Iraq: Consultant, Women and Girls Rebuilding Iraq Project

Jun 13, 2021 | Oxfam
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Oxfam is a confederation of 20 independent charitable organizations focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International. It is a major nonprofit group with an extensive collection of operations.

Background

Following Iraq’s military victory over ISIS in December 2017, efforts to rebuild a shattered country and to re-establish the rule of law have been underway. But general insecurity continues. The reconstruction efforts have been carried out amid sporadic attacks by ISIS, socio-economic instability and pre-existing vulnerabilities, especially in the Disputed Territories of Iraq, where ethnic, political and sectarian divides have long affected social cohesion. Despite these constraints, the humanitarian context in Iraq has gradually transitioned into a new phase allowing humanitarian actors to plan and implement recovery and development interventions addressing community reconciliation, resilient livelihoods, as well as participation in governance structures and decision-making. The situation of many women and girls requires a particular attention. The crimes committed by ISIL have left deep psychological scars on many women and their families. Displaced women continue to suffer sexual and gender-based violence in both in-camp and out-of-camps settings even while the military offensive by ISIL is over. Despite some progress in the legislative protection of women’s equal rights, most of the women in Iraq are affected by long-term social, economic and political exclusion exacerbated by deeply entrenched patriarchal values held by a large proportion of the population.

Women and Girls Rebuilding Iraq

The intervention entitled by Women and Girls Rebuilding Iraq implemented by OXFAM in Iraq contributes to shaping policy, decision-making mechanisms and peacebuilding processes at multiple levels with the specific objective to ensure women and girls play a significant role in the new rehabilitation and development agenda. The initiative is working with women and girls in Kirkuk and Diyala governorates, both of which have endured a protracted conflict. Part of the project also takes places at national level involving public policy engagement and advocacy on women and girls' rights. The project is implemented in cooperation with Women Rights Organizations (WROs) promoting transformative leadership in formal and informal governance structures. The initiative seeks to engage 9,000 vulnerable women and girls in Iraq. In addition, 40 men and boys from local communities are to be trained to act as role models for progressive masculinities. They will act as change agents in shifting attitudes and practices that hinder women’s equal rights.

Two intermediate outcomes have been envisioned for the project:

• Increased active participation of women and girls in public decision-making processes as transformative leaders.
• Improved social and political environment for the effective participation of women and girls in government structures.
• Four immediate outcomes include the following:
• Increased access to leadership roles for women and girls in governance structures and better inclusion of women’s and girls’ needs and interests
• Increased support by community members, community leaders, and other opinion influencers (media, academia, practitioners, etc.) on women’s and girls’ participation in governance structures and decision-making processes
• Increased capacities of WROs to engage with decision and policy makers and design gender-responsive policies integrating women’s and girls’ needs and interests
• Increased skills of WROs to design and implement gender-responsive programming and advocacy to support women’s and girls’ voices

The project works at 3 levels:

• Micro: individual capacity building and community engagement (involving both women and men);
• Meso: working with WROs and women’s right defenders to improve the wellbeing of women and girls;
• Macro: work with opinion formers and policymakers for increased active participation of women and girls in governance structures.

Project status as of May 2021

The inception period took place in the first six months of the project. The COVID 19 pandemic affected the initial implementation in Year 1 requiring the team to request a 6-month No Cost Extension (NCE). As per NCE, the end of the project is expected in June 2022 with a 3-month closeout period ending in September 2022. The final evaluation will take place during the closing period. In term of the activities undertaken in Year 1 (March 2019 – March 2020), the Project Implementation Plan was developed and validated by the donor in January 2020. Several studies were carried out in Year 1 including: a study on barriers for women and girls to participate in governance and decision-making; a study on social norms and masculinities; a gender analysis; an outline of recommendations based on the Northern Iraq Livelihoods Assessment report; and adaptation of the Gender Action Learning Systems (GALS) methodology. These outputs contributed to rolling out awareness-raising sessions for women and girls at the micro-level along with community dialogues, awareness-raising sessions for men and boys, and GALS sessions. At the meso level, the project supported the capacity building of two implementing partners focusing on partners’ capacity to engage in gender justice programming. Activities at the macro-level related to policy-related outputs. The second phase of Women and Girls Rebuilding Iraq will be implemented in the context of the planned parliamentary elections scheduled for October 2021.

Objectives of the Mid-term Evaluation

The main objective of the mid-term evaluation is to systematically review the overall progress of the first phase of the project towards the project’s outcomes and provide recommendations on the overall design of the project, modifications, and specific actions that might be taken into consideration in the remaining period of the project.

Specifically, the consultant will:

1. Identify and assess the project progress against the intermediate and immediate outcomes as outlined in the project logic model.
2. Review the indicators and update the midline qualitative and quantitative values in the Performance Measurement Framework (PMF).
3. Apply Development Assistance Committee (DAC) methodology as the evaluation criteria: relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability, coherence and impact to assess the project’s progress and recommend measures to improve the project’s implementation processes and its partnerships in order to meet project goals.
4. Assess efforts of stakeholders in support of the implementation of the project
5. Examine the extent to which the project has impacted the intended beneficiaries.
6. Assess the likelihood of sustainability of the project outcomes and provide recommendations to strengthen the project’s sustainability.
7. Identify best practices, lessons learnt and strategic recommendations that are emerging from the project.

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