Background

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 Tanzania is implementing its programme based on the Strategic Note (SN) 2017-21 which was developed in 2017 and was approved by the Deputy Executive Director of UN Women in December 2016. The Tanzania SN is a forward-looking programmatic document that translates the UN Women global Strategic Plan 2018-2022 to the country level and adapts it to the country context and priorities, including the current United Nations Development Assistance Plan 2016–2021 (UNDAP II)[1] . The SN outlines the overall strategy and plan of action for the UN-Women Tanzania Country office for the years 2017-21 and includes a Development Results Framework (DRF) and an Organizational Effectiveness and Efficiency Framework (OEEF) with expected results and targets/ indicators/ baselines.

Notwithstanding the option open to all offices to revise SNs whenever a change is deemed relevant, and the requirement to be a full and engaged participant in all inter-agency review processes such as Annual UNDAF Reviews, UN Women requires its offices to undertake a mid-term review (MTR) of their Strategic Notes at the approximate mid-way point in implementation of the programme. Thus, UN-Women Tanzania is conducting an MTR in 2020. It is important that the MTR be completed by mid-November to provide inputs for annual planning process for 2021.

Objectives

The overall objective of the UN-Women Tanzania MTR is to review the current SN and provide recommendations for the remaining period of the four-year strategic note (2018-2021)[2] to guide UN Women ESARO. The aim of the review is to assess progress in implementation; to identify challenges; to share lessons learned, and to make necessary adjustments based on the findings. This will also provide a basis for distilling lessons which will be used for planning as well as design and implementation of future interventions.

[2] The Tanzania SN will be extended to June 202 to be in line with the new UNDAP III (UNSDCF), the development strategies of Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar, etc.

[1] UNDAP II is extended to June 2022

Specific objectives of the MTR are as follows:

1. To review the theory of change for each of the focus areas and check the relevance: (a) Women in Leadership and Political Participation and Governance (Impact 1), (b) Women's Economic Empowerment (WEE), and (c) Ending Violence Against Women (EVAW), (d) Global norms and policies, Government gender-based planning and budgeting, and (e) Co-ordination.
2. To assess the performance and achievements against what was set in the results framework corresponding to the strategic note.
3. To assess relevance and effectiveness of the strategic note in addressing emerging issues inthe global and Tanzania contexts.
4. To assess reelvance and effectivenss of natinal level interventins and programmes.
5. To identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, and constraints in the implementation of the current strategic note.
6. To help the CO to be more prepared/responsive to new national processes, outcome of elections, 5-year development plan, the CCA which will inform the new UNSDCF and new SN for Tanzania.
7. To assess the quality of partnerships with both implementing and technical partners.
8. Assess the implimcations of UN Development Systems reforms and other key develpment, such as lessons and recommendations generated through the Beijing +25 review process, to the SN and implementation modalities, and propose necessary adjustments.
9. Assess how and in what areas UN Women Tanznaia's programmatic focus needs to be further improved to make greater impact and to contribute to SDGs in those areas where UN Women has comparative organizational strengths.
10. Analyze and refine results measurement to better articulate the changes UN Women generates, including its efforts to Leave No One Behind, and propose adjustments to targets and indicators of IRRF.
11. Contribute to lessons learned about normative, operational and coordination work by providing information about what is working well, what is not and the missed opportunities if any.

Scope of work

The MTR will reflect on the actions taken under the existing Strategic Note, noting significant changes in context but mainly focused on prioritizing actions to achieve the results in the SN. The review will help us to see where our investment of resources has been most effective in furthering gender equality results, map the challenges or bottlenecks experienced and recommend a limited number of priority actions to build on our accomplishments and overcome challenges.

The MTR will involve  key partners and stakeholders to understand their perspective on areas in which UN Women made positive contributions in line with our mandate  and the priorities for women in Tanzania, and any thoughts on how we could contribute more or differently. This dialogue is a good follow-through on the consultative process used to develop the SN and will also bring to the surface our partners’ expectations of UN Women’s role and work.

A meeting with UN Women’s Civil Society Advisory Group (CSAG) and Tanzania chapter for the African Women Leaders Network (AWLN) will be held as part of the dialogue with partners.  Other partners/stakeholders will be interviewed.

Five strategic overview one-page discussion will be developed drawing on key documents, inputs from UN Women colleagues (including via the staff survey to be conducted in August 2020), CSAG reflections and interviews with partners and stakeholders.  These papers will be the basis for discussions at an MTR meeting including UN Women TCO staff and representation from UN Women Regional Office for East and Southern Africa. The strategic overview papers are:

1.  Positioning Paper:    Are we relevant in the country and making a difference?  Is the office succeeding instriking the right balance betweenits programmatic,normative, advocacy and coordination roles?  Are the Etheories of change that underpin the programme still valid?    What are the issues and challenges?   Does somehting need to change?   Are we responding to the right issues at the right level?

2. Programmatic Performance Paper: Does the office have a clear sense of whether its programme is working well or not? How? What has the office learned about what works and what does not? Is the programme being monitored properly and is it equipped to handle a thorough evaluation? How is knowledge being managed (internally and externally) by the office? What are emerging trends or needs? Are they adequately addressed?

3.  Partnerships Paper: Does the office have the right approach to partnerships? Are we working with the right partners? How are we engaging with stakeholders that do not agree with us on key issues? What is our relationship with civil society and how is it delivering results?   What prcxtical resutls are developing from partnerships and how do we know they are happening? Does the office have the right approach to partnerships?

4.  Normative Paper: How well has the office been able to incorporate normative issues and commitments into the rest of its work (programmatic, coordination, advocacy)? What can be done to strengthen this? How have we responded to new or emerging normative frameworks (post 2015 etc.)? What is the progress/challenges and gaps from the following perspectives: 1.) compliance: How does the CO support Government in implementing international frameworks; 2.) technical support: How does the CO support  stakeholders to help government in this process; and 3.) main constituents: How does the CO support national women’s organizations to advocate for normative framework implementation (i.e. demand delivery and accountability)

5.  Co-ordination Paper: How well is the UNCT performing on gender? What role is the office playing in coordinating and improving the UNCT’s performance on gender equality and women’s empowerment? Is our approach working and what are the challenges? How well is UN Women and the broader UN engaged in national coordination structures? What are the main national platforms and mechanisms (UN and inter-governmental) which CO can activate and support for effective GEWE results? Is CO’s approach working and what are the challenges?

6.  Programme and Operations Collaboration Paper:  How well are the programme and operations teams collaborating with each other? What the issues and bottlenecks in how the teams interact that might be preventing smooth and efficient delivery of programmatic results? How might communication between the teams be improved? AT which points of collaboration are delays usually encountered? What workflows, standard operating procedures, and checklists might need to be created or revised to enhance collaboration between the teams and increase delivery?

A consultant will be recruited to undertake the MTR on behalf of the Country Office and ensure that objectives of the MTR are met. The consultant will conduct a survey (virtual) with partners/stakeholders, prepare the discussion papers, and facilitate the MTR meeting discussed above. 

The paper on Programme Performance will be prepared with inputs from the UN Women Programme Specialist-PMER and all the programme staff. The coordination paper will be prepared with inputs from the UN Coordination Consultant and Development Partners in Gender Equality Group Secretariat based on the UNDAP II Working Groups and the implementation of gender equality (and UN programming principles) across the UN system. This TOR is for the work and role of that consultant.

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant will perform the following duties:

1. Conduct desk review  to identify key areas for exploration and develop questions for interviews and questionnaire.

2.  Prepare questionnaire and conduct the partner survey to elicit opinions and information from UN Women staff and key informants, including UN Women’s CSAG and AWLN (The survey will be conducted in early August).

3.  Prepare drafts of the discussion papers, share with UN Women’s heads of thematic units for inputs, and coordinate received inputs and incorporate for finalizations.

4.   Prepare and share draft papers, receive, and incorporate feedback to finalize for UN Women Tanzania Country Office (TCO) MTR meeting.

5. Develop agenda for TCO meeting, share with the Program Specialist- PMER, Deputy Representative, Representative, and relevant counterparts, receive and incorporate feedback.

6. Facilitate TCO meetings (virtual meetings due to COVID situation spread in several days as proposed and agreed by the consultant) and summarize results and decisions in a short 2-page report.

7, To ensure the MTR objectives are met at the end of the review.

Outputs/ Deliverables

A  Six (not more than five-pages each) strategic overview discussion papers for the MTR meeting. 

B  Power-point presentations on the discussion papers, if requested.

C  The MTR report including recommendation for making necessary adjustments to the SN as outlined in Annex 4.

D  Revised Theory of Change addressing alignment issues.

E  Revised Results Framework capturing the necessary changes as per findings

F  Facilitate at least two meetings (modality to be determined due to COVID situation) with the stakeholders.

G  Revised versions of all documents impacted by the MTR, e.g. indicator methodological notes, and publication on website.

Timetable

1. Desk review, partner survey, development of discussion papers including time for internal meetings, interviews, and feedback from UN Women: September 4-27, 2020.
2. MTR meetings (based on the availability of the RO colleagues and Country Representative): October 8-10.
3. Finalization and sharing of MTR report with UN Women, including a strategic priorities table: 5 days after TCO MTR meeting.

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
•  Integrity
•  Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effectve Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Leading by Example           

  Functional Competencies:

• Ability to analyze and articulate strategically on programme development and results-based management
• Ability to facilitate multi-stakeholder review process by using participatory approaches.  
• Ability to facilitate meetings with different levels of stakeholders
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude of teamwork.
• Demonstrates good oral and written communication skills in English

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Masters in Gender studies, Gender and Women Development, Development Studies, Social Sciences, or any other relevant field

Experience:

• At least 12 years of professional work experience in programme development and implementation, including monitoring and evaluation activities
• Experience in working on gender issues in East Africa required with experience in Tanzania preferred.
• Proven experience in guiding and documenting reviews and evaluations.
• Knowledge of UN policies and procedures for programming, monitoring and evaluation and advantage.
• Knowledge of latest programme monitoring and evaluation theory, including theories of change, methodology, technology, and tools
• Tech-savvy with capability to organize and host virtual meetings and effective usage of MS Word and Excel;
• Strong RBM and facilitation skills.

Language Requirements:

• Excellent command of English at native speaker level (written and oral) is required, knowledge of Kiswahili is desirable.  

Annex 1:    Timeline for the Deliverables

Annex II:  ToR for MTR of UN Women Tanznaia Strategic Note

List of documents to be reviewed during the MTR (Tentative):

1. UN Women Country office strategic note 2017-2021 and relevant AWP (DRF and OEEF)
2. Vision Document for the development of the UNDAP II for Tanzania
3. UNDAP II mid-term review (reconfiguration) report
4. The new United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF).
5. Pro-Docs of existing and pipeline project/s and programme/s
6. UN Women global strategy 2018-2021
7. Annual report 2017 to 2019 and Project reports.
8. ToR of CSAG and CSAG meeting minutes
9. AWLN documents
10. UN Women Office Staff survey report 2020
11. Selected recent studies related to Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Tanzania
12. Selected recent studies of key values related to poverty and other issues increasing vulnerabilities of women and families
13. Management Responses of recent evaluations conducted by TCO such as, Country Portfolio Evaluation, Evaluation of Previous Strategic Note, Evaluation of the Wanawake Wanaweza I project.

Annex III:  ToR for MTR of UN Women Tanzania Strategic Note

Preliminary list of partners’ representatives participating the MTR through interviews and MTR meeting in July (tentative)

1.  Representatives from government ministries and institutions (For online survey)

(Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender and Children, Ministry of Labor, Empowerment, Elderly, Youth, Women and Children Zanzibar, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Constitution and Legal Affairs, Ministry of Trade Industry and Investment, Regional Administrative Secretary's Office Kigoma, Tanzania Police Female Network (TPFNet-Gender and Children Desk Unit), Zanzibar Electoral Commission (ZEC), Office of the Registrar of Political Parties (ORPP), National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and Office of the Chief Government Statistician (OCGS) Zanzibar, University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) Department of Political Science, Prime Minister's Office (PMO), Tanzania Social Action Fund (TASAF).

2.  CSAG Members.

3.  AWLN Members.

4.  Development Partners Group- Gender Equality (DPG-GE).

5.  Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) Network.

6.  Representatives from UN Women NGO partners

(Association of Local Government Authorities (ALAT), Energy 4 Impact, Equality for Growth (E4G), Kigoma Regional Administrative Secretary Office, Kigoma Vijana Development Alliance (KIVIDEA), KIVULINI Women Group, Pastoralist Women’s Council (PWC), TAMWA Mainland and Zanzibar, Tanzania Network for Legal Aid Providers TANLAP, Tanzania Women Chamber of Commerce, Tanzania Women Judges Association (TAWJA), TPWG, Umoja wa Wawakilishi Wanawake Zanzibar (UWAWAZA), Women Fund Tanzania (WFT), Women in Law and Development in Africa (WILDAF).

Annex IV:   ToR for MTR of UN Women Tanznaia Strategic Note

Report of the Mid-Term Review of the UN-Women Tanzania Country office Strategic Note 2017-2021

A  Background (half page)

 Background, process and the main topics discussed in the MTR

B  Strategic issues and choices (half page)

Identification of the strategic choices that were identified thorugh the MTR in relation to each area of discussion.

C  MTR Findings (2 pages)

Brief summary of MTR findings based on the objectives set.

D Conclusions and Recommendations (2 pages)

Brief summary of the discussions and conclusions by issue as well as recommendations (would normally follow the structure of the discussion papers).

E   Follow-up Actions (half page)

Summary of follow up actions - linked to strategic choices - officers should be clear in this section on whether they are maitnaining their current strategy(ies), adopting a new approach of strategy, or committing to further research and analysis.

Payment Schedule

25% on delivery of questionnaire and interview questions (and responses) and 75% on approval of remaining deliverables.

Confidentiality

No documents, researches, raw data collection or analyses (or parts thereof) will be shared outside the UN Women Office and all documents provided to the consultant will be treated as confidential unless otherwise indicated.

Submission of Application:

The following documents should be submitted as part of the application:

• A brief cover note  (expression of interest) outlining suitability for the job, providing initial observations on the Terms of Reference and an outline of the methodology he/she would use;
• A UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded at http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment, including highlighted references to previous relevant work and publications;
• Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment
• A financial offer  for completion of the required tasks, including the daily rate used for calculations.