Description of the programme/project 2.1 Project strategy and key objectives The project represents a consolidated framework that addresses key national priorities for advancing gender equality and responds to the Government demands for technical and expert support on alignment with EU Gender Acquis. The overall goal and Theory of Change of the GEF Project is designed to support the Government of North Macedonia in transposing effectively EU Gender Equality Acquis, ensuring gender mainstreaming in the EU accession processes, and contributing to achieving gender equality and gender parity for women and men. To contribute to the overall goal, the project interventions are designed towards achieving the following outcome: Key Government personnel mandated for European Integration and Gender Equality increasingly comply with global norms and standards of gender equality and women’s empowerment, and implement the EU Gender Equality acquis. GEF programme in North Macedonia follows UN Women methodology implemented in other countries in Western Balkans, linking the development approach with the EU accession/integration agenda through promoting gender and social responsiveness in strategies, plans, policies, budgets, funds and priorities. The Project is aligned with the Country’s international obligations on gender equality and women’s rights (CEDAW, Beijing PfA, SDG 5, International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) agenda, EU GAP 2021-2025, EU Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025), and supports further alignment of national strategic documents on gender equality. The overall objective of the project is being achieved by increasing long-term capacities and skills of key Government personnel mandated for European Integration and Gender Equality to mainstream GE goals into the country’s planning and policy processes, so they perform their mandate efficiently and in line with the European Council’s decision of 25th March 2020 to open accession negotiations with the country. Expert support is provided for the integration of gender perspectives into sector dialogue, policy revisions, recovery programmes, and ongoing reforms, including EU-funded IPA programmes and actions, the Government’s Annual Work Programme, and the strategic planning of line Ministries. In the medium to longer-term, and in line with the EU Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025 and the Principles of the (draft) EU Gender Action Plan III, the Project aims to secure implementation/application of gender equality legislation, policies and standards through policy dialogue, technical expertise and guidance, development and sharing of good practice, and strategic partnerships and cooperation. In 2022 significant moment was the screening process which underlined the need of GEF interventions and further support towards systematic and sustainable application of gender responsive policies at national (and local) level of governance. Aligning the project outcome with the strategic priorities of the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (2021-2025), GEF Project builds on UN Women’s capabilities and comparative advantages by: - facilitating implementation of the Country’s reform agenda through inter-sectorial and inter-institutional coordination,
- supporting change management by effectively accommodating change and supporting the implementation of new policies and programmes as a key constraint to achieving de facto equality,
- providing a regional perspective of the Western Balkan countries in their way to full EU membership, to national contexts, and
- providing high quality GEWE and GM technical support on the country’s EU accession path.
Activities are clustered under two main outputs (one focusing on the Secretariat for European Affairs – SEA and the other on the Equal Opportunities Department at Ministry of Labor and Social Policy), which are linked to the specific outcome and overall goal of the Project: - Output 1: SEA, IPA Units, Sector Working Groups (SWG), and selected decision-making bodies and coordination structures involved in EU accession have the knowledge and skills to include a gender perspective in programming, implementation, reporting, monitoring and evaluation of IPA programmes.
- Output 2: National Gender Mechanisms (Equal Opportunities Department and related Equal Opportunity Coordinators/Gender Focal Points) have the administrative capacities to perform gender mainstreaming in NPAA[1] planning processes and implement EU Gender Equality legislation and policy, in line with EU regulations and international obligations.
2.2 Project beneficiaries and stakeholders Direct beneficiaries of the GEF Project include the Secretariat for European Affairs (SEA), the Equal Opportunity Department at Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, State Statistical Office, Government officials of Line Ministries engaged in priority sectors, such as members of SWGs, IPA Units/Departments, as well as Equal Opportunity Coordinators/Gender Focal Points and other government institutions. SEA is a long-term partner in integration of GEWE and GM in the country’s EU accession and IPA related processes, with the added value toward sustainability of results by substantially including the SEA Training Center into implementation and planning processes. Thus, SEA training center was substantially involved in the process of training needs assessment and preparation of an appropriate training program on GM (basic and advanced program) and the first cycle od training provided for representatives from IPA structures, Gender Focal Points and also representatives from SWG. The Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, with its Department for Equal Opportunities, as the main national coordinating body in the field of gender equality, with GEF assistance is supporting the implementation of activities aimed at strengthening the role of the National Gender Mechanism in creation and implementation of policies, laws, and strategies at central and local level. For the project duration, specific GM interventions have been raised and integrated few laws that have been put under the government`s ENER system for consultation with citizens and citizens groups. The collaboration between GEF Project and State Statistical Office (SSO) is exemplary in many aspects, providing sustainability of actions and local ownership by confirming the leading role of SSO in the implementation of all activities aimed at strengthening the role of SSO as lead coordinator in the national statistical system. Specific support has been provided in enhancing the capacities of SSO and improving the administrative procedures for data collection on gender equality, and organization of data and presentation of findings. As a result, a resourceful publication has been prepared with gender disaggregated data for male/female participation in many different aspects of societal life. The publication is directly in line with Country Gender profile produced as a basic document for further interventions in the sector. In addition, significant efforts have been committed in improving the outreach and public awareness on the importance of gender statistics and data through implementation of campaigns and visibility products. Important partnership has also been established with the Cabinet of the Deputy Prime Minister on anti-corruption and good governance, which has commenced with support on gender mainstreaming for the drafting of the new Law on Sport, through the promotion of the first of its kind of analysis on gender and sport, continuing with important planned mutual work on anti-corruption and women’s leadership in anti-corruption. Given the importance of foreign policy and EU standards on gender parity, UN Women continued its collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). The newly established cooperation between GEF and MFA as emerging key partner provides opportunity for future GEF interventions in the field of political representation of women in the foreign policy, strengthening of women in diplomacy and enabling women to undertake positions with higher decision making power and authority. 2.3 Project budget, geographical scope and timeframe The project duration is from 15 December 2020 until 14 December 2022 (Extended (non-cost) Donor Agreement until 30 September 2023). Total project budget is SEK 16,403.188.18 (USD 1,825,416.00) funded by Sida, Sweden. The project activities are being implemented in the Republic of North Macedonia with regional and international initiatives for knowledge sharing and exchange of experience. 2.4 Project Management Operational Management The Programme Presence Office team provides overall technical, programme and operations management, oversight and quality assurance for project implementation and coordination and provision of administrative and operational support for the project. The project is managed through direct implementation of UN Women. The overall management responsibility and administration of the project rests with the North Macedonia Programme Presence supported technically by the Regional Office of UN Women for Europe and Central Asia in Istanbul. The management structure is composed of a national team of: Project Manager (full time), two Project Output Coordinators (full time), Project Assistant (full time), Administrative Assistant (full time), Finance Assistant (full time) and Operations Assistant (full time). The familiarity and extensive experience with government procedures and working methods will help the project team mitigating potential challenges and obstacles to GEF implementation. The GEF project team will be the key provider of technical expertise in the field. GEF Steering Committee Inter-institutional coordination of implementation and monitoring is ensured through establishment of a Steering Committee (SC) as the forum for regular, transparent, and coordinated sharing of information on progress and challenges. The SC oversees the implementation and undertakes all necessary strategic decisions based on the Project’s initial plan and budget as well as on monitoring data. SC provides policy guidance and recommendations regarding the Project’s strategy and objectives, receives and comments on annual reports, approves annual plans and reports, and participates in the evaluation of the Project. The SC meets twice a year and as needed. The proposed SC members are: SEA (Chair), Equal Opportunity Department/MLSP, SIDA, EU Delegation Office in North Macedonia, and UN Women. The UN Women international Senior Gender Mainstreaming expert attends the SC meetings in her/his role as technical adviser (without decision-making power or voting rights). Representatives of line ministries and other government representatives are invited to take part on a need basis, assuming the status of observers/advisers. Through its members, the SC is linked to the government-led structures that address gender mainstreaming, as well as to the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework management structures. SC meetings are initiated by UN Women, and the Project Manager is responsible for documenting meeting proceedings. Progress updates is shared with SC members one week prior to SC meetings. In addition, Progress Review meetings between UN Women, the GEF Project Team, SEA, and SIDA are held periodically on important operational project issues. Evaluation Purpose and Use 3.1 Evaluation scope An external independent final evaluation will be conducted during the final year of project implementation. The evaluation is scheduled between May 2023 and August 2023 (estimated 4 months). The evaluation includes a data collection mission to Skopje and field visits/meetings with several project partners and stakeholders. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic situation onsite data collection might need to be replaced by online data collection. This will be revisited and agreed with UN Women during the inception phase of the evaluation. The evaluation shall cover all aspects of the project, and broadly allocate resources (time) in relation to the relative expenditure between the various project components. 3.2 Evaluation purpose A final project evaluation will be conducted with a special focus on results and achievements, and lessons learnt both from programmatic and coordination perspectives. The main purpose of this final evaluation is to assess the programmatic progress and performance of the above-described interventions from the point of view of relevance, effectiveness, impact, organizational efficiency and sustainability. The evaluation will address the following aspects with the results and evidence that is available to date. The findings of the evaluation will contribute to effective programming, organizational learning and accountability. They will be also used to engage policy makers and other stakeholders at central and local levels in evidence-based dialogues and to advocate for gender-responsive strategies to promote inclusive local and national economic development with particular focus on rural women. The evaluation should also provide specific recommendations as to the priority areas that should be considered in next projects implemented by UN Women North Macedonia office, including interventions that require continued support, successful interventions for expansion, and recommendations on prioritizing interventions to maximize impact. The evaluation will follow a participatory approach that will include a twofold management structure were all key partners will be represented and additional consultation with key stakeholders, governmental representatives from relevant ministries and national institutions, with local government representatives, civil society representatives and active women’s groups as well as key donor partners. 3.3 Evaluation objectives The specific evaluation objectives include: - Analyze the relevance and coherence of the project objectives, strategy and approach at the national and local level for the Government support to comply with national and international gender equality commitments.
- Assess effectiveness of the project intervention on the target group across the two related outcomes.
- Assess organizational efficiency and coordination mechanisms in progressing towards the achievement of the project results, including the achievement of gender equality and women’s empowerment results as defined in the intervention.
- Assess the sustainability of the results and the intervention in advancing gender equality mechanisms for the specific target group.
- Analyze how human rights-based approach and gender equality principles are integrated in the project implementation
- Assess how the intervention and its results relate and contribute to the Agenda 2030 and its Sustainable Development Goals
- Identify and document lessons learned, good practices and innovations, success stories and challenges within the project, to inform future work of participating UN agencies in the frameworks of gender mainstreaming and good governance.
- Identify strategies for replication and up-scaling of the project’s best practices.
Evaluation Management Structure Evaluation Management Group An Evaluation Management Group (EMG) will be conformed and will be the main decision-making body for the evaluation and is composed of UN Women project team members, UN Women North Macedonia Head of Office, and UN Women ECA RO Evaluation Specialist who will provide quality assurance support throughout the evaluation process. The EMG will be responsible for the overall management of the evaluation and will oversee the day to day business of the evaluation and communication with the evaluation team. UN Women North Macedonia representative will be responsible for day-to-day management of the evaluation and the coordination for the field visits, including logistical support. Evaluation Reference Group An Evaluation Reference Group (ERG) will be established to ensure that the evaluation approach is relevant to stakeholders, and to make certain that factual errors or errors of omission or interpretation are identified in evaluation products. The reference group will provide input at key stages of the evaluation: inception report; draft and final reports. The ERG will be composed of one representative from: Secretariat for European Affairs, Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, State Statistical Office, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for Anti-corruption and good governance and Ministry of Information Society and Administration. The ERG will be consulted on key aspects of the evaluation process. The group will be composed to ensure that all relevant stakeholders’ groups and perspectives are represented, including from CSOs, partners and contractors. Evaluation Approach, Methodology Criteria and Questions The evaluation will assess progress and challenges for each of the two outcomes, with measurement of the specific results achievements and gaps and how and to what extent these have affected overall progress. It will consist of a desk review of the main project documents produced under the project, and related sector specific documents and strategies, in-depth interviews with key stakeholders, such as SEA, MLSP, SSO, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for Anti-corruption and good governance, Ministry of Information Society and Administration and organizations involved in project implementation or addressing the needs and representing the interests of specific groups of women. The evaluation will be organized as a transparent and participatory process involving relevant stakeholders and partners in North Macedonia. The evaluation will follow gender equality and human rights principles, as defined in the UN Women Evaluation Policy[2] and adhere to the United Nations norms and standards for evaluation in the United Nations system[3]. The evaluation methodology will employ mixed methods. A more detailed evaluation methodology will be proposed and agreed with the evaluation team and will be presented in the evaluation inception report. The evaluation is a final project document/product and will employ both a summative approach focusing on capturing the lessons learned during the implementation and assessing the achievement of the results at output and outcome levels, as well as a formative, forward-looking approach assessing the applicability of the results in the next phase. The evaluation methodology will furthermore follow a Theory of Change (ToC) approach and employ mixed methods including quantitative and qualitative data collection methods and analytical approaches to account for complexity of gender relations and to ensure participatory and inclusive processes that are culturally appropriate. Methods may include but are not limited to: - Desk review of relevant documents such as project documents, progress reports, financial records, meeting minutes and monitoring reports, and secondary data or studies relating to the country context and situation analysis.
- Online consultations and discussions with the senior management and project management staff.
- Semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, survey with direct and indirect beneficiaries, implementing partners, donor and other stakeholders.
- Field visits to and observation at selected project sites.
Data from different research sources will be triangulated to increase its validity. The proposed approach and methodology have to be considered as flexible guidelines rather than final requirements, and the evaluators will have an opportunity to make their inputs and propose changes in the evaluation design. The methodology and approach should, however, incorporate human rights and gender equality perspectives. It is expected that the evaluation team will further refine the approach and methodology and submit a detailed description in the inception report. The evaluation will include Relevance, Coherence, Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Sustainability and Impact criteria. More specifically, the evaluation will address the following evaluation questions that will be further refined once the evaluation team is recruited[4]: - To what extent was the design of the intervention and its results relevant to the needs and priorities of the beneficiaries? Was the choice of interventions relevant to the situation of the target group?
- To what extent is the intervention consistent with the key national policy and strategic documents in the area of gender equality and women’s empowerment, and reflect national/subnational priorities and commitments?
- To what extent current key project stakeholders were involved in programmes`s conceptualization and design process? (This aspect of interest can be rephrased for those representatives that joined the project at a later stage as to how involved are they in the actual project implementation?)
- To what extent has gender and human rights principles and strategies been integrated into the project design and implementation?
- To what extent is the intervention aligned with international agreements and conventions on gender equality and women’s empowerment?
- To what extent was the design of the intervention relevant to gender equality priorities in the country? Does the project address the needs and priorities of women in the Republic of North Macedonia and how is it interrelated with the EU Gender Equality acquis?
- To what extent project contributed to advancing the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 2030 Agenda?
Coherence Internal coherence - To what extent does the project fit within UN Women’s Strategic Plan and interrelated three-fold mandate and UN Women’s work in North Macedonia?
- Are there any synergies and inter-linkages between the project and other interventions of UN Women in North Macedonia and the Western Balkans Region?
External coherence - To what extent is the intervention consistent with the national development strategies in the area of gender equality, gender mainstreaming and women’s empowerment, and reflect national priorities and commitments on GE?
- How does project reflect and align with national strategic plans and normative frameworks and North Macedonia`s international obligations and commitments in the field of women’s rights and gender equality?
- To what extent the project is in complementarity, harmonized and coordinated with the interventions of other actors’ interventions in the same context?
- To what extent the implementation of the project ensures synergies and coordination with Government’s and key partners relevant efforts while avoiding duplications at a general/country level?
- What is UN Women’s comparative advantage in North Macedonia to implement this project?
- To what extent is the project aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework in North Macedonia?
Effectiveness: - To what extent have the expected results of the project been achieved on both outcome and output levels?
- What are the reasons for the achievement or non-achievement of the project results? Has the project achieved any unforeseen results, either positive or negative? For whom? What are the good practices and the obstacles or shortcomings encountered? How were they overcome?
- How effective have the selected programme strategies and approaches been in achieving programme results?
- How well did the intervention succeed in involving and building the capacities of rights-holders, duty-bearers, as well as the project partners?
- To what extent are the programme approaches and strategies innovative for implementation of GEF in North Macedonia? What -if any- types of innovative good practices have been introduced in the programme for the achievement of the results?
- Is there a clear understanding of roles and responsibilities by all parties involved?
Efficiency: - Have resources (financial, human, technical support, etc.) been allocated strategically to achieve the project outcomes?
- Has there been effective leadership and management of the project including the structuring of management and administration roles to maximize results? Where does accountability lie?
- Have the outputs been delivered in a timely manner?
- To what extent are the project monitoring mechanisms in place effective for measuring and informing management of project performance and progress towards targets? To what extent was the monitoring data objectively used for management action and decision making?
- Were there any constraints (e.g. political, practical, bureaucratic) identified in the implementation of the different actions and what level of effort was made to overcome these challenges?
- What is the likelihood that the benefits from the project will be maintained for a reasonably long period of time after the project phase out?
- To what extent the intervention succeeded in building individual and institutional capacities of rights-holders and duty-bearers to ensure sustainability of benefits and more inclusive practices to local development and good governance?
- How effectively has the project generated national ownership of the results achieved, the establishment of partnerships with relevant stakeholders and the development of national capacities to ensure sustainability of efforts and benefits?
- What steps were taken to develop and/or reinforce the operating capacities of national partners during the implementation of the programme?
- To what extent has the project been able to promote replication and/or up-scaling of successful practices?
- How effectively has project contributed to the establishment of effective partnerships and development of national capacities?
Gender Equality and Human Rights - How did the broader human rights context within the country has informed the design and implementation of the project?
- To what extent participation and inclusiveness (with respect to rights holders and duty bearers) was maximized in the project’s planning, design, implementation and decision?
- To what extend disability inclusion was integrated in project planning and implementation?
- To what extent Human Rights Based Approach (HRBA) and gender transformative approaches have incorporated into the design, monitoring and reporting of the project?
The above questions are expected to be revised and refined by the evaluation team during the inception phase of the evaluation. It is also expected that the evaluation team will develop an evaluation matrix, which will relate to the evaluation questions, the areas they refer to, the criteria for evaluating them, the indicators and the means for verification as a tool for the evaluation. Final evaluation matrix will be approved in the evaluation inception report. Evaluation Process, duties and responsibilities of the Evaluation 6.1 Evaluation process The evaluation process is divided in five phases: - Preparation, mainly devoted to structuring the evaluation approach, preparing the TOR, compiling programme documentation, and hiring the evaluation team ;
- Inception, which will involve consultations between the evaluation team and the EMG, programme portfolio review, finalization of stakeholder mapping, inception meetings with the ERG, review of the result logics, analysis of information relevant to the initiative, finalization of evaluation methodology and preparation and validation of inception report;
- Data collection and analysis, including in-depth desk research, in-depth review of the project documents and monitoring frameworks, online interviews as necessary, staff and partner survey/s, and field visits;
- Data analysis and reporting stage, focusing on data analyzed, interpretation of findings and drafting and validation of an evaluation report; and
- Dissemination, follow-up and use, once the evaluation is completed UN Women is responsible for the development of a Management Response, publishing of the evaluation report, uploading the published report on the GATE website, and the dissemination of evaluation findings.
The outline above corresponds to the entire evaluation process from preparation, to conduct, reporting and follow up and use. The evaluation team will only be responsible for the inception, data collection and data analysis and reporting phase. Evaluation preparation and dissemination, follow up and use will be responsibility of EMG. 6.2 Evaluation team duties and responsibilities Corresponding with the inception, data collection, data analysis and reporting stages of the evaluation process, the duties and responsibilities of the evaluation team will be as follows: - Leading the inception phase and developing an inception report outlining design, approach and methodology of the evaluation and an indicative workplan of the evaluation team within the framework of this ToR.
- Directing and carrying out collection, research and analysis of relevant documentation and other data, and reporting.
- Overseeing and assuring quality of data collection and leading the analysis of the evaluation evidence.
- Preparing for meetings with the evaluation management group, evaluation reference group and other stakeholders to review findings, conclusions and recommendations.
- Leading the preparation of the evaluation communication products.
- To conduct a data collection field mission with the support of the EMG which will include individual interviews with the relevant stakeholders;
- To prepare a Power Point Presentation and an outline on preliminary findings and present to EMG and to ERG;
- To produce and submit a draft and a final evaluation report in English to be validated by EMG and ERG;
- To produce an evaluation brief in English.
7. Evaluation team composition The evaluation team will include an international consultant as a team leader and a national consultant as team member supporting in all substantive aspects of the evaluation. Both need to have extensive experience in conducting evaluations, but also some experience in gender equality, gender mainstreaming and women’s economic empowerment. The international consultant as team leader is responsible for coordination during all phases of the evaluation process, ensuring the quality of outputs and application of methodology as well as timely delivery of all evaluation products in close collaboration with the evaluation task manager and the evaluation management group. The national consultant will provide support to the international consultant in all the aspects of conducting the evaluation, including translation and interpretation where necessary. [1] National Programme for the Adoption of the Community acquis. [2] UN Women, Evaluation policy of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UNW/2012/12), http://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2012/10/evaluation-policy-of-the-united-nations-entity-for-gender-equality-and-the-empowerment-of-women [3] United Nations Evaluation Group, Norms and Standards for evaluation in the United Nations system, access at: http://www.uneval.org/normsandstandards/index.jsp?doc_cat_source_id=4 [4] The final evaluation matrix will be included and validated in the evaluation inception report.
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