UN Women: International Evaluation Consultant, Home-Based, International Consultant

• *Background:** 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. Afghanistan remains one of the world’s most complex and protracted crises. Afghan women and girls face severe restrictions on their rights and participation in public life, compounded by humanitarian and economic challenges. UN Women Afghanistan remains committed to supporting Afghan women and girls and ensuring their leadership and participation in all response efforts. The Country Office focuses on five programmatic pillars: (1) Integrated Programming and Localization; (2) Women’s Civil Society; (3) Policy and Research; (4) Economic Resilience and Empowerment; and (5) Coordination, Access and Humanitarian Response. The office operates from Kabul with sub-offices in Balkh, Bamyan, Herat, Kandahar, and Nangarhar. The Special Trust Fund for Afghanistan (STFA) was established on 20 October 2021 to support UN joint programming addressing basic human needs in Afghanistan, complementing ongoing humanitarian efforts. Since 2022, STFA programming has aligned with the UN Transitional Engagement Framework (TEF) strategic priorities 2 and 3, later extended through 30 June 2023. From July 2023, STFA aligned with the UN Strategic Framework for Afghanistan (UNSFA) 2023–2025, which was further extended until 2027. In this context, women-led and women-focused organizations (WLOs) play a catalytic role. Strengthening their institutional and technical capacity and systematically integrating them into humanitarian and basic human needs programming, is therefore critical not only for improving service delivery and accountability but also for advancing localization, social cohesion and gender equality in Afghanistan. The consultant will be reporting to Programme Management Support Manager, and will be supported by Gender in Humanitarian Action (GiHA) Specialist who will be the point of contact on the contract and payment issues.

• *Description of Responsibilities/ Scope of Work**

Field presence will be required in both the Eastern and Western Regions, with site visits conducted in selected provinces to ensure direct engagement with WLOs, mentoring INGOs, and relevant coordination stakeholders. The evaluation consultant will

• Conduct field visits to selected project sites in the Eastern and Western regions (including provinces where the 14 WLOs operate);
• Undertake key informant interviews with WLO leadership and staff, INGO mentors, UN Women, TFMU representatives and other relevant stakeholders;
• Facilitate focus group discussions, where feasible, with beneficiaries of seed grant-supported activities;
• Particular attention will be paid to assessing institutional changes within the fourteen WLOs, the application of strengthened capacities in seed grant-supported interventions, and the project’s contribution to intended results and alignment with UNSFA priorities.

The international consultant will be supported by a national consultant who will be involved in all phases of the evaluation, from the design and development of evaluation tools to data collection, reporting and dissemination of results. The national consultant will accompany the international evaluation consultant for the data collection at the field and support with translation and delivery of the tools. The international evaluation consultant will hold the overall responsibility for the design and implementation of the evaluation. S/he will be responsible for the production and timely submission of all expected deliverables in line with the Terms of Reference (ToR). The duration of the assignment/consultancy is 40 working days (over a period of two months) after signing of contract. Days are inclusive of travelling, field work and reporting. Below is the evaluation phases Inception phase (Evaluation Team responsible – 10 days)

• Conduct a desk review of past reports, the project results framework, project activity documentation produced by UN Women and other documents including the baseline and the monitoring mission reports.
• Develop a methodology for the evaluation, evaluation matrix, sampling frame, data collection tools and ethical protocol.
• Finalize the stakeholder analysis.
• Review the existing TOC and reconstruct (based on consultations / workshop with the programme staff).
• Develop relevant qualitative and quantitative data collection tools.
• Conduct an inception workshop/consultation with the Evaluation Reference Group (key project stakeholders) (PowerPoint presentation).
• Prepare a draft inception report to be shared with th

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