National Consultant to Conduct the End-of-Project Evaluation of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Project

Background:

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.

This consultancy will support the final evaluation of the project “Women lead and benefit from sustainable and inclusive peace and security” implemented from 2022 - 2026. The project aimed to reach 27,000 direct beneficiaries and 2,160,000 indirect beneficiaries across 15 conflict prone districts across 6 regions of Uganda as below:

• Northern Region: Lira, Dokolo, Kitgum; 
• West Nile: Adjumani, Yumbe, Terego; 
• Eastern: Mbale, Kapelebyong;
• Karamoja Region: Moroto, Kotido, Napak;
• Western Region: Kasese, Kabarole, Kyegegwa;
• Central Region: Wakiso. 

The evaluation will assess the achievement of the project’s goal which was to ensure that Uganda has inclusive and accountable governance systems and women are empowered, engaged, and enjoy human rights, peace, justice, and security. The project outcomes include: 1) By 2026, Women participation in enhancing social cohesion and reducing interethnic conflicts increased; 2) Increased participation of women in reduction of violent extremism; 3) By 2026, Women, including young women participate in preventing and mitigating natural and human made disasters; 4)Systems and structures for the implementation and coordination of the Third National Action Plan Women Peace and Security (NAP III WPS) strengthened. 

The project design was informed by the following Theory of Change.

If (1) women increasingly participate in enhancing social cohesion, reducing interethnic conflicts and election related violence; (2) If there is increased participation of women in reducing violent extremism; (3) If more women participate in preventing and mitigating natural and human made disasters; and (4) If coordination systems and structures for both state and non-state actors are strengthened, then (5) women will enjoy inclusive human rights, peace, justice, and security because (6) evidence shows that women are key drivers of peace and security and including them in peace processes has proven to lead to more lasting peace and stable societies.

The WPS Project, which is in its final year of implementation, has been implemented through Responsible Parties Women’s International Peace Center (WIPC), Coalition for Action on 1325 (COACT) and the Ministry of Gender Labour and Social Development (MGLSD). In line with the project requirements and the UN Women evaluation policy, an end of project evaluation is to be conducted to assess the performance of the project. The purpose of this independent end term evaluation is to assess the project’s achievements against the set objectives, identify and document lessons learnt (including design, lessons and best practices that can be up-scaled or replicated), and assess how the project contributed to gender equality and the advancement of the Women Peace and Security agenda in Uganda and in particular the targeted districts. 

Purpose of the evaluation:

The UN Women Evaluation Policy is the main guiding document that sets forth the principles and organizational framework for evaluation planning, conduct and follow-up in UN Women. These principles are aligned with the United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG) Norms and Standards for Evaluation in the UN System. The key principles for gender-responsive evaluation at UN Women are: 1) National ownership and leadership; 2) UN system coordination and coherence with regard to gender equality and the empowerment of women; 3) Innovation; 4) Fair power relations and empowerment; 5) Participation and inclusion; 6) Independence and impartiality; 7) Transparency; 8) Quality and credibility; 9) Intentionality and use of evaluation; and 10) Adherence to UNEG ethical guidelines in data collection. 

It is a priority for UN Women that this endline project evaluation will be gender-responsive and will actively support the achievement of gender equality and women’s empowerment, with emphasis on UN Women’s key areas central to increasing women’s participation in advancing the women peace and security agenda.   

The primary intended users of this evaluation are:

• Staff in target Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies, District Local Government and CSOs; 
• Target beneficiary communities/groups incl