A team of two Consultants (one international and one national) to undertake a Country Programme Evaluation (CPE) of UN Women Albania Country Office (CO) Strategic Note (SN) 2017-2021

Contract

This is a Other contract. More about Other contracts.

Background

IMPORTANT NOTE: The full ToR and Annexes can be found at this link, and include all relevant sections and full descriptions of the procurement background, descriptions of the consultancies, requirements, criteria and other relevant information for applicants.

Background (programme/project context)UN Women's mandate (GA resolution 64/289) is to lead, coordinate and promote accountability of the UN system to deliver on gender equality and the empowerment of women with the primary objective of enhancing country-level coherence, ensuring coordinated interventions and securing positive impacts on the lives of women and girls, including those living in rural areas.

The Country Office (CO) Strategic Note (SN) is the main planning tool for UN Women’s support to normative, coordination and operational work in Albania. UN Women (previously as UNIFEM) has implemented catalytic initiatives on promoting women’s economic, political and social rights and participation in peace and security in the country since 2007. In 2012 the office transitioned into a full Country Office, with full delegation of authority. This evaluation will consider the current Strategic Note covering the period 2017 – 2021. A new Strategic Note is due to be developed in 2020, for the period 2022 – 2026.

The Strategic Note 2017 – 2021 is grounded in the standards, principles and obligations of the Convention to Eliminate all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, Concluding Observations of the Commission on the Status of Women, UNSCR 1325, CEDAW Concluding Observations on the 4th periodic report, Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention). The SN is designed in support of the international commitments and national strategies and in support to efforts led by the government and CSOs.

The SN is aligned to UN Women Global Strategic Plans 2014 – 2017 and 2018 – 2021 and is based on UN Women’s comparative advantage, the request of government and CSO partners for UN Women involvement and is fully aligned with the Programme of Cooperation for Sustainable Development (UNDAF) 2017 – 2021, which is guiding the work of UNCT in Albania – four strategic focus areas (Outcomes) that respond to country needs and make use of the UN’s comparative advantages: Governance and Rule of Law, Social Inclusion (education, health social inclusion and protection, child protection, gender-based violence), Economic Growth, Labor and Agriculture and Environment and Climate Change.

Albania has made significant improvements in advancing the normative framework for gender equality in recent years – however, inequalities still exist, and the institutional set-up for gender equality remains under-resourced and requires additional capacity.

II. Description of the programme/project

The work of UN Women is focused around its three-fold mandate.

1. Normative work: to support inter-governmental bodies, such as the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) and the General Assembly, in their formulation of policies, global standards and norms;
2. Operational work: to help Member States to implement international standards and to forge effective partnerships with civil society; and
3. Coordination work: entails both 1) work to promote the accountability of the United Nations system on gender equality and empowerment of women (GEEW), including regular monitoring of system-wide progress, and more broadly 2) work to mobilize and convene key stakeholders to ensure greater coherence and gender mainstreaming across the UN.

A Mid-Term Review (MTR) of the SN was undertaken in 2019 with a purpose to analyse and reflect the validity of UN Women’s strategy in Albania. The MTR found UN Women CO well positioned, with a positive image and ability to provide value to its partners. Theories of change in each impact area were re-confirmed and found to be relevant to the ongoing work and results achieved. However, the MTR highlighted concerns regarding the achievement of results including the lack of sustainable funding and other external risks stemming from the country’s protracted political crisis, which have the potential of disrupting ongoing work. The MTR recommended that the CO continue its fundraising efforts, as a key element of its programmatic, coordination and partnership function. Further, it was recommended to be considered in moving forward with the SN implementation that the CO explore opportunities to partner with the academia, the media, reach out to the private sector and engage with more grassroots organisations, especially youth.

III. Evaluation Purpose

Evaluation in UN Women is guided by the normative agreements described below to be gender-responsive and utilizes the entity’s strategic plan as a starting point for identifying the expected outcomes and impacts of its work and for measuring progress towards the achievement of results. The UN Women Evaluation Policy, UN Women Evaluation Strategy 2018-2021 UN Women Evaluation Strategy 2018-2021 and the UN Women Evaluation Strategic Plan 2014-2017 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 for Evaluation in the UN System, Standards for Evaluation in the UN System[1] and Ethical Guidelines.[2]

It is a priority for UN Women that the CPE will be gender-responsive and will actively support the achievement of gender equality and women’s empowerment. The key principles for gender-responsive evaluation at UN Women are: 1) National ownership and leadership; 2) UN system coordination and coherence with regard to gender equality and the empowerment of women; 3) Innovation; 4) Fair power relations and empowerment; 5) Participation and inclusion; 6) Independence and impartiality; 7) Transparency; 8) Quality and credibility; 9) Intentionality and use of evaluation; and 10) Ethics.

Country Portfolio Evaluation (CPE) is a systematic assessment of the contributions made by UN Women to development results with respect to gender equality at the country level. The UN Women portfolio responds to three core mandates, which include normative, operation and coordination work. The CPE focuses on their individual and combined success in advancing gender equality in Albania. It uses the Strategic Note as the main point of reference.

This CPE is being commissioned by the Regional Office (RO) as a primarily formative (forward-looking) evaluation to support the Country Office (CO) and national stakeholders’ strategic learning and decision-making for the next Strategic Note, due to be developed in 2021. The evaluation is expected to have a secondary summative (backwards looking) perspective, to support enhanced accountability for development effectiveness and learning from experience.

The primary intended users of this evaluation are:

• UN Women Albania CO, Regional ECA Office, and UN Women HQ
• Target groups, their households and community members, programme/project partners
• National and local government institutions
• Civil society representatives
• Donors and development partners
• UN Country Team and GTRG

Primary intended uses of this evaluation are:

1. Learning and improved decision-making to support the development of the next Strategic Note 2022-2026;
2. Accountability for the development effectiveness of the CO Strategic Note 2022-2026 in terms of UN Women’s contribution to gender equality and women’s empowerment;
3. Capacity development and mobilisation of national stakeholders to advance gender equality and the empowerment of women.

IV. Objectives (evaluation criteria and key questions)

The specific evaluation objectives include:

1. 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;

2. Assess effectiveness and organizational efficiency in progressing towards the achievement of gender equality and women’s empowerment results as defined in the Strategic Note;

3. Support the UN Women Albania CO to improve its strategic positioning to better support the achievement of sustained gender equality and women’s empowerment;

4. Analyse how human rights approach and gender equality principles are integrated in the design and implementation of the Strategic Note;

5. Identify and validate lessons learned, good practices and examples of innovation that supports gender equality and human rights;

6. Provide insights into the extent to which the UN Women Albania CO has realized synergies between its three mandates (normative, coordination and operations);

7. Provide actionable recommendations with respect to the development of the next UN Women Albania CO Strategic Note.

The evaluation will apply four OECD/DAC evaluation criteria (relevance, effectiveness (including normative, and coordination mandates of UN Women), efficiency, and sustainability) and Human Rights and Gender Equality as additional criteria.

As part of the inception meeting the evaluation team is required to review agreed indicators for answering each evaluation question. A model template will be provided to the evaluation team for this purpose. All indicators are encouraged to include the following elements:

1. A pre-defined rubric for evaluative judgement in the form of a definition of success, a benchmark, or a minimum standard;
2. Mainstreaming gender-responsiveness (where appropriate):
   1. Gender-disaggregated;
   2. Gender-specific (relating to one gender group);
   3. Gender-redistributive (balance between different gender groups).
3. Mainstreaming a human rights based approach (where appropriate):
   1. Reference to specific human rights norms and standards (including CSW agreed conclusions?);
   2. Maximising the participation of marginalised groups in the definition, collection and analysis of indicators.

The evaluation is expected to take a gender-responsive approach. Gender-responsive evaluations use a systematic approach to examining factors related to gender that assesses and promotes gender equality issues and provides an analysis of the structures of political and social control that create gender equality. This technique ensures that the data collected is analysed in the following ways:

1. Determining the claims of rights holders and obligations of duty bearers;
2. Assessing the extent to which the intervention was guided by the relevant international (national and regional) normative frameworks for gender equality and women’s rights, UN system-wide mandates and organizational objectives;
3. Comparing with existing information on the situation of human rights and gender equality in the community, country, etc.;
4. Identifying trends, common responses and differences between groups of stakeholders (disaggregation of data), for example, through the use of graphs or illustrative quotes (that do not allow for identification of the individual);
5. Integrating into the analysis the context, relationships, power dynamics, etc.;
6. Analysing the structures that contribute to inequalities experienced by women, men, girls and boys, especially those experiencing multiple forms of exclusion;
7. Assessing the extent to which participation and inclusiveness (with respect to rights holders and duty bearers) was maximized in the interventions planning, design, implementation and decision-making processes;
8. Triangulating information to identify similarities and/or discrepancies in data obtained in different ways (i.e., interviews, focus groups, observations, etc.) and from different stakeholders (e.g., duty bearers, rights holders, etc.);
9. Identifying the context behind the numbers and people (using case studies to illustrate broader findings or to go into more depth on an issue);
10. Comparing the results obtained with the original plan (e.g., through the application of the evaluation matrix);
11. Assessing the extent to which sustainability was built into the intervention through the empowerment and capacity building of women and groups of rights holders and duty bearers.

The preliminary findings obtained through this process should be validated through a stakeholder workshop with evaluation management and reference groups towards the end of the primary data collection stage.

V. Scope of the evaluation

The timing of this Country Portfolio Evaluation is intended to assess the effectiveness and lessons as we approach the end of the current Strategic Note.

The period covered by the evaluation will be 2017-2021. The CPE will focus on all activities undertaken by the CO under the Strategic Note, including general support to normative policy and UN coordination. Programme work will be considered in relation to the thematic areas established by the UN Women Strategic Plan 2018-2021.

As majority of the CO project work takes place around the country, including municipalities, the evaluators are expected to visit several sites during the field mission to Albania if the travel conditions will allow.

The evaluation will not consider impact (as defined by UNEG) as it is considered too premature to assess this. The evaluation team are expected to establish the boundaries for the evaluation, especially in terms of which stakeholders and relationships will be included or excluded from the evaluation. These will need to be discussed in the inception phase of the evaluation.

Joint programmes and initiatives are within the scope of this evaluation. Where joint initiatives are included in the analysis, the evaluation will consider both the specific contribution of UN Women, and the additional benefits and costs from working jointly.

The evaluation is expected to consider the main cultural, religious, social and economic differences when analysing the contributions of UN Women.

The evaluation is recommended to apply the Women’s Empowerment Framework (developed by Sara Hlupekile Longwe)[3] as a way to conceptualize the process of empowerment. This will help frame progressive steps towards increasing equality, starting from meeting basic welfare needs to equality in the control over the means of production[4].

The evaluation team is expected to undertake a rapid evaluability assessment in the Inception. This should include the following:

1. An assessment of the relevance, appropriateness and coherence of the implicit or explicit theory of change, strengthening or reconstructing it where necessary through a stakeholder workshop;
2. An assessment of the quality of performance indicators in the DRF and OEEF, and the accessibility and adequacy of relevant documents and secondary data;
3. A review of the conduciveness of the context for the evaluation;
4. Ensuring familiarity with accountability and management structures for the evaluation.

Furthermore, the evaluation is expected to be informed by the centralized and de-centralized evaluations undertaken during the strategic note period, namely the Thematic Evaluation of “Women’s Leadership and Political Participation” 2012-2017 (SN Outcome 1)[5], Final Evaluation of the Phase III of the Regional Programme ‘’Promoting Gender Responsive Policies in South East Europe 2017-2019’’[6], Final evaluation of Phase I of the programme “Ending violence against women in Western Balkans and Turkey: Implementing norms, changing minds[7]”; Mid-term review evaluation of the UNJP “Leave no One Behind” 2017-2021); Final Evaluation of the GoA and UN Programme of Cooperation for Sustainable Development 2017-2021[8]; Albania case study as part of UN Women’s Corporate thematic evaluation of UN Women’s contribution to Governance and National Planning (2018); Evaluation of Swedish Support to One UN in Albania for gender equality work 2012-2017. The UNCT-SWAP scorecard report could also be considered to inform the evaluation process under the coordination component.[9]

VI. Evaluation design (process and methods)

The evaluation will use a theory-based[10] cluster design[11]. The performance of the country portfolio will be assessed according to the theory of change stated in the Strategic Note 2017 -2021. To achieve sufficient depth, the evaluation will cluster programming, coordination, and policy activities of the Country Office around the thematic areas stated in the UN Women Strategic Plan 2018-2021.

The evaluation will undertake a desk-based portfolio analysis that includes a synthesis of secondary results data for the Development Results Framework (see Annex 2) and the Organizational Effectiveness and Efficiency Framework (see Annex 3) of the Country Office. This will cover all activities undertaken by the Country Office.

The portfolio analysis will be triangulated through a mixed methods approach that will include:

1. Desk review of additional documentary evidence;
2. Consultation with all main stake holding groups; and
3. An independent assessment of development effectiveness using Contribution Analysis.

The evaluation is expected to apply a gender responsive approach to assessing the contribution of UN Women to development effectiveness. It should identify expected and unexpected changes in target and affected groups. It is anticipated that the evaluation will apply process tracing to identify the mechanisms of change and the probable contributions of UN Women.

The evaluation is expected to assess the strategic position of UN Women. It is anticipated that mixed qualitative/quantitative cases of different target groups will be developed, compared and contrasted. The evaluation team will identify which factors, and which combinations of factors, are most frequently associated with a higher contribution of UN Women to expected and unexpected outcomes.

The method should include a wide range of data sources (including documents, field information, institutional information systems, financial records, beneficiaries, staff, funders, experts, government officials and community groups).

The evaluation is particularly encouraged to use participatory methods to ensure that all stakeholders are consulted as part of the evaluation process within the limitations presented by the Covid-19 situation. At a minimum, this should include participatory tools for consultation with stakeholder groups and a plan for inclusion of women and individuals and groups who are vulnerable and/or discriminated against in the consultation process (see below for examples). Considering the current travel restrictions due to COVID-19 pandemic, on site data collection in the event onsite data collection is not possible the evaluation team will develop an alternative proposal for remote data collection.

The use of participatory analysis, video, photography or other methods are particularly encouraged as means to include rights holders as data collectors and interpreters. The evaluator should detail a plan on how protection of participants and respect for confidentiality will be guaranteed.

The evaluation is encouraged to use the following data collection tools:

• Interviews;
• Secondary document analysis;
• Observation;
• Multimedia (photography, drawing);
• Others.

The evaluators should take measures to ensure data quality, reliability and validity of data collection tools and methods and their responsiveness to gender equality and human rights; for example, the limitations of the sample (representativeness) should be stated clearly and the data should be triangulated (cross-checked against other sources) to help ensure robust results.

The evaluation is encouraged to use the following data analysis tools:

• Synthesis of results data and evidence;
• Qualitative Comparative analysis.

The evaluation is expected to reconstruct the theories of change using a participatory process during the evaluation. This should be critiqued based on feminist and institutional analysis

The evaluation will apply Contribution Analysis to assess the effectiveness of UN Women’s country portfolio. This will use a model template to be provided to the evaluation team.

The evaluation will include a basic analysis of risks in the country portfolio based on the following framework: 1) potential fiduciary risks, 2) risks of causing harm, 3) reputational risks, 4) programme performance risks, 5) risks of entrenching inequity and 6) risks of doing nothing. This will use a model template to be provided to the evaluation team.

[1] UNEG, “Norms for evaluation in the UN system”, 2005, available online at: http://www.unevaluation. org/document/detail/21, and “Standards for evaluation in the UN system”, 2005, available online at: http://www.unevaluation.org/document/detail/22.

[2] UNEG, “Ethical guidelines”, 2008, available online at: http://www.unevaluation.org/document/detail/102.

[3] http://awidme.pbworks.com/w/page/36322701/Women%27s Empowerment Framework#_ftn1

[4] The five “levels of equality” in the Women’s Empowerment Framework include:

1. Welfare, meaning improvement in socioeconomic status, such as income, better nutrition, etc. This level produces nothing to empower women.
2. Access, meaning increased access to resources. This is the first step in empowerment as women increase their access relative to men.
3. Conscientisation, involving the recognition of structural forces that disadvantage and discriminate against women coupled with the collective aim to address these discriminations.
4. Mobilization, implementing actions related to the conscientisation of women.
5. Control, involving the level of access reached and control of resources that have shifted as a result of collective claim making and action

[5] https://gate.unwomen.org/Evaluation/Details?EvaluationId=11240

[6] This programme was implemented in Albania, BiH, The Republic of North Macedonia and Moldova. The final evaluation report and related evaluation management response is available on UN Women GATES.

[7] This programme is implemented in Albania, BiH, Montenegro, Serbia, the Republic of North Macedonia Kosovo and Turkey. The final evaluation is ongoing and is expected to be completed by January 2020.

[8] https://albania.un.org/en/89437-evaluation-report-government-albania-and-united-nations-programme-cooperation-sustainable

[9] https://www.un.org.al/sites/default/files/Gender%20Equality%20Scorecard%20final%20report_0.pdf

[10] A theory based-design assesses the performance of the Strategic Note based upon its stated assumptions about how change happens. These assumptions can be challenged, validated or expanded upon by the evaluation.

[11] A cluster evaluation assess a large number of interventions by ‘grouping’ similar interventions together into ‘clusters’, and evaluating only a representative sample of these in depth.

VII. Time frame

The evaluation is expected to be conducted according to the following time frame (preliminary estimations):

Task

(A) Virtual inception meeting

(B) Inception report and ERG and EMG comments

(C) Data collection[1]

(D) Reporting stage (analysis and presentation of preliminary findings)

(E) Evaluation Reference Group and Evaluation Management Group Validation

(F) Final Report including validation

(G) Use and follow-up

Time frame

(A) A one-day virtual inception meeting/workshop between evaluators and CO will take place in December 2020

(B) Submission 1 week after the virtual inception workshop (1 week for commenting) by beginning of January

(C) 2 weeks (by mid-February)

(D) 5 weeks (post final data collection) – by end of March

(E) 2 weeks – by mid- April

(F) 2 weeks- beginning of May

(G) 6 weeks post final report

Responsible party

(A) Evaluators / UN Women CO

(B) Evaluators ERG, EMG

(C) Evaluators

(D) Evaluators

(E) ERG and EMG

(F) Evaluators

(G) UN Women RO

TOTAL 20 WEEKS

Under the guidance of evaluation team leader, the evaluators are expected to design and facilitate the following events:

1. Virtual inception workshop (including refining evaluation uses, the evaluation framework, stakeholder map, and theories of change);
2. In-country participatory data collection mission for UN Women staff and key stakeholders;
3. Findings, validation and participatory recommendations session.

VIII. Expected deliverables

This section describes the type of products (reports, briefs or other) that are expected from the evaluation, who will use them and how they will be used.

• Inception report Word format (including 2 rounds of revision) – by December 2020 (Evaluators with EMG & ERG feedback)
• Preliminary findings presentation – by March 2021 (Evaluators with EMG and ERG feedback)
• Draft report Word format (including 2 rounds of revision) – by April 2021 (Evaluators with EMG and ERG feedback)
• Final report – by April 2021 (Evaluators with EMG and ERG feedback)
• Management Response – by May 2021 (Albania CO Representative)

Duties and Responsibilities

IX. Management of the evaluation

At UN Women the evaluation phases are:

• Stage 1: Planning;
• Stage 2: Preparation: This includes the stakeholder analysis and establishment of the reference group, evaluation management group, development of the ToR, and recruitment of the evaluation team;
• Stage 3: Conduct: Inception workshop, data collection and analysis;
• Stage 4: Reporting: Presentation of preliminary findings, draft and final reports;
• Stage 5: Use and follow up: Management response, dissemination of the report, and follow up to the implementation of the management response.

This ToR covers stages 3 and 4 only for which the evaluators will be responsible while UN Women is responsible for phases 1, 2 and 5.

The management structure for this evaluation will include:

1. ECA Regional Evaluation Specialist (RES) will be the evaluation team leader for this evaluation and will be supported by the UN Women Albania CO M&E Focal Point during the evaluation process.
2. Evaluation Management Group for administrative support and accountability will include: Country Representative, M&E Focal Point and any additional relevant UN Women Albania CO staff members;
3. Evaluation Reference Group for substantive technical support: UN Women Albania CO programme staff; government partners; development partners (including donors); representative of the UNCT, and from civil society organizations.

The main roles and responsibility for the management of the evaluation reports are:

Evaluation team leader (UN Women ECA RES)

1. Leads the conceptual and methodological approach and other aspects of the evaluation design;
2. Leads logistics for the field mission;
3. Leads the preparation of deliverables;
4. Coordinates feedback on the draft and final report from the management and reference groups;
5. Maintains an audit trail of comments on the evaluation products so that there is transparency in how the evaluation team is responding to the comments.

Evaluation team (international and national consultants)

1. To avoid conflict of interest and undue pressure, the members of the evaluation team need to be independent, implying that they must not have been directly responsible for the design, or overall management of the subject of the evaluation, nor expect to be in the near future;
2. Evaluators must have no vested interest and must have the full freedom to conduct their evaluative work impartially. They must be able to express their opinion in a free manner;
3. Under the guidance of the evaluation team leader, the evaluation team prepares all evaluation reports, which should reflect an agreed- upon approach and design for the evaluation from the perspective of the evaluation team and the evaluation team leader.

Evaluation management and reference groups

1. Provide substantive comments and other operational assistance throughout the preparation of reports;
2. Where appropriate, participates in meetings and workshops with other key partners and stakeholders before finalization of reports.

X. Evaluation team composition, skills and experiences

UN Women are seeking to appoint two qualified individuals to undertake the evaluation.

The evaluation team consists of three evaluators: UN Women ECA RES that will act as team lead for the assignment and an International Team Member and a National Team Member, to be recruited by the UN Women ECA RES in close coordination with UN Women Albania Country Office. In addition, a Research Assistant will support the evaluation process.

The estimated number of person-days required for the evaluation is 35 days for the international team member and 30 days for the national evaluator with breakdown as follows:

International consultant - Evaluation Team Member

• Initial data collection and preparation of inception report: 5 days
• Additional data collection, portfolio review: 4 days
• In country data collection: 10 days;
• Data analysis and synthesis (including presentation of preliminary findings): 7
• Preparation of draft report: 7 days
• Preparation of final report: 2 days

National consultant - Evaluation Expert

• Initial data collection and preparation of inception report: 5 days;
• Additional data collection, portfolio review and interviews/necessary follow ups after data collection mission: 5 days
• In country data collection:10 days;
• Support to data analysis: 4 days;
• Preparation of draft report: 5days;
• Inputs to final report: 1 days.

An interpreter/translator will be used from the existing LTA agreement on such services for the inception consultations, data collection during the field mission and translation of final report, as needed.

The evaluator(s) have the final judgment on the findings, conclusions and recommendations of the evaluation report, and the evaluator(s) must be protected from pressures to change information in the report.

Competencies

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//media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf?la=en&vs=637

Functional Competencies:

• Demonstrates professional competence and is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results.
• Process management skills, including facilitation and communication skills;
• Excellent analytical, facilitation and communications skills and ability to interact with a wide range of stakeholders;
• Data analysis skills;
• Excellent analytical thinking and research, writing, reporting and presentation skills;
• Strong inter-personal, team working skills;
• Ability to work and adapt to a dynamic working environment;

Required Skills and Experience

The International Consultant must possess the following qualifications:

Education:

• Master’s degree in sociology, international development, gender/women studies or related area

Experience:

• At least 7-years practical experience in conducting gender-responsive evaluations of development strategies, policies and programs;
• Extensive experience in applying, qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods;
• A strong record in designing and leading evaluations;
• Proven knowledge of the role of UN Women and its programming, coordination and normative roles at the regional and country level;
• Country or regional experience in ECA region and in particular in Albania would be an advantage.

Language:

• Language proficiency in both written and spoken English

The National Consultant must possess the following qualifications:

Education:

• Master’s degree in sociology, international development, social sciences, or another related area

Experience:

• Minimum 5 years of professional experience on relevant development GEEW related issues, including substantive support to several evaluation processes;
• Experience in monitoring and evaluation;
• Experience of gender analysis and human rights-based approaches;
• Previous experience in similar assignments with UN agencies and other international organisations.

Language:

• Fluent in English and Albanian languages, both written and spoken

Both Consultants should have proven commitment to the core values of the United Nations, in particular respecting differences of culture, gender, religion, ethnicity, nationality, language, age, HIV status, disability, and sexual orientation, or other.

XI. Ethical code of conduct

UN Women has developed a UN Women Evaluation Consultants Agreement Form for evaluators that must be signed as part of the contracting process, which is based on the UNEG Ethical Guidelines and Code of Conduct. These documents will be annexed to the contract. The UNEG guidelines note the importance of ethical conduct for the following reasons:

1. Responsible use of power: All those engaged in evaluation processes are responsible for upholding the proper conduct of the evaluation;
2. Ensuring credibility: With a fair, impartial and complete assessment, stake- holders are more likely to have faith in the results of an evaluation and to take note of the recommendations;
3. Responsible use of resources: Ethical conduct in evaluation increases the chances of acceptance by the parties to the evaluation and therefore the likelihood that the investment in the evaluation will result in improved outcomes.

The evaluators are expected to provide a detailed plan on how the following principles will be ensured throughout the evaluation (see UNEG Ethical Guidance for descriptions): 1) Respect for dignity and diversity; 2) Right to self-determination; 3) Fair representation; 4) Compliance with codes for vulnerable groups (e.g., ethics of research involving young children or vulnerable groups); 5) Redress; 6) Confidentiality; and 7) Avoidance of harm.

Specific safeguards must be put in place to protect the safety (both physical and psychological) of both respondents and those collecting the data. These should include:

1. A plan is in place to protect the rights of the respondent, including privacy and confidentiality;
2. The interviewer or data collector is trained in collecting sensitive information, and if the topic of the evaluation is focused on violence against women, they should have previous experience in this area;
3. Data collection tools are designed in a way that are culturally appropriate and do not create distress for respondents;
4. Data collection visits are organized at the appropriate time and place so as to minimize risk to respondents;
5. The interviewer or data collector is able to provide information on how individuals in situations of risk can seek support.

The evaluation’s value added is its impartial and systematic assessment of the programme or intervention. As with the other stages of the evaluation, involvement of stakeholders should not interfere with the impartiality of the evaluation. The evaluator(s) have the final judgment on the findings, conclusions and recommendations of the evaluation report, and the evaluator(s) must be protected from pressures to change information in the report.

XII. Evaluation of applicants:

Candidates will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications and financial proposal. Contract will be awarded to the individual consultants whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
• Having received the highest score out of below defined technical and financial criteria.

Technical Evaluation for the International consultant –70 points:

• Master’s degree in sociology, international development, gender/women studies or related area (max 10 points)
• At least 7-years practical experience in conducting gender-responsive evaluations of development strategies, policies and programs (max 20 points)
• Extensive experience in applying, qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods; (max 10 points)
• A strong record in designing and leading evaluations; (max 10 points)
• Proven knowledge of the role of UN Women and its programming, coordination and normative roles at the regional and country level; (max 10 points)
• Country or regional experience in ECA region and in particular in Albania would be an advantage (max 10 points)

Technical Evaluation for the national consultant –70 points:

• Master’s degree in sociology, international development, social sciences, or another related area (max 10 points)
• Minimum 5 years of professional experience on relevant development GEEW related issues, including substantive support to several evaluation processes (max 20 points)
• Experience in monitoring and evaluation (max 20 points)
• Experience of gender analysis and human rights-based approaches (max 10 points)
• Previous experience in similar assignments with UN agencies and other international organisations (max 10 points)

Financial Evaluation – 30 points

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% (49 points) in the technical evaluation would be considered for financial evaluation.

The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal is allocated to the lowest price proposal. All other price proposals receive points in inverse proportion. The calculation formula applied is as follow:

p = 30 (µ/z); where: p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated; µ = price of the lowest priced proposal; z = price of the proposal being evaluated.

Application process

Qualified and interested candidates can view the vacancy and apply online at https://jobs.undp.org/. The system will only accept one document. The interested candidates must submit the following documents/ information to demonstrate their qualification:

• Letter of Intent with justification of being the most suitable for the work, vision and working approach, specifically indicating experience of carrying out evaluations and in producing out analytical reports (provide links to previous evaluations and analytical reports) etc.;
• Duly filled UN Women Personal History Form (P11) and/or CV, including records on past experience in similar projects/assignments and specific outputs obtained (blank form can be downloaded from: (http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment);.
• Financial proposal (in USD for the international consultant and in ALL for the national consultant) - specifying an all-inclusive daily fee, and the lump sum for the envisaged number of working days. The financial offer should include all costs related to completion of the task under the current Terms of Reference, by providing two financial proposals with the options 1) with travel to Albania and 2) remote data collection In case of travel to Albania, travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket shall not be accepted. The consultant will be provided with the necessary administrative and logistical support to enable them deliver on the expected outputs.

Description of Activity Unit of measure Unit price No. of units Total Price

(e.g. day, month, etc.)

Payment will be done as follows: 30% of total payment upon approval of inception report; 30% upon delivery of draft evaluation report; and 40% upon approval of final evaluation report.

How to Submit the Application: To submit your application online, please follow the steps below:

• Download and complete the UN Women Personal History Form (P11)- http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment
• Merge your UN Women Personal History Form (P11), the Financial Proposal, A list of links or copies of any paperwork on social protection and /or capacity building designing 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.

Notes:

• Qualified and interested international or national consultants should send their application individually, and not as part of a team of two.
• UN Women retains the right to contact references directly. Due to the large numbers of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.
• Applications without the financial offer will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.
• The individual consultants should take the mandatory learning security course prior to commencement of assignment– details will follow before the issuance of contract.

Apply now

Added 3 years ago - Updated 3 years ago - Source: jobs.undp.org