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International Consultant- Midterm Evaluation of Programme on AFRICAN GIRLS CAN CODE INITIATIVE (AGCCI)

Addis Ababa

  • Organization: UNWOMEN - United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women
  • Location: Addis Ababa
  • Grade: Consultancy - International Consultant - Internationally recruited Contractors Agreement
  • Occupational Groups:
    • Women's Empowerment and Gender Mainstreaming
    • Monitoring and Evaluation
    • Children's rights (health and protection)
    • Project and Programme Management
  • Closing Date: Closed

Background

Prioritizing education in ICT is necessary to foster a culture of scientific interest, inquiry, invention and achievement that would support the AU’s ambitious goals for this century, A trained and highly skilled class of technologists and scientists across the continent will not only lead in achieving an African renaissance but will also provide the knowledge base to sustain it. UNESCO’s “The Gender Gap in Science” report cites that globally, only 28.4 per cent of people engaged in Science, Technology Engineering and Mathematics STEM careers are women and in Sub Saharan Africa only an average of 30.0 per cent are women. It is important that girls learn to CODE. Teaching girls to CODE is needed to close the gender gap in the tech world, and the overall gender digital divide.

Learning to CODE is needed because 90 per cent of future jobs will require ICT skills, and some two million new jobs will be created in the computer, mathematical, architecture and engineering fields If African girls and women are to be part of the fast-growing sectors in the future job market, they need to be able to develop the ICT skills needed.  Through AGCCI, young African girls will have the necessary skills to pursue an education and a career in the sector of ICT and CODING. In Africa, Women make up over 50 per cent of the work force. Equipping girls and women in ICT skills is essential for the continent’s economic development and for the individual girls’ opportunities at the future labor market.

Across the African continent, youth comprise nearly 60 per cent of the population. This number by itself makes the case for prioritizing the training of youth in ICT. This education will not only be a means to empower them but also the key to unlocking Africa’s development potential across sectors.

The dim reality is that the number of young women choosing a career in ICT and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) are very low. Globally, only 28.4 per cent of women are engaged in STEM careers and in Sub Saharan Africa only an average of 30.0 per cent are engaged. This is due to many factors. Women face higher barriers when it comes to initial access, affordability of digital services and use of ICT. Particularly, lower levels of technical and digital literacy skills as well as lower confidence impact women’s access to, and use of, ICT. In general, more women than men report difficulties in using mobile phones or the internet: Women are 1.6 times more likely to report lack of skills as a barrier to internet use. Women also tend to have little formal training in ICT skills compared to men.

In the future ICT, CODING and algorithms will influence our lives to a higher degree. This will happen in communication, in healthcare, in the transport system and in legislation. So, gender equality in ICT and CODING is not only about being fair and equal to employees in tech companies. It is also about promoting the development of new apps and software that are useful for both women and men. We have seen examples of the opposite, like voice recognition technologies that, trained and tested solely by men, struggle to understand female voices and virtual reality technologies that disproportionally impose motion sickness on women. So even though at this early moment in its history, the tech industry has already plenty of examples of products that have gender bias effectively programmed into them.

It is important that girls also learn to CODE. CODING for girls is basically needed to close the gender gap in the tech world and is part of closing the overall gender digital divide. There are for example some 250 million fewer women online than men, and the gap is widening 

(from 11 per cent in 2013 to 12 per cent in 2016 – ITU). And CODING and other ICT skills are essential in the future labour market. By 2020, it is expected that more than 7.1 million jobs will be displaced, and by 2050, half of the jobs that currently exist will have disappeared. That means that 65 per cent of the children entering primary school today could eventually work in jobs that do not yet currently exist. So, if African girls and women are to be part of the fast-growing sectors in the future job market, they need to be able to develop the ICT skills needed. In the past ten years growth in STEM jobs has been three times faster than growth in non-STEM fields according to US Department of Commerce.

AGCCI 2018-22 is part of the UN Women Strategic Plan 2018-21, OEEF Output 3 where it is formulated that “UN Women will explore partnerships to support efforts to reduce the digital divide between women and men in partnership with the International Telecommunications Union and other partners, focused on:  1) Awareness raising;  2) Affordable access for women and girls through the development and implementation of inclusive policies and investment;  3) Supporting skills for women and girls to become both ICT users and developers; and 4) Added-value services to ensure that women and girls can leverage ICTs for empowerment.”

Regarding the alignment of the programme with SDGs, AGCCI is aligned with SDG 5 on gender equality and target 5.b; Goal 4 on quality education and target 4.5; and goal 8 on decent work and target 8.2.

The programme document envisions a midterm evaluation to take place during the second year of implementation which will focus on evaluating processes and results of Phase I of the initiative. The Phase I of the programme, which initially was up to June 2019, was extended to December 2019. The midterm evaluation will aim at providing feedback to improve programme management and the results framework for Phase II.

Therefore, the UN Women Ethiopia Country Office is thus seeking a consultant to conduct the midterm evaluation of the programme. The evaluation should follow the guiding documents for evaluation at UN Women, including the Evaluation Policy, Evaluation Chapter of the POM, the GERAAS evaluation report quality checklist, the United Nations System-wide ACtion Plan Evaluation Performance indicator (UN-SWAP EPI) and the UN Women Evaluation Handbook. These documents serve as the frame of reference for the Evaluation Manager and the evaluation consultant for ensuring compliance with the various requirements and assuring the quality of the evaluation report

Duties and Responsibilities

Inception Report

This report will be completed after initial desk review of programme documents. It will be maximum 7 pages in length and will include.

  • Introduction
  • Background to the evaluation: objectives and overall approach
  • Identification of evaluation scope
  • Main substantive and financial achievements of the programme
  • Description of evaluation methodology/Methodological approach, data collection tools, data analysis methods, key informants, an Evaluation Questions Matrix, workplan and deliverables
  • Criterial to define the mission agenda, including 'field visits'

 This report will be used as an initial point of agreement and understanding between the consultant and the evaluation manger and reference group.

Draft Evaluation Report

  • The draft report will contain the same sections as the final report and will be 20-30 pages in length. it will also contain an executive report of no more than 2 pages that includes a brief description of the programme, its context and current situation, the purpose of the evaluation, its methodology and its main findings, conclusions and recommendations. 
  • Incorporate the first comment and produce PowerPoint

Final Evaluation Report (incorporating comments made on the draft report in addition to having annexes of specific findings from the evaluation and recommendations)

  • Cover page
  • Executive summary (maximum 2 pages)
  • Programme description
  • Evaluation purpose and intended audience
  • Evaluation methodology (including constrains and limitations on the study conducted)
  • Evaluation criteria and questions
  • Findings and analysis
  • Conclusions
  • Recommendations (prioritized, structured and clear)
  • Lessons learnt
  • Annexes, including interview list (without identifying names for the sake of confidentiality/anonymity) data collection instruments, key documents consulted, TOR, RG Members, etc.

An executive summary will include a brief description of the programme, its context and current situation, the purpose of the evaluation, its intended audience, its methodology and its main findings, conclusions and recommendations. The Executive summary should 'standalone' and will be translated to ensure access by all stakeholders if needed

Competencies

  • Experience working on policy and/or research related to girls in ICT; demonstrated skills in gender analysis, particularly in relation to ICT and Coding is highly desirable;
  • Substantial experience in content editing and writing as well as publication of manual/strategy of similar nature;
  • Familiarity with UN and/or AU report writing style preferred;
  • Excellent facilitation and communication skills;
  • Ability to deal with multi-stakeholder groups;
  • Ability to write focused evaluation reports;
  • Wide experience in quantitative and qualitative data collection methods;
  • Willingness and ability to travel to the different programme sites in the country;
  • Ability to work in a team.

Core values / guiding principles

The evaluators will adhere to the following core values and guiding principles:

  • Integrity: Demonstrating consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.
  • Cultural Sensitivity/Valuing diversity: Demonstrating an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrating an international outlook, appreciating differences in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

  • A Masters or higher-level degree Advanced qualifications in Social Sciences such as Gender and Women’s Studies, International Studies or related field. Additional qualifications in working on projects/programmes such as Girls in ICT, Coding or STEM is strongly preferred.
  • .

Expierence

  • At least 7 years’ experience in conducting evaluations of similar development programme related to development, economic empowerment / gender equality and women’s empowerment programs and with a team comprised of the above educational qualifications.
  • Experience in working in the Africa region is preferred.
  • Experience in undertaking gender-sensitive evaluations.
  • Ability to manage and supervise evaluation teams and ensure timely submission of quality evaluation reports

Language:

  • High proficiency in English
  • Knowledge of French language is desirable
  • Excellent English writing and communication skills are required

Note: 

            Applications should include:

             PROPOSAL

  • Brief summary (not more than 3 pages) of the proposed methodology for the evaluation, including the involvement of stakeholders during each step.
  • Proposed process for disseminating the results of the evaluation.
  • Team structure, roles and responsibilities and time allocation if applicable.
  • Detailed work plan.

The following items should be included as attachments (not included in the page limit):

  • Cover letter stating why you want to do this work, your capacity and experience and available start date.
  • Detailed CV (UN Women P11) - of all the participating consultants. This can be downloaded from the UNDP website.
  • At least three sample reports from previous consulting projects (all samples will be kept confidential) or links to website where reports can be retrieved (highly recommended)
  • List of the most relevant previous consulting projects completed, including a description of the projects and contact details for references.

Applications with the above details should be sent to Tsion Teklay (tsion.teklay@unwomen.org) with subject ' Mid-Term Evaluation' until latest 26 October 2019

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.
This vacancy is now closed.
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