Background
In March 2017, the Government of Canada signed a grant arrangement with UNWOMEN to help achieve a better participation of women as political leaders and agents of change, peace building and development in West and Central Africa through “Women’s Political Empowerment and Leadership” project.
The focus countries of the project are: Central African Republic (CAR), Liberia, Nigeria and the Republic of Guinea. The four countries rank among the last countries in terms of women representation in decision-making positions and in elective bodies.
The ultimate outcome of this project is to achieve gender equality and empowerment of women and girls in West and Central Africa. The intermediate outcomes for this Project include:
- increased effective participation of women as political leaders at the local, national and regional levels; and
- Improved legislative practices and frameworks for the promotion of gender balance in politics in the Central African Republic, Liberia, Nigeria and the Republic of Guinea.
This project is in line with development priorities at global, regional and national levels: The 2030 global Agenda for Sustainable Development that offers an unprecedented opportunity to accelerate progress towards gender equality with targets affirming that women’s political leadership is fundamental to achieving a peaceful and sustainable future. It is also aligned with the regional gender parity commitments of the African Union’s Agenda 2063, the ECOWAS Supplementary Act on Equality of Rights between Women and Men for Sustainable Development. At national level, the goal of promoting women’s rights and gender equality features in the constitutions and is central to the development agendas of all target countries.
In terms of implementation, UN Women works with national governments, parliaments, electoral management bodies, political parties, NGOs and CSOs. The Project provides targeted and technical support and capacity building for key stakeholders through the provision of training, technical assistance, awareness raising and advocacy campaigns.
After almost five years of implementation, a final evaluation of the project is required to assess the achievement of the project in terms of implementation and impact and guide future similar programs. The evaluation will be shared and used by UNWOMEN and the donor.
The evaluation is also designed as a learning exercise through the participation of all the project’s teams at the national level and regional level to inform future project implementation and design.
In addition, the evaluation should use and refer to: the evaluation Policy, Evaluation Chapter of the POM, the GERAAS evaluation report quality checklist, the United Nations System-wide Action Plan Evaluation Performance Indicator (UN-SWAP EPI) and this Evaluation Handbook.
UN-Women in West and Central Africa is therefore seeking the services of an independent international consultant to conduct the evaluation of the project according to the objectives and scope.
Under the direct supervision of the Evaluation Regional Specialist based in Dakar (Senegal), the Consultant will conduct the Evaluation of the Project in early 2022.
Duties and Responsibilities
Scope of work and deliverables
The deliverables expected for the scope of work for this assignment are as follows, along with a detailed list of deliverables and timeline:
- A detailed inception report, including a work plan that will respond to the TOR with clear links between the proposed evaluation approach and evaluation questions.
- A briefing and report with preliminary findings.
- A draft evaluation report for a 360-degree review and feedback
- A final evaluation report incorporating the 360-degree feedback.
- A compliance note against the comments/360-degree feedback
- A presentation of the final evaluation report to the primary stakeholders of the evaluation.
- A power point presentation of key findings and recommendations that can be shared internally by UN Women with their Steering Committee and donor.
- A succinct, user friendly learning document that captures the main evaluation messages and can act as a standalone summary of the evaluation report for broader dissemination.
All draft and final outputs, including supporting documents, analytical reports and raw data should be provided in electronic version compatible with Word for Windows. All evaluation report submissions must include a MS Word and a PDF version. All deliverables must be submitted in English. The translated versions in French must be validated by the independent consultant.
The evaluation must be completed to the highest standards and in a timely manner in order to qualify for the shortlist of outstanding annual corporate evaluations in UN Women HQ. In addition, the key lessons /emerging findings should be available for sharing for a regional event in Senegal in October and the evaluation should be completed by November.
The independent consultant shall submit a draft report to UN Women within 30 days following completion of the evaluation mission. UN Women will solicit and revert promptly with collective feedback from UN WOMEN teams, Joint Evaluation Steering Committee and the Reference Group for the evaluator to finalize the report.
The evaluator is required to append the following items to the final report:
- Terms of Reference
- Data collection instruments
- List of meetings/consultations attended
- List of persons or organizations interviewed
- List of documents/publications reviewed and cited
- Any further information the independent consultant deems appropriate
The procedures for the submission of the final report will be as follows in consecutive order:
- The consultant will submit a draft evaluation report to the UN Women Evaluation Unit
- The UN Women Evaluation Unit will forward a copy to the three Committees for review and feedback.
- The UN Women Evaluation Unit will consolidate the comments and send them to the evaluator.
- The consultant will finalize the report incorporating any comments deemed appropriate and providing a compliance note explaining why any comments might not have been incorporated. He/she will submit the report in track changes along with the compliance check to the UN Women Evaluation Unit.
- Headed by the Evaluation Specialist, the Evaluation Management Committee approves evaluation deliverables. Other members of the Evaluation Management Committee are the Regional Evaluation Associate and the UN Women Governance and Women’s Political Participation Advisor
. - UN Women will abide by the principles of independence, impartiality, transparency, quality and credibility.
- The Evaluation Steering Committee will officially complete a management response within three weeks of receiving the evaluation.
- The evaluation will comply with UN Norms and Standards and UNEG ethical guidelines.
Level of Effort
The budget should be realistic, with consideration given to the comprehensiveness of the evaluation topics, size of the team and resource constraints. The consultancy service is planned for a maximum of 40 days level of effort.
Timeframe:
Proposed timeframes for each deliverable:
- Desk review and inception report: 5 working days.
- Online interviews with national partners, donor and UNWOMEN staff in the 4 countries (Guinea, CAR, Liberia & Nigeria- UN WOMEN staff in WACARO & HQ): 15 working days
- Preliminary Report: 15 working days
- Final Report: 5 working days
The consultant cannot have participated in the programme preparation, formulation, and/or implementation and should not have a conflict of interest with programme related activities.
EVALUATION OBJECTIVES AND USE
The Evaluation will assess the achievement of results as specified in the Logical Framework as well as the Initial and potential impacts of the project. It will shared with the donor and used by UNWOMEN for future design and implementation of similar programmes. The evaluation will also review the strategy and identify lessons learnt and best practices which could be applied to future and other on-going programs.
The evaluation will uphold the UNEG Norms and Standards for Evaluation. It will attempt to answer questions related to the evaluation criteria of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), including relevance, development efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability, in addition to assessing the program on Gender, Equity and Human Rights principles. The evaluation is expected to be utilization-focused, providing key lessons and clear, concrete, feasible recommendations.
As a decision support tool, this evaluation will be helpful for the following primary users: UN Women Regional Office of UN Women for West and Central Africa, various stakeholders including the Government, civil society organizations and actors in the women's movement, UN Women donors and the United Nations System.
The evaluation questions will be finalized during the inception phase. As part of the inception meeting, the evaluation team is required to develop an evaluation matrix identifying a set of indicators, sources, sampling methods, and methodology for answering each evaluation question. The overall objective will be to assess the following evaluation questions:
Relevance:
- Are the activities and outputs consistent and aligned with the defined and documented overall goal and objectives of the programme?
- To what extent has the program responded to the needs and the changing contexts or priorities of the countries/region?
- What factors facilitated or limited the response capacity and flexibility of the program?
Effectiveness:
- To what extent were the results achieved against what was originally planned or subsequently officially revised?
- What were the major factors influencing the achievement or non-achievement of planned results? What are the elements of success or failure?
- How appropriate are planning, monitoring, and reporting systems and procedures working?
Efficiency:
- To what extent were planned outputs achieved on time?
- Value for money: to what extent were resources and time put into the program proportionate to the outcome?
- Did the WPP programme take into account factors of conflict and state fragility and their potential interference with its results?
Sustainability [i]:
- What is the potential of results being maintained in the countries after the end of program funding?
- To what extent has the programme contributed to strengthening capacities of non-governmental organizations and key gender institutions on gender equality?
- Has the programme contributed to strengthening existing government programmes or other initiatives?
Gender, inclusion of disability, Equity and Human Rights
- In what ways did the programme address the underlying causes of gender inequality, the situation of women and marginalized groups?
- To what extent has the programme contributed towards transforming the gender relations and power differentials between different groups?
- Has the programme been implemented as per the principles of human rights and development effectiveness through participation/empowerment; inclusion/non-discrimination; national accountability/transparency?
- To what extent has the programme been disability-inclusive?
UN SWAP Evaluation Performance Indicator:
The evaluation report must demonstrate compliance with the UN SWAP Evaluation Performance Indicator in accordance with the following evaluation quality criteria:
- Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (GEEW) is integrated in the evaluation scope of analysis and evaluation indicators are designed in a way that ensures GEEW related data will be collected.
- GEEW is integrated in evaluation criteria and evaluation questions are included that specifically address how GEEW has been integrated into the design, planning, implementation of the intervention and the results achieved.
- A gender-responsive methodology, methods and tools, and data analysis techniques are selected.
- Evaluation findings, conclusions and recommendations reflect a gender analysis.
Key lessons:
- What are the key lessons from the programme- what has worked, what has not worked and why?
- Are there lessons that can be applied in a different context?
- What are some of the key lessons to consider to embed the programme objectives firmly in the West, Central Africa Region, and globally?
- Identify and document unexpected or unplanned issues that may have facilitated or hindered the success of the programme.
CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS: The evaluation consultant will include a section setting out the evaluation's evidence-based conclusions, in light of the findings. Recommendations (not more than 10) should be succinct suggestions for critical intervention that are specific, measurable, achievable, and relevant. A recommendation table should be put in the report's executive summary.
Evaluation APPROACH & METHODOLOGY: The evaluation must provide evidence-based information that is credible, reliable and useful. It will adhere to the principles established in Evaluation Policies of UN Women and the UN Evaluation Group's Norms and Standards for Evaluation. These include but are not limited to:
- Independence, impartiality, transparency, ethics, partnerships, credibility and utility.
- Mixed methods, both qualitative and quantitative, should be used to collect data and gather evidence.
The evaluation consultant will review all relevant sources of information (listed below) and any other materials considered useful for evaluation. He/She is expected to follow a collaborative and participatory approach ensuring close engagement with the UN-Women Governance & Women’s Political Participation Team, Project Steering committees, the UN-Women Offices, UN-Women HQ and Regional Advisor, and other key stakeholders.
The evaluation will employ a mixed method approach that includes document reviews, key informant interviews (online/phone).
1. Document review:
The evaluator shall conduct the programme examination through the review of relevant documents. These documents will include, but not be limited to:
- Women’s Political Empowerment and Leadership” project document and log frame
- Flagship Programme documents: Women’s Political Empowerment and Leadership
- Mid-Term review of the project
- Women’s Political Empowerment and Leadership” project Annual Reports including Progress of Indicators matrix
- Quarterly monitoring from Result Management System (RMS)
- Leadership and Women’s Political Participation Annual Work Plans
- Relevant mission reports
- UN-Women Programme and operational manual
- UN-Women Strategic Plan
2. Key Informant Interviews:
- The evaluator shall do a comprehensive stakeholder mapping in the beginning to identify the key informant interviewees.
- The evaluator shall carry out key informant interviews, including with UN Women country offices in Senegal, CAR, Guinea and Nigeria, Ministerial-level government officials and other senior government officials. In addition, hold interviews UNDP Guinea and UN WOMEN team in HQ.
- The evaluator will conduct interviews with the community, making sure that the perspective of the most vulnerable group is included in the consultation.
- The interviews should be organized in a semi-structured format to include, e.g. focused group discussion; individual interviews; surveys; and/or participatory exercises with the community/individuals.
The final evaluation report should describe the evaluation approach taken and the rationale for the approach making explicit the underlying assumptions, challenges, strengths and weaknesses about the methods.
The commission unit is the WCA Regional office, and the consultant will report to the Regional Evaluation Advisor and facilitate contacts and online/phone interviews with relevant country offices.
[i] Sustainability definition: Through the sustainability criteria, we want to see how the learning, techniques and tools from this programme have been used/leveraged by other actors (State and non-State) to improve their programming and the way they tackle gender equality in WASH.
Competencies
Core Values:
- Respect for Diversity
- Integrity
- Professionalism
Core Competencies:
- Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
- Accountability
- Creative Problem Solving
- Effective Communication
- Inclusive Collaboration
- Stakeholder Engagement
- Leading by Example
Core Values and Guiding Principles
- Demonstrates integrity by modeling UN Women values and ethical standards.
- Demonstrates a commitment to UN Women’s mission and vision.
- Able to work effectively within a team.
- Displays cultural and gender sensitivity and adaptability.
- Able to multi-task and juggle competing demands.
- Can assess and prioritize work needs quickly.
- Able to relate to external partners, including other international organizations and agencies, NGOs, grassroots community groups, etc.
Functional Competencies
- Good knowledge of and experience with methods of evaluation and project review
- Sound expertise in gender equality and women’s empowerment, including on women’s political participation programming/evaluation.Good communication skills.
- Ability to produce well-written documents demonstrating excellent interpersonal communication skills.
- Demonstrated leadership and personal examples of promoting knowledge management and a professional learning environment.
- Outstanding networking, team-building, organizational and communication skills.
- Capacity to work with diverse partners including governments, donors and civil society.
- Ability to use Microsoft word, excel, e-mail, web-based applications and databases.
- Ability to work effectively and harmoniously with people from varied cultures and professional backgrounds.
Key Competencies
- Excellent management skills, negotiation, communication, and interviewing skills, ability to work in a team and independently, ability to deliver results within strict deadlines, and report writing skills is required
- Ability to work in a multicultural and multidisciplinary team environment
- Ability to be flexible and adaptable
- The ability to maintain confidentiality
- Respect and trust of other programme stakeholders
- Respect for UN Values and Principles
Required Skills and Experience
Education:
- Advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in Gender Studies, Education-related fields, evaluation methodologies, Political Science, Sociology, International Relations, or relevant field and/or equivalent practical experience.
Experience:
- At least 10 years of relevant work experience in the field of gender equality and women’s empowerment programming,
- Relevant experience with project monitoring and evaluation.
- Previous experience and knowledge of the region is required
- Relevant experience in elections programming/women’s political participation and evaluation is required
- Demonstrated track record of designing and leading complex evaluations of regional/multi-country programmes that aims to achieve policy and programme transformation on the issues of equality, non-discrimination and Human Rights is required
- Substantive experience in reviewing and evaluating similar technical assistance projects, preferably those involving UN Women or other United Nations development agencies is required
- An ability to assess policy and governance framework and institutional capacity is required
- Relevant experience with UN organizations, major donors, INGOs, local NGOs, national and local governments, etc. is required
- Proven expertise in applying innovative and creative evaluation approaches and methodologies such as high-level Ministerial round table dialogues to evaluate initiatives and programmes is desirable
- Good mastery of information technology required for organized presentation of information, including quantitative information and graphical presentations, and for organizing information and materials is desirable
- A strong commitment to ensuring the dissemination and use of evaluation findings is desirable