points);
• Excellent writing and reporting skills with the ability to prepare minutes and document key findings of the meetings/consultations/interviews (Max 60 points);
• Proficiency in English and Georgian (Max 50 points).

Maximum total technical score amounts to 350 points. Only candidates who have passed over the mandatory criteria and have accumulated at least 245 points under the technical evaluation will qualify to the next round of the financial evaluation.

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 the consideration.

Winning candidate

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

Management Arrangements

The contractor will work under the guidance of the International Evaluator and WEPD project tema and will benefit from technical and operational support of UN Women Georgia office.

Maximum total technical score amounts to 350 points. Only candidates who have passed over the mandatory criteria and have accumulated at least 245 points under the technical evaluation will qualify to the next round of the financial evaluation.

Management Arrangements:

The contractor will work under the guidance of the International Evaluator and IAGE project manager and will benefit from technical and operational support of UN Women Georgia office.
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 the consideration.

Winning candidate:

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

Management Arrangements:

The contractor will work under the guidance of the International Evaluator and IAGE project manager and will benefit from technical and operational support of UN Women Georgia office.

Financial arrangements:

Payment will be disbursed in 1 installment upon the satisfactory submission of all deliverables cleared by Evaluation task manager to certify that the services have been satisfactorily performed:

Application Procedure:

• All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History Form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment;
• CV;
• Financial proposal*– aggregated and with breakdown (total remuneration, travel expenses (per diems, tickets, lodging and terminal expenses- the proposal shall also include cost for professional editing, and layout);
• Please combine all your documents into one (1) single PDF document as the system only allows to upload maximum one document.

Each applicant will be required to submit an aggregated financial offer (“aggregated financial offer” is the total sum of all financial claims of the candidate for accomplishment of the task).

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.