JOB VACANCY AS CONSULTANT: EXPERTS FOR EVALUATING UNIFEM PROJECT/TEAM LEADER

Location : Belgrade, SERBIA
Application Deadline : 14-Apr-09
Type of Contract : SSA
Languages Required : English
Starting Date :
(date when the selected canditate is expected to start) 20-Apr-2009
Duration of Initial Contract : 30 Days

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Background

During a period of great political and economic transition in the Western Balkans, the United Nation’s Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) launched the project “Accountability for Protection of Women’s Human Rights” with the financial support of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). The project began in August 2006 and came to an end on 01 March 2009. The project had a sub-regional scope and activities were implemented in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo.

The purpose of the project was twofold, on the one hand to strengthen the commitment, capacity and accountability of key government institutions to support gender equality (GE) and women’s human rights (WHR) through partnership with civil society, and on the other hand to enhance the capacity of gender equality advocates to use global frameworks, mechanisms and tools to advance a human rights agenda in the target countries. The project was implemented at the national/local level, as well as through sub-regional cooperation and knowledge exchange.

UNIFEM interventions under this project focused on two areas/components: i) Gender Equality in Constitutional Reform and ii) Implementation of Women’s Economic Rights,including implementation of relevant ILO and EU standards and more specifically ensuring the rights of women in the process of privatization and prevent sexual harassment and mobbing at a work place.
Activities within the project were anchored in national-level legal frameworks and processes, including Poverty Reduction Strategies (PRS), and plans of action to advance gender equality, as well as recently adopted gender equality laws, and were guided by relevant international legal frameworks, namely, the Convention on the Elimination of All Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Beijing Platform of Action, the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) as well as international human rights treaties (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenants respectively on Civil and Political Rights and Social, Economic and Cultural Rights) and their jus cogens principles.


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[1] Under UN Security Council resolution 1244 without prejudice to its final status. It will be referred to neutrally as “Kosovo” throughout this ToR.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objectives of the Evaluation
The evaluation will be carried out between 20 April and 15 June and will be for a maximum of 30 working days. The purpose of this evaluation is to provide an independent in-depth assessment of the development results of the project "Accountability for Protection of Women’s Human Rights". The evaluation will specifically aim at the following:

* Based on analysis of the Project outcomes and outputs to evaluate the extent to which the stated project results as identified in the log-frame have/ have not been achieved (a special emphasis should be placed on measuring the achievements or non-achievements of the expected result in both components of the project);
* Consolidate lessons learnt and make recommendations to guide future programming for UNIFEM, focusing mainly on the results from the economic component of the Project;
* Review the efficiency of the project management and provide recommendations for the management of future programs.

Scope of the evaluation:
The evaluation will address the following questions:

1) Program Results, Relevance and Sustainability

* Achieving program results: To what extent has the program achieved its expected results and how (ie. outputs and contribution to outcomes)? What factors account for these results? Were there any unanticipated results? What was not achieved and why?
* Assessing program relevance: To what degree have changes in the political context merited a change in project outcomes? At what point in time during the implementation of the project should changes to project outcomes have been made?
* Strengths and weaknesses: What programmatic strengths and weaknesses emerge from the aforementioned analysis of the project?
* Sustainability: What evidence exists about the sustainability of the interventions and other initiatives supported by the program and the results that have been achieved? What measures have been put in place? What are the key challenges? Was the project strategy effective in terms of achieving the expected results?
* Future programming: Where could UNIFEM provide a meaningful contribution to support further the area of women’s economic security and rights?

2) Program Management

* How effective was the management of the program overall?
* How effective was program monitoring at different levels (the project team, UNIFEM sub-regional office and UNIFEM headquarters)?
* To what extent was monitoring undertaken and used to improve program design and implementation?

3) Lessons learned and Recommendations

* What lessons can be drawn from the goals, implementation and achievements of the program that could be of value to UNIFEM's further programming in this field, and to its donors and implementing partners?

Evaluation Methodology
The evaluation should focus on the coherence, relevance and achievements of the project as a whole while taking into consideration uneven progress of the two different components of the project. The evaluator will be selected based on a proposed methodology for the evaluation. The methodology will then be finalized in details at the beginning of the contract based on feedback by UNIFEM. The evaluation will ensure that key stakeholders will be consulted and it will be results-oriented and provide evidence of achievement of expected outputs and outcomes through the use of quantitative and qualitative data. The evaluation will involve the following:

* Desk review of all relevant documents of the program, e.g., those relating specifically to the program context at the regional and country levels, the program document, log-frame, implementation plans, monitoring reports, assessment and learning mission reports, donor reports, expenditure reports etc. This will be done prior to any field visit, focus group discussion, or individual interviews.
* Interviews and/or group discussions with stakeholders and partners - Selected 'face to face' individual interviews and phone interviews.
* Field visits (Serbia, Kosovo [under UN SCR 1244], Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Working in coordination with UNIFEM´s Gender Adviser/Project Manager in Belgrade and under overall supervision of the Regional Program Director in Bratislava, the Evaluation Team Leader will be responsible for the following:

Key responsibilities of a Team Leader

* Clarify the evaluation ToR with the Gender Adviser/ Project manager and review the key Project document
* Conduct analysis of the key Project documents and desk review of other relevant documents
* Identifying key informants/resource persons, conduct focus group meetings, face-to-face interviews and phone interviews;
* Coordinate and manage the work of national consultants;
* Present preliminary evaluation results to UNIFEM project team and key partners and stakeholders and collect their feedback in order to finalize the report;

Products/ deliverables:

* A detailed evaluation work plan, including detailed results based work plans for the national consultants with clear time lines and related deliverables;
* The evaluation methodology including questions listed herein;
* The final evaluation report and performance monitoring framework, taking into account feedback given by UNIFEM, partners and stakeholders on the draft within 7 days, and submit it to the Gender Adviser/ Project Manager (In case of serious discrepancies between the consultant’s findings/ conclusions and those of the commentators, these should be included and explained in an annex attached to the final report).
The final evaluation report shall be written in English (maximum 35 pages) with an Executive Summary of maximum 1 page.

The Final Report should be written fully in line with UNIFEM and UNEG quality criteria and standards. The structure of the Final Report should include as minimum follows:

* Executive Summary;
* Project description;
* Evaluation purpose;
* Evaluation methodology;
* Analysis and Findings;
* Lessons learnt;
* Recommendations;
* Annexes (including interview list, data collection instruments, key documents consulted, ToR).

Competencies

Evaluation will be conducted by a team composed of an international consultant as Evaluation Team Leader and three national consultants (the later being based in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro). The Evaluation Team Leader should have proven expertise and track record in evaluating developmental projects and qualifications around the specific thematic issues under evaluation. UNIFEM is looking for applicants with the following qualifications:

* Thorough understanding of gender, human rights and development, especially their legal aspects;
* Knowledge and experience around the thematic areas under review (gender equality mechanisms, legal frameworks and labor issues);
* Experience in leading an evaluation and managing an evaluation team;
* Demonstrated ability and excellent communication skills to facilitate group discussions;
* Demonstrated ability to produce high quality evaluation reports, including recommendations for future work of the funding organization/donor
* Experience and understanding of the regional and sub regional context; knowledge of local language an asset.

Required Skills and Experience

* The team leader is expected to have proven experience in the evaluation of developmental projects for at least 7 years.
* The evaluation team members are expected to have an experience in evaluation for at least 3 years.
* Prospective candidates may be asked to provide examples of recently completed evaluation reports.