Programme Final Evaluation Consultant

Background/Context

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. 

UN Women has been implementing the programme ‘Enhancing Women’s Leadership for Sustainable Peace in Fragile Contexts in the MENA Region – Phase III’ since November 2022. This occurs through a long-term collaboration with, and financial support from, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in cooperation with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. It serves as part of a BMZ Special Initiative on Displaced Persons and Host Countries.

The Programme has been instrumental in raising the profile of, and achieving gains on, one of the most intractable issues in the women, peace and security (WPS) agenda—women’s direct participation in formal, high-level peace, political and transition processes. With its partners, UN Women continues to build political partnerships across peace tracks, push knowledge generation forward, make expert resources available and offer spaces to strategize and build movements towards peace and security at national, regional and global policy levels. 

The Programme’s outcome is for women to lead and participate more meaningfully in peace and transition processes in the MENA region. The Programme activities span global, regional and country levels with a focus on influencing high-level peace mediation and decision-making processes. The four focus countries of the Programme are Iraq, Libya, Syria and Yemen along with a regional and global component. The activities are structured around three components or output areas: 

1. Women peace actors have strengthened knowledge, capacity and technical expertise, and ability to influence peace processes and political and decision-making processes
2. International, regional, and national stakeholders have improved information-sharing, dialogue and cross-fertilization towards inclusive peace and political processes.
3. Peace process actors have increased access to systemized evidence-based knowledge that documents women's participation and influence and disseminate good practices and policies

In 2021, the Programme underwent a joint review led by UN Women and GIZ, which informed the design of Phase III. As UN Women and its partners chart a course for potential continuation and sustainability of the programmes achievements, an evaluation will take stock of successes, challenges, risks and opportunities. The Programme evaluation will additionally serve as a key basis for shaping the design of UN Women’s future projects on WPS in the region.

Evaluation Management 

The consultant will be reporting to Policy Specialist, Inclusive Peace Processes, and will be supported by Operations Analyst who will be the point of contact on the contract and payment issues. Furthermore, the consultant will be required to coordinate closely with UN Women programme staff both at the regional office and at country level in undertaking the evaluation. 

Evaluation Management Group (EMG) will be the key accountable body that will ultimately endorse the evaluation report and will be responsible for the development of an evaluation Management Response (MR) to address the recommendations included in the report. The EMG will be chaired by the Deputy Chief of UN Women Peace and Security Section (HQ) and will also be comprised of the Evaluation Specialist (IES) and Programme Specialist, Inclusive Peace Processes (HQ) and WPSHA Regional Advisor and Programme Specialist (ROAS). The EMG will be responsible for the overall management of the process, including the recruitment of the evaluation team, the coordination of field missions and the quality assurance of the evaluation deliverables. The EMG will ensure the greatest degree of independence during the entire evaluation process. The Peace and Security Unti will constitute a quality assurance system and provide administrative and substantive support. The UN Women Independent Evaluation Service, member of UN Women Independent, Audit and Investigation Services (IEAIS), through the Evaluation Specialist, will ensure 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 UN system, and other key guidance documents. All outputs will have to be approved by the IES. 

Evaluation approach and management response

The evaluation will be a transparent and participatory process involving relevant UN Women personnel, stakeholders, and partners at the global, regional and country level. It will be carried out in accordance with United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG) Norms and Standards and Ethical Guidelines and Code of Conduct, more specifically, UN Women's Global Evaluation Report and Assesment and Analysis System (GERAAS). It will be used to assess and ensure the quality of evaluation products. All deliverables will be reviewed against the GERAAS criteria by the Policy Specialist, Inclusive Peace Process. An IES focal point will provide guidance and quality assurance as part of the HQ decentralized evaluation plan.  The evaluation content and process are required to integrate gender equality and human rights principles. The evaluator is expected to provide a detailed plan on how the ethical principles will be ensured throughout the evaluation process. A management response will be issued by UN Women as a response to the recommendations of the evaluation.

Description of Responsibilities/ Scope of Work

The consultant is intended to undertake the evaluation from inception report to final report, assessing the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability and impact of the programme, using OECD DAC criteria, and a gender-responsive and human rights-based approach in compliance with UN Women evaluation guidelines.  The consultant is expected to undertake the evaluation in alignment with existing UN and UN Women guidelines for evaluations including:

• UNEG, “Ethical guidelines for Evaluation”, 2008, available online at:https://www.unevaluation.org/uneg_publications/uneg-ethical-guidelines-evaluation . 
• UNEG, “Code of Conduct for Evaluation in the UN system”, 2008 available online at: https://www.unevaluation.org/uneg_publications/uneg-code-conduct-evaluation-un-system
• UNEG, “UNEG Norms and Standards for Evaluation in the UN System”, 2016, available online at: https://www.unevaluation.org/uneg_publications/uneg-norms-and-standards-evaluation-un-system

Particularly relevant guidance from UN Women is also provided below: 

• UN Women Evaluation Policy: https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2012/10/evaluation-policy-of-the-united-nations-entity-for-gender-equality-and-the-empowerment-of-women
• UN Women Handbook on Gender Responsive Evaluation: https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2015/4/un-women-evaluation-handbook-how-to-manage-gender-responsive-evaluation

Furthermore, the consultant is expected to ensure alignment with existing GIZ/BMZ guidelines and policies:

• BMZ, ‘Evaluating German Development Coordination’, available at: https://www.bmz.de/resource/blob/194630/bmz193-strategiepapier-evaluierung-en.pdf
• German Institute for Development Evaluation, ‘Standards for DEVAL Evaluations’, available online at: https://www.deval.org/fileadmin/Redaktion/PDF/03_Methoden/DEval_Methods_and_Standards_2018.pdf

The purpose of the evaluation is to: 

1. Assess progress against the results framework and indicators of the Programme Phase III;   and selected GIZ umbrella project outcome indicators
2. Contribute toward designing the approach and activities for possible future phases of the project, including with a view toward ensuring sustainability; 
3. Provide broader analysis and input into UN Women’s positioning and priorities on women’s meaningful participation in the post-2020 era, namely in the context of the 25^th anniversary of Security Council resolution 1325, the 30^th anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action and specifically to guide UN Women’s engagement in recovery and reconstruction processes. 

The evaluation will measure results against the logical framework of the programme. Taking a broader view, the evaluation will also measure progress in the context of high-level peace, mediation, political and transition processes world-wide, related peace and security issues in the Middle East and North Africa region and what this means for UN Women’s programming, policy approach and priorities. The selection of the four focus countries in the programme may also be reviewed as to their appropriateness.   

Internal and external programme partnerships will also be examined. This includes not only those that UN Women holds with its donors, where there is a longstanding collaboration that goes beyond mere financial support (regular meetings and information sharing, outreach events, connections made at country levels, etc.), but also (implementing) partnerships with UN actors and non-governmental organizations at global, regional and country levels. 

The methodology of the evaluation will include inter-alia desk reviews, target beneficiary interviews, stakeholder interviews, focus group discussions and other means of collecting data from individuals and groups at national, regional and international levels. Some of the interviews and focus group discussions may need to be conducted in Arabic with selected stakeholders or target groups. The Consultant is expected to directly arrange appropriate interpretation for Arabic-speaking support and is fully responsible for the quality and accuracy of the information collected. The specific approach will be defined in an inception report that the evaluator will draft and receive feedback on. 

Key existing information sources used for the evaluation include but are not limited to:

• Phase I project document 
• Phase II project document 
• Previous programme evaluations (2018 and 2021)
• Donor reporting: bi-annual reports, annual financial reports
• Reports from programme activities at global, regional and country level Regional and country-specific        documents relevant to the WPS context, such as National Action Plans on the implementation of Resolution 1325 and analysis/recommendations from civil society organizations 
• Relevant partner documentation including partner reporting, activity reporting, knowledge products produced as part of the programme
• Reports of meetings between UN Women and BMZ/GIZ, including Steering Committee meetings 
• Existing participant surveys undertaken as part of programme activities both by UN Women and Partners

Furthermore, the evaluator is expected to gather new information sources through undertaking focus group discussions, key informant interviews and surveys, in English and, where relevant, in Arabic, with the following key stakeholders of the programme, ensuring diversity of participants:

• UN Women staff and personnel at country, regional and HQ levels
• GIZ staff and personnel at country and regional level 
• UN Women implementing partners under the programme
• Key stakeholders at country, regional and global levels relevant to the programme, including local, national, regional and global stakeholders, regional organizations and UN organizations
• Programme intended target ‘beneficiaries’, including women and young women peace and political actors across the programme implementation countries 
• Donor, BMZ

The participants in FGDs and KIIs will be identified as part of the inception report and should be tailored to each programme implementation context (country/regional/global)

The end users of the evaluation are UN Women at country regional and HQ levels, BMZ and GIZ, along with other donors/partners if interest is expressed. 

The evaluation will cover the full Programme period from November 2022 to present and is expected to be completed by  December  2025.

Framing Key Questions of the Proposed Evaluation

The key framing questions that the evaluation seeks to address include, but are not limited to, the following:

Relevance 

• Are the programme activities addressing identified genderedneeds of the target group(s)? How much does the programme contribute to shaping and responding to women’s priorities in peace and decision-making and enabling women’s participation in peace building across levels and tracks? 
• Is the programme design articulated in a coherent structure? Is the definition of impact, outcomes and outputs clearly articulated?   
• Are the objectives and design relevant and adaptable to the evolving regional (and national) contexts? 
• How relevant is the programme for the integration of women in peace, political and transition processes?

Effectiveness 

• To what extent has the programme achieved its intended outcome and output level results? What are the reasons for achievement or non-achievement? Has the results framework of the programme been fit for purpose in measuring results, does it require adjustments?
• To what extent have the intended programme ‘beneficiaries’, women peace and political actors, been satisfied with the results?  Note that UN Women does not use the term ‘beneficiaries’ since they are equal partners, but for evaluation purposes here, the term is used. 
• What are UN Women’s comparative advantage(s) in programme implementation? 
• Does the programme have effective gender-sensitive monitoring and reporting mechanisms in place to measure progress towards results, within the frame of the results matrix? To what extent has the programme been able to engage in gender disaggregated data collection for results?
• What are the short- and long-term changes produced by the programme on policy frameworks related to women’s participation in peace and decision-making that will carry forward and how have they empowered women peacebuilders (e.g. policy documents, peace process frameworks, etc.)?
• How effective has the programme been in linking up activities and results across the three levels of the programme, country-regional-global, in enhancing women’s participation? 

Efficiency 

• Have the outputs been delivered in a timely manner?   
• Have UN Women’s coordination mechanisms effectively supported the delivery of the programme? 
• To what extent are the inputs and outputs shared and distributed between different groups of women (intersectionality)? 
• How does the programme utilize existing local capacities to achieve its outcomes, including women peacebuilders?
• Has the programme organigram and staffing structure been sufficient in enabling efficient implementation and results?
• To what extent has the programme been successful in linking to other UN Women/GIZ programming in the region? Has this linkage been beneficial for programme implementation and avoided duplication of efforts? How could collaboration be further enhanced?
• To what extent has the programmes three-level approach (national-regional-global) enhanced/not enhanced efficient delivery of results? How could the efficiency of the programme approach be further enhanced?

Sustainability 

• What is the likelihood that the programme benefits for women peace process and political actors will be maintained for a reasonably long period of time if the programme were to cease?  What is the disaggregation of results between the different levels of programme implementation (local/national, regional, global)
• Is the programme supported by international, regional, national or local institutions? Do these institutions demonstrate leadership commitment and technical capacity to continue to work with the programme or replicate it? 
• What adaptive or management capacities of national and regional partners, such as learning, leadership, programme and process management, networking and linkages, and institutionalization/structural frameworks have been supported? 
• Have relevant crosscutting markers (e.g. do-no harm, conflict and context sensitivity, intersectionality) been adequately mainstreamed in the programme design? 
• What measures could be taken to further ensure the sustainability of results?

Impact

• What are the intended and unintended, positive and negative, medium- and long-term genderedeffects of the programme Are there measures in place to mitigate any unintended negative consequences?
• To what extent can the changes that have occurred as a result of the programme be identified and measured?
• Has the programme increased the access of women to peace processes, negotiations and dialogues as well as high-level political dialogues?
• To what extent are the principles and standards of Leaving No-one Behind (LNOB) and global human rights norms on gender equality and women’s empowerment addressed in the programme? Do the interventions as designed and implemented apply gender, human rights and disability inclusion approaches?

Deliverables

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

This is a home-based consultancy. All interviews and FGDs are planned to be conducted remotely.The Consultant shall be solely responsible for all services related to interpretation of Arabic-speaking support where needed. 

Core Values: 

• Respect for Diversity 
• Integrity 
• Professionalism 

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 Core Values and Competencies:  

https://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment/application-process#_Values

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES: 

• Knowledge of gender equality analytical work and programming;
• Strong understanding of various methodologies in evaluation, both qualitative and quantitative, such as surveys, record reviews, focus groups and case studies;
• Strong technical knowledge of the different components of evaluation, including evaluation design, data collection and analysis and reporting;
• Ability to contribute to the development of the most efficient and effective methodology for the design, with minimal guidance;
• Strong understanding of gender responsive evaluation approach; 
• Strong understanding of various sampling techniques and their applications and ability to develop the most accurate sampling technique for the methodology;
• Substantive knowledge of gender-responsive evaluations, respective methodological approaches, including contribution analysis, and demonstrated knowledge of human rights-based approach 
• Strong understanding of questionnaire design and ability to develop questionnaires and other review instruments that will address issues identified in the design, independently;
• Strong interviewing skills and ability conduct interviews independently;
• Ability to collect reliable, valid and accurate information in an objective way;
• Strong knowledge of gender equality and women’s human rights;
• Ability to develop partnerships to promote gender responsive evaluation in the UN system and with national partners.

Education and Certification:

• Master’s degree (or equivalent) in evaluation or relevant social science or related field is required.
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• A project/programme management certification (such as PMP®, PRINCE2®, or MSP®) would be an added advantage.

Experience:

• At least 10 years of progressively responsible professional experience in conducting evaluations on development/humanitarian/gender equality programmes is required.
• Experience in applying qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods is required.
• Experience working on gender equality and human rights is required.
• Experience in undertaking evaluations for the UN System is required.
• A strong record in designing and leading evaluations and proven experience in using the Theory of change evaluation approaches is required.
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and spreadsheet and database packages is required.
• Experience working on the areas of women, peace and security is desirable
• Experience in the MENA region is desirable.
• Experience conducting evaluations on UN Women programming is desirable.

Languages:

• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of Arabic is an asset. 

* The consultant must ensure interpretation or Arabic-speaking support for interviews and data collection when necessary.

• Personal CV or P11 
• A cover letter (maximum length 1 page) explaining your suitability for the work and ability to meet the requirements, and other relevant information
• Examples of previous evaluations undertaken on gender and development projects