Background

UN Women is the global champion for gender equality, working to develop and uphold standards and create an environment in which every woman and girl can exercise her human rights and live up to her full potential. UN Women is a trusted partner for advocates and decision-makers from all walks of life, and a leader in the effort to achieve gender equality.

UN Women has been operating in Sri Lanka since 2014. The office is leading the implementation of UNSCR 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, which promotes the protection of women and girls against sexual and gender-based violence, women’s equal and meaningful participation in the prevention and resolution of conflicts as well as decision-making, and women’s equal involvement in participating and benefitting from post-conflict recovery and development.

In the same way, UNOPS provides infrastructure, procurement, and project management services for a more sustainable world. UNOPS has been operating in Sri Lanka since 1997 and focuses on social and economic development projects that build in-country national capacity. UNOPS supports infrastructure needs at innovation, policy and implementation levels, through involvement in disaster risk reduction and management for sustainable and resilient infrastructure. UNOPs aims to address vital climate change and environmental issues such as water resource management and solid waste management in the country.

From November 2019 to November 2021, UN WOMEN and UNOPS with the support of the Peacebuilding Fund have been implementing a project titled “Promoting Women’s Engagement in Waste Management to Prevent Conflict in Sri Lanka” in Puttalam and Mannar Districts in Sri Lanka. This project has taken an innovative, integrated approach to peacebuilding, tackling ethno-religious tensions by bringing communities together to provide a sustainable solution for a shared environmental issue, with women at the forefront for conflict prevention. Solid waste management related interventions have been used as a unique vehicle for uniting communities on a common issue. The project is focused on empowering women by supporting their engagement in governance mechanisms and in community resilience initiatives; it also has been exploring creating economic opportunities and initiating peacebuilding activities to allay communal tensions related to waste management and beyond.

In accordance with Guidelines on PBF Funds Application and Programming (2018), UN Women Sri Lanka is recruiting an international consultant as part of a two-member evaluation team consisting of an international and a national consultant, to conduct the independent final evaluation coinciding with the project’s expected closure on 30 November 2021. As the technical lead, the International Consultant will oversee (remotely),, the methodological approach, ensure overall quality assurance and provide technical support to the National Consultant to lead and carry out the necessary fieldwork and the complete set of deliverables.

The evaluation, led by UN Women together with UNOPS, will be a participatory, consultative multi-stakeholder process focused on assessing results and the progress towards the peacebuilding impact of the project implemented based on its theory of change and will be guided by and in compliance with standards set in the UN Women Evaluation Policy, UN Women Evaluation Handbook and the Global Evaluation Report Assessment and Analysis System (GERAAS), which has adapted the overall United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG) Standards for Evaluation in the UN System and the United Nations System-wide Action Plan Evaluation Performance Indicator (UN-SWAP EPI).

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Initiated in November 2019 with a total budget of $ 1,500,000, the “Promoting Women’s Engagement in Waste Management to Prevent Conflict in Sri Lanka” project aims to empower women through Solid Waste Management (SWM), as means, to contribute towards lasting peace in Sri Lanka. The project is funded by the UN Peacebuilding Fund and is implemented by UN Women (convening and lead recipient agency) UNOPS (co-recipient agency) and Chrysalis (implementing partner) in five local government authority areas in the Puttalam and Mannar districts that have emerged as major conflict hotspots. It is a focused initiative, within the specific context of Puttalam and Mannar, looking at environmental conflicts caused through poor waste management. It also takes into consideration the fact that the community SWM is not a gender-neutral concept, as women typically bear the responsibility for waste management at the household level and form the majority of those directly involved in municipal waste collection, yet often have limited roles in community governance and decision-making on this and other issues.

The project adopted an integrated approach to achieve its overall objective: building community resilience through women’s engagement in conflict resolution and their participation within community and local governance systems; strengthening community governance systems such as the Praja Mandala to better lobby with local authorities; strengthening SWM systems within target divisions, including technical support to local authorities on better managing SWM systems; and supporting different communities to coalesce around the issue of SWM via Praja Mandala – with the goal of improving inter- and intra-community relations.

Women’s political engagement results in greater responsiveness to citizens’ needs, often increasing cooperation across party and ethno-religious lines, delivering more sustainable peace. Despite high involvement in communities, women remain under-represented in policy and decision-making; their experiences and skills are often overlooked. Thus, any solutions related to waste management, and communal tensions therein, require women’s meaningful participation. The project builds on women’s role within their communities to support conflict prevention in a context of religious intolerance and violent extremism. Gendered division of household labour results in women being mostly responsible for waste management, hence they play critical roles in responding to environmental degradation at the community level. Accordingly, the project envisaged to achieve women across ethno-religious communities in target districts are empowered to undertake critical leadership roles in community decision-making to diffuse local triggers of conflict, and communities (with a specific focus on women) are effectively engaged and empowered through strengthening of SWM systems focusing on resolving conflicts related to SWM.

As per the results expected, the project aims to contribute to two Outcome level results, the achievement of which over the time will lead to the realization of the project goal “Empower women through solid waste management to create and sustain lasting peace in Sri Lanka”.

Outcome 1: Empowered women across ethno-religious communities in target districts undertake critical leadership roles in community decision-making and contribute to diffusing local triggers of conflict;

Outcome 2: Enhanced SWM systems with the capacity to resolve conflicts related to SWM are in place that involves the effective engagement of strengthened communities, particularly women.

Lockdowns, physical gathering and travel restrictions imposed to contain the COVID-19 pandemic during most of the project period severely affected and delayed the delivery of results and required re-strategizing plans for alternative methods of implementation. In April 2021, the project was approved for a six-month no-cost extension until 30 November 2021.

• Geographic Coverage: Puttalam (North Western Province) and Mannar (Northern Province) districts – (Puttalam: Puttalam PS, Arachchikattuwa PS, Chilaw UC, Kalpitiya PS, Mannar: Mannar UC)
   
• IMPLEMENTING AGENCY: UN WOMEN (Convening Agency), UNOPS

           IMPLEMENTING PARTNER: Chrysalis - CSO

• STAKEHOLDERS: Local Government Authorities and its councillors, particularly women councilors, local authorities, Local administrative structures and its officers, Praja Mandala (PM), Women Community Leaders and Women CBOs, Religious Leaders and Inter-Religious Committees, youth (Youth Task Force) and men.

EVALUATION PURPOSE, OBJECTIVES & SCOPE

The purpose of the final evaluation is to assess the impact of the project in the two target districts and how women’s engagement in Solid Waste Management contributed to greater women’s participation in decision-making at both household and community levels, resolving conflicts, social cohesion, attitudinal and behavioral changes along with any ripple effects on long term peacebuilding objectives. Further it will also provide useful learning to support evidence-based decision making, demonstrate accountability to donors and stakeholders, and inform and guide future peacebuilding programming at UN Women, as well as other UN agencies and government institutions focusing on women’s engagement in the context of peacebuilding by building on the experience of SWM. To facilitate learning, UN Women will share the evaluation products within six weeks following completion and adopt an external and internal dissemination strategy. At minimum, the final evaluation report will be publicly accessible on UN Women’s Global Accountability and Tracking of Evaluation Use (GATE) website, and the UN Peacebuilding Fund’s website: https://www.un.org/peacebuilding/fund/documents/evaluations.  

The objectives of the final evaluation are:

• to assess the project along the OECD DAC criteria relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability and progress towards higher-level peacebuilding results;
• to identify changes in attitudes, behavior, practices and systems that are attributable to the project intervention;
• to assess the level of cooperation/networking and gender dynamics amongst key stakeholders – local authorities, councilors, public officials, Praja Mandalas and communities;
• to assess implications of engaging women in SWM as a means to promote gender equality, women’s empowerment, diffusing triggers of violence, and peacebuilding as proposed by the project;
• to identify lessons learned, capture  good practices, provide a set of clear, forward-looking, actionable recommendations, and generate knowledge to inform replicable, scaled-up interventions and guide future peacebuilding programming vis-à-vis SWM;

Covering the entire project life cycle from November 2019 to November 2021, the evaluation will produce a stand-alone Final Evaluation Report. Subsequently the findings will be incorporated in the final project report to PBSO highlighting overall achievements, lessons learned and best practices in solid waste management towards conflict resolution and peacebuilding. The COVID-19 pandemic caused delays throughout the implementation period and in view of ongoing challenges, the review will be guided first and foremost by the ‘Do No Harm’ principle and will adjust its methodology as required in the process to adhere to ethics and safety guidelines. Accordingly, a flexible approach will be adopted, and the methodology will be finalized at the inception stage, The inception report will be reviewed and approved by PBF, before moving onto the data collection phase.

The final evaluation should primarily answer the following questions outlined in Table 1: Evaluation Criteria. These questions are only indicative, and the consultants are expected to jointly review and propose revisions at the inception stage. It will be finalized in consultation with UN Women, UNOPS and PBF during the inception stage.

Table 1. Evaluation Criteria

Apart from the criteria, gender is cross-cutting and, gender aspects should be considered in all areas of analysis. In addition to answer the above criteria questions, the evaluation should be accompanied by an update of the higher-level indicators in the project’s Results Framework (RF) based on its findings.

EVALUATION MANAGEMENT

The evaluation will be led and administered by UN Women in consultation with UNOPS. Two stakeholder groups – Evaluation Management (EMG) and Evaluation Reference (ERG) – will be established and engaged systematically at key milestones of the evaluation process to approve key deliverables (e.g. inception report, draft and final evaluation reports) and to facilitate the conduct of a transparent and participatory evaluation. It is the responsibility of the EMG, with contextual and technical inputs from ERG where applicable, to approve the final evaluation terms of reference, selection of the evaluators and all evaluation outputs and methodological decisions. The EMG will comprise UN Women’s programme and M&E focal points for the project under evaluation, a regional evaluation specialist at the UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific and representatives from UNOPS and the main CSO partner, Chrysalis. The EMG will be chaired by a representative of the senior management at UN WOMEN Sri Lanka and, will also produce a management response to evaluation recommendations within one month of the approval of the final project report to PBSO per PBF guidance and share findings as outlined in the evaluation dissemination strategy.

In parallel, the ERG will include a technical specialist at UN Women Regional Office and a PBSO representative. The ERG will be consulted to validate and provide feedback to strengthen the accuracy, relevancy and quality of the deliverables listed in Section VIII. The detailed roles and responsibilities of the EMG and ERG are clarified through separate terms of references. The evaluation consultants are required to maintain a systematic record of the inputs from EMG and ERG and the responses given and revisions made to relevant evaluation deliverables using the Evaluation Product Comment Template included in the UN Women Evaluation Handbook.

METHODOLOGY

The final evaluation will be an impartial, transparent and participatory process involving relevant stakeholders and partners. The overall evaluation design will be non-experimental and rely primarily on qualitative data collection and analysis methods aligned with the principles of gender equality and human rights. The rationale behind key methodological decisions, including sample selection and data collection tool development and administration, and their limitations should be systematically elaborated in the evaluation outputs. To ensure accuracy and credibility of the findings, data should be triangulated with the use of multiple primary and secondary data collection methods and sources, including but not limited to desk reviews, document analysis, key informant interviews with identified key stakeholders and case studies, and reviewed and validated through consultations with the evaluation management and reference groups.

A Rapid Assessment (RA) must be carried out as the first task of the consultants to jointly finalize key evaluation criteria and corresponding questions and to inform the design and methodological choices in the context of the COVID-19 crisis. Remote data collection methods, i.e. telephone and online/virtual interviews to capture primary data, may be applicable under these ever-changing, volatile circumstances to ensure the safety of all involved and to strictly abide by government regulations. In addition, the RA should assess the availability and quality of existing data, and identify specific, feasible objectives and areas of assessment for the evaluation from the full set of criteria listed in Section III. An Evaluation Matrix should be developed as part of the Inception Report based on findings of the RA and insights from relevant stakeholders, including UN Women, UNOPS, PBSO/PBF and Chrysalis, and the review of available project-related information. The templates and guidelines for the Matrix and the Inception Report are provided in the UN Women Evaluation Handbook. The following information will be supplied by UN Women, UNOPS and Chrysalis to support the RA process:

• Full project document, results-based monitoring framework used to measure performance and an updated conflict and political analysis/assessments commissioned by the project;
• Available monitoring data and relevant information collected at output level and beyond;
• Key project outputs such as knowledge products, reports and agendas from meetings and workshops;
• Relevant policies and knowledge products produced in the project’s operating environment, including existing national and regional data and evidence, and/or data from similar projects;
• A comprehensive list of beneficiaries and stakeholders and contacts for data collection.
• Technical guidelines on solid waste management in Sri Lanka.
• Preliminary support will be provided  to coordinate meetings and consultations with some project stakeholders.

The consultants will jointly facilitate the review and finalization of all evaluation outputs by directly participating in and contributing to relevant in-person or virtual workshops and meetings held for such purposes. Evaluation processes and methods should be culturally sensitive and ethically valid to protect the privacy and confidentiality of the participants and should not cause physical or emotional distress. The consultant should closely consult UN Women’s Pocket Toolkit for conducting evaluations during the pandemic, strictly abide by the “Do No Harm” principle and as noted in the quality assurance procedures outlined Section I, be familiar with the referenced documents, especially the GERAAS Evaluation Report Quality Assessment Checklist[1] of this document as a guidance for conducting the evaluation and drafting the final evaluation report.  

EVALUATION ETHICS

The consultants should have both personal and professional integrity and abide by the UNEG Ethical Guidelines for evaluation and the UNEG Code of Conduct for Evaluation in the UN system to ensure that the rights of individuals involved in the evaluation are respected. The consultants must act with cultural sensitivity and pay attention to protocols, codes and recommendations that may be relevant to their interactions with women. As part of the Inception Report, the consultants will jointly develop a specific protocol for the conduct of the evaluation and data collection in line with WHO Guidelines on conducting research on violence against women.[2] All data collected through the evaluation is property of UN Women and the PBF, and must be provided to the organization, if requested, in a word format. In addition, UN Women’s information security policy on protecting the integrity and confidentiality of data must be adhered to.[3] The consultants must explicitly declare their independence from any organizations that have been involved in designing, executing or advising any aspect of the UN Women Sri Lanka project that is the subject of evaluation. The selection process will ensure that the consultants do not have any relationship with the project in the past, present or foreseen in the near future. If any wrongdoing is uncovered, the UN Women Legal Framework for addressing non-compliance with UN conduct must be followed.[4]

[1] GERAAS Evaluation Report Quality Assessment Checklist is available at https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/evaluation/evaluation-geraas-guidance-en.pdf?la=en&vs=408

[2] World Health Organization, Researching Violence Against Women, 2005;

[3] UN Women, Information security policy;

[4] UN Women, Legal framework for addressing non-compliance with UN standards of conduct

Duties and Responsibilities

EXPECTED DELIVERABLES AND TENTATIVE TIMEFRAME  

DURATION OF ASSIGNMENT AND ROLE OF THE CONSULTANT

The International Consultant’s contract will be supervised and financed by UN WOMEN. The tentative duration of assignment is between November 2021 and February 2022. Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the contract duration and requirements may change based on the measures imposed by the government and by the UN. The consultant(s) must demonstrate flexibility given such changing conditions.

The International and National consultants will be jointly responsible for the completion and submission of the deliverables outlined below. The International Consultant’s responsibilities include the provision of technical expertise and overall direction in support of the data collection and field efforts led by the National Consultant and the management of all communication and coordination with the Evaluation Management and Reference Groups. Whereas the International Consultant’s assignment will be home-based, the National Consultant will be primarily responsible for the implementation of the evaluation plan in the project areas, including conducting field interviews with beneficiaries (if possible and dependent on the COVID-19 situation in the country) and liaising directly with district-level implementing partners and stakeholders. As one team, the consultants are expected to work collaboratively and contribute equally to all deliverables in general and particularly to decision-making processes, particularly in the design of the evaluation methodology and analysis of key findings and recommendations.
 

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

Functional Competencies

• Adaptability to UN procurement guidelines
• Ability to monitor the work of vendors, deliver on best value for money

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Minimum education of master’s degree in relevant disciplines (gender, conflict studies, peacebuilding, international development, social sciences, or related fields);
• Qualifications, including specialized trainings or certifications, in peacebuilding program evaluation and results-based management; (Required)

Professional experience:

• At least 5 years of experience in designing and leading program evaluation in a peacebuilding context, including with programming in relation to the WPS agenda, gender equality, women’s economic and political empowerment and peacebuilding and reconciliation;
• Experience in conducting and managing gender-responsive evaluations in Sri Lanka and/or South Asia highly desirable;
• Experience/understanding of Solid Waste Management projects is desirable;
• Proven knowledge and understanding of M&E methodologies, including qualitative and quantitative data analysis skills and participatory data collection approaches;
• Proven ability to produce high-quality reports and manage diverse perspectives in communications and consultations with relevant stakeholders and beneficiaries;
• Knowledge of national and local governance systems and legal and policy frameworks and previous experience engaging with UN agencies, donors and high-level government stakeholders are preferred;
• Proficiency in English;

EVALUATION

Applications will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis:

• Technical qualification (100 points); weight: (70%)
•  Financial proposal (100 points): weight (30%)

A two-stage procedure is utilized in evaluating the applications, with evaluation of the technical application being completed prior to any price proposal being compared. Only the price proposal of the candidates who passed the minimum technical score of 70% of the obtainable score of 100 points in the technical qualification evaluation will be evaluated.

Technical qualification evaluation criteria:

Only the candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% of total points will be considered as technically-qualified candidates who may be contacted for validation interview.

Financial/Price Proposal evaluation:

• Only the financial proposal of candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% 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% score in the technical evaluation. All other price proposals will receive points in inverse proportion to the lowest price.

SUBMISSION OF APPLICATION AND DEADLINE

Interested candidates are requested to submit an electronic application with technical and financial proposals hr.bangkok@unwomen.org with cc to upul.ranaweera@unwomen.org no later than 3 November 2021. The financial proposal should provide professional fees as a lump sum amount for each deliverable, as well as travel-related costs.

The submission package should include:

• Cover letter outlining relevant experience(s)
• Curriculum Vitae
• Personal History Form (P11) that can be downloaded from: http://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/about-us/jobs
• Proposed preliminary evaluation methodology based on the criteria and context noted above.
• Writing sample in the form of a past evaluation report in which applicant was the team leader or sole evaluator.
• Financial proposal specifying proposed fee based on each deliverable, and travel-related costs* as per the following template:

PAYMENT

The draft deliverables shall be submitted within the deadlines indicated in Section VIII. Payment will be released upon satisfactory completion and once the final and revised versions of the deliverables outlined, incorporating feedback of EMG and ERG, are reviewed and approved by UN Women, UNOPS and PBF. Payment shall be made within 30 days from receipt of corresponding invoices.

Miscellaneous costs (such as internet connectivity etc.) must be included in the financial proposal as a lumpsum amount.  No travel cost will be reimbursed since the assignment is home based.

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION STATEMENT

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

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

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