Background

Albania has made important steps towards establishing a democratic state, functioning market economy, maintaining a stable economic growth, and achieving human development. Important progress is achieved in establishing relevant institutional and policy frameworks for achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment, in line with international, regional, and national gender equality standards and obligations. Despite significant efforts, the inclusion of vulnerable groups, particularly Roma and Egyptian communities, persons with disabilities and vulnerable women, remains problematic. The legislative framework has gaps, institutional response mechanism face challenges to improve and strengthen inter-institutional co-operation in preventing and handling violence against women (VAW) cases.

Furthermore, in Albania, violence against women and girls remains a very concerning issue. According to the third 2018 population based national survey on violence against women and girls showed that 52.9% Albanian women have experienced one or more forms of violence; 65.8% of women experienced dating violence during their lifetime. 18,1% of women experienced sexual harassment during their lifetime; 18.2% of women experienced non-partner violence and 12,6% of women have experienced stalking during their lifetime. Sexual violence cases remain underreported.  Out of 47% of women who reported to have experienced intimate partner domestic violence, only 8.6% experienced sexual violence in their life, while only 1.3% reported non-partner sexual violence. These figures reaffirm the fact that violence against women and girls in Albania is widespread requiring immediate multi-faceted action, even the more so given the unprecedented circumstances with the spread of COVID-19, which have disproportionately and negatively affected women and girls.

Therefore, in order to ensure an effective response, it is critical to mobilize government, empower civil society and people in local communities to act in unison to fulfill national and international obligations and to have a voice in public decision-making affecting women and girls’ lives.

Project Description

In line with current challenges Albania needs to address, and the Outcome 2 of the UN’s Programme of Cooperation for Sustainable Development (PoCSD) with the Government of Albania (GoA) (2017-2021) and the Outcome C2 of the  Albania-UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework 2022-2026, the UN is engaged in Joint Programme (JP) Ending Violence Against Women in Albania (EVAWIA). EVAWIA programme is a response to Government of Albania’s efforts to address violence against women. The programme main goal is that women are free form all forms of gender-based violence and from the threat of such violence.

The JP is implemented through the modalities of the Delivering as One (DaO) mechanism, under the framework of the Albania-UN Programme of Cooperation for Sustainable Development 2017-2021 and 2022-2026, with the joint participation of three UN agencies, including UNDP, UN Women and UNFPA with the financial support of the Sida, and in close partnership with relevant governmental bodies at the central and local levels.  UNDP is the lead UN agency for the overall implementation and coordination of the JP.

The programme duration is January 2019- June 2022 (a six-month non-cost extension January -June 2022 is approved). The Embassy of Sweden in Tirana has commissioned a monitoring assignment for this programme and there are three reports produced by the consultant engaged.

Programme budget: 3.554.370 USD.

The EVAWIA programme main goal is that women are free form all forms of gender-based violence and from the threat of such violence.

EVAWIA programme focuses on three interlinked outcomes with their respective outputs:

Outcome 1: Government and service providers are accountable to women for prevention, protection and response.

The JP supports national authorities being capable to design legal framework and policy on VAWGs-in alignment with international human rights standards and practices; assists state, government and civil society entities in having improved capacities to implement and monitor international HR commitments; as well as contributes to the improvement of the system and capacities for national and local data collection, documentation, monitoring and knowledge sharing on VAW among duty-bearers.

Outcome 2: Women survivors safely access adequate and appropriate support services (economic, medical, psycho-social, security and shelter)

The JP contributes to the improvement of the capacities of the state and non-state service providers across sectors at national and local levels; assists municipalities to effectively apply Gender Responsive Budget (GRB) tools to analyze, plan and bring about budgetary decisions that respond to VAW, while contributes to the further strengthening of the existing emergency support services to address VAW. Furthermore, a keen focus of the JP is to model emergency support services to those affected by sexual violence and assault in accordance with international standards.

Outcome 3: Women, girls, men and boys and CSOs working on GB-VAW organize collectively to engage in prevention that builds the foundation for social change in eliminating GB-VAW.

The JP assists women and girls, including those from disadvantaged groups, have increased access to information to identify violence, report it to authorities and escape from violent situations. Through its awareness raising component and engagement with men and boys, women and girls, the JP challenges  gender stereotypes and societal norms in the country.

These results aim at bringing institutional and behavioral change in preventing and responding to VAW, thereby contributing to freeing women and girls from all forms of VAW and from the threat of such violence.  

Final beneficiaries and target groups: (1) Direct target groups: a) Ministry of Health and Social Protection with its Gender Equality sectors and National Council of Gender Equality; b) 28 municipalities with CRMs; c) Service providers specialized CSOs and 2) Indirect target groups: a) women survivors of GB-VAW with a keen focus on women with disabilities, Roma and Egyptian women, LGBTI and elderly women; and (2) the general population for public campaigns. The programme’s target groups, who will indirectly and directly benefit from improved legislative framework, policies and institutional coordinated response practices are women survivors of VAW and men and women in communities at large.

Duties and Responsibilities

As specified in the UNJP EVAWIA programme document, it is a requirement to conduct an end of programme evaluation. The purpose of the evaluation will be to assess the Joint Programe accomplishment of the main expected outcome results, contribution to an enabling environment that fights violence against women and girls in Albania and identify lessons and good practices that can improve future Joint Programming on Ending Violence against Women. The general objective of the assignment is to conduct a final evaluation of the project outcomes in terms of its Relevance, Coherence, Impact, Effectiveness, Efficiency, Sustainability against the project-level theory of change.

The international expert for the final evaluation will conduct this assignment in close cooperation with a national expert for the joint programme evaluation. The International expert (to be recruited under this vacancy) will be the team leader and fully responsible for the below listed deliverables.

Below are listed the key Evaluation Questions, to guide the evaluation, based on UNDP Evaluation Guidelines (2021), UNEG Norms and Standards for Evaluation (2016)[1] and the OECD-DAC evaluation criteria. The list of questions is not exhaustive and therefore, the consultant is expected to suggest the adjustment of this list within the Inception Report. The final list of questions and the evaluation methodology will be discussed and be agreed with the assigned management structures of this joint evaluation.

The evaluation shall document the learning and positive examples and provide recommendations to enable the UN implementing agencies (UNDP, UN Women and UNFPA), the UN JP implementing partners and stakeholders draw on positive lessons and models/examples, for future similar interventions. The evaluation will also highlight areas where the programme performed less effectively than anticipated, the rationale behind that, and the related recommendations to be considered in similar future interventions.

Through a forward-looking angle the evaluation shall document learning, positive examples and provide recommendations that reflect the national and local perspective of the programme. The evaluation is expected to contain a lesson learnt section which will serve as a basis for forward looking recommendations and follow-up programme in this area. Furthermore, the evaluation should provide an overview of key EVAW related improvement recommendations that are appropriately tailored to specific actors. They should be articulated clearly so that they can be used for any future programming needs and generate lessons for the overall national EVAW landscape. All three implementing UN agencies will coordinate and provide joint inputs throughout the entire process.

The evaluation is expected to follow a collaborative and participatory approach ensuring close engagement of the UNJP EVAWIA Programme agencies, national and local government counterparts (Ministry of Health and Social Protection as the key main counterpart), CSOs, NHRIs, the Sweden Embassy in Tirana and other key stakeholders.

The final end of EVAWIA programe will cover all aspects of the project interventions, outcome and output results and its allocated resources in relation to the project’s results. The evaluation will include the entire period of the JP to the date of the evaluation mission. The monitoring will focus on geographic areas targeted by the JP. Monitoring will be carried out in at least one third of the municipalities targeted by the JP. Sampling will include selecting municipalities considering the following criteria:

• Size of municipalities
• Length of time that they have received UN agency support related to addressing VAW through prior and this JP
• Hypothesized strength of the Coordinated Referral Mechanisms (CRMs) and municipalities with capacities to use GRB tools
• Presence of CSOs, particularly service providers

The Evaluation Questions / Analytical Framework

The final evaluation will assess the below criteria of OECD/DAC guidelines:   

• Relevance –   will assess to what extent the results of the joint programme are consistent with the needs and priorities of the intended beneficiaries, partners, and stakeholders.
• Coherence: will assess how well does the intervention fit.
• Impact[2] – Positive and negative, primary and secondary long-term effects produced by the Joint Program, directly or indirectly, intended or unintended.
• Effectiveness - will assess to what extent results at various levels, including outcomes, have been achieved based on planned activities. 
• Efficiency - will assess how well and productively the programme has utilized its resources to reach the predefined goals.
• Sustainability – will assess preliminary indications of the degree to which the programme results are likely to be sustainable beyond the programme’s lifetime and provide recommendations.

Sample evaluation questions:

Relevance[3]:

1. How has the programme addressed the relevant needs in the country? Have new, more relevant needs emerged and how did the programme address them? What are relevant recommendations for the future programme?
2. How relevant is the programme to target groups, including central and local government’s needs and priorities?
3. How have the programme objectives addressed identified rights and needs of women and girls, victims of violence in national and local contexts? How much does the programme contribute to shaping women’s rights priorities? What would be relevant needs and priorities with regard to all forms of violence against women and girls to be addressed in the future?

Coherence:

1. How coherent has the JP been with other interventions focused on VAW?
2. How has the project design and implementation considered the work of other actors working on addressing VAW?
3. To what extent have UN agencies coordinated effectively and created synergies in the delivery of assistance?

Impact:

1. To what extent has the JP initiated a change process that indicates a longer-term impact? To what extent has the JP initiated a change process that suggests that the Government of Albania (GoA) and municipal duty-bearers have taken steps towards ensuring the implementation of international and national legal and political commitments to prevent, detect and protect their women against violence? To what extent the JP has contributed to changing perceptions and norms?

1. What are the direct impact/expected impact prospects of the programme? What are some unintended results, if any?
2. Which are the direct effects on intended beneficiaries?

Effectiveness:

1. To what extent have the expected outputs, outcomes and goal been achieved or are likely to be achieved?
2. What are the major factors influencing the achievement or non-achievement of the outcomes/expected results/outputs?
3. Did the programme contribute to capacity building and organisational development of duty bearers as planned?
4. Which changes regarding the project stakeholders and other relevant actors have emerged in relation to supported actions? What factors have been identified that are driving or hindering progress?
5. Is the current coordination set up producing the intended results? Is the sharing of the resources for each of the agency adequate and sufficient to deliver the expected outcomes and outputs?  
6. Coordination with other projects: How has the programme interacted and coordinated with other implementers and vice versa?
7. Assessing the effectiveness and efficiency of funding Women CSOs in comparison to utilizing individual consultants within the broader context of movement-building (as well as the effectiveness of engaging local expertise and building on Women CSOs’ long-term engagement in these issues), amid UN Gender Equality Forum commitments, among others.  

Efficiency:

1. Which outreach methods have been the most efficient and effective in changing perceptions and norms?
2. What measures have been taken during planning and implementation to ensure that resources are efficiently used?
3. Have programme funds and activities been delivered in a timely manner? If not, what were the bottlenecks encountered?
4. Is the programme implemented in the most efficient way, making best use of available human, technical, technological, financial and knowledge inputs to achieve its desired results? Have there been any unforeseen problems? How well are they resolved?
5. Were resources (financial, time, people) sufficiently allocated to integrate human rights and gender equality in the design, implementation, monitoring and review of the JP?
6. Following up on risk management, how the risk is assessed? and how the risk is managed?

Sustainability:

1. Are the approaches and methods used likely to ensure a continued benefit after the end of the programme?
2. What are the major factors which influenced the achievement or non-achievement of sustainability of the programme?
3.  Are all key stakeholders sufficiently and effectively involved? Are their expectations met and are they satisfied with their level of participation? What is the risk that the level of stakeholder ownership (including ownership by governments and other key stakeholders) will be insufficient to allow for the programme’s outcomes/benefits to be sustained?
4. Based on lessons learned what specific recommendations could be given to each key partner under the joint programme that would contribute to the sustainability of the intervention?

The entire evaluation process will be guided by principles of human rights and gender equality.  Since Albania has ratified the international conventions on human rights relevant for VAW area, it is expected that a Human Rights Based Approach, including the right to life and security, to address inequities, discrimination, marginalization and vulnerabilities will be applied in all phases of the programme’s evaluation. Furthermore, since Albania is a signatory to a number of important and binding international documents, which guarantee the equality of men and women and prohibit gender-based discrimination the programme’s evaluation will be guided by principles of gender equality and the advancement of women’s rights.

The final evaluation report should also cover:

Joint Programme contribution to SDGs.  – assess whether the programme’s goal and outcomes and progress done so far are contributing to SDGs progress.  

Joint Programme contribution to Albania-UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework 2017-2021 and more particularly Output 2.5 on Gender Based Violence and the recently signed Albania-UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework 2022-2026.

UN JP communication and visibility – assess and review whether the communications and visibility guidelines and actions undertaken by UN agencies and implementing partners provide insights into the implementation of the programme activities.

Methodology

The evaluation should employ a combination of qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods and instruments. The evaluator is expected to follow a participatory and consultative approach that ensures close engagement with the evaluation managers, implementing partners and direct beneficiaries. Final decisions about the specific design and methods for the evaluation should emerge from consultations with the programme unit, the evaluators and key stakeholders about what is appropriate and feasible to meet the evaluation purpose and objectives and answer the evaluation questions, given limitations of budget, time and data.

All implementing UN Agencies are UN SWAP reporting entities and the evaluation will take into considering the UN SWAP Evaluation Performance Indicator and its scorecard.

Suggested methodological tools and approaches may include:

1. Document review: This would include a review of all relevant joint programme documentation; Annual workplans; Activity designs; Consolidated mid-year and annual reports, Programme Performance Management Framework etc.
2. Interviews and meetings with key stakeholders such as key government counterparts, representatives of key civil society organizations, UN Agencies and implementing partners based on evaluation questions around relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability.
3. Key informant and focus group discussions with beneficiaries and stakeholders.
4. Field visits and on-site validation of key tangible outputs and interventions.
5. Other methods such as outcome mapping, observational visits, group discussions, etc.
6. Data review and analysis of monitoring and other data sources and methods. To ensure maximum validity, reliability of data (quality) and promote use, the evaluation team will ensure triangulation of the various data sources.

These methods should be applied with respect of human rights and gender equality principles and facilitate the engagement of key stakeholders. Measures will be taken to ensure data quality, validity and credibility of both primary and secondary data gathered and used in the evaluation. The final methodological approach including interview schedule, field visits and data to be used in the evaluation should be clearly outlined in the inception report and fully discussed and agreed between Evaluation Management Team, UN JP Steering Committee co-chairs and donor, UN Joint Programme technical team, key stakeholders and the evaluators team.

Management structure for the joint evaluation

An Evaluation Management Group (EMG) comprising of senior management of the three implementing UN agencies and their delegated programme staff will be established to oversee the evaluation process, make key decisions, quality assure and jointly approve the different deliverables. EMG will be the main decision-maker in the evaluation of applications for both consultancy opportunities, in coordination with UNDP Procurement team. EMG will get the prior approval of the UNJP Steering Committee members on the Joint Evaluation Team ToRs and final JP evaluation report.

Evaluation Reference Group (ERG) is a consultative body which will support the evaluation process, ensuring, in particular, for the evaluators to gain access to relevant informants and information sources in government at both central and local level. the ERG will also facilitate the evaluation process, helping the team to identify and gain access to government stakeholders; comment on the draft report; support the organization of the stakeholder workshop; and facilitate maximum in-country dissemination of the report.

The UNDP’s Cluster Programme Specialist who has provided overall programmatic support for the overall JP, but was not involved in direct management of the programme, will serve as the Evaluation Task Manager responsible for the day-to-day management of the evaluation and ensures that the evaluation is conducted in accordance with the Evaluation Policy of the different UN entities, United Nations Evaluation Group Ethical Guidelines and Code of Conduct for Evaluation in the United Nations system and other key guidance documents. The Evaluation Task Manager will be supported by the UNJP Technical Team of managers, composed of all three UN implementing Agencies.

The Evaluation Team comprises independent external evaluators. It will have a team leader (international) with extensive evaluation expertise and one member (local expert).

Management structures Roles and responsibilities

The Joint Evaluation Management Group (EMG)

EMG members are expected to strengthen the quality and credibility of the evaluation. Joint EMG members will be expected to:

• Participate in any meetings of the EMG (throughout the evaluation process);
• Approve the evaluation ToR (November 2021);
• Approve the consultants selected to conduct the joint evaluation (January 2022);
• Gather key documentation for desk review and store it prior to initiation of the evaluation process (December 2021-January 2022);
• Provide timely access to information and contact information of key evaluation informants to the evaluation team (February-April 2022);
• Participate in the preliminary inception meeting with the evaluation team (date TBC: initially planned during February 2022);
• Review and quality assure the evaluation inception report (February 2022);
• Approve the final evaluation inception report (planned for the beginning of March 2022);
• Organize and participate in the presentation of the presentation of preliminary findings (March-April 2022);
• Review and quality assure the draft and final evaluation report (April 2022);
• Approve the final evaluation report (April 2022);
• Liaise with relevant senior managers in the different agencies for the final approval of the Evaluation Management Response (dates TBD up on approval of final report);
• Disseminate and promote the use of the evaluation findings and recommendations

The Evaluation Task Manager is responsible for managing the entire process: ensuring that the evaluation is properly conducted, managing the validation and quality-control process, and making sure that the report fulfils the terms of reference. UNDP, being the lead UN Agency for the overall management of this UNJP will task the Cluster Programme Specialist to be the ETM of this joint evaluation. The Evaluation Task Manager will be supported by the UNJP Technical Team, composed of all three UN implementing Agencies. The Evaluation Task Manager will:

• conduct the preparatory work needed to define the scope and the evaluation questions by mapping activities, stakeholders;
• draft the terms of reference, circulate them to the EMG for comment and obtain approval from the latter and the UNJP co-chairs and donor of the UJP Steering Committee;
• in accordance with UNDP procurement procedures, provide overall guidance for the recruitment of the Evaluation Team;
• provide the Evaluation Team with all the information it needs to conduct the evaluation efficiently and effectively;
• receive and review the inception report prepared by the Evaluation Team and advise the Evaluation Team on revisions, if needed;
• facilitate evaluation activities, assist the Evaluation Team in gaining access to stakeholders and additional information, and arrange meetings and logistics;
• receive the consolidated first draft of the evaluation and conduct a pro forma quality check (structure and format, compliance with the terms of reference);
• guide the validation process by circulating the draft for comment to the EMG and any other key stakeholders, ensuring all comments and responses are properly recorded;
• send the final report to the EMG and core members of UNJP Steering Committee for final approval;

Evaluation team

This evaluation will be conducted by a team of two evaluation experts: one international consultant and one national consultant.  The evaluation is expected to provide evidence-based information that is reliable, credible and useful. The evaluation team, composed of one international consultant that will be the team leader and one national consultant that will be the team specialist is expected to review all relevant information including documents prepared by EVAWIA programme team (i.e Programme Document, semi-annual and annual reports, national strategic documents, and any other materials that the team considers useful for this evidence-based review).

Expected Outputs and Deliverables:

The final evaluation will be conducted between February and April 2022. The preliminary calendar for the process is detailed in the table below.

[1] UNEG Norms and Standards for Evaluation, 2016, http://www.unevaluation.org/document/detail/1914

[2] The evaluation will not be able to fully assess the Joint Program’s impact, as the JP is still ongoing; however, it will address the following questions with the results and evidence that is available to date.

[3] A limited number of questions are listed under this criterion for which JP implementing UN Agencies need a more in-depth analysis.

Competencies

Core Values

Integrity:

• Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.

Professionalism:

• Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work.

Cultural sensitivity and respect for diversity:

• Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff;
• Additionally, the individual should have an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Core Competencies:

Communication:

• Facilitate and encourage open communication and strive for effective communication.

Planning & Organizing:

• Develops clear goals in line with agreed strategies, identifies priorities, foresees risks and makes allowances accordingly.

Organizational Awareness:

• Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment.

Teamwork:

• Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi-ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.

Accountability:

• Takes ownership of all responsibilities and delivers outputs in accordance with agreed time, cost and quality standards.

Functional Competencies:

• Strong analytical and M&E skills;
• Demonstrates leadership, team building and coordinating skills;
• Plans and produces quality results to meet established goals;
• Generates innovative, practical solutions to challenging situations;
• Conceptualizes and analyses problems to identify key issues, underlying problems, and how they relate;
• Demonstrates substantive and technical knowledge to meet responsibilities and post requirements with excellence;
• Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills;
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities;
• Responds positively to critical feedback and differing points of view.
• A good understanding of Gender Equality, Gender Based Violence and women’s rights challenges in the Albanian/regional context would be highly desirable.

Required Skills and Experience

Academic qualifications:

Postgraduate degree in social and development sciences, public policy, public administration, international relations, evaluation, or a related subject with former research skills.

Relevant experience

• Substantial technical knowledge on monitoring and evaluation of development programmes and  at least 10 years of relevant working experience.
• Knowledge and working experience on gender-based violence, women’s rights, human rights.
• Previous experience in evaluations in the UN system, and a solid understanding on the use of evaluation methodologies.
• Experience in evaluation of gender equality and women’s empowerment programmes would be an asset.
• Excellent drafting skills and familiarity with information technology.

Language

• Excellent communication and reporting-writing skills in English.

Evaluation Procedure

UNDP applies a fair and transparent selection process that would take into account both the technical qualification of Individual Consultants as well as their financial proposals. The contract will be awarded to the candidate whose offer:

• Is deemed technically responsive / compliant / acceptable (only technically responsive applications / candidates will be considered for the financial evaluation)
• And has obtained the highest combined technical and financial scores.

Technical Criteria - 70% of total evaluation – max points: 70

Criteria A: Previous related working experience and practical familiarity with gender-based violence/gender equality and human rights in a developing country context – max points: 35

Criteria B: Educational background– max points: 20

Criteria C: international relations, political science, evaluation, international development or a related subject – max points: 15

Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation – max points: 30

UNDP retains the right to contact references directly. Due to large number of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.

Application Procedure

The application should contain:

• Brief (1-2 pages) description of the proposed methodology for carrying out the midterm evaluation;
• Cover letter explaining why you are the most suitable candidate for the advertised position and a brief methodology on how you will approach and conduct the work (if applicable). Please paste the letter into the "Resume and Motivation" section of the electronic application.
• Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability & Financial Proposal Form - please fill in the attached form. Download Here (kindly use FireFox Browser)
• Filled P11 form including past experience in similar projects and contact details of referees, please upload the P11 instead of your CV. Download Here (kindly use FireFox Browser)
• Financial Proposal in USD* - Specify Lump Sum in the United States Dollar for each of the tasks and at the bottom the Total Lump Sum for the Entire Job specified in this announcement. Please note that the financial proposal is all-inclusive and shall consider various expenses incurred by the consultant during the contract period (e.g. fee and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services). 
• Copy of Diplomas and copy of Passport. 

• *Kindly note that Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability and Financial Proposal are two separate documents and should be both part of your application. 

  How to Submit the Application: 

  To submit your application online, please follow the steps below: 

• Download and complete the UN Personal History Form (P11) for Service Contracts (SCs) and Individual Contracts (ICs); In the P11 Form make sure to include Email Addresses of the Persons who are willing to provide References on your past experience in working with them.
• Merge your UN Personal History Form (P11) for Service Contracts (SCs) and Individual Contracts (ICs), Financial Proposal Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability and cover letter into a single file. The system does not allow for more than one attachment to be uploaded; 
• Click on the Job Title (job vacancy announcement); 
• Click “Apply Now” button, fill in necessary information on the first page, and then click “Submit Application;” 
• Upload your application/single file as indicated above with the merged documents (underlined above); 
• You will receive an automatic response to your email confirming receipt of your application by the system. 

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

  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.