National Consultant -to support UN Women Ethiopia Country Office end line evaluation of the Project “Addressing the Effects of Conflict Related Sexual Violence in Ethiopia”

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. 

UN Women Ethiopia prioritizes advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment by strengthening women’s leadership and participation, ending violence against women and girls (EVAWG), advancing Women, Peace and Security and gender-responsive humanitarian action, and promoting women’s economic empowerment and resilience as well as strengthening UN system-wide coordination and accountability for gender equality. Under its EVAWG portfolio, UN Women applies a comprehensive approach that encompasses prevention, strengthening laws and policies and the justice response, improving survivor-centered services, coordination, and strengthening data and evidence for policy and programming. Given the context in Ethiopia, particular emphasis is also placed on addressing Conflict-Related Sexual Violence (CRSV) and the needs of women and girls affected by conflict. This includes strengthening institutions and referral pathways to provide coordinated, survivor-centred services; improving access to health, psychosocial support, safe shelter, justice and legal aid; supporting survivors’ rehabilitation and economic empowerment; and strengthening coordination and evidence generation. 

Following the northern conflict in Ethiopia, women and girls have been subjected to various forms of violence and discrimination, which have negatively impacted their overall health and well-being. In response to this, and with the generous support of the Gates Foundation, UN Women, in collaboration with its implementing partners and key stakeholders, has been executing the project titled “Addressing the Effects of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Ethiopia.” The project has been implemented at the federal level, as well as in the Afar, Amhara, and Tigray regional states, since November 2023. UN Women has been collaborating with various institutions to implement the project, considering the partners' comparative advantages, the value they bring to the project, their expertise, and local presence. At the federal level, UN Women works closely with the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and the Ministry of Women and Social Affairs (MoWSA). These two ministries oversee the overall implementation of the project and co-chair the project's steering committee at the federal level. Additionally, UN Women has partnered with the Ethiopian Statistical Service (ESS) to ensure that the 8th Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey, particularly the Violence Against Women Module, is conducted with a gender-sensitive and survivor-centered approach through data collection and analysis.

At the regional level, UN Women collaborates with various stakeholders. In the Amhara region, in addition to building the capacities of frontline service providers and establishing and strengthening coordination mechanisms, UN Women partners with two local civil society organizations—Association for Women Sanctuary and Development (AWSAD) and Agar Ethiopia Charitable Society. These partnerships focus on the establishment and expansion of two safe houses/shelters in Kombolcha and Bahir Dar that provide comprehensive services for survivors of violence. UN Women also partners with the Women Association of Tigray (WAT) to provide shelter services. Additionally, UN Women has signed a partnership agreement with the Afar Community Initiative for Sustainable Development Association (ACISDA) for interventions in the Afar region. The partners in all three regions implement a range of interventions, including community-level prevention and risk mitigation efforts, strengthening coordination, enhancing the capacity of service providers, facilitating women- and girls-friendly spaces, survivor rehabilitation and promoting economic empowerment for women and girls affected by the conflict.

The overall goal of the project is 'Improved institutional commitment of government, civil society, and community where survivors of conflict related sexual violence and conflict affected women rehabilitated and reintegrated in the northern part of Ethiopia'.

Under this outcome, the project strengthens the systems, capacities, and mechanisms needed to provide coordinated, survivor-centred services for CRSV survivors. This includes developing and strengthening policies, tools, and standards for essential services such as One-Stop Centers; building the capacity of health, psychosocial, justice, and local government service providers; strengthening community-based structures for CRSV risk mitigation and response; providing essential equipment and commodities to support gender-responsive services; and strengthening referral pathways that connect survivors to health care, psychosocial support, case management, justice, and legal aid services.

Under this outcome, the project provides comprehensive, survivor-centred assistance to CRSV survivors, including safe shelter and basic needs, medical and psychosocial support, individual and group counselling, art and dance therapy, and legal accompaniment. It also supports survivors’ recovery and longer-term resilience through basic literacy, vocational and skills training, livelihood opportunities, and linkages with microfinance services.

Under the coordination and partnership outcome, the project strengthens coordination among key actors at federal and regional levels by supporting existing mechanisms, including the National Coordinating Body on violence against women and children (VAWC) and other coordination platforms. It also established federal and regional project coordination structures and promotes alignment and synergy with ongoing interventions across the three target regions.

Under this outcome, the project strengthens the availability and use of evidence on CRSV by analyzing existing data on the needs of women and girl survivors, contributing to prevalence data generation including the Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey, and improving administrative data systems. This includes strengthening the Crime Registration Information Management System (CRIMS) and supporting service providers to improve case documentation and administrative data.

As the project is scheduled to conclude in February 2027, an independent final evaluation will be undertaken in accordance with the Project Document. The evaluation will assess the project’s overall results, relevance, efficiency, sustainability, and higher-level intended and unintended results, while identifying key achievements and challenges encountered during implementation. It will also take a forward-looking approach, drawing lessons learned to provide practical recommendations for future programming, potential scale-up. The evaluation will follow a participatory approach, engaging key stakeholders, including implementing partners, government counterparts, and community members.

The evaluation should follow the guiding documents for evaluation at UN Women, including the Evaluation Policy, Evaluation Chapter of the Programme and Operation Manual (POM), the Global Evaluation Reports, Assessment and Analysis System (GERAAS) evaluation report quality checklist, the United Nations System-Wide Action Plan Evaluation Performance Indicator (UN-SWAP EPI) and the UN Women Evaluation Handbook. These documents serve as the frame of reference for the Evaluation Manager and the evaluation consultant(s) for ensuring compliance with the various requirements and assuring the quality of the evaluation report 

To conduct an independent endline evaluation of the project “Addressing the Effects of Conflict Related Sexual Violence in Ethiopia”. The assignment will have the following specific objectives,

• Assess the relevance and coherence of the project to stakeholders, including rights holders and duty-bearers with respect to project design and implementation.
• Assess the effectiveness and efficiency of the approaches implemented in attaining the intended results and any potential unintended consequences.
• Assess the integration of human rights and the gender transformative approach in design and implementation; and
• Identify and document high level results achieved during the implementation of the programme
• Produce lessons learned and issue actionable recommendations for further iterations of the project or similar programming to ensure sustainability

The evaluation will apply the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Development Assistance Committee (DAC) evaluation criteria of relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, and sustainability as well as the additional criterion of human rights and gender equality by addressing the key evaluation questions

• Relevance: To what extent did the intervention respond to the priorities and needs of rights holders and duty bearers? 
• Coherence: How well did the intervention complement national policies, UN frameworks and related interventions?
• Effectiveness: To what extent were intended outcomes achieved, and what factors enabled or constrained achievement?
• Efficiency: Were resources, partnerships and implementation approaches used appropriately to achieve results?
• Sustainability: Which results and institutional changes are likely to continue after project support?
• Impact/contribution: What significant intended and unintended changes can plausibly be associated with the intervention?
• Gender equality and human rights: To what extent did the intervention address structural barriers, exclusion and unequal power relations? To what extent have gender and human rights considerations been integrated into the programme design and implementation?
• Forward-looking: What should be retained, changed, scaled or discontinued in a possible future phase?

Under the overall guidance and supervision of the Programme Specialist on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls and the Monitoring Evaluation & Reporting Officer, the national consultant will be required to carry out the following tasks,

• →Develop a roadmap and inception report outlining the key steps in the evaluation and the methodology of undertaking the evaluation
• →Conduct a desk review of relevant key documents including but not limited to international, regional and national legal and policy frameworks relevant to the project, United Nations Sustainable Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF), UN Women’s Strategic Note project documents, project narrative reports, partner reports 
• →Facilitate initial consultations with UN Women teams responsible for the implementation of the project to gather background information and develop the initial frameworks for the evaluation
• →Collect primary data from key stakeholders including the donor, key implementing partners, and beneficiaries in the form of surveys, key informant interviews or focus group discussions 
• →Analyze the primary and secondary data in line with the objectives and key questions of the evaluation to identify findings, conclusions, and recommendations as detailed in the evaluation report.
• →Draft reports from all consultations with staff and external stakeholders,
• →Draft the first version of the evaluation report
• →Facilitate the validation workshops with stakeholders
• →Incorporate the comments from validation sessions with external stakeholders 
• →Submit final evaluation report
• →Take on any other task that may come up and are essential for the successful endline evaluation

The evaluation will employ a mixed-methods approach, integrating both quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis techniques. Quantitative data will be obtained through the review and analysis of project reports, administrative records, and service delivery data. Qualitative data will be collected through Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) with relevant stakeholders, partners, service providers, and project beneficiaries across the intervention areas. In addition, case studies and success stories will be documented to capture the experiences, outcomes, and lessons learned from the project.

The evaluation will utilize both primary and secondary data sources to ensure comprehensive assessment and triangulation of findings. The consultant will be responsible for developing and presenting a detailed methodology, sampling approach, data collection tools, and analytical framework as part of the inception report.

• Inception report 
• Report on the consultations with various stakeholders 
• First draft of the evaluation report
• Facilitation of validation workshop with stakeholders
• Final endline evaluation report 

This is a home-based consultancy (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia) with possible travel to regional states (Afar- Chifra and Semera, Amhara- Bahirdar and Tigray- Axum) and within Addis Ababa. 

• Integrity;
• Professionalism;
• Respect for Diversity.

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues;
• Accountability;
• Creative Problem Solving;
• Effective Communication;
• Inclusive Collaboration;
• Stakeholder Engagement;
• Leading by Example.

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Values and Competencies Framework: 

• Strong commitment to gender equality and women’s empowerment. 
• Strong organizational skills and self-direction; 
• Ability to prioritize and work under pressure with colleagues at all levels; 
• Strong communication and interactive facilitation skills; 
• Have excellent analytical, writing and synthesis skills; 
• Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multiethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.
• Demonstrate an ability to produce quality results on time outsourced and work under pressure. 
• Experience in similar evaluation assignment 

• Masters degree in gender, human rights, development studies, sociology, demography, economics, law or other relevant disciplines is required;
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree. 

• A minimum of 7 years of experience in evaluation conduct, with at least 3 years as a Team Leader of evaluations, including evaluations of multi-stakeholder projects for multilateral organizations is required;
• Extensive knowledge of qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods is required;
• Extensive experience of gender-transformative approaches, gender equality, women’s economic empowerment and human rights work within development cooperation preferred
• Proven experience in drafting and writing to produce and present concise and analyzed evaluation reports;
• Experience working with the UN system is a strong asset;

• Fluency in Amharic and English is required.

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.

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.