Background

The UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women (UNTF) is a global multi-lateral grant making mechanism supporting national efforts to prevent and end violence against women and girls. The UN Trust Fund was established through the UN General Assembly Resolution 50/166 in 1996 with UN Women as its Administrator on behalf of the UN system. The UN Trust Fund provides grants to advance the development of innovative models and strategic interventions in the area of ending violence against women and girls. Grantees – comprising governments and non-governmental organizations - have engaged diverse actors, such as women’s, men’s, adolescents and youth groups, indigenous communities, religious and traditional leaders, human rights organizations and the media. To date, the UN Trust Fund has awarded US $129 million to 463 initiatives in 139 countries and territories.

The UN Trust Fund introduced external evaluation as a mandatory stage of project cycle management for all grantees in 2012 in recognition of the importance of evaluation to align with UN Women policies and procedures. Since then more than 100 external evaluations have been produced. One of the key objectives set out in the UN Trust Fund’s Strategy 2015-2020 is to create an evidence and learning hub to collect and reflect on the depth of knowledge and lessons learned through the work of its grantees. This will be achieved through:

• improving the UN Trust Fund’s evaluation practice and results monitoring to produce high quality, useful evidence;
• investing in longer term projects that can achieve results at scale and generate lessons on impact (for example the “invitation only” window of funding led to a second generation of UN Trust Fund grantees that have replicated, scaled-up and adapted project methodologies);
• and supporting grantees to improve their own capacity in data collection, monitoring and evaluation, and in generating evidence.

In 2016, the UN Trust Fund’s Call for Proposals (Cycle 20) specified that final, external evaluations would be centralized for projects implemented by small organizations receiving small grants[1] —presenting an opportunity to build upon existing capacity development activities and move toward a coaching relationship with evaluation task mangers from small CSOs.

Project Context

The 2014 Nigerian Survey Report on Violence against Children (VAC), revealed that 1 in 4 Nigerian girls experience sexual violence (SV) before age 18, with a low disclosure rate of 38%. It also reveals that only 16% of girls who experience SV are aware of a place to seek help, with just 5% actually seeking help and 4% receiving the help needed. To address these issues, the Government of Nigeria launched a call to action for relevant agencies and NGO’s to join the fight to end this menace of which this project is responding to.

In addition, Wumba and Dushe Communities are beset with economic issues of poverty, unemployment, high population density and an increasingly heated political climate with the Presidential and Gubernatorial elections scheduled to hold in Nigeria in February 2019. Sexual violence, gang culture, drug abuse, child prostitution and teenage pregnancy remain major problems. The culture of silence regarding Sexual Based Violence against Girls (SBVAG) is still high but activities of the Community Child Protection Committees and the Female Mentors which have both been established in both project communities have led to increased awareness of the effects and need to prevent and report such cases.

Project Description:

The main focus of SOAR Initiative on an institutional level is to address the prevalence and consequences of child sexual abuse by providing prevention and survivor support solutions. Within the last 5 years, SOAR concentrated efforts, through a girl’s empowerment program, to build the capacity of in-schoolgirls to assert their rights, recognize sexual abuse, refuse it, report it and then speak out against it through awareness raising activities with peers.

Mobilizing Communities to End Sexual Based Violence against Girls in Local District of Abuja Municipal Area Council has been implemented by the Sexual Offences Awareness & Victims Rehabilitation Initiative (SOAR) with a small grant award of USD 115,412 from the UN Trust Fund. The project started 1 March 2017 and will end on 28 February 2019. It is therefore within the final six months of implementation.

Primary beneficiaries are girls and adolescents in two rural communities of Abuja. Secondary beneficiaries include members of the community as well as educators in local schools. 

With this two-year grant, SOAR has been able to mobilize grassroots communities and schools to develop local mechanisms to protect girls from sexual violence in Dushe and Wumba communities. The indented result is that the capacity of local peer leaders, responsible for ensuring these mechanisms work, as well as that of school girls, is strengthened to develop action plans and community-based referral mechanisms to respond to SBVAG within the project communities and link survivors to required multi-sectoral services.

To achieve this, SOAR has implemented a strategy in which youth, especially girls, have been engaged throughout the project life cycle—from determining how sexual violence manifests and affects girls within communities, to deciding what should be done to curtail it, and involvement in creating community-based child protection committees (CCPC) mechanisms needed to respond to SBVAG. School girls have also been trained to assert their rights, recognize and report sexual abuse and share peer information on SBVAG. In-school Girls Clubs were also created as safe spaces for continuous capacity building and confidential disclosures.

Results chain:

Purpose of the evaluation & justification for the consultancy

This consultancy is intended to provide the UN Trust Fund Secretariat with an external, independent, final evaluation of the project ‘Mobilizing Communities to End Sexual Based Violence against Girls in Local District of Abuja Municipal Area Council in Nigeria’, implemented by the Sexual Offences Awareness & Victims Rehabilitation Initiative in Dushe and Wumba, Abuja, Nigeria. The presents an opportunity for learning what works and doesn’t work for women and girls—particularly, the girl child. Being, of course, aligned with UN Trust Fund focus areas, the location and context within which the project was implemented is also seen as a strategic geographic location. With progress reports reflecting progress toward the project goal, there is also an opportunity to learn what mechanisms and practices have (or have not) enabled efficient functioning of the team.

Scope and Objectives

Evaluation scope:

• Timeframe: to cover the entire project duration (1 March 2017 to 28 February 2019)
• Geographical Coverage: Dushe and Wumba
• Target groups to be covered: primary and secondary beneficiaries, as well as key stakeholders

Evaluation objectives include:

• evaluating the entire two-year project against the effectiveness, relevance, efficiency, sustainability and impact criteria, as well as the cross-cutting gender equality and human rights criteria; and
• identifying key lessons and promising or emerging good practices in the field of ending violence against women and girls, for learning purposes.

Evaluation questions:

Evaluation Methodology

Applicants are required to submit a proposed design of the evaluation and the methodology. The methodological design and approach to the evaluation must be gender-responsive and therefore ensure that human rights and gender quality are respected, addressed and promoted throughout the exercise.

It is expected that the consultant(s) conduct a desk review of background documentation from SOAR to refine the evaluation methodology proposed. Data sources may include, but are not limited to: SOAR ProDoc, baseline survey data, monitoring data, progress reports, end line data and report (when available).

Mixed-methods are encouraged along with a high level of stakeholder participation. Data collection methods could include: questionnaires/surveys to be completed by SOAR partners; interview questions to be completed with Key Informants from selected SOAR partners; proposed criteria and checklists to review and assess documentation from SOAR; focus group discussion questionnaires to be carried out with SOAR partners and stakeholders, etc.

During the inception phase, it is expected that the evaluator(s) will work in consultation with SOAR and key stakeholders to refine the methodology and identify the stakeholders who will be interviewed and surveyed, as well as the rationale for selection (sampling framework). This should include a more detailed work plan (field visits in Abuja), timeline and deliverables for the data collection and analysis stage of the process as well as any limitations and constraints to set expectations for the evaluation.

Evaluation Ethics

It is expected that the consultant will ensure that the confidentiality and independence of judgment are maintained, and that findings and recommendations are independently presented. The consultant will operate in an impartial and unbiased manner and give a balanced presentation of strengths and weaknesses of the issues being assessed. The consultant must disclose in writing any experience, which may give rise to a potential conflict of interest, and to deal honestly in resolving any conflict of interest which may arise.

The evaluator must also put in place specific safeguards and protocols to protect the safety (both physical and psychological) of respondents and those collecting the data as well as to prevent harm. This must ensure the rights of the individual are protected and participation in the evaluation does not result in further violation of their rights. The evaluator/s must have a plan in place to: 

• Protect the rights of respondents, including privacy and confidentiality; 
• Elaborate on how informed consent will be obtained and to ensure that the names of individuals consulted during data collection will not be made public;  
• Consider additional risks and need for parental consent due to the fact that the project involves children (under 18 years old[2]);   
• The evaluator/s must be trained in collecting sensitive information and specifically data relating to violence against women and select any members of the evaluation team on these issues;
• Data collection tools must be designed in a way that is culturally appropriate and does not create distress for respondents; 
• Data collection visits should be organized at the appropriate time and place to minimize risk to respondents;  
• The interviewer or data collector must be able to provide information on how individuals in situations of risk can seek support (referrals to organizations that can provided counseling support, for example). 

Resources:

• WHO, “Ethical and safety recommendations for intervention research on violence against women “, (2016) 
• WHO, “Ethical and safely recommendations for researching, documenting and monitoring sexual violence in emergencies” (2007) 
• WHO/PATH, “Researching violence against women: a practical guide for researchers and activists”, (2005) 
• UNICEF’s “Child and youth participation guide” (various resources) 
• UNEG guidance document, “Integrating human rights and gender equality in evaluations”, (2011) Chapter 3 

[1] Small grants refer to UN Trust Fund awards of US$ 125,000 or less in 2017 and US$ 150,000 or less from 2018.

[2] A child means every human being below the age of eighteen years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier. 

Duties and Responsibilities

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

The Evaluation Team will be consisting of a national consultant. Selected consultant may suggest that additional support is required, in the form of an assistant or data specialist, however this additional support must be organized and managed by the selected consultant within the daily rate agreed. The consultant is also expected to cover the costs of the home-based activities within the daily rate. All travel to and within Nigeria is to be coordinated and managed by the consultant, with guidance from SOAR. Therefore, please provide details in your proposal when applying for the consultancy. 

The Lead Evaluator will be responsible for undertaking the evaluation from start to finish and for managing the evaluation team under the supervision of the evaluation task managers (from SOAR and the UN Trust Fund), for the data collection and analysis, as well as report drafting and finalization in English.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in social sciences, human rights, gender/women's studies, international development, or a related field is required.

Experience:

• At least 10 years in conducting external evaluations, with mixed-methods evaluation skills and having flexibility in using non-traditional and innovative evaluation methods; 
• Expertise in gender and human-rights based approaches to evaluation and issues of violence against women and girls;  
• Experience with program design and theory of change, gender-responsive evaluation, participatory approaches and stakeholder engagement; 
• Specific evaluation experiences in the areas of ending violence against women and girls; 
• Experience in collecting and analyzing quantitative and qualitative data as well as data visualization;  
• In-depth knowledge of gender equality and women’s empowerment;  
• A strong commitment to delivering timely and high-quality results, i.e. credible evaluation and its report that can be used; 
• A strong team leadership and management track record, as well as interpersonal and communication skills to help ensure that the evaluation is understood and used; 
• Good communication skills and ability to communicate with various stakeholders and to express concisely and clearly ideas and concepts;  
• Regional/Country experience and knowledge: in-depth knowledge of West Africa is required.  

Language:

• Full proficiency in English (written and spoken).

How to apply

Applicants should provide a short proposal with a suggested approach and timeline for the Final Evaluation, including your proposed daily rate for the work. This proposal must be included in the same attachment as your P11 and resume. Note that all applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment. Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment hence the need to add your proposal and resume into the same document as the signed P11. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment. Deadline for submission is 3 January 2019.

Due to the large number of applications we receive, we are only able to inform the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.