National Consultant – Evaluation Assistant

Background

1. Background/Context

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.

In Türkiye, in line with its global and , and the overall UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework for Turkiye , UNWomen works towards the overarching goal of “Women and girls including those at greatest risk of being left behind fully exercise their human rights, enjoy a life free from violence and discrimination, and lead, influence and benefit for Turkiye”. UN Women works in four thematic areas: (i) governance and participation in public life; (ii) women’s economic empowerment; (iii) ending violence against women and girls; and (iv) women, peace and security, humanitarian action and disaster risk reduction. UN Women contributes to three UNSDCF outcomes: 1) Women and girls have improved and equal access to resources, opportunities, and rights, and enjoy a life without violence and discrimination; 2) By 2025, Persons under the Law on Foreigners and International Protection are supported towards self-reliance. 3) By 2025, governance systems are more transparent, accountable, inclusive and rights-based with the participation of civil society, and quality of judicial services is improved.

In line with its mandate, UN Women promotes gender-responsive budgeting (GRB) which is a well-recognized strategy and powerful tool to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment that enables governments to effectively reduce gender inequalities through policies, plans and budgets that address equally the specific needs and priorities of women and men, including the most excluded.  GRB improves the effectiveness of public spending and strengthens accountability by urging for the creation of transparent budgets. UN Women has spearheaded and supported GRB interventions in more than 80 countries and has recognized global, regional and country-level technical expertise in this area.

UN Women embarked on a 45-months project “Implementing Gender-Responsive Planning and Budgeting in Turkey” as of December 2020, funded by the European Union and the main beneficiary of which is the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Services (MoFLSS) – General Directorate on the Status of Women (GDSW) whereas the co-beneficiary is Presidency of Turkey – Presidency of Strategy and Budget (PSB). The project will be completed on September 2024. The project aims to increase financing for GEWE through strategic partnerships, providing tailored technical assistance and guidance, and building institutional capacity and knowledge. It consists of three components; awareness raising for national and local authorities, capacity building for national and local authorities, capacity building for gender advocates and women’s groups. The Project is designed to support selected line Ministries as well as four selected pilot municipalities (Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality, Eskisehir Metropolitan Municipality, Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality, Edirne Municipality). The project will benefit from international expertise and close linkages with UN Women’s Regional Programme “Transformative Financing for Gender Equality in the Western Balkans” as well as other relevant initiatives. Please see the project brief at  for the project output results and activities.

As indicated in Monitoring, Evaluation and Research Plan of the Strategic Note 2022-2025 of the UN Women Türkiye Country Office, a final evaluation will of the “Implementing Gender-Responsive Planning and Budgeting in Turkey” Project will be conducted. This final evaluation will serve to document the progress made towards planned outputs, outcomes and impact of the Project and to support the CO and national stakeholders’ strategic learning and decision-making on further interventions, mainly the second phase of the project.  The evaluation is expected to support enhanced accountability for development effectiveness and learning from experience to inform the future operations of the CO.

In this regard, UN Women CO will procure the services of a consultant team comprising an evaluation team leader and an evaluation assistant to conduct the final evaluation of the project.

The consultants will be reporting to Programme Specialist, and will be supported by Monitoring and Reporting Analyst, who will be the point of contact on the contract and payment issues. The Evaluation Assistant will work in close collaboration with the Evaluation Team Leader.

Duties and Responsibilities

2. Description of Responsibilities/ Scope of Work

2.1 Objective and Scope of the Evaluation

The final evaluation of the “Implementing Gender-Responsive Planning and Budgeting in Turkey” Project will be conducted in the final stage of its implementation and will cover the period from December 2020-September 2024.  The evaluation is scheduled between April and September 2024, as detailed in Terms of Reference. The evaluation includes a desk review of project documentation and relevant publications, primary data collection and drafting the final evaluation report with recommendations. Primary data collection i.e. conducting KIIs with project’s stakeholders, will be organized in person with the stakeholders in Ankara and in an online format with the stakeholders in pilot municipalities.

The evaluation shall cover all aspects of the project, and broadly allocate resources (time) in relation to the relative expenditure between the various components of the project.

The overall objective of the final evaluation is to assess the programmatic progress and performance of the above-described project considering the following evaluation criteria: relevance, effectiveness, impact, organizational efficiency, coherence, human rights and gender equality and sustainability. The evaluation will be based on the assessment of the progress made towards the achievement of the set outcomes and objectives, and analyze the results achieved and challenges encountered. The findings of the evaluation will guide future efforts and policies, improve practices, and ensure accountability to promote gender equality effectively in Türkiye.

2.2. Evaluation Methodology and Questions

The evaluation will be a transparent and participatory process involving relevant UN Women stakeholders and partners in Turkey. 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.

UN Women is among the UN-SWAP reporting UN entities.  The evaluation team must take into consideration that UN Women managed evaluations 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. 

A theory of change approach is suggested to be followed. This is to be explored further by the evaluators in the inception phase. If needed, a reconstructed theory of change should elaborate on the objectives and articulation of the assumptions that stakeholders use to explain the change process represented by the change framework that this project considered and has contributed to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment. Assumptions should 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.

The evaluation methodology will deploy mixed methods, including quantitative and qualitative data collection methods and analytical approaches to account for complexity of gender relations and to ensure participatory and inclusiveness processes that are culturally appropriate. Data collection methods may include but are not limited to:

• Desk review of relevant documents such as project and programme documents, progress reports, financial records, meeting minutes and monitoring reports, and secondary data or studies relating to the country context and situation
• Semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, surveys with UN Women Turkey office staff, direct and indirect beneficiaries, implementing partners, government partners, donor and other stakeholders.

Data from different research sources will be triangulated to increase its validity. The proposed approach and methodology have to 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 Group (ERG) and Evaluation Management Group (EMG) are 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.

The evaluation will address the OECD-DAC evaluation criteria of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability, and coherence. More specifically, the evaluation will address the following key criteria Tentative questions under each of the criterion could consider the following:

Relevance

• To what extent was the design of the project 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 project consistent with the national development strategies in the area of gender equality and women’s empowerment,
• To what extend is the project contributing to the implementation of UN Women’s Strategic Note and UNSDCF?
• To what extent is the project aligned with international agreements and conventions on gender equality and women’s empowerment in the context of women’s leadership?
• To what extent does the UN Women possess the comparative advantage in the programme’s area of work in comparison with other UN entities and key partners in Turkey?
• To what extent has the project been flexible to adapt to the changes in the political and economic context of the country?

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 extent the implementation of project ensures synergies and coordination with Government’s and key partners relevant efforts while avoiding duplications?

Effectiveness

• To what extent have the expected results of the programme been achieved on both outcome and output levels?
• What are the reasons for the achievement or non-achievement of the programme results? Has programme 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 strategies and approaches been in achieving programme results?
• How well did the intervention succeed in involving and building the capacities of duty-bearers, as well as the programme partners?
• Has the project had effective monitoring mechanisms in place to measure progress towards results?
• What -if any- types of innovative good practices have been introduced in the programme for the achievement of GEWE results

Impact

• What evidence exist that the programme has generated or is expected to generate intended higher-level effects?
• Are there any unintended results been generated or any indication of generating such unintended results?

Efficiency

• Have resources (financial, human, technical support, etc.) been allocated strategically to achieve the programme outcomes?
• To what extent does the management structure of the intervention support efficiency for programme implementation and achievement of results?
• Have the outputs been delivered in a timely manner?

Sustainability

• What is the likelihood that the benefits from the programme will be maintained for a reasonably long period of time after the programme phase out?
• To what extent the intervention succeeded in building individual and institutional capacities of duty-bearers
• To what extent has UN Women been able to establish relevant partnerships with key stakeholders in the programming, implementation, and policy advocacy processes?
• How effectively has the programme generated national and local ownership of the results achieved?
• To what extent has the programme been able to promote replication and/or up-scaling of successful practices?

Human Rights and Gender Equality

• To what extent has gender and human rights principles and strategies been integrated into the programme design and implementation?
• To what extent is the programme bringing about gender transformative changes that address the root causes of gender inequalities – including prevailing social norms, attitudes and behaviours, discrimination and social systems and including inequalities those experienced by groups in vulnerable situations?

Considering the mandates to incorporate human rights and gender equality in all its work and the UN Women Evaluation Policy, which promotes the integration of women’s rights and gender equality principles, these dimensions will have a special attention in 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 evaluation questions, 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 validated by EMG and approved in the evaluation inception report. As previously indicated the questions outlined above are indicative and the evaluation team is expected to develop a final set of evaluation questions during the evaluation’s inception phase.

2.3. Evaluation governance structure

A twofold evaluation governance structure for the evaluation will be established. An Evaluation Management Group (EMG) comprising of senior management of UN Women, Evaluation Task Manager and Programme manager will be established to oversee the evaluation process, make key decisions and quality assure the different deliverables. In addition, the evaluation will be quality assured by the UN Women Regional Evaluation Specialist for the ECA region, who is a member of the UN Women Independent Evaluation Service. Designated UN Women focal point who has not been 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 in enduring 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 guidance documents.

The establishment of an Evaluation Reference Group (ERG) will facilitate the 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: inception report, draft and final reports and will support UN Women with the dissemination of the results.

2.4. Phases of the 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 programme documents and monitoring frameworks, in-depth online interviews as necessary, staff and partner survey/s, and field visits. 

4) Analysis, validation 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 to evaluation recommendations within 6 weeks after the final approval of the evaluation report, publishing the evaluation report, uploading the final evaluation report on the UN Women GATE website and the dissemination of evaluation findings amongst key stakeholders.

The evaluation team will be responsible for phases 2, 3 and 4 with the support of UN Women while UN Women is entirely responsible for phases 1 and 5.

3. Deliverables

The evaluation team is responsible for the following deliverables:

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 desk review of background documentation and the inception meeting with EMG will be completed and the data extracted from these resources will be incorporated into the inception report.  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 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: The evaluation team is expected to review additional documents, conduct online interviews organise visit to programme sites, hold debriefing with EMG and ERG for preparing the 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: 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

The Evaluation Assistant is responsible will provide support to the Team Leader in all the aspects of conducting the evaluation.

The duties and responsibilities of Evaluation Team Assistant are as follows:

• Supporting inception phase by gathering and filing the documents and synthesizing relevant information as inputs to the inception report and evaluation reports.
• Assisting in the preparation of the data collection agenda and keeping the communication with the project stakeholders to be interviewed and meetings.
• Attending and supporting the preparation of all meetings and presentations;
• Supporting the analysis of the evidence at country level;
• Supporting the preparation of evaluation deliverables and communication products.

Deliverable	Expected completion time (due day)	Estimated number of working days (Evaluation Team Leader)	Payment Schedule
Inception Report	By 15 May 2024	5 days	June 2024
Data collection and presentation of preliminary findings	By 15 June 2024	18 days	Jule 2024
Draft Evaluation Report	By 30 July 2024	5 days	August 2024
Final Evaluation Report	By 15 August 2024	3 days	September 2024
Evaluation Communication Products	By 15 August 2024	3 days	September 2024

All deliverables shall be received and cleared by the UN Women. All reports shall be presented in English, in electronic version.

Note: The mentioned number of working days has been estimated as being sufficient/feasible for the envisaged volume of work to be completed successfully and is proposed as a guideline for the duration of assignment. It cannot and shall not be used as criteria for completion of work/assignment. The provision of envisaged deliverables approved by the UN Women in  shall be the only criteria for consultant’s work being completed and eligible for payment/s.

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

The assignment is Ankara, homebased. As part of the data collection phase of the assignment, the consultant is expected to be present in Ankara and conduct face-to-face interviews with the key informants from project beneficiary institutions and key stakeholders and also deliver presentations on the key evaluation findings. The data collection will also be including interviews with the project stakeholders in the four pilot municipalities however they will be conducted as online meetings. In case the consultant resides outside of Ankara, the consultant will cover all travel, transportation, accommodation, and any other kind of expenses related to the consultant’s stay in Ankara on his/her own, and there will be no reimbursement by UN Women for such expenses. If there will be any need to travel outside of Ankara as part of the assignment, UN Women Türkiye CO will organize the travel of the consultant and cover the expenses in line with the UN Women’s travel rules and policies.   

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:  

 

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES: 

• Possesses the ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines;
• Possesses the ability to work independently;
• Good knowledge of gender equality and women’s rights issues; women’s economic empowerment;
• Strong analytical skills;
• Strong project document, report writing skills;

Required Skills and Experience

Education and Certification:

• Advanced (Masters) degree in Political Science, Human Rights, Gender Studies, 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.

Experience:

• At least 2 years of professional experience in monitoring and/or evaluation of projects and programmes or in thematic evaluations;
• Sound experience and knowledge of gender equality, women’s empowerment and women’s human rights
• Experience in rights-based monitoring and gender sensitive data collection;
• Experience in liaising  / working with government institutions
• Working experience with UN agencies will be a strong asset.
• Demonstrated knowledge of gender responsive budgeting and planning or gender mainstreaming will be strong asset.

Languages:

• Fluency in written and spoken Turkish and English is required.

How to Apply 

• Personal CV or P11 (P11 can be downloaded from: )
• A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page)
• Managers may ask (ad hoc) for any other materials relevant to pre-assessing the relevance of their experience, such as reports, presentations, publications, campaigns, or other materials.