Consultant for Evaluation at UN Women | April 2024

Consultant for Evaluation of Zanzibar Gender Policy 2016 and its Plan of Action (2016-2020)

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.

The Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar in collaboration with UN Women and with financial support from the European Union Delegation has partnered to evaluate the Gender Policy 2016 – 2020 and develop the next Gender Policy 2024 – 2029.

The Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar has dedicated itself to implement, monitor, and report its implementation of various international and regional conventions, treaties, and commitments for promoting gender equality and women empowerment. These include the Declaration of the Human Rights 1948; the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW 1979); the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) 1989; the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination in Employment and Occupation (1958); the Convention on Equal Remuneration for Work of Equal Value (1951); the Beijing Platform for Action 1995; ICPD Plan of Action 1994; the Convention on Workers with Family Responsibilities (1981); The protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights on the right of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol,2003) and the Convention on Maternity Protection (2000). The Millennium Declaration of 2000 emphasized the role of the UN on human rights by declaring the Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment objective for UN member states and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which have specific goal number 5 on Gender equality and women empowerment as well as mainstream gender in all its remaining goals. At the regional level, URT recognizes the regional commitments as set in the provisions of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (1981), Declaration on the HIV/AIDS Epidemic at the XI International Conference on AIDS and STDs in Africa (1999), Women’s Declaration and Agenda for a Culture of Peace in Africa adopted at the close of a Pan African Conference in Zanzibar, 1999 and Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACPHR) on the Rights of Women in Africa. Another important declaration is the SADC Declaration on Gender and Development (1997), which binds member countries to implement affirmative actions to promote female participation in politics. At the country level, the Zanzibar Constitution of 1984 declares equal rights of men and women, and equal access to social, economic, and development opportunities.

To ensure GEWE commitments are achieved, the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar established the national machinery mandated for overall GEWE coordination which is currently the Ministry of Community Development Gender Elderly and Children (MCDGEC). Amongst its key obligations is to monitor and report on progress on the implementation of the RGoZ commitments under various GEWE resolutions and instruments. 

With technical and financial support from UN Women and the European Union Delegation, the MCDGEC plans to evaluate the Gender Policy 2016 – 2020 and develop the next Gender Policy 2024 – 2029 as an overarching gender mainstreaming framework. The Zanzibar Gender Policy guides gender mainstreaming in all spheres of life in Zanzibar.

The Policy underscores and emphasizes the need to mainstream gender issues in all national, sub-national and sectoral policies, programs, plans, and budgets as well as promoting gender equity, equality, and women empowerment as essential accelerators for promoting social justice, peace, economic growth, and sound management of all sectors.

This partnership is part of the EU Framework in Tanzania that aims at embracing Gender Equality and Women’s empowerment as one of the main priorities, singing a unique initiative called “Gender Transformative Action: Breaking the Glass Ceiling” targeting both Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar.

Furthermore, the evaluation of the Gender Policy is critical to be better aligned with national priorities as articulated in Vision 2050, emerging Global and Regional commitments, and agreements such as CSW agreed conclusions; At national levels, some changes have happened in terms of national Development frameworks such as the formulation of the new Vision 2050, medium development plan namely the Zanzibar Development Plan (ZADEP (2021/22-2026/27, and the National Gender Development Plan guiding the implementation of the United Republic of Tanzania Generation Equality Action Coalition Commitments especially on Women’s Economic Justice and Rights and other Action Coalitions to mention a few. Also, since 2016, some important emerging issues including COVID-19, and climate change have had disproportionate impacts and implications on gender equality and to Gender Policy. 

The Evaluation will provide information on the extent to which progress has been achieved, as well as identify challenges and emerging issues that need to be taken into consideration in the Review of the Zanzibar Gender Policy. 

The effective implementation of this assignment requires a competent consultant with an adequate understanding of the gender situation in Zanzibar and the context. He/she must have high Oversight and experience in carrying out policy, program, and project reviews, assessments, and evaluations. This assignment will be supervised under the Permanent Secretary of the MCDGEC with technical support from the Directorate of Community Development, Gender Elders, and Children with technical support from UN Women. A designated Oversight A Technical Committee will be established and composed of selected key stakeholders and gender Oversights from other MDAs, UN Agencies, DP, and CSOs to provide technical guidance and oversight to the consultant(s) throughout the process of conducting the assignment. The Oversight Technical Committee will also strengthen ownership of the process. The consultant(s) shall be ultimately accountable to the Principal Secretary (PS) of the MCDGEC for this assignment. 

Duties and Responsibilities

The main objective of this consultancy is to conduct an evaluation of the Zanzibar Gender Policy 2016 and its Plan of Action (2016-2020), including through a Literature review, Key Informants interviews, and multi-stakeholder consultations including MDAs, Academia, Media, Private Sector, DPs, CSOs, OPDs and FBOs to provide clear findings and recommendations for consideration in the Review of the Zanzibar Gender Policy to strengthen ongoing efforts towards achieving GEWE objectives in Zanzibar.

More specifically, the objectives of the review are:

1. Assess the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, coherence, and sustainability of the Gender Policy of its performance against targets set out.
2. Identify new global, regional, and national evidence and emerging issues that have influenced the implementation of the policy-related programs.
3. Assess efficiency in the utilization of resources deployed in the implementation of policy.
4. Identify achievements, best practices, challenges, and lessons learned from the implementation of Policy
5. Assess the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, coherence, and sustainability of the Gender Policy of its performance against targets set out.
6. Identify new global, regional, and national evidence and emerging issues that have influenced the implementation of the policy-related programs.
7. Assess efficiency in the utilization of resources deployed in the implementation of policy.
8. Identify achievements, best practices, challenges, and lessons learned from the implementation of Policy the Zanzibar Gender Policy and Implementation Plan.
9. Draw recommendations and conclusions that will inform the development/ Review of the next Zanzibar Gender Policy.

4.  SPECIFIC TASKS

4.1 To achieve the above objectives of the assignment, the tasks of the consultant and deliverables will include to:

4.1.1 Inception Phase

1. Conduct desk review/literature review of the available policies, programs, procedures/regulations, and reports, including global, regional, and national evidence and emerging issues that have influenced the implementation of the Policy related programs such as the Zanzibar Constitution, Parliamentary Reports, national budgetary allocations, policy guidelines, and legal frameworks pertinent to gender equality institutionalization, mainstreaming and implementation in the country.
2. Develop an inception report that demonstrates an understanding of the assignment, methodology/tools/checklist, stakeholders, and work plan and present it to the Oversight Technical Committee and officials responsible for coordinating the review of the Gender Policy, including the Gender Mainstreaming Technical Working Group (GMTWG).
3. Incorporate comments and present for the approval of the Final Inception Report, including revised tools, for the evaluation of the Gender Policy/ Methodology and Review tools/checklists to the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Community Development Elderly and Children.

4.1.2 Data Collection, Analysis and Reporting

1. Lead National Government Ministries, Regional and LGAs consultations in both Unguja and Pemba / key-informant interviews National, Regional and LGAs consultations in both Unguja and Pemba using the agreed methodology, checklists, and tools including to assess stakeholders’ institutional and technical capacity, coordination, partnership building, resource mobilization.
2. Conduct selected stakeholders’ consultations including UN agencies, development partners, autonomous agencies, non-governmental organizations/ civil society organizations, law enforcement agencies, the Judiciary, gender focal persons, private sector representatives, and media representatives.
3. Identify gender issues, challenges, and emerging issues that have been addressed by Zanzibar Gender Policy (2016) and its Plan of Action (2016-2020) in alignment with regional and global normative frameworks and national development priorities articulated in Vision 2050 and ZADEP.
4. Identify good practices, lessons learned/achievements, and gaps/challenges from the Zanzibar Gender Policy and its Plan of Action (2016-2020).
5. Develop a Draft Zanzibar Evaluation report that Incorporates all issues raised from the evaluation process according to the Gender Policy theme detailing the main findings from the evaluation of the Zanzibar Gender Policy and its Plan of Action (2016-2020) and recommendations to be considered in the Reviewed/next Gender Policy.
6. Share Draft Evaluation report /preliminary findings and recommendations with the Oversight Technical Committee; and the Gender Mainstreaming Technical Working Group (GMTWG) for feedback and inputs.
7. Organize and facilitate National multistakeholder consultative meetings including the Gender Mainstreaming Technical Working Group (GMTWG) to present and Validate the Draft Evaluation Report of the Zanzibar Gender Policy Evaluation and its Plan of Action (2016-2020) Plan
8. Incorporate inputs from national multistakeholder consultative meetings into the Draft Evaluation Report of the Zanzibar Gender Policy (2016) and its Plan of Action (2016-2020)
9. Present a Revised draft Evaluation report to the Oversight Technical Committee and the selected stakeholders for feedback and input.
10.  Submit the final Evaluation Report of the Zanzibar Gender Policy (2016) and its Plan of Action (2016-2020) to the Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Community Development, Gender, Elders, and Children in both soft and hard copies to inform the drafting of the Reviewed Gender Policy.
11. Prepare minutes and activity reports from all consultative meetings and workshops at National, Regional, and LGA levels.
12. Develop and submit a Zanzibar Gender Policy evaluation process report that describes the entire evaluation process, a list of stakeholders consulted, a matrix of all stakeholders’ comments obtained throughout the evaluation; challenges encountered, and lessons learned.

5.0 Deliverables

The deliverables of this assignment will include:

1. Draft and Final Inception Report with detailed work plan, methodology, tools, roles, responsibilities, and time frame.
2. Literature Review Report detailing the main findings of relevant international, regional, and national documents, reports, and instruments, including the Zanzibar Constitution, Parliamentary Reports, national budgetary allocations, policy guidelines, and legal frameworks pertinent to gender equality institutionalization, mainstreaming, and implementation in the country.
3. Multi-Stakeholders’ Consultations Report to provide the main findings of in-depth consultations with key stakeholders (including, but not exclusive to, all relevant Government ministries and local government bodies, Members of the House of Representatives, the Gender Mainstreaming Technical Working Group, UN agencies, Development partners, autonomous agencies, professional organizations,  and non-governmental organizations/ civil society organizations, law enforcement agencies, the Judiciary, gender focal persons, relevant, and private sector representatives).
4. Draft Evaluation Report of the Zanzibar Gender Policy and its Plan of Action (2016-2020) on preliminary findings and recommendations.
5. Final Evaluation report of the Zanzibar Gender Policy and its Plan of Action (2016-2020).
6. Zanzibar Gender Policy evaluation process report that describes the entire evaluation process, a list of stakeholders consulted, a matrix of all stakeholders’ comments obtained throughout the evaluation; challenges encountered, and lessons learned.

The consultant will carry out the assignment for an overall period of workdays over three months i.e. from 01 May 2024 to August 2024.

The consultant will sign the contract which will provide the consultancy details including the responsibilities, consultancy remuneration, modality of payments, and logistical arrangements during the assignment.

Payments will be made upon submission and acceptance of specified deliverables and submission of an invoice as follows:

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

This is a home-based consultancy.

As part of this assignment, there will be several travels to Pemba Island.

The effective implementation of this assignment requires a competent consultant with an adequate understanding of the gender situation in Zanzibar. He/she must have high expertise and experience in carrying out policy, program, and project reviews, assessments, and evaluations. This assignment will be supervised under the Permanent Secretary of the MCDGEC with technical support from the Directorate of Community Development, Gender Elders, and Children with technical support from UN Women. A designated      Technical Committee will be established and composed of selected key stakeholders and gender experts from other MDAs, UN Agencies, DP, and CSOs to provide technical guidance and oversight to the consultant(s) throughout the process of conducting the assignment. The Technical Committee will also strengthen ownership of the process. The consultant(s) shall be ultimately accountable to the Principal Secretary (PS) of the MCDGEC for this assignment.  

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 

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies:  

https://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment/application-process#_Values 

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES: 

• Strong technical knowledge and expertise in Gender Equality and Women Empowerment at all levels.
• Outstanding technical knowledge and experience in the development of Capacity capacity-building government plans.
• Outstanding writing skills, with proven ability to meet tight deadlines.
• Communicates sensitively, effectively and creatively.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Advanced degree in gender and development, social science, development studies, planning, monitoring and evaluation, or related fields.
• A project/program management certification would be an added advantage.

Experience:

• At least 5 years of progressively responsible work experience development of Gender-related policies.
• Proven experience in review, assessment, and evaluation work in a development context and proven success in leading reviews of policies and programs, preferably related to gender.
• Experience in the development of the Results Framework of the plan is required.
• At least 10 years’ experience in assessing gender equality, women’s empowerment, human rights, and related policies and programs will be an added advantage.
• Knowledge of the governance, policy development on gender equality, and women empowerment context within Zanzibar is an asset.
• Ability and experience in interacting with people from diverse backgrounds.
• Excellent analytical skills with a strong drive for results and capacity to work independently.

Languages:

Fluency in English and Swahili is required.

Submission of application:

• Personal CV and  Form P11 (P11 can be downloaded from: HERE
• A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page)
• Managers may ask (ad hoc) for any other materials relevant to pre-assessing the relevance of their experience, such as reports, presentations, publications, campaigns, or other materials.

Kindly note that applications without a completed and signed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for  assessment.