Evaluation Expert Consultant- UN Women Rwanda Country Office Strategic Note 2019-2024 at UN Women: (Deadline 20 June 2023)

The Rwanda Country Office strategic note is the main planning tool for UN Women’s support to normative, coordination and operational work in Rwanda. This evaluation will consider the Strategic Note covering the period January 2019 – December 2024 as a precursor action to the development of a new Strategic Note which will start in February 2024.

The Strategic Note is linked to the UN Women Global Strategic Plan and country-level United Nations Development Assistance Framework 2019-24. The Rwanda Country Office Strategic Note supports and contributes towards the following UN Women 2022-25 Strategic Plan Impact and Systemic outcomes:

The strategic note is aligned to Rwanda’s national development plans, including the National Strategy for Transformation 2017-2024, the 2030 UN Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the African Union Agenda 2063, and the East African Community (EAC) Vision 2050.

The Strategic Note is grounded in the standards, principles and obligations of the Convention to Eliminate all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, Concluding Observations of the Commission on the Status of Women, Sustainable Development Goals, and the AU Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa, among others.

Description of country portfolio:

The Strategic Note (2019-2023) includes a Development Results Framework (DRF) and an Organizational Effectiveness and Efficiency Framework (OEEF), both with performance indicators. The evaluation is expected to use these to assess organizational performance.

The original total planned budget of the Strategic Note was USD 15.5m, of which USD 1.9m was budgeted from core, $3.0m from Institutional Budget and USD 10.6m from non-core. As of the end of 2022, non-core resources to be mobilized for 2023 was close to USD 0.6m. The Country Office is based in Kigali, with 22 personnel, as of January 2023.

The work of UN Women responds to its three core mandates (normative, coordination and operational/programming). UN Women is a member of the UN Country Team, supporting gender mainstreaming across thematic groups. The main interventions undertaken under the Strategic Note are set out in Annex 1.

The overarching Theory of Change (ToC) of the Strategic Note states that if women and girls participate and lead in decision-making processes; if women’s empowerment and gender equality commitments are translated into practice at national and local governance levels; and if women in urban and rural settings, including the most vulnerable ones, have equal access to and control over economic resources; then women and girls will be able to fully benefit from and contribute to political and economic opportunities; because women and girls will have decision making powers, gender specific needs will have been accounted for in all spheres of governance and barriers will have been removed for women to attain economic autonomy.

The main rights holders’ and duty bearers’ capacities that the Strategic Note is attempting to develop are:

• Duty bearers: Government stakeholders across different ministries, including the National Gender Machinery.

·         Right holders: Urban/peri-poor women, women leaders and gender advocates, civil society, religious and cultural leaders, and youth.

The country office extended the duration of the original strategic note for an additional one year to end in 2024 in order to ensure that it aligns with the UNSDCF Rwanda time frame following a decision made by the UNCT to extend the Cooperation Framework’s life to 2024.

The Country Office has identified the following key lessons learned;

• Importance of collaboration: There is need to deepen and leverage strategic partnerships, and broaden partnerships, by working systematically with non-government institutions including civil society, private sector, religious leaders, men and boys, the media and international NGOs. Need to better leverage UN Women’s coordination mandate.
• Programmatic focus: Need to deepen the impact of programmes interventions by focusing on a few but potentially transformative priorities such as women’s economic empowerment and social norms that have the tendency to be overlooked in part because of the positive narrative on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Rwanda. Additionally, holistic support packages (including livelihood support, capacity building, knowledge enhancement and access to services) developed and implemented with partners have proved to be impactful.

Purpose, objectives and use of the evaluation:

The UN Women Evaluation Policy and the UN Women Evaluation Strategic Plan 2022-25 are the main guiding documents that set forth the principles and organizational framework for evaluation planning, conduct and follow-up in UN Women. These principles are aligned with the United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG) Norms and Standards for Evaluation in the UN System and Ethical Guidelines.

The CPE has seven objectives:

1. Assess the relevance of UN Women contribution to the intervention at national levels and alignment with international agreements and conventions on gender equality and women’s empowerment;
2. Assess effectiveness, organizational efficiency and coherence in progressing towards the achievement of gender equality and women’s empowerment results as defined in the Strategic Note;
3. Enable the UN Women Country Office to improve its strategic positioning to better support the achievement of sustained gender equality and women’s empowerment;
4. Analyse how human rights approach and gender equality principles are integrated in the design and implementation of the Strategic Note;
5. Identify and validate lessons learned, good practices and examples of innovation that can be scaled up and replicated to support gender equality and human rights;
6. Provide insights into the extent to which the UN Women has realized synergies between its three mandates (normative, UN system coordination and operations);
7. Provide actionable recommendations with respect to the development of the next Strategic Note.

The Country Portfolio Evaluation (CPE) is a systematic assessment to validate the contributions made by UN Women Country Office’s portfolio of interventions to development results with respect to Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment at the country level. It also assesses the Country Office’s organisational effectiveness and efficiency in delivering the planned results. It uses the Strategic Note (including the DRF and OEEF) as the main point of reference.

The intended uses and users of this evaluation are:

The evaluation will be utilization-focused, tailored to the needs of the organization through a participatory approach from the inception through to the development of recommendations.

1. Scoping and design the evaluation, including drafting of the Inception Report and data collection instruments;
2. Implementation of the evaluation and data collection, including participation in document review, virtual/in situ field visits, survey design and implementation;
3. Data analysis to develop preliminary findings and drafting of final report;
4. Drafting final 2-page brief outlining the evaluation process, conclusions, and recommendations;
5. Communication with evaluation stakeholders, including attending exit briefs, validation meetings etc.

Key Deliverables and Timeframe:

Evaluation design (process and methods):

Evaluation Standards and principles, including gender and human-rights based approach:

The evaluation will adhere to the the UNEG Norms and Standards (2016), the UNEG Ethical Guidelines (2020) and UN Women Evaluation Policy and Handbook, observing the  principles of integrity, accountability, respect and beneficence.

The evaluation will be gender-responsive meaning that both the process and analysis apply the key principles of a human rights-based approach. It will analyze the underlying structural barriers and socio-cultural norms that impede the realization of women’s rights. The evaluation design will apply Good practices in gender-responsive evaluations  and a suitable approach to assess the type, effectiveness and the quality of gender-transformative results achieved.

Data collection and analysis:

The evaluation will employ a non-experimental, theory-based approach. The performance of the country portfolio will be assessed using contribution analysis, using the theory of change set out in the Strategic Note 2019-2024 as a basis. The evaluation will apply a mixed-method using qualitative and quantitative methods. The method will draw on data sources including documents, field information, institutional information systems, financial records, beneficiaries, staff, funders, experts, government officials, community groups etc. The evaluation will employ the following data collection methods:

• Document analyses undertaken primarily during the inception phase will inform the evaluation approach:
• Evaluability assessment to identify gaps in secondary data which will be used to determine the evaluation approach, including an assessment of the Theory of Change, the conduciveness of the context to undertaking the evaluation, the management structure at the Country Office and the quality and completeness of the Development Results Framework and Operational Efficiency and Effectiveness Framework.
• Contextual analysis of the key external influencing factors affecting realization of women’s rights in the country.
• Portfolio analysis of UN Women Strategic Note & Project Documents, synthesizing secondary results data for the Development Results Framework and the Organizational Effectiveness and Efficiency Framework of the Country Office.
• UN Women financial analysis of the budget, expenditure and trends in type of expenditures.

1. Interviews and Focus Group Discussions with key informants identified through the stakeholder analysis (across all stakeholder groups);
2. Surveys of UN Women personnel and UNCT partners, including Civil Society Organisations and government stakeholders (should the context allow).

Data collection methods should be gender-responsive. Cultural aspects that could impact the collection of data should be analysed and integrated into data collection methods and tools. Evaluators are expected to include adequate time for testing data collection tools. Data should be systematically disaggregated by sex and age and, to the extent possible, by geographical region, disability and migratory status. Specific guidelines should be observed. Data should be triangulated to ensure valid findings.

Sampling approach:

The evaluation is expected to apply a purposive sampling approach to take into account a diverse range of perspectives. The main interventions undertaken by the Country Office have been mapped into a sample frame for evaluation. In addition, up to two Case studies could be selected for an in-depth assessment of contributions to outcomes. This will be updated in consultation with the Evaluation Reference Group at the inception stage.

Management of the evaluation:

The CPE as a strategic function of the Country Office, will be under the overall strategic supervision of the Country Representative. This evaluation will have the following management structures:

Team Leader: The Regional Evaluation Specialist (RES) of IEAS will serve as the team leader supported by the Gender Statistics Technical Advisor as well as the Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Specialist (PMER) from the CO. The RES with support from the CO focal team is responsible for managing the coordination and day-to-day management of the CPE, leading the methodological approach, collection of data, analysis and report writing. As team leader, the RES will also be responsible for overseeing the work of the evaluation team members, managing the contracts and assuring quality of the work.

Evaluation team: Evaluation team members will include an evaluation expert to support the Team leader in designing and conducting the CPE and a national expert to provide key contextual information and support data collection in country.

Evaluation Reference Group (ERG):  The ERG plays a critical role in ensuring a high quality, transparent process, providing insights on the key questions and approach, providing context and ensuring factual accuracy, ensuring gaps and misinterpretation of information is avoided. Two ERGs will be constituted:

1. The internal ERG will include the Country Representative, UN Women program leads and Country Office Evaluation focal persons.
2. The external ERG will include National government partners, Civil Society representatives, Development partners/donors and the, UNCT representatives to provide the stakeholder perspective.

Disemmination and uptake:

During the inception phase, the country M&E focal point will work with the evaluation team to develop a dissemination plan. The plan will identify approaches to support dissemination and uptake for the target primary and secondary users of the evaluation, along with how this will be tracked.  The evaluator will also be responsible for developing a short brief with key findings and recommendations that will be disseminated more widely.During the inception phase, the country M&E focal point will work with the evaluation team to develop a dissemination plan. The plan will identify approaches to support dissemination and uptake for the target primary and secondary users of the evaluation, along with how this will be tracked.  The evaluator will also be responsible for developing a short brief with key findings and recommendations that will be disseminated more widely.

Once the CPE report is signed off by IEAS management, the Country Representative leads the follow-up process to facilitate its use such as in the form of issuing a management response within 6 weeks of CPE report finalisation and other dialogue with the Country or regional management as deemed appropriate.

• 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/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf

• Master’s degree in gender/women studies, sociology, international development, or related field.

Experience:

1. At least 7 years practical experience in designing and conducting gender-responsive evaluations of development strategies, policies and programs;
2. Extensive knowledge of, and experience in applying, qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods;
3. Proven knowledge of the role of UN Women and its programming, coordination and normative roles at the regional and country level;
4. Country or regional experience in Rwanda will be considered a strong asset;
5. Any relevant Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment thematic expertise will be considered a strong asset.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in oral and written English;
• Kinyarwanda is considered an added advantage.

Note:

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Diversity and inclusion:

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.