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National Consultant / Gender and Wee Expert to Support The Final Evaluation Of The UN Women Project “A Joint Action For Women’s Economic Empowerment in Georgia” Funded by The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Georgia

  • Organization: UNWOMEN - United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women
  • Location: Georgia
  • Grade: Consultancy - National Consultant - Locally recruited Contractors Agreement
  • Occupational Groups:
    • Economics
    • Political Affairs
    • Women's Empowerment and Gender Mainstreaming
    • Monitoring and Evaluation
    • Project and Programme Management
  • Closing Date: Closed

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.

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, programmes and services needed to implement these standards. It stands behind women’s equal participation in all aspects of life, focusing on five priority areas: increasing women’s leadership and participation; ending violence against women; engaging women in all aspects of peace and security processes; enhancing women’s economic empowerment; and making gender equality central to national development planning and budgeting. UN Women also coordinates and promotes the UN system’s work in advancing gender equality.

Women’s rights to economic equality and opportunities and their critical importance for sustainable development are enshrined in a number of multilateral normative frameworks, including CEDAW, the Beijing Platform for Action, and in proposed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Agreed Conclusions of the 61st Commission on the Status of Women (2017) recognize that women's equal economic rights and economic empowerment are essential to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda. The global consensus has been reached also on the fact that without the engagement of the private sector, which accounts for 90% of jobs in the developing countries, the Sustainable Development Goals will not be reached.

To strengthen the private sector’s role in women’s economic empowerment, with the support of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, UN Women launched the project “A Joint Action for Women’s Economic Empowerment in Georgia” (JAWE) with the total budget of USD 3,114,823.10 on 1 December 2017. The overall goal of the 37-month project is to ensure that women, particularly the poorest and most excluded, are economically empowered and benefit from development in Georgia. When it comes to the geographical scope, the project is implemented in Georgia with a focus on the grassroots mobilization work and entrepreneurship support in the regions of Guria, Imereti, Racha-Lechkhumi, Adjara, Shida Kartli and Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti.

The project’s theory of change is as follows: if (1) private businesses have increased understanding of the gender dimension of corporate sustainability and strengthened capacities to implement the Women’s Empowerment Principles; and if (2) government and other actors are supported in applying international standards and creating an enabling environment for women’s economic empowerment; and if (3) women, particularly the most vulnerable, have increased capacities, skills and opportunities to access decent work, and women business enterprises are more active in the market; then (4) women realize their economic rights; because (5) the state legislative and economic environment will be enabling for this, and the private sector will be more gender-responsible.

The project therefore has three outputs, all outputs contributing to one outcome, for women to fully realize their economic rights with the support of a gender-responsive private sector and an enabling State legislative and economic environment:

Output 1: Private businesses have an increased understanding of the gender dimension of corporate sustainability and have strengthened capacities to implement the WEPs.

Output 2. Government and other actors are supported in applying international standards and creating an enabling environment for women’s economic empowerment in partnership with the private sector.

Output 3. Women, particularly the most vulnerable, have increased capacities, skills and opportunities to access decent work, and women enterprises are more active in the market.

Compliant to UN Women’s Strategic Note 2016-2020, the project ensured realization of project results with interventions on policy, institutions and grassroots’ levels to bring about interrelated positive change and contribute to the achievement of the overall, as well as the specific objectives of the action. On policies and legislation level, government and other actors were supported to apply international standards and create an enabling environment for women’s economic empowerment in partnership with the private sector. On the institutional level, through the UN Women/UN Global Compact Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs), the JAWE project provided companies information on why gender equality is critical to business performance and helped them identify and implement further actions. Gender-sensitive recruitment practices, workplace mentoring programmes for women, targeted job placement and the establishment of sexual harassment complaints mechanisms are just a few examples from the menu of actions offered to the companies. At the community level, the project supported women to improve their job skills and their access to financial and economic services. Women entrepreneurs who were already engaged in business and interested in scaling up their businesses were linked to larger cooperatives and corporate value chains.

Evaluation Purpose and Use:

After three years of the project implementation, as established in the Project Document, a mandatory external final evaluation is to be conducted by UN Women for accountability and learning purposes. This final evaluation will take place towards the end of the implementation of the intervention (August 2020 – November 2020) and its main purpose is assessing the achievement of project results and performance of the above described intervention. Findings of the final external evaluation will inform UN Women Georgia’s future work in the area of women’s economic empowerment. The external evaluation will further identify lessons learned, best practices and challenges of the JAWE project and will greatly inform the development of the follow-up programmatic interventions.

The information generated by the evaluation will be used by different stakeholders to contribute to building of the evidence base on effective strategies for WEE in Georgia and to facilitate UN Women’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 economic empowerment of women;
  • Facilitate strategic reflection, learning and further planning for programming in the area of economic empowerment of women;
  • Strengthen national stakeholders and structures with the aim to increase sustainability of the results beyond the project.

Main evaluation users include UN Women Country Office in Georgia as well as Government of Norway (project donor) and key national stakeholders. Furthermore, national stakeholders – NGO partners, Parliamentary counterparts and targeted state and non-state agencies will be also closely involved in the evaluation process to increase ownership of findings, draw lessons learned and make and greater use of this final evaluation results.

Evaluation Objectives:

The specific evaluation objectives are as follows:

  • Analyze the relevance and coherence of the implementation strategy and approaches of the “A Joint Action for Women’s Economic Empowerment in Georgia” project;
  • Assess effectiveness and organizational efficiency in progressing towards the achievement of the project’s results as defined in the intervention;
  • Validate the project results in terms of achievements and/or weaknesses toward the outcome and outputs;
  • Determine the impact of the intervention with respect to gender equality and women’s empowerment;
  • Assess the sustainability of the results achieved by the project;
  • Document lessons learned, best practices, success stories and challenges to inform future work of UN Women and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in addressing women’s economic empowerment;
  • Identify strategies for replication and up-scaling of the project’s best practices;
  • Provide actionable recommendations for future programmatic developments and maximize ownership by partners in the country covered by the project;
  • To assess how the project and its results relate and contribute to commitments and achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Georgia.

Scope of the Evaluation:

The final evaluation of the project is to be conducted externally by an international consultant and a national consultant. It is planned to be completed in 40 working days in the period of 10 August 2020 – 30 November 2020.

The final evaluation will include all aspects of the project and will cover almost the full project implementation period starting from December 2017 till the end of November 2020.

The evaluation will be conducted in Georgia, with a focus on the grassroots mobilization work in the regions of Guria, Imereti, Racha-Lechkhumi and Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti, as well as entrepreneurship support component in the regions of Adjara and Shida Kartli, in addition to the regions of grassroots mobilization.

Evaluation Methodology:

The evaluation methodology will be mixed (quantitative and qualitative research methods and analytical approaches) to account for complexity of gender relations and to ensure participatory and inclusive processes that are culturally appropriate. A theory of change approach will be followed, and the consultant is expected to reconstruct, validate, and identify the gaps in the project’s theory of change. The reconstructed theory of change should elaborate on following how JAWE project has contributed to creating an enabling legislative, policy, institutional and economically enabling environment in line with internationally binding standards on women’s economic empowerment in Georgia. Assumptions should be tested and 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. By reconstructing the Theory of Change the evaluator is also expected to identify challenges and gaps in the implementation of the project for future improvement.  Hence an eventual next phase of the project will benefit from a refined and tested Theory of Change.

Interviews and focus group discussions with all key stakeholders involved in the project implementation, including but not limited to JAWE project team, local NGO partners, government partners, beneficiaries, etc. shall also take place (On site data collection will be contingent to potential mobility restrictions. Alternatives will be explored by the Evaluation Team and UN Women during the inception phase of the evaluation.).

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.

A methodological framework will be fully developed by the evaluation team and presented in the Evaluation Inception Report, including an evaluation matrix that will consider and refine as needed the initial evaluation questions outlined below.

Evaluation Criteria and Questions:

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

Relevance:

  • How does the project design match with the complexity of national structures, systems, and decision-making processes?
  • How does the project reflect and align with gender equality national strategic plans and normative frameworks as well as Georgia’s international obligations and commitments including national plan to achieve SDGs?
  • To what extent is the project consistent with the national development strategies in the area of gender equality and women’s empowerment, reflect national and local priorities and commitments on GEWE/WEE and the UNDAF?
  • Is the project design based on equality analysis, including gender and human rights-based analysis, risk assessments, socio-cultural and political analysis?
  • To what extent has the project been catalytic in addressing some of the root causes of inequalities related to WEE?
  • Were the programmatic strategies appropriate to address the identified needs of beneficiaries including most vulnerable groups?

Coherence:

  • To what extent does the project fit within UN Women’s Strategic Plan and interrelated threefold mandate?
  • Are there any synergies and inter-linkages between the project and other interventions of UN Women?
  • To what extent the project is in complementarity, harmonisation and coordination with the interventions of other actors’ interventions in the same context?
  • To what extend the implementation of project ensures synergies and coordination with Government’s and key partners relevant efforts while avoiding duplications? 
  • To what extent are the interventions achieving synergies with the work of the UN Country Team?
  • What is UN Women’s current comparative advantage in this area of work compared with other UN entities and key partners in Georgia?

Effectiveness:

  • What has been the progress made towards achievement of the expected outcomes and expected results? What are the results achieved?
  • What are the reasons for the achievement or non-achievement of the project results? 
  • Does the project have effective monitoring mechanisms in place to measure progress towards results?
  •  What is the influence of the specific country context and circumstances on the achievement of results and operational effectiveness?
  • How adaptable and rapidly does the project react to changing situations?  
  • Has the 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?
  •  To what extent have capacities of relevant duty-bearers and rights-holders been strengthened?
  • What -if any- types of innovative good practices have been introduced in the project for the achievement of WEE results?

Efficiency:

  • Have resources (financial, human, technical support, etc.) been allocated strategically to achieve the project outcomes?
  • Are the interventions implemented within the intended timeframe and budget? Are there mechanisms in place to ensure this?
  • To what extent is the project’s implementation cost effective and providing value for money?
  • To what extent did the allocation of resources to targeted groups take into account the need to prioritize those most marginalized?
  • To what degree were adequate resources provided for integrating human rights and gender equality in the interventions?

Sustainability:

  • How effectively has the project been able to contribute to the generation of national ownership of the project outputs?
  • To what extend were relevant stakeholders and actors included in the project planning and implementation?
  • 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? 
  • To what extend has the project identified strategic partners that could pick up on supporting continued government and non-governmental action when the project comes to an end?
  • Do national/local institutions demonstrate leadership commitment and technical capacity to continue to replicate some project activities?
  • To what extend have the project’s exit strategy been well planned and successful?
  • To what extend has UN Women been able to promote replication of project successes?

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. Detailed evaluation matrix with revised and refined questions will be included in the evaluation Inception Report.

Evaluation processes in UN Women are divided in four main 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 (with the reservation that the international flights are available and situation in the host country regarding Covid-19 is stabilized);

3) Reporting, focusing on presentation of preliminary findings, developing draft and final reportsand any additional communication product;

4) Use and follow-up, which will entail the development of management response by UN Women team and follow-up to the implementation of the management response.

The consultant will be responsible only for Conduct and Reporting phases.

  • Conduct phase: at the beginning of the consultancy, the consultant will be provided with key sources of information for an initial desk review. The online inception meetings will be conducted with JAWE team. At the end of this phase an inception report that will include the refined evaluation methodology will be delivered. The inception report will be validated and approved by UN Women. Based on the inception phase, the consultant will carry out further in-depth desk review. Field missions will be conducted to complete data collection and triangulation of information with the reservation that the international flights are available and situation in the host country regarding Covid-19 is stabilized. Online or face-to-face interviews and focus group discussions with key stakeholders, as relevant, will take place.
  • Reporting phase: The collected information will be analyzed and final evaluation report will be delivered. A validation meeting will be organized where the consultant will validate the final report with UN Women and Evaluation Reference Group (ERG) and submit for approval by UN Women.

UN Women IEO has developed the GERAAS, which has adapted 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 will take into consideration that all the evaluation in UN Women are annually assessed against the UN-SWAP Evaluation Performance Indicator and its related scorecard. The evaluation will 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 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 group 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 the UN Women Evaluation Policy, 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.

Within six weeks upon completion of the evaluation, UN Women has the responsibility to prepare a management response that addresses the findings and recommendations to ensure future learning and inform implementation of relevant projects.

This is a consultative/participatory final project evaluation with a strong learning component. The management of the evaluation will ensure that key stakeholders are consulted.

Duties and Responsibilities

The national consultant/gender and WEE expert will work under the direct supervision of the International Consultant / Evaluator (team leader for the assignment) and will benefit from technical and operational support of UN Women Country Office in Georgia. Her or his profile is expected to complement the profile of the International Consultant and is expected to have deep knowledge of national, development and gender context in Georgia. In more specific terms, the national consultant will be providing support to the international consultant in the process of the project evaluation in Georgia and will be responsible for the following tasks:

  • To collect and review all relevant materials, such as reports, assessments, studies and draft laws, etc.
  • Provide in depth analysis and key inputs on national, development and gender situation in the country;
  • Review of all key Georgian documents, as needed and relevant information to be systematized in English to make it accessible to the team leader;
  • To support in arrangement of meetings, focus group discussions, interviews with key beneficiaries and stakeholders of the project together and in consultation with UN Women with the reservation that the situation regarding Covid-19 is stabilized in Georgia and taking into account relevant recommendations/rules established by the Government of Georgia.
  • To participate in all the meetings, focus group discussions and interviews, provide interpretation as needed, take notes and prepare minutes in English with the reservation that situation regarding Covid-19 is stabilized in Georgia and taking into account relevant recommendations/rules established by the Government of Georgia;
  • To provide relevant inputs for the presentation and completion of the different deliverables;
  • To be available if further clarification is needed by the international consultant during the drafting and finalization process of the evaluation and provide inputs to the evaluation report as needed;
  • To prepare a brief narrative report on fulfillment of all the tasks assigned by this ToR.

Deliverables:

  • Desk review of all relevant materials such as reports, assessments, studies, draft laws, etc. completed – 22 August 2020 (5 working days);
  • Review of all key Georgian documents, as needed and relevant information to be systematized in English to make it accessible to the team leader – 15 August 2020 (5 working days);
  • Meetings, interviews and focus group discussions in consultations with the international consultant arranged – 01 September 2020 (2 working day);
  • Support provided in data collection, including interpretation provided in the meetings, interviews and focus group discussions, and relevant minutes prepared – 28 September 2020 (10 working days);
  • Follow up on pending interviews and additional data collection in the country after field mission (3 working days);
  • Support the team leader while undertaking the analysis the evidence (2 working days);
  • Inputs and clarifications provided to the evaluation report prepared by the international consultant – 30 November 2020 (3 working days);

The timeframe for the work of the national consultant / gender and WEE expert is planned for 10 August 2020 – 30 November 2020 for a total of 30 working days.

Competencies

Core Values:

  • Respect for Diversity
  • Integrity
  • Professionalism

Core Competencies:

  • Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
  • Accountability
  • Creative Problem Solving
  • Effective Communication
  • Inclusive Collaboration
  • Stakeholder Engagement
  • Leading by Example

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf?la=en&vs=637

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • At least a master’s degree in sociology, international development, gender studies or related area.

Experience:

  • At least two years in conducting/supporting evaluations of strategies, policies and projects;
  • Excellent knowledge of Georgia national, development and gender context and at least 7 years of experience in gender equality and/or women’s empowerment issues and in particular on Women Economic Empowerment;
  • Excellent writing and reporting skills with ability to prepare minutes and document key findings of the meetings/consultations/interviews.

Language:

  • Proficiency in English and Georgian (Knowledge of Russian will be an asset).

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:

  1. At least a master’s degree in sociology, international development, gender studies or related area;
  2. At least two years of experience in gender equality, and/or women’s empowerment issues;
  3. Proficiency in English and Georgian.

Technical evaluation criteria (including minimum qualifications):

  1. At least a master’s degree in sociology, international development, gender studies or related area (max 70 points)
  2. At least two years in conducting/supporting evaluation of strategies, policies and projects (max 70 points)
  3. At least 7 years of experience in gender equality, and/or women’s empowerment issues (max 100 points)
  4. Excellent writing and reporting skills with ability to prepare minutes and document key findings of the meeting/consultations/interviews (max 80 points)
  5. Proficiency 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 national consultant will work under the direct supervision of the International Consultant and JAWE Programme Analyst and will benefit from technical and operational support of UN Women Georgia office.

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 (10 working days) – 30%
  • Deliverables 2,3,4,5 (20 working days) – 70%.

Application Submission Package:

Application submission package shall include:

*The applicants are required to submit an aggregated financial offer: “aggregated financial offer” is the total sum of all financial claims of the candidate for accomplishment of all tasks spelled out in this ToR. Travel costs (ticket, DSA etc.)  should not be included and will be paid for separately by UN Women.

How to Submit the Application:

  • Download and complete the UN Women Personal History Form (P11)- https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-p11-personal-history-form.doc?la=en&vs=558
  • Merge your UN Women Personal History Form (P11), CV, the Financial Proposal, and a sample of previously conducted / most relevant evaluation report; into a single file. The system does not allow for more than one attachment to be uploaded.
  • Click on the Job Title (job vacancy announcement).
  • Click 'Apply Now' button, fill in necessary information on the first page, and then click 'Submit Application;'
  • Upload your application/single file as indicated above with the merged documents (underlined above).
  • You will receive an automatic response to your email confirming receipt of your application by the system.

Notes:

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

TOR Annexes

  1. UNEG Code of Conduct for Evaluations - http://www.unevaluation.org/document/detail/100
  2. UNEG Ethical Guidelines - http://www.unevaluation.org/document/detail/102
  3. UNEG Norms for Evaluation in the UN System - http://www.uneval.org/document/detail/21
  4. UNEG Standards for Evaluation in the UN System - http://www.uneval.org/document/detail/22
  5. UNEG Guidance Integrating Human Rights and Gender in the UN System - http://www.uneval.org/document/detail/1616
  6. UN Women Evaluation Handbook - http://genderevaluation.unwomen.org/en/evaluation-handbook
  7. UN SWAP Evaluation Performance Indicator and related Scorecard - http://www.uneval.org/document/detail/1452
  8. Evaluation Consultants Agreement Form
UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.
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