Background

Central to achieving gender equality are community driven and owned interventions. UN Women through its regional Men and Women for Gender Equality programme supports communities and national level organisations to develop their own innovative and experimental solutions towards promoting gender equality. These are informed by the International Men and Gender Equality Survey (IMAGES) MENA, a nearly 10,000-person (men and women) study by UN Women, Promundo, and local research partners conducted in Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco and Palestine, designed to take a holistic look at the perceptions and attitudes of men and women in the region. This study explored many of the stereotypes commonly associated with men, women, boys, and girls in these countries, and highlighted pathways to equality. https://imagesmena.org/en/. The community based organization also benefitted from a 6-9-month long capacity building and mentoring process, including on gender, masculinities and the engagement of men and boys in gender equality.

UN Women ROAS is seeking the services of one international consultant to conduct a formative evaluation of the community based solutions and national level grants components of its Men and Women for Gender Equality Regional Programme in Lebanon, Morocco and Palestine with an aim to understanding and assessing approaches to promoting gender equality and engaging men and boys.

The main purpose of this formative evaluation of the community based solutions and national level grants components of the Men and Women for Gender Equality Programme implemented by CSOs is to provide findings, conclusions and recommendations to support learning and knowledge generation, as well as decision-making through a better understanding of effective strategies to address gender equality and the engagement of men and boys at community level. The formative evaluation will be conducted between July and November 2018 and inform a potential second phase of the programme.

Duties and Responsibilities

1.Programme description

Men and Women for Gender Equality

The Men and Women for Gender Equality Regional Programme is a four-year regional programme whose overall goal is to enhance gender equality in the Arab States region. More specifically, the programme intends to contribute to the following:

• Understanding the root causes of gender inequality in order to develop evidence-based advocacy and awareness raising tools;
• Strengthening the capacities and networks of GEWE civil society organizations, with a particular focus on the sustainability of new and emerging movements;
• Developing community based solutions to promote gender equality based on innovative approaches and South-South exchanges.

The programme seeks to address gender inequality through a comprehensive approach that is based on a bottom-up intervention strategy which supports communities, grassroots movements and civil society organizations to have an impact on the improvement of women’s human rights in the Arab region.

The programme has four countries of focus, specifically, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco and Palestine. Funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the programme was initiated in January 2015 and will end in December 2018.

The programme is managed by a Regional Programme Manager (PM) supported by four Project Coordinators at the country level. The PM is reporting to UN Women’s RO Deputy Regional Director and is responsible for the implementation of regional activities, ensuring linkages of the Programme across participating countries in close coordination with the Project Coordinators.

The National Project Coordinators are responsible for providing day-to-day technical assistance, mentoring, and support to the implementing partners. They build on strategic partnerships and work in collaboration with governments, and other key stakeholders to ensure profiling and sustainability of the programme. The Project Coordinators reports to the Country Directors with a dotted line to the PM (except for Lebanon where the Project Coordinators reports to the PM). The Program Managers and the Project Coordinators are supported by Programme Associates, who provide day to day administration and programme support. A regional a monitoring and evaluation consultant and a communication consultant also supports the programme. The Programme Manager and the Project Coordinators also work in close collaboration with UN Women’s regional and country teams including by the Regional Evaluation Specialist.

The consultant will work in close collaboration with the Programme Manager, the Project Coordinators the Regional Evaluation Specialist and the Regional Monitoring and Evaluation consultant.

Community and National Level Grants

As part of the programme UN Women supports community and national level actions in the four programme countries of focus. These community led interventions aim to decrease gender inequalities and address their structural causes. Recognizing that one size does not fit all, the programme is testing community owned interventions and those include engaging men in fatherhood & care: working with children and youth through art, theatre, sports, etc, to promote gender equality and male engagement; working with men to prevent gender based violence, etc. The average budget is between USD 10.000-20.000 per CBO, and these organisations are working in urban and rural communities in different parts of their respective countries. The time frame for each grant is in-between 6 months to one year. The grants are managed by umbrella organizations.

The national level action grants are implemented by national NGOs/INGOs and include national level advocacy for legal reform, working with children and youth in schools to address gender stereotypes and promote male engagement, working in schools to prevent bullying, engaging in the community through theatre to promote positive fatherhoods, etc. The average budget is in between USD 50.000-USD 200.000 and covers a period from 9 months – one year.

2.Evaluation purpose, objectives and scope

Evaluation purpose and objectives

The main purpose of this formative evaluation of the community and national level grants components of the Men and Women for Gender Equality Programme implemented by CSOs, is to provide findings, conclusions and recommendations to support learning and knowledge generation, as well as decision-making through a better understanding of effective strategies to address gender equality and the engagement of men and boys at community and national level. The formative evaluation is expected to assess different models with the aim of identifying those best placed for replication and / or scale.

The primary intended users of the formative evaluation are:

1. CBOs implementing the community based grants;
2. UN Women and Sida;
3. Partner organizations supporting the community based organizations; and
4. National partners implementing the national level grants.

The developmental evaluation approach will also allow communities to benefit from ongoing feedback to improve the projects.

Assessing these solutions in real time as they are implemented will allow UN Women, its partners and communities to:

• better understand system dynamics, interdependencies, and the complex nature of social change;
• have feedback, generate learnings, support direction or affirm changes in direction in real time to strengthen interventions; and
• identify successful strategies and models for replication and scale-up.

The specific objectives of the formative evaluation are:

1. to assess the effectiveness of community based solutions and national level actions in promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment and engaging men and boys;
2. to analyse how a human rights approach and gender equality principles, including participation and inclusion and equality and non-discrimination are integrated in implementation;
3. to assess the extent to which interventions have addressed or contributed to social transformation;
4. to identify lessons learned, good practices and models, and innovations of efforts that support gender equality and human rights for replication and scale-up; and
5. to generate actionable recommendations for improving the interventions and replicating and / or scaling effective models.

Key Evaluation Questions

Effectiveness

• To what extent has there been progress on promoting gender equality as a result of the interventions, at individual, community, organizational and national level?
• To what extent have the interventions been able to engage men and boys in addressing gender equality and women’s empowerment?
• What have been the most effective and successful strategies in promoting gender equality across target communities? What is the potential for replication and scale of these interventions?
• What were the unintended effects, if any, of the interventions?
• To what extent has participation in community and national level grants contributed to institutional change for participating organizations, particularly with respect to increased measures to enhance gender equality within the organization and expanded networks?

Gender Equality and Human Rights

• To what extent has gender, diversity and human rights considerations been integrated into the interventions design and implementation?
• To what extent have the target population(s) participated in the development and implementation of the interventions in a meaningful manner?

Social Transformation

• To what extent did the processes and activities implemented during the intervention focus on promoting changes in social relations and power structures?
• Do the results of the intervention point to the beginning of changes in knowledge, attitudes, behaviours, social relations and power structures among its stakeholders?

Evaluation Scope

The formative evaluation will focus on the community and national level grants in three countries, specifically, Lebanon, Morocco and Palestine.[1] Three interventions will be selected per country for assessment. As a formative evaluation the exercise will be integrated into the interventions from an early stage. While the Men and Women for Gender Equality Programme was launched in January 2015 and will end in December 2018, the community based interventions and advocacy grants were launched in 2017. Lebanon, Morocco and Palestine interventions have already begun in mid to late 2017. The assessment will take place from mid to end of 2018, but will look at the entire period of the implementation of the interventions. To assess and understand the process of change at community level, the exercise will include two site visits to the same community over this period.

Given that limited implementation period under assessment, the formative evaluation will likely only be able to assess progress on GEHR in the short to medium term. The adoption of a developmental approach which actively engages stakeholders in the evaluation of the interventions will also mean that the exercise is not purely external. However, the presence of an external evaluator will provide an external and experienced perspective to guide, facilitate and assess the process and the data.

[1] Egypt will not be included in the assessment as it has not yet begun implementation of the community based grants.

3.Evaluation approach

With the aim of testing and understanding how change happens at the community level, UN Women is commissioning a formative evaluation. As a formative evaluation the exercise contribute to greater learning on what works and does not work and in so doing, will contribute to continuously improving the interventions.

UN Women will adopt an evaluation approach which is: (i) developmental - supporting ‘the development of innovation and adaptation in complex environments’, (ii) utilization focused – driven by the priorities and needs of the intended users and intended uses of the exercise, and (iii) and gender responsive – integrating gender equality mainstreaming principles within the actual evaluation process.  In adopting these approaches, the process will be highly participatory with a focus on empowerment approaches. Community members will be involved in assessing progress.

The evaluation should use a range of participatory methods. These can include, depending on the nature of the intervention: focus groups discussions, direct observations, interviews, mapping, citizen report cards, most significant change, and photographs and video. The evaluator will work with communities to lead and facilitate this process.

The exercise will include the below phases:

• Inception: consultations between the evaluation consultant and evaluation management group, desk review of relevant programme documents, stakeholder mapping, inception meetings with the reference group, finalization of evaluation methodology and inception report;
• Conduct: Data collection and analysis;
• Reporting: Presentation of preliminary findings, draft and final reports.

Methods

The evaluation methodology should include:

• A wide range of data sources;
• Data collection methods and analysis (e.g., appreciative inquiry, most signifi­cant change case study, survey, interviews, focus groups, observation, site visit, etc.) that address gender equality and human rights issues; the evaluator will elaborate on the final rationale for selection and their limitations;
• Participatory tools for engagement of stakeholder groups and a plan for inclusion of women and individuals and groups who are vulnerable and/or discrim­inated against in the consultation process;
• A plan on how protection of subjects and respect for confidentiality will be guaranteed;
• Measures to ensure data quality, reliability[1] and validity[2] of data collection tools and methods and their respon­siveness to gender equality and human rights; for example, 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; and
• Sample selection based on clear reasoning and justification for sampling methodology selected.

[1] Reliability is consistency in results using the same method (i.e. if the same survey is instituted several times it should give you similar results each time).

[2] Validity refers to the accuracy of data collection tools; in other words, whether the tools are collecting the information they are intended to collect or measuring the right construct.

4.Time frame and expected deliverables

The proposed timeframe for the evaluation is July to November 2018. 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 Service.

Key Evaluation Guidance Documents (Click for hyperlink)

• Integrating Human Rights and Gender Equality in Evaluations
• Integrating Human Rights and Gender Equality in Evaluation – towards UNEG Guidance
• Norms and Standards for Evaluation in the UN System
• UN Women Tool 14: Quality criteria for evaluation reports
• UNEG Code of Conduct for Evaluation in the UN System
• UNEG Ethical Guidelines
• UNEG Quality Checklist for Evaluation Reports

5.Management of evaluation

The process will be managed by an evaluation management group comprised of UN Women Regional Evaluation Specialist who is a staff member of UN Women’s Independent Evaluation Services, the Men and Women for Gender Equality Regional Programme Manager, Programme M&E Specialist, and Country Programme Coordinators. The UN Women ROAS is responsible for the management and quality assurance of this evaluation. The UN Women Independent Evaluation Service (IES), 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[1]. The Regional Evaluation Specialist, working closely with the Programme M&E Specialist, will have the primary responsibility for coordinating the evaluation process. Country Programme Coordinators and the Programme M&E Specialist will provide support in identifying key stakeholders. The consultant will be responsible for their own travel and logistics.

While there will be ongoing input from and feedback to the communities, the establishment of a small reference group 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 reference group will provide input on key evaluation deliverables, including the presentation of preliminary findings and the draft report. It will be composed of EMG members, as well as key partners and civil society, including CBOs involved in the project.

[1] 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 

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

Required Skills and Experience

The consultant should have extensive experience in participatory research and evaluation, as well as experience in gender analysis. 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.

The consultant will be responsible for delivering the key evaluation products. In close collaboration with the Regional Evaluation Specialist, s/he will be responsible for the conceptualization and design of the evaluation, the coordination and conduct of the site visits and the shaping of the findings, conclusions and recommendations of the final report based on the data and input of stakeholders.

Education

• Master’s degree in social sciences, preferably development, gender.

Experience

• At least 8 years practical experience in conducting research and evaluations of community based interventions, using approaches which are gender and human rights responsive, utilization and empowerment focused. Experience in evaluating advocacy related interventions is an asset;
• Substantial professional experience (at least 5 years) related to using mixed methods, particularly innovative and participatory research and evaluation approaches. Experience in using a developmental evaluation approach is an asset;
• 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

• Fluency in Arabic and English, for Lebanon and Palestine;
• Fluency in Moroccan Arabic dialect is a requirement for Morocco, as well as French.

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.

Technical Evaluation Criteria Obtainable Score: (70 points)

• Master’s degree in social sciences, preferably development, gender; (7 points)
• At least 8 years practical experience in conducting research and evaluations of community based interventions, using approaches which are gender and human rights responsive, utilization and empowerment focused. Experience in evaluating advocacy related interventions is an asset; (28 points)
• Substantial professional experience (at least 5 years) related to using mixed methods, particularly innovative and participatory research and evaluation approaches. Experience in using a developmental evaluation approach is an asset; (14 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; and (14 points)
• Language Qualifications - Fluency in Arabic and English, for Lebanon and Palestine, Fluency in Moroccan Arabic dialect is aa asset for Morocco, as well as French. (7 points)

Financial/Price Proposal evaluation: (30 Points)

• The total number of points allocated for the price component is 30.
• 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 49-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. P11, downloaded from the following link - http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment, including contact information for 3 references;
3. Personal CV;
4. Financial proposal - Daily rate;
5. Examples of two evaluation reports for evaluations conducted by the applicant.

The financial proposal shall specify the daily rate. Per diem and travel costs for any required domestic travel will be paid separately.

The above-mentioned documents (Cover letter, UN Women P11, Personal CV, evaluation reports 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. A statement from a medical doctor of “good health and fit for work”.

Note:

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, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.

UN Women is applying fair and transparent selection process that would take into account both the technical qualification of Consultants as well as their price proposals. The contract will be awarded to the candidate obtaining the highest combined technical and financial scores.