INTERNATIONAL CONSULTANT - EVALUATOR FOR THE FINAL EVALUATION OF THE UN WOMEN PROJECT “ENDING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS IN GEORGIA (EVAWGG)”

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Home-based; Travel; Georgia

Consultant Human Rights

Application deadline 1 year ago: Tuesday 18 Apr 2023 at 23:59 UTC

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Background

UN Women has been supporting national partners to end violence against women and girls and domestic violence (VAWG/DV) since 2010. Throughout the past decade, technical assistance has been provided to the Government of Georgia to align national legislation and policies with the relevant international legal frameworks and standards. To enhance implementation of the laws and policies, UN Women Georgia has supported the establishment of specialized services for survivors of domestic violence, such as the first state-run shelters, crisis centers and hotlines and rehabilitation programmes for perpetrators.

UN Women’s EU supported action Ending Violence Against Women and Girls in Georgia (EVAWGG) aims to support creation of an enabling environment to eliminate violence against women and girls, especially sexual and domestic violence in Georgia. The intervention on one hand, includes improvement of the policies and legislation that govern violence against women and domestic violence in Georgia, while, on the other hand, advancement of VAWG/DV support services; engagement in series of awareness-raising interventions and campaigns targeting the public and decision makers at all levels and aimed at changing the attitudes, values and structures that sustain inequality and discrimination and generating demand for the specialized services. The interventions under the action are taking place nationwide with particular focus on Tbilisi, the capital, and the region of Kvemo Kartli and Guria. Small-scale awareness raising interventions are also foreseen in Abkhazia, Georgia. All policy-level interventions will also have nationwide implications.

The overall objective of the action is that women and girls in Georgia live a life free from violence. The specific objectives are as follows:

1) Legislation, policies and institutional capacities are in place to effectively prevent and respond to violence against women and girls, including domestic violence.

2) Negative gender stereotypes, social norms and attitudes that condone violence against women and harmful practices transformed to enable respect for women’s rights and gender equality in project target communities

The time frame for the initiative covers the period from November 2020 till October 2023 (36 months). UN Women is the lead organization responsible for the overall implementation of the project, while UNFPA is the partner organization responsible for implementing the project component focused on preventing son preference and increasing the early prevention of violence by targeting men, youth and general population with special focus on ethnic minorities to be implemented over a 27-months period (initially UNFPA component was planned for 24 months, though it was extended by additional 3 months through amendment of UN2UN agreement, no-cost extension).

In the proposed action, UN Women and UNFPA work with duty-bearers at the highest possible level (such as the Parliament of Georgia and its Gender Equality Council, Prime Minister’s Office, the Inter-Agency Commission on Gender Equality, Violence against Women and Domestic Violence and relevant line ministries and service providers) as well as with women’s rights defenders and CSOs at the grass-roots level.

The main strategic pillars of the programme focus on strengthening legislation, policies and institutional capacities and transforming negative gender stereotypes, social norms and attitudes that condone violence and harmful practices against women. All of the strategic objectives and activities have been aligned with the priorities set forth in the EU4Human Rights Programme (Component 2, Expected Result 2.2) and more broadly with the new EU Gender Equality Strategy (2020-2025) and the EU Gender Action Plan (GAP) III – An Ambitious Agenda for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in EU External Action. They also resonate with Georgia’s Association Agreement with the EU. Furthermore, the Action is in line with the recommendations issued by the European Commission to Georgia’s membership application in June 2022; Namely, to the dedicated recommendation on the matter - "notably consolidate efforts to enhance gender equality and fight violence against women".

The action is further aligned with Outcome 1 and Outcome 2 of the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (2021-2025) and relevant Outcome 3 of the UN Women Georgia Strategic Note 2021-2025, in addition to contributing to the UN Women Strategic Plan 2018-2021, Outcome 4: All women and girls live a life free from all forms of violence; and UN Women Strategic Plan 2022-2025, Impact 3: Ending Violence against Women and Girls (EVAWG). Furthermore, programme interventions continue to contribute to the results of the UNFPA Country Programme (2021-2025) and an outcome of the UNFPA 2022-2025 Strategic Plan (Outcome 3: By 2025, the reduction in GBV and harmful practices is expected to have accelerated). Most significantly, the activities are fully aligned with Georgia’s national and international commitments in the field of EVAWG and DV, including the Istanbul Convention and other relevant frameworks.

Additionally, the activities contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially SDG 5, and to the realization of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development pledge to Leave No One Behind by targeting vulnerable groups in the region of Kvemo Kartli, which has the highest concentration of ethnic minority groups and one of the most highly skewed sex ratio at birth (SRB) rates in the country.

Purpose and the Use of Evaluation

As established in the Project Document, a final external evaluation is to be conducted by UN Women and UNFPA for accountability and learning purposes. This final evaluation shall be designed as a summative and formative project evaluation to support the UN Women and UNFPA Country Offices’ and national stakeholders’ strategic learning and decision-making for the subsequent planning process with a focus on the assessment of outcome-level results and capturing key lessons learned from the implementation of the programme. The evaluation will take place towards the end of the implementation of the intervention (May – September 2023).

The information generated by the evaluation will be used by different stakeholders to contribute to building of the evidence-base on effective strategies for women’s empowerment in Georgia and to facilitate UN Women’s and UNFPA’s strategic reflection and learning for programming in the area.

The information generated by the evaluation will be used by different stakeholders to:

Contribute to building of the evidence base on effective strategies for empowerment of women, reducing violence against women and girls and transforming negative gender stereotypes
Facilitate the Participating UN agencies’ (UN Women and UNFPA) strategic reflection, learning and further planning for programming in the areas of empowerment of women, ending violence against women and girls and promotion of respect for women’s rights and gender equality
Strengthen national stakeholders and structures with the aim to increase sustainability of the results beyond the project

The main evaluation users include the UN Women Country Office in Georgia, UNFPA as well as the European Union (project donor). Furthermore, national stakeholders – targeted state and non-state agencies will be also closely involved in the evaluation process to increase ownership of the findings, draw lessons learned and make greater use of this final evaluation results.

Evaluation Objectives, Criteria and Questions

The specific evaluation objectives are as follows:

To analyze the relevance and coherence of the EVAWGG implementation strategy and approaches to the UN and national development policy priorities;
To review the relevance of the logical framework and the respective Monitoring and Evaluation Plan of the project;
To assess effectiveness and organizational efficiency in progressing towards the achievement of the project’s results as defined in the Project Document;
To assess the sustainability of the results from the viewpoint of national ownership, national capacity development, partnership and coordination between the implementing UN agencies and other development partners;
To document lessons learned, best practices, success stories and challenges to inform future programming of UNFPA and UN Women in Georgia;
To assess how the intervention and its results relate and contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals in Georgia;
To assess the direct impact of the intervention, as well as its attribution and contribution to a larger impact with respect to gender equality and women’s empowerment in Georgia.

The evaluation will address the criteria of Project Relevance, Coherence, Effectiveness, Efficiency, Sustainability, Gender Equality and Human Rights. More specifically, the evaluation will address the key evaluation questions:

Relevance: A) To what extent was the intervention aligned with international, regional and national agreements and conventions on gender equality and women’s empowerment? B) How did the project design match with the complexity of national structures, systems and decision-making processes? C) Were the programmatic strategies appropriate to address the identified needs of beneficiaries? D) Was the theory of change underlying the intervention logic sound, coherent and relevant to the context?
Coherence: A) To what extent did the project adhere to the corporate strategic priorities of UNFPA, UN Women? B) Has the project achieved synergies between the larger portfolio of the implementing UN agencies and the work of the broader UN Country Team, as well as other development partners, especially funded by the EU? C) Has the project achieved synergies between the work of UN Women, UNFPA and key national stakeholders including national governments and CSOs? D) How does the project design match with the complexity of national structures, systems and decision-making processes?
Effectiveness: A) What has been the progress made towards achievement of the expected outputs and outcomes? B) How effective have the selected programme strategies and approaches been in progressing towards achieving programme results? C) What contributions were -if any- the participating UN agencies making to implement global norms and standards for GEEW in Georgia in the framework of the EVAWGG? D) Has the project achieved any unforeseen results, either positive or negative? For whom? What were the good practices and the obstacles or shortcomings encountered? How were they overcome? E) To what extent have capacities of relevant duty-bearers and rights-holders been strengthened? F) Did the project have effective monitoring mechanisms in place to measure progress towards results? G) How adaptably and rapidly did the EVAWGG react to the quick changing country context? H) What -if any- types of innovative good practices have been introduced in the action for the achievement of GEEW results? I) To what extent did the joint implementation by UN Women and UNFPA lead to stronger advocacy with national authorities and improved communication, coordination and information exchange within the United Nations family and development partners at large?
Efficiency: A) Have resources (financial, human, technical support, etc.) been allocated strategically to achieve the project outputs and outcomes? B) Has there been effective leadership and management of the project including the structuring of management and administration roles to maximize results? C) To what extent have the individual implementing agencies’ and joint monitoring mechanisms in place been effective for measuring and informing management of project performance and progress towards targets? To what extent was the monitoring data objectively used for management action and decision-making?
Sustainability: A) To what extent has the EVAWGG been able to establish relevant partnerships with key stakeholders? To what extent have the relevant national stakeholders and actors been included in the EVAWGG programming and implementation and policy advocacy processes? B) To what extent did the intervention succeeded in building sustainable individual and institutional capacities of rights-holders and duty-bearers? C) How effectively has the project been able to contribute to the generation of national ownership of the project outputs? D) What is the likelihood that the benefits from the project will be maintained for a reasonably long period of time after the project phase-out?
Gender Equality and Human Rights: A) To what extent was gender equality and women’s empowerment advanced as a result of the intervention? B) To what extent was the intervention aligned with and contributes to national policies and strategies on HR & GE? C) To what extent rights holders have participated in the various stages of the intervention in an active, free and meaningful manner? D) Whether there have been changes in attitudes and behaviors leading to fairer social relations among stakeholders?

The questions outlined above are preliminary and are expected to be revised and refined by the evaluation team during the inception phase of the evaluation.

Scope of the Evaluation

The final evaluation of the project is to be conducted externally by an international external consultant assisted by an external national consultant/assistant evaluator. It is planned to be completed in five months from May 1 – September 10, 2023.

The final evaluation will include all aspects of the project and will cover almost the full project implementation period starting from November 1, 2020 till the end of October 31, 2023 throughout Georgia, focused on Tbilisi, Guria and Kvemo Kartli as the project target regions.

Evaluation Design, Process and Methods

The final evaluation methodology will deploy mixed methods, including quantitative and qualitative data collection methods and analytical approaches to account for the complexity of gender relations and to ensure participatory and inclusive processes that are culturally appropriate. A theory-of-change-approach will be followed. The reconstructed theory of change should elaborate on the objectives and articulation of the assumptions that stakeholders use to explain the change process represented by the change framework that this project considered and should assess how EVAWGG’s action has contributed to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment. Assumptions should explain both the connections between early, intermediate and long-term project outcomes and the expectations about how and why the project has brought them about.

Interviews with key stakeholders involved in the project implementation, including but not limited to the EVAWGG project team, local NGO partners beneficiaries, the legislature, central and local government partners, etc. shall also take place.

The evaluation team should develop a sampling frame (area and population represented, rationale for selection, mechanism of selection, limitations of the sample) and specify how it will address the diversity of stakeholders in the intervention. The evaluation team 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 process is divided in four phases: 1) Preparation, mainly devoted to structuring the evaluation approach, establishing reference group, preparing the TOR, compiling project documentation, and recruitment of the evaluation team; 2) Conduct, which involves reconstruction of theory of change, organizing inception meetings, drafting inception report and finalization of evaluation methodology, data collection and analysis, including desk research and preparation of interviews and focus groups, preparation of field missions and visits to project sites (data collection in the field will be implemented by international and national consultants based on the clear and specific guidelines from the international consultant); 3) Reporting, focusing on presentation of preliminary findings, developing draft and final reports; and 4) Use and follow-up, which will entail the development of management response by UNFPA, UN Women team and follow-up to the implementation of the management response.

The International Consultants will be responsible for the preparation, conduct and reporting phases as described above.

The UN Women’s Independent Evaluation Service (IES) has developed the GERAAS, which has adapted the UNEG Standards for Evaluation in the UN System to guide evaluation managers and evaluators on what constitutes a ‘good quality’ report at UN Women. All evaluations in UN Women are annually assessed against the framework adopted in GERAAS and hence the Consultant should be familiar with GERAAS quality standards.

In addition, UN Women is an UN-SWAP reporting entity and the Consultant should take into consideration that all evaluations of UN Women’s programmes and projects are annually assessed against the UN-SWAP Evaluation Performance Indicator and its related scorecard. Hence, this evaluation should be conducted in accordance with UN Women evaluation guidelines and UNEG Norms and Standards for evaluation and the UNEG Code of Conduct for Evaluations in the UN System (UNEG Ethical Guidelines : http://uneval.org/papersandpubs/documentdetail.jsp?doc_id=102; The UNEG Code of Conduct for Evaluation: http://uneval.org/papersandpubs/documentdetail.jsp?doc_id=100).

Stakeholders Participation and the Evaluation Management Structure

The evaluation will be a consultative, inclusive and participatory process and will ensure the participation of stakeholders engaged in the implementation of the project. The evaluation will be Human Rights and Gender responsible, and an Evaluation Reference Group (ERG) will be established.

The Evaluation Reference Group is an integral part of the evaluation management structure and is constituted to facilitate the participation of relevant stakeholders in the design and scope of the evaluation, raising awareness of the different information needs, quality assurance throughout the process and in disseminating the evaluation results. The Evaluation Reference Group will be engaged throughout the process and will be composed of relevant representatives of state and non-state stakeholders. The ERG will review the draft evaluation report and provide substantive feedback to ensure quality and completeness of the report and will participate in the inception and validation meeting of the final evaluation report.

The UN Women Georgia Monitoring and Evaluation Focal Point will serve as the Evaluation Task Manager, who will be responsible for day-to-day management of the evaluation and ensure that the evaluation is conducted in accordance with UNFPA’s Evaluation Policies, United Nations Evaluation Group Ethical Guidelines and Code of Conduct for Evaluation in the United Nations system and other key relevant guidance documents. The evaluation process will be supported by the UN Women Europe and Central Asia Regional Evaluation Specialist.

Coordination in the field including logistical support will be the responsibility of UN Women. The management of the evaluation will ensure that key stakeholders are consulted.

Within six weeks upon completion of the evaluation, UN Women together with UNFPA will approve a management response. This is a consultative/participatory final project evaluation with a strong learning component.

Duties and Responsibilities

Duties and responsibilities of the international consultant are:

To conduct inception meetings/interviews with EVAWGG staff and elaborate and submit the detailed inception report which contains evaluation objectives and scope, desk review, description of evaluation methodology / methodological approach, data collection tools, data analysis methods, key informants/agencies, evaluation questions, performance criteria, issues to be studied, work plan and reporting requirements. It should include a clear evaluation matrix linking all these aspects;
To elaborate and finalize the data collection plan (outlining the roles of international and national consultants) and data collection tools (e.g. guides and questionnaires) individually designed for each respondent / group of respondents to be used during the interviews and focus-groups with the key informants/interviewees;
To conduct individual interviews and focus groups discussions with the relevant stakeholders online and face-to-face with the support and together with national consultants;
To analyze the data and reconstruct, validate, and identify the gaps in the project’s theory of change based on the research findings;
To prepare a Power Point Presentation and an outline on preliminary findings and present to ERG and reflect the feedback shared at this presentation in the final report;
To produce and submit the draft and final evaluation reports and a evaluation brief in English. Format of the final evaluation report shall include the following chapters: Executive Summary, Project description, Evaluation purpose, Evaluation methodology, Findings, Lessons learned, Recommendations and Annexes (including interview list - without identifying names for confidentiality, data collection instruments, key documents consulted, Terms of Reference).

Deliverables

1****. Detailed Inception Report submitted, where the Contractor will present a refined scope, a detailed outline of the exercise design and methodology, evaluation questions, and criteria for the approach for in-depth desk review and interviews 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 Management Group by May 19th and, based upon the comments received the consultant will revise the draft. The revised draft will be shared with the Reference Group for feedback. The consultant will maintain an audit trail of the comments received and provide a response on how the comments were addressed in the final inception report -by May 30, 2023 (6 working days)

2. Data Collected, Analyzed and Power Point Presentation of preliminary findings conducted to highlight key evaluation findings and conclusions, lessons learnt and recommendations – by July 5, 2023 (13 working days, at least 7 days in Georgia)

3. Draft Evaluation report that reflects key findings, conclusions and recommendations and deployed methodology (indicative samples will be provided by UN Women) in English taking into consideration comments and feedback collected from the presentation of preliminary findings – by July 31, 2023 (12 working days)

4. Produce Final Evaluation report taking into consideration comments and feedback collected from UNFPA and UN Women. The report shall include the following chapters: Executive Summary, Introduction and Background, Approach and Methodology (including limitations), Findings, Conclusions, Lessons learnt, Recommendations and relevant Annexes – by Sept 5, 2023 (3 working days)

5. Evaluation brief that reflects key findings, conclusions and recommendations and deployed methodology (indicative samples will be provided by UN Women) – by Sept 15, 2023 (1 working day)

Timeframe:

The expected contract duration is 35 days withing the period of 1 May – 25 September 2023.

Qualifications of the Contractor

The Contractor is requested to include in the proposal the organizational CV.

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/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf

Required Skills and Experience

The evaluator will be responsible for ensuring the quality of deliverables and application of methodology as well as timely delivery of all products. The following qualifications will be required:

Education:

At least a master’s degree in sociology, international development, gender/women studies or related areas;

Experience:

At least 7 years of experience of conducting evaluation in the area of development and GEEW;
Knowledge and experience in gender-responsive and human rights-based approaches to evaluation;
Experience/knowledge of gender equality and women’s empowerment issues in Georgia and/or in the region is a strong asset;
Excellent analytical, facilitation and communications skills and ability to negotiate amongst a wide range of stakeholders;
Knowledge of the UN system, practices, procedures, including UNFPA and UN Women programme modalities will be an asset;
Knowledge of the country’s context will be an asset;

Language:

Fluency in English.

Ethical Considerations

UNEG Ethical Guidance should be applied to the selection of methods for the evaluation and throughout the evaluation process. The consultant will sign the “Evaluation Consultants Agreement Form – UNEG Code of Conduct for Evaluation in the UN System” prior to the initiation of the evaluation process.

Evaluation Procedure:

The candidates will be evaluated in three stages: according to minimum qualification criteria, technical and financial review.

The candidates must possess following minimum qualification criteria to be eligible for further technical review:

At least a master’s degree in sociology, international development, gender/women studies or related areas
At least 7 years of experience of conducting evaluation in the area of development and GEEW
Knowledge and experience in gender-responsive and human rights-based approaches to evaluation

Technical evaluation criteria (including minimum qualifications):

At least a master’s degree in sociology, international development, gender/women studies or related areas (max 70 point)
At least 7 years of experience of conducting evaluation in the area of development and GEEW (max 70 point)
Knowledge and experience in gender-responsive and human rights-based approaches to evaluation (max 60 point)
Excellent analytical, facilitation and communications skills and ability to negotiate amongst a wide range of stakeholders (max 60 point)
Experience/knowledge of gender equality and women’s empowerment issues in Georgia and/or in the region is a strong asset (max 30 point)
Knowledge of the UN system, practices, procedures, including UNFPA and UN Women programme modalities will be an asset (max 30 point)
Fluency in English. (max 30 points).

Maximum total technical score amounts to 350 points. Only candidates who have passed over the minimum qualification criteria and have accumulated at least 245 points out of maximum 350 under technical evaluation will qualify for the next stage i.e. evaluation of their financial proposals.

Evaluation of submitted financial offers will be done based on the following formula: S = Fmin / F * 150

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 consideration.

The winning candidate will be the candidate, who has accumulated the highest aggregated score (technical scoring + financial scoring).

Management Arrangements

The UN Women M&E Focal Point in Georgia will serve as the evaluation task manager. The evaluation task manager will be responsible for day-to-day management of the review. Coordination in the field including logistical support will be the responsibility of the UN Women Project Team.

Financial Arrangements

Payment will be disbursed upon submission and approval of deliverables and certification by UN Women that the services have been satisfactorily performed as specified below:

Deliverable 1, 2 – 40%
Deliverables 3, 4, 5 – 60%

Application Submission Package

Application submission package shall include:

CV;
Duly filled Personal History Form PHF11 that can be downloaded from: https://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment/application-process
A sample of previously conducted / most relevant evaluation report;
Two financial proposals with two possible scenarios (one including travel to Georgia to undertake field visits and second – including online interviews and focus groups adjusting to the Covid-19 situation) - lump sum proposal/offer* in USD (including breakdown of this lump sum amount, indicating all necessary costs to complete this assignment).

*The applicants are required to submit an aggregated financial offer: “aggregated financial offer” is the total sum of all financial claims of the candidate, including travel costs (ticket, DSA etc.) for accomplishment of all tasks spelled out in this ToR.

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

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.)

TOR Annexes