Background

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination and violence 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 supports UN Member States as they set global standards for achieving gender equality and works with governments and civil society to design laws, policies, programs and services needed to implement these standards.

Following the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BDPfA) in 1995, governments and civil society in the Western Balkans (*1) have made efforts to advance gender equality and women’s rights, albeit at different paces and reaching different results. Important progress has been made in setting up legislative and institutional frameworks to develop and implement gender equality policies. Although gender responsive budgeting has been introduced in different legal frameworks and is increasingly becoming mandatory, still, the implementation of laws and policies to advance gender equality remains weak, the eradication of discrimination and gender stereotypes has been slow, and financing for gender equality is still a challenge.

The mobilization of financing for full implementation of national gender equality commitments in Western Balkan has been mainly hindered by:

• lack of awareness and political commitment to allocate resources from all sources and at all levels for gender priorities and needs;
• lack of coherence between fiscal policies and gender equality objectives coupled with weak capacity to integrate gender into planning and budgeting processes;
• insufficient prioritization of gender equality in financing streams;
• lack of accountability of state institutions for the full implementation of gender equality commitments.;
• lack access and resources for civil society organizations to influence budgetary decision making and exercise oversight.

Since 2010, UN Women has provided support to central government institutions in Albania, Bosnia and Hercegovina, FYR Macedonia and the Republic of Moldova in strengthening democratic governance and advancing women’s rights through initiatives aimed at mainstreaming gender in policy planning and budgeting. Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) was introduced as a transformative mechanism, linking gender equality policy objectives with the resource allocations needed for their implementation. In several countries, especially with the introduction of gender equality in the budget laws and policies, GRB was institutionalized. Support was provided to civil society organisations, parliament and gender advocates to help them contribute meaningfully to policy making and budgeting and reflect the needs and priorities of excluded/vulnerable groups.  The first two phases of the GRB regional project: “Promoting Gender Responsive Policies and Budgets in South-East Europe” (2011-2013) and the Promoting Gender Responsive Policies in South East Europe and the Republic of Moldova, Phase II” regional project (2013 -2016) have been already evaluated. The final report of the second phase was released on March 2017. The findings and the recommendations of these evaluations will be closely considered for the forthcoming evolution of the third phase of GRB Regional project covering February 2017-January 2019The project aims to support the implementation of specific priorities set in the governments strategic documents and subsequently to advance the implementation of national and international commitments on gender equality. In doing so, the project provides technical support to governments to mobilize the necessary political, institutional and financial support to advance gender equality by ensuring Gender Responsive Policies and Budgets (GRPB) processes are systematic and sustainable. The project specifically contributes to the implementation of:

• National laws on Equal Opportunities (*2) (Albania, BiH and FYR Macedonia, Moldova) which incorporate provisions for central and local governments to follow the principle of equal opportunities in their strategic plans and budgets and to monitor the effects and the impact of their programs on women and men.
• National and Local Strategies on Gender Equality which commit to systematically integrate GRPB and recognize GRB as one of the primary public policy tools for achievement of gender equality.
• The Public Finance Management (PFM) Strategy in Albania (2015-2020), Public Finance Reform (*3) organic budget law (*4) and organic local governance and local finance laws (*5) of Albania which require integration of gender equality criteria in programme planning and budgeting.
• Gender Action Plan (2013 – 2017) and entity strategies for gender responsive budgeting in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
• The Programme for Sustainable Local Development and Decentralisation (2015-2020) of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia which foresees the introduction of gender responsive budgeting in all municipalities by integrating gender perspective in local budget policies.
• The National Program on Ensuring Gender Equality in the Republic of Moldova for the period 2010-2015 and the draft National Program on ensuring Gender Equality for 2016-2021 which provides for mainstreaming GRB into budgetary process at the national and local levels.
• The Government Strategy for introducing GRB (2012-2017) of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and the methodology for its implementation, which stipulates the integration of gender issues in budget policies and processes and strengthening of the institutional mechanisms.
• Initiatives such as the Open Government Partnership of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia which introduce gender criteria in public consultations at the central and local levels to support openness, accountability and responsiveness to the needs of women and men.
• Overview of relevant WPS/Humanitarian Response frameworks in the countries to be potentially included

The project is structured around two outcomes with specific outputs as follow:

Outcome 1: Governments in targeted countries promote gender responsive fiscal laws, policies and national action plans to enable specific budgetary allocations for gender equality;

Output 1.1: Public officials in national and local governments take initiatives to apply GRB in public finance management due to increased capacities.

Output 1.2: National and local governments prioritize budgetary allocations for GE through participatory processes and make monitoring reports of policies and budgets available to citizens.

Outcome 2: Gender advocates and MPs demand accountability from national and local governments on policies and budgetary allocations for GEWE.

Output 2.1: Gender advocates monitor and report on government’s commitments on GEWE.

Output 2.2: Parliamentarians raised gender issues and monitor government’s expenditures in specific sectors GEWE.

Output 2.3: National and Regional associations and expert groups/institutions exchange experience and replicate best practices on GRB.

Project beneficiaries and key stakeholders

Project implementing partners at central level are ministries of finance that receive technical assistance from UN Women to support and monitor the implementation of existing GRB requirements by the assigned line ministries.

At l regional level the project has two implementing partners: the Network of Associations of Local Authorities in Southeast Europe - NALAS and the Center for Excellence in Finance (CEF), With support from UN Women, NALAS is further strengthening its institutional capacities on GRB in order to be able to act as champion and facilitate learning and knowledge sharing regarding gender responsive planning across local governments in the region and introduce a gender perspective into areas of municipal competence. The partnership with the Centre for Excellence in Finance (CEF) will help to introduce GRB as one of the tools for mainstreaming gender in their Performance budgeting programme offered in the center training curricula.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the main project partners are: Gender Center of Federation of BiH, Gender Center of Republika Srpska BiH and the Agency for Gender Equality of BiH. At local level, implementing partner in FYR Macedonia is ZELS - the Association of Local Self Government Units. Through ZELS the project is further enhancing the capacities of local self-government units for gender responsive policy planning and budgeting and is strengthening the intra-institutional coordination among LSGUs. ZELS also serves as central repository of information and knowledge related to gender responsive budgeting in the processes of policy design, analyses and monitoring. .  In Albania, the project is focused on strengthening local and national capacities for scaling up the processes of local and national planning and budgeting of local services and ensuring accountability and transparency of public services. In Moldova, ASEM, Academy of Economic Studies of Moldova is one of the key partners for the work carried out on GRB and academia.

Partnership and cooperation are continued with women’s groups and civil society organizations, including those specialized in public finance with the aim of expanding their expertise in the field of gender responsive planning and budgeting. Support is provided to CSOs to continue enhancing the participatory processes and dialogue with central and local level institutions, as well as to further improve monitoring of public programmes, budgets and spending.

Budget, geographical scope and timeframe

The programme activities are being implemented in Albania, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and the Republic of Moldova.

Total programme budget is USD 1,608,209 out of which USD 1,111,192.00 contributed by Austrian Development Agency, (ADA), and USD 497,016.80 the Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC). Specifically, the budget divided by country is as follows: ALB-240,437.28, BiH-232,502.40, MKD 511,212.79, MDA 119,927.00. The project is implemented from February 2017 to January 2019.

Project management

The overall management responsibility and administration of the project rests with the Regional Office of UN Women for Europe and Central Asia in Istanbul, while the day-to-day management and implementation of the programme is responsibility of the project offices and technical experts hired as project coordinators in each country of project implementation.

Project Advisory board

Project Advisory Board (PAB) which consists of Government representatives, CSOs, GRB experts and representative of ADC, SDC and UN Women from the countries involved, provides guidance and quality assurance of the project implementation.

Members of the Project Advisory Board are responsible to:

• Provide high-level strategic oversight to the project in terms of advise on the external environment (political, social, economic) and the developments that can affect project implementation and the sustainability of the results;
• Discuss and advise on possible adjustments in the project strategies resulting from any such developments, in order to ensure achievement of project results;
• Advise on and advocate for the achievement of the key /results targeted by the project;
• Review work plans and progress reports (to the donors) submitted by the Regional Project Manager;
• Upon request by the Regional Project Manager advise on issues that are beyond the Regional Project Manager’s competence;
• Contribute to quality assurance;
• Conduct annual reviews of project activities to assess the status of implementation of the project;
• Handle any other issues brought to the PAB’s attention by any of its members.

2. .EVALUATION PURSPOSE, OBJECTIVES AND USE

A final evaluation of the third phase of the project “Promoting Gender Responsive Policies in South East Europe_ in Albania, Bosnia and Hercegovina, FYR Macedonia and the Republic of Moldova is conducted with a special focus on lessons learnt. The main purpose of this final evaluation is to assess in more detail the programmatic progress and performance of the above described intervention considering the following evaluation criteria: relevance, effectiveness, impact, organizational efficiency and sustainability. The evaluation will not fully assess the programme’s performance, as some of the activities will be ongoing while the evaluation takes place.

Specifically, the objectives of this evaluation are to:

• Analyse the relevance of the programme objectives, strategy and approach at the local, central and regional level;

• Assess effectiveness and a potential measurable impact of the programme intervention on the target countries;
• Assess organizational efficiency and coordination mechanisms in progressing towards the achievement of the programme results as defined in the intervention;
• Assess the sustainability of the results and the intervention in advancing gender equality in the target countries;
• Identify and document lessons learned, good practices and innovations, success stories and challenges within the programme, to inform future work of UN Women on gender responsive budgeting;
• Identify strategies for replication and up-scaling of the programme’s best practices.

The findings of the evaluation are expected to contribute to effective programming, organizational learning and accountability. It will also be a key input to knowledge management on gender responsive in Albania, Bosnia and Hercegovina, FYR Macedonia and the Republic of Moldova. The findings of the evaluation will moreover be used to engage policy makers and other stakeholders at local, national and regional level in evidence-based dialogues and to advocate for developing a sustainable intervention on Gender responsive budgeting.

Targeted users of the evaluation are the personnel of UN Women in Western Balkans and in the Regional office in Istanbul, the responsible parties, and the government counterparts at local and national levels, CSOs, and other UN agencies, donor community and development partners present in the countries of project implementation, and the programme beneficiaries. The evaluation should also provide specific recommendations as to the priority areas that should be considered to inform future programming in this area in Western Balkan. This would include interventions that require continued support, successful interventions for expansion, and recommendations on prioritizing interventions to maximize impact. It should also define recommendations to improve project management and maximize ownership by partners in the countries of project implementation.

EVALUATION SCOPE, METHODOLOGY AND QUESTIONS

Scope of the evaluation

The final evaluation of the Programme “Promoting Gender Responsive Policies in South East Europe” in Albania, Bosnia and Hercegovina, FYR Macedonia and the Republic of Moldova will be conducted in the final stage of its implementation and will cover the period from February 8th 2017 to January 31st 2019. The evaluation is scheduled for the period between November 2018 and February 2019. The evaluation includes a data collection mission for the international expert to one of the countries of project implementation and mission to selected project locations for the national experts in Albania, BiH, FYR Macedonia and the Republic of Moldova (in total duration of 18 days)..

The evaluation shall cover all aspects of the programme, and broadly allocate resources (time) in relation to the relative expenditure between the various components of the programme.

Evaluation methodology

The evaluation will be a transparent and participatory process involving relevant UN Women stakeholders and partners in the countries of project implementation. The evaluation will be based on gender and human rights principles and adhere to the United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG) Norms and Standards and Ethical Code of Conduct and UN Women Evaluation Policy and guidelines (*6)

The evaluation is a final programme evaluation and 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 resulst will be employed. The evaluation methodology will furthermore follow a 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 and programme documents, progress reports, financial records, meeting minutes and monitoring reports, and secondary data or studies relating to the country context and situation;
• Semi-structured interviews focus group discussions, surveys with direct and indirect beneficiaries, implementing partners, donor and other stakeholders;
• Field visits and observation at selected programme sites, to be decided upon start of the assignment and in coordination with UN Women.

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.

Comments provided by the Evaluation Reference Group (ERG) and Evaluation Management Group (EMG) are aimed at methodological rigor, factual errors, errors of interpretation, or omission of information and must be considered by the evaluators to ensure a high-quality product. The final evaluation report should reflect the evaluator’s consideration of the comments and acknowledge any substantive disagreements.

Evaluation questions

Considering the mandates to incorporate human rights and gender equality in all its work and the UN Women Evaluation Policy, which promotes the integration of women’s rights and gender equality principles, these dimensions will have a special attention in this evaluation and will be considered under each evaluation criterion.

It is expected that the evaluation team will develop an evaluation matrix, which will relate to the questions below (and refine them as needed), 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 validated by EMG and approved in the evaluation inception report.

Relevance

• 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 national development strategies in the area of gender equality and women’s empowerment, and reflect national/subnational priorities and commitments on GRB?
• To what extent key national partners were involved in the programme’s conceptualization and design process?
• To what extent has gender and human rights principles and strategies been integrated into the programme design and implementation?
• To what extent does the UN Women possess the comparative advantage in the programme’s area of work in comparison with other UN entities and key partners in the Western Balkans?
• To what extent the GRB regional project addresses the main needs of the project´s target groups?
• To what extent has the GRB regional projects been aligned to other strategies and policies on gender mainstreaming in the different countries where it has been implemented and in particular on budgeting at the central and local levels?

Effectiveness

• To what extent have the expected results of the programme been achieved on both outcome and output levels?
• What are the reasons for the achievement or non-achievement of the programme results? Has programme 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 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 programme partners?
• To what extent are the programme approaches and strategies innovative for implementation of GRB?  What -if any- types of innovative good practices have been introduced in the programme for the achievement of the results? 

Impact

• What evidence exist that the programme has delivered longer term results from processes through to benefits? Have any unintended results been delivered? 
• Is there a potential measurable impact of the programme intervention on the target group across all dimensions of empowerment?

• To what extent is the programme changing the dynamics of power in relationships between different groups?         
• To what extent is the programme bringing about gender transformative changes that address the root causes of gender inequalities – including prevailing social norms, attitudes and behaviours, discrimination and social systems?

Efficiency

• Have resources (financial, human, technical support, etc.) been allocated between the implementing partners strategically to achieve the programme outcomes?
• Has there been effective leadership and management of the programme 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 has the GRB Regional Project management structure facilitated (or hindered) good results and efficient delivery?

Sustainability

• What is the likelihood that the benefits from the programme will be maintained for a reasonably long period of time after the programme 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 water governance?
• How effectively has the programme generated national ownership of the results achieved, the establishment of partnerships with relevant stakeholders and the development of in-country capacities to ensure sustainability of efforts and benefits?
• To what extent the GRB regional project fostered the participation of relevant CSOs and women´s organizations in the different countries covered by the project?
• To what extent have the GRB initiatives been successful in making the linkages and agreements that would ensure the continuation of work on GRB? What factors are/will be critical to sustainability?
• To what extent has the programme been able to promote replication and/or up-scaling of successful practices?

EVALUATION GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE AND PROCESS

Evaluation governance structure

A twofold evaluation governance structure for the evaluation will be established. An Evaluation Management Group (EMG) comprising of senior management of UN Women, Evaluation Task Manager and Programme manager will be established to oversee the evaluation process, make key decisions and quality assure the different deliverables. In addition, the evaluation will be quality assured by the UN Women Regional Evaluation Specialist for the ECA region, who is a member of the UN Women Independent Evaluation Office. Designated UN Women focal point who has not been 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 in enduring that the evaluation is conducted in accordance with the UN Women Evaluation Policy, United Nations Evaluation Group Ethical Guidelines and Code of Conduct for Evaluation in the United Nations system and other key guidance documents.

The establishment of an Evaluation Reference Group (ERG) will facilitate the participation of the key stakeholders in the evaluation process and will help to ensure that the evaluation approach is robust and relevant to staff and stakeholders. Furthermore, it will make certain that factual errors or errors of omission or interpretation are identified in evaluation products. The reference group will provide input and relevant information at key stages of the evaluation: inception report, draft and final reports and will support UN Women with the dissemination of the results.

Phases of the evaluation process

The evaluation process has five phases:

1) Preparation: gathering and analysing programme data, conceptualizing the evaluation approach, internal consultations on the approach, preparing the TOR, establishment of the Evaluation Management Group (EMG) and the Evaluation Reference Group (ERG), stakeholders mapping and selection of evaluation team. 

2) Inception: 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.

3) Data collection and analysis: in-depth desk research, in-depth review of the programme documents and monitoring frameworks, in-depth online interviews as necessary, staff and partner survey/s, and field visits. 

4) Analysis, validation and synthesis stage: analysis of data and interpretation of findings and drafting and validation of an evaluation report and other communication products.

5) Dissemination and follow-up: once the evaluation is completed UN Women is responsible for the development of a Management Response to evaluation recommendations within 6 weeks after the final approval of the evaluation report, publishing the evaluation report, uploading the final evaluation report on the UN Women GATE website and the dissemination of evaluation findings amongst key stakeholders.

The evaluation team will be responsible for phases 2, 3 and 4 with the support of UN Women while UN Women is entirely responsible for phases 1 and 5.

EXPECTED DELIVERABLES AND EVALUATION TIMEFRAME

Evaluation deliverables

The evaluation team is responsible for the following deliverables:

• An inception report: The evaluation team will present a refined scope, a detailed outline of the evaluation design and methodology, evaluation questions, and criteria for the approach for in-depth desk review and field work to be conducted in the data collection phase. The report will include an evaluation matrix and detailed work plan. A first draft report will be shared with the evaluation management group and, based upon the comments received the evaluation team will revise the draft.  The revised draft will be shared with the evaluation reference group for feedback. The evaluation team will maintain an audit trail of the comments received and provide a response on how the comments were addressed in the final inception report. 
• Presentation of preliminary findings: A PowerPoint presentation detailing the emerging findings of the evaluation will be shared with the evaluation management group for feedback. The revised presentation will be delivered to the reference group for comment and validation. The evaluation team will incorporate the feedback received into the draft report.
• A draft evaluation report: A first draft report will be shared with the evaluation management group for initial feedback. The second draft report will incorporate evaluation management group feedback and will be shared with the evaluation reference group for identification of factual errors, errors of omission and/or misinterpretation of information. The third draft report will incorporate this feedback and then be shared with the reference group for final validation. The evaluation team will maintain an audit trail of the comments received and provide a response on how the comments were addressed in the revised drafts.
• The final evaluation report: The final report will include a concise Executive Summary and annexes detailing the methodological approach and any analytical products developed during the course of the evaluation. The structure of the report will be defined in the inception report.
• Evaluation communication products: A PowerPoint/Prezi presentation of the final key evaluation findings and recommendations, and a 2-pager/infographics on the final key findings, lessons learned and recommendations.

Evaluation timeframe

The national consultant will be expected to complete the tasks within the indicative timeframe:

Proposed dates are indicative and may be adjusted upon recruitment of the lead international expert.

Inception phase

• Desk review of background documentation - 3 Days - 8 December
• Inception meeting with EMG - 1 Day - 10 December
• Inception report (including two rounds of revision) - 2 Days - 14 December

Data collection phase

• Additional documents review, (online) interviews - 3 Days - 17 December
• Visit to programme sites, debriefing with EMG and ERG and presentation of preliminary findings (exact number of sites and locations to be determined during the methodology phase) - 5 Days - 21 December

Analysis and reporting phase

• Draft report (including two rounds of revision) - 3 Days - January 15th
• Final report and Evaluation communication products (brief PPT, two-pager) - 1 Day - January 25th 2019

TOTAL = 18 DAYS

Duties and Responsibilities

EVALUATION TEAM COMPOSITION AND REQUIREMENTS 

An evaluation team consisting of an international consultant as a Team Leader who will be the main responsible person for the satisfactory delivery of all the deliverables listed above and one national consultant in each of the countries of project implementation as Team Members who will support all substantive aspects of the evaluation.(Four experts in total, one in Albania, one in BiH, one in FYR Macedonia and one in the Republic of Moldova). The international consultant, as team leader, is responsible for overall coordination of the production of deliverables 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 consultants will provide support to the international consultant. The team leader is expected to lead the first data collection mission in Albania while the national consultants under the coordination of the team leader will follow up on data collection in BiH, Macedonia and Moldova.

Duties and responsibilities of the national consultant are as follows:

• Supporting team leading during inception phase and gathering documents, following up with UN Women offices in the countries of project implementation and synthesizing relevant information;
• Assisting in the preparation of the mission with UN Women offices when is relevant;
• Supporting the team leader with country data collection;
• Conduct interviews and collect additional data as needed;
• Attending and supporting the preparation of all meetings and presentations;
• Supporting the team leader while undertaking the analysis the evidence.

Competencies

• Strong analytical, writing and reporting abilities;
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, ability to lead a team and negotiate amongst a wide range of stakeholders;
• Commitment to quality products and deadlines;
• Builds strong relationships;
• Focuses on impact and results and responds positively to feedback;
• Approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Demonstrates/safeguards ethics and integrity;
• Demonstrated corporate knowledge and sound judgment;
• Acts as a team player and facilitates team work;
• Facilitates and encourages open communication in the team, communicating effectively;
• Learns and shares knowledge and encourages learning of others;
• Demonstrates integrity and fairness by modelling UN values and ethical standards;
• Demonstrates professional competence and is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments; observing deadlines and achieving results;
• Displays cultural, gender, nationality, religion and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: http://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-employment-values-and-competencies-definitions-en.pdf

Required Skills and Experience

• At least a master’s degree related to one or more of the following: economics, social sciences, development studies, gender studies or a related area;
• 5 years of relevant experience in the area of Gender Equality and relevant knowledge of the GE and legislation and normative frameworks in the countries of project implementation; Knowledge in the area of GRB wold be considered an asset;
• Knowledge and experience of gender-responsive and human rights-based approaches to evaluation;
• Experience of conducting gender-responsive evaluations and/or applied research utilizing a wide range of approaches and methods;
• Ability to produce well written reports;
• Demonstrated facilitation and communications skills, experience in participatory approaches and ability to negotiate amongst a wide range of stakeholders;
• Experience within the United Nations system will be considered an asset;
• Proficiency in English.

DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE PROPOSALS

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents:

1. Expression of interest
2. Detailed financial proposal in Albanian Lek,  which includes all expenditures including consultancy fees, travel  for 50 km, 100km and 200km;  accommodation per night, accommodation, subsistence etc.
3. UN P11 form. Can be downloaded at: http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment

4. 18 working days; home-based and field mission (please note, this is a lump sum arrangement and the lump sum should include all travel and other related costs) UN Women reserves the right to amend the number of workdays. 

Please note: All documents must be uploaded in 1 single file.

Consultant is responsible to financially cover and organize local travel within countries of project implementation to the locations with the support of UN Women that will be responsible for organizing the agenda during data collection missions and scheduling the interviews with stakeholders in the different locations.

EVALUATION OF OFFERS

UN Women applies a fair and transparent selection process that takes into account both the technical qualification of potential consultants as well as the financial proposals submitted in support of consultant applications. Candidate applications will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of applicant qualifications and financial proposal. The contract will be awarded, based on desk review, to the consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• responsive/compliant/acceptable, and
• having received the highest score out of below defined technical, interview and financial criteria.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 50 points in the technical evaluation will be considered as qualified and evaluated further. Top 3 candidates (with highest number of points in the technical evaluation) will be interviewed. The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal will be allocated to the lowest price proposal among top three candidates. All other price proposals receive points in inverse proportion.

Criteria:

Technical Evaluation – documents and interview based (80%).

Financial evaluation – based on submitted offer (20%).

Financial Evaluation (20%); Evaluation of submitted financial offers will be done based on the following formula: S = Fmin / F * 20

S - score received on financial evaluation; Fmin - the lowest financial offer out of all the submitted offers qualified over the technical evaluation round; F - financial offer under the consideration.

Please note that all travel costs should be covered by the consultant.

Qualified women and members of minorities are encouraged to apply. UN Women applies fair and transparent selection process that would take into account the competencies/skills of the applicants as well as their financial proposals.

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.

NOTE: Impartiality of the final evaluation will be ensured by evaluating only those applicants who were not previously involved in implementation of the activities under the programme Standards and Engagement for “Promoting Gender Responsive Policies in South East Europe” in Albania, Bosnia and Hercegovina, FYR Macedonia and the Republic of Moldova.

Annex 1 Relevant evaluation references

Evaluation of the first phase of the programme “Promoting Gender Responsive Policies in South East Europe” in Albania, Bosnia and Hercegovina, FYR Macedonia and the Republic of Moldova http://gate.unwomen.org/Evaluation/Details?evaluationId=4733

Evaluation of the second phase of the programme “Promoting Gender Responsive Policies in South East Europe” in Albania, Bosnia and Hercegovina, FYR Macedonia and the Republic of Moldova http://gate.unwomen.org/Evaluation/Details?EvaluationId=5013

Evaluation Policy of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UNW/2012/8): www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=UNW/2012/12&Lang=E

How to Manage Gender Responsive Evaluation. Evaluation Handbook: www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2015/4/un-women-evaluation-handbook-how-to-manage-gender-responsive-evaluation

UN Women Global Evaluation Reports Assessment and Analysis System (GERAAS): www.unwomen.org/~/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/evaluation/evaluation-geraasmethodology-en.pdf

Standards for Evaluation in the UN System: www.uneval.org/document/detail/22

Norms for Evaluation in the UN System: www.uneval.org/document/detail/21

Integrating Human Rights and Gender Equality in Evaluation – towards UNEG Guidance: www.uneval.org/document/detail/980

UNEG Guidance Integrating Human Rights and Gender into Evaluation: www.uneval.org/document/detail/1616

UN SWAP Evaluation Performance Indicator: www.uneval.org/document/detail/1452

UNEG Quality Checklist for Evaluation Reports: www.uneval.org/document/detail/607

UNEG Ethical Guidelines: www.unevaluation.org/document/detail/102

UNEG Code of Conduct for Evaluation in the UN: www.unevaluation.org/document/detail/100

***

[1] For the purposes of this Terms of Reference, the Western Balkan include countries of project implementation: Albania, Bosnia and Hercegovina, FYR Macedonia, as well as the Republic of Moldova.

[2] Law on Gender Equality in Society no. 9970, Official Gazette of the Republic of Albania, 125/2008; Law on Gender Equality in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Official Gazette of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 102/09; Law on Equal Opportunities between Women and Men, Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia, 6/2012;

Law on Ensuring Equal Opportunities for Women and Men No. 5-XVI, Official Monitor of the Republic of Moldova, 47-50/200.

[3] Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Albania, Albania Public Finance Management Strategy 2014-2020, (Tirana, 2014). accessed November 10, 2016, http://www.financa.gov.al/files/userfiles/Raportimet/Albanian_PFM_strategy_2014-2020.pdf

[4] Ibid

[5] Ibid

[6] Please see Annex 1 Evaluation References below