Background

Background (programme/project context):

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 (previously as UNIFEM) has been operating in Bangladesh since 2006.

UN Women BCO has been implementing a project with the support of Embassy of Sweden in Bangladesh titled ‘Building capacity to Prevent Violence Against Women (BCPVAW)’ under Ending Violence Against Women (EVAW) Program. There are two components of the project, the first one intends to strengthen the VAWG prevent mechanisms in tertiary education and the second component engaged civil society activists using theatre to prevent VAW. 

The project was designed to respond to needs of EVAW in selected education institutions. The intervention approach was informed by the situation analysis carried out by UN Women. At the time of design phase, it was found that 76% of female students at tertiary education institution had reported that they had faced sexual harassment during their student life. As the key policy interventions, the project focused on the High Court Guideline to Prevent Sexual Harassment (2009) and strengthening the policy implementation tools in order to address VAWG prevention measures.

In partnership with Hedda Production, and four selected universities (Jahangirnagar University, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Rajshahi University and East West University), the project is being implemented by Bangladesh Women Lawyers’’ Association (BNWLA) through guidance of the University Grants Commission (UGC); For the community component, partnership was established with three NGOs partners (Nari Pokkho, We Can and Bangladesh Nari Progati Sangha) to work in the communities based in Netrokona, Shirajganj and Dinajpur Sadar upazilas.

The BCPVAW officially started in Dec 2014 and the field intervention started in June 2015; this particular phase had two components: one to work with universities and another was to work at the community level, both components were implemented by civil society organizations (CSOs).  This phase ended in June 2016, later in Nov 2016 a costed extension of the project was granted to work at the universities with additional project outputs (results framework of the BCPVAW project is attached). At the end of the first phase a review  was carried out to assess progress against results of both components.

This assignment is the evaluation of the project component related to the work at universities and will not include the community engagement component. This is under the programmatic output 2.5.1 mentioned in the UN Women Bangladesh Country Office’s Strategic Note 2017-20; there is clear linkage of this project with UN Women Global SP Outcome 4 (All women and girls live a life free from all forms of violence). It is also included in the Annual Work Plans of 2017 and 2018. The project is also in line with  sub-objective  Sweden’s Result Strategy for Bangladesh (2014-20); and with SDG target 5.2

Footnote:

  1. Strengthened democracy and gender equality, greater respect for human rights and freedom from oppression;
  2. Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation.

Duties and Responsibilities

Justification and Purpose of the Evaluation:

The purpose of the evaluation is to appraise results achieved by the project. This is intended to evaluate specifically the progress against Outcome 2 of the project and Development Objective: Capacity of tertiary educational institutions and student communities increased to prevent violence against women. There are three outputs under this outcome on increased capacity of universities, coordination of students & teachers and capacity of the University Grants Commission.

The evaluation is expected to feed learnings into UN Women’s efforts to contribute to the prevention of violence against women and girls in Bangladesh. It is expected to use the findings of the evaluation as a learning for any forthcoming project of the EVAW program that intends to continue work at the tertiary education institutes. The findings will also be shared with development partners, UN agencies and CSOs having interest to work on sexual harassment prevention.

The evaluation is also an obligation to the Donor- the Swedish Embassy in Dhaka. It is also specified in the approved budget.

Evaluation Objectives:

The key objective of this evaluation is to assess the results of the project that has been ongoing in four universities in Bangladeshi since June 2015. The evaluation will cover all aspects of the project’s work both at a policy and institutional level and in the field. The main focus of this final evaluation is to provide an external assessment of whether the project is being implemented in line with the commitments given in the approved project document.   The Evaluation also identifies/documents lessons learned and makes recommendations that project partners and stakeholders might use to improve the design and implementation of other related projects and programs.

The evaluation will cover following criteria: relevance, effectiveness, organizational efficiency, and contribution towards impact and sustainability

  •  Assess the relevance of UN Women contribution to the intervention at national levels and alignment with international agreements and conventions on gender equality and women’s empowerment;
  • Assess effectiveness and organizational efficiency in progressing towards the achievement of gender equality and women’s empowerment results as defined in the intervention;
  •  Assess the contribution towards sustainability of the intervention in achieving sustained gender equality and women’s empowerment;
  • Analyse how human rights approach and gender equality principles are integrated in the design and implementation;
  •  Identify and validate lessons learned, good practices and examples and innovations of efforts that support gender equality and human rights in area of work;
  •  Provide actionable recommendations with respect to the UN Women intervention.

Project Description:

Preventing sexual harassment and other forms of gendered violence on campuses requires work across all four levels of individual, interpersonal, social and institutional: changes in the attitudes and behaviour of students and staff, supporting egalitarian relationships among young people and preventing abuse of power by faculty, institutionalizing mechanisms to implement that High Court Directive on Sexual Harassment (which lays out steps that the University Grants Commission and individual campuses need to take to address and end sexual harassment) and changing the social and ideological environment that tolerates violence and constrains women’s potentials.  At the same time, working with young people contributes to changing social norms more widely, offers opportunities for breaking inter-generational acceptance of violence, and contributing to an environment in which young women can develop their potential to participate fully in the economy and as citizens and leaders.

The High Court Guideline (2009) to prevent sexual harassment is the key normative framework for this project. The guideline -which was an outcome of a public interest litigation- clearly defines sexual harassment, provided instruction to all educational and professional authorities to establish awareness raising, reporting and investigation mechanisms within their jurisdictions to prevent sexual harassment. The full guideline is available in following link- http://www.supremecourt.gov.bd/resources/documents/276907_Writ_Petition_5916_08.pdf . 

Overall Development objective of the project is to contribute to the prevention of violence against women and girls in Bangladesh.

Project Outcomes:

The Theory of change for this project was i) if universities implement the high court guideline to prevent sexual harassment with participation of students and teachers’ community, (ii) if oversite bodies effectively monitor women’s safety situation and takes appropriate measures to prevent violence, and iii) if women’s rights advocates strengthen their violence prevention interventions with social norm change components, then (iv) violence against women and girls will be reduced, because (v) discriminatory institutional and structural barriers will be reduced. The Outcomes are chalked out as bellows:

  1. Civil society capacity to engage communities and public institutions in preventing violence against women has been strengthened;
  2. Capacity of tertiary educational institutions and student communities to prevent violence against women has been increased.

Outputs:

1.1: Seven as a tool for prevention has been made available as a resource to gender equality activists in four selected locations in Bangladesh and has been used to advance specific efforts to prevent violence against women;

2.1 Four selected (tertiary level) educational institutions have increased capacity to make the premise safer for women and girls;

2.2 Students, faculty and administration in each of the four institutions, have increased capacity  to engage the educational community in taking action to address and prevent sexual harassment and other forms of gendered violence;

2.3 University Grants Commission has increased capacity to guide and monitor  implementation of the High Court Directive to Prevent Sexual Harassment by universities..

Activities for Outcome 2:

  • Support SHPC and student organizations to implement campaigns targeting attitudes and social norms that condone sexual harassment;
  • Support interested faculty in one or more universities to pilot new curricula that explores masculinities and femininities as they shape social norms, institutions and the life opportunities;
  • Project universities to draft minimum standards and actions to comply with HC directive including required functions of sexual harassment prevention committees, guidance on budget allocations, guidelines for student orientation, establishing Code of Conduct, monitoring mechanism etc;
  • Support women students and professors to identify barriers to women and girls’ safety on campus and to suggest specific changes;
  • Support university authorities, in partnership with students, to review student orientation plans and develop innovative orientation package;
  • Work with university authorities to allocate resources for SHPC, to build capacity on gender responsive budgeting.

Scope of the evaluation:

The Evaluation will assess the impact of work at four universities and with UGC. Some required information is given below:

Timeframe of the Project: Dec 2014 to June 2018 (with month break in 2016)

Project Universities: East West University, Jahangirnagar University, Rajshahi University, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology

Other Important Stakeholders: University Grants Commission (UGC), Theatre Groups of universities

Geographic Locations: Dhaka, Rajshahi, Sylhet and any other area suggested by UGC 

Timing: End of Project Evaluation (June 2018)

Time frame: AWP 2017 and AWP 2018 under the Strategic Note 2017-20.

Thematic coverage: Prevention of violence against women and girls

Limitations: Evaluation will not cover community component as mentioned in the original ProDoc (as an evaluation carried out at the end of the first phase and no further work was done at the community level) .

Evaluation questions:

Relevance

  • To what extent is the intervention relevant to the needs and priorities of campus people covered through this project?
  •  What is the value of the intervention in relation to women’s needs, national priorities, legal framework of Bangladesh and High Court Guideline to Prevent Sexual Harassment?         

Effectiveness

• To what extent were the expected outcome on work at the universities achieved and how did UN Women contribute towards these?

  • What kind of positive change took place in the capacities of universities?
  • How the project changed capacities of students to raise their voice against sexual harassment and strengthen supporting mechanisms?
  • How this project involved institutional leadership to get sustainable change?

• To What extent targets are achieved under each outcome indicators?

  • How many mechanism/service/program increased at each of the universities to prevent sexual harassment as a change due to this project;
  • What is the change in % of male and female students who are aware about High Court Directive;
  • What is the change in % of male and female students who believes girls are never to be blamed for sexual harassment; 
  • What is the change in % of male and female student who think current security mechanisms in the campus are satisfactory;
  • What were the (cultural norm and structural) barriers to this project?

• To what level, the project achieved the outputs at universities

  • What are the short term and long-term step taken by each universities to prevent sexual harassment;
  • What are the actions taken by students and teachers to strengthen understanding on prevention sexual harassment and gender based violence?
  • What changes were achieved in the capacities of UGC to monitor university response to prevent sexual harassment;
  • Was there any good practice generated by this project, what workssw efficiently?

Organizational Efficiency:

  • To what extent does the management structure of the intervention support efficient for programme implementation?

Contribution towards Impact:

  • To what extent was gender equality and women’s empowerment advanced as a result of the intervention?
  •  Extent to which rights-holders have been able to enjoy their rights and duty bearers have the ability to comply with their obligations, whether there is no change in both groups, or whether both are less able to do so.

Contribution towards Sustainability:

  • To what extent was capacity developed in order to ensure sustainability of efforts and benefits?
  • Are the activities and their impact likely to continue when external support is withdrawn?
  •  How will the benefits of the intervention be secured for rights holders (i.e. what accountability and oversights  systems were established)?

Gender Equality and Human Rights:

  • To what extent has gender and human rights considerations been integrated into the programme design and 

    implementation?

  • How has attention to integration of gender equality and human rights concerns advanced the area of work.

Evaluation Methodology:

This decentralized (external) evaluation will test the progress against indicators, baseline information, and specified targets. The approach of the evaluation will be summative (backward looking). The approach should also promote inclusion and participation by employing gender equality and human rights responsive approaches with a focus on utilizatio empowerment or feminist approaches. The evaluation will apply mixed-methods (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. To the extent possible, the evaluation should undertake a comparative analysis with similar universities that were not engaged with the project.

There are three public (Jahangirnagar, Shahjalal and Rajshahi) and one private (East West) university under this project. Management mechanisms are different for these two types. UGC has direct relationship with both types of universities, however, public universities are independent in terms of their accountability mechanism. Geographic position of the universities are also different public universities are located outside of main town in large campuses, while the private university is in a large building within a confined place. Extent of sexual harassment and mitigation measures hence has differences in these two types of universities.

Phases of Evaluation:

  • Conduct: Inception report, stakeholder workshop, data collection and analysis;
  • Reporting: Presentation of preliminary findings, draft and final reports and communication products.

Data Collection Methods:

The evaluation methodology needs to be aligned with the purpose and approach of the evaluation and be designed to address the evaluation criteria and answer the key questions through credible techniques for data collection and analysis. This may include:

  • Analysis of secondary data sources (e.g., documents, field information, programmatic reports, funders, experts, government officials and community groups);
  • Field data collection tools (most significant change story, survey, interviews, focus groups, observation, site visit, etc.) that will address gender equality and human rights issues; the evaluator will elaborate on the final rationale for selection and their limitations;
  • Participatory tools for consultation with stakeholder groups and suggest a plan for inclusion of women and individuals and groups who are vulnerable and/or discriminated against in the consultation process and a plan for translation, as necessary;
  • A plan on how protection of subjects and respect for confidentiality will be guaranteed;
  • The Evaluator should develop a sampling frame (area and population represented, rationale for selection, mechanics of selection, limitations of the sample) and specify how it will address the diversity of stakeholders in the intervention;
  • The evaluator should take measures to ensure data quality, reliability9  and validity10   of data collection tools and methods and their responsiveness to gender equality and human rights; the limitations of the sample (representativeness) should be stated clearly and the data should be triangulated (cross-checked against other sources) to help ensure robust results The evaluation proposal should include data collection methods that are participatory while at the same time ensure strict adherence to ethical guidelines on protecting victims of violence. Given the sensitive nature of the subject, the evaluator must present a detailed plan on measures that will ensure the work is conducted ethically and in accordance with WHO guidelines on research into violence against women. Plan should include how protection of subjects and respect for confidentiality will be guaranteed and arrangements to ensure effective referral of survivors of violence to relevant service providers, if required, during the field research, including training of the field team and how referrals will be managed to ensure focal points can provide assistance if required.

Time Frame:

  It will be a 40-working day assignment (spread over 60 days) for the Evaluation Expert/Team.

Expected Deliverables:

Deliverable  and  Time frame for submission:

Inception report: project work plan and Methodology of the work including data collection tools: Mid May 2018

Preliminary Findings Presentation in a validation workshop with the ERG: First Week of June

Draft report: Third Week of June

Final evaluation report: Last week of June

Knowledge Products: evaluation brief (2-pager and other innovative means for disseminating the evaluation results):   Last Week of June

All products must be in line with outline of evaluation report suggested in UN Women Evaluation Handbook and in line with the UN Women Global Evaluation Reports Assessment and Analysis System (GERAAS) evaluation report quality assessment checklist

Payment will be made upon submission of all deliverables and certification by the UN Women evaluation manager in consultation with the Regional Evaluation Specialist and the Evaluation Reference Group that the work has been completed to satisfaction and in line with the UN Women Global Evaluation Reports Assessment and Analysis System (GERAAS). All deliverables will require a minimum of two revisions before the final product is approved. All raw data files, consent forms and relevant documentation must be returned to UN Women before release of final payment.

Ethical code of conduct for the evaluation:

Evaluators should have personal and professional integrity and abide by the UNEG Ethical Guidelines for evaluation and the Code of Conduct for Evaluation in the UN system to ensure that the rights of individuals involved in an evaluation are respected. Evaluators must act with cultural sensitivity and pay particular attention to protocols, codes and recommendations that may be relevant to their interactions with stakeholders. Evaluators will be expected to sign the UN Women Evaluation Consultants Agreement Form, to show that they have read and understood the UNEG Code of Conduct for Evaluation in the UN System.

Footnote:

3. A documentary play based on the real life stories of women’s rights activists from seven countries. The play is developed and improvised by the Hedda production, Sweden.  Seven has proven to be a powerful resource for creating discussion, raising the visibility of women’s rights and mobilizing action across the globe;

4. Promotes intended use by intended users. Strong focus on participation of users throughout the evaluation process;

5. Programme participants are involved in the conduct of the evaluation. An outside evaluator serves as a coach or facilitator in the evaluation process;

6.Addresses and examines opportunities to reverse gender inequities that lead to social injustice. Prioritizes women’s experience and voices, including women from discriminated and marginalized groups;

7. WHO, Putting Women First,Ethical and Safety Recommendations for Research on Domestic Violence Against Women; Gevena, Switzerland, 2001 http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/65893/1/WHO_FCH_GWH_01.1.pdf

Competencies

Technical Competencies:

  • Experience in issues related to Gender equality and Ending violence against Women will be considered an asset;

Functional Competencies

  • Ability to pragmatically apply in-depth knowledge and experience of issues and practices in the fields of gender equality and Women economic empowerment in Bangladesh;
  • Strong communications skills, and experience in presenting evidence and ideas for policy and programme;
  • Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
  • Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities.

Core Competencies:

  • Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
  • Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UN Women;
  • Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
  • Treats all people fairly without favoritism;
  • Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

Required Skills and Experience

Education and certification:

  • Advanced university degree / Master's degree in Development Studies, Social Sciences or any other relevant field;

Experience:

  • At least 10 years’ experience in the design, development and evaluation of projects/programs in developing country settings, with experience in providing strategic direction;
  • Experience leading an evaluation of similar projects;
  • Experience evaluating work on EVAWG;
  • Wider experience to collect, analyse and interpret qualitative and quantitative data;
  • Minimum 6 years of relevant national and international experience, in gender equality, women empowerment within a development context;
  • Strong facilitation skills;
  • Proficiency in the use of the computer.

Language Requirements:

  • Excellent command of English (written and oral) is required; evaluation reports must be submitted as evidence.  Excellent spoken Bangla required or plan for translation services.

Composition, SKills  and Experiences of the evalaution Team:

The evaluation is expected to be carried out by one independent expert . The expert can form a team to carry out the evaluation, however the contract will be made with the expert and overall responsibilities for the evaluation will be upon the expert. Logistics Arrangements: The Evaluation team needs to be Independent in terms of using office spaces, equipment, utility and other logistics. UN Women facilities may not be available on a regular basis unless specified.   

 Submission of application:

Interested Individual Consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications.

Technical Proposal:

  • A brief evaluation proposal: Narrative presenting your suitability for this assignment, proposed evaluation methodology and workplan)
  • UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from

http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment

  • Attach a sample of your evaluation work; 
  • Personal CV.

Financial proposal: ·

  • Proposed daily fee; including travel and any other expenses.

ANNEXES

After the selection of the evaluation consultant/firm, the following documents should be appended to the ToR: