UN WOMEN Jobs - 79219- UN Women: Mid-Term Evaluation Consultant

UN Women: Mid-Term Evaluation Consultant

Advertised on behalf of

UN WOMEN

Location :

Home-based

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

17-Jun-18 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

50 days within 4 months period

Languages Required :

English French Spanish

Expected Duration of Assignment :

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

The UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women (UN Trust Fund) 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 is financed through voluntary contributions from United Nations Member States, partners in the private sector and civil society, as well as concerned individuals from around the world. It awards grants through an annual open and competitive process. Its governance and grant-making is guided by consultative committees (Programme Advisory Committees – PACs) at global and sub-regional levels comprised of UN agencies, leading experts and other key stakeholders.

In late 2015 the UN Trust Fund developed a five-year (2015-2020) Strategic Plan which sets out the mission of the Fund and strategic pathways to achieve this based on lessons learned from the Fund’s previous results as well as an assessment of the global context on ending violence against women (EVAW). The Strategic Plan is further defined in a Theory of Change and a Results Framework, the latter of which is used to monitor and report progress against specific results the Fund aims to achieve over the five years. Each year the UN Trust Fund produces and Annual Report which contains results and lessons which is publicly available on the website.

The UN Trust Fund mission is: “to advocate for and finance innovative approaches for preventing and ending violence against women and girls, to catalyze learning from global evidence collected from the programmes funded by the UNTF and to leverage its unique mandate and convening power to foster global giving to end violence against women and girls”.

It aims to achieve this mission through three inter-connected pillars of work:

Grant giving to initiatives to end violence against women and girls;
Building a global Evidence Hub on ending violence against women and girls based on the evaluated results of UNTF grantees; and
Advocating for global giving for work on ending violence against women and girls.

The Strategic Plan was developed in consultation with several of the Fund’s current donors, active and past grantees, Member States, members of civil society organizations, experts on EVAW and members of the UN Trust Fund’s Global Programme Advisory Committee (GPAC) which includes UN agencies. The UN Trust Fund made a commitment to carry out a Mid-Term Review of the Strategic Plan during the five-year period to review the success of the plan to date and to inform any adjustments needed given any new opportunities and challenges. This consultancy is intended to hire an expert to conduct the Mid-Term Evaluation.

How to apply: applicants should provide a short proposal with a suggested approach to the Mid Term 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.

Justification for the consultancy

This consultancy is intended to provide the UN Trust Fund Secretariat and the GPAC with an external, independent, mid-term evaluation of the UN Trust Fund’s Strategic Plan (2015-2020) to take stock of results to date and lessons learned from the first two and a half years of the Plan and to inform decision making on the implementation of the Plan in the last few years. This is necessary to fulfil a commitment made in the externally published Strategic Plan, that was approved by Senior Management in UN Women and the GPAC in August 2015. It is also timely to conduct a scan of the current global context on EVAW and arising opportunities and challenges facing the Fund to ensure it is positioned well to achieve the results set out in the Strategic Plan. The Mid Term Review will assess the efficiency and effectiveness of UN Trust Fund operations, assess the added value of the Fund in the field of EVAW and the use of resources, to inform decision making on the direction of the Fund for the remainder of the SP period and beyond.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objective

By 30 November 2018, to produce an evidence-based Mid-Term Evaluation of the UN Trust Fund’s Strategic Plan 2015-2020 for the UN Trust Fund’s Secretariat and the Global PAC. The report must address, at minimum, the following key questions and evaluation criteria of effectiveness, relevance, efficiency, sustainability and impact (noting that the criteria will be defined and questions refined in the first output of the consultancy, the inception report). The design and approach to the evaluation should be participatory and therefore involve key stakeholders in each key stage of the process.

Proposed evaluation questions:

i. To what extent is the UN Trust Fund progressing towards the achievement of the Strategic Plan’s (2015-2020) vision, mission and focus areas (the three pillars) – articulated further as outcomes and outputs in the Results Framework? What evidence is there of impact in terms of the UN Trust Fund’s contribution to the vision of the SP?

ii. To what extent does the SP’s vision, mission and focus areas remain appropriate and relevant to the UN Trust Fund’s mandate (taking into account the UN Trust Fund’s position in the UN system, the priorities of Member States, donors and other actors in the field of EVAW)?

iii. To what extent does the SP’s mandate vision, mission and focus areas remain appropriate and relevant to the UN Trust Fund’s core constituencies: women and girls, women’s rights organizations, women-led and small organizations as well as those targeted under the special windows (e.g. women and girls with disabilities’)?

iv. To what extent have the UN Trust Fund’s programmatic and operational modalities been developed and / or enhanced in order to deliver the mission of the SP?

v. And to what extent have these modalities and standards of delivery led to expected results? (Modalities include: the grant-making model, the call for proposals mechanism and our approach to building the capacity of grantees).

vi. To what extent has the UN Trust Fund been efficient in delivering the Strategic Plan, in terms of cost effectiveness of its operations and efficient use of resources?

vii. To what extent has the UN Trust Fund been able help grantees build more sustainable projects and organizations through this Strategic Plan?

viii. What internal and external factors contributed to the above findings? What challenges and opportunities affected the delivery of the Strategic Plan and how well did the UN Trust Fund adapt to these?

ix. How should the UN Trust Fund position itself going forward, considering its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and constraints as well as the global context on EVAW and current and new actors in the field of EVAW? This should include an analysis of the added value of the UN Trust Fund vis-à-vis other actors and similar mechanisms.

x. What amendments should be made to the Strategic Plan 2015-2020 to ensure it is appropriate and effective in delivering the UN Trust Fund’s mandate and responds to the above findings, in the remaining two years? And, what opportunities should be considered for the next SP (beyond 2020)?

Outputs

I. Inception report: By 31 August 2018, produce an inception report that sets out what, how and when the evaluator will complete the Mid-Term Evaluation: this should be based on an initial desk review of background documents and a participatory consultation with the UN Trust Fund Secretariat staff and select stakeholders. The inception report must include the final Mid-Term Evaluation questions, evaluation criteria with definitions, the evaluation design and methodology (i.e. description of data collection methods) and a more detailed timeline and deliverables.

II. Draft the Mid-Term Evaluation Report: By 31 October2018, produce a draft evaluation report that covers the agreed evaluation questions in the format agreed at the inception phase. It must provide evidence, analysis, conclusions and recommendations, including - where necessary - annexed summaries of the evidence gathered, tables and graphics to illustrate the findings. This should be presented to the UN Trust Fund and GPAC for fact-checking and discussion to inform the final report. The evaluator should collect feedback on the draft in a systematic manner to improve the final report. You may be required to travel to the UN Trust Fund Secretariat to present the findings.

III. Final Mid-Term Evaluation Report: By 30 November 2018, based on the feedback provided on the draft report, finalize the final Mid-Term Evaluation report that must cover the agreed evaluation questions in the format agreed at the inception phase. It must provide evidence, analysis, conclusions and recommendations, including - where necessary - annexed summaries of the evidence gathered, tables and graphics to illustrate the findings. This should be presented to the UN Trust Fund and GPAC and you may be required to travel to the UN Trust Fund Secretariat to present the findings.

Activities

Inception phase: By 31 August 2018

i. Desk review of background documentation on the UN Trust Fund and the Strategic Plan 2015-2020 to develop the evaluation methodology, including, but not limited to: the SP, Results Framework, Theory of Change; Annual Reports for the SP period; internal and external assessments of the UN Trust Fund; minutes of GPAC meetings and decisions; the Call for Proposals annual documents; selection of project documents, project evaluations and progress reports; operational and programmatic guidelines; portfolio matrix of active and closed grants in the SP period, etc.

ii. Design of the evaluation and the methodology: to include draft data collection methods. The design and approach to the evaluation should be participatory and therefore involve key stakeholders. Data collection methods could include: questionnaires/surveys to be completed by UN Trust Fund partners (donors, stakeholders, grantees etc.); interview questions to be completed with Key Informants from selected UN Trust Fund partners (donors, stakeholders, grantees etc.); proposed criteria and checklists to review and assess documentation on the UN Trust Fund; proposed focus group discussion questionnaires to be carried out with UN Trust Fund partners and stakeholders, etc.

iii. Draft the inception report setting out the proposed mid-term evaluation questions and criteria, the evaluation design and methodology including a description of the stakeholders who will be interviewed and surveyed and the rationale for selection. This should include a more detailed workplan, 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 mid-term review.

Data collection, analysis and drafting phase: by 31 October 2018

iv. Data collection and analysis: complete the data collection as proposed in the inception report including any surveys, interviews, discussions and document reviews etc. This is likely to include at least one visit to the UN Trust Fund Secretariat in New York for group discussions and interviews with stakeholders and UN Trust Fund staff. All other data collection should be conducted remotely unless otherwise agreed with the UN Trust Fund in the inception phase.

IV. Synthesis and draft reporting: produce the first draft of the Mid Term Evaluation that addresses all the agreed evaluation questions in the format agreed at the inception phase. It must provide evidence, analysis, conclusions and recommendations, including - where necessary - annexed summaries of the evidence gathered, tables and graphics to illustrate the findings.

Final reporting phase: by 30 November 2018

V. Consultation and feedback: the draft report should be presented to the UN Trust Fund and GPAC for fact-checking and discussion to inform the final report. The evaluator should collect feedback on the draft in a systematic manner to improve the final report. You may be required to travel to the UN Trust Fund Secretariat to present the findings.

VI. Final draft: based on the feedback provided on the draft report, finalize the final Mid-Term Evaluation report that must cover the agreed evaluation questions in the format agreed at the inception phase. It must provide evidence, analysis, conclusions and recommendations, including - where necessary - annexed summaries of the evidence gathered, tables and graphics to illustrate the findings. This should be presented to the UN Trust Fund and GPAC and you may be required to travel to the UN Trust Fund Secretariat to present the findings.

Inputs and Timing

Contribution from the beneficiary (UNTF Secretariat): the UNTF will provide the consultant with access to all the documentation required, key contacts and introductions to partners and stakeholders (and will introduce the consultant when required to key partners and stakeholders). Travel (international or domestic), accommodation and allowances for the mission to New York will be facilitated and paid for directly by the UN Trust Fund. Office space, desk, access to internet and a printer will be provided in New York for the period of that mission.

Consultants input: A total of 50 days (approximate, exact breakdown to be agreed in the inception phase)

• 10 days for the inception phase

• 30 days for the data collection and drafting phase

• 10 days for the final reporting phase

The consultant is expected to cover the costs of the home-based activities within the daily rate. Any requested visits to the UN Trust Fund Secretariat will be organized and paid for directly by the UN Trust Fund. To apply, applicants should provide a short proposal with a suggested approach to the Mid Term Evaluation, including your proposed daily rate for the work. This proposal must be included in the same attachment as your P11 and resume. Please note that the 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. Please provide details in your proposal when applying for the consultancy.

Reporting

The draft report should be shared with the UNTF Secretariat by 30 September2018 for consultation and fact checking, and the final report to be completed by 30 November 2018.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards
Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of the UN
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability

Professionalism:

Substantive knowledge of gender equality issues and of programming in the field of Ending Violence against Women and Girls.
Ability to assimilate and analyze complex information and derive programme relevant findings;
Ability to integrate knowledge into strategic, policy and operational frameworks;
Good problem solving skills with the ability to design and implement innovative solutions;
Ability to work independently and exercise good judgment under pressure.

Strategic Planning and organizing:

Proven ability to establish priorities and to plan, organize, coordinate and monitor own work plans and provide advice and guidance to others.
In-depth understanding of the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women’s strategic direction and resourcefulness.
Ability to lead strategic planning, results-based management and reporting;

Creativity, judgment and decision making:

Demonstrated sound judgment in resolving issues/problems,
Ability to actively seek to improve programmes/services, offer new and different options to solve problems.

Communication:

Excellent oral and written communication skills

Teamwork:

Ability to establish and maintain good working relationships in a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary environment;
Ability to handle difficult/sensitive situations with a high degree of tact, diplomacy and firmness;
Ability to work collaboratively and operate effectively across organizational boundaries.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

At least a master’s degree; PhD preferred, in any social science, preferably including gender, evaluation or social research.

Experience:

10 years of working experience in evaluation and/or programmatic and operational performance assessments of development programmes;
5 years of experience and background on human rights based approach to programming and gender equality rights and specifically on issues related to EVAW would be advantage;
Experience in evaluating and/or assessing large complex programmes involving multi-countries and multiple stakeholders;
Experience in designing and conceptualizing programmes/projects especially the theory of change;
Experience in working with multi-stakeholders and the UN is essential including experience working with senior level UN and government officials;
Experience in working with NGOs, and multilateral/bilateral institutions and donor entities is an asset;
Experience in participatory approach is an asset. Facilitation skills and ability to manage diversity of views in different cultural contexts;
Ability to produce well written reports demonstrating analytical ability and communication skill;
Ability to ensure that a high-quality product is delivered on a timely basis.

Languages:

Fluent in English and at least working knowledge of Spanish or French.

Ethical code of conduct

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 past experience, which may give rise to a potential conflict of interest, and to deal honestly in resolving any conflict of interest which may arise.