International Consultant to undertake the final evaluation of the EU funded project “Strengthened Gender Action in Cahul and Ungheni districts”

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Background

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls, the empowerment of women, and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace, and security. Placing women's rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates the United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world.

Through its programmes and projects, UN Women is providing technical assistance to national partners (governmental and non-governmental), including the private sector, in the implementation of existing international and national commitments to women’s rights and gender equality, it facilitates networking and exchange of good practices and advocates for women’s rights and gender equality in all areas of life.

UN Women’s presence in the Republic of Moldova has evolved from being a project-based office in 2007 to a Country Office with fully delegated authority as of 2015. The work of UN Women in Moldova is guided by its Country Strategic Note for 2018-2022, aligned with the Republic of Moldova–United Nations Partnership Framework for Sustainable Development 2018–2022, the Global Strategic Plan of UN Women for 2018-2021, the National Strategy on Gender Equality for 2017-2021 (NSGE) and aims to contribute to the gender-responsive implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

UN Women Strategy for Moldova 2018-2022 focuses on three main areas: 1) strengthening women’s participation in politics and decision making, 2) economic empowerment of women, and 3) ending violence against women and girls. To achieve progress in these areas, UN Women works with a variety of national and international partners and as part of different national and regional initiatives.

Based on the European Commission Decision ENI/2018/041-302 regarding the Annual Action Programme 2018 in favour of the Republic of Moldova for Support for the Implementation of the EU-Moldova Association Agreement, it was proposed that United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) will implement the following the project Strengthened Gender Action in Cahul and Ungheni districts with the short title: “EVA”.

In this context, a new 3-year project started in January 2020 under the name “Strengthened Gender Action in Cahul and Ungheni districts” (hereinafter EVA)[1], funded by the European Union and implemented by UN Women Moldova Country Office, in partnership with UNICEF. Following the Addendum to the Contribution Agreement, EVA project was extended up to 31 May, 2023.

EVA focused on promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment through strengthened implementation of gender mainstreaming in local development planning processes (including budget planning processes) and addressing gender-based and domestic violence affecting women and children in two focal regions: Ungheni and Cahul.

The principles of gender equality and women empowerment are central to the project, as women in Moldova continue to face gender inequalities when it comes to the labour market, the gender pay gap, laws which do not allow women to participate in certain occupations and age-based discrimination. In addition, women’s involvement in public/political decision-making positions is limited, which are aggravated by gender stereotypes and norms.

2. Description of the project

The project is implemented in two districts of Moldova, Cahul and Ungheni and covers 24 localities jointly selected by UN Women, UNICEF and in consultation with the EU Delegation, based on their specific express of interest. The project was implemented in five phases during the period of January 2020 to May2023, for 41 months.

The project implementation phases:

Phase 1: Inception Phase, during January to March 2020

Phase 2: Initial Implementation Phase, during April to December 2020

Phase 3: Full roll out, during January to December 2021

Phase 4: Sharing and upscaling phase, during June 2021 till September 2022

Phase 5: Reflection and dissemination phase, during September to May 2023

Total project budget is USD 5,250,000 funded by the European Union (EUR 5,000,000) and UN Women’s contribution (EUR 250,000).

[1] The project was proposed to be implemented during the period of January 2020 to May 2023, for 41months. A potential non cost extension for five months ( by May,2023) is under revision by EU following UN Women official request submitted in June, 2022.

Duties and Responsibilities

Description of the project

The project is implemented in two districts of Moldova, Cahul and Ungheni and covers 24 localities jointly selected by UN Women, UNICEF and in consultation with the EU Delegation, based on their specific express of interest. The project was implemented in five phases during the period of January 2020 to May2023, for 41 months.

The project implementation phases:

Phase 1: Inception Phase, during January to March 2020

Phase 2: Initial Implementation Phase, during April to December 2020

Phase 3: Full roll out, during January to December 2021

Phase 4: Sharing and upscaling phase, during June 2021 till September 2022

Phase 5: Reflection and dissemination phase, during September to May 2023

Total project budget is USD 5,250,000 funded by the European Union (EUR 5,000,000) and UN Women’s contribution (EUR 250,000).

Project strategy and key objectives

The overall purpose of the “Strengthened Gender Action in Cahul and Ungheni districts” intervention is to promoting gender equality, women’s empowerment through strengthened implementation of gender mainstreaming in local public policies, and to combat domestic violence affecting women and children.

The support is expected to contribute to the consolidation and fortification of gender mainstreaming at the local level, in line with the provisions of the National Strategy to Ensure Equality between women and men in the Republic of Moldova for the years 2017-2021.

The proposed intervention will tackle domestic violence against women and children, particularly on improving the capacity and assessment tools of multi-disciplinary specialist response and services. One of the focuses will be on the development of specialized services for women victims of sexual forms violence, as there were interventions on sexual violence from other donors and partners, but not yet on specialized services.

In this regard, the project aimed at achieving the following results*: **Gender equality is promoted and mainstreamed in local*** ***policymaking*** ***and decision making*** and ***Victims of domestic, including sexual violence have greater access to effective survivor-focused multi-disciplinary services and violence prevention is piloted in local schools and communities***

To achieve these objectives, two distinct outcomes were defined:

Outcome 1: Gender equality is promoted and mainstreamed in local policy making and decision taking.

Outcome 2: Victims of domestic violence, including sexual violence, have greater access to effective survivor-focused multidisciplinary services, and violence prevention is piloted in local schools and communities.

To achieve these outcomes, specific outputs were agreed:

Output 1.1: Gender mainstreaming of public policies.

Output 2.1: Range of quality services for women victims of domestic, including sexual violence developed.

Output 2.2: Secondary schools and media have staff trained to plan and implement violence prevention programmes.

  1. Gender mainstreaming in local policy making and decision taking

The project focused on strengthening the implementation of gender mainstreaming in local policies and combating gender-based and domestic violence affecting women and children in the two districts. It is important to note that the project contributes significantly to several policy frameworks: the implementation of the Law on Equal Rights and Opportunities, the National Strategy on Equality between women and men in the Republic of Moldova (2017-20221), the National Strategy on prevention and combating violence against women and domestic violence (2018-2023), the EU Gender Action Plan and the UN Partnership Framework for Sustainable Development 2018-2022.

As a result of constant outreach and coordination efforts more than 67,100 women and girls and 59,000 men and boys, from 23 communities from Cahul and Ungheni will benefit from gender-responsive and needs-based local services as a result of engendered strategies for local socio-economic development through 2025. Moreover, 23 communities from Cahul and Ungheni (33% of the total number of LPAs from districts) have adopted local development strategies, action plans, and budgetary programmes that embed gender equality principles.

These efforts at a multiyear policy and strategic level were coupled with annual budgetary planning processes, where significant progress was achieved in engendering the local budgets for the following year. In line with the newly developed strategies, the 23 LPAs allocated 20% of their 2022 annual budget for initiatives encompassing gender equality and women’s empowerment objectives.

For the first time these local strategies and budgetary programmes reflect the different needs and priorities voiced by women and men during participatory processes, incorporate sex disaggregated data and have gender indicators to measure progress towards advancing gender equality.

Over the implementation period, UN Women within the EVA project strengthened and expanded partnerships at national and local levels with the aim to advance the gender mainstreaming and EVAW agenda in Cahul and Ungheni. The number of partner communities doubled from 12 to 24, indicating the high interest and willingness of LPAs to be part of a project advancing gender equality for sustainable development.

The project also partners with 25 civil society organizations and 15 companies, along with 10 consultants to bring extensive expertise in a coordinated manner for better reach out and impact. Partnering with expert civil society organizations members of the Platform for Gender Equality; the National Coalition “Life without Domestic Violence”; and the Alliance of Active NGOs in the field of Child and Family Social Protection (APSCF), brings added value to the project by scaling up the messages and evidence from local stakeholders.

ii. G****reater access to effective survivor-focused multidisciplinary services

The proposed intervention addressing domestic violence against women and children under the project was supposed to build on the previously EU supported actions, particularly on improving the capacity and tools of multidisciplinary specialised response and services. The intervention tackled all types of cases of domestic violence including special attention to sexual forms of violence.

The project implementation was in line with CEDAW, and the recommendations set within the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention) and the Council of Europe Convention on Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (Lanzarote Convention), specifically related to the set of specialized services of support which should be available as shelters, telephone helplines, sexual violence services, legal support, counselling centres. This is significant as it sets the ground for increasing the Government’s commitments and accountability for EVAWC. As well, the intervention aimed to closely follow the global standards on essential services known as Essential Services Package for Women and Girls Subject to Violence.[1]

Following the two years of project interventions women and girls, including children, from both districts (Cahul and Ungheni), are benefiting from improved survivor focused services offered through the MDTs, evidenced by the eightfold increase in the number of registered cases, as 13/24 MDTs are now more functional and committed to working on EVAWC cases resulting from the intense capacity development and mentoring conducted in the frame of the EVA project in 13/24 selected localities. The visibility of MDTs at the local level increased, as they are recognized by the local population as a real support in cases of VAWC and are equipped for a more rapid and better documented, and coordinated response[2].

While the Ungheni district was selected for the piloting of the specialised service for women victims of sexual violence, the co-creation of the prospective functional model for a coordinated response to cases of sexual violence was done for both Cahul and Ungheni districts, with the participation of law enforcement representatives and medical staff, psychologists, and social assistants from both regions. The functional model for a coordinated response to cases of sexual violence was designed based on the SART model, on the best EUMS practices, and tailored to the local context.

The specialised service for victims of sexual violence needs to be established in line with the provisions of Istanbul Convention, ratified by the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova on October 14, 2021 and best EUMS practices. The successful implementation of the mentioned service will serve as a prototype model which can be replicated and upscaled in other districts as well as will build synergies with the Family Justice Center service creation and national level.

Project beneficiaries and stakeholders

The primary project targets are the local public authorities (LPAs) from level I and II (elected and appointed), members of multidisciplinary teams responsible for preventing and combating domestic violence and violence against children, service providers working with survivors of domestic violence and in child protection, assistance and counselling services for aggressors, schools, civil society organizations, mass media, children and young people, parents, as well as women and men living in these two districts.

Project management

Operational Management of the programme

The project was established as a project implemented by UN Women in partnership with UNICEF. The implementation is in line with the EU-UN financial Administrative Framework Agreement of 29 April 2003 and supplemented by the addendum of 26 February 2014. UN Women passed the pillar assessment, which confirmed that all assessed pillars (internal control, accounting, external audit, grants, procurement, and sub delegation) are positive, thereby confirming the European Commission can entrust budget implementation tasks to UN Women under the Direct Implementation Modality (DIM).

The joint implementation was established with UNICEF due to its mandate to safeguard children rights. Synergies with other partners was ensured through encouraging complementary joint coordinated activities, increasing outreach to targeted communities to increase their benefit from the range of services offered by the programme partners, in addition to cross programme learning and improved know-how as per description provided in the Programme Approaches section of this programme document.

National Steering Committee, Project Team

A management Committees (Project Steering Committee) was established to ensure coordination and follow-up (monitoring) of the project and a Project Team for the implementation of the project and contribution agreement provision.

The Project Steering Committee is composed of the Presidents of the two districts, the representative of the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, the head of Operations of EU Delegation, the heads of UN Women, UNICEF, and representative of relevant civil society organizations on a rotational basis.

The Project Steering Committee’s terms of reference focuses on provision of strategic direction and oversight to the project, facilitating collaboration between participating organizations for the implementation of the project, review and approval of the joint project document and annual workplans and resource allocations, review of implementation progress and challenges, review of annual and evaluation reports; review of audit reports (published in accordance with each participating organization’s disclosure policy).

The Project Steering Committee meet twice a year and as needed and invited key project stakeholders to participate in meetings, when needed. UN Women lead the coordination of the Project Steering Committee. Formal minutes were prepared and adopted for each meeting of the Project Steering Committee, detailing any proposals made and decisions taken. The Project Manager and the project team provided necessary support to the Steering Committee.

Project operations are implemented through a Project Team that ensure effective and efficient implementation of the Project and is staffed through open competitions and selected by a recruitment panel comprising of UN Women staff with the participation of EUD as observer. Core staff assigned to the Project are hired by UN Women on contracts administered through UNDP payroll.

Evaluation scope purpose, objectives and intended use

Evaluation scope

The final evaluation of the Strengthened Gender Action in Cahul and Ungheni districts will be conducted at the end of project implementation and will cover the duration of the project January 2020 - December 2022. The evaluation will be conducted between October 2022 – March 2023.

The evaluation includes a data collection mission to Chisinau and to selected project sites in the district of Cahul and Ungheni, in case the epidemiological situation in the country will allow the field visits.

The evaluation shall cover and analyse all aspects of the implementation of the project.

Evaluation purpose

A final evaluation of the project “Strengthened Gender Action in Cahul and Ungheni districts” will be conducted with a special focus on lessons learnt both from programmatic and coordination perspectives. The main purpose of this final evaluation is to assess the programmatic progress and performance of the above-described intervention from the point of view of relevance, coherence, effectiveness, organizational efficiency and sustainability. The evaluation will not be able to fully assess the project performance, as some activities are still ongoing by the end of the year; however, it will address the questions with the results and evidence that is available to date.

The findings of the evaluation will contribute to effective programming, refining the approaches of UN Women and UNICEF to gender mainstreaming in local policymaking and decision making and greater access to effective survivor-focused multi-disciplinary services and violence prevention. It is also expected that the evaluation represents a key input to knowledge management on joint programming to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment. The findings of the evaluation will moreover be used to engage policy makers and other stakeholders at local, national and regional levels in evidence-based dialogues and to advocate for gender-responsive strategies to promote inclusive local and national economic development with a particular focus on rural women as well as to combat domestic violence affecting women and children.

Evaluation objectives

The objectives of this evaluation include to:

  • Analyse the relevance and coherence of the programme objectives, strategy and approach at the local and national levels for the gender equality mainstreaming in local public policies and combating domestic violence affecting women and children.
  • Assess effectiveness and a potential measurable impact of the project intervention on the target group across all communities under the project interventions.
  • Assess organizational efficiency and coordination mechanisms in progressing towards the achievement of the project results, including the achievement of gender equality mainstreaming and combatting domestic violence affecting women and children.
  • Assess the sustainability of the results and the intervention in promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment in the target group.
  • Analyse how human rights-based approach and gender equality principles are integrated in the programme implementation.
  • Asses how the intervention and its results relate and contribute to the Agenda 2030 and its Sustainable Development Goals.
  • Identify and document lessons learned, good practices and innovations, success stories and challenges within the project, to inform future work of UN Women and UNICEF in the frameworks of gender equality and women’s empowerment trough implementation of gender mainstreaming and combating domestic violence against women and children.
  • Identify strategies for replication and up-scaling of the project’s best practices identified during the project implementation.
  • Provide actionable recommendations with respect to UN Women’s and UNICEF work on gender mainstreaming and combating domestic violence against women and children.

Evaluation users and intended use

Targeted users of the evaluation are the personnel of the UN Women, UNICEF, the responsible parties, and the government counterparts at local and national levels, CSOs, and other UN agencies, EU, donor community and development partners present in Moldova, and the programme beneficiaries.

The evaluation should also provide specific recommendations as to the priority areas that should be considered in next Phase of the similar Projects, including interventions that require continued support, successful interventions for expansion, and recommendations on prioritizing interventions to maximize impact. It should also define recommendations to improve project management and maximize ownership by national partners.

Evaluation methodology and questions

Evaluation methodology

The evaluation will be a transparent and participatory process involving relevant UN Women, UNICEF staff, other stakeholders and partners in Moldova. The evaluation will be based on gender and human rights principles and adhere to the UNEG Norms and Standards and Ethical Code of Conduct and UN Women Evaluation Policy and guidelines[3].

The evaluation is defined as a final project evaluation and both a summative approach focusing on assessing the achievement of the project’s results at output and outcome levels, as well as a formative, forward-looking approach capturing the lessons learned during the implementation. The evaluation methodology will furthermore follow a ToC approach and employ mixed methods including quantitative and qualitative data collection methods and analytical approaches to account for complexity of gender relations and to ensure participatory and inclusive processes that are culturally appropriate. Methods may include but are not limited to:

  • Desk review of relevant documents such as project documents, progress reports, financial records, meeting minutes and monitoring reports, and secondary data or studies relating to the country context and situation.
  • Online consultations and discussions with the senior management, programme and project management staff of UN Women and UNICEF and responsible partners.
  • Semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, surveys with direct and indirect beneficiaries, implementing partners, donor and other stakeholders.
  • Field visits to and observation at selected project sites (if the epidemiological situation will be favourable)

Data from different research sources will be triangulated to increase its validity. The evaluation will also be informed by the Country Portfolio Evaluation of the UN Women Moldova Country Office Strategic Note 2018-2022, recently commissioned by the UN Women Independent Evaluation Service. The proposed approach and methodology will be considered as flexible guidelines rather than final requirements, and the evaluators will have an opportunity to make their inputs and propose changes in the evaluation design. The methodology and approach should, however, incorporate human rights and gender equality perspectives. It is expected that the Evaluation Team will further refine the approach and methodology and submit a detailed description in the inception report.

Comments provided by the evaluation reference and management groups will be aimed at methodological rigor, factual errors, errors of interpretation, or omission of information and must be considered by the evaluators to ensure a high-quality product. The final evaluation report should reflect the evaluator’s consideration of the comments and acknowledge any substantive disagreements.

Evaluation criteria and key evaluation questions

The evaluation will include the OCD DAC criteria of relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability. Preliminary evaluation questions under each of criterion include the following:

Relevance

  • To what extent was the design of the intervention and its results relevant to the needs and priorities of the beneficiaries? Was the choice of interventions relevant to the situation of the target group?
  • To what extent is the intervention consistent with the national development strategies in the area of gender equality and women’s empowerment, combating violence against women and children, and reflect national priorities and commitments on GEWE, and the UNPFSD?
  • To what extent key national partners were involved in programme’s conceptualization and design process?
  • To what extent has gender and human rights principles and strategies been integrated into the programme design and implementation?
  • To what extent has the project been catalytic in addressing some of the root causes of inequalities related to women’s discrimination?
  • To what extent is the intervention aligned with international agreements and conventions on gender equality and women’s empowerment in the context of gender mainstreaming and combating domestic and gender-based violence?
  • To what extent did the project’s design process include a collaborative process, shared vision for delivering results, strategies for joint delivery and sharing of risks among implementing UN entities?

Coherence

  • To what extent the project adheres to corporate strategic priorities of UN Women and UNICEF?
  • Is the project achieving synergies between the larger UN Women’s and UNICEF’s portfolios and the work of the UN Country Team in the Republic of Moldova?
  • Is the project achieving synergies between UN Women, UNICEF and local government counterparts?
  • Is the project achieving synergies between UN Women, UNICEF and CSOs in the different locations?
  • To what extent UN Women and UNICEF possess a comparative advantage in the project’s areas of work in comparison with other UN entities and relevant stakeholders?

Effectiveness

  • To what extent have the expected results of the project been achieved on both outcome and output levels?
  • What are the reasons for the achievement or non-achievement of the project results? Has project achieved any unforeseen results, either positive or negative? For whom? What are the good practices and the obstacles or shortcomings encountered? How were they overcome?
  • How effective have the selected programme strategies and approaches been in achieving programme results?
  • How well did the intervention succeed in involving and building the capacities of rights-holders, duty-bearers, as well as the project partners?
  • To what extent are the programme approaches and strategies are innovative for achieving gender mainstreaming and combating violence against women and children? What -if any- types of innovative good practices have been introduced in the programme for the achievement of GEWE results?
  • What contribution are participating UN agencies (UN Women, UNICEF) making to implementing global norms and standards for gender equality mainstreaming and combating domestic violence against women and children?
  • To what extent the joint programme modality (with recipient Agency – UNICEF) led to improved communication, coordination and information exchange within the United Nations family in Moldova?

Efficiency

  • Have resources (financial, human, technical support, etc.) been allocated and split between the participating agencies strategically to achieve the project outcomes?
  • How has the joint nature of the project affected efficiency of delivery, including reduced duplication and increased cost-sharing, reduced/transferred burdens, and transaction costs? What factors have influenced this?
  • Has project led to improved efficiency in the management of resources and what has been the relationship between increased/decreased efficiency and (potential) results on GEEW? Does the established levels or mechanism of “jointness” lead to better GEEW results?
  • Has there been effective leadership and management of the project including the structuring of management and administration roles to maximize results? Where does accountability lie?
  • Have the outputs been delivered in a timely manner?
  • To what extent are the programme’s individual entity and joint monitoring mechanisms in place 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

Considering the mandates to incorporate human rights and gender equality in all UN work and the UN Women Evaluation Policy, which promotes the integration of women’s rights and gender equality principles into evaluation, these dimensions will require special attention for this evaluation and will be considered under each evaluation criterion.

It is expected that the evaluation team will develop an evaluation matrix, which will relate to the above questions (and refine them as needed), the areas they refer to, the criteria for evaluating them, the indicators, and the means for verification as a tool for the evaluation. Final evaluation matrix will be approved in the evaluation inception report.

Evaluation process and management structure

Evaluation process

The evaluation process has five phases:

1) Preparation: gathering and analysing programme data, conceptualizing the evaluation approach, internal consultations on the approach, preparing the TOR, establishment of the Evaluation Management Group (EMG) and the Evaluation Reference Group (ERG), stakeholders mapping and selection of evaluation team.

2) Inception: consultations between the evaluation team and the EMG, programme portfolio review, finalization of stakeholder mapping, inception meetings with the ERG, review of the result logics, analysis of information relevant to the initiative, finalization of evaluation methodology and preparation and validation of inception report.

3) Data collection and analysis: in depth desk research, in-depth review of the project documents and monitoring frameworks, in online interviews as necessary, staff and partner survey/s, and field visits.

4) Analysis and synthesis stage: analysis of data and interpretation of findings and drafting and validation of an evaluation report and other communication products.

5) Dissemination and follow-up: once the evaluation is completed UN Women is responsible for the development of a Management Response, publishing of the evaluation report, uploading the published report on the GATE website, and the dissemination of evaluation findings.

The UN Women CO is entirely responsible for phases 1 and 5 outlined above which will not foresee the involvement of the independent evaluation team.

Management structure for the joint evaluation

An evaluation management group comprising of senior management of the participating UN agencies (UN Women and UNICEF) and their delegated programme staff will be established to oversee the evaluation process, make key decisions, quality assure and jointly approve the different deliverables.

The UN Women Moldova Programme Specialist, who was providing overall programmatic support for the EVA project, but was not involved in direct management of the programme, will serve as the evaluation task manager responsible for the day-to-day management of the evaluation and ensures that the evaluation is conducted in accordance with the Evaluation Policy of the UN Women, United Nations Evaluation Group Ethical Guidelines and Code of Conduct for Evaluation in the United Nations system and other key guidance documents.

The establishment of an external evaluation reference group will facilitate participation of the key stakeholders in the evaluation process and will help to ensure that the evaluation approach is robust and relevant to staff and stakeholders. Furthermore, it will make certain that factual errors or errors of omission or interpretation are identified in evaluation products. The reference group will provide input and relevant information at key stages of the evaluation: terms of reference, inception report, draft and final reports and dissemination of the results. The composition of the evaluation reference group will be defined by the evaluation management group and external stakeholders will be appointed based on their involvement in the implementation of the project.

Evaluation team composition and requirements

An evaluation team consisting of an international consultant as a Team Leader and a national consultant as a Team Member supporting in all substantive aspects of the evaluation. Both have some experience of each of the following: conducting evaluations, gender equality, women’s empowerment and desirable child protection. The international consultant as team leader is responsible for coordination during all phases of the evaluation process, ensuring the quality of outputs and application of methodology as well as timely delivery of all evaluation products in close collaboration with the evaluation task manager and the evaluation management group. The national consultant will provide support to the international consultant in all the aspects of conducting the evaluation, data collection including translation and interpretation where necessary.

In further detail, the duties and responsibilities of the international consultant are as follows:

  • Leading the inception phase and developing an inception report outlining design, approach and methodology of the evaluation and an indicative workplan of the evaluation team within the framework of this ToR.
  • Directing and supervising the national consultant in carrying out collection, research and analysis of relevant documentation and other data, and reporting.
  • Overseeing and assuring quality of data collection and leading the analysis of the evaluation evidence.
  • Preparing for meetings with the evaluation management group, evaluation reference group and other stakeholders to review findings, conclusions and recommendations.
  • Leading the preparation of the evaluation communication products.

Expected deliverables

The evaluation team is expected to deliver:

  • An inception report: The evaluation team will present a refined scope, a detailed outline of the evaluation design and methodology, evaluation questions, and criteria for the approach for in-depth desk review and field work 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 evaluation management group and, based upon the comments received the evaluation team will revise the draft. The revised draft will be shared with the evaluation reference group for feedback. The evaluation team will maintain an audit trail of the comments received and provide a response on how the comments were addressed in the final inception report.
  • Presentation of preliminary findings: A PowerPoint presentation detailing the emerging findings of the evaluation will be shared with the evaluation management group for feedback. The revised presentation will be delivered to the reference group for comment and validation. The evaluation team will incorporate the feedback received into the draft report.
  • A draft evaluation report: A first draft report will be shared with the evaluation management group for initial feedback. The second draft report will incorporate evaluation management group feedback and will be shared with the evaluation reference group for identification of factual errors, errors of omission and/or misinterpretation of information. The third draft report will incorporate this feedback and then be shared with the reference group for final validation. The evaluation team will maintain an audit trail of the comments received and provide a response on how the comments were addressed in the revised drafts.
  • The final evaluation report: The final report will include a concise Executive Summary and annexes detailing the methodological approach and any analytical products developed during the course of the evaluation. The structure of the report will be defined in the inception report.
  • Evaluation communication products: Online presentation of the preliminary findings at the closing event of the project in 2023 (date TBD), a PowerPoint/Prezi presentation of the final key evaluation findings and recommendations, and a 2-pager/infographics on the final key findings, lessons learned and recommendations in a format preferably adjustable for individual project sites both in English and Russian.

Payment will be issued in three instalments upon the satisfactory submission of the deliverables cleared by the evaluation task manager to certify that the services have been satisfactorily performed: 15% upon the signing of the contract, 20% upon approval of evaluation inception report, 25% upon the submission of the draft report and 40% upon the validation of the final evaluation report and communication products.

Evaluation time frame

The joint evaluation will be conducted between end October 2022 and March 2023. The preliminary calendar for the process is detailed in the table below.

Task

Tentative timeframe*

Estimative nr. of days international consultant

Inception phase October- November 2022

Initial desk review of background documentation

End October, 2022

2

Inception meeting with EMG and ERG

End October, 2022

1

Inception report (including two rounds of revision)

By November, 2023

5

Data collection phase December 2022 – Beginning of February 2023

Documents review, (online) interviews

December, 2022

4

Visit to project sites

January, 2023

Up to 7

Analysis and reporting phase

Drafting and presentation of preliminary

findings (including one round of revision)

Mid – January, 2023

3

Preparation and submission of report (including two rounds of Revision

Mid - February, 2023

Beginning of March, 2023

10

Review and submission of final report and communication products (PPT and a brief)

4

Total

Up to 36

* Exact deadlines will be mutually agreed upon contract signature.

[1] “Essential Services Package for Women and Girls Subject to Violence” https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/library/publications/2015/essential-services-package-en.pdf?la=en&vs=3648

[2] Based on EVA project Mid-Term Review results

[3] Please see section XI References below

Competencies

Competencies

  • Sensitivity and adaptability to culture, gender, religion, nationality and age.
  • Strong analytical, writing and reporting abilities.
  • Strong interpersonal and communication skills, ability to lead a team and negotiate amongst a wide range of stakeholders.
  • Commitment to quality products and deadlines.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • At least a master’s degree in economics, social sciences, international relations, gender studies or a related area.

Experience:

  • At least 7 years of relevant experience conducting evaluations of strategies, policies and/or development programmes and projects.
  • Proven experience of designing and leading or participating in gender-responsive and human rights-based evaluations utilising participatory approaches and methodologies.
  • Knowledge and experience in gender equality and women’s empowerment, gender mainstreaming, combating gender-based violence and the related mandates.
  • Demonstrated facilitation and communications skills, experience in participatory approaches and ability to negotiate amongst a wide range of stakeholders.
  • Previous work experience of countries in transition. Previous experience working in Europe and Central Asia and/or in particular in Moldova will be considered a strong asset.
  • Experience with the United Nations system will be considered an asset.

Language requirements:

  • Language proficiency in both written and spoken English. Knowledge of Romanian will be an asset.

Consultant 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.

Application Procedure:

Interested candidates are invited to follow this link https://sc.undp.md/jobdetails/2584/ to see the full terms of Reference and its Annexces and submit their online applications by7 October 2022 with the following documents.

Added 1 year ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: jobs.undp.org