Location :
Cairo, EGYPT
Application Deadline :
06-Nov-13
Type of Contract :
Individual Contract
Post Level :
National Consultant
Languages Required :
Arabic English
Background
In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. In doing so, UN Member States took an historic step in accelerating the Organization's goals on gender equality and the empowerment of women.
The UN Women Egypt Country Office is based in Cairo, and works in the following priority areas:
- Leadership and Political Participation;
- Economic Empowerment;
- Ending Violence Against Women;
- Governance and National Planning.
Purpose:
The purpose of this Terms of Reference is to recruit an independent consultant to undertake an Evaluability Assessment of Goal 1 'Increase Egyptian women leadership and participation in the public sphere during the democratic transition', and in particular of the Women Political Empowerment Programme of UN Women Egypt Country.
The Evaluability Assessment should provide recommendations on how the programme could be improved to make it ready for an evaluation and, how programme effectiveness could be improved, as well as the quality of future evaluations. The Evaluability Assessment will look at possible shortcomings in the following areas: progamme design; availability of relevant information; and conduciveness of the context.
In particular, the overall objectives of the Evaluability Assessment are the following:
- Systematically assess whether the activities conducted under Goal 1 of UN Women CO Annual Work Plan and under the Women Political Empowerment programme are ready for a meaningful mid-term evaluation in 2014 and a final evaluation in 2016;
- Provide recommendations on what types of evaluation would be most useful;
- Provide a series of forward-looking recommendations for improving programme/project design and management structure, as well as UN Women Egypt CO approaches, in order to inform decisions concerning the future of the programme.
Use of the evaluability assessment:
The Evaluability Assessment's primary user will be the UN Women Egypt Country Office and the UN Women Arab States Regional Office, which based upon the results will take actions to improve the programme and design the mid-term evaluation of the Women Political Empowerment programme. The evaluation is also expected to strengthen the knowledge base and good practices in this area and through this help improving the design and implementation of initiatives.
Context of the intervention (programme/project)
The 25th of January revolution opened up new pathways for men and women in Egypt to voice their demands and needs in the state's structures and decision-making processes. The transitional period offers significant opportunities to promote women's participation in politics and to sustain their influence on a process that is inclusive and responsive to the needs and priorities of Egyptian women and girls.
In the on-going political transitional period, women's efforts to fully engage face specific challenges. They have been largely excluded from leadership positions in the decision making transitional bodies. Currently, there is only one female Minister in the Egyptian Cabinet and the women's quota that was granted under the ousted regime has been abolished in the new interim constitution and parliamentary laws. The political climate in the transition period is not proving conducive to women's equitable participation. This calls for concerted efforts from the grassroots to the policy level to ensure that women do not lose previous gains. It is important to note that prior to the revolution, women's political participation representation was also low and dropped to 2 per cent in 2005. The percentage of elected and appointed women decreased from 4 per cent in 1987/90 to 2 per cent in 2005/2010. In the Shura Council, women representation increased from 6 per cent in 2000 to 8 per cent in 2007 because of the additional appointments of women by the President of the Republic. In 2003, the first woman was appointed as judge to the Supreme Constitutional Court, a precedent which paved the way for the appointment of 30 other Egyptian women judges to date. Women as lawyers are well represented, constituting about one sixth of all graduates from law faculties. However, a drawback occurred in March 2010 when the Supreme Council for the Judicial General Assembly reaffirmed the ban on appointing women to judiciary positions in the State Council.
From the local to the global level, women's leadership and political participation are compromised. Women are underrepresented as voters, as well as in leading positions, whether in elected offices, civil services, the private sector or academia. This occurs despite their proven abilities as leaders and agents of change, and their right to participate equally in democratic governance. Women face two kinds of obstacles to participating in political life. Structural barriers through discriminatory laws and institutions still limit women's options to vote or run for office. Capacity gaps mean women are less likely than men to have the education, contacts and resources needed to become effective leaders.
UN Women's programmes on leadership and participation are guided by a history of international commitments to women's representation. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women upholds women's right to participate in public life, while the Beijing Platform for Action calls for removing barriers to equal participation. The Millennium Development Goals measure progress towards gender equality in part by the proportion of women in parliamentary seats. upholds women's right to participate in public life, while the calls for removing barriers to equal participation. The measure progress towards gender equality in part by the proportion of women in parliamentary seats.
Description of the intervention (programme/project)
Within the context of the transition period, UN Women Egypt under the framework of the Women Political Empowerment programme is focusing on developing the capacities of women to engage in politics as informed voters and capable candidates. UN Women Egypt is supporting the transitional government and advocating for a gender-responsive Constitution and developing the capacities of national and local authorities, civil society and religious entities. UN Women Egypt is facilitating consultations between the transitional bodies and women's rights advocates in order to create a more participatory culture both as part of its coordination role within the UNCT and as a catalyst among stakeholders. One component of UN Women's work in this area is to enhance service delivery for women in the social protection sector in the identification card registration 'Citizenship Initiative', a programme that focuses on the issuance of Identity Cards for women so that they can vote in the upcoming elections and access broader social services.
Women's Political Empowerment programme's Theory of Change
UN Women Egypt's Theory of Change will be based on the global theory of change that is premised on 3 focus areas (a) aligning laws and policies to create a conducive environment for the empowerment of Women and human rights; (b) strengthening institutions and organizations in work processes, resources, and capacities to fulfill obligations to the international treaties, as well as other global, regional and national normative agreements; and (c) supporting community- level initiatives that demonstrate how changes in practices and attitudes can be achieved to permit the implementation of commitments to gender equality and Women's empowerment. UN Women Egypt is concerned with promoting Women's empowerment and gender equality, mainly through increasing the political participation of women and to strengthen the representation of women's interests through capacity building of government bodies, women candidates, and political parties. The program aims to promote a gender equality agenda in constitutional frameworks through technical assistance to national bodies, capacity building of civil society, and establishment of structured and regular consultations between transitional bodies and women's rights advocates and groups. The approach recognizes the mutual dependencies and complementarities of development and Women's social, political and economic rights. This program is built on the theory that women's political participation is a key component for maintaining democracies worldwide, and also for countries that are moving toward democracy. Where women are giving resources, means and space to participate effectively to the democratic transition, a sound democratic system is probably more likely to be achieved in the interests of all the society. Conditions for promoting democracy may not be all that comfortable, but women are finding that they can become a force for democratic change when they have an active role and voice in the political sphere. This program will work through targeted interventions that are practical and replicable to ensure that women's political participation is ensured and achieved. This can be accomplished by using a comprehensive and strategic approach based on a Communications & Public Awareness Strategy; Empowerment Measures for Women (IDs, trainings, and Public Service announcement (PSA), electoral manual etc.); Capacity Development Measures for Civil Society Organizations (CSOs). There has been substantial work done with national and regional partners in UN Women's areas of concern, which led to the development of a strong base of expertise and strategic partnerships that work toward achieving common goals and objectives. The vision provides a set of strategies around which UN Women can frame its support in the coming years of the transitional phase to be able to assist the GOE, as well as civil society. These strategies include outreach and awareness and communications; policy development , advocacy and capacity development for institutional strengthening; training and technical support, support for an enabling environment for women's leadership; rising demand for accountability for women's rights, accelerating Pace of Change, and changing social and traditional expectations. On the other hand, developing a Theory of Change provides the program with a tool for monitoring the proposed actions and increasing accountability of UN Women to its partners and stakeholders involved in the process.
The outcomes of Goal 1 of UN Women Annual Work Plan 2012-2013 are aligned with UN Women's Thematic Area 'Leadership and Participation'.
The overall objective of Goal 1 is: 'Egyptian Women's increased leadership and participation in the public sphere during the democratic transition'
- Outcome 1: A women's rights and gender responsive agenda is reflected in constitutional, legal and institutional frameworks;
- Outcome 2: Gender Responsive Bodies (election management bodies and security sector institutions) promote women's participation in electoral processes both as candidates and as voters);
- Outcome 3: Gender Equality Advocates and their organisations effectively influence political parties, service delivery organisations, media organisations and local governments to promote gender equality in leadership and participation.
Duties and Responsibilities
The Evaluation Consultant will be responsible for managing the evaluability assessment process as a whole, to ensure deliverables and the timely application of the work- plan. The evaluation consultant is responsible for managing risks that may occur during the assessment process. Examples are risks related to data availability, utilization of assessment results etc. The Evaluation Consultant will be working in close collaboration and will be reporting to the UN Women Reference Group in Egypt Country Office .
The UN Women Reference Group has decision-making responsibility during the different stages of the assessment and is the ultimate owner and user of the evaluation. Key responsibilities are: determine the key objectives and scope of the evaluation (input to TOR); review deliverables such as inception report, draft and final report; decide who in UN Women Egypt Country Office will use the assessment findings and how; respond to the assessment by preparing a management response and use the findings as appropriate; safeguard the independence of the assessment; and allocate adequate funding and human resources for the evaluation. The Reference Group comprises the UN Women Deputy-Regional Director/OIC Country Programme Coordinator, the UN Women Egypt CO Programme Manager, the UN Women Regional Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, and UN Women CO Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, UN Women Governance Associate and UN Women Research and Information Associate.
The Evaluation Consultant will be conducting the assessment and will be contracted through UN Women Egypt Country Office, while maintaining permanent communication exchange with the Evaluation Task Manager.
UN Women staff at Country Office level will be providing administrative and logistical support to the assessment process such as arrangement of meetings with stakeholders, travel arrangements etc.
The evaluator's independence is clearly outlined by the ethical conduct of the UNEG Standards and Norms, as well as in the UN Women Evaluation Policy. The Evaluation Consultant is to act according to the agreed and signed Terms of Reference and to proceed according to all stated agreements. The Evaluation Consultant cannot change any substantive or administrative matter without written consent by UN Women.
Competencies
- Knowledge of UN Women's mandate and priorities
- Facilitation skills and ability to manage diversity ?of views in different cultural contexts;
- Familiarity with the UNEG standards and norms for evaluations;
- Ability to produce well written reports demonstrating analytical ability and communication skill;
- Ability to work with the organization commissioning the evaluation and with other evaluation ?stakeholders to ensure that a high quality product is delivered on a timely basis;
- Ability to manage and supervise evaluability assessments and ensure timely submission of reports;
- Knowledge of issues concerning governance, women's rights and gender equality.
Required Skills and Experience
Education:- At least a master's degree, PhD preferred, in any social science, preferably including gender, evaluation and social research.
Experience:
- 10 years of working experience in evaluation, at least 5 evaluations of development programmes and knowledge of evaluation of funding mechanisms;
- 5 years of experience and background on human rights based approach to programming and gender equality rights and more specific on issues related to women's political participation and rights-based development, including familiarity with human rights standards and agreements such as CEDAW, among others;
- Experience in working with multi-stakeholders and the UN is essential;
- Experience in working with governments, NGOs, and the UN/ multilateral/bilateral institutions and donor entities is an asset;
- Experience in participatory approach is an asset;
- Experience in evaluation of large programmes;
- Experience in capacity development essential.
Language:
- Fluency in English and Arabic (reading, writing, speaking).
Evaluation:
The Evaluation Consultant will be responsible for coordinating the assessment as a whole, the work-plan, delivery of the expected assessment outputs outlined above. Upon presenting a proposal the Evaluation Consultant should also provide examples of two recent evaluations in relevant fields where she/he contributed significantly as the lead writer.
Evaluation Criteria
The offer will be evaluated by using the Best Value for money approach (combined scoring method). The Technical Proposal will be evaluated at 70%. Whereas the Financial Proposal will be evaluated at 30%.
The breakdown of the technical criteria will be evaluated as follows:
- Criteria: At least ten years of relevant experience in evaluations and development programmes (Weight: 40%. Maximum obtainable Points: 40);
- Criteria: Knowledge of gender issues and women rights in Egypt (Weight: 40%. Maximum obtainable Points: 40);
- Criteria: Relevant education in social science, including gender, evaluation and social research (Weight 10%; maximum obtainable points 10)
- Criteria: Excellent written and spoken English and Arabic. (weight 10%; maximum obtainable points 10)
The overall total of 100 will re-weighted to 70% on completion of the evaluation.
Applications:
All interested candidates are required to submit the following documents to roas.procurement@unwomen.org :
- Personal CV;
- UN Women P11 form;
- Financial Proposal/offer requested in EGP (daily rate).
Application deadline: November 6th, 2013
Any applications submitted to a different email address, after the deadline or without the complete requested documents above will be disregarded.
Annexes:
- UNEG Code of Conduct for Evaluation in the UN System.
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.
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