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About the project

The project “Partnerships 4 Women Leadership and Good Governance” was launched in April 2021. The project is implemented by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Moldova (FES) and AO “Institutum Virtutes Civilis”, with the financial support of the European Union and FES.  The project is implemented during April 2021 to April 2024 and has the following outcomes:

1. Improved capacity of CSOs, CBOs and LAGs to influence policy making at the local and

national levels;

2. Improved capacity of local authorities for an open dialogue with the civil society actors, to ensure a transparent and participative decision-making process that responds to the citizens’ needs;
3. Enhanced capacity of women for participation in the decision-making processes at all

levels;

4. Enhanced public awareness of the role of women in good governance and sustainable

development.

At the impact level, the project aims at achieving strong civil society actors that enhance governance at the national and local level and shape the life of their communities.

Intervention logic

The project addressed three interlinked problems in Moldova:

• local CSOs lack capacity to influence the decision making and public confidence in their abilities are low;
• the quality of local public policy is low, including due to a very limited involvement of the CSOs in the participatory public policy drafting processes;
• women remain significantly under-represented in the decision-making positions, while the public perception at local level of women’s role in politics and ensuring good governance continues to be rather negative.

Thus, the intervention seeks to create a logical chain of activities that will eventually lead to an increased level of participation of CSOs at local and national levels in the decision-making process, stronger and more active local and regional actors, and an increased number of women holding public office of elected positions in local public administration. The following chain of activities are in the process of implementation: (1) training for civil society to engage in governance and gender issues, (2) conducting gender audits and support the process of drafting gender action plans, (3) identifying policy options to address gender inequalities, (4) undertaking advocacy activities, (5) providing grants to support initiatives, (6) sharing best practices, (7) training women to participate more actively in public and political life, and (8) raising awareness.

On March 31, 2022, the project marked its first year of implementation. The purpose of the external evaluation in the first phase of the project implementation – mid-term evaluation– is to assess the level of achievement of the input and output indicators planned for the first half of the project. The consultant is expected to evaluate how and to what extent the indicators were reached, what were the main barriers that caused deviations and propose a series of recommendations for the second half of the implementation process, so that the project reaches its outcome and impact indicators (which will be assessed during the final evaluation).

1. Scope of the activity

The scope of the activity is to create an accurate and comprehensive picture of the project implementation results regarding the degree to which achievement of its indicators was reached. The following aspects will be assessed:

• the effectiveness of awareness-raising activities of the role of women in good governance and sustainable development;
• the project impact with regard to the capacity of women for participation in the decision-making processes at all levels;
• the capacity of CSOs, CBOs and LAGs to influence policy making at the local and national levels.

1. Description of the activity

The selected consultant will be responsible for conducting the project mid-term evaluation and developing the report. Throughout the entire process, the evaluation consultant will have access to the Project staff, MEL data, documents, and possibility of interaction with the Project partners and beneficiaries (participants in the project activities).

The main purpose of this mid-term independent evaluation is to provide an independent assessment of the progress to date, through an analysis of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, effects and orientation to impact of the project. The mid-term evaluation is meant to provide the opportunity to assess early signs of project success or failure and prompt necessary adjustments. Specifically, the mid-term evaluation is intended to provide the project team with a basis for identifying appropriate actions to:

• Assess particular issues or potential challenges in the project implementation;
• Address particular issues or problems regarding project implementation;
• Address particular issues or problems regarding the project management;
• Assess project towards the achievement of objectives and targets;
• Identify and document initial lessons learnt from experience;
• Identify additional risks (which are not part of the current risk log, if any) and countermeasures;
• Make recommendations and assist the decision-making regarding specific actions that should be taken to improve the project and reinforce initiatives that demonstrate the potential for success;
• Find out the impact of the COVID-19 and refugee crisis on the project and propose necessary changes in the project document.

1. Timeframe and deliverables

The consultancy will be provided in the period August - September 2022 by a national/ international consultant that will work both remotely (via e-mail, Skype etc.) and in the Chisinau and target raions.

The main expected outcomes:

The mid-term evaluation report.

1. Methodology

The consultant should propose the methodology to be used to carry out the reviews. The proposed methodology should address sufficiently the preliminary issues and questions outlined in the ToR, detailing the specific review issues, questions, methods of data collection and analysis that will be undertaken. It should encompass a combination of both qualitative and quantitative methods. It should also allow for a wide consultation with all interested partners and stakeholders. It is suggested that the methodology should include, but not be limited to the below-mentioned points. The consultant is expected to propose his/her own methodology and justify and explain it. The mid-term evaluations will consist of the following activities:

a) Document review: The consultant will review of relevant project documents including:

• Project proposal;
• Annual action plan;
• Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Framework;
• Annual Project Activity Report;
• Implementing Partner Agreements;
• Media reports;
• Minutes of the Project Steering Committee meetings etc.

b) Field visits. The field work shall focus on the project activities that have been undertaken in the four raions/ districts. During these visits, the consultant shall contact, amongst others, local government officials, local communities, local public institutions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and community-based organizations (CBOs) involved in the project activities. The project team will offer a list of project beneficiaries and the consultant will select 10 people for interviews.

c) Interviews. Interviews will be carried out during field visits. Appropriate questionnaires shall be developed by the consultant and discussed with Project Management Team for approval. Key informants will be drawn from the key project stakeholders including the beneficiary communities.

d) Evaluation Report

1. Required skills and competencies

The following are the required skills and competencies expected from the selected applicant for conducting the mid-term Project external evaluation. In the case of an evaluation team, it is expected that the team leader should match all required skills and competencies presented in these ToR.

Education:

• Advanced degree in relevant discipline (e.g. gender, development and social studies, sociology, political science, etc.);
• Advanced degree in project management and/ or evaluation will be considered an asset.

Professional experience:

• At least 7 years of experience in project evaluation in a development context and proven

accomplishment in undertaking evaluations;

• Experience in evaluating gender equality and human rights issues – related programmes/ project.
• Experience in working with EU financed projects will be an advantage.

Knowledge and skills:

• Knowledge of evaluation processes and methodologies;
• Knowledge of results-based project management ;
• Proven expertise in evaluating projects focusing on human rights and/ or gender equality;
• Extensive knowledge of qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods;
• Excellent written and spoken English and presentation capacities.

1. Application procedure

Interested consultants should send the documents listed below to the e-mail address: fes@fes-moldova.org, by June 20, 2022, (6:00 pm EET), with the subject line entitled “Evaluation Consultant for the Partnerships 4 Women Leadership and Good Governance Project”.

• Personal CV (max. 3 pages, with contact data: phone and/or Skype ID for a possible interview). Please include or provide links to relevant previously drafted evaluation reports (if the reports are confidential, please provide a list of the projects for which you performed evaluations). The CV should include the contact details (e-mail addresses) of at least 2 referees;
• Technical offer: the preliminary structure (outline) of the evaluation reports and a short description of the methodology that will be applied to carry out the mid-term external project evaluation (1-2 pages);
• Financial Offer (FO) will include: estimated number of days to carry out the mid-term review^[1];
• Daily rate (gross) in EURO and total cost for all provided services according to this ToR^[2].

Note: the draft methodology will reflect the vision of the consultant on how the evaluations must be conducted and has the role to demonstrate the candidate’s understanding of the task. The final methodology will be decided together with the project team after the contract is signed with selected consultant.

Please note that only the shortlisted candidates will be contacted for an interview

*Note! The project team will offer logistical support to the consultant, including organizing all the travel during her/his work.

7. Selection criteria

The contract will be awarded to the most experienced consultant that will present the best technical and financial proposals. The following criteria for assessing the quality of the proposals will be applied:

For any additional questions please contact us via e-mail fes@fes-moldova.org. The deadline for questions is June 15^nd, 2022 (6:00 pm EET). In order to ensure equal treatment and equal chances for all the potential candidates, FES will answer all the questions by June 20, 2022.

^[1] Travel expenses for the performance of the tasks set out in the contract will be covered by FES and IVC.

^[2] All the amounts stated in the Financial Offer are considered Gross Amounts, meaning Fee Before Tax. For non-residents consultants – these amounts are subject to 12% income Tax.