National Consultant on Monitoring and Evaluation

Contract

This is a National Consultant contract. More about National Consultant contracts.

Background

UN Women, the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women has been created to accelerate up the process of meeting the needs of women and girls across the world. UN Women supports UN Member States as they set global standards for achieving gender equality and works with governments and civil society to design laws, policies, programs and services needed to ensure that the standards are effectively implemented and truly benefit women and girls worldwide. UN Women is at the forefront of the global drive to remove gender barriers and end discrimination, because we believe in a world of justice and human rights for everyone.

About 85% of Tajik labor migrants are male and 20% migrate with their wives. In 2016, 50% of households in Tajikistan were female headed, with 87% of children remained behind with a single parent. Many Tajik men working abroad gradually cease contact with their families and stop sending remittances, opting to build a new life in Russia. This has led to the existence of an extremely vulnerable and marginalized group in Tajik society, the so-called ‘abandoned families’ or ‘families left behind’ of migrant workers. Women and children left behind suffer from poor wellbeing, including mental health, compounded by limited services and support. The current CFP targets families left behind by migrant workers (with women - left behind in focus) and communities where they reside prioritizing the most vulnerable families, including those with a member facing disability.

Families left behind often struggle to access rights and protections, incl. limited access to legal remedies and discrimination in the application of law. Women often unable to divorce their absent husbands or obtain court ordered alimony and child support. There are no functioning systems to identify and register families left behind and a limited awareness among them of available services. Rural women left behind lack equal access to property, land, and credit making them dependent on the other family members and increasing their vulnerability to poverty. This leads to economic and other forms of violence against the women left behind. Traditionally, they live with their in-laws, therefore legally claiming a domicile after divorce or abandonment is difficult. Women have limited access to justice due to the lack of money for documents and lawyers or lack of information about legal protections. Practically, no or few initiatives target ‘families left behind’.

The joint (with IOM, UNICEF and FAO) project Empowerment of ‘Families left behind’ for improved Migration Outcomes in Khatlon, Tajikistan (MMPTF-funded), observes a comprehensive approach, attention to good governance and capacity of local systems, a need to build awareness, knowledge and attitudes of the local population and a focus on longer term transformative gender investments. The project enjoys support and cooperation of Local Authorities; Committee on Women and Family Affairs (CoWFA) and its local Departments, Ministry of Health and Social Protection (MoHSP) and its local Departments, Ministry of Labour, Migration and Employment of Population (MoLMEP) and its local Departments, Migration Services (MS) and Departments of Agriculture.

The purpose of this assignment is to hire a National Consultant on monitoring and evaluation (M&E) in the pilot 2 districts (Dusti and Kulyab) to monitor and evaluate activities, determine the degree of achievement of project goals and objectives, and the level of sustainability, impact, effectiveness and relevance of the results achieved, with the provision quantitative and qualitative indicators, within the framework of the “Empowerment of “Families left behind for Improved Migration Outcomes in Khatlon, Tajikistan” the MMPTF funded Project.

Goal and objectives:

The overall goal and objectives of the proposed consultancy is coordination of monitoring activities and field monitoring of joint MMPTF Project by the UN Implementing Partners (UN WOMEN, IOM, FAO and UNICEF) in the districts of Dusti and Kulyab during endline and final evaluation activities.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the supervision of the UN Women Project Manager, the consultant will perform the following tasks, that include but are not limited to the following:

1. Develop & provide consultancy plan on implementing process to UN Women and IOM.
2. Closely collaborate with IOM regarding M&E process implementation
3. Development and updating of a detailed monitoring and evaluation plan for all project indicators, including additional indicators identified by agencies;
4. Support the endline study processes and final evaluation (coordinate development of a ToR, provide quality assurance, review the report, etc.);
5. Evaluate, analyze, measure and evaluate progress towards achievement project indicators outlined in the project Logical Framework with focus on achieving project sustainability;
6. Provide evidence-based recommendations to improve key project areas as well as overall sustainability of the project implementation;
7. Provide capacity building support to implementing partners on data collection, aggregation and reporting;
8. Collation, cleaning, analysis and presentation of collected data to the Project Management Team (PMT) monthly, and preparation of a presentation of collated data to the Steering Committee and final presentation;
9. Regular field monitoring to support data collection, data verification, implementation against the plan, as well as drafting reports with recommendations, and follow up on the recommendation that were made;
10. Maintenance of a library of relevant background sources, information and indicators in the shared point and webpage;
11. Development and implementation of a beneficiary feedback/complaint mechanism and tracking process of addressing feedback/complaints;
12. Preparing of ToR for hiring respective institution/evaluator to conduct a comparative analysis of the endline studies to estimate the impact of the intervention and final evaluation;
13. Generate evidence and lessons learnt based on the assessment of the project to be used to accelerate implementation of the project and advocate for protection of women and children left behind;
14. Propose and/or draft 2 case studies to demonstrate impact and illustrate human interest for visibility purposes;
15. Ensure that TORs and evaluation report(s) comply with minimum quality and rigor for evaluations in the UN system (as reflected in UNEG Norms and Standards for evaluation), including the UN SWAP Evaluation Performance Indicator (EPI) that integrates Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (GEEW) related considerations into evaluation processes in the UN.

16. The final report on deliverables, recommendations and/or lessons learnt would be submitted at the end of the assignment to all PUNOs.

17. Expected deliverables

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Deliverables

Timeframe to provide deliverables

1

The detailed consultancy plan on process implementation is presented and approved by UN Women and IOM

September 31, 2023

2

A detailed monitoring and evaluation plan for all project indicators, including additional indicators identified by agencies developed and updated

October 01, 2023

3

Support provided to the endline study processes and final evaluation; the progress towards achievement of project indicators evaluated; the evidence-based recommendations to improve key project areas as well as overall sustainability of the project implementation provided; the capacity building support to implementing partners on data collection, aggregation and reporting provided; the analysis and presentation of collected data to the Project Management Team (PMT) provided on a monthly basis, and collated data presented to the Steering Committee.

Field monitoring to support data collection, data verification, implementation against the plan, as well as drafting reports with recommendations, and follow up on the recommendation held; the library of relevant background sources, information and indicators in the shared point and webpage maintained; a beneficiary feedback/complaint mechanism and tracking process of addressing feedback/complaints developed, TOR for hiring respective institution/evaluator to conduct a comparative analysis of the endline studies to estimate the impact of the intervention and final evaluation developed. Generated evidence and lessons learnt based on the assessment of the project used to accelerate implementation of the project and advocate for protection of women and children left behind; 2 case studies to demonstrate impact and illustrate human interest for visibility purposes proposed.

November 30, 2023

4

The final report on deliverables, recommendations and/or lessons learnt submitted to all PUNOs

December 01, 2023

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration

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

Functional Competencies:

• Good knowledge of technical area;
• Good organizational skills and ability to pay close attention to detail;
• Possesses the ability to work independently, under pressure and meet deadlines;
• Analytical and research skills;
• Experience in report writing.

Technical competencies:

• Experience working under minimum supervision and tight deadlines;
• Computer literate (being able to use MS Windows, office applications, Internet search);

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Completed University and Master’s Degree from an accredited academic institution in Social and Political Sciences or a related discipline.

Working Experience:

• A minimum of 3 years of experience in gender equality issues, policy research/analysis in the fields of gender equality, migration, political science, social sciences, or related field;
• At least 3 years of experience in the field of monitoring and evaluation, collecting and analyzing qualitative data. Examples of previously provided M&E should be listed in the P11.
• A minimum of 3 years of experience in document revision, Quantitative Data Analysis, report writing, curricula, manuals, methodology development;
• Prior experience in the work environment of an international agency, NGOs, UN, or international institutions.

Knowledge of languages & additional requirements:

• Proficient knowledge of Tajik and/or Russian languages, English language is an asset.

Application Process

The application should include:

• Letter of Interest;
• Personal History Form (P-11 form) - including past experience in similar assignments; can be downloaded at http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment a signed [scanned] copy should be submitted;
• Financial Proposal Specify a total lump sum amount for the tasks specified in this Terms of Reference. The financial proposal shall include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (daily rate and number of anticipated working days, any other possible costs, including expenses for the trip to/from the training place, and accommodation), signed copy should be submitted.

Candidate (s) should have the ability to quickly produce degree certificates and medical certification (of good health) should they be short-listed in consideration of the consultancy post.

All documents should be submitted by the link: www.jobs.undp.org by the deadline 15 August 2023.

Payment Schedule

Payment for the services provided will be made by deliverables as per the below table upon achievement of expected results and approval of the deliverable and acceptance of services by the UN Women (PERF) that the services have been satisfactorily performed.

1. First payment upon submission and approval of the 1st & 2nd deliverables.
2. Final payment upon submission and approval of the 3rd and 4th deliverables.