UN Women, Senior Evaluation Consultant - Cameroon Country Office Strategic Note 2022-2026

Background:

The strategic note of UN Women Cameroon Country Office is the main planning tool for UN Women’s support to normative, coordination and operational work in Cameroon. This evaluation will consider the Strategic Note covering the period January 2022 – December 2025 as a precursor action to the development of a new Strategic Note which will start in February 2025.

The Strategic Note is linked to the UN Women Global Strategic Plan and country-level United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework 2022-26. The Cameroon Country Office Strategic Note supports and contributes towards the following UN Women 2022-25 Strategic Plan Impact and Systemic outcomes: Impact Outcomes

The strategic note of UN Women Cameroon Country Office is the main planning tool for UN Women’s support to normative, coordination and operational work in Cameroon. This evaluation will consider the Strategic Note covering the period January 2022 – December 2025 as a precursor action to the development of a new Strategic Note which will start in February 2025.

The Strategic Note is linked to the UN Women Global Strategic Plan and country-level United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework 2022-26. The Cameroon Country Office Strategic Note supports and contributes towards the following UN Women 2022-25 Strategic Plan Impact and Systemic outcomes: Impact Outcomes

The strategic note is aligned to Cameroon’s national development plans, including the National Strategy of Development (NSD 2020 - 2030), the 2030 UN Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the African Union Agenda 2063.

The Strategic Note is grounded in the standards, principles and obligations of the Convention to Eliminate all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, Concluding Observations of the Commission on the Status of Women, Sustainable Development Goals, and the AU Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa, among others.

Description of the country portfolio:

The Strategic Note (2022-2026) is geared towards the implementation of its three integrated core mandates (normative, coordination and operational/programming) through two planning tools: the Development Results Framework (DRF) and an Organizational Effectiveness and Efficiency Framework (OEEF) whose performance is measurable with performance indicators.  

UN Women contributes to strengthening the capacities of rights holders and duty bearers in close collaboration with the UN Country Team.

Description of the evaluation: 

The Country Portfolio Evaluation (CPE) is a systematic assessment to validate the contributions made by UN Women Country Office’s portfolio of interventions to development results with respect to Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment at the country level. It uses the Strategic Note (including the DRF and OEEF) as the main point of reference.

The UN Women Evaluation Policy and the UN Women Evaluation Strategic Plan 2022-25 are the main guiding documents that set forth the principles and organizational framework for evaluation planning, conduct and follow-up in UN Women. These principles are aligned with the United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG) Norms and Standards for Evaluation in the UN System and Ethical Guidelines.

The CPE is utilization-focused, tailored to the needs of the organization through a participatory approach from the inception through to the development of recommendations. It has five objectives:

(a) its alignment with international agreements and conventions on gender equality and women’s empowerment and 

(b) its strategic positioning and comparative advantage in relation with key players involved in Cameroon’s national development, including as part of the UN System;

The intended uses and users of this evaluation are: Target Users Primary Users Secondary Users Learning Formative (forward-looking) on effective, promising and innovative strategies and practices, to support improved decision-making The UN Women Cameroon country office, the West and Central Africa regional office to inform the design of the new Strategic note, the Independent Evaluation and Audit Services The UN Country Team and other stakeholders to derive learning on effective and promising practices. Accountability Summative (backward-looking) for UN Women’s contribution to gender equality and women’s empowerment. UN Women HQ, regional and country offices, national partners, rights holders and donors, to support accountability for development effectiveness.

Duties and Responsibilities

In consultation with the Team Lead,

Key Deliverables and Timeframe:Initial design report (deliverable 1)

The evaluation team will propose a methodology with an evaluation matrix and data collection instruments and an evaluation plan as part of the inception design report. The latter will specify the part that belongs to the documentary review, observation, interviews and group discussions, without forgetting the participation of the stakeholders concerned. A work plan and implementation schedule will also be included in the report. The inception report, considering collection tools, including remote collection tools for some localities, given the security crisis will be reviewed by the management group and the evaluation reference group. Each group has seven working days to formulate and transmit these comments, which must be taken into account by the evaluation team in a satisfactory manner before the validation of the document by the management group.Presentation of the preliminary results and the pre-report (Milestone)

The evaluation team will facilitate a PowerPoint presentation session of the preliminary results, following the preliminary data collection and analysis phase. Thus, the findings and general trends will be the subject of examination and discussion with the members of the reference group and those of the management group. This session allows at this stage to gain information, comments and orientations before deepening and finalizing the data analysis and starting the drafting of the evaluation report.Draft report (deliverable 2)

The first version of the evaluation report includes findings, conclusions and recommendations listed logically and by order of priority. It outlines the methodology, data collection and analysis processes, in line with UN Women's GERAAS parameters. This report will be submitted for examination and comments to the evaluation management group and the reference group, which have 7 working days to respond. These comments should be satisfactorily taken into account by the evaluation team before submitting the report to IES.Final evaluation report (deliverable 3) The final evaluation report will be considered as such once it has been ascertained that it takes into account all the comments received from the management group and the reference group. It will then be submitted to IEAS for final clearance, based on its alignment with the GERAAS parameters and inclusion of feedback.[1] Initial data collection and preparation of inception report  10 days  Data collection and data collection preparation 14 days   Preliminary findings presentation 01 day Preparation of draft report  12 days   Preparation of final report and brief  08 days   TOTAL 45 days

Evaluation Standards and principles:

The evaluation will apply in its process and analysis the key principles of a human rights-based approach, including gender-responsiveness. It will adhere to the UNEG Norms and Standards (2016), the UNEG Ethical Guidelines (2020) and UN Women Evaluation Policy and Handbook, observing the  principles of integrity, accountability, respect and beneficence.

Data collection and analysis: