Evaluation of UNICEF’s implementation of the Gender Action Plan (2014-2017) and gender capacity needs in South Asia
Terms of Reference:
Summary: To improve implementation of the UNICEF Gender Action Plan and strengthen cross sectoral integration of gender in both targeted and mainstreamed interventions, the UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia (ROSA) is undertaking a regional consultative evaluation of the implementation of the Gender Action Plan in the region and existing capacities in the country offices. The assessment aims to take stock of, generate evidence and provide constructive feedback on UNICEF’s existing resources, sustainable opportunities, synergies and capacities in the ROSA region to implement the Gender Action Plan; while taking into account ongoing activities. Based on such evidence, it is expected that the assessment will further contribute to effective targeted and mainstreaming approaches for a clearer and sustainable gender perspective in programming, enhanced convergence across sectors and strengthened initiatives that focus on programming with a gender equity and inequality lens, and a capacity building plan on gender within the region.
The findings, feedback and recommendations will be used by UNICEF ROSA and country office staff engaged in gender programming and mainstreaming to strengthen gender results and shape strategies, capacities and actions. The findings will be further used by the UNICEF Core Gender group to inform the development of the second phase of the Gender Action plan post 2017.
UNICEF seeks expressions of interest from qualified firms to conduct this assessment in all 8 countries (India, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan) and select field offices, as described in the below terms of reference. The contract will be issued in late October/early November 2016 with an expectation that the assessment will be completed within 70 working days
1. Background
UNICEF Regional Office South Asia (ROSA) is seeking services of a consultancy agency to assess country and regional office gender related performance against agreed benchmarks. These include (a) Programme expenditures on gender results; (b) Gender staffing and capacity across the organization; (c) Gender performance of country programme management plans; (d) Gender performance on evaluations of UNICEF programmes; (e) Effective knowledge sharing and communications for promoting gender quality. The tasks involve document review, compilation of information, country interviews and require dedicated time therefore cannot be done by regular staff members.
The UNICEF Strategic Plan 2014-2017 emphasizes gender equality and the empowerment of girls and women as important results across all of the seven outcomes of the Plan: Health; HIV and AIDS; Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH); Nutrition; Education; Child Protection; and Social Inclusion. The associated Gender Action Plan 2014-17 (GAP) provides guidance and strategic entry points for UNICEF regions, countries and divisions for focusing their programmatic work on gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls within the parameters of the Strategic Plan.
The consolidated results framework for the programmatic results prioritized in the GAP are drawn directly from the results framework of the UNICEF Strategic Plan 2014-2017. It incorporates 42 indicators in total, 22 tracking progress on the targeted gender priorities, and 20 tracking progress on the broader integration of gender in programming. In addition, UNICEF has identified five performance benchmarks to track its progress on improving institutional effectiveness in achieving results on gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. These benchmarks refer to the key areas of systems strengthening, capacity enhancement and resource investment that UNICEF is making in implementing the GAP.
All UNICEF regions are to assess country level performance against the GAP on an annual basis, with the GAP Steering Committee assessing it organization wide. These reviews along with annual reports from countries and monitoring data collected on institution wide performance will inform the report on implementation of the GAP, which will be presented annually to the Executive Board at its annual session. The consultancy results will form an integral part of ROSA reporting and serve as baseline for future reports.
2. Purpose
While UNICEF is also planning the development of its next phase of Gender Action plan post 2017, UNICEF ROSA is seeking services of a consultant agency to conduct a consultative feedback and assessment in South Asia that will inform the Regional office of the :
(a) Gender staffing, capacities and training needs of Country and field Offices
(b) Understanding and Implementation and performance levels of the Gender Action Plan (2014-17)
(c) Gender related bottlenecks and barriers that prevent Country Offices to further the GAP agenda.
The tasks involve Country and Regional Office interviews, review and analysis, compilation of information and recommendations.
The assessment aims to take stock of, generate evidence and provide constructive feedback on UNICEF’s existing resources, sustainable opportunities, synergies and capacities in the ROSA region to implement the Gender Action Plan; while taking into account ongoing activities. Based on such evidence, it is expected that the assessment will further contribute to effective targeted and mainstreaming approaches for a clearer and sustainable gender perspective in programming, enhanced convergence across sectors and strengthened initiatives that focus on programming with a gender equity and inequality lens, and a capacity building plan on gender within the region.
The findings, feedback and recommendations will be used by UNICEF ROSA and country office staff engaged in gender programming and mainstreaming to strengthen gender results and shape strategies, capacities and actions. The findings will be further used by the UNICEF Core Gender group to inform the development of the second phase of the Gender Action plan post 2017.
3. Objectives/Scope of Work
Under the supervision of the Regional Gender Adviser the consultant agency will produce a final report, including key findings and recommendations. The main objective of the assessment is to inform Regional Office of the regional and country level gender implementation, capacity and training needs and efforts to deliver on GAP programmatic and institutional results from 2014-2016.
Expected Deliverables:
1. Inception report, approach and methodology for this assessment
2. Gender profile of each country office on the GAP implementation
3. Report to have lessons learned, opportunities for further development and recommendations in place for the country office to effectively implement gender while developing GAP Phase II
4. Gender resources, capacity needs and assessment across all 8 countries
5. Report to include the training needs assessment and a related capacity development plan for FY2017 for all 8 countries
6. Report showing current levels of integration of gender in sectoral programming at the Regional Office and within Regional headline results.
7. Report should have lessons learned, opportunities for further development and recommendations in place towards effective cross sectoral synergies on gender at the ROSA
The consultant agency will provide key inputs into the design and conduct of the evaluation and The RO will facilitate the initial communication between consultant and Country Offices for their concurrence and facilitation of consultants work.
Detailed Activities and Tasks:
The specific tasks and responsibilities of the consultant are as follows:
1. Gender profile and report of GAP implementation from Country Offices: The consultant will develop
a. Gender profile report/dashboard per country (including select field offices) on the implementation of the UNICEF Gender Action Plan (GAP) (for both gender targeted priorities and sectoral mainstreaming)
b. Review programme gender budget and gender results data and assess the extent to which priority gender data and results are sustainably integrated in country programmes for all countries in the region. Propose areas for improvements and for gender to be effectively ingrained both organizationally and programmatically.
c. Review COARs for 2014-16 RAM, and gender results matrices; conduct interviews with Country office and select field offices to assess the extent to which these include gender related results (outcome/outputs), indicators, strategies and activities, including through review of gender equity marker (GEM)
d. Assess and take stock of the programming environment on gender results in the country office and select field offices (articulation with national gender action plans; UNDAF Action Plan; humanitarian response frameworks, existing partnerships; donor interests, Country Programme Document)
e. Provide a comparative analysis to assess key strengths and weaknesses of current gender programming in the country offices and select field offices. Assess the bottlenecks in each country to the implementation of the Gender Action Plan and propose recommendations to strategically improve its implementation both from a programmatic and organisational perspective
f. Assess internal needs for strengthened gender programming (priority gender results, key entry points, knowledge assets/gaps, available expertise and capacities and/or gaps)
g. Assess the staffing and technical capacity/training needs on gender and propose capacity development plans
h. Assess the successes and what is working in the area of gender integration and implementation of GAP in each of the countries. Identify areas that can be taken to scale and where opportunities exist for acceleration
i. These include a combination of desk analysis of documents, existing capacity assessments as well as interviews with key stakeholders at Country office. Travel is not mandatory for this. It will cover all the 8 countries and field offices (India, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan).
j. The final report should have lessons learned and strategic recommendations in place towards the formulation and implementation of GAP Phase II
2. Regional Office assessment of sectoral gender integration and results:
a) Take stock of the current levels of integration of gender in sectoral programming at the Regional Office based on a detailed review of ROMP (Regional office Management Plans) and in-house interviews and consultative dialogue to hear the views of ROSA management and key regional advisers.
b) Assess the integration of gender within 3 headline results and its strategy at the Regional Office ( Educate Girls and Boys, End Child Marriage and Save New Borns) and propose areas to strengthen gender integration
c) Undertake a SWOT analysis at ROSA on gender integration and cross sectoral synergies
d) The final report should have lessons learned and strategic recommendations in place towards the opportunities available for effective cross sectoral synergies and that can help build collective ownership on gender at the ROSA
e) These include a combination of desk analysis of documents and consultations/interviews with key stakeholders at the Regional office.
3. Produce a final report, including key findings and recommendations for GAP implementation at country level for further discussion at RO and disseminated with key CO participation at the Regional Gender Network Meeting (this meeting will possibly be held in Kathmandu in early 2017- late Jan/early Feb).
The final report will be presented to the Regional office for discussion and endorsement.
4. Duration of the contract and working conditions
The contract will be from late October/01st November 2016 to 06 February 2017 for a period of estimated 70 working days for the full team to complete the actual study, report and sharing of findings. The key findings are to be shared in a Regional workshop in Kathmandu late Jan/early Feb 2017 and this will require the facilitation and participation of the consultant for a 1 day session. This number of 70 working days is an estimate and the actual number of days required should be clearly outlined and justified in any response to this RFP. The final report is expected by 17 January 2017.
The consultant agency team will provide their own work space, computer and software required to complete the work activities outlined in this TOR. As discussions with countries will happen on a regular basis with the country and regional offices, the consultant must have telephone or skype options available. The interviews with countries will be selected jointly with the RO in consultation between the consultant, Regional Office supervisor and Country Offices. Travel to country offices are not mandatory, however if the consultant agency choses to travel to country offices to undertake this assignment, this is to be budgeted showing the rationale, value add and justification and included in the proposal with a realistic plan. For any such required Country Office visits, the RO will contact the selected Country Offices and facilitate an initial introduction, while Country Office gender focal point will facilitate the contacts/ appointments with the stakeholders in the country. The visits if any will follow any security protocols.
5. Key Deliverables and indicative schedule of payments
Based on a work plan to be agreed with the Regional Gender Adviser, the key deliverables, and corresponding fee payments, are as follows:
1.Finalized inception report:- 20 % Payment
Defined methodology with any required tools
(Within 5 working days of signing contract)
2. First Draft Report:-30% Payment
(Within 50 working days)
3. Draft Final Report:- 20 % Payment
(Within 60 working days
4. Final Report: - 20% Payment
(Within 70 working days)
5. Sharing key findings at Regional Workshop: - 10 % Payment
Presentation of final report and key findings during a workshop with the countries and other relevant staff from HQ.
(Note: - The agreed travel component if any will be payable upon receipt of invoices and on actuals.)
6. Qualifications, experience and core competencies
The assessment team should consist of experts with extensive experience in their fields relevant under this TOR. The team may comprise of an organizational evaluation specialist, a gender specialist and one national consultant for country with one of the internationals also serving as team lead. The scope and breadth of the time for the national consultant will depend on the country size and coverage required.
The applicant agency is invited to suggest an alternative structure however any Organization responding to this RFP should demonstrate their credentials and suitability for the assignment and the team should adequately cover skill sets/knowledge to manage the assessment, specifically having:
Experience and skills
• At least ten years’ experience in conducting multi country assessments, organizational evaluation, research and analysis on issues relating to gender in programmes and gender mainstreaming effectiveness preferably within agencies such as the UN
• Proven experience of evaluation principles, methods, norms, and standards, especially those of the UN Evaluation Group.
• Demonstrated ability to deliver high-quality written work in the English language
• Demonstrated ability to engage effectively with stakeholders at all levels.
• Demonstrated ability to strategically communicate and present key findings in a constructive, inclusive and engaging manner that builds ownership and consensus on the findings
• Familiarity with a range of development challenges and approaches in South Asia, challenges of gender and equity issues and experience working in the region is an asset
• Ability to engage effectively in at least one of the official languages in South Asia is an asset
Competencies
• Applying technical expertise
• Analysing and evaluating
• Strategizing, networking, communication
7. Management and Implementation Arrangements
Management and Oversight: The agency will overall report to the UNICEF ROSA Regional Gender Adviser.In each country the agency team will be supported by the respective gender focal point/specialist. The gender section in ROSA will provide some administrative support and initial introductions to the country offices.
Quality Assurance: A reference group will be formed to review and provide comments on each of the assignment outputs. This reference group will also include people from the HQ and country offices as well.
8. Application Requirement
Each proposal will be assessed first on its technical merits and subsequently on its financial bid. In making the final decision, UNICEF considers both technical and financial aspects. The Evaluation Team first reviews the technical aspects of the offer, followed by review of the financial offers of the technically compliant vendors. The proposal obtaining the highest overall score after adding the scores for the technical and financial proposals together, that offers the best value for money will be recommended for award of the contract.
The Technical Proposal should include but not be limited to the following:
• Methodology: Detailed Methodology / approach that meets or exceeds the UNICEF requirements for this assignment.
• Organization Profile: Include information related to the experience of the consulting agency and as may be required as per item 6 of this document.
• References: Details of similar assignments undertaken in last five years including the following information:
Title of Project
Year and duration of project
Scope of Project
Outcome of Project
Reference / Contact persons
• Team Composition: Proposed team structure and responsibilities including title and role of each team member
• Work Plan: Proposed work plan showing detailed sequence and timeline for each activity with the person days of each proposed team member by activity
• CV’s: CV of each team member (including qualifications and experience) Ensure to include information related to the qualifications and experience of each proposed team member as required and outlined in item 6 of this document.
• Other: Any project dependencies or assumptions
The Financial Proposal should include but not be limited to the following:
Bidders are expected to submit a lump sum financial proposal to complete the entire assignment based on the terms of reference. The lump sum should be broken down to show the detail for the following:
• Resource costs: Daily rate multiplied by number of days
• Travel costs: Flight costs and per diems by country and person if any
• Any other costs (if any): Indicate nature and breakdown
• Copy of the company registration
• Recent Financial Audit Report: Report should have been carried out in the past 2 years and be certified by a reputable audit organisation.
(Note:-Please refer to RFP document attached herewith for detailed information. )