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.
This consultancy will support the final evaluation of “The Project for the Implementation of Women, Peace and Security Agenda in Refugee Settlements and Host Communities (MUSHO)” implemented from September 2024 – February 2027. The project aimed to reach 11,000 direct and 43,100 indirect beneficiaries across 5 refugee hosting districts, Adjumani, Yumbe, Madi Okollo, Kyegegwa and Isingiro, in Uganda.
The evaluation will assess the achievement of the project’s goal which was ‘Enhancing women's agency and resilience through comprehensive approaches to women, peace, and security in the humanitarian context in Uganda. The project Outcomes include:
The project design was informed by the following Theory of Change.
1) IF refugee and host community women, men, and youth have increased capacity to actively participate and contribute meaningfully to peacebuilding and conflict mitigation process, 2) IF refugee women and youth including women peacebuilders and women human rights defenders, access timely and quality social and protection services through strengthened protection, referral and access to justice mechanism, 3) IF women and youth have increased participation and benefit in gender-responsive climate change mitigation and DRR systems and programs to overcome conflict and climate shocks, and 4) IF income and economic opportunities for refugee and host community women and girls are scaled up to address economically induced conflicts in the humanitarian context, including violent extremism and radicalization, THEN 5) women’s agency and resilience in peace, security and humanitarian contexts will be enhanced 6) BECAUSE women are key drivers of peace and security and including them in peace process leads to more lasting peace and stable societies.
The MUSHO project has been implemented through Responsible Parties: Women International Peace Centre (WIPC), Alight, Peace Winds Japan (PWJ) alongside other sub-partners such as Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), National Agricultural Research Institute (NaCRRI), Abi Zonal Agricultural Research and Development Institute (Abi ZARDI), National Association of Professional Environmentalists (NAPE), CFAO Mobility Uganda (Toyota Uganda) and RICCI Every day.
The UN Women Evaluation Policy is the main guiding document that sets 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. The key principles for gender-responsive evaluation at UN Women are: 1) National ownership and leadership; 2) UN system coordination and coherence with regard to gender equality and the empowerment of women; 3) Innovation; 4) Fair power relations and empowerment; 5) Participation and inclusion; 6) Independence and impartiality; 7) Transparency; 8) Quality and credibility; 9) Intentionality and use of evaluation; and 10) Ethics.
It is a priority for UN Women that this endline project evaluation will be gender-responsive and will actively support the achievement of gender equality and women’s empowerment, with emphasis on UN Women’s key areas central to increasing women’s participation in advancing the women peace and security agenda, women’s protection and safety, climate resilience and economic wellbeing in humanitarian action.
The primary intended users of this evaluation are:
The primary intended uses of this evaluation are:
The objectives of the evaluation are to:
The evaluation will seek to answer the following key evaluation questions aligned to the UN Evaluation Group (UNEG) evaluation criteria as well as standards based on Human Rights and Gender Equality.
Criterion Questions Relevance and coherence Was the project design, including the choice of interventions and selection of implementing partners appropriate to address the identified needs of beneficiaries, especially refugee women, girls and youth and marginalized groups? Did the design and partner selection align to UN Women’s comparative advantage? To what extent was the intervention aligned with country priorities for gender equality and the promotion of the active participation of women in peace, security, and recovery in Uganda? What was the level of engagement between the Partners and key Stakeholders at all levels and the ability to leverage the partnership process to inform the advocacy strategy? How well did the project design consider learning from previous evaluations / reviews of WPS and LEAP projects? Effectiveness and sustainability To what extent did the project achieve planned outputs and contribute to expected outcomes? To what extent has the project contributed to sustained changes in women's agency, leadership, economic resilience and influence over peacebuilding and community decision-making, beyond immediate project outputs? What unexpected outcomes (positive and negative) have been achieved? Did the interventions contribute to the expected outcomes? What were the main enabling and hindering factors to achieving planned outcomes and what actions need to be taken to overcome any barriers that limit required progress? Did the partners responsible for implementation have access to the necessary skills, knowledge and capacities needed to deliver the project and ensure sustainability of efforts and benefits? What local accountability and oversight systems have been established to support the continuation of activities? Which interventions have the greatest potential for institutional ownership, sustainability and scale-up and what would be required to achieve this? Efficiency How effectively did UN Women’s management structure, including financial and risk management, support efficient project implementation and delivery of required results and address delays through corrective actions? To what extent were planned output results delivered on time and within budget? Were the results appropriate to the resources used? Human Rights and Gender Equality How did the project integrate gender equality, human rights and development effectiveness principles: Participation/empowerment; Inclusion/non-discrimination; National accountability / transparency in its design and implementation? To which extent the project reached the most vulnerable groups considering the current context in the country (ex. People with disability, women affected by conflict and among others).
The evaluation is expected to be non-experimental and summative. It will employ mixed methods including desk-based review of relevant documents backed by consultation with key project stakeholders and field-based primary data collection from direct project beneficiaries. The evaluation will follow a collaborative and participatory approach, ensuring close engagement with programme beneficiaries, implementing partners, ministries, departments, agencies and local governments and other key stakeholders. The analysis of the application of human rights and gender equality principles will be an integral part of the evaluation. Integration of human rights and gender equality issues into the evaluation requires adherence to three main principles – inclusion, participation, and fair power relations.
The consultant will report directly to the Program Specialist, Women Peace & Security, who will provide overall management and supervision of this consultancy. To ensure inclusiveness and comprehensive stakeholder engagement, UN Women will also establish an Evaluation Reference Group comprising UN Women staff, duty bearers, right holders, development partners/donors, UN Country Team representatives, and civil society organizations. Members will be selected based on a stakeholder analysis.
The evaluation will be conducted in accordance with UN Women evaluation guidelines and UNEG norms and standards. Upon completion of the evaluation, UN Women has the responsibility to prepare a management response that addresses the findings and recommendations to ensure future learning and inform implementation of their relevant Programmes. For quality assurance, the evaluation report will be rated against the Global Evaluation Report Assessment & Analysis System (GERAAS).
Deliverable Expected Completion Date Payment Schedule Approved Field workplan 11 December 2026 Draft Evaluation Report (with field data and Data on MUSHO project Indicators) 27 January 2027 Power Point Presentation for the validation meeting with ERG members 2 February 2027 60% Final Evaluation Report 5 February 2027 40%
This is a home and field-based consultancy. The consultant is expected to undertake travel to the project locations in Adjumani, Yumbe, Madi Okollo, Kyegegwa and Isingiro districts for primary data collection.
Travel costs will be covered separately by UN Women based on UN Women rates.
Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Values and Competencies Framework:
In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.
At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.
If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.
UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)
Note: Applicants must ensure that all sections of the application form, including the sections on education and employment history, are completed. If all sections are not completed the application may be disqualified from the recruitment and selection process.
UN Women is the United Nations agency for women's rights, gender equality and women's empowerment. A global champion ForAllWomenAndGirls, UN Women was established to accelerate progress on meeting their needs worldwide.
UN Women supports UN Member States as they set global standards for achieving gender equality, and works with governments and civil society to design laws, policies, programmes and services needed to implement these standards. It stands behind women’s equal participation in all aspects of life, focusing on five priority areas: increasing women’s leadership and participation; ending violence against women; engaging women in all aspects of peace and security processes; enhancing women’s economic empowerment; and making gender equality central to national development planning and budgeting. UN Women also coordinates and promotes the UN system’s work in advancing gender equality.
