UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.

UN Women Europe and Central Regional Office cover 12 countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Kosovo*,Moldova, North Macedonia, Serbia, Tajikistan, Türkiye, and Ukraine). UN Women ECARO works on analysis, research, and knowledge management that provides the evidence base to UN Women country and regional office on gender equality, women's empowerment and violence against women and girls, and positive social norms. Furthermore, UN Women Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (ECARO) develops and manages regional level programmes and provides policy and technical support to regional and country offices on ending violence against women (EVAW) and positive social norms, including an ongoing initiative to support the foundations for establishing femicide watches in the region.

The Programme ‘Implementing Norms, Changing Minds’ Phase II aims at reducing gender-based discrimination and violence against women and girls – VAWG - in the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, the Republic of North Macedonia and Serbia) and Türkiye with a particular focus on the most disadvantaged groups of women. The programme supports the development of an enabling legislative and policy environment on eliminating violence against women and all forms of discrimination; promotes favorable social norms and attitudes to prevent gender discrimination and violence against women; and pursues empowering women and girls who have experienced discrimination or violence to advocate for and use available, accessible, and quality services. The programme channels its interventions through and for civil society organizations, and in particular to women’s organizations, with an emphasis on those working and representing women from minorities and disadvantaged groups. Phase II of the Programme also addresses the impact of COVID 19 as unveiled in the findings and recommendations stemming from the rapid assessment “Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on specialist services for victims and survivors of violence in the Western Balkans and Turkey: A proposal for addressing the needs” (May 2020).

‘Implementing Norms, Changing Minds’ Phase II is funded by the European Commission under the Instrument for Pre-Accession countries II. The project runs from 1 February 2020 to 31 July 2023.

1. Project beneficiaries and key stakeholders

The primary beneficiaries of the programme are women and girls that are victims of discrimination and violence, with a special focus on women from minorities and disadvantaged groups.

The programme is heavily focused on women's organizations working on gender equality and women's empowerment, that are direct beneficiaries of the programme, primarily as implementing partners, but also as recipients of capacity development, technical assistance, and knowledge transfer.

The programme also engages men’s and boys’ as well as service providers’ active participation in the prevention of violence.

Violence against women and girls is rooted in gender-based discrimination, permissive social norms, and gender stereotypes feeding cycles of violence. Addressing the structural causes, as well as the risk and protective factors, associated with violence is pivotal to eliminating violence against women and girls. As part of its prevention strategy, the programme focuses on respectful relationships, and work with men and boys, especially through media and sports industries.

Preventing and responding to VAWG also requires the setting up and work of perpetrators programmes, which is well captured in the Articles 12 and 16 of the Istanbul Convention.  Rehabilitation programmes for perpetrators ground their work on the belief that perpetrators can change by acknowledging the harm they have caused and taking responsibility for their past and future actions.

2. Budget, geographical scope and timeframe

The total eligible costs of the programme are estimated at EUR 6,628,161.34. The European Commission contribution amounts to a maximum amount of EUR 6,263,734.00. UN Women contributes with EUR 364,427.34 from its core resources.

The programme has a regional dimension and scope with implementation of activities and deployment of strategies at regional level and also at local level in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Republic of North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Türkiye. The Programme was originally planned from 1 February 2020 to 31 July 2021, and it was extended till 31 July 2023 with additional funding for all countries except Türkiye as per the Amendment No. 1 signed in December 2020.

3. Management Arrangements of the Programme

The programme is managed by UN Women Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (UN Women ECA RO) under the overall supervision of the Regional Director for UN Women ECA RO based in Istanbul (Türkiye) with the support and strategic guidance of the Programme Steering Committee. Implementation at country is led by UN Women offices (in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, the Republic of North Macedonia, Serbia and Türkiye) and UNDP in Montenegro.

The programme governance structure lies in two bodies: the Programme Steering Committee (PSC) at the regional level, and the Country Technical Working Groups (TWGs) in the seven participating countries and territory. The PSC has a strategic guidance role while the TWGs have an advisory role.

Evaluation Purpose, Objectives and Use

A final evaluation of the regional programme with a special focus on lessons learnt is taking place during the last year of programme implementation. The main purpose of this final evaluation is to assess the programmatic progress towards the achievement of programme results and performance of the above-described intervention considering the following evaluation criteria: relevance, effectiveness, impact, organizational efficiency and sustainability. The evaluation will not fully assess the programme’s performance, as some of the activities will be ongoing while the evaluation takes place. The final evaluation of Phase I of the programme and final report of the Results Oriented Monitoring Mission (ROM) issued in December 2021 and available GREVIO baseline reports should inform this evaluation.

Specifically, the objectives of this evaluation are to:

• Analyse the relevance and coherence of the programme objectives, strategy and approach at the country and regional levels;
• Assess effectiveness and a potential measurable impact of the programme intervention on the region and target countries;
• Assess organizational efficiency in progressing towards the achievement of the programme results as defined in the intervention;
• Assess the sustainability of the results and the intervention in ending gender-based discrimination and ending violence against women in the region and target countries;
• Identify and document lessons learned, good practices and innovations, success stories and challenges within the programme, to inform future work of UN Women on EVAW thematic area;
• Identify strategies for replication and up-scaling of the programme’s best practices;
• Provide actionable recommendations for future programme development and maximize ownership by partners in the region covered by the programme;
• Assess the performance of the programme both at regional and country levels and to assess the intervention logic of the programme in light of the needs of CSOs in the region and the priorities set by European Commission in its policy and strategy documents;
• Assess the value added of UN Women regional programming including but not limited to leverage regional partners, linking with regional normative frameworks (e.g. Istanbul Convention, EU acquis communitaire), fostering regional integration and cooperation, facilitating learning and exchange sharing, among countries and within the region, mobilizing the women’s movement, increasing coherence, harmonization and standardization of programmatic approaches, amongst others.

The findings of the evaluation are expected to contribute to effective programming, organizational learning and accountability. It will also be a key input to knowledge management on EVAW in region where the programme is implemented. The findings of the evaluation will moreover be used to engage policy makers and other stakeholders at local, national and regional level in evidence-based dialogue and to advocate for developing a sustainable intervention on EVAW in the ECA region.

Targeted users of the evaluation are the key stakeholder working on EVAW in the region, including at country and local level, civil society organizations, government counterparts, regional institutions, development partners in the region, UN agencies and the personnel of UN Women in the Western Balkans and Türkiye, and the Regional Office. The evaluation should provide specific recommendations as to the priority areas that should be considered to inform future programming. This would include interventions that require continued support, successful interventions for expansion, and recommendations on prioritizing interventions to maximize impact.

Evaluation Scope, Methodology and Questions

1. Scope of the evaluation

The final evaluation of the Programme will be conducted in the final stage of the programme’s implementation and will cover the period from 1 February 2020 to 31 July 2023. The evaluation will be conducted between January and June 2023. The evaluation will include data collection missions to all countries, where the programme is implemented except Türkiye. The evaluation shall cover all aspects of the programme’s implementation. The programme implementation in Türkiye covers 18 months from February 2020 to July 2021. Therefore, it is considered to conduct evaluation of programme implementation in Türkiye remotely.

2.  Evaluation methodology

The evaluation will be a transparent and participatory process involving relevant stakeholders and partners in the countries. The evaluation will be based on gender and human rights principles and adhere to the United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG) Norms and Standards and Ethical Code of Conduct and UN Women Evaluation Policy and guidelines[1].

The evaluation is a final programme evaluation but since a prospective phase of the programme may be planned it will follow both a summative approach (backwards looking) to support enhanced accountability, assessing the achievement of the results at output and outcome levels, as well as a formative (forward-looking) approach, focusing on capturing the lessons learned during the implementation of the second phase to foster strategic planning and decision-making for further programming initiatives.

The evaluation methodology will follow a ToC approach and employ mixed methods including quantitative and qualitative data collection methods and analytical approaches to account for complexity of gender relations and to ensure participatory and inclusive processes that are culturally appropriate in the contexts where it will take place.

Methods may include but are not limited to:

• Desk review of relevant documents such as project and programme documents, progress reports, financial records, meeting minutes and monitoring reports, and secondary data or studies relating to the regional and country context;
• Semi-structured interviews focus group discussions, surveys with direct and indirect beneficiaries, implementing partners, donor and other key stakeholders;
• Field visits and observation at selected programme sites;
• Interviews with key stakeholders to ensure further triangulation.

Data from different research sources will be triangulated to increase its validity. The proposed approach and methodology must be considered as flexible guidelines rather than final requirements, and the evaluators will have to revise and make a refined methodological proposal at the inception phase of the evaluation. It is expected that the Evaluation Team will further refine the approach and methodology and submit a detailed description in the inception report. The methodology and approach must, however, incorporate human rights and gender equality perspectives.

Evaluation team must consider the evaluation’s management structure (see section 4. Evaluation governance structure and process) to validate all evaluation products. Comments provided by the Internal Evaluation Reference Group (IERG) and External Evaluation Reference Group (EERG) are aimed at fostering high level of stakeholder’s participation, enhancing methodological rigor, factual errors, errors of interpretation, or omission of information and must be considered by the evaluators to ensure high-quality products.

3. Evaluation questions

Questions under OCDE/DAC evaluation criteria, including relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability and impact will be answered by the evaluation. Considering the mandates to incorporate human rights and gender equality in all its work and the UN Women Evaluation Policy, which promotes the integration of women’s rights and gender equality principles, these dimensions will have a special attention in this evaluation and will be considered under each evaluation criterion.

It is expected that the evaluation team will develop an evaluation matrix, which will relate to the questions below (and refine them as needed), the areas they refer to, the criteria for evaluating them, the indicators and the means for verification as a tool for the evaluation. Final evaluation matrix will be validated by the evaluation task manager and the evaluation reference groups constituted in the framework of this evaluation processes and approved in the evaluation inception report.

Relevance:

• To what extent was the design of the intervention and its results relevant to the needs and priorities of the beneficiaries?
• To what extent the programme addresses the main needs of the project´s target groups?
• To what extent is the intervention consistent with the national development strategies in the area of ending gender-based discrimination and ending violence against women, and reflect country and regional priorities and commitments on EVAW?
• To what extent has the programme been aligned to country and regional level strategies and policies on EVAWG?
• To what extent key country and regional level partners were involved in the programme’s conceptualization and design process?
• To what extent have gender and human rights principles and strategies been integrated into the programme design and implementation?
• To what extent UN Women possess a comparative advantage in the programme’s area of work in comparison with other UN entities and relevant stakeholders in the Western Balkans and Türkiye, and regionally wise?

Coherence:

• To what extent the project adheres to corporate strategic priorities of UN Women and the UN Women Strategic Notes in the implementing countries?
• Is the project achieving synergies between the larger UN Women’s portfolios and the work of the UN Country Teams in the countries where the programme is implemented?
• Is the project achieving synergies between UN Women and key national stakeholders in the implementing countries including national governments and CSOs?

Effectiveness:

• To what extent have the expected results of the programme been achieved on both outcome and output levels?
• Has programme achieved any unforeseen results, either positive or negative? For whom? What are the good practices and the obstacles or shortcomings encountered? How were they overcome?
• How effective have the selected strategies and approaches been in achieving programme results?
• How well did the intervention succeed in involving and building the capacities of rights-holders, duty-bearers, as well as the programme partners?
• To what extent are the programme approaches and strategies innovative for implementation of EVAW strategies? What -if any- types of innovative good practices have been introduced in the programme for the achievement of the results?

Impact:

• What evidence exist that the programme has delivered longer term results?
• Is there a potential measurable impact of the programme intervention on the target group across all dimensions of empowerment?

• To what extent is the programme changing the dynamics of power in relationships between different groups?               
• To what extent is the program making sure to reach the most vulnerable categories of population and addressing the needs of groups experiencing intersecting inequalities?
• To what extent is the programme bringing about gender transformative changes that address the root causes of gender inequalities – including prevailing social norms, attitudes and behaviours, discrimination and social systems?

Efficiency:

• Have resources (financial, human, technical support, etc.) been allocated strategically to achieve the programme outcomes?
• Has there been effective leadership and management of the programme including the structuring of management and administration roles to maximize results? Where does accountability lie?
• Have the programme’s outputs been delivered in a timely manner?
• To what extent has the programme’s management structure facilitated (or hindered) good results and efficient delivery?

Sustainability:

• What is the likelihood that the benefits from the programme will be maintained for a reasonably long period of time after the programme phase out?
• How effectively has the programme generated country and regional ownership of the results achieved, the establishment of partnerships with relevant stakeholders and the development of in-country and regional capacities to ensure sustainability of efforts and benefits?
• To what extent the programme fostered the participation of relevant CSOs and women´s organizations in the different countries and at regional level?
• To what extent has the programme been able to promote replication and/or up-scaling of successful practices?
• To what extent have different strategies fostered been successful in establishing the mechanisms that would ensure the continuation of work on EVAW after programme’s implementation? What factors are/will be critical to maintain programmes’s results in the long term?

The list of questions above is only indicative and the evaluation team is expected to include a revised set of questions in the evaluation matrix that will be included in the evaluation inception report.

Evaluation Governance Structure and Process

1. Evaluation governance structure

The evaluation will be a consultative, inclusive and participatory process and will include a threefold management structure to ensure and effective evaluation process and maximize evaluation use.

An Evaluation Steering Committee (ESC) will be the key accountable body that will ultimately endorse the evaluation report and will be responsible for the development of an evaluation Management Response (MR) to address the recommendations included in the report. The ESC will be chaired by the UN Women ECA Regional Director an integrated by the Regional Programme Manager and the UN Women Heads of Offices in the countries where the programme is implemented.

An External Evaluation Reference Group (EERG) that will include key regional and country level stakeholders including regional institutions, national governments and civil society organizations participating in the programme as well as donor partners and relevant programme partners will be an integral part of the evaluation management structure. The purpose of the ERG will be to facilitate the participation of relevant stakeholders in the design and scope of the evaluation, raising awareness of the different information needs and supporting quality assurance throughout the process. The reference group will provide input and relevant information at key stages of the evaluation: inception report, draft and final reports and will support UN Women with the dissemination of the results.

An Internal Evaluation Reference Group (IERG) that will be chaired by the Regional Programme Manager and integrated by the programme coordinators in the different countries where the programme is implemented and a designated UN Women EVAW Policy Advisor will provide additional quality assurance to the process.

To ensure the greatest degree of independency of the evaluation process the Task Manager (TM) for the evaluation will be the UN Women Regional Evaluation Specialist who is a member of the UN Women Independent Evaluation Office, will oversee the evaluation process and will be responsible to quality assure the different deliverables and for the day-to-day management of the evaluation (in close coordination with Regional Programme Manager and national programme coordinators) and for ensuring that the evaluation is conducted in accordance with the UN Women Evaluation Policy, and UNEG Norms and Standards for evaluation in the UN System.

2. Phases of the evaluation process

The evaluation process has five phases:

1) Preparation: gathering and analysing programme data, conceptualizing the evaluation approach, internal consultations on the approach, preparing the TOR, establishment of the evaluation management’s structure, stakeholders mapping and selection of evaluation team.

2) Inception: consultations between the evaluation team and the Steering Committee, programme portfolio review, finalization of stakeholder mapping, inception meetings with the ERG, review of the result logics, analysis of information relevant to the initiative, finalization of evaluation methodology and preparation and validation of inception report.

3) Data collection and analysis: in-depth desk research, in-depth review of the programme documents and monitoring frameworks, in-depth online interviews as necessary, staff and partner survey/s, and field visits[2].

4) Analysis, validation and synthesis stage: analysis of data and interpretation of findings and drafting and validation of an evaluation report and other communication products.

5) Dissemination and follow-up: once the evaluation is completed UN Women is responsible for the development of a Management Response to evaluation recommendations within 6 weeks after the final approval of the evaluation report, publishing the evaluation report, uploading the final evaluation report on the UN Women GATE website and the dissemination of evaluation findings amongst key stakeholders.

The evaluation team will be responsible for phases 2, 3 and 4 with the support of UN Women while UN Women is entirely responsible for phases 1 and 5.

* For the European Union, this designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence. For UN Women, references to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of UN Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999).

[1] Please see Annex 1 Evaluation References below

[2] Field visits to all the seven countries where the intervention is implemented are foreseen.

Evaluation Team Composition and Description of Tasks

An evaluation team consisting of an international consultant acting as the evaluation Team Leader who will be the main responsible person for the satisfactory delivery of main deliverables of the evaluation team, and 3 local consultants (one for Albania and Kosovo, one for North Macedonia and one for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia) who will support all substantive aspects of the evaluation. The international consultant, as Team Leader, is responsible for overall coordination of the production of deliverables during all phases of the evaluation process, ensuring the quality of outputs and application of methodology as well as timely delivery of all evaluation products in close collaboration with the evaluation team, the evaluation task manager and the evaluation management group. The Team Leader is expected to coordinate remotely the field missions that will be conducted by local/national consultants and will join the first mission of national consultant. The national consultants will conduct field mission of 3-5 full days in each country of his/her responsibility, and will be responsible for arranging his/her agenda for the field work.

The evaluation team will be integrated by international consultant, acting as Team Leader, and will be supported by three local/national consultants (one for Albania and Kosovo, one for North Macedonia, and one for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia).

The local consultant will work under the direct guidance of the International Consultant (Team Leader for the assignment) and will liaise with UN Women Offices in Albania and Kosovo as needed. Her or his profile is expected to complement the profile of the International Consultant and is expected to have deep knowledge of national, development and gender context in Albania and Kosovo. In more specific terms, the local consultant will be providing support to the international consultant in the process of the programme evaluation in Albania and Kosovo and will be responsible for the following tasks:

• Provide in depth analysis and key inputs on national, development and gender situation in the country;
• Review of all key national documents, as needed and relevant information to be systematized in English to make it accessible to the team leader;
• Support inception phase gathering documents, following up with UN Women offices in the countries of programme’s implementation and synthesizing relevant information;
• Assist in the preparation of the missions with UN Women offices as relevant;
• Conduct in country data collection/field missions in two countries;
• Arrange meetings, focus group discussions, interviews with key beneficiaries and stakeholders of the project in consultation with UN Women and team leader;
• Conduct interviews and collect additional data as needed;
• Attend and support the preparation of all meetings and presentations, and take notes and prepare minutes in English;
• Support the analysis of the evidence at country level;
• Provide relevant inputs for the presentation and completion of the different deliverables;
• To be available if further clarification is needed by the international consultant during the drafting and finalization process of the evaluation and provide inputs to the evaluation report as needed;
• Prepare a brief narrative report on fulfilment of all the tasks assigned by this ToR.

Expected Deliverables and Timeframe

Expected deliverables by the local consultant are listed below, and the schedule and nature of the deliverables may be modified by the hiring manager in agreement with the consultant:

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

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf

Functional Competencies

• Strong analytical, writing and reporting abilities;
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, ability to lead a team and negotiate amongst a wide range of stakeholders;
• Commitment to quality products and deadlines;
• Builds strong relationships;
• Focuses on impact and results and responds positively to feedback;
• Approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Demonstrates/safeguards ethics and integrity;
• Demonstrated corporate knowledge and sound judgment;
• Acts as a team player and facilitates team work;
• Facilitates and encourages open communication in the team, communicating effectively;
• Learns and shares knowledge and encourages learning of others;
• Demonstrates integrity and fairness by modelling UN values and ethical standards;
• Demonstrates professional competence and is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments; observing deadlines and achieving results;
• Displays cultural, gender, nationality, religion and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Management Arrangements

To ensure the greatest degree of independency of the evaluation process the Task Manager (TM) for the evaluation will be the UN Women Regional Evaluation Specialist who is a member of the UN Women Independent Evaluation Office, will oversee the evaluation process and will be responsible to quality assure the different deliverables and for the day-to-day management of the evaluation (in close coordination with regional programme manager and country programme coordinators) and for ensuring that the evaluation is conducted in accordance with the UN Women Evaluation Policy, and UNEG Norms and Standards for evaluation in the UN System. The national consultant will work under the direct supervision of the International Consultant acting as the Team Leader and will liaise with UN Women Offices in Albania and Kosovo as needed.

Education:

At least a master’s degree related to one or more of the following: economics, social sciences, development studies, gender studies or a related area;

Experience:

• 5 years of relevant experience in the area of gender-based discrimination and ending violence against women;
• At least 5 years of proven experience of gender-responsive and human rights-based approaches to evaluation;
• Proven experience of conducting gender-responsive evaluations and/or applied research utilizing a wide range of approaches and methods;
• At least 5 years of proven experience in producing well written evaluation reports;
• Experience within the United Nations system will be considered an asset

Languages Requirements:

Proficiency in Albanian and English.

Application Procedure

The following documents should be submitted as part of the application:

• Cover letter including a brief overview about which of your previous experiences makes you the most suitable candidate for the advertised position.
• Financial Proposal specifying a total lump sum amount in USD for the tasks specified in this Terms of Reference. The financial proposal shall include a breakdown of this lump sum amount, indicating all necessary costs to complete this assignment including the travel related costs for the field mission to be conducted – up to five days for Albania and four days for Kosovo - as well as the meeting logistic costs, such as venue and refreshments).
• P11 (and CV) including experience in similar assignments; can be downloaded at http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment, a signed copy should be submitted with the application.
• A sample of previously conducted / most relevant evaluation report;

Candidates should have the ability to quickly gather degree certificates and medical certification (of good health) should they be short-listed in consideration of the consultancy post.

Payment schedule

The consultant will be paid in USD based on the review and approval of deliverables by UN Women.

Evaluation of Applicants

Candidates will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of the applicants' qualifications and financial proposal. Contract will be awarded to the individual consultant whose offer receives the highest score out of below defined technical and financial criteria. Technical evaluation will be represented through desk review of applications. Interviews and/or written tests will be organized, if needed, depending on the short-listed candidates’ qualifications. Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation would be considered for financial evaluation.

Financial Evaluation (30%) – max. 30 points:

The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal is allocated to the lowest price proposal. All other price proposals receive points in inverse proportion. A suggested formula is as follows:

p = 30 (µ/z)

Using the following values:

p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated

µ = price of the lowest priced proposal

z = price of the proposal being evaluated

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, colour, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)