PROJECT EVALUATOR USING OUTCOME HARVESTING METHODOLOGY (CONSULTANTS OR COMPANIES)

Project Title: Provision of essential reproductive health and sexual and gender-based violence information and services to vulnerable migrants and host community members, particularly women and youth, in Tunisia

Expected Start Date: 15 October 2021

Expected end date: 20 December 2021

Overview

UNFPA Tunisia is planning to hire an evaluator to support the Migration project team to conduct an external end-of-project evaluation of the “Provision of essential reproductive health and sexual and gender-based violence information and services to vulnerable migrants and host community members, particularly women and youth, in Tunisia” project funded by the Italian Government, and its contribution to improving migrants experiences in Tunisia, about their SRHR and care for GBV victims. The evaluation includes a review of internal and external documents, interviews with key actors and interveners, partners, project team, collaborators, and main representatives of rights holders. The evaluation will also seek the input of the donor, stakeholders, and other relevant actors.

1. Mission scope

UNFPA has been leading for the last two years an Italian-funded project in 6 regions of Tunisia: Greater Tunis, Tataouine, Gafsa, Sousse, Sfax, and Médenine. The project aims at improving migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees’ access to quality services and adapted care on SRH and GBV;

The project intended to achieve 3 results:

1. Migrants with increased vulnerabilities, especially women and youth, have better access to quality sexual and reproductive health information and services

2. The delivery of national and local health and protection services is strengthened and improved to provide quality, safe, timely, and accessible SRH and GBV services to vulnerable groups of migrants, especially women and youth

3. Strengthening the capacity of national institutions to collect and use data and statistics on mixed migration to develop informed policies for better migration management

2. Purpose and objectives of the evaluation

The evaluation aims:

a) To assess project activities and results, and develop recommendations for UNFPA and its partners on improving programming for migrants and vulnerable communities in Tunisia

b) To assess whether the resources and partnerships deployed were adequate, sufficient, and relevant to the anticipated outcomes

c) To define UNFPA’s role in hastening the intended change and amongst the network of actors

d) To assess the intended and unintended outcomes of the project and to determine the level of the project’s contribution to these outcomes

e) To identify practices and lessons learned for further programming purposes

3. Key evaluation questions

a) For monitoring and evaluation of project activities and results:

▪ How the activities have been planned and implemented?

▪ How the set of targets have been defined?

▪ Which activities have/haven’t been carried out? If not, why?

▪ How the context and the national environment had affected (positively or negatively) the activities implemented? The timeline? And the outputs?

▪ Have the project outputs and outcomes been achieved following the stated plans?

▪ Are the project participants being reached as expected? Are they satisfied with the project activities? Are activities tailored to their needs?

▪ What activities have worked? Why? What was the outcome?

▪ What activities haven’t worked? Why?

▪ Is the project in line with donor priorities?

▪ Are the project activities and outputs consistent with the intended objectives and outcomes?

▪ Were the resources deployed sufficiently and adapted to the expected results?

▪ How did monitoring mechanisms at UNFPA contribute to the outcomes?

▪ How did UNFPA Tunisia contribute to the overall results of the project? How did the partners and beneficiaries perceive UNFPA’s leadership role?

b) For assessing the intended and unintended outcomes of the project

▪ Who was involved in or benefitted from this project? How?

▪ Are the outcomes identified significant to the project context? Did they stand valid and pertinent throughout the project’s lifetime?

▪ How has the project contributed to each outcome? Who else has contributed to these changes?

▪ How much did the project activities contribute to the outcomes?

▪ What are the major factors influencing the achievement of the project’s outcomes?

▪ What were the changes observed at the duty bearers’ level? Are these changes sustainable to contribute to anchoring the outcomes?

▪ How did the established partnerships contribute to the project’s outcome?

▪ Were there any unexpected (negative or positive) outcomes?

c) For identifying lessons from the project’s contribution to improving migrants and vulnerable communities access to quality SRH and GBV services and care

▪ Will the benefits generated by the project continue once external support ceases?

▪ How local institutions did support the project and if the project was well integrated into social and cultural structures?

▪ How was the project aligned to, or supportive of, national strategies? And to UNFA strategy?

▪ How useful have the implemented initiatives been in strengthening the capacity of migrants and CSOs involved in care provision for migrants?

▪ During the development and implementation of the initiatives, what could have been done better?

▪ What are the recommendations for improving the sustainability of the project impact?

▪ What is the added value and comparative advantages of this project particularly vis à vis other UN agencies in the framework of UNSDCF

4. Evaluation methodology

UNFPA Tunisia aims at using the outcome harvesting evaluation approach; to detect changes and document the project’s possible added value to these changes. The focus on outcome harvesting aims to underline the significance of the actions taken on the rights holders and the environment where we operate.

5. The process

▪ Review the project documents: progress reports, notes, research, data collection, and other relevant documents

▪ Conduct interviews and Focus group discussions with rights holders, duty bearers, local actors, national and regional partners, influencing groups and individuals, to verify the outcomes, measure the contribution, and identify other relevant and intended outcomes. Conduct interviews with the project team to ponder on the identified outcomes, the challenges, and the lessons taken

▪ Collect best practices and lessons learned to be featured in the final report.

The outcome harvesting and data collection methods should be described in the methodology note; as it is a key assessment parameter of the application.

6. Evaluation outputs

The expected outputs are:

● Final methodology/work plan produced and shared with UNFPA Tunisia (20/10/2021)

● Data collection tools and protocol validated by the project team (25/10/2021)

● Interviews and focus groups organized according to an approved plan by UNFPA Tunisia [01/11/2021 – 30/11/2021]

● Draft evaluation report submitted to UNFPA and its partners. (01/12/2021)

● The final evaluation report, in English and no longer than 20 pages (excluding annexes), taking into account feedback and remarks, is submitted. (15/12/2021)

7. Timeframe

The final report should be submitted to UNFPA Tunisia no later than December 15, 2020. The effective working days payable by UNFPA Tunisia should not exceed 23 days.

8. Tasks and responsibilities

● In close collaboration with the technical committee in charge of monitoring the evaluation process, the applicant is required to:

● Develop the methodology and work

● Develop the evaluation matrix and working tools

● Present the working tools to the technical committee and adapt them accordingly.

● Conduct interviews with service providers, rights holders, and actors deemed to be resourceful and relevant to the mission purposes.

● Conduct interviews and focus groups according to a sampling and selection plan

● Develop an interim report to be validated by the technical committee

● Prepare and facilitate an internal workshop to present the results of the evaluation

● Prepare a final report after integration of the committee feedback

9. Qualifications, Skills, and Attributes Required

● Significant experience designing and leading evaluations and/or reviews based on outcome harvesting, including a demonstrable understanding of qualitative and participatory approaches

● Strong experience and communication skills to facilitate interviews (including remotely), with a range of actors

● Demonstrable experience of producing high-quality, credible reports in English

● Excellent written and verbal communications skills in English

● Sound knowledge of North Africa Migrations contexts and, highly desirable knowledge of Tunisia’s context

● Fluency in French and preferably in Arabic