MID-TERM EVALUATION OF THE ENGENDERING

GOVERNANCE TO PROMOTE PEACE AND SECURITY

IN ZIMBABWE

Inception Report

Submitted to UN Women Zimbabwe Country Office

By

George Zimbizi
(International Development Consultant)

June 2022

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List of Acronyms
AWLN African Women Leaders Network
CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women
MSC Most Significant Change Story
PACRWC Protocol to the African Charter on the Rights of Women in Africa
SADC Southern Africa Development Community
SDGs Sustainable Development Goals
UN United Nations
UN Women United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women
WPP Women Political Participation
WPS Women Peace and Security
ZUNDAF Zimbabwe United Nations Development Assistance Framework

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CONTENTS

List of Acronyms................................................................................................................................................... ii
1. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................................. 1
1.1 Purpose of the Inception Report .............................................................................................................. 1
1.2 Women, Peace and Security Context ..................................................................................................... 1
1.2 Project Background and Context ............................................................................................................ 2
1.3 Purpose of the Mid-Term Evaluation....................................................................................................... 3
1.4 Specific Objectives of the Evaluation ...................................................................................................... 3
1.5 Scope of the Evaluation ............................................................................................................................ 5
1.6 Guiding Frameworks and Principles ....................................................................................................... 5
2. METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................................................................. 5
2.1 Evaluation Design and Approach ............................................................................................................ 5
2.2 Stages in the Evaluation Process ............................................................................................................ 6
2.3 Sources of Data and Collection Methods ............................................................................................... 7
2.3.1 Desk/Literature Review ...................................................................................................................... 7
2.3.2 In-Depth Key Informant/Stakeholder Interviews ............................................................................. 7
2.3.3 Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) .................................................................................................... 8
2.3.4 Case Studies and Most Significant Change Stories ...................................................................... 9
2.4 Data Analysis .............................................................................................................................................. 9
2.5 Validation, Presentation and Dissemination ........................................................................................... 9
2.6 Data Quality Assurance Measurers ......................................................................................................... 9
3. ETHICS ............................................................................................................................................................ 10
4. ORGANISATION AND MANAGEMENT OF THE EVALUATION .............................................................. 11
5. WORK PLAN ................................................................................................................................................... 12
6. Annexes .......................................................................................................................................................... 13
Evaluation Matrix.............................................................................................................................................. 13
Data Collection Tools ........................................................................................................................................ 13

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1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Purpose of the Inception Report

UN Women Zimbabwe Country Office has engaged an independent consultant to conduct a Mid-Term
Evaluation of the “Engendering governance to promote peace and security in Zimbabwe” project
implemented from 2029 to 2023. This inception report is the first output of the evaluation assignment.
The purpose of this Inception Report (IR) is to articulate and communicate the consultant’s
understanding of the context, purpose and scope of the assignment and to provide an overview of the
proposed approaches, methods and tools that will be employed during the Mid-Term evaluation. The IR
outlines the methodological approach, scope, methods of data collection, data analysis, team
responsibilities, work schedule and deliverables for the evaluation. The inception report is informed by
the terms of reference and an inception meeting held between the consultant and UN Women project
staff on the 30th of May 2022. The IR will be used as an agreed framework and reference document for
undertaking the mid-term evaluation.

1.2 Women, Peace and Security Context

As articulated in the Terms of Reference, Zimbabwe has ratified key international and regional human
rights instruments that protect women’s rights and seek to address gender inequalities including: the
Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Protocol to
the African Charter on the Rights of Women in Africa (PACRWC) and the Southern Africa Development
Community (SADC) Gender and Development Protocol. However, Zimbabwe is yet to fully domesticate
these norms and standards into domestic laws.

Zimbabwe has also adopted and endorsed UN Security Council Resolutions on Women, Peace and
Security (including resolutions 1325, 1820, 1888, 1889, and 1960). Despite the adoption of these WPS
resolutions by the Government of Zimbabwe, there is limited knowledge and awareness of these
instruments by both government institutions and civil society organizations. This has resulted in little
effort to mainstream and integrate these provisions in key national development strategies, policies and
laws. All these instruments call for greater participation by women in all areas of decision-making,
including peace processes and security matters, and for effective protection of women from all forms
of gender-based violence.

At national level, Zimbabwe has a progressive national normative framework on gender equality in the
form of the 2013 National Constitution, The National Gender Policy (2017) and Implementation Strategy
(2019), the National GBV Strategy as well as sectoral gender policies and strategies. Despite having
such a progressive normative framework the major challenge has been lack of effective implementation
of the normative framework which has resulted in perpetuation of gender inequality in all spheres of the
Zimbabwean society. Women are still underrepresented in decision making positions in the public
despite constitutional provisions on gender parity in all decision making positions. Women constitute
only 31% of Members of Parliament (House of Assembly) and 44% of Senate. Women representation
at local government level is at a low of 14%. More worrying is the fact that women representation has
actually been decreasing over the last two election seasons despite special temporary measures
implemented at national parliament level to have reserved seats for women.

The decreasing trend in WPP needs to be arrested by supporting women so that they can participate
competitively in the coming 2023 national elections. Under this project AWLN Zimbabwe will therefore
work together with the Zimbabwe Gender Commission, the Women in Local Government Forum and
other national stakeholders to provide support to women political candidates and those in office through
trainings, peer-support and high-level stakeholder engagements in addition to advocating for the full

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implementation of the Zimbabwean Constitution and regional and international frameworks that the state
is party to.

Participation of young women in political and leadership positions is also severely limited in Zimbabwe
due to a myriad pf barriers including gender based discrimination, gerontocracy, lack of knowledge and
awareness of political rights, lack of resources to fund elections, sexual harassment and exploitation,
electoral related gender based violence and patriarchal attitudes and practices of political parties.
Although in 2020 the Government of Zimbabwe gazetted Constitution Amendment Number 2 with a
provision for special measures to increase youth representation in parliament by having 10 reserved
seats in the national assembly, there is scepticism if this provision will be implemented given challenges
in the implementation of the women’s quota. To address this lacuna of young women representation in
the National Assembly, AWLN Youth Caucus will engage in advocacy work and engage duty-bearers
for increased representation of young women leaders through the development of a Youth Participation
Strategy which will identify key entry points to address challenges hampering young women’s
leadership. The AWLN Youth Caucus will support the implementation of the UNSCR2250 &
UNSCR1325 by providing the Mentorship Fellows with practical experiences through internships with
organizations and ministries which together comprise the national peace architecture.

1.2 Project Background and Context

With funding support from the Embassy of Ireland in Pretoria, UN Women is implementing a four year
project (2020-2022) entitled “Engendering Governance to Promote Peace and Security in Zimbabwe”.
The purpose of the project is to build on UN Women’s previous work on women’s political participation,
leadership and women, peace and security (WPS) in Zimbabwe which supported the establishment and
work of the African Women Leaders Network (AWLN) Zimbabwe Chapter.

When the project started, it was aligned to the then Zimbabwe United Nations Development Assistance
Framework (ZUNDAF 2016-2021), which outlined development priorities of the development
partnership between the Government of Zimbabwe and the UN System in Zimbabwe. ZUNDAF was
subsequently replaced by the new development framework called United Nations Sustainable
Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) which was introduced to align with Sustainable
Development Goals (SDG) Agenda 2030. The project was realigned with the UNSDCF, particularly with
its pillar on Peace and Security. The project also contributes to the UN Women global Flagship Projects
on Women’s Political Empowerment and Leadership and Women Peace and Security, the Sustainable
Development Goals, 5 and 16 and UN Security Council Resolution 1325, specifically the participation
pillar.

Lessons from UN Women’s previous work have shown that effectiveness in advancing the WPS agenda
is hinged upon sustained engagement with and support to national stakeholders in the implementation
of international, regional and national gender equality commitments coupled with knowledge generation
and dissemination. It is in this context that the project is focusing on:

• Capacity development of national institutions that are key in the implementation of the APS
agenda
• Providing continued support to the African Women Leadership Network (AWLN) Zimbabwe
Chapter.

The support to the AWLN from 2020-2022 has resulted in positive results which include i) the localization
of high-level regional and global processes on women on women’s rights and gender equality, ii)
awareness raising on opportunities and gaps in women’s leadership as per the constitutional
amendment and legislative reforms iii) the launch of an intergenerational mentorship project iv)

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promotional segments on national radio and television v) activities under the 16 Days of Activism on
Gender-Based Violence and lastly vi) participation in regional and AWLN Global Events.

The implementation of the project has ignited renewed commitments towards the finalisation and
operationalisation of the National Action Plan (NAP) for the WPS agenda in Zimbabwe. Through the
AWLN initiative, commemorations of 20th and 21st Anniversaries of the UNSCR1325 made
recommendations towards operationalisation of the NAP through supporting the drafting and the
development of the NAP for UNSCR1325; development of a legislators guide or Handbook for
Parliamentarians to promote an appreciate of the UNSCR1325; creating recognition for the roles of
young people in peace processes by contributing to the development of a roadmap for the realisation
of a strategy on Youth Peace and Security in Zimbabwe. The project also supported the assessment of
WPP in local government by analysing the existing electoral system, use of special temporary measures
and the issue of women’s local government quota.
The project has also facilitated the training of media personnel on gender sensitive reporting for women
in politics to address the reporting biases that act as barriers to women political participation. The project
aims to achieve its objectives through collaborations with UN agencies, particularly UNDP, government
agencies, academic institutions, civil society and the private sector.
Discerning from the Theory of Change of the project, the following are the key objectives of the project:
(a) To support young and senior women, and particularly those left behind, to effectively and
meaningfully participate in national processes
(b) To sufficiently leverage the leadership of women in governance and peace building
processes at all levels
(c) To enhance the capacity of governance institutions to implement the WPS agenda

1.3 Purpose of the Mid-Term Evaluation

As outlined in the Terms of Reference, the overall purpose of the evaluation is to assess progress
towards achievement of goals and objectives of the Project at national level against the standard
DAC/OECD criteria of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability and outcome since its inception
in June 2020. The evaluation further aims to adjust the result framework of the project based on
concrete recommendations to respond to the changes in the context, availability of funds and to ensure
effective result measurement for the rest of the project implementation period.

The evaluation is also expected to identify lessons learned, good practices, and factors that
facilitated/hindered achievement. Through this, it aims to contribute to accountability, learning and
decision-making including practical recommendations to inform the management and coordination of
project implementation leading towards the final evaluation and other related initiatives on women's
participation in leadership and governance.

1.4 Specific Objectives of the Evaluation

The specific objectives of the mid-term evaluation are couched from the DAC/OECD evaluation criteria
of Relevance, Effectiveness, Efficiency, Sustainability and Impact. Below are the objectives of the
evaluation under each evaluation criteria

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Evaluation Criteria Objectives
Relevance • To assess the extent to which the Project has been conceptualised, planned and
designed to respond to national, regional and international normative frameworks for
gender equality and women’s empowerment.
Effectiveness • To assess progress in achieving planned project goal, outcomes and outputs stated
in the project document, any intended and unintended effects on gender equality,
women’s rights, including the use of innovative approaches.
• To assess whether the project reached the targeted beneficiaries at the project goal
and outcome levels and the extent to which the project generated positive changes
in the lives of targeted and untargeted in relation to issues of project addressed by
this Project? What are the key changes in the lives of those women?
• To assess the replicability of the Project at national scale, the ownership of the Project
by the government and the contribution of the Project in building the capacity of the
government to drive the gender equality and women’s rights. The evaluation will also
assess the contribution of the Project in strengthening the capacity of partners in
complementing government efforts and collaboration.
Efficiency • To measure how economically the project resources/inputs were converted to
results; considering inputs and outputs i.e. assessing value for money and
management of the budget. The evaluation will assess whether the Project’s
strategies and interventions deliver Value for money. Document examples of cases
in the project where Value for money successes and/or failures are evident.

Sustainability • To assess sustainability of results as well as document the strategies that have been
put in place to ensure sustainability of results. The evaluation will assess the
possibility of continuation of benefits accrued to date from the project intervention
and recommend any other strategies for sustainability based on lessons learned from
other projects and evaluations. The evaluation should consider the following
dimensions of sustainability:
• To assess sustainability of the results given the level of ownership generated,
effective partnerships established, and capacity strengthened through processes.
The evaluation should assess the strategies which have been put in place by UN
Women and partners to enhance sustainability and document or present any best
practices from within the project or other similar projects.
• Community level sustainability – assess ownership, participation and inclusion of
national duty-bearers and rights-holders.
• Scaling up for sustainability - The evaluation should ascertain the possibility of scaling
up of the interventions in Zimbabwe.
• Sustainability challenges and mitigatory strategies – the evaluation should identify
possible challenges that might affect sustainability of the project and suggest
solutions to overcome them.

Project Outcomes and Impact • To identify and document any key contributions and added value of short term and
long term intended and unintended, positive and negative effect of the project.
• To document the benefits of the project to society.
• To document the Most Significant Changes (MSC), if any brought by the Project to
date.

UN Women’s technical and • To review how adequate, efficient, effective and responsive UN Women is in
resource management, achieving the technical and resource management role for the project.
coordination role in the
delivery of the Project
Gender Equality and Human • To assess how gender and human rights considerations been integrated into the
Rights project design and implementation.
• To review how attention to/integration of gender equality and human rights concerns
advanced the area of work?

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1.5 Scope of the Evaluation

The evaluation has a national level focus and will be conducted in June 2022. Stakeholders of the project
that will participate in the evaluation include UN Women, relevant government ministries and
departments, chapter 12 commissions, CSOs participating in the project and the direct beneficiaries of
the project.

Programmatically, the evaluation will assess progress towards achieving expected results, measured
against the revised log frame, which will be compared with the original one to identify changes that have
been made and the reasons for instituting those changes and document lessons learnt from that
process. The evaluation will also identify and document any short term and intermediate results
achieved as a result of the project as well as progress towards achieving project outcomes by the end
of the project implementing period.

1.6 Guiding Frameworks and Principles

The UN Women Evaluation Policies and United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG) guidelines on
Integrating Human Rights and Gender Equality in evaluation and the UNEG Ethical Guidelines for
evaluation will be the guiding frameworks that will be applied in this evaluation. The following principles
will be adhered to during the evaluation: Do No Harm, national ownership and leadership; fair power
relations and empowerment; participation and inclusivity; independency and impartiality; transparency;
quality and credibility; and innovation.

2. METHODOLOGY

2.1 Evaluation Design and Approach

This evaluation will be undertaken through an exploratory and multipronged approach. Qualitative and
quantitative research methods will be employed and both primary and secondary data will be collected.
The Project document and specifically the logical framework (outlining the key and intermediate
outcomes, indicators/ baseline and targets, lead implementing agency, other implementing partners,
activities and inputs) will form the bedrock for this evaluation. The evaluation will also make use of the
Project Results and Monitoring Framework for clear indications on the expected results and indicators.
In line with the UNEG Handbook for Integrating Human Rights and Gender Equality Perspectives in
Evaluations in the UN System, a gender-responsive and human rights based approach will be applied
throughout the evaluation process. This will include analysing the extent to which the project’s
interventions and programming approach are based on international human rights standards (including
CEDAW). The extent to which the project is operationally directed to promoting and protecting human
rights will also be examined, including the degree to which the project’s strategies, design and
implementation seek to analyse inequalities and redress discriminatory practices and unjust
distributions of power that impede development progress.
The evaluation will be utilization focused and will be conducted in a transparent, inclusive and
participatory manner. Key stakeholders of the project (including direct beneficiaries such as young and
older women, differently abled women, poor and marginalised women) will participate at the different
stages of the evaluation process and will be provided with an opportunity to express their perspectives
about the project. At national level, project stakeholders will be actively involved in the evaluation as key
informant interviewees and during the validation of the evaluation findings and recommendations. Direct
and indirect beneficiaries of the project will participate in Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), Case
Studies and Significant Change Stories using participatory methodologies to capture their perceptions
on project performance.
The evaluation ethos will be influenced by the Inclusive Systemic Evaluation (ISE) approach, which takes
into cognizance the fact that development interventions are riddled with complexity, uncertainty and

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intersectionality of different social relations, social actors and variables that make it difficult for an
evaluation to establish linear causal relationships of a program’s inputs on one hand and outputs and
outcomes on the other.
The ISE approach moves away from the idea of conducting evaluations primarily for accountability
against specific results towards viewing each intervention as an opportunity for learning how to influence
desired social change for gender equality, sustainability, human rights, peace, etc. Systemic evaluation
is designed to assess the interconnectedness between elements operating within social structures.
Systemic evaluation asks questions to capture the results of an intervention, the changes it produced
and find profound opportunities for learning and empowerment. In systemic evaluation fashion, the
evaluation will look beyond the logic model or results framework of the project, and assess emergent
outcomes (whether positive or negative, planned or unplanned) in addition to the intended outcomes
and predetermined project goals. The evaluation will also be based on the principle of reflexivity and
circularity. In terms of reflexivity, there will be internal after-action reviews following each stage of the
process as well as continuous consultation with stakeholders throughout the evaluation process.
Circularity entails multiple rounds of participation and validation and learning.
Disaggregated data will be sought and used by the evaluation team wherever possible and lists of
evaluation stakeholder participants will also be disaggregated throughout the evaluation process.

2.2 Stages in the Evaluation Process

The evaluation process will consists of the following six stages.

1. Preparation: UN Women will facilitate this stage through preparation of project documents and
sharing them with the consultant. Initial contact with key people in the project will be established
and UN Women will facilitate logistics for the inception meeting and presentation of the
Inception Report by the consultant.

2. Review of Documents: The consultant will review project documents to enhance a deeper
understanding of the project background, scope, objectives, implementation arrangements,
implementation strategies and emerging results. Information gathered through the document
review process will inform the development of the inception report. The review process will
assist in portfolio and stakeholder analysis as well as in establishing the boundary of the project
as well as that of the evaluation.

3. Inception Meeting and Report: an Inception Meeting will be held between Un Women and the
consultant. At this inception meeting, the consultant will present the Inception Report for
validation and approval. The purpose of the inception meeting is to establish a common
understanding of the terms of reference and to agree on the methodological approach, tools
and timeframe of the evaluation.

4. Data collection: this phase will involve implementation of the evaluation methodology as outlined
in the inception report. Data will be collected through desk review, key informant interviews,
FGDs, MSC stories and case studies. Briefing notes will be developed, summarizing the main
findings of the evaluation and these will be discussed with stakeholders as part of the validation
process during de-briefing sessions.

5. Data Analysis: this phase entails analysing all the data gathered during the evaluation using the
agreed data analysis frameworks and methods. The analysis will, amongst other things,
triangulate data from different sources for validity and reliability and utilize human rights and
gender analysis frameworks. Any existing data gaps will be identified and additional data
collection and analysis needed will be proposed. A preliminary findings paper will be developed
and presented to stakeholders and inputs from stakeholders will be noted and meetings will be
organized to follow up on some of the outstanding issues raised during the results presentation.

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 6. Reporting: A draft report, synthesizing findings from the data collection phase will be developed,
incorporating comments from the presentation of preliminary findings session. The draft report
will be shared with UN Women for comments. A final report, cognizant of comments and input
from stakeholders, will be submitted to UN Women.

2.3 Sources of Data and Collection Methods

Appropriate methods of data collection and data sources, relevant to the needs and purpose of each
data collection phase, will be deployed. The evaluation will employ a mixed-method or a pluralist method
approach to integrate data from different data gathering methods. Use of mixed methods and gender
and human rights responsive approaches not only offer diverse perspectives to the evaluation but also
promotes participation of different groups of stakeholders, allows multiple voices to be heard, provides
a more holistic picture of the project being evaluated and allows for triangulation of data for reliability
and validity as data from different sources can be compared and any inconsistencies followed up on.
Data from multiple sources provide means to develop defendable conclusions about the evaluation.

Data for the evaluation will be gathered using the following methods:

2.3.1 Desk/Literature Review

A repository of project documents will be developed. The evaluation will review all project documents
to have an in-depth understanding of project background and context, goal and objectives,
implementation framework and approach, expected outcomes and milestones that the project has
achieved so far vis-à-vis what was planned as well as challenges encountered. Project documents to be
reviewed will include the following:

A list of relevant documents will be compiled and approved by UNDP during the inception meeting.
• Concept Note
• Project proposal
• Mid-Term Assessment Report
• Annual and quarterly reports
• AWLN background documents and reports
• Donor Reports
• Minutes of meetings
• Other relevant documents

2.3.2 In-Depth Key Informant/Stakeholder Interviews

In-depth interviews with key stakeholders and key informants will be conducted to solicit their views on
key focus areas of the evaluation relating to relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, impacts, inclusiveness
and sustainability of the project as well as the extent to which the project has contributed towards the
United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) outcomes. Interviews
with key informants from key institutions will also assist in institutional assessments to determine the
extent to which the capacity of the relevant institutions to implement WPS obligations has been
enhanced by the project. In-depth interviews will further provide an opportunity for the stakeholders to
propose recommendations for future interventions on WPS.

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The purpose of engaging key stakeholders during the evaluation is to enable stakeholders to be part of
the evaluation process as participants for ownership of results, validation and accountability. Key
informants will be selected on the basis of their strategic positions, participation and knowledge of the
project and will be interviewed using a semi-structured question guide. The sample selected for
individual interviews will adequately reflect diversity of stakeholders of the intervention and will be
informed by a stakeholder analysis. Key informant interviews allow for personal interaction between the
evaluator and the interviewee, offer an opportunity for the evaluator to ask more profound questions,
provide an opportunity for the key informant to elaborate on unclear information gathered through desk
review and provides a platform for people to speak more freely. Key informants will be interviewed
through face to face interactions, and where this is not feasible, virtually through telephone or online
platforms such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, etc.

Key informants to be interviewed will include the following:

2.3.3 Focus Group Discussions (FGDs)

FGDs will be conducted with the direct and indirect beneficiaries of the project. The purpose of the
FGDs will be to listen and capture the voices and perspectives of the beneficiaries of the project in terms
of implementation processes, main achievements, weaknesses, challenges and the impacts it has had
on the beneficiaries in general and the WPS landscape in particular. Participants will be asked to reflect
on the questions asked by the interviewers, provide their own comments, listen to what the rest of the
group have to say and engage in a conversation. The strategy is to elicit ideas, insights and experiences
in a social context where people stimulate each other and consider their own views along with the views
of others.
FGDs will be held with small groups of between 8-10 project participants. The FGDs will be conducted
by at least two people, a moderator and a note taker. The moderator will be responsible for guiding the
discussion while the note taker will be responsible for recording the interviews on a voice recorder or
taking notes. The FGDs will take approximately one and a half hours for each group. The number of
FGDs to be conducted will be finalized in consultation with UN Women. An FGD guide has been
developed and is attached in the annex of this IR.

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2.3.4 Case Studies and Most Significant Change Stories
In-depth discussions with individual project participants will be conducted to provide specific case
studies that capture the micro-impacts of the project at individual level. The case studies will capture
the before and after scenario and identify most significant changes that have occurred to these
individuals or groups of beneficiaries resulting from their participation in the project. The case studies
will help support some of the generalised findings of the evaluation. The case study voices will be
captured in narrative formats for distribution to stakeholders and targeted audience for the study. Case
studies capture the voices of project participants in a manner that provides vivid pictures of project
impact. The participants for case studies will be identified with the assistance of local key stakeholders
and beneficiaries participating in the FGDs. Case studies will be selected on the basis of their ability to
vividly demonstrate change that has largely been influenced by the project. Focus will also be on
significant changes that occurred to beneficiaries as a result of their participation in the project and the
factors that were central to making that change happen. A story telling guide has been developed as a
tool for collecting the case study stories.

2.4 Data Analysis

The evaluation will gather both qualitative and quantitative data. Qualitative data will be gathered from
desk review, key informant interviews and FGDs. Quantitative data will mainly emerge from programme
reports summarizing expenditure, outputs and programme quantitative results.

The consultant will take notes and where possible record discussions with interlocutors. Data analysis
will be ongoing throughout the data collection process, taking a sequential data analysis approach, as
the consultant familiarises with emerging themes. A thematic framework will be developed which will
identify the key issues, concepts and emerging themes from the data. Data collected from all sources
will be entered into the thematic framework under the relevant evaluation criteria and relevant question
to ensure data is clustered according to the question it answers. For each question, the data will be
analysed using content analysis to draw meaningful conclusions from the qualitative data

Quantitative data emerging from programme and other related literature will be analysed using statistical
packages such as SPSS or excel. The analysis will be mainly descriptive as it will focus on perceptions,
resource use and project reach.

2.5 Validation, Presentation and Dissemination

The findings of the evaluation will be validated with different stakeholders through de-briefs and
validation workshops where the results of the evaluation will be presented to key stakeholders at
beneficiary, sub-national and national levels. At beneficiary levels, the evaluators will summarise and
read back to the FGD participants the key emerging issues from the discussions and get validation on
whether the issues are a true reflection of what emerged from the discussion. At sub-national and
national levels, debriefs with key stakeholders will be conducted. A dissemination and validation
workshop will be held at national level to present the findings of the evaluation. This workshop will be
attended by key stakeholders representing the different implementation levels of the programmes,
including representatives of beneficiaries.

2.6 Data Quality Assurance Measurers

By employing mixed methods and gathering data from different data sources, evaluation findings will
be triangulated for consistency, validity and reliability. Triangulation is a process for comparing,
contrasting, verifying and substantiating various views and perspectives on information. Mixed methods

9
seek to overcome the bias that comes from single informants, single methods, single observer or single
theory studies1. Data gathered using one method will be compared and triangulated with that collected
through another method as a data quality assurance measure. Triangulation will focus on 1) values or
perspectives on the meaning of change; 2) facts, findings and evidence of change, and 3) boundary
analysis2.

Standardized tools for the evaluation have been developed and these will be piloted tested by the
evaluators before the evaluation process. Pre-testing and Pilot-testing of the research process and tools
will be done as a quality assurance measure to assess the feasibility of using the proposed evaluation
methodology and tools and validity of tools. This will allow for the refining of the evaluation methodology,
tools and evaluation process before commencement of actual field work.

Evaluators will ensure a high level of data security. All data collected shall be kept securely by evaluation
team members to ensure that it is not accessed by people who are not authorized to access it. At the
end of each mission, evaluators will go through their data and “clean” it by dealing with any errors that
occur during writing, reading, storage, transmission or processing of data. The data cleaning process
will check for validity, reliability, completeness, integrity, precision, timeliness.3

3. ETHICS

The evaluation will be guided at all times by the UNEG Ethical Guidelines and the UNEG Code of
Conduct for Evaluation in the UN System. Obligations of the evaluators will include the following:

a) Independence and Impartiality.

The evaluation team will remain impartial and independent from UN agencies and other key
stakeholders of the programme at all times. Evaluation judgments will be independent, based on clearly
articulated reasons and supported by solid evidence.

b) Credibility

The consultant shall ensure that the evaluation process will be credible and based on reliable data and
observations.

c) Honesty and Integrity

The consultant will ensure that the entire evaluation process is based on honesty and Integrity.
d) Accountability
The consultant shall be accountable for the completion of the evaluation as agreed with UN Women.
e) Confidentiality

The evaluation team shall respect stakeholders’ right to provide information in confidence and make
participants aware of the scope and limits of confidentiality. Evaluators shall ensure that sensitive
information cannot be traced to its source so that the relevant individuals are protected from reprisals.

f) Respect for Dignity and Diversity

Evaluators shall: Respect differences in culture, local customs, religious beliefs and practices, personal
interaction, gender roles, disability, age and ethnicity, and be mindful of the potential implications of
these differences when planning, carrying out and reporting on evaluations, while using evaluation

1
United Nations Evaluation Group, 2014: Resource Pack on Joint Evaluations.
2
Reynolds, Martin (2015). (Breaking) The iron triangle of evaluation. IDS Bulletin, 46(1) pp. 71–86
3
UNAG, 2014

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instruments appropriate to the cultural setting; Keep disruption to a minimum while needed information
is obtained, providing the maximum notice to individuals or institutions they wish to engage in the
evaluation, optimizing demands on their time, and respecting people’s right to privacy.

g) Informed Consent and Assent

Verbal informed consent will be obtained from each research participant who is above 18 years. For
participants below 18 years, consent from the parent/guardian will be obtained, after which an assent
will be obtained from the adolescent.

h) Avoidance of Harm.
Evaluators shall seek to: minimize risks to, and burdens on, those participating in the evaluation; and
seek to maximize the benefits and reduce any unnecessary harms that might occur from negative or
critical evaluation, without compromising the integrity of the evaluation.
i) Accuracy, Completeness and Reliability

The evaluation team will ensure that evaluation reports and presentations are accurate, complete and
reliable.

j) Transparency
The evaluation team shall clearly communicate to stakeholders the purpose of the evaluation, the criteria
applied and the intended use of findings.

4. ORGANISATION AND MANAGEMENT OF THE EVALUATION

To ensure independence of the evaluation team, UN Women M&E Team in the CO and the Regional
Evaluation Specialist will manage the evaluation. The Management Group which is the Programmes
Steering Committee is the decision-making body with the responsibility of approving reports i.e. the
inception report and the evaluation report. Management Group TORs will guide the work of the
Evaluation Management Group. The management Group will include:
• Country Representative or Deputy Country Representative
• Evaluation Manager
• Regional Evaluation Specialist

An Evaluation Reference Group will provide support for the evaluation at the technical level. They will
review and provide comments to the inception report and the draft report. The Reference Group
members will provide comments on the inception report and draft report either through meetings or
online via email communications. The role of the group will not lead to influencing the independence of
the evaluation, but rather to ensure a robust and credible evaluation process and ensure the use of the
evaluation findings and recommendations through formalized management responses and associated
action plans.

The members of the Reference Group will be:

• UN Women programmes staff
• National government partners
• Development partners/donors
• Gender Results Group
• Civil society advisory group
• Evaluation Manager
• Regional Evaluation Specialist

The consultant will provide weekly updates on progress to the reference group.

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 5. WORK PLAN

Activity Date
Kick-Off meeting 30 May 2022
Review of documents & Inception Report 31 May-2 June 2022
Review of Inception report by UN Women 3 June-8 June 2022
Participatory Focus Group Discussions with AWLN members 9 June 2022
Key Informant Interviews and FGDs with project beneficiaries 10 June-16 June 2021
Draft Report writing 17-19 June 2022
Submission of Draft Report 20 June 2022
Review of Draft Report by UN Women 21-24 June 2022
Validation workshop 27 June 2022
Final report writing incorporating comments from validation meeting 28 June 2022
Final report submission 29 June 2022

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6. ANNEXES

Evaluation Matrix

Evaluation
Matrix.docx

Data Collection Tools

KII Tool.docx

Focus Group
Discussion.docx

MSC Story
Guide.docx

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