Background

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security. UNODC is a global leader in the fight against illicit drugs and international crime and is mandated to assist Member States in their struggle against illicit drugs, crime and terrorism. UN Women and UNODC have joined forces to prevent and mitigate the impacts of trafficking and transnational crime through women’s empowerment in the greater Mekong sub region through a Joint Programme supported by the Government of Japan.

 

The overall goal of the project is to ensure that at-risk border communities, and women in particular, are more resilient to human trafficking and related escalation. In realizing this goal, UN Women and UNODC will focus on achieving the following outputs: (i) strengthening community awareness and the rapid provision of gender sensitive services for the reintegration and empowerment of victims; (ii) promoting the increase of women’s participation and leadership in law enforcement and border management; (iii) strengthening understanding of the true scope and impact of cross-border crime on women and their communities; and (4) strengthening the capacity of front line officers in border locations to meet the needs of women in the context of cross-border crime.

 

The project started in April 2018 and will end in March 2019. Given the short duration of the programme, a comprehensive evaluation cannot be conducted, however, an external light review exercise of the programme focusing on the relevance, effectiveness and efficiency of key processes and outputs will foster reflection on this area of work of UN Women and UNODC and will inform possible future development on the same thematic area.

Duties and Responsibilities

The international consultant for External Light Review Exercise will be working under supervision of the Regional Policy Adviser for Governance Peace and Security of UN Women Asia Pacific Regional Office to ensuring following:

 

No.

Duties and Responsibilities

1

Analyze the Project “Preventing and Mitigating the impacts of Trafficking and Transnational Crime through Women’s Empowerment” implemented in the Greater Mekong Sub-Region.

 

  • It is expected that the consultant will perform a desk review, reviewing key documents such as Programme Document, Annual Work Plan and Budget, the progress report of UN Women and UNODC, progress reports of UN Women’s implementing partners, the studies, the researches and outcome documents from conferences that have been conducted within the framework of the programme
  • Interviews is also anticipated to be conducted with key stakeholders involved in the programme. UN Women and UNODC will provide a list and the consultant can also contact other stakeholders.

 

Remarks:

The timeframe of the evaluation will cover from 1 April 2018 to the moment when the review is taking place.

 

2

Assess the relevance, effectiveness and efficiency of the programme in the view to respond to the following questions:

 

Relevance: To what extent the programme has contributed to solve the needs and problems identified in the design phase.

 

Specific questions could include:

 

  1. Is the programme design articulated in a coherent structure? Is the definition of goal, outcomes and outputs clearly articulated?
  2. To what extent the programme design coherent with UN Women strategic plan and its priorities?

 

Effectiveness: The extent to which the programme has implemented its outputs to the targeted population, beneficiaries, participants -whether individuals, communities, institutions.

 

Specific questions could include:

 

  1. What has been the progress made towards implementation of the outputs?
  2. Were they any unexpected results /unintended effects (negative or positive)?
  3. What are the reasons for the achievement or non-achievement?
  4. To what extent are the intended beneficiaries participating in and benefitting from the project?
  5. To what extent do the indented and unintended benefits meet the needs of women at risk of trafficking?
  6. To what extent the capacities of duty-bearers and rights-holders have been strengthened as a result of the programme?

 

Organizational Efficiency: To what extent the programme was efficiently implemented and delivered quality outputs, against what was originally planned or subsequently officially revised.

 

Specific questions could include:

  1. Have the outputs been delivered in a timely manner?
  2. Have UN Women’s and UNODC’s organizational structure, managerial support and coordination mechanisms effectively supported the delivery of the programme?
  3. To what extent are the inputs and outputs equally distributed between different groups of women, and have the potentials of disadvantaged women been fully utilized to realize the outcomes?
  4. How does the programme utilize existing local capacities of right-bearers and duty-holders?

 

 

Competencies

Anticipated approaches to be used for data collection and analysis by the consultant are desk review, interviews with key stakeholders, and other participatory techniques. The external light review must integrate gender and human-rights perspectives throughout each of these areas of analysis and within its methodology[1]. This is particularly important to understand and assess programmes addressing complex, intersectional issues in women’s rights.

 

  1. Expected Deliverables

 

No.

Tasks & Deliverables

Target dates

1

Conducting desk review of key documents

 

Deliverables: List of documents for desk review

 

1 March 2019

2

Meeting (Skype calls) with key stakeholders

 

Deliverables: Name lists and contact details of key stakeholders

 

8 March 2019

3

Drafting light review and submission of draft

 

Deliverables: Draft report of light review

 

14 March 2019

 

4

Incorporating comments from UN Women and UNODC and finalizing the External Light Review

 

Deliverable:  The External Light Review that contains following element;

  • Cover Page
  • Title page, table of contents, acronyms
  • Executive summary (maximum 2 pages)
  • Programme description
  • Assessment purpose and intended audience
  • Assessment objectives, scope and methodology (including constraints and limitations on the study conducted)
  • Findings and Analysis
  • Conclusions
  • Recommendations (prioritized, structured and clear)
  • Lessons Learnt
  • Annexes, including interview list (without identifying names for the sake of confidentiality/anonymity) data collection instruments, key documents consulted, TOR)

 

Remark:

 

  • The review should not exceed 20 pages excluding annexes.
  • An executive summary will include a brief description of the programme, its context and current situation, the purpose of the external light review, its intended audience, its methodology and its main findings, conclusions and recommendations. The Executive Summary should “stand alone” and will be translated to ensure access by all stakeholders if needed.

 

31 March 2019

 

 

[1] Please see “Integrating human rights and gender equality in Evaluation: towards UNEG guidance”

(available in English, Spanish, French and Arabic)

Required Skills and Experience

  • A Masters or higher-level degree in International Development or a similar field related to political and economic development, etc.
  • A minimum of 5 years’ relevant experience undertaking evaluations, assessments or reviews is required.
  • Substantive experience in assessing similar development projects in the area of Women Peace and Security. Previous experience in the field of Preventing Violent Extremism would be considered an asset.
  • Substantive experience in evaluating or assessing projects with a strong gender focus is preferred.
  • Experience working in Asia and the Pacific is preferred. Previous experience in Bangladesh and Indonesia would be considered as an asset.
  • Experience working on gender, added value of expertise in undertaking gender-sensitive evaluations.
  • Excellent English writing and communication skills are required.

 

V. Evaluation

Applications will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis.

  • Technical Qualification (100 points) weight; [70%]
  • Financial Proposal (100 points) weight; [30%]

 

A two-stage procedure is utilised in evaluating the applications, with evaluation of the technical application being completed prior to any price proposal being compared. Only the price proposal of the candidates who passed the minimum technical score of 70% of the obtainable score of 100 points in the technical qualification evaluation will be evaluated.

Technical qualification evaluation criteria:

 

The total number of points allocated for the technical qualification component is 100. The technical qualification of the individual is evaluated based on following technical qualification evaluation criteria:

            Technical Evaluation Criteria

Obtainable Score

  1. Education
  • A Masters or higher-level degree in International Development or a similar field related to political and economic development, etc.
  1.  
  1. Experience and skills
  • A minimum of 5 years’ relevant experience undertaking evaluations, assessments or reviews is required.
  • Substantive experience in assessing similar development projects in the area of Women Peace and Security. Previous experience in the field of Preventing Violent Extremism would be considered an asset.
  • Substantive experience in evaluating or assessing projects with a strong gender focus is preferred.
  • Experience working in Asia and the Pacific is preferred. Previous experience in Bangladesh and Indonesia would be considered as an asset.
  • Experience working on gender, added value of expertise in undertaking gender-sensitive evaluations.

70%

  1. Language skills
  • Excellent command of written English. Other UN languages an asset.

10%

Total Obtainable Score

100%

 

Financial/Price Proposal evaluation:

 

  • Only the financial proposal of candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% score in the technical evaluation will be considered and evaluated.
  • The total number of points allocated for the price component is 100.
  • The maximum number of points will be allotted to the lowest price proposal that is opened/ evaluated and compared among those technical qualified candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% score in the technical evaluation. All other price proposals will receive points in inverse proportion to the lowest price.

 

VI. Payments

Payments for this consultancy will be based on the achievement of each deliverable and certification that each has been satisfactorily completed. Payments will not be based on the number of days worked but on the completion of each stated deliverable within the indicated timeframes.

VII. Ethical Code of Conduct[1]:

The light review of the programme is to be carried out according to ethical principles and standards established by the United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG).

 

  • Anonymity and confidentiality. The evaluation must respect the rights of individuals who provide information, ensuring their anonymity and confidentiality.
  • Responsibility. The report must mention any dispute or difference of opinion that may have arisen among the consultants or between the consultant and the heads of the Programme in connection with the findings and/or recommendations. The team must corroborate all assertions, or disagreement with them noted.
  • Integrity. The evaluator will be responsible for highlighting issues not specifically mentioned in the TOR, if this is needed to obtain a more complete analysis of the intervention.
  • Independence. The consultant should ensure his or her independence from the intervention under review, and he or she must not be associated with its management or any element thereof.
  • Incidents. If problems arise during the fieldwork, or at any other stage of the evaluation, they must be reported immediately to the manager of the evaluation. If this is not done, the existence of such problems may in no case be used to justify the failure to obtain the results stipulated in these terms of reference.
  • Validation of information. The consultant will be responsible for ensuring the accuracy of the information collected while preparing the reports and will be ultimately responsible for the information presented in the evaluation report.
  • Intellectual property. In handling information sources, the consultant shall respect the intellectual property rights of the institutions and communities that are under review.
  • Delivery of reports. If delivery of the reports is delayed, or in the event that the quality of the reports delivered is clearly lower than what was agreed, the penalties stipulated in these terms of reference will be applicable.

 

VIII. Submission of application

Interest candidates are encouraged to submit their application through the UN Women website as well an electronic application to hr.bangkok@unwomen.org and copy to nichapa.athipan@unwomen.org not later than 13th January 2019, COB.

 

Submission package includes:

  • Updated CV
  • Personal History Form (P11)
  • Technical proposal: Brief summary of the proposed methodology for the light review exercise (1 page) and at least three sample reports from previous evaluation/review (all samples will be kept confidential) or links to website where reports can be retrieved (highly recommended).
  • Financial proposal

 

Items

Amount (USD)

Lump Sum fee (equivalent to daily fee x no. of days)

Number of days refers to actual days that the consultant works in order to produce deliverables as required by the ToR, NOT the number of days covering the whole period of consultancy.

 
  • List of documents for desk review

 

  • Name lists and contact details of key stakeholders

 

  • Draft report of light review

 

  • The external light review that contains following element;
  • Cover Page
  • Title page, table of contents, acronyms
  • Executive summary (maximum 2 pages)
  • Programme description
  • Assessment purpose and intended audience
  • Assessment objectives, scope and methodology (including constraints and limitations on the study conducted)
  • Findings and Analysis
  • Conclusions
  • Recommendations (prioritized, structured and clear)
  • Lessons Learnt
  • Annexes, including interview list (without identifying names for the sake of confidentiality/anonymity) data collection instruments, key documents consulted, TOR)

 

Total Financial Proposal

 

 

Incomplete proposals may not be considered.

Please ensure a competitive financial proposal is submitted as it will be evaluated cumulatively with the technical proposal. Financial proposal itself will be weighed at 30%.

  1.  Payments

Payments for this consultancy will be based on the achievement of each deliverable and certification that each has been satisfactorily completed.

 

[1] Please review http://www.unevaluation.org/ethicalguidelines