Category: Announcements 
2010-02-04
CARE International in the Caucasus serves disempowered people so they can overcome poverty with dignity. CARE models the principles of transparency, accountability, participation, equity and continuous learning.
Job Title: avaluation Consultant (for conducting participatory Baseline study)
Organization: CARE-International in the Caucasus
Place of Assignment: “Strengthening Women’s Capacity for Peace-building in the South Caucasus region”
Band: International hire
Reports to:The contractor reports directly to the designated CARE Caucasus Project Director
Duration: max 50 working days between March and May 2010
Start Date: ca. 8 March 2010
SUMMARY
CARE International is looking for an international expert to conceptualise and conduct a base line study for a multi-year regional project in the South Caucasus aimed at strengthening women’s capacity for peace-building in the region. The project is funded by the European Commission and the Austrian Development Cooperation.
The consultant shall, in max. 50 working days, be responsible for:
- design, undertaking and completion of the project’s base line study, involving partners for information collection;
- proposing recommendations on how to adapt indicators of success to current regional/local contexts and base line findings;
- proposing, based on consultation with CARE staff and partners, monitoring and evaluation mechanisms for the project
BACKGROUND
The Caucasus wars in the early 90ies caused more than a million refugees and IDPs across the region. After ceasefire agreements stopped hostilities (between 1992-94), failing progress of peace talks kept the regions in a no-war, no-peace situation, maintaining war-affected population in extreme poverty, preventing sustainable rehabilitation of refugees and IDPs, hindering the development of equitable, pluralistic societies, and perpetuating a climate of insecurity, hostility and fear. The brief 2008 war over South Ossetia has caused more displacement and damage to communities, and changed the political environment for peace processes significantly.
Women and men make different experiences during conflict and take on different roles in conflict and postconflict situations. Women’s equal and full participation in the prevention and resolution of conflicts, in post-conflict reconstruction and peace-building is an important precondition for the sustainability of peace processes. This has been stated by a number of international standard setting policy documents such as the Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 on women, peace and security and UNSCR 1820 on sexual and gender-based violence in times of conflict. However, the peace efforts/post-conflict rehabilitation processes in the Caucasus are far from living up to the aspirations of these standards.
The project therefore aims at strengthening women’s role in peace-building in the South Caucasus in line with these policy commitments. This vision encompasses peace processes where there are consultation mechanisms between political leaderships and women’s rights groups; women’s specific human security needs are assessed and addressed; women’s rights are protected; post-conflict reconstruction and rehabilitation programmes are gender-sensitive rather than gender-blind; the importance of women’s contributions to peace-building at community levels is recognised and their peace initiatives supported; the conflict and peace processes are used as an opportunity to address historical gender inequalities and discrimination; international interventions (peacekeeping, programming, policy dialogues) are gender mainstreamed and women participate as decision-makers in high-level peace talks.
The project’s specific objective is to Support partner NGOs from across the South Caucasus to create an enabling environment where marginalized women from conflict-affected communities can protect their rights and take active part in decision-making.
The specific objective is a twofold empowerment objective. Firstly, the project aims to further empower partner NGOs from different sides in conflict to contribute to the creation of an enabling environment for gender equality, women’s participation and women’s rights in the Caucasian peace efforts. Partners will be supported to challenge, through advocacy, capacity-building and cooperation across conflict-divides, social and cultural, political and legal forces that hinder women in developing their full potential and role in peace processes. Secondly, the project aims to strengthen the voices of directly conflict-affected, marginalised women and to build their capacity to (a) protect and defend their rights and (b) contribute to peace and security through community-based activism. The project intends to achieve tangible improvements in all three core dimensions of women’s empowerment identified by CARE: agency, relations and structures. By the end of the project, partner NGOs shall have strengthened their organisational sustainability and self-reliance through enhanced skills, resources, contacts and networks, advocacy experience, access to information and funding opportunities. There will be examples where decision-makers have acted upon/responded to recommendations generated by the project. Partner NGOs’ peace-building and network initiatives will have greater visibility and recognition in media and broader society.
The project focuses on the two following target groups:
Target group 1: Six local partners – one from each South Caucasus ‘entity’: civil society organisations with long-standing engagement in peace-building and women empowerment. All have branches or a network stretching across their country/region.
Target group 2: Marginalised women that have been directly affected by conflict: including minority women, IDPs/refugees, returnees, widows, relatives of injured or missing persons, war invalids, ex-combatants, & socially vulnerable women in areas that might be affected by renewed conflict. A core group of 80-100 women from marginalised conflict-affected communities will have started to act as leaders for initiatives aimed at improving women’s situation in conflict areas, using rights-based approaches. More beneficiary women at the grass roots will have gained confidence, knowledge and skills enabling them to take active part in community-based or broader social initiatives. Some male leaders will have been mobilised in each region to actively support a strengthened role for women and gender sensitivity in peace-building. There will be some improved legal and/or policy guarantees for women’s equality, women’s rights and women’s participation (e.g. National Action Plans for the implementation of UNSCR 1325/1820 or related strategies).
The Project estimates to achieve the following results through capacity-building of partners, women leaders, community mobilisation, local/regional/cross-border networking, engaging with male leaders, research on implementation of key aspects of UNSCR 1325/1820, local/international advocacy:
1. Partner organizations have developed sustainable capacity to empower marginalised women from conflict-affected communities so their rights are better protected, and their confidence and skills to engage actively in society and decision-making are increased;
2. 1500-2000 women from marginalised/conflict-affected target communities have built skills to better analyse and articulate key human security concerns, forming the basis for advocacy activities towards decision-makers;
3. Lessons learned of women activists and beneficiaries are made available and exchanged at national, regional and international levels;
4. Engage with national, regional and international actors on key aspects as regards the realisation of UNSCR 1325’s objectives in the South Caucasus and advocate for improved realisation.
OBJECTIVES OF THE CONSULTANCY:
CARE-International in the Caucasus is currently seeking the services of a qualified international consultant to carry out a participatory baseline study for this project, against which impact can be measured within 33 months.
1) Design a participatory methodology for a base line study
Indicators contained in the approved Logical Framework at the Specific Objective and Expected Results levels should be used as a guideline for the type of information to be collected. Indicators currently being developed at a global level for monitoring UNSCR1325/1820 should also be looked at for guidance. (Information on these can be provided by CARE, if necessary.) The base line study should include:
· An assessment of 6 partners’ capacity-building needs and
· A survey of vital UNSCR 1325 / 1820-related needs of women in selected 30-35 target communities in Abkhazia, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Nagorny Karabakh – suitable to inform also the conceptualisation of a piece of research for advocacy purposes.
CARE and its partners will select the target communities and provide a list of these to the consultant before the start of the consultancy. Criteria for the selection of target communities include:
- Communities whose population is suffering consequences of conflict
- Interest from a critical number of people in the project
- Needs and issues present in the community that this project is suitable to work on
- Some existing potential/capacity for community-based activism (e.g. informal leaders, past experiences)
Partner organisations should be involved for information gathering among target communities. Some key areas of interest for this exercise include:
- Capacity gaps of local women and women’s initiatives
- Areas of insufficient protection of women’s human rights (incl. gender based violence)
- State of consultation processes between decision-makers/duty bearers and conflict affected women/women’s initiatives
- State of women’s representation in institutions deciding on rehabilitation / reconstruction
- programmes
The assessment will be used as a basis for selecting specific key issues the project’s community-based empowerment activities shall be focusing on, as well as to refine the indicators of the logical framework and design the monitoring and evaluation plan.(as stated below).
The assessment should be based on good standards of ‘gender analysis’ (and take into account, as relevant, CARE Österreich’s Gender Analysis Guidelines to be found at: http://expert.care.at/downloads/careexpert/COe_GenderAnalysisGuidelines.pdf).
2) Manage the information gathering and produce a base line report
The consultant is responsible for supervising the information collection by partners, analysing the information gathered, and compiling a base line report.
The report should include specific recommendations on how to revise/refine/concretise the indicators of success for the project. Indicator revisions shall be guided by identified local needs, realism, as well as taking into account, where suitable, global peace-building/women empowerment indicators currently under development. (Information on these will be provided to the consultant by CARE.)
3) Provide recommendations to CARE for the implementation strategy
The consultant is also expected to provide recommendations and suggestions to CARE for the project’s implementation strategy, including on what kind of communication and media actions will be most relevant and fruitful for targeted communities and the purpose of the project.
4) Propose monitoring, evaluation & learning mechanisms for the project
In consultation with local partners, CARE Caucasus, CARE International Eastern Europe Coordinator, CARE Austria gender expert and CARE UK conflict adviser, the consultant shall propose monitoring, evaluation & learning mechanisms for the project. The monitoring should cover both quantitative and qualitative components, disaggregated by gender, and shall be based on the revised indicators of success mentioned above.
5) Present findings and discuss their implications for the project at a first regional meeting in Istanbul
It is suggested that the consultant attends a regional meeting of CARE staff and partner organisations in late May 2010 (probably in Istanbul) to present the base line data, discuss revised indicators of success, and agree the roles of each project participant in monitoring, evaluation and learning.
Methodology
The consultant is expected to make one visit each to Abkhazia, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Nagorny Karabakh in the course of the base line study. South Ossetia is currently not being assessed. Partner organisations should be used as appropriate for information gathering among target communities.
Deliverables / time frame:
- Visits to target areas between ca. 15 March and 18 April (partly in company of the CARE Project Director)
- Submission of report: 1st draft end of April / 2nd draft mid-May
- Participation/presentation at regional workshop: tentative dates for workshop: week starting 24 May
The baseline study should be completed in not more than 50 working days. The detailed plan of the study will be agreed upon with CARE during the first week of the consultant’s work. The consultant will be expected to spend ca. 50% of time in the target regions (1 visit each to 5 regions). He/she will receive adequate support from CARE’s program staff. Travel to/from and within the target regions and accommodation costs will be reimbursed upon the study’s completion/borne by CARE.
Qualifications required:
The consultant should possess:
- Experience in base line research and needs assessment
- Expertise in Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning
- Good Russian (reading, communicating and writing)
- Excellent English writing skills
- Good understanding of the South Caucasus region, in particular conflict dynamics
- Technical expertise in gender/peace-building
- Good understanding of the UN SCRs on “Women, Peace and Security (1325, 1880, 1882 and 1889)
REMUNERATION AND APPLICATION PROCEDURE
Service fee will be commensurate to knowledge and experience of the applicant.
Interested applicants should submit a resume/CV with a cover letter and a proposal (a comprehensive plan of the activities as related to the terms of reference, a proposal should indicate sound implementation methodology, anticipated levels of effort, timeframe, output format and presentation, no longer than 10 pages) to the following address: hr@care.org.ge with subject heading “1325 project baseline survey”.
Short listed candidates will be called for interview and presentation. For logistical reasons, non-shortlisted candidates will not be contacted.
Deadline for submission of the documents is February 22, 2010, 13.00 hrs Tbilisi time.
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