Evaluation Task Manager - ICGLR

Terms of Reference: Evaluation Task Manager for UN WOMEN ESARO Regional Office

1. Background and Purpose 

The purpose of this Terms of Reference is to recruit a consultant to undertake the task management of the following evaluation:

• Evaluation of UN Women work in Peace and Security including support to the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR)

The expected duration of this SSA contract is from mid July 2013 to the end of Oct 2013. During this time the consultant will work a total number of 40 working days spread across the above mentioned period. For reasons of geographical proximity the consultant will preferably be based in Kigali, Rwanda, with the possibility to be sent for follow-up mission(s) in other countries in Central Africa.

The consultant will support the evaluation preparation, evaluation implementation and use of evaluation findings as per the deliverables outlined below. UN WOMEN may request the consultant to support other monitoring and evaluation functions that facilitate the evaluation process. 

2. Evaluation approach 

The evaluation will follow the United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG) Norms and Standards and the principles outlined in the UN WOMEN Evaluation Policy, both available under http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/accountability/evaluation/. This implies inter alia that the evaluation must be guided by the principles and goals of women’s empowerment and gender equality and the goal of realizing progress on women’s human rights as enshrined in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). 

The evaluation will be intentional and utilization focused. It should follow a participatory and inclusive approach to ensure consensus building, ownership and use of evaluation findings and recommendations by stakeholders. It will be conducted in a transparent, independent, impartial and ethical manner. The design, preparation and conduct of the evaluation should ensure the highest possible quality of the evaluation and strive to make use of new and cutting edge mixed methods for evaluating women’s empowerment, gender equality and women’s human rights issues.

3. Activities and deliverables for the Evaluation Task Manager 

The Evaluation Task Manager will assume the day-to-day responsibility for coordinating and managing the evaluation, and serve as the central person to contact and coordinate all stakeholders involved in the evaluation process. (S)he will work on close coordination with the UN Women Regional Evaluation Specialist and the Regional M&E Officer based in Nairobi, Kenya. The tasks and deliverables will include: 

A. Preparation of the evaluation
• Establish the Evaluation Reference Group
• Compile existing information and documentation on UN Women support to ICGLR
• With input from the Evaluation Reference Group, gather input for and develop the TOR for the evaluation
• Support advertisement and recruitment process for the Evaluation Team. Note: The Evaluation Team will be formally recruited through the UN Women Regional Office in Nairobi
• Facilitate a fully consultative process with members of Reference Groups throughout the evaluation
• Prepare an evaluation budget with estimated costs for evaluations including breakdown of budget for fees, travel, communication etc.
• Supporting a transparent, competitive and fair selection process of the Evaluation Team

Deliverables: 
a) Evaluation Reference Group established
b) Comprehensive documentation compiled on UN Women support to ICGLR
c) Evaluation TOR developed with input from Reference Group; TOR advertized locally
d) Support to selection of Evaluation Team provided

B. Manage the conduct of the evaluation
• Ensure that the Evaluation Team understands the TOR, Norms, Standards and Ethics
• Share documentation on UN Women support to ICGLR with Evaluation Team
• Liaise with the Evaluation Team, and ensure timely delivery of documentation and information requested; organize meetings and interviews requested by the Evaluation Team with internal and external parties; and facilitate information flow between evaluation stakeholders
• Monitor the evaluation work-plan and ensure its timely completion, including time-line and deliverables of the Evaluation Team
• With support from UN WOMEN country level staff, facilitate the preparation and organization of the country site visits and scheduling of interviews including communications with respective UN WOMEN offices 
• With support from the UN Women Regional Office staff, review and technically assess the Evaluation Team’s inception report, draft and final evaluation products, including following up with the Evaluation Team to ensure that products reflect all requirements for a high quality evaluation
• Circulate the Evaluation Team’s products for review and compile comments and feedback from internal and external stakeholders
• The Evaluation Manager may be tasked to participate in country missions accompanying the Evaluation Team

Deliverables: 
a) Effective logistical and administrative support to the roll-out of the evaluation
b) Effective day to day management of the Evaluation Team including quality assurance
c) Evaluation Inception report reviewed from quality assurance perspective; feedback compiled 
d) Evaluation draft report reviewed from quality assurance perspective; feedback compiled

C. Support the use of evaluations findings
• (Evaluation budget permitting) Organization of a stakeholder workshop to discuss evaluation findings
• With input from the Evaluation Reference Group, develop a strategy for the dissemination and utilization of evaluation results

Deliverables: 
a) Evaluation stakeholder workshop carried out (pending confirmation on evaluation budget)
b) Evaluation dissemination strategy developed 

4. Evaluation Ethics and Code of Conduct 

To ensure the credibility and integrity of the evaluation process and following United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG) Ethical Guidelines (http://www.unevaluation.org/ethicalguidelines), the evaluation manager has a duty to: 
• Appoint trustworthy, competent and independent-minded evaluators with the appropriate mix of experience, expertise and competencies, and with an appropriate diversity in gender, ethnicity, religion and language
• Consult with evaluators and other interest groups if significant changes are required to the design or delivery of the evaluation
• Provide the evaluators with access to the documentation and data required for evaluation purposes 
• Communicate openly and have respect for people involved in the evaluation and keep the evaluation team informed of changes in circumstances affecting the evaluation
• Respect the evaluators’ duty to keep their sources of information anonymous
• Anticipate the different positions of various interest groups and minimize attempts to curtail the evaluation or bias or misapply the results
• Design the evaluation to encourage stakeholders to follow-through and maximize the use of the evaluation results
• Provide all evaluation team members with an opportunity to disassociate themselves from particular judgments and recommendations, with unresolved differences of opinion within the team acknowledged in the evaluation report. 

To ensure trust and confidence in the evaluation process, the Evaluation Task Manager in the UN as well as the evaluation team will be required to commit to the Code of Conduct for Evaluation (see http://www.unevaluation.org/papersandpubs/ ), specifically to the following obligations: 
• Independence: Evaluators shall ensure that independence of judgment is maintained and that evaluation findings and recommendations are independently presented. 
• Impartiality: Evaluators shall operate in an impartial and unbiased manner and give a balanced presentation of strengths and weaknesses of the policy, program, project or organizational unit being evaluated. 
• Conflict of Interest: Evaluators are required to disclose in writing any past experience, which may give rise to a potential conflict of interest, and to deal honestly in resolving any conflict of interest which may arise. 
• Honesty and Integrity: Evaluators shall show honesty and integrity in their own behavior, negotiating honestly the evaluation costs, tasks, limitations, scope of results likely to be obtained, while accurately presenting their procedures, data and findings and highlighting any limitations or uncertainties of interpretation within the evaluation. 
• Competence: Evaluators shall accurately represent their level of skills and knowledge and work only within the limits of their professional training and abilities in evaluation, declining assignments for which they do not have the skills and experience to complete successfully. 
• Accountability: Evaluators are accountable for the completion of the agreed evaluation deliverables within the timeframe and budget agreed, while operating in a cost effective manner. 
• Obligations to Participants: Evaluators shall respect and protect the rights and welfare of human subjects and communities, in accordance with the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other human rights conventions. Evaluators shall respect differences in culture, local customs, religious beliefs and practices, personal interaction, gender roles, disability, age and ethnicity, while using evaluation instruments appropriate to the cultural setting. Evaluators shall ensure prospective participants are treated as autonomous agents, free to choose whether to participate in the evaluation, while ensuring that the relatively powerless are represented. 
• Confidentiality: Evaluators shall respect people’s right to provide information in confidence and make participants aware of the scope and limits of confidentiality, while ensuring that sensitive information cannot be traced to its source. 
• Avoidance of Harm: Evaluators shall act to minimize risks and harms to, and burdens on, those participating in the evaluation, without compromising the integrity of the evaluation findings. 
• Accuracy, Completeness and Reliability: Evaluators have an obligation to ensure that evaluation reports and presentations are accurate, complete and reliable. Evaluators shall explicitly justify judgments, findings and conclusions and show their underlying rationale, so that stakeholders are in a position to assess them. 
• Transparency: Evaluators shall clearly communicate to stakeholders the purpose of the evaluation, the criteria applied and the intended use of findings. Evaluators shall ensure that stakeholders have a say in shaping the evaluation and shall ensure that all documentation is readily available to and understood by stakeholders. 
• Omissions and wrongdoing: Where evaluators find evidence of wrong-doing or unethical conduct, they are obliged to report it to the proper oversight authority.

5. Required competencies and skills for the Evaluation Task Manager 

• Master’s degree related to a social science, preferably including gender studies, evaluation or social research; 
• At least 5 years of working experience in evaluation and/or social research; 
• Proven experience in Central Africa
• Experience on gender equality and women’s empowerment; 
• Experience working with the UN and with multi-stakeholders: governments, NGOs, the UN/ multilateral/bilateral institutions and donor entities. 
• Proven experience as evaluation manager with ability to lead and work with other evaluation experts; 
• Demonstrating strong analytical ability and communication skills; strong ability as team work facilitator;
• Ability to work with the organization commissioning the evaluation, the Evaluation Team and with other evaluation stakeholders to ensure that a high quality product is delivered on a timely basis; 
• Familiarity with UNEG standards and norms for evaluations is an asset. 

Fluent in English is indispensable, and good working knowledge of French.

6. Application process

Applications should be sent to: consultancies.eharo@unwomen.org with the subject line clearly marked “Evaluation Task Manager – ICGLR” 

The deadline for submission of applications is COB Monday 15 July 2013.