Consultant Gender Justice Programme Evaluation

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Type of Contract: Individual Contract
Duration: October 2019 to December 2023
Languages required: English, Arabic, French and Spanish
Duration of Contract: 40 days (including 3 days in-person meeting)
Deadline for Applications: 29 November 2022

About ACT Alliance

Alliance is the world’s largest coalition of churches and church-related organisations
engaged in humanitarian, development, and advocacy work. It consists of 144 members working together in over
120 countries, with headquarters in 73 countries, whose aim is to create a positive and sustainable change in the
lives of poor and marginalised people regardless of their religion, politics, gender, sexual orientation, race, or
nationality in keeping with the highest international codes and standards. 64% of our members are headquartered
in the Global South, 30% in the Global North, and 6% are Global members. For more details about the general work
of ACT, please refer to http://www.actalliance.org/.

Our goal is to promote a locally led and coordinated approach to advocacy, humanitarian, and developmental
issues. Gender Justice is one of the priorities identified in ACT Alliance’s current global strategy (2019 – 2026). Through
the ACT Gender Programme, ACT is also seeking to strengthen structures and processes that will deliver a strong
record of results and effective programming that respond to intersecting inequalities.

Gender Justice Programme

Challenging patriarchal or other structures of power and creating an enabling environment for gender justice requires interventions at multiple levels: societal, community, household and individual.  ACT Alliance is countering the backlash against women’s rights, including their sexual and reproductive health and rights, by creating a new narrative that positions faith-based actors and communities at the centre of a transformative process. We are working to ensure that faith actors are part of the solution. ACT Alliance is committed to ensure gender equality and identity as common values and inalienable human rights. For this reason, ACT Alliance established the Gender Justice Programme in 2019, to challenge patriarchy and other discriminatory structures of power and oppression. The programme is the first of its kind in ACT Alliance. The pilot programme is currently funded by Sida (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency) for a three-year period (2020-2023) through the Strategy for Global Gender Equality and Women’s and Girls’ Rights.

The Programme’s outcome areas & indicators:

Vision

“A world where gender equality and justice are realised as equal enjoyment of human rights, and where people
have the power to freely shape societies, faith communities and their own lives”

 

OUTCOME 1: ACT members are committed to promote changes in attitudes and structural arrangements towards a more gender just distribution of power 

1.a   # of ACT members having their own gender policy 
1.b   Internal balance of women, youth and men in boards and organizational structures of ACT Alliance members 
1.c   Conversatorios are generating actions in gender just practices of ACT members 

 
OUTCOME 2: The programmatic work contributes to gender just societies. 

2.a   % of self identified women participants and rights-holders in humanitarian, sustainable development and advocacy programmes report more gender balance and influence in decision making 
2.b   More gender just relations have contributed to improved living conditions for men, women, boys and girls in targeted areas 
2.c   The projects create spaces for joint advocacy for gender justice in the targeted country/region 


OUTCOME 3: ACT Alliance is a global progressive force for gender justice, contributing to the SDGs and connecting the national to the regional and global levels. 

3.a   # of joint advocacy initiatives at national, regional and global level 
3.b   The transformative capacity of faith to promote justice and dignity for all human beings, and for achieving women’s human rights, is highlighted in statements and events by ACT Alliance. These are referenced by other influential global actors.  
3.c Balanced global representation in ACT Alliance policy development and advocacy work on gender justice 

 
OUTCOME 4: The programme providers’ capacity and quality of gender justice interventions in the programme area are enhanced. 

4.a   % of trained participants satisfied with quality of interventions by the programme provider 
4.b   Increased number of ACT members set up programmes and apply for funding for further gender justice work 
4.c   Regional Communities of Practice on Gender Justice are actively engaged in the implementation of the programme 

The programme has identified six thematic priority areas within the larger area of gender justice which emerge
from current work experiences of ACT Alliance members around the globe.

The ACT Alliance will leverage its members’ programming in these areas through collective initiatives. The themes
are: gender-based violence, sexual and reproductive health and rights, economic justice, transformative
masculinities, family laws, and migration & displacement. These thematic priorities are underpinned in all the
outcome areas of the ACT gender programme.

1. Gender-Based Violence
2. Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR)
3. Economic Justice
4. Family Law
5. Transformative Masculinities
6. Migration & Displacement

Climate and LGBTQI+ are emerging priorities of the programme.

Background

Since October 2019, ACT Alliance receives funding from Sida to implement the Gender Justice Programme in local,
national, regional, and global environments, where gender inequalities shape lived realities, human rights are being
threatened by the rise of fundamentalisms (economic, political, and religious), and the space for civil society is
shrinking. Achievements made for women’s rights and gender justice are threatened by deep, pervasive and
relentless pushbacks at every level. In this context, religion is often used to oppose progress towards achieving
gender justice.

In the 2.5 years of implementation, the programme has created and strengthened structures, which are supporting
the alliance and our members to be public prophetic and progressive faith voices, to serve our collective vision for
gender justice. The journey is and has been challenging. Backlashes on women’s rights, growing intersecting
inequalities, and fragile contexts underlines the need to reflect on the content and the methodologies we use in
different contexts. The implementation has also been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. As we move forward,
ACT Alliance wants to evaluate and learn from the work that has been implemented so far, to see how it, together
with its members, communities of practices and forums can be catalysts for transformative change, grounded in a
prophetical diaconal feminist faith narrative and action.

Purpose of the evaluation

The evaluation and its results will contribute to the final report to the programme’s main donor, Sida, as well as
inform the development of the second phase of the programme. Therefore, the evaluation needs to look at the
impact of the programme as well as learnings that may help shape the programme in the future.

Expected results:

– An assessment of the impact of the programme outcome 2: The programmatic work contributes
  to gender just societies and, outcome 3: ACT Alliance is a global progressive force for gender justice,
  contributing to the SDGs and connecting the national to the regional and global levels.
– Identification of best practices applied in the strategic projects and advocacy
– Recommendations for how to engage with strategic projects and advocacy in the second phase of
   the programme

Scope

Rather than an overall assessment of achieved results and impact, the programme’s evaluation will focus on:

– Impact and effectiveness in outcome area 2 and outcome area 3, within the development and
   advocacy work of the ACT Alliance.
– Progressive collective voice in advocacy, enabled by faith actors, in national, regional, and global
   levels
– Faith actors’ added value, role and action in advancing gender justice

Evaluation Questions

OVERALL Question:

To what extent has the Gender Justice Programme contributed to gender just societies and to that the ACT Alliance
is perceived as a progressive faith voice in national, regional, and global advocacy and policy spaces?

The DAC criteria of Relevance, Coherence, Effectiveness, Impact, Efficiency and Sustainability are to be used as a
useful framework to identify the relevant questions. However, each criterion does not need to be given the same
weight relevance.

Relevance:
i. To what extent has the programme revealed/exhibited the transformative role of faith actors in changing social norms, related to the thematic priorities of the programme, to advance gender equality?
ii. To what extent are efforts to accelerate the positive influence of faith actors for gender equality also shaping global policy discussions?
iii. Have there been any negative results from the programme?

Coherence:
i. To what extent does the Gender programme strengthen and complement the gender justice work of other faith and secular actors?
ii. To what extent does the work of the Gender Justice programme synchronize with other programmes within ACT Alliance?

Effectiveness
i. To what extent have the identified targets been achieved?
ii. To what extent have the planned or expected results been achieved, including whether the intended population was reached?
iii. To what extent have the methodologies and structures used by the programme helped deliver regionally owned processes
and work that challenge gender norms? (CoPs, Roadmaps, Thematic Task Groups, Conversatorios)

Impact:
i. To what extent did the programme deliver Gender Transformative Approaches (GTA)
ii. To what extent has ACT Alliance supported its members to become more progressive in their advocacy on gender justice?
iii. To what extent has the programme countered the backlashes of fundamentalist movements against gender justice?

Efficiency:
i. How efficient have the strategic projects been to achieve long term behaviour change at community level?
ii. To what extent has adaptive management been used in the programme to enhance the efficiency of the programme? Have
changes been made to enhance efficiency based on lessons learnt?

Sustainability:
i. To what extent are the engagement of ACT Alliances national forums key for sustainability of the results?
ii. What are the contextual challenges that have negatively influenced the sustainability of results?
iii. What structures and procedures are now in place, thanks to the program, that can support ACT Alliance work on gender
justice in the future?

Methodology & Principles

The evaluation of the Gender Justice programme should be a gender transformative evaluation, integrating the
following perspectives in the evaluation process:

Be transformative – with opportunities for reflection and learning for all stakeholders and actors, including
the evaluator.
Be empowering – a feminist, faith/religious and rights sensitive evaluator would ensure that voices of the
less privileged are heard.
Be based on the principle of mutuality – not ‘extracting’ information, but also ‘giving back’ in terms of
sharing by the evaluator, of analysis and insights and tools gathered
Participatory – it is critical that the evaluation involves all key stakeholders and that the findings and
recommendations are owned

The ACT Evaluation Committee

An ACT Evaluation Committee will be formed to support the Evaluation team. The Evaluation Committee will be
tasked to accompany the evaluation team in understanding the structures and processes of the ACT Alliance
network, as well as provide access to all documents and information necessary for the desk review phase of the
evaluation.
The ACT Evaluation committee will be composed of representatives of the Regional Representatives (1), ACT
Gender Justice Reference Group (1), Community of Practice (1) and Gender Team from ACT and Act CoS (2).

Time frame

The evaluation shall be conducted during January-March 2023 with the submission of the final report no later than
30 April 2022.
– Interviews should be conducted in January- February 2023.
– In-person feedback and validation workshop in Bangkok (end of March 2023).
– The evaluation assignment is estimated to take 40 days over a period of 4 months.

Deliverables

The evaluation shall be presented as a written report in English, including an executive summary with main conclusions.

Deliverable and Timelines:

Inception report/ Detailed evaluation plan – The Inception report will outline the research methods and scope of the evaluation, tools that will be used such as surveys and questions for the KIIs and FGDs. This should be submitted to ACT Alliance by 9 January 2023.
Interim progress meeting – At this meeting an update on progress will be shared with the ACT Evaluation Committee
Draft report – First draft and initial results shall be presented to ACT Alliance by 20 March 2023.
Validation and Feedback workshop – In person oral presentation end of March 2023 for validation and feedback, Bangkok.
Draft final report – Final report draft shall be shared with ACT Alliance for comments and clarifications no later than 15 April before the submission of the final report.
PowerPoint Presentation/Dissemination tool – To share information about the Findings and recommendations of the Evaluation
Final Report Submitted – 30 April

Final Report

The Final Report should follow the standard 1-3-25 format:
o Start with one page of main messages
o Follow with a 3-page executive summary
o Present findings in no more than 25 pages of writing.

Further details are below:
1p – Final Recommendations (once report is finalised)
3p – Executive Summary
25p – The structure of the report is flexible but should include the following sections:
– Background to programme – Introduction to evaluation – Description of methods and process – Overview of evaluation findings – Lessons Learnt – Conclusions – Recommendations and how to apply them in the new context Include visual graphics in the report as appropriate.
XXp – Annexes as needed. To include as a minimum: – Final ToR – Inception Report. – Tools for data collection – Index, list of abbreviations

Stakeholders

The evaluation will need to engage with representatives of a variety of stakeholders. The Evaluation Team will in its
inception report proposes a plan for engaging with a selection of stakeholders to collect relevant information to
substantiate the evaluation results. 

Target GroupsFaith leaders’ members of communities involved in strategic projects Members of ACT Alliance 
Engaged members – CoP co-Chairs and participants thematic task group members advocates theologians gender justice reference group 
Staff – General Secretary Director of programmes Regional Reps, CJ manager Advocacy and Policy Dev Manager Head of Humanitarian Affairs Q&A Officer ACT UN rep Gender team 
Stakeholders – Act CoS UN WOMEN UNFPA/HLC GIN-SSOGIE LWF  WCC FEMNET Fos Feminista Red de Salud Faith to Action Faith in Beijing ILGA Government offices of Sweden and Denmark UN independent expert on SOGI Sida 
Implementing Partners/Forums – Argentina Guatemala PANZ- Solomon Island Tanzania Zimbabwe Uganda Indonesia Brazil Palestine Jordan El Salvador Honduras Peru Sierra Leone Serbia Afghanistan Pakistan Haiti 
*The list above is non exhaustive

Qualifications of the evaluator team

The evaluation will ideally be carried out by consultants meeting the following qualifications:
– Master’s degree in social sciences (sociology, anthropology, development, gender studies) or another
relevant field.
– In-depth knowledge of quantitative and qualitative evaluation techniques and methods with at least 5 years
of experience as evaluator and consultant.
– Proven experience in participatory evaluations of international development, humanitarian and advocacy
programmes and projects at global level.
– Sensitivity to cultural, religious and gender transformative issues.
– Multilingual ability (Arabic, English, French and Spanish)
– Familiarity with the ACT Alliance and ecumenical and related institutions is an asset.
– Knowledge of the multilateral system and international policy work is an asset.
– Experience of working with gender justice and faith-based actors is an asset.
We encourage applicants from diverse backgrounds, experiences, and genders.
The consultant team will be required to sign ACT Alliance Code of Conduct.

Budget and logistics

Financial Proposal
The Financial Proposal shall be presented as an amount in USD in the Proposal Submission Form in Annex 2. The
remuneration of the Candidate under the Contract shall be determined as follows:

Global price: The Candidate shall indicate in the proposal the proposed global remuneration for the performance
of the Services. The Candidate shall be deemed to have satisfied themself as to the sufficiency of the proposed
global remuneration, to cover both the fee rate, including overhead, profit, all the obligations, sick leave, overtime
and holiday pay, taxes, social charges, etc. and all expenses (such as transport, accommodation, food, office, etc.)
to be incurred for the performance of the Contract. The proposed global remuneration shall cover all obligations
of the successful Candidate under the Contract (without depending on actual time spent on the assignment) and
all matters and things necessary for the proper execution and completion of the Services and the remedying of any
deficiencies therein.

The Project is VAT Exempt, and the successful Candidate must provide a Zero VAT Invoice attached with a valid
deduction at source certificate.

Ownership and confidentiality

The evaluation and all related material are the property of ACT Alliance and can only be used by ACT Alliance or
after written permission.

How to apply

Please submit your application via email to the following address francesca.traglia@actalliance.org
by 29 November 2022. Your email should include the following title: “023-GJP Evaluation Applicant”
The Application must contain the following documents:

• Evaluation Proposal inclusive of Budget and Timeline
• CVs of Consultant Team
• 2 examples of most recent evaluations
• References for the most recent evaluations

ACT Alliance will only contact shortlisted applicants for interview.