UN Women Ethiopia Country Program Evaluation (CPE)

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.

The Ethiopia Country Office Strategic Note (SN) is the main planning tool for UN Women’s support to normative, coordination and operational work in Ethiopia. This evaluation will consider the Strategic Note covering the period 2021-2025. The Strategic Note includes a Development Results Framework (DRF) and an Organizational Effectiveness and Efficiency Framework (OEEF), both with performance indicators. The evaluation is expected to use this to assess organizational performance.

The SN is derived from and contributes to the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSCDF 2020-2025), which outlines the United Nation’s vision and strategic focus in Ethiopia. The UNSCDF supports the Government of Ethiopia’s (GoE) development and humanitarian priorities, as articulated in the Ten-Year Perspective Development Plan - Ethiopia 2030: The Pathways to Prosperity (2020 – 2030) and related national policies and plans.

The SN’s orientation and thematic focus areas are grounded in UN Women’s Strategic Plan (2021-2025) and aligned to major international and African regional development and gender commitments, including the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BDPfA) (1995); the Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1979); Africa’s Agenda 2063; the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol) (2003); and the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa (SDGEA) (2004).
The SN was developed through a participatory process designed to gain perspective on the strengths of UN Women’s Ethiopia Country Office (ECO) and Ethiopia’s status on gender equality and development priorities. 
The evaluation will use selected OECD DAC evaluation criteria for the CPE. The table below sets these out, along with indicative evaluation questions.

Criterion

Effectiveness – the extent to which UN Women has contributed to achieving planned outcomes and mitigating negative externalities

Indicative Evaluation Questions

To what extent did UN Women Ethiopia contribute to the expected outcomes as set out in the strategic note? What changes have been observed, an for whom? What were the enablers and barriers? What unexpected outcomes (positive and negative) have been achieved? 

Criterion

Efficiency- the extent to which tactical decisions, organisational structures and management processes add to UN Women’s productive capacity

Indicative Evaluation Questions

Does UN Women Ethiopia have appropriate governance, capacity and capability to ensure good use of resources (personnel, funding, and assets) to deliver results? 
How well did ECO manage to respond to emerging humanitarian crises in the country, to support gender responsive humanitarian action? 

Criterion

Coherence – the extent to which there is an internal coherence within UN Women, as well as coherence with the work other key stakeholders are doing to advance Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment, and the extent to which strategic choices have maximized UN Women’s comparative advantages

Indicative Evaluation Questions

Is UN Women’s focus and strategy for implementation the most relevant and coherent for advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment in Ethiopia considering its added value vis-à-vis other development actors? 
To what extent is UN Women leveraging its coordination mandate to strategically position itself and contribute to a more gender responsive approach by the United Nations Country Team (UNCT), Ethiopian Humanitarian Country Team (EHCT) and by other development actors to catalyse transformative change for women and girls and achieve gender equality in Ethiopia? 
How does the Joint Programming contribute to the realization of gender equality and women’s empowerment outcomes for Ethiopia ? 

Criterion

Human Rights and Gender Equality – the extent to which the principles and standards of Leaving no one behind (LNOB) and global human rights norms on gender equality and women’s empowerment are addressed in UN Women’s country portfolio.

Indicative Evaluation Questions

Do the interventions as designed and implemented apply gender, human rights and disability inclusion approaches?
 

Purpose, objectives and use of the evaluation  

The UN Women Evaluation Policy and the UN Women Evaluation Strategic Plan 2022-2025 are the main guiding documents that set forth the principles and organizational framework for evaluation planning, conduct and follow-up in UN Women. These principles are aligned with the United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG) Norms and Standards for Evaluation in the UN System and Ethical Guidelines.

The CPE has the following seven objectives:

Assess the relevance of UN Women contribution to the intervention at national levels and alignment with international agreements and conventions on gender equality and women’s empowerment. 
Assess effectiveness and organizational efficiency in progressing towards the achievement of gender equality and women’s empowerment results as defined in the Strategic Note.
Support the UN Women CO to improve its strategic positioning to better support the achievement of sustained gender equality and women’s empowerment.
Analyse how human rights approach and gender equality principles are integrated in the design and implementation of the Strategic Note.
Identify and validate lessons learned, good practices and examples of innovation that supports gender equality and human rights.
Provide insights into the extent to which the UN Women CO has realized synergies between its three mandates (normative, coordination and programme).
Provide actionable recommendations with respect to the development of new programmes/ the next UN Women CO Strategic Note.

This evaluation will have the following management structures:
Independent Evaluation and Audit Service Leadership: The Director of the IEAS oversees all IEAS activities, while the Chief of IES is responsible for the evaluation related activities; both will review the key products of the evaluation and sign off on the final CPE report and associated products. 
Team Leader: The Regional Evaluation Specialist (RES) of IEAS will serve as the team leader, responsible for managing the coordination and day-to-day management of the CPE, leading the methodological approach, collection of data, analysis and report writing. As team leader, the RES will also be responsible for overseeing the work of the evaluation team members, managing the contracts and assuring quality of the work.  
Evaluation team: Evaluation team members consist of the international evaluation expert to support the Team leader in designing and conducting the CPE and the national expert to provide key contextual information and support data collection in country.   
Evaluation Reference Group (ERG):  The ERG plays a critical role in ensuring a high quality, transparent process, providing insights on the key questions and approach, providing context and ensuring factual accuracy, ensuring gaps and misinterpretation of information is avoided. It will play an important role in the dissemination of the evaluation findings and recommendations to ensure evaluation uptake. Evaluation Reference Group members will be expected to engage at every stage of the evaluation process, including being interviewed by the evaluation team, participating in inception meetings and debriefings, providing feedback on all outputs (including the inception report, preliminary findings, draft and final report) and supporting uptake of the evaluation results.

Description of Responsibilities /Scope of Work

The National expert is expected to provide key contextual information and perspective to design a robust utilization-focused CPE. The national expert is also expected to support the in-country data collection process. 
Scoping and design the evaluation, including drafting of the Inception Report and data collection instruments. 
Implementation of the evaluation and data collection, including participation in document review, virtual/in situ field visits, survey design and implementation. 
Data analysis to develop preliminary findings and drafting of final report. 
Drafting final 2-page brief outlining the evaluation process, conclusions, and recommendations. 
Communication with evaluation stakeholders, including attending exit briefs, validation meetings etc
 

Key Deliverables and Timeframe

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel
This is a home-based consultancy with occasional days or hours working from Ethiopia Country office 

Competencies :

Core Values:

• Integrity;
• Professionalism;
• Respect for Diversity.

Core Competencies:

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

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Values and Competencies Framework: 

Functional Competencies:

Strong interpersonal and communication skills, ability to work with international consultant and other team: UN Women Ethiopia Country Office team and a wide range of stakeholders.
Strong monitoring and evaluation skills
Strong knowledge of Results Based Management and Results Reporting and have similar experience in conducting final evaluation 
Ability to synthesize program performance data and produce analytical reports to inform management and strategic decision-making
Strong research and analytical skills
Data analysis and interpretation: proficiency in using statistical tools to analyze data and draw insights
Good knowledge of UN programme management systems and familiar with multi-country programs
Ability to identify and analyze high level program results
Commitment to quality products and deadlines.
Sensitivity and adaptability to culture, gender, religion, nationality and age

Education and Certification:

Master’s degree in gender/women studies, sociology, international development, or related area; or
A Bachelor’s degree in gender/women studies, sociology, international development, or related area, with additional two years’ experience

Experience:
At least 5 years of relevant work experience preferably in the area of monitoring, evaluation or research on gender equality, women’s empowerment and human rights in Ethiopia
Process management skills, including facilitation and communication skills with stakeholders 
Knowledge of the role of UN Women or the UN system and its programming, coordination, and normative roles at country level is an asset.

Languages:
Fluent in English both written and spoken is mandatory.
Good knowledge of Amharic is required. 
Knowledge of any other official UN working languages is an added advantage

Statements :

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.

Diversity and inclusion:

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)