National Consultant to Conduct a Final Light Review of UN Women’s component of the “Support for Durable Resettlement in Sri Lanka” project - Open to Sri Lanka nationals only

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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’s efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts towards building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

Subsequent to the end of the nearly 30-year conflict in Sri Lanka, there has been increased momentum in releasing lands, demilitarizing conflict-affected regions and resettling displaced communities. While this progress is a positive signal for many communities living in conflict-affected regions, as well as for families still living in displacement, the need to ensure durable and sustainable return remains.

In 2016, the Ministry of Prison Reforms, Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Hindu Religious Affairs (MoR) developed a comprehensive ‘National Policy on Durable Solutions for Conflict-Affected Displacement’ which explicitly states that “the State recognizes the right of IDPs, refugee returnees and displacement affected populations to request and receive assistance, including but not limited to security and protection from violence, access to shelter, food and water, health care, sanitation, livelihood, education, psycho-social care, mine clearance, and other support needed to allow them to ensure basic survival and to recover and rebuild their lives in safety and dignity”.

The Policy recognizes that a durable solution is achieved when IDPs and refugee returnees no longer have any specific assistance and protection needs that are linked to their displacement and can enjoy their human rights without discrimination on account of their displacement. Hence, choosing a settlement option and the provision of shelter does not mark the end of displacement.

While basic infrastructure and housing facilities for the returning families throughout resettled areas is provided, the urgency and immediate needs of ensuring that returnee families in released areas are occupied and productively engaged is vital. Sustaining ongoing livelihood assistance is an area of concern by all stakeholders including UN agencies. Based on previous needs assessments, the present livelihood assistance packages for returnee families are not sufficient for them to become economically independent in the near future.

Accordingly, based on the described frameworks and priorities, there is a need to address the sectoral gaps and requirements of returnees in these newly released lands is now a priority, as is facilitating the effective coordination and timely responses of state agencies responsible for the provision of durable solutions for returning families. Assistance to these localities is also aimed at promoting greater social cohesion and integration within both the resettled and host communities.

The conflict in Sri Lanka brought about a significant transformation in women’s roles in society. With the large loss or disappearance of spouses, over 1.2 million women became heads of households. These female heads of households must now sustain a livelihood for their families and take on roles not traditionally held by women in their communities. Carrying out a new role as the ‘head-of-household’ in a post-conflict climate has resulted in multiple intersectional vulnerabilities and exploitation of women directly affected by the conflict. Poverty, gender-based discrimination, limited support structures, insecurity, vulnerable forms of employment, indebtedness, limited access to basic services, goods and resources, and the extent of trauma undergone converge to increase the likelihood of exploitation and re-victimization.

Financial instability is foremost amongst the vulnerabilities identified, together with concerns over physical health, children’s education and personal (in)security. As traditional labour participation methods are not applicable to this specific beneficiary group, many opt for home-based self-employment and microenterprises. Even in cases where female heads of households have undergone skills training, their limited access to resources continue to hinder and constrain any available opportunities. According to recent research, a number of women have expressed a strong desire to access some credit in order to start their own businesses.

In addition to being a basic right, women’s economic empowerment has long been recognized as “smart economics” as its impact permeates throughout individual, community and national levels. At the individual level, women’s entrepreneurship provides not only employment opportunities based on women’s own ideas, innovation and resources, but also economic empowerment, which is an essential building block for women’s dignity and self-worth as well as social recognition. The effect of women’s economic empowerment expands to the community level, as multiple studies have proved that women are more likely than men to invest a higher proportion of their household income in the education and health of their children. Moreover, through the empowerment of women, they gain a stake in negotiating and sustaining peace.

It was shown that in emerging markets, women reinvest 90 per cent of their earnings in their families and communities. Their accumulated assets and enhanced economic security prove that women can contribute to breaking inter-generational poverty and foster economic growth of Sri Lanka by creating new jobs and expanding the pool of available human resources and talents. Likewise, women’s entrepreneurship will not only facilitate social cohesion and reconciliation but become increasingly significant in Sri Lanka’s development trajectory.

With generous support from the UN Multi-Partner Trust Fund through the Joint Programme for Peace, UN Women, together with other UN agencies, is implementing a joint project “Support for Durable Resettlement in Sri Lanka” (2019 – 2022) in Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi districts. UN Women focuses on the empowerment of women returnees within existing and/or newly-resettled communities in Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi, focusing on safety within public spaces, economic empowerment and community mobilization. The project aims to empower women returnees with entrepreneurial skills to support sustainable income generation, to relieve dependency and indebtedness, and enable resilience against re-victimisation by enabling them to establish sustainable, long-term self-employment. In particular, it aims to address the specific limitations faced by women in accessing the necessary knowledge and information regarding markets and value addition of products, as well as access to financial resources.

The proposed project interventions directly contribute to Outcome 4 of the Joint Programme for Peace (Resettlement and Durable Solutions): The core needs of resettling communities revolve around their ability to re-start their lives in the newly released land, including by accessing necessary basic services, economic opportunities and psycho-social support.

Duties and Responsibilities

PURPOSE & SCOPE

UN Women Sri Lanka is recruiting a National Consultant to conduct a Final Light Review of UN Women’s component of the JPP in relation to the above Outcome on Resettlement, through its focus on “Strengthening the Social and Economic Empowerment of Women Returnees in Resettled Communities in Sri Lanka”. The purpose of the Final Review is to assess the extent to which the project has achieved its output-level objectives, to examine the relevancy and effectiveness of the project’s implementation strategy and efforts in reaching said objectives and to identify key results, lessons learned and recommendations to strengthen future interventions targeting women IDP/refugee returnees. The review will also aim to enhance organizational accountability, provide evidence-based information for decision-making and to contribute to learning on gender equality and the empowerment of women, especially on advancing the Women, Peace and Security agenda in Sri Lanka.

The light review will cover the full duration of the project from 01 April 2019 – 31 July 2022. The National Consultant will carry out primary data collection with key internal and external stakeholders, including but not limited to government officials and the members of the UN Women project team. In addition to the above, the review will seek to analyze the extent to which the project has met and fulfilled expectations set by the project team as well as beneficiaries as envisioned at the project’s inception and capture any strengths and gaps found during and after implementation of main programmatic activities.

The primary intended users of the light review are the UN Women Sri Lanka country office and its ROAP Governance, Peace and Security team, including senior management and programme staff at the regional and country levels. The light review may be useful for other actors working in WPS, including partner governments, civil society, UN agencies, INGOs, and NGOs, and national partners, as well as donors.

APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY

The Final Review will be a transparent and participatory process involving relevant stakeholders and partners involved with the project. It will be carried out in accordance with UNEG Norms and Standards and Ethical Code of Conduct, and UN Women Evaluation Policy and Guidelines. The Final Review must integrate gender equality and human-rights perspectives throughout the methodology [1]. The Final Review will focus on identifying effective strategies that produce positive results, as well as lessons learned, in line with the Project Document.

Methodology for the review will be finalised in collaboration with UN Women and may include in-depth desk review and document analysis. Field data collection may be required, with interviews, meetings and/or focus group discussions arranged as agreed between UN Women and the National Consultant – should COVID-19 permit the possibility of travel. Data may be validated through primary and secondary data sources, including desk review and interviews with key experts from government and local organizations.

The external light review must integrate gender and human-rights perspectives throughout each of these areas of analysis and within its methodology [2]. This is particularly important to understand and assess projects addressing complex, intersectional issues in women’s rights.

The following information will be provided:

  • Results-based monitoring framework that has been used to measure performance;
  • Key project outputs such as knowledge products, reports and agendas from meetings and workshops;
  • Relevant policies and knowledge products produced in the project’s operating environment, including existing national and regional data and evidence, and/or data from similar projects;
  • A list of stakeholders and contacts for interviews.

The National Consultant may consider the following example questions:

Area of review

Possible questions

Relevance: the extent to which the project has contributed to addressing the needs identified in its design

  • To what extent were the project’s strategies relevant to local and national contexts?

  • To what extent did the project align with the needs of the intended beneficiaries?

Effectiveness: the extent to which the project has implemented its outputs to target beneficiaries

  • To what extent did the project reach the planned results?

  • Were there any unexpected results or unintended consequences of the results?

  • What were the reasons for the achievement or non-achievement of planned results?

  • To what extent have capacities of duty-bearers and rights-holders been strengthened as a result of the project?

  • To what extent did the project make timely adjustments to its strategy to maintain its relevance and effectiveness?

Efficiency: the extent to which the project was efficiently implemented and has delivered quality outputs, against what was planned (including official amendments)

  • Have financial and human resources been allocated strategically to achieve project outputs and outcomes?

  • Have the outputs been delivered in a timely manner?

  • Have UN Women’s organizational structures, systems and mechanisms effectively supported delivery of the project?

Human rights approach and gender equality principles: the extent to which the project applied the human rights-based approach and identified and engaged the most marginalized groups (e.g. women with disabilities, LGBTQI persons, religious and ethnic minorities).

  • To what extent do the intended and unintended benefits meet the needs of vulnerable/marginalised women?
  • To what extent has the project actively identified and addressed the gender and social norms that are driving gender inequalities specific to the local context?

Limitations:

It is expected that the COVID-19 pandemic may impact the ability to travel and conduct the review. Thus, the review will need to be reliant on secondary data sources and online forms of data collection, and the consultant may not be able to reach the same number of individuals through primary data collection. The timeframe for the review is also very tight, thus the review will need to be strategically scoped to deliver more in-depth information.

DURATION OF ASSIGNMENT

The duration of the consultancy is from 06 May 2022 to 31 July 2022 (tentative). The assignment is home-based, with travel within Sri Lanka, as required.

EXPECTED DELIVERABLES AND TIMEFRAME

Expected key deliverables will include:

Key deliverables

Details of expected key activities and deliverables

Percentage of total amount of contract (%)

Indicative Timeframe

1. Inception Report & Implementation Plan

1.1 Submit Inception Report for review and agreement prior to primary data collection (including a draft work plan, with proposed methodology and timeline, including a list of documents for desk review, stakeholder list and schedule)

-

20 May 2022

1.2 Review of the inception report by UN Women

-

At least one week following submission

1.3 Finalised inception report submitted, incorporating all UN Women feedback

20%

31 May 2022

2. Draft Review Report

2.1 Conduct a desk review of key documents and preliminary discussions with UN Women staff

-

2.2 Lead and conduct data collection including visits and stakeholder interviews

-

2.3 First draft report - A draft comprehensive report (including data collection, analysis) to be submitted to UN Women for review

(see below for outline of the report)

-

01 July 2022

2.4 Review of the first draft by UN Women

-

At least one week following submission

2.5 Revised draft report- a revised comprehensive report submitted to UN Women for review, incorporating all feedback

40%

18 July 2022

3. Final Review Report

3.1 Review of the final report by UN Women

-

3.2 Final report: A comprehensive Final Review in soft copy, written according to UN guidelines, submitted to UN Women, incorporating all feedback provided by UN Women

The Light Review will contain the following elements:

  • Cover Page
  • Title page, table of contents, acronyms
  • Executive summary (maximum 2 pages)
  • Project description
  • Assessment purpose and intended audience
  • Assessment objectives, scope and methodology (including constraints and limitations on the study conducted)
  • Findings and Analysis
  • Conclusions
  • Recommendations (prioritized, structured and clear)
  • Lessons Learned
  • Annexes, including interview list (without identifying names for the sake of confidentiality/anonymity) data collection instruments, key documents consulted, TOR)

Remarks:

  • The review should not exceed 30 pages excluding annexes.
  • An executive summary will include a brief description of the project, its context and current situation, the purpose of the external light review, its intended audience, its methodology and its main findings conclusions and recommendations.
  • The Executive Summary should read as a “stand alone” document.

40%

31 July 2022

[1] For more information, see http://www.uneval.org/document/detail/980

[2] Please see “Integrating human rights and gender equality in Evaluation: towards UNEG guidance”

(available in English, Spanish, French and Arabic)

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

Functional Competencies:

  • Strong knowledge and understanding of monitoring and evaluation;
  • Excellent research and analytical skills;
  • Previous experience in conducting gender-responsive project reviews and evaluations;
  • Excellent command of written English, with proven report writing experience (to be assessed through writing sample).

Required Skills and Experience

  • Education:
    • Master’s degree or higher in relevant discipline (gender studies, conflict and peace studies, development, social sciences, or related field).
    • A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
  • Professional experience:
    • At least 2 years of experience in programme evaluation, reviews, assessments in a development context, including with relation to gender equality and women’s empowerment.
    • Experience in monitoring and/or evaluating related projects in South Asia is highly desirable.
    • Previous experience engaging with UN agencies, donors and high-level government stakeholders is preferred.
    • Proven knowledge and understanding of WPS issues are desirable.
  • Knowledge and skills:
    • Proficiency in English with excellent English writing skill is required.
    • Fluency in either of the national languages (Sinhala or Tamil) is required.

Important: The evaluator/s has to explicitly declare his/her independence from any organizations that have been involved in designing, executing or advising any aspect of the particular programme of UN Women Sri Lanka that is the subject of evaluation. The selection process will ensure that the evaluator/s does not have any relationship with this programme in the past, present or foreseen in the near future.

EVALUATION ETHICS

Evaluations in the UN will be conducted in accordance with the principles outlined in UN Women Evaluation Policy and Guidelines, UNEG Norms and Standards for Evaluation in the UN System and by the UNEG ‘Ethical Guidelines for Evaluation.’ These documents will be attached to the contract. Evaluators are required to read the Norms and Standards and the guidelines and ensure a strict adherence to it, including establishing protocols to safeguard confidentiality of information obtained during the evaluation.

  • Anonymity and confidentiality. The evaluation must respect the rights of individuals who provide information, ensuring their anonymity and confidentiality.
  • Responsibility. The report must mention any dispute or difference of opinion that may have arisen among the consultants or between the consultant and the heads of the Project in connection with the findings and/or recommendations. The team must corroborate all assertions, or disagreement with them noted.
  • Integrity. The evaluator will be responsible for highlighting issues not specifically mentioned in the TOR, if this is needed to obtain a more complete analysis of the intervention.
  • Independence. The consultant should ensure his or her independence from the intervention under review, and he or she must not be associated with its management or any element thereof.
  • Incidents. If problems arise during the fieldwork, or at any other stage of the evaluation, they must be reported immediately to the manager of the evaluation. If this is not done, the existence of such problems may in no case be used to justify the failure to obtain the results stipulated in these terms of reference.
  • Validation of information. The consultant will be responsible for ensuring the accuracy of the information collected while preparing the reports and will be ultimately responsible for the information presented in the evaluation report.
  • Intellectual property. In handling information sources, the consultant shall respect the intellectual property rights of the institutions and communities that are under review.
  • Delivery of reports. If delivery of the reports is delayed, or in the event that the quality of the reports delivered is clearly lower than what was agreed, the penalties stipulated in these terms of reference will be applicable.

PAYMENT

Payment shall be provided upon satisfactory completion of the deliverables outlined in the table below, upon the approval of the UN Women Programme Analyst, Sri Lanka. Payments are to be made within 30 days from receipt of invoice.

The National Consultant shall be home based, with travel to project locations as required. Travel-related costs within Sri Lanka must be included in the financial proposal as a lumpsum amount. Payment for travel-related costs will be made upon submission of evidence of travel.

Payment

Deliverables

Target date of payment

1st Installment, 20% of total fee

Deliverable 1

By 10 June 2022

2nd Installment, 40% of total fee

Deliverable 2

By 25 July 2022

3rd Installment, 40% of total fee

Deliverable 3

By 15 August 2022

Travel-related costs

Payment for travel will be made upon submission of evidence of travel.

By 31 July 2022

Submission of application

Interest candidates are encouraged to submit their application through the UN Women website as well an electronic application to hr.bangkok@unwomen.org and copy to nayela.naviz@unwomen.org not later than Monday, 25 April 2022, COB.

Submission package includes:

  • Updated CV
  • Personal History Form (P11)
  • Technical proposal: Brief summary of the proposed methodology for the light review exercise (1-2 pages)
  • At least three sample reports from previous evaluation/review (all samples will be kept confidential) or links to website where reports can be retrieved (highly recommended).

  • Financial proposal:

Items

Amount (LKR)

Lump Sum fee (equivalent to daily fee x no. of days)

Number of days refers to actual days that the consultant works in order to produce deliverables as required by the ToR, NOT the number of days covering the whole period of consultancy.

Deliverable 1: Finalised inception report submitted, incorporating all UN Women feedback

Deliverable 2: Revised draft report- a revised comprehensive report submitted to UN Women for review, incorporating all feedback

Deliverable 3: Final report: A comprehensive Final Review in soft copy, written according to UN guidelines, submitted to UN Women, incorporating all feedback provided by UN Women

Suggestive travel and miscellaneous expenses budget** (inclusive of food and accommodation, internet connectivity, and any other costs relevant for the consultancy)

Please calculate intermittent travel to 02 districts (Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu) for scoping, monitoring and data collection related tasks, if COVID-19 permits travel.

Total Financial Proposal

** Given the developing Covid-19 context, there could be a scenario where travel to the field is not required and/or permitted and as a result, data collection methods will need to unfold in a remote manner.

The reimbursement of travel-related costs will therefore rely on the conditions posed by the ability/inability to travel to the field.

  • Incomplete proposals may not be considered.
  • Please ensure a competitive financial proposal is submitted as it will be evaluated cumulatively with the technical proposal. Financial proposal itself will be weighed at 30%.

EVALUATION OF APPLICATIONS

Applications will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis:

  • Technical qualification (100 points); weight: (70%)
  • Financial proposal (100 points): weight (30%)

A two-stage procedure is utilized in evaluating the applications, with evaluation of the technical application being completed prior to any price proposal being compared. Only the price proposal of the candidates who passed the minimum technical score of 70% of the obtainable score of 100 points in the technical qualification evaluation will be evaluated.

Technical qualification evaluation criteria:

The total number of points allocated for the technical qualification component is 100. The technical qualification of the individual is evaluated based on following technical qualification evaluation criteria: Technical Evaluation Criteria

Obtainable Score

A) Education

20

B) Experience and skills (including previous experience with the UN and government stakeholders)

70

C) Language proficiency and report writing skills

10

Total Obtainable Score

100%

Only the candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% of total points will be considered as technically-qualified candidates who may be contacted for validation interview.

Financial/Price Proposal evaluation:

  • Only the financial proposal of candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% score in the technical evaluation will be considered and evaluated.
  • The total number of points allocated for the price component is 100.
  • The maximum number of points will be allotted to the lowest price proposal that is opened/ evaluated and compared among those technical qualified candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% score in the technical evaluation. All other price proposals will receive points in inverse proportion to the lowest price.

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION STATEMENT

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.)

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