Консультант проєкту "Лідерство жінок у надзвичайних ситуаціях (WLIE)"/ Consultant for Women Lead in Emergencies” (WLIE) project

Інші країниУкраїна, Київ

Гібридна

Проектна робота

Consultant for Women Lead in Emergencies” (WLIE) project (Zaporizhzhya).

The project will be implemented in the following hromadas (territorial communities) of Zaporizhzhia oblast: Bilenkivska, Shyrokivska, Petro-Mykhailivska, Mykhailivska, Mykhailo-Lukashivska and Kushuhumska.

Terms of Reference

Baseline, Midline and Endline Study for the project “Women Lead in Emergencies”

The purpose of this Terms of Reference (ToR) is to outline the scope, responsibilities, and deliverables for a consultant who will be responsible for conducting the baseline, midline, and endline assessments for the “Women Lead in Emergencies” (WLIE) project. The project aims to increase the participation and leadership of women's organisations, collectives and networks (formal and informal) in actions to promote peace and security, and in the design and implementation of the humanitarian response. The consultant will be expected to conduct rigorous assessments at different stages of the project to measure its progress toward achieving the desired outcomes. This consultancy offers the opportunity to work in collaboration with the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), in charge of the global comparative research for the project in the 4 countries of implementation. IDS is a world-renowned research, learning and teaching institute that works in partnership with governments, NGOs, academics and civil society to generate the knowledge, action and leadership needed for more equitable and sustainable development worldwide. The Participation, Inclusion and Social Change Working Group (Director, Dr. J. Howard) and the Humanitarian Learning Centre (Co-Director, Professor J. Allouche) and their teams specialize in applied research on gender, citizenship and participation, including participatory research in crisis and conflict situations, and operational analysis to improve humanitarian response, practice and policy, respectively.

The consultant will collaborate with IDS to co-develop the research design, jointly defining methods and tools to align with project objectives. This iterative process ensures the development of a tailored and contextually relevant research framework. The consultant’s expertise will be key in shaping the most appropriate methodologies and tools for the study. The details outlined in this Terms of Reference serve as a guiding framework and are open to discussion, ensuring flexibility and adaptability throughout the consultancy.

CONTEXT

About CARE Ukraine

As CARE, we strongly believe in the importance of localization and recognize the invaluable skills and knowledge present in the local context. By working together, we can achieve quality responses and make a lasting impact on the lives of those we serve. CARE seeks to establish long-term, sustainable partnerships with civil society organizations especially Women Led Organizations (WLOs) and Women’s Rights Organiations (WROs) that lead to more effective, locally driven, and impactful humanitarian responses, recovery, and development in Ukraine, improving the lives of the most vulnerable populations.

In the first few weeks after the escalation of the war, virtually all humanitarian aid inside Ukraine was organized and implemented by local actors. These groups (together with local authorities) remain the principal aid providers but are quickly being exhausted of funds, fuel, and physical energy. Thereby, a considerable proportion of CARE’s resources is dedicated to strengthening and supporting the capacities of local partners.

As of September 2024, CARE Ukraine has established partnerships with over thirty local/national organizations (incl. WLOs/WROs). From the more than 75 million euro that have been raised for Ukraine thus far, more than 77% is allocated to national partners. Through the activities that have been implemented so far, CARE Ukraine has been able to reach more than 1,4 million people.

While CARE Ukraine’s country office is currently located in Kyiv, we also have offices in Lviv, Dnipro, Mykolaiv and Kharkiv.

About the project

This ‘Women Lead in Emergencies’ (WLiE) project is a 4-year multi-country project, managed by CARE France in partnership with CARE Colombia, RED Nacional de Mujeres (RNM), CARE Ethiopia, ELIDA, CARE Ukraine, Safe Space, CARE Bangladesh, Jago Nari, CARE UK (WLiE technical lead) and IDS (research partner). The project aims to increase the participation and leadership of women's organisations, collectives and networks (formal and informal) in actions to promote peace and security, and in the design and implementation of the humanitarian response.

The project combines two new modalities/approaches to support women’s leadership and meaningful participation in and through humanitarian and nexus programming: AFD’s Support Fund for Feminist Organisations (FSOF) and CARE’s Women Lead in Emergencies (WLiE) programming model. Alongside these partnership and programming modalities, the programme also has a research and Learning component to generate evidence and recommendations on how aid agencies and humanitarian actors can better fund and support women’s meaningful participation and locally led humanitarian action. The ‘research and learning’ component is led by the research partner Institute of Development Studies (IDS).

The project has a total duration of 48 months, starting in August 2024 and will run until the end of July 2028.

This project is financed by the Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD) and its overall objective is to increase effective participation of WROs[1] and women’s community groups in actions to promote peace, security, and in the design and implementation of the humanitarian response.

The proposed project aims to achieve the following three complementary results:

R1. Partner women's rights organizations (WROs) increase their financial, organizational and technical capacity to actively participate in and lead actions for peace, security and humanitarian action at national and sub-national levels, through the FSOF modality.

* As part of this project, the 4 WROs selected as partners are RED Nacional de Mujeres in Colombia, ELIDA in Ethiopia, Safe Space in Ukraine, and Jago Nari in Bangladesh. Result 1 aims to strengthen the financial, organizational and technical capacities of these 4 partner WROs, so that they can implement Result 2 with community women's groups.

R2. Community women's groups strengthen their capacity to organize and participate in peace, security and humanitarian action through local replication of the WLiE model by partner women's rights organizations.

R3. CARE and women's rights organizations advocate for inclusive and gender-responsive peace, security and humanitarian action at local, national and international levels, through the strengthening of women's networks, women's practice-based learning and the evidence generated by combining the FSOF (R1) and WLiE (R2) models.

To achieve these results, the project is implementing the following activities:

A.1.1. Partnership agreements signed with selected WROs in each country

A.1.2. Payment and monitoring of subsidies to partner WROs

A.1.3. Diagnostics and mutual capacity assessment plans co-developed with partner WROs

A.1.4. Institutional strengthening of COs and partner WROs in accordance with mutual capacity-assessment plan

A.1.5. Training and support for partner WROs on fundamental humanitarian standards, the programming model and the WLiE toolbox

A.1.6. Implementation of humanitarian response activities by WROs, and monitoring and support by Cos

A.1.7. Activate contingency line before end of first WLiE implementation cycle

A.2.1. Selection of community women's groups to implement the WLiE approach by WROs

A.2.2. Conducting a Rapid Gender Analysis of Power and Participation (RGA-P) and validating it with the groups of women's groups

A.2.3. Facilitation of reflection sessions on gender, power and participation with community women's groups

A.2.4. Carry out male engagement activities to support participation and leadership and promote the transformation of gender norms

A.2.5. Development of action plans by community women's groups

A.2.6. Payment of cascade grants to community women's groups for the implementation of implementation of their action plans

A.2.7. Ongoing support for community women's groups as they implement their action plans to promote local leadership and participatory learning

A.3.1. Collaboration with a research partner to carry out the overall project study

A.3.2. Promotion of advocacy positions of partner WROs and women's groups at local, regional and national levels

A.3.3. International advocacy to promote the WLiE and FSOF models to the wider aid community

The main beneficiaries of the project will be the partner WROs and women's groups at community level, in particular :

- Presentation of in-country WRO partner

Safe Space is a well-established local women's rights organization based in Zaporizhzhia, recognised for its work in GBV prevention, gender diversity and inclusion, human rights and advocacy. The organisation was founded by displaced people in February 2022. Since then, it has rapidly developed and expanded the scope of its activities and expertise, and has become one of the key players in the protection of survivors of GBV and in cooperation between local communities and the public sector, local authorities and law enforcement agencies in Zaporizhzhia oblast.

- Presentation of WLiE women's groups in your country

10 WLiE groups will be supported in the course of the project. These groups will come from the following territorial communities of Zaporizhzhia oblast, where Safe Space operates: Bilenkivska, Shyrokivska, Petro-Mykhailivska, Mykhailivska, Mykhailo-Lukashivska and Kushuhumsk

- Presentation of engaging men approache(s) in country

Engaging men in WLiE projects is flexible and has a broad framework. Usually, the decision rests with each project partner on how they want to work with men in a specific location, based on the local context and the community they work with. This includes informational sessions for men in the community on gender norms, healthy relationships, GBV, human rights, etc., organized by the partner, sometimes together with women’s groups; and, project presentations to men in specific communities (Roma communities), and by engaging with local authotiries.

Support Fund for Feminist Organisations (FSOF)

Launched on 15 July 2020 by the President of the French Republic, the Support Fund for Feminist Organisations (FSOF) aims to support feminist civil society organisations in all their diversity with funding and capacity-building, with a particular focus on young feminist movements, recognising their role as agents of social, economic and political change.

The FSOF deals in particular with the following themes

sexual and reproductive health and rights and comprehensive sexuality education;
the fight against discrimination and gender-based and sexual violence, including the fight against harmful practices (female genital mutilation, child and forced marriage);
women's empowerment and participation in economic life;
women's social and political leadership;
girls' access to education at primary, secondary and tertiary levels;
women, peace and security agenda and the role of women in crises;
gender and climate.

Women Lead in Emergencies (WLiE)

CARE's Women Lead in Emergencies (WLiE) is a programmatic model designed to strengthen the full participation of women on the front line of fragile and volatile contexts, so that they can actively contribute to the design and implementation of projects in response to the multiple crises that affect them. It is an operational, scalable methodology that enables CARE to fund targeted women’s participation and leadership interventions with women’s groups in communities at the frontline of disaster, conflict and other crises, either as standalone projects or as a component within multi-sector humanitarian programmes.

The WLiE model builds on evidence about what works in development contexts to support women’s empowerment, collective action and meaningful participation in public decision-making, and adapts this to humanitarian and nexus programming contexts. The model and toolkit has six core components – Analyse, Reflect, Co-Create, Act and Learn with community-based women’s groups, and Engage Men in communities – but was designed to be flexible enough to be used in different social and governance contexts, different types and phases of crises, with different types of grassroots women’s groups, and in different modalities (standalone/multi-sector; direct and partner implementation).

CARE UK is the project's technical focal point for the WLiE approach.

GEOGRAPIHC AREAS

CALL FOR CONSULTANTS

CARE Ukraine will recruit a national consultant/team of consultants with proven expertise in the field of monitoring and evaluation of development, human rights and humanitarian projects to conduct a baseline, midline and endline study, of the “Women Lead in Emergencies” project. The ideal candidate(s) would preferably also have experience working on gender and women’s participation and leadership. Responses to this call for consultant(s) should include a comprehensive proposal describing and articulating the work requirements outlined in this ToR, including a technical and financial proposal of no more than 5 pages (excluding CVs for the consultant(s)) and accompanied by a cover letter (also excluded from the 5-page count). Consultants that bring together relevant expertise related to this assignment are encouraged to apply. The final deliverables of the consultancy are expected by December 2027 (exact date to be determined with the consultant(s)).

KEY OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSIGNEMENT

CARE Ukraine is looking for a national consultant to carry out the following assessments at different stages of the project to measure the project’s progress towards achieving the desired outcomes.

Baseline Assessment

The baseline assessment aims to update the baseline values of the project outcomes indicators. These values will be used as a benchmark against which the project's progress will be measured.

Midline Assessment

This assessment aims to measure the changes that have occurred on project objective and outcome indicators since the baseline assessment, and identify the progress made by the project halfway through its implementation.

Endline assessment

The endline assessment aims to measure the overall achievements of the project against its original targets. The endline requires a thorough analysis of the changes in objective and outcome indicators compared to the baseline and midline assessments, and assess the extent to which the project has achieved its intended outcomes and targets.

Key indicators from the M&E Framework:

General Objective: # of new, amended, or better-implemented policies, legislation, multilateral agreements, programs, and/or budgets responsive to the rights, needs, and demands of people of all genders
General Objective: # of positive changes in the way humanitarian actors (INGOs, governments, CARE, others) engage with women in the affected community(ies), and evidence/description of these changes
Specific Objective: # and % of people of all genders who have actively participated in formal (government-led) and informal (civil society-led, private sector-led) decision-making spaces
Result 1: # and % of women members of partner women's rights organizations who express confidence in their ability to participate in and/or influence humanitarian decision-making
Result 2: # and % of people of all genders who experience more equitable gender and power relations (formal and informal)
Result 2: # and % of women who say they can work collectively with others women in the community to achieve a common goal
Result 3: # of advocacy initiatives carried out by women's organizations at local and national level and potential social and political changes to which the initiatives contribute

In addition to the project indicators included in the M&E framework, the Baseline, Midline and Endline will enable data to be collected within the Research and Learning framework to feed into the project's global comparative research managed by IDS.

The assignment has the following key objectives:

Attend in-person project inception workshops with CARE Ukraine (CARE CO), Safe Space NGO (partner) CARE France (project lead), CARE UK (WLiE technical lead), and IDS (international research partner) to refine the Research and Learning Framework during the initial phase of the project;
Collaborate with IDS to co-design the Baseline, Midline and Endline studies of the project, to ensure that the design will enable cross-national comparison (with the other 3 countries). This will require the consultant to co-define methods and tools to evaluate some of the indicators in the Project's logical framework/M&E framework and Research and Learning framework, in collaboration with research partner IDS, CARE Ukraine, Safe Space NGO;
Conduct baseline, midline and endline studies of the project to provide quality data (quantitative and qualitative) to respond to the indicators in the project's logical framework/M&E framework;
Provide recommendations to project stakeholders in order to strengthen the project’s impact and effectiveness.

The objectives of these assignments must be completed in English.

METHODOLOGY

The baseline, midline and endline methodologies will be co-designed with IDS, in collaboration with CARE Ukraine and Safe Space NGO. These evaluations will be based on a mixed method approach - quantitative, qualitative and participatory - to data collection and analysis, employing various forms of evidence to triangulate gathered information.

This study is grounded in CARE’s commitment to participation and inclusion which are:

All phases of the evaluation process (including preparation, planning, implementation, analysis, reporting, dissemination, learning and utilization) are undertaken through shared leadership and/or meaningful engagement of partners, participants (with a special focus on women, girls and people with diverse gender identity and/or sexual orientation), donors and other stakeholders.
Evaluation processes are inclusive, culturally sensitive and accessible to the different needs and capacities of anyone wishing to participate. Each phase of the evaluation process draws on the perspectives of all the different groups of actors involved, with particular attention given to local cultural practices and realities, and to the needs, voices, and views of those who are most marginalized.

PRACTICAL INFORMATION

The national consultant will be responsible for the organization of logistics for conducting these evaluations. CARE Ukraine and Safe Space NGO will provide support to the consultant for the entirety of the assignment, including facilitating contact with key respondents, providing access to relevant documents and feedback as necessary. The total budget of the proposal, allocated for this consultancy, must include travel costs.

INDICATIVE TIMELINE

The assessments will be conducted over three distinct phases: baseline, midline, and endline.

The following timeline provides an overview of the expected duration for each phase:

The baseline assessment phase will commence in March 2025 and is anticipated to be completed with an approved baseline report by May 2025.
The midline assessment will be conducted in the summer of 2026 (estimated start-up in June 2026).
The endline assessment phase will commence in October 2027 and is expected to be finalized with an approved endline report by December 2027.

Please note that the timelines provided above are subject to adjustments based on project needs and considerations. The consultant is expected to adhere to the agreed-upon schedule and ensure timely completion of each assessment phase.

The assessment’s success relies on maintaining consistency throughout the data collection and analysis process over the three phases. To uphold this consistency, the consultant is expected to apply similar methodologies and tools co-developed with research partner IDS, especially when assessing comparable indicators across the different assessment points.

Below is a more detailed timeline for the baseline:

Deadline to submit proposals

January 10, 2025

Evaluation of proposals and selection of consultant(s)

January 20, 2025

Inception phase and orientation of the selected consultant by CARE and IDS team.

End of January 2025

In-person start-up workshops with CARE Ukraine, Safe Space, IDS, CARE France, CARE UK to refine the Research and Learning framework

03-14 February 2025

Co-design of baseline study with IDS

February – March 2025

Baseline data collection and analysis

April 2025

Submission of draft baseline study report

May 2025

Integration of feedback

May 2025

Submission of revised baseline study report

May 2025

Validation of the report

End of May 2025

The detailed timelines for 2026 and 2027 will be provided later during the execution of the project.

DELIVERABLES

The consultant is responsible for providing the following deliverables:

Take part in the consultancy inception meeting (online) and participate in in-person start-up workshops with IDS and all project stakeholders to refine the Research and Learning Framework.
Participate in online exchanges with IDS (international research partner) for the co-design of baseline, midline and endline evaluations at key moments during the 3-year project duration (cf section 7. Indicative timeline).
Co-design the methodology and tools for qualitative and quantitative data collection for the baseline, midline and endline evaluations with IDS;
Develop a work plan for baseline, midline and endline data collection, aligned with the methodology and tools co-designed with IDS, including interviewer instructions and data collection protocols, and ethical consideration guideline;
Organize and supervise data collection for baseline, midline and endline in accordance with the validated methodology, managing all the logistics to collect the needed information;
Analyze qualitative and quantitative data, through appropriate statistical processing and triangulation;
A draft and final version of the baseline study report;
A draft and final version of the midline study report;
A draft and final version of the endline study report;
Cleaned data collected during the course of the assignments;
Facilitate, in collaboration with IDS, a virtual workshop for project staff and key stakeholders presenting findings from the baseline, midline and endline evaluation.

SELECTION CRITERIA

The consultant should demonstrate a track record of conducting similar assessments and possess the necessary technical expertise, research skills, stakeholder engagement capabilities, and knowledge of mixed approaches to ensure the successful implementation of the assessments. To effectively conduct the assessments, the consultant should possess the following experience and qualifications:

Significant experience in conducting baseline, midline and endline studies and/or evaluations, using mixed methods (quantitative and qualitative) evaluation skills and having flexibility in using non-traditional and innovative methods, including participatory and inclusive methods of data collection;
Experience in the monitoring and evaluation of humanitarian, human rights and development projects, including in conducting complex studies;
Expertise in the key areas of the project: gender and women’s participation and leadership, humanitarian action/nexus, and localisation;
Proficiency in producing high-quality assessment reports, including clear analysis, findings, conclusions, and actionable recommendations.
The candidate must read, speak and write English fluently, and have an excellent command of Ukrainian and Russian;
Professional experience in the areas targeted by the project is preferred.

PAYMENT

Payment can be made in four instalments upon the achievement of specific milestones described in the contract:

[15%] upon co-design of the methodology and tools, and development of the workplan and protocols for the baseline
[25%] upon submission of the final baseline report
[30%] upon submission of the final midline report
[30%] upon submission of the final endline report

TO BID

Interested candidates must provide the following:

Cover letter highlighting relevant experience, skills and readiness to participate in the proposed project
CVs of the consultant(s)
Sample of previous similar assessment reports (max. 3 reports)
Technical and financial proposal (max. 5 pages)
1-2 references from previous clients
Annex 01 -Request for Quotation PF. Показати контакти 0000000045 .AFD.FRB36.24.RFQ.01 in PDF format, signed and stamped (if applicable). You can submit your proposal in your own format, but it must contain all the same information as in our form, including cost information, etc.
Annex 02 -Vendor Questionnaire (ENG-UA), attached, signed and stamped (if available) in PDF format.
Annex 03 - Vendor Qualification Form in PDF version, signed and stamped (if available).
Legal documents (only for individual entrepreneurs and LLCs):

· Copy of the company's Charter (if an individual entrepreneur - not required);

· Copy of the Extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs;

· Copies of tax accounting documents (Certificate of Taxpayer Registration, etc.);

· Copy of the passport of a citizen of Ukraine (mandatory only for individual entrepreneurs);

· Copy of the power of attorney for the company's representative (if the person acts on behalf of and in the interests of the company).

Bank account opening certificate
Annex 04. Declaration of Integrity (signed and, if available, stamped).
Annex 05. Environmental, Social, Health and Safety (ESHS) Statement of Commitment (signed and, if available, stamped).

The technical and financial proposal should cover the following:

Understanding of the objectives of the consultancy;
Description of the data collection methods envisaged for this consultancy;
Approaches to ethics, "Do no harm" and gender sensitivity;
A proposed timeline for completing the assignment;
An indicative financial proposal for baseline, midline and endline evaluations within the budget allocated to this consultancy. Please indicate the estimated price for conducting a focus-group discussion (FGD), key informant interview (KII), literature review, report writing and any other research methods and steps envisaged in this research project. Please include the costs of participation in the workshop (1 week online, 1 week in-person in Dnipro).

Proposals must be submitted by [January 10, 2025], in English via email to Відправити резюме including “WLiE AFD Consultancy” in the subject line.

[1] Women Rights Organizations

filov@care.de