Vietnam: Expert in Women’s Economic Empowerment & Disaster Risk Reduction

Background and Purpose of Evaluation The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) was created in January 2011 with the goal of contributing to the achievement of gender equality and women’s empowerment[1]. UN Women has an integrated mandate focused on normative, operational and coordination work.[2]  The UN Women Independent Evaluation and Audit Service (IEAS) evaluates the work of UN women to enhance organizational accountability, provide evidence-based information for decision-making and to contribute to learning on gender equality and the empowerment of women.  IEAS is currently undertaking a Country Portfolio Evaluation of the UN Women Viet Nam Country Office that is expected to be initiated in March 2020 and completed by October 2020 . Country Portfolio Evaluations (CPEs) are systematic assessments of the contributions made by UN Women to development results with respect to gender equality at the country level.The UN Women Viet Nam Country Office (VCO) programme of work is guided by its current Strategic Note 2017 - 2021, which is aligned to UN Women’s Strategic Plan[3]. The office’s total budget for the period of 2017 - 2020 is US $10,074,301. VCO has maintained a focus on 2 primary Outcome Areas: Outcome 4. All women and girls live a life free from all forms of violence (EVAW), and Outcome 3. Women have income security, decent work and economic autonomy (WEE) with a focus on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). The office also coordinates gender equality efforts with CSOs and among UNCT agencies, government and development partners, and provides high-level policy advice and technical guidance for government bodies to implement and report on national and international gender equality commitments.The CPE will look backwards at the contributions and lessons learned about how UN Women has contributed to GEEW in Viet Nam, and forwards to support decision-making and positioning for the future work of the office. The scope of the evaluation is currently being finalized in consultation with the offices involved and may change. Duties and Responsibilities An evaluation team is now being established to design and conduct this evaluation.  The Independent Evaluation Service’s (IES) Regional Evaluation Specialist (RES) for Asia and the Pacific will be the Team Leader and manager for the evaluation. The RES will be supported by a consultant team, consisting of National/International Thematic Experts and an Evaluation Analyst Consultant. It is a priority for UN Women that the CPE will be gender-responsive and will actively support the achievement of gender equality and women’s empowerment. It will adhere to UN Women’s Evaluation Policy and UNEG Norms and Standards[1] and Ethical Guidelines[2].[1] UNEG, “Norms and Standards for evaluation”, 2016, available online at: http://www.unevaluation.org/document/detail/1914[2] UNEG, “Ethical guidelines”, 2008, available online at: http://www.unevaluation.org/document/detail/102UN Women is seeking to appoint one National Evaluation Consultant with thematic experience in Women’s Economic Empowerment &/or Disaster Risk Reduction to support the conduct of the evaluation, particularly the case studies. The National Evaluation Consultant will be responsible for ensuring that contextual information on Viet Nam has been well understood and articulated, using adequate tools, methodological design, and engagement with stakeholders. Deliverables and schedule for paymentThe National Expert in Women’s Economic Empowerment & Disaster Risk Reduction is an integral member of the team and is expected to support the entire CPE process. The work of the consultant will be primarily home-based and will thus need to connect with the team via online communication platforms.  Payment will be made in two instalments of equal value made upon satisfactory receipt and approval of the deliverables. Comptencies Core Values:

  • Respect for Diversity
  • Integrity
  • Professionalism
Core Competencies:
  • Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
  • Accountability
  • Creative Problem Solving
  • Effective Communication
  • Inclusive Collaboration
  • Stakeholder Engagement
  • Leading by Example

Background
Background and Purpose of EvaluationThe United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) was created in January 2011 with the goal of contributing to the achievement of gender equality and women’s empowerment[1]. UN Women has an integrated mandate focused on normative, operational and coordination work.[2]  The UN Women Independent Evaluation and Audit Service (IEAS) evaluates the work of UN women to enhance organizational accountability, provide evidence-based information for decision-making and to contribute to learning on gender equality and the empowerment of women.  IEAS is currently undertaking a Country Portfolio Evaluation of the UN Women Viet Nam Country Office that is expected to be initiated in March 2020 and completed by October 2020 . Country Portfolio Evaluations (CPEs) are systematic assessments of the contributions made by UN Women to development results with respect to gender equality at the country level.The UN Women Viet Nam Country Office (VCO) programme of work is guided by its current Strategic Note 2017 - 2021, which is aligned to UN Women’s Strategic Plan[3]. The office’s total budget for the period of 2017 - 2020 is US $10,074,301. VCO has maintained a focus on 2 primary Outcome Areas: Outcome 4. All women and girls live a life free from all forms of violence (EVAW), and Outcome 3. Women have income security, decent work and economic autonomy (WEE) with a focus on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). The office also coordinates gender equality efforts with CSOs and among UNCT agencies, government and development partners, and provides high-level policy advice and technical guidance for government bodies to implement and report on national and international gender equality commitments.The CPE will look backwards at the contributions and lessons learned about how UN Women has contributed to GEEW in Viet Nam, and forwards to support decision-making and positioning for the future work of the office. The scope of the evaluation is currently being finalized in consultation with the offices involved and may change.[1] http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us[2] As defined in the UN Women Strategic Plan: Normative work: to support inter-governmental bodies, such as the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) and the General Assembly, in their formulation of policies, global standards and norms, as well as the translation of these norms at country level; Operational work: to help Member States to implement international standards and to forge effective partnerships with civil society; and Coordination work: entails work to promote the accountability of the United Nations system on gender equality and empowerment of women (GEEW), including regular monitoring of system-wide progress, as well as more broadly mobilizing and convening key stakeholders to ensure greater coherence and gender mainstreaming across the UN. 

Duties and Responsibilities
An evaluation team is now being established to design and conduct this evaluation.  The Independent Evaluation Service’s (IES) Regional Evaluation Specialist (RES) for Asia and the Pacific will be the Team Leader and manager for the evaluation. The RES will be supported by a consultant team, consisting of National/International Thematic Experts and an Evaluation Analyst Consultant. It is a priority for UN Women that the CPE will be gender-responsive and will actively support the achievement of gender equality and women’s empowerment. It will adhere to UN Women’s Evaluation Policy and UNEG Norms and Standards[1] and Ethical Guidelines[2].[1] UNEG, “Norms and Standards for evaluation”, 2016, available online at: http://www.unevaluation.org/document/detail/1914[2] UNEG, “Ethical guidelines”, 2008, available online at: http://www.unevaluation.org/document/detail/102UN Women is seeking to appoint one National Evaluation Consultant with thematic experience in Women’s Economic Empowerment &/or Disaster Risk Reduction to support the conduct of the evaluation, particularly the case studies. The National Evaluation Consultant will be responsible for ensuring that contextual information on Viet Nam has been well understood and articulated, using adequate tools, methodological design, and engagement with stakeholders. Deliverables and schedule for paymentThe National Expert in Women’s Economic Empowerment & Disaster Risk Reduction is an integral member of the team and is expected to support the entire CPE process. The work of the consultant will be primarily home-based and will thus need to connect with the team via online communication platforms.  Payment will be made in two instalments of equal value made upon satisfactory receipt and approval of the following deliverables:
      Deliverables                                  ActivitiesProposed        deadline for  payment
1Data collection and analysisTranslate data collection tools from English to Vietnamese and support the data collection in Viet Nam with the Team Leader including interviews, focus groups and site visits/observations (some will be remotely conducted while the possibility of in-country data collection will be assessed as the process moves forward). This may require interpretation from Vietnamese to English during the meetings.May 31 2020
2Thematic Case Studies Provide inputs to two case studies: a) Women’s Economic Empowerment and Disaster Risk Reduction; and b) reaching ethnic minority groups through UN Women’s work. This will include desk based analyses, literature review and data collection primarily through interviews.June 15 2020
3Review evaluation productsReview all key products of the evaluation and provide feedback to ensure Viet Nam contextual information is accurately captured and appropriately tailored approaches are employed; and provide expert advice on the area of WEE and DRR:
  • Inception presentation, including Theory of change and stakeholder analysis
  • Data collection tools
  • Preliminary findings PPT
  • Draft report
October 30 2020
All data collected by the evaluation consultant must be submitted to the evaluation manager in Word, PowerPoint or Excel formats and is the property of UN Women.  Proper storage of data is essential for ensuring confidentiality and should be in line with UN Women Policy on data management and security. The evaluation report will also need to follow the United Nations Editorial Manual, which can be found here. The Evaluation Manager (Regional Evaluation Specialist) and peer reviewers will quality assure the evaluation report against UN Women Evaluation Report Quality Assurance (See Annex 1). All products submitted by the consultant are subject to quality review; the draft and final evaluation report will be shared with the evaluation reference group, and the evaluation management group for quality review. All data collected through the evaluation is property of UN Women.ANNEXESAnnex 1 UN Women GERAAS evaluation quality assessment checklistAnnex 2 UN Women Evaluation Consultants Agreement FormAnnex 3 UNEG Norms and Standards for evaluation
 

Competencies
Core Values:
  • Respect for Diversity
  • Integrity
  • Professionalism
Core Competencies:
  • Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
  • Accountability
  • Creative Problem Solving
  • Effective Communication
  • Inclusive Collaboration
  • Stakeholder Engagement
  • Leading by Example
Ethical code of conductUN Women has developed a UN Women Evaluation Consultants Agreement Form for evaluators that must be signed as part of the contracting process, which is based on the UNEG Ethical Guidelines and Code of Conduct. These documents will be annexed to the contract. The evaluation’s value added is its impartial and systematic assessment of the programme or intervention. As with the other stages of the evaluation, involvement of stakeholders should not interfere with the impartiality of the evaluation. Additionally, if the evaluator(s) identify issues of wrongdoing, fraud or other unethical conduct, UN Women procedures must be followed and confidentiality be maintained. 

Required Skills and Experience
The National Evaluation Consultant is expected to be able to demonstrate evidence of the following experience and capabilities:
  1. Master’s degree in a field of relevance for the evaluation (i.e. Social Sciences, Evaluation, international affairs).
  2. At least 3 years of work experience in an research, evaluation, audit, reporting and/or monitoring area that required strong organizational skills.
  3. Thematic knowledge in women’s economic empowerment, disaster risk reduction, inclusion of ethnic minorities in Viet Nam.
  4. Proven work experience in data collection including interviews and/or focus group discussions
  5. Experience in contributing to gender-responsive evaluation or experience in gender analysis and human-rights based approaches an asset.
  6. Excellent ability to communicate with stakeholders.
  7. Added asset is knowledge of the role of UN Women or the UN system and its programming, coordination and normative roles at the regional and/or country level.
  8. Proven work experience and knowledge of Viet Nam is required
  9. Language proficiency in English and Vietnamese required
  10. Vietnamese national candidates only.
Application procedureInterested consultants can submit the following documents to hr.bangkok@unwomen.org :
  1. CV and UN Women P11
  2. Letter of motivation with professional fee (daily or lump sum) based on the deliverables listed above
  3. Writing sample
  4. List of 3 professional references that can be contacted