Background

UN Women ROAS is seeking a consultant to conduct an evaluation on its Women’s Leadership, Empowerment, Access & Protection in Crisis Response (LEAP) regional project to contribute to enhancing UN Women’s approach to promoting the economic empowerment of refugee and internally displaced women in the Arab States region.

The Arab States region has been experiencing a significant number of humanitarian crisis. Three of the world’s worst humanitarian crises are in the Arab States region: in Syria, Yemen and Iraq. The civil war in Syria has resulted in the largest number of refugees worldwide, at more than 4.8 million refugees, and in additional 6.5 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) inside Syria.[1] This crisis not only affects refugees and displaced on all levels, but has put pressures on neighboring host countries which have experienced increased levels of unemployment and poverty and socio-political and economic unrest.? Moreover, the spill over effect of the Syria crisis has further destabilised Iraq. Conflict with armed groups in Iraq, including ISIL, has forced nearly 3.2 million people[2] to flee their homes since January 2014. While a growing number of people are returning to their homes since Iraqi led military efforts have retaken large areas of the country, these areas suffer from substantial damage to private property and public infrastructure -? putting more pressure on the lives of the returnees.

Although the living conditions of the displaced differ across countries, the majority live in poverty and many are food insecure.[3] Most have depleted their savings and resources, and rely on negative coping mechanisms to meet their basic needs. This is particularly true for female headed households not living with other refugees, who are the most food insecure in the region.[4] Furthermore, women are reporting increasing domestic violence within their homes due to “decreasing economic and household security.”[5]

Employment continues to be a challenge across the region. The region has a bulging youth population with high unemployment numbers, and refugees in countries hosting them are adding to these challenges. For example, the current unemployment rate in Egypt is 13.2%, with youth unemployment at 34.3%. Unemployment is almost triple among female young people of their male counterparts. As such, while refugees are legally allowed to work in most countries across the region, in practice they face severe constraints in accessing legal work and restore to informal labour – which is characterized by underemployment and exploitation. For example, in Jordan around 30,000 refugees currently have work permits (of which 1% are women)[6], out of a case load of close to 650,000, and in Egypt the UN recorded 432 as accessing waged employment opportunities (formal and informal) between January and July 2016, out of a caseload of 116,013.[7]

The needs and vulnerabilities of women, men, girls and boys affected by crisis are distinct and often different. Addressing these needs with effective, quality programming requires incorporation of gender equality considerations across all phases of humanitarian action – including preparedness, assessment, analysis, planning and implementation. Linking humanitarian action with development early on in emergency settings and integrating early recovery as a part of the response also increases the ownership, participation, relevance and sustainability of humanitarian efforts.

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, consolidating the Organization’s resources and mandates for greater impact. The mandate of UN women entrusts the entity to take a leading role in normative, operational and coordination work on gender equality in the UN system, including on Women’s Peace and Security and Humanitarian Action.

At global level, UN Women’s work in humanitarian action falls under Strategic Plan Development Results Framework Outcome Area 4 – “Peace and security and humanitarian action are shaped by women and men’s equal leadership and participation. In 2012, UN Women developed a flagship programme on Women’s Leadership, Empowerment, Access and Protection in Crisis Response (LEAP) to improve the gender-responsiveness of humanitarian action by:

1. Ensuring that humanitarian/crisis response planning, frameworks and programming are informed by gender analysis and needs assessments.
2. Increasing access to protection and economic opportunities for vulnerable and displaced women affected by sudden onset emergencies through safe/social spaces and income generation opportunities. These social spaces promote awareness raising; access to multi-sectoral services and referral mechanisms; women support groups; child-care services; as well as facilitating access to skills training, cash-for-work and livelihoods support.
3. Bridging the humanitarian/ development divide in protracted and slow onset crises by promoting positive coping mechanisms, and sustainable livelihoods for marginalized women.

UN Women in the Arab States region has been implementing components of the LEAP programme since 2012 in Jordan, and since 2014 in Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon. Central to this approach has been supporting economic opportunities for displaced and vulnerable women. As the crisis in the region have become protracted, there is a recognition of the need to move from short-term cash assistance to more sustainable economic opportunities. Through its current regional project, Women’s Leadership, Empowerment, Access & Protection in Crisis Response (LEAP), launched in March 2016, UN Women is working to consolidate its ongoing initiatives including those related to women’s economic opportunities - with the objective of supporting sustainable solutions for refugee, displaced, and host communities where viable, and working with regional bodies to support an end to conflict and instability.

The regional LEAP has one outcome and three outputs related to the economic empowerment of displaced and vulnerable women and girls, specifically:

Outcome II: Displaced and vulnerable women and girls are economically empowered and have access to humanitarian services that are gender inclusive

Output 2.1: Gender analysis and assessments conducted to inform multi-sectoral humanitarian/ crisis response planning and programming.

Output 2.2: Increased capacity and effective engagement of women & gender machineries in humanitarian planning and response frameworks.

Output 2.3: Displaced and marginalized women and girls have new sources of income and economic opportunities through Direct Cash Assistance, cash for work and skills development.

Activities related to the creation of economic opportunities under this outcome include: (i) the identification of sustainable income-generation opportunities for vulnerable women from both refugees and host communities through a rapid business needs analysis within affected regions in the three countries to identify the exact needs of vulnerable women and sustainable income-generation activities; (ii) financial support which includes direct cash assistance, cash-for-work, and start-up packages schemes based on the country context and needs assessment; (iii) vocational training and business development skills programmes; (iv) linkages and referral to job placement capitalizing on the ongoing activities in the countries.

The project is implemented in Egypt, Iraq and Jordan to address the immediate needs of women affected by conflict, bolstering their assets and skills to enable them to meet their needs with investment in women’s economic empowerment(8) to generate immediate and long-term social dividends. The WEE component is part of more holistic approach that combines economic empowerment, enhanced protection and safe spaces and gender inclusive humanitarian services which are shaped by women’s leadership and engagement in community life and relief efforts.

In Egypt and Lebanon, UN Women has supported community centers in host communities to provide vulnerable Syrian refugee and host community women with capacity building programmes, vocational training and access to financial services, as well as, strengthening their protection through engaging different key players including women and youth CSOs, national service providers and local authorities to address issues related to all kinds of violence. In Lebanon, UN Women has also supported the establishment of women agro-business cooperatives with Syrian and Lebanese members, as well as job placement programmes.

In Iraq, UN Women supports Syrian women refugees within camps and displaced women and girls dispersed across various districts and cities in Iraq due to the ongoing conflict through providing safe access to livelihood opportunities. This has included support to cash for work/income generation activities while simultaneously offering protection and psycho-social support services, through the already established women’s resource and protection centers. Women in host communities are also supported with livelihood enhancing interventions. UN Women has capitalized on existing interventions of cash-for- work schemes and income generation opportunities applied in camps and recently in the newly liberated areas.

In Jordan, the project addresses the humanitarian priorities of Syrian women refugees living in camp (Azraq and Za’atari) and non-camp settings through the provision of employment, services for those at risk of and surviving gender-based violence, and engagement with the national authorities to promote access to justice and accountability for violent crimes against women.

Outcome III[9] which focuses on the protection of vulnerable women and girls through the creation of safe spaces and increased access to effective services and protection mechanisms has synergies with the economic empowerment component as some of the activities / services are implemented in the safe spaces.The safe/social spaces also serve as ‘economic empowerment hubs’ by strengthening women’s access to productive assets and skills, supporting their leadership in community life and decision making, and targeting gender-specific structural barriers and discrimination rooted in prevailing social norms and attitudes.

Key stakeholders for this evaluation include: i) specialized humanitarian agencies ii) Member States; iii) bilateral donors; iii) humanitarian country teams (HCTs) at country level; iv) cluster coordinators and lead agencies; v) Key national stakeholders (Ministries, National Women? machineries); vi) Regional intergovernmental bodies (the Arab League) working in humanitarian action as well as regional? coordination structures (e.g. Agency Group on Emergency Preparedness and Response (MENA Group); and vii) international and national non-governmental organizations working in the humanitarian field.

Duties and Responsibilities

The main purpose of this evaluation is to contribute to enhancing UN Women’s approach to supporting the economic empowerment of displaced and vulnerable women and girls in the Arab States region. The findings will be used for strategic policy and programmatic decisions, organizational learning and accountability as well as for the identification of good practices to promote sustainable economic opportunities which strengthen women’s resilience and empowerment. The targeted users of the evaluation are UN Women Senior Management at regional and country level, programme staff, and key stakeholders (donors, other regional actors, UN system) in the area of Humanitarian Action, particularly those focused on livelihoods and economic opportunities.

The evaluation will have both formative and summative elements. While UN Women has been implementing components of the LEAP flagship in the Arab States region since 2012, the approach to supporting refugee and displaced women’s economic empowerment has evolved over the years as UN Women has tested ways to make interventions (economic opportunities) more sustainable. As such several of the interventions assessed are in their initial stages and will require a primarily formative evaluation lens. At the same time, the evaluation will assess interventions which have been implemented for several years where more of a summative approach is possible.

The evaluation will focus on UN Women’s initiatives in promoting economic opportunities for displaced and vulnerable women affected by humanitarian crisis in the region. The scope will be limited to those initiatives which seek to promote longer-term economic opportunities, and will therefore not include cash for work. Examples of women who have been able to leverage their participation in cash for work to start their own businesses may be included to provide insights into success factors. To the extent that there are linkages with the broader work on protection and specifically the safe spaces, this will be included as well. The geographic scope of the evaluation is multi-country; it will include economic empowerment interventions under the WPS and HA portfolio in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon. The evaluation will assess relevant work from 2012 to the present.

Several evaluations have already been conducted on UN Women’s LEAP aligned interventions in the Arab States region which have assessed their relevance, efficiency and effectiveness. This evaluation will build on these evaluations and focus on two main evaluation OECD-DAC criteria, effectiveness and sustainability. This limited focus will allow UN Women to examine these critical issues in greater depth than previous evaluations. In conjunction with the sustainability criterion, UN Women will assess connectedness, a criterion often used in humanitarian action evaluations.

The specific objectives of the evaluation are to:

1. Assess the effectiveness of UN Women’s approach to economic empowerment of refugee and internally displaced women within the framework of the LEAP (and host community focused WEE related programming in Jordan)

2. Assess the connectedness and sustainability of UN Women’s initiatives on increasing economic opportunities for refugee and internally displaced women

3. Identify and validate lessons learned, good practice examples and innovation of work supported by UN Women;

4. Provide actionable recommendations with respect to UN Women’s approach to promoting women’s economic opportunities in humanitarian settings.

Evaluation Questions:

Effectiveness

1. How effective have the economic opportunity models developed and / or implemented by UN Women been in helping women find employment (self or other) once project participation is completed? To what extent are the opportunities created ensuring the safety and security of women?
2. To what extent have the safe / social spaces established / supported through UN Women served as ‘economic empowerment hubs’, by strengthening women’s access to productive assets and skills, supporting their leadership in community life and decision making, and targeting gender-specific structural barriers and discrimination rooted in prevailing social norms and attitudes?
3. What are the intended and unintended, positive and negative, effects of the intervention on women and men, institutions and the physical environment? How has the intervention affected the well-being of the different groups of stakeholders?

Connectedness and Sustainability

1. To what extent are the models developed and / or implemented by UN Women to promote women’s economic empowerment supporting sustainable economic opportunities, particularly for host community women? What are the measures that have been built in to promote sustainability; To what extent do these measures reflect on and take into account factors which, have a major influence on sustainability e.g. economic, ecological, social and cultural aspects;
2. To what extent do interventions, as designed and implemented, take longer-term and interconnected problems into account? Do they contribute to interventions planned in the longer term, such as recovery or development?
3. What is the potential to scale existing models to reach larger groups of women?

Evaluation Methodology: 

The evaluation will be a transparent and participatory process involving relevant UN Women stakeholders and partners at the regional and country levels. The evaluation will be based on gender and human rights principles, as defined in the UN Women Evaluation Policy5 and adhere to the United Nations norms and standards for evaluation in the UN System6. The evaluation methodology will employ mixed methods and an innovative approach for capturing results, to ensure that the views of a diverse group of participants are represented in the evaluation. The evaluation Consultant is expected to collect both primary quantitative and qualitative data. Qualitative methods adopted should be highly participatory in nature, drawing on more non-traditional methods, e.g. most significant change, network analysis, mapping, video, etc. The analysis of the application of human rights and gender equality principles in the development and implementation of interventions will be an integral part of the final evaluation report.

The evaluation process has five phases:

1) Preparation: gathering and analyzing programme data, conceptualizing the evaluation approach, internal consultations on the approach, preparing the TOR, establishment of the reference group, and recruitment of the evaluation Consultant (responsibility of UN Women);

2) Inception: consultations between the evaluation Consultant and the Regional Office, programme portfolio review, stakeholder mapping, inception meetings with the reference group, review of the results logic for LEAP related interventions, finalization of evaluation methodology and inception report;

3) Data collection and analysis: desk review, in-depth review of regional and relevant country level planning frameworks and programme documents, and online interviews, staff and partner survey/s, visits to two countries;

4) Analysis and synthesis stage: analysis of data and interpretation of findings, and drafting of an evaluation report; and

5) Dissemination and follow-up: development of a Management Response, publishing of the evaluation report, uploading the published report on the GATE websit(10), and production of other knowledge products and learning events, such as a webinar and an evaluation brief (responsibility of UN Women).

Evaluation Management: 

The UN Women ROAS is responsible for the management and quality assurance of this regional evaluation. ROAS will manage the evaluation process, constitute a quality assurance system and provide administrative and substantive support, including possibly joining the evaluation Consultant in selected field missions. The UN Women Independent Evaluation Office (IEO), through the Regional Evaluation Specialist (RES) for the Arab States, will ensure that the evaluation is conducted in accordance with the UN Women Evaluation Policy, United Nations Evaluation Group Norms and Standards, Ethical Guidelines and Code of Conduct for Evaluation in the UN System and other key guidance documents[11].

The establishment of reference groups will help to ensure that the evaluation approach is robust and relevant to staff and stakeholders, and make certain that factual errors or errors of omission or interpretation are identified in evaluation products. The core reference group will provide input at key stages of the evaluation: terms of reference; inception report; draft and final reports. It will be composed of UN Women senior managers/staff, other UN System partners, key regional and country level partners and civil society.

Delevirables and payment schedual:

The proposed timeframe for the evaluation is March to May 2017. The proposed time frame and expected products will be discussed with the evaluation Consultant and refined in the inception report. The Regional Office reserves the right to ensure the quality of products submitted by the external evaluation Consultant and will request revisions until the product meets the quality standards as expressed by the UN Women Independent Evaluation Office.

Key Evaluation Guidance Documents (Click for hyperlink)

• Integrating Human Rights and Gender Equality in Evaluations

 http://www.unevaluation.org/document/detail/1616

• Integrating Human Rights and Gender Equality in Evaluation – towards UNEG Guidance

 http://www.uneval.org/document/detail/980_

• Norms and Standards for Evaluation in the UN System

http://www.unevaluation.org/document/detail/1914

• UN Women Tool 14: Quality criteria for evaluation reports

http://genderevaluation.unwomen.org/en/evaluation-handbook/tools

• UNEG Code of Conduct for Evaluation in the UN System

http://www.unevaluation.org/document/detail/100

• UNEG Ethical Guidelines

http://www.unevaluation.org/document/detail/102

• UNEG Quality Checklist for Evaluation Reports

http://www.unevaluation.org/document/detail/607

• UN Women Leadership, Empowerment, Access and Protection in Crisis Response (LEAP) Flagship

http://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/library/publications/2015/un-women-flagship-programmes-booklet-en.pdf?la=en&vs=357

Inputs: 

This will be a homebased assignment with possible travel to Jordan, Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon. UN Women will provide support in facilitating contact with partners and identification of relevant resource persons for all components of the assignment.

Performance evaluation: 

The consultant’s performance will be evaluated based on: timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communication, accuracy, and quality of the products delivered.

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.

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: http://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-employment-values-and-competencies-definitions-en.pdf

Functional Competencies:

• Excellent technical expertise and skills in conducting evaluation.
• Demonstrable experience in humanitarian action and women economic empowerment in Arab region.
• Excellent writing skills.
• Ability and willingness to work as part of a team to meet tight deadlines and produce?high quality work.

Required Skills and Experience

The consultant should have extensive experience in evaluation, humanitarian action and women’s economic empowerment, as well as regional experience. The consultant must sign the “Evaluation consultant’s agreement form,” based on the UNEG Code of Conduct and Ethical Guidelines for Evaluation in the UN system.

Below is a more detailed description of the tasks and qualification requirements.

The consultant, with at least 15 years of evaluation experience, will be responsible for delivering the key evaluation products. In close collaboration with the Evaluation Task Manager (RES), s/he will lead the conceptualization and design of the evaluation, the coordination and conduct of the country visits and the shaping of the findings, conclusions and recommendations of the final report.

More specifically the tasks of the consultant include:

• Developing an inception report outlining the design, methodology and the criteria for the selection of the case studies, required resources and indicative work plan;
• Directing and supervising the research and analysis of secondary evidence, project documents, databases and all relevant documentation;
• Coordinating the conduct, overseeing and assuring quality of country visits, and taking a lead in the analysis of evaluation evidence;
• Preparing the PPT presentation and leading the briefing on preliminary evaluation findings;
• Drafting the evaluation report and leading the preparation of specific inputs based on country visits, desk research, focus groups, surveys, etc.
• Preparing for meetings with the Evaluation Task Manager and other stakeholders to review findings, conclusions and recommendations;
• Leading the stakeholder feedback sessions, briefing the Evaluation Task Manager on the evaluation through informal sessions and finalizing the report based on feedback from the Evaluation Task Manager;
• Participating in a Webinar to present evaluation results.

Qualifications:

• At least 15 years practical experience in conducting evaluations of international policies and programmes utilizing a wide range of approaches and methods including utilization focused, gender and human rights responsive, and mixed methods with a background in political science;
• Substantial professional experience (at least 5 years) related to women’s economic empowerment and the promotion of sustainable economic opportunities in developing countries, particularly in setting affected by humanitarian crisis;
• Previous experience in conducting evaluations on humanitarian action, experience conducting complex evaluations is an asset;
• Excellent knowledge of the UN system, the UN humanitarian architecture and programming at the regional and country level in the Arab States region; as well as normative frameworks which guide humanitarian action;
• Experience and knowledge on gender equality and women’s empowerment and the human rights based approach, gender mainstreaming, gender analysis and the related mandates within the UN system and particularly that of UN Women’s.

Language Qualifications:

(Fluent in English and working knowledge of Arabic).

Technical Qualification evaluation criteria: 

The contract will be awarded to the technically qualified consultant who obtains the highest combines score (financial and technical). The points for the Financial Proposal will be allocated as per the following formula:

(Lowest Bid Offered*)/(Bid of the Consultant) x 30*"Lowest Bid Offered" refers to the lowest price offered by Offerors scoring at least 49 points in technical evaluation.

The total number of points allocated for the technical qualification component is 100. The technical qualification of the individual is evaluated based on following technical qualification evaluation criteria:

Technical Evaluation Criteria Obtainable Score

• At least 15 years practical experience in conducting evaluations of international policies and programmes utilizing a wide range of approaches and methods including utilization focused, gender and human rights responsive, and mixed methods with a background in political science - 30 points
• Substantial professional experience (at least 5 years) related to women’s economic empowerment and the promotion of sustainable economic opportunities in developing countries, particularly in setting affected by humanitarian crisis. – 20 points
• Previous experience in conducting evaluations on humanitarian action, experience conducting complex evaluations is an asset – 15 points
• Excellent knowledge of the UN system, the UN humanitarian architecture and programming at the regional and country level in the Arab States region; as well as normative frameworks which guide humanitarian action; - 10 points
• Experience and knowledge on gender equality and women’s empowerment and the human rights based approach, gender mainstreaming, gender analysis and the related mandates within the UN system and particularly that of UN Women’s – 15 points
• Language Qualifications (Fluent in English and working knowledge of Arabic) - 10 points

Total Obtainable Score 100 points

Only the candidates who have attained a minimum of 70 total points will be considered as technically-qualified candidate.

Financial/Price Proposal evaluation:

• Only the financial proposal of candidates who have attained a minimum of 70 points score in the technical evaluation will be considered and evaluated.
• The total number of points allocated for the price component is 100.

The maximum number of points will be allotted to the lowest price proposal that is opened/ evaluated and compared among those technical qualified candidates who have attained a minimum of 70 point score in the technical evaluation. All other price proposals will receive points in inverse proportion to the lowest price.

Submission of application: 

Interested candidates are requested to submit the following documents:

1. Cover letter;
2. CV, including contact information for 3 references;
3. Financial proposal.
4. Example of previous evaluation report

The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount per each deliverable, including any travel, per diem and administrative fees.

The above mentioned documents (Cover letter, Methodology, UN Women P11, Personal CV and financial proposal) should be merged in a standalone file including all them, since the online application submission does only permit to upload one file per application. Incomplete submission can be a ground for disqualification. 

Selected candidates will need to submit prior to commencement of work:

1. Copy of the latest academic certificate

2. UN Women P-11 form, available from http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment

3. A statement from a medical doctor of ‘good health and fit for travel. 

References: 

[1] http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/regional.php

[2] IOM’S Displacement Tracking (DTM), October 2015.

[3] In Turkey, one-third of households recently interviewed by WFP were determined to being food insecure, leaving the majority of 66 per cent at risk of food insecurity. WFP. 2016. “Off camp Syrian refugees in Turkey”.

[4] WFP and REACH. 2015. “Comprehensive food security monitoring exercise for Jordan”.

[5] UN Women. 2014. “Beyond the camps: A perception study”.

[6] http://www.unhcr.org/news/latest/2016/4/57162b0a6/work-permit-boost-gives-hope-syrian-refugees-jordan.html

[7] https://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/country.php?id=8

[8] Women’s economic empowerment can be defined as the ability of women to bring about positive changes in their lives and societies as a result of their participation in economic activities. These activities include their ability to: function effectively in the economy; participate in labour and product markets on equal terms with men; shape the gender division of labour within the households and the labour market; accumulate their own assets; and influence governance and institutional structures that inform the relationship between the market and the state and the processes that determine the pace of economic development. They are underpinned by rights. It is generally accepted that women’s economic empowerment cannot be achieved without women also having agency in other areas of their lives.

[9] Outcome III: Protection and safety of displaced women and girls in temporary shelters & in host communities is strengthened against all forms of violence and exploitation. Outcome I 

[10] UN Women’s Global Accountability and Tracking of Evaluation Use (GATE) website: http://gate.unwomen.org 

[11] United Nations Evaluation Group, UNEG Ethical Guidelines, accessible at: http://www.uneval.org/papersandpubs/documentdetail.jsp?doc_id=102 and UNEG Code of Conduct for Evaluation in the UN system, accessible at: http://www.uneval.org/papersandpubs/documentdetail.jsp?doc_id=100