Project Evaluator

Job Title: Project Evaluator - Mid-term Project Evaluator(s)

Contract Type: Short-term

Duration: Initial 8-month contract from April 2026 to November 2026 

Location: Caucasus and Moldova. Primarily remote, with in-country expertise and capacity to work in Armenia and Moldova.

Reports to: Program Manager with oversight of the IWPR MEL Specialist

Working schedule: Part-time position 

Deadline: March 31, 2026

Availability to work: UTC+4 timezone

ABOUT IWPR

The Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR) is an international non-profit organisation founded in 1991, with charitable status in the US, UK and the Netherlands. We give voice to people at the frontlines of conflict, crisis and transition to help them drive change and build more stable, just and inclusive societies.

Drawing on three decades of experience in some of the world’s most challenging environments, we support media, civil society, democracy and governance, gender, and youth-focused projects in over 30 countries, promoting reliable information and responsible public debate and removing barriers to freedom of expression.

For more information on IWPR, please follow the link:

https://iwprexternal.egnyte.com/dl/zJ7gOUL3Fc

PROJECT BACKGROUND

Building Resilience in Eastern Neighbourhood (BREN II) project (2025-2027) is implemented by the Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR). The project aims at strengthening the resilience of non-state actors and women’s rights organisations to enhance their ability to deliver a transformative, inclusive and sustainable contribution to peace, stability, and security through over 30 sub-grant organisations. BREN is supported by the UK Government’s International Security Fund (ISF).

Objectives of the review:

The overall objective of this assignment is to provide mid-term review of the Building Resilience in the Eastern Neighbourhood (BREN II) project by assessing its outcomes and impact according to the OECD-DAC criteria and other specific criteria. This mid-term review has the following main objectives:

1. To assess and analyse the achievements of the project implementation, compared to the expected results and in line with the theory of change that underpinned the design and ambitions of the project. This will involve determining the current level of achievement of the project's indicators (for project objectives and results) and comparing the achievements with the baseline situation. As for the theory of change, the aim will be to examine the the causal links between actions and results and to confirm or disconfirm the explicit or implicit causal steps of the theory of change.
2. Document and verify observable changes in practices, behaviour and attitudes adopted by individual actors in the civil society sector, by targeted stakeholders including communities, state actors, internationals bodies and any other individuals and structures that are reached directly or indirectly in the activities through direct implementation and sub-granting; highlight the relevant achievements and lessons, with a view to informing the continuation of the project and/or the development of other following projects.
3. To assess objectively, quantitatively and qualitatively, the relevance, efficiency, effectiveness and coherence of the project interventions, and the sustainability of the results achieved, following the international criteria of the OECD/DAC.
4. To identify and document good practices / project successes that are recommended for replication to enable scale up/out into new initiatives, as well as lessons learned and challenges.
5. Produce 1-2 brief case studies on specific new aspects/components of the project to deeply understand results and reflect on opportunities for replicability/scale up/down.

Review Methodology:

An initial proposed methodology, including sampling size, type of data collection tools, timeframe, type of analysis should be proposed by the consultant in their technical proposal in line with the evaluation objectives reported above.

Available data: Baseline and progress MEL data have been collected and reported quarterly by the project staff in accordance with the donor-approved logframe with relevant indicators. They include periodic project reports, event reports, subgrantee reports with monitoring data, content production lists and outreach data, mentors’ reports etc. Data produced by sub-grants includes, but is not limited to, monthly and final narrative reports with change stories of their direct beneficiaries (project participants).

In addition to the available qualitative and quantitative data, the regional and country-based Theory of Change, logical framework, project proposal are available including sub-awardees reports and data.

The consultant should combine quantitative and qualitative approaches, including participatory methodologies as necessary to adequately address the review objectives and answer the different review questions mentioned below.

Offered qualitative methodologies (but are not limited to):

• Outcome harvesting - where the OH can’t be applied fully, the consultants will be asked to develop outcome statements for significant results achieved.
• Case studies to provide an in-depth analysis of specific instances of project implementation, illustrating the processes, challenges, and impacts through detailed narratives.

The proposed methodology should include the following phases:

• Preparatory phase: review of all project documentation, updated analysis of the project implementation context, preparation of a work plan; outlining the review questions kick-off call with staff, donor (as appropriate), propose the review methodology and the development of data collection tools and a sampling methodology. As a result of this phase the consultant will have to submit an inception report, outlining the approach. Upon sign of the report the consultant(s) may initiate the work.
• Fieldwork: conduct data collection, consolidate, validate, triangulate project existing data. Conduct interviews, surveys, workshops to gather data as appropriate. Recruit and train local data collectors (if needed). Note any travel requirement should be outlined in the plan and in the agreed overall budget.
• Analysis of qualitative and quantitative data: analyse existing and gathered data, triangulate it and, if contradictions appear, explore and present hypotheses as to why such contradictions might exist; preliminary findings will be presented to the project team and the donor, and the consultant will need to take into consideration the project team's feedback.

Deliverables:

Some key deliverables must be submitted in draft form to IWPR and the donor before being finalised as indicated in the table below. All deliverables and data from the review will be owned by IWPR and may be used for internal and external reporting and communications.

• Deliverable 1: Proposed inception report including plan and methodologies for the review, including agreed evaluation questions, to be approved by the project manager and MEL specialist and Donor counterpart.
• Deliverable 2: Conduct online/in person meetings with IWPR team, field staff and other key stakeholders (beneficiaries, donor) to capture, document, triangulate results.
• Deliverable 3: Draft report and related annexes that outline the main findings with related evidence, including recommendations and lessons learned. Visualisations and case studies are encouraged.
• Deliverable 4: Final report and summary: in Word format, to be produced in English, should be a maximum of 25-30 pages (excluding annexes) and should include executive summary of 2 pages max with overview of overall achievements/performance and key actionable recommendations.
• Deliverable 5: Case studies Up to two case studies (2 pages max each) to support “scaling up of success”.
• Deliverable 6: Debriefing session and presentation (10-12 slides max) with major findings and recommendations shared with key audiences at the end of the consultancy.
• Deliverable 7: A complete evaluation dataset, with all supporting data securely backed up (and anonymised where necessary), submitted for auditing and for future use by the project team.

Reporting:

The final full report should provide with following information and analysis:

1. Overall assessment of the level of success of the project as per DAC criteria: coherence, efficiency, effectiveness, relevance, sustainability.

2. Beneficiaries reach: overview of beneficiaries reached directly and indirectly: number, type, gender, country and any other relevant disaggregation and involvement in project intervention.

3. List of significant outcomes achieved, intended as observable changes in actions, relationships, policy or practice of both beneficiaries and external actors linked to the project activities, categorise them using existing performance indicators.

4. Outline key actionable recommendations for future programming in the light of current needs (national/regional context), project goal and project successes, good practices and lessons learned.

5. Outline significant challenges and/or negative changes that have limited or affected achievement of success, analyse effectiveness of mitigation strategies applied (if any) and level of impact of those challenges. Outline lessons learned for future implementation.

6. Include visualisations (graphs/tables) and quotes as appropriate to support deeper understanding of evidence and analysis.

Timeframe and budget:

Assignment should be implemented between April - November 2026. The consultant(s) expression of interest should present an estimate of budget that cannot exceed 12,000 GBP. 

Ethics and data protection:

 

The review will be conducted in accordance with IWPR policies on do no harm, non-discrimination, conflict sensitivity, data protection, safeguarding and ethics. All relevant policies will be communicated to the consultant(s) with their contract. It is expected that the consultant(s) will demonstrate in their proposed methodology how they will address non-discrimination, data protection, safeguarding and ethics, and conflict and gender sensitivity.

 

 Quality assurance:

 

IWPR and donor will be involved to ensure validity of the findings and utilisation of the process to ensure the quality of the analysis and methodology proposed in the inception report, and its implementation after submission of the preliminary results and a draft of the final report.

 

Data quality: Quality data are data that are not systematically biased and do not distort representativeness or coverage. A data quality assurance plan proposed by the consultant will consider anything that might go wrong with the data collection in advance and develop a strategy to prevent these problems. The plan should be shared in the inception report. This data quality assurance plan will focus on three elements: data collection tool/survey design, field management of data, and monitoring.

Skills and experience required:

We are looking for a consultant/team of consultants/international or national consultancy firm meeting the following requirements:

• A minimum of a Master's degree in a relevant field (political science, sociology, international relations, conflict analysis and management and similar disciplines).
• At least 8 years of professional experience in the above-mentioned fields with proven experience in conducting quantitative and qualitative research, in particular in conducting evaluations of complex, multi-stakeholder projects in the areas of peacebuilding, media, conflict and/or organisational governance and theory-based evaluations.
• Experience with quantitative data analysis software or the ability to subcontract work (if quantitative analysis method is proposed).
• Excellent writing skills in English. Knowledge of any local languages Armenian, Azerbaijani, Romanian will be considered an advantage.
• Candidates with access to local interviewers/consultants will be preferred.
• Excellent report writing skills.
• Knowledge of local socio-cultural, economic and political context and related international geopolitics.
• Excellent facilitation skills and ability to work in multi-cultural environment.
• Proven ability to design and implement work ensuring safety, security and do no harm principles.
• Ability to work and engage within all BREN implementing countries, or have local partners/consultants.

Application process:

Applicants interested in this tender may submit to IWPR the following:

1. Technical proposal for this consultancy (maximum 5 pages) including the description of the proposed methodology.

2. Estimated budget broken down by categories including consultants' working hour fees, and other logistical needs. Note: The total budget must not exceed 12,000 GBP.

3. Two evaluation reports from a previous project of a similar nature.

4. Up-to-date CVs of the proposed consultants.

5. Two (2) referee contacts of the organisations for which the consultant or firm has carried out recent evaluations for similar projects (optional).

We encourage questions and clarifications; however, these should be asked by March 25th. Questions and Clarifications should be sent to the following emails: tamari@iwpr.net, ninop@iwpr.net . While EoI can be submitted directly through the submission link.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, and IWPR reserves the right to fill the position before the closing date; early applications are therefore strongly encouraged, and interviews may be conducted prior to the deadline. IWPR will offer a competitive salary to the successful applicant.

Principals only. No calls please. Only those who have been considered for an interview will be contacted.

IWPR is an equal opportunities employer and positively encourages applications from suitably qualified and eligible candidates regardless of sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, religion or belief, marital status, veteran status or pregnancy and maternity. IWPR will never ask for payment for recruitment.