UNDP
National Consultant in Georgia/ Evaluator for the UN Women Regional Project “Women's Economic Empowerment in the South Caucasus“
🇬🇪Tbilisi, Tbilisi, Georgia15 days ago
SeniorFull TimeEN
UN Women exists to advance women’s rights, gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. As the lead UN entity on gender equality and secretariat of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, we shift laws, institutions, social behaviours and services to close the gender gap and build an equal world for all women and girls. Our partnerships with governments, women’s movements and the private sector coupled with our coordination of the broader United Nations translate progress into lasting changes. We make strides forward for women and girls in four areas: leadership, economic empowerment, freedom from violence, and women, peace and security as well as humanitarian action. UN Women keeps the rights of women and girls at the centre of global progress – always, everywhere. Because gender equality is not just what we do. It is who we are.
A global champion for women and girls, UN Women was established to accelerate progress on meeting their needs worldwide. UN Women supports UN Member States as they set global standards for achieving gender equality and works with governments and civil society to design laws, policies, programmes, and services needed to implement these standards. It stands behind women’s equal participation in all aspects of life, focusing on five priority areas: increasing women’s leadership and participation; ending violence against women; engaging women in all aspects of peace and security processes; enhancing women’s economic empowerment; and making gender equality central to national development planning and budgeting. UN Women also coordinates and promotes the UN system’s work in advancing gender equality.
UN Women in Georgia supports state and non-state partners towards the achievement of substantive gender equality in Georgia. In line with national and international commitments, UN Women works on the levels of policies and legislation, institutions and grassroots, in order to achieve transformative results for increased gender equality and greater protection of the rights of women and girls.
Women’s economic empowerment (WEE) is a transformative, collective process through which economic systems become just, equitable and prosperous, and through which all women enjoy their economic and social rights, exercise agency and power in ways that challenge inequalities and level the playing field and gain equal rights and access to ownership of and control over resources, assets, income, time and their own lives. The key elements of economic empowerment are equal rights and access to ownership and control over resources; agency, power and autonomy; and policies, institutions and norms (UN Women, Women’s Economic Empowerment Strategy. Available at: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/2024-03/un-women-womens-economic-empowerment-strategy-en.pdf ).
Women’s rights to economic equality and opportunities are enshrined in a number of multilateral normative frameworks, including CEDAW and the Beijing Platform for Action. The economic empowerment of women—to succeed and advance economically and to make and act on economic decisions - is a cornerstone of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as reaffirmed also by the Agreed Conclusions of the 61st Commission on the Status of Women (2017). The UN Secretary General’s High Level Expert Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment has outlined an action agenda to accelerate progress, with key steps tailored to different sets of actors and seven drivers that can create enabling environment to accelerate the impact (2018). (UN Secretary General’s High-Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment. Available at: https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2018/01/hlp-wee-reports-and-toolkits ).
UN Women Country Office in Georgia with the generous support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and Austrian Development Agency (ADA) is implementing the third phase of the “Women’s Economic Empowerment in the South Caucasus” (WEESC) project. The project’s overarching goal is to ensure that women, particularly the poor and socially excluded, in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia are economically empowered and participate in relevant decision-making. The WEESC project applies a holistic approach to reach this goal, enabling linked interventions at three levels: grassroots, policies and legislation, and institutions. The chosen approach and the implementation of the WEE agenda in the South Caucasus during Phase I (2018-2021) and Phase II (2021-2024) of the WEESC project served as a catalyst for action at all levels and supported the state and non-state partners towards the achievement of substantive gender equality in all three countries (Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan). Phase III of the project is implemented for two years, from 2024 till 2026.
UN Women has implemented the first and second phases of this project in line with international and national commitments, on the levels of policies and legislation, institutions and grassroots. The project has been working towards transformative results for increased gender equality and greater protection of the rights of women and girls. To achieve the project’s ambitious goal and for the sustainability of the results, Phase III of the WEESC project aims to increase economic security and improve access to livelihood and development opportunities for women, particularly the poorest and most excluded in the South Caucasus through interventions on policy, institutions, and grassroots levels.
In order to contribute to the set overarching goal/impact, the third phase of the project aims to contribute to the following three outcomes:
Outcome 1: Women, particularly the poor and socially excluded, use skills, economic opportunities, relevant information, network and support to become farmers/entrepreneurs or to join the formal labour sector in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia (grass-roots level)
Outcome 2: Armenia and Georgia implement adequate legislative and policy reforms and frameworks to enable women’s economic empowerment (policy and legislation level)
Outcome 3: The government, public and non-governmental institutions are strengthened to develop and deliver gender-responsive programmes, policies and services for women’s economic empowerment in Armenia and Georgia (institutional level)
The theory of change of how these outcomes contribute to the overarching goal/impact of the project is as follows: IF (1) women (particularly the poor and socially excluded) are empowered to become farmers/entrepreneurs or to join the formal labor sector and participate in local planning and budgeting, (2) IF the relevant legislators and decision-makers have the capacities and political will to carry out the legislative and policy reforms removing obstacles to women’s economic empowerment, and (3) IF the targeted governmental and non-governmental institutions, alongside with the private sector, are supported to develop and institutionalize specific programs empowering women and mainstreaming gender in their operations, THEN women, particularly the poor and socially excluded, will be socially and economically strengthened and will participate in relevant decision-making at various levels in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, BECAUSE the key structural barriers for women’s economic empowerment will be dismantled and an enabling environment will be created for their civil and social engagement, recognizing the gender equality in the workplace, marketplace and community.
Direct beneficiaries of the project: Activities related to the first outcome are carried out in Armenia, Azerbaijan (In Azerbaijan, under the first Outcome only output 1.3 – “Businesses have an increased understanding of the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) and institutionalize measures that benefit women, specifically in rural areas” has been implemented.), and Georgia, with a specific focus on poor and socially excluded groups of women in rural areas, including those engaged in agriculture. These activities aim to increase women’s access to income-generating opportunities, knowledge, and training, and strengthen their capacities to organize and participate in decision-making at the national and local levels. The project also engages women working in the informal sector as domestic workers in the capitals of Armenia and Georgia, supporting their mobilization into professional networks and associations.
The second and third outcomes’ activities support the government officials and public servants in Armenia and Georgia providing them with technical support and capacity development. Indirect beneficiaries include women engaged in both the formal and informal economies, as these interventions enhance their access to decent work opportunities, and result in revised and strengthened gender-responsive policies and services. Women also gain enhanced access to information, skills development, and decision-making opportunities. The general population, including men and women, is engaged through public awareness campaigns on gender equality and women’s economic empowerment.
Geographic coverage of the project: For the grass-roots level work with women (Outcome 1) in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia as well as on the policy and legislation and institutional level with local authorities (Outcome 2 and Outcome 3) in Armenia and Georgia, the following are the target geographic areas:
2. Purpose and Use of the Evaluation Exercise
Upon the project completion, as established in the Project Document, a mandatory external final evaluation is to be conducted by UN Women for accountability and learning purposes. The main purpose of the final evaluation is assessing the achievement of project results and performance. Findings of the final external evaluation will inform UN Women Georgia’s future work in the area of Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE). The external evaluation will further identify lessons learned, best practices and challenges of the project “Women's Economic Empowerment in the South Caucasus“.
The information generated by the evaluation will be used by different stakeholders to:
Main evaluation users include UN Women Country Office in Georgia as well as the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and Austrian Development Agency (ADA) (project donors). Furthermore, national stakeholders – civil society partners, grassroots rural women and domestic workers and targeted state and non-state agencies will be also closely involved in the evaluation process to increase ownership of findings, draw lessons learned and make greater use of this final evaluation results.
3. Objectives, Criteria and Key Questions of the Evaluation
The overall objective ofthis final evaluation is to assess the achievement of programme results and performance of the above-described intervention.
The specific evaluation objectives are as follows:
The evaluation will address the criteria of Project Relevance, Coherence, Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Sustainability. More specifically, the evaluation will address the key evaluation questions:
Relevance:
Coherence:
Effectiveness:
Efficiency:
Sustainability:
Human Right and Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women:
The questions outlined above are preliminary and are expected to be revised and refined by the evaluation team during the inception phase of the evaluation.
4. Design Process and Methods
The evaluation process is divided in five phases: 1) Preparation, mainly devoted to structuring the evaluation approach, preparing the TOR, compiling programme documentation, and hiring the evaluation team; 2) Inception, which involves reconstruction of theory of change, organizing online inception meetings with the WEESC team, drafting inception report and finalizing the evaluation methodology; 3) Data collection including desk research, meetings with key stakeholders and preparation of field missions, visits to project sites; 4) Data analysis and synthesis stage, focusing on data analysis, interpretation of findings and preparation of an Evaluation Report; and 5) Dissemination and follow-up, which will entail the development of a joint Management Response by UN Women.
The National Consultant/Evaluator in Georgia will work as part of a team with the International Consultant/Team Leader and the National Consultant/Evaluator in Armenia and will be responsible for the inception, data collection, and data analysis and synthesis phases in Georgia:
Inception phase: Reconstruction of the theory of change; inception meetings with the WEESC team; preparation of the inception report; and finalization of the evaluation methodology.
At the beginning of the consultancy, the consultant will be provided with key sources of information for an initial desk review. The online inception meetings will be conducted with the WEESC team. At the end of this phase an inception report that will include the refined evaluation methodology will be delivered. The inception report will be validated and approved by UN Women and project donors.
Data collection phase: Desk research, meetings with key stakeholders, preparation of field missions, visits to project sites.
Based on the Inception Phase, the evaluation team (International Consultant/Evaluator, National Consultant/Evaluator in Georgia, and National Consultant/Evaluator in Armenia) will conduct an in-depth desk review. Field missions will be planned and implemented to complete data collection and triangulation of information. Interviews and focus group discussions with key stakeholders, as relevant, will take place.
Data collection will be carried out jointly by the international and the national consultant/evaluator. Specifically, data collection plans and instruments will be developed jointly by the international consultant/evaluator and national consultant/evaluator. Field data collection in Georgia, including visits to project sites, field missions, online or face-to-face interviews will be conducted by the National Consultant in line with clear and specific guidelines provided by the International Consultant (international consultant/evaluator can also interview major English-speaking project partners online). National consultant/evaluator will provide summaries of interviews in English to the international consultant/evaluator in line with the pre-agreed format.
Data analysis and synthesis phase: Analysis of collected data, interpretation of findings, and preparation of the Evaluation Report.
The information collected will be analyzed, and final evaluation report including case studies will be delivered. A validation meeting will be organized where the consultant will validate the final results and final report with case studies and approved by UN Women.
5. Stakeholders Participation and Management of the Evaluation
The Evaluation will be a consultative, inclusive and participatory process and will ensure the participation of project beneficiaries. The evaluation will be human rights and gender responsible.
UN Women Georgia CO will appoint an officer who will serve as the Evaluation Task Manager and who will be responsible for the day-to-day management of the evaluation and ensures that the evaluation is conducted in accordance with UN Women Evaluation Policies, United Nations Evaluation Group Ethical Guidelines and Code of Conduct for Evaluation in the United Nations system and other key relevant guidance documents. The evaluation process will be supported by the UN Women Europe and Central Asia Regional Evaluation Specialist.
Moreover, an Evaluation Management Group (EMG) comprising of senior managers from UN Women Georgia Office and relevant technical project staff from UN Women Georgia will be established to oversee and support the evaluation process, make key decisions and quality assure the different deliverables. The EMG will quality assure and approve all deliverables. EMG will be responsible for the coordination in the field including logistical support during field missions.
In light of the foregoing UN Women would like to hire a National Consultant/Evaluator in Georgia who in a team with the International Consultant/Team Leader and the National Consultant/Evaluator in Armenia, will be responsible for conducting Evaluation of the WEESC Project.
The consultant will report to and work under direct supervision of UN Women and in close collaboration with the Task Manager.
6. Evaluation Ethics
This evaluation will be conducted in accordance with the principles outlined in the UNEG ‘Ethical Guidelines for Evaluation’. The consultant must safeguard the rights and confidentiality of information providers, interviewees, and stakeholders through measures to ensure compliance with legal and other relevant codes governing collection of data and reporting on data. The consultant must also ensure security of collected information before and after the evaluation and protocols to ensure anonymity and confidentiality of sources of information where that is expected. The information knowledge and data gathered in the evaluation process must also be solely used for the evaluation and not for other uses with the express authorization of UN Women.
Description of Responsibilities /Scope of Work
The national consultant/evaluator will work under the direct supervision of the international consultant/evaluator and will benefit from technical and operational support of UN Women Country Office in Georgia. In more specific terms, the national consultant will be providing support to the international consultant in the process of the project evaluation and will be responsible for the following tasks:
Deliverables
Deliverables will be developed collaboratively by the evaluation team. The National Consultant/Evaluator in Georgia will prepare and share the Georgia-specific components with the International Consultant/Evaluator, who will consolidate them and submit the final outputs to UN Women.
Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel
This is a home-based consultancy, with travel to the project’s target regions in Georgia.
Competencies :
Core Values:
Core Competencies:
Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Values and Competencies Framework:
Functional Competencies:
Required Qualifications:
Academic Background:
Relevant Work Experience:
Languages:
Fluency in Georgian and English is required.
Statements:
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.)
Note: Applicants must ensure that all sections of the application form, including the sections on education and employment history, are completed. If all sections are not completed the application may be disqualified from the recruitment and selection process.
