Call for proposals: Terms of Reference (ToR)

Final evaluation of ‘Participation and Voice for Excluded Women in Nepal’ (PAVE) in Nepal

Deadline for receipt of proposals: 18 July 2022 

Interview date for consultants: Between 20-22 July 2022 

Notification of preferred consultant: 29 July 2022

1. Background

Feminist Dalit Organization (FEDO), Tewa, Women for Human Rights (WHR), and Womankind Worldwide (Womankind) collaboratively designed and are implementing the three year Participation and Voice for Excluded Women in Nepal’ (PAVE) project in Nepal.

We are seeking a consultant(s) based in Nepal to conduct a final project evaluation. We are seeking a consultant(s) with skills in designing and conducting an authentically participatory process in Nepal. 

PAVE’s theory of change aims to support 1,376 women (including marginalised women1) to have increased capacity to engage proactively in local politics and decision making that affects their lives. We worked towards this change through four outputs:

1. Elected women - 98 elected women have improved knowledge, skills and resources to increase participation in governance and represent the views of their constituents more effectively.
2. Women in the community - 1,115 women have increased capacity to engage proactively in local politics and decision making that affects their lives.
3. Wider community and enabling environment - 1,975 community members have improved knowledge, skills and resources to actively support women's participation and leadership. This included work with journalists and government officials. 
4. Women’s movement - The women’s movement takes coordinated and collective action in support of women’s political participation at provincial, national and international levels.

1In line with excluded groups identified in the Common Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Framework for Nepal, PAVE targeted Dalit women, single women (widows) and unmarried women, Madhesi women, and women with disabilities

PAVE works in five districts (Accham, Bajura, Dadeldhura, Doti and Kanchanpur) of Sudurpashchim Province (Province 7) in western Nepal. The project started in October 2019 and will end on 30 September 2022. The original total project budget was £995,934 but this has been modified downwards due to COVID-19 adaptations and donor requirements. The project is funded by UK Aid Direct of the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) of the UK government.

2. Purpose of evaluation

The purpose of the evaluation is to:

• Capture and understand the outcomes of PAVE’s work, at each of the four output areas (listed above): what has changed because of PAVE?
• Learn more about the strengths and weaknesses of our approaches: why did change happen, and what barriers blocked further change? How did PAVE adapt in light of changing contexts to meet the outcomes we aimed for?

We hope to evidence the effectiveness and efficiency of the project. We hope to take lessons and recommendations from the evaluation to inform future projects and sustainability. We hope to learn more about what worked in the theory of change, where we could have given more emphasis, and what was missing from the documented theory of change but was important in achieving change. For example, we recognise that social norms weren’t explicit in the theory of change, but we have seen impact in this area which cuts across all four outputs. We are keen to reflect on how far our focus, content, approaches, and outputs have meant that PAVE challenged power dynamics and structural inequities in Province 7.

We are interested in cross-cutting areas of learning, such as the partnership working across four partners. We see opportunities to document learning on intersectionality, disability inclusion, and how the women’s movement contributed to change.

PAVE has been implemented in a complex context with limitations including COVID-19 lockdowns, remote working, donor restrictions, geographical access constraints, and the May 2022 election. We would like to learn more about the barriers and opportunities that these presented, so we can improve future programming, partnerships, and situate the project achievements in the wider context.

We recognise that evaluating a three year project across all forms of evaluation criteria is often too broad. So we are keen to work with the consultant(s) to agree a defined and focused evaluation, that will help us to draw as much learning as possible from this experience.

3. Suggested approaches

We do not wish to prescribe the detailed methods that a consultant(s) will use, as we welcome creative participatory approaches. However below we outline some of our priorities.

From a feminist perspective, we value participatory processes in an evaluation. We expect participatory approaches to be suggested which are meaningful for the women involved, and which help us all to learn collectively. We hope to honour local knowledge generation and the views of women involved in the project. We are seeking approaches that centre care, creativity and adaptation to make this evaluation a useful process for participants.

Through ongoing monitoring, we have a good set of data and evidence about project activities and participants’ feedback. We do not expect this evaluation to gather additional quantitative data or conduct surveys. We hope the evaluation will review the quality and rigour of how the existing evidence has been gathered, and supplement this with further insights through the participatory processes. For example, the evaluation might be an opportunity to feedback to women participants on the key findings from evidence gathered during the three years, to seek their validation and analysis of conclusions and recommendations.

PAVE has a focus on working with marginalised women. We expect approaches that will reach out to diverse women, so that we hear a variety of voices. This includes women with disabilities, Dalit women, Janajati women, single women, younger and older women. We are keen to hear the voices of women who face multiple discriminations, such as women who are Dalit, single women and also women with disabilities, to understand how PAVE has affected them.  

The OECD Development Co-operation Directorate (DAC) Evaluation Criteria may inform the approach, but we also recognise that exploring all criteria within one evaluation may not be feasible so are happy to focus in on particular areas.

PAVE works in five districts (Accham, Bajura, Dadeldhura, Doti and Kanchanpur) of Sudurpashchim Province (Province 7) in western Nepal. In discussions with chosen consultant, we will determine if a sample is sufficient rather than covering all five districts.

4. Key deliverables

• An inception plan agreed with FEDO, Tewa, WHR and Womankind. This should include detailed explanation of proposed approach and process, an itemised budget, and a timeline for the evaluation. 
• Research tools agreed with FEDO, Tewa, WHR and Womankind, in advance of evidence-gathering. We expect this to include explanation of the participatory approaches, informed consent, and safeguarding procedures.
• Validation workshop of key findings, to invite feedback from FEDO, Tewa, WHR and Womankind (before drafting the final report).
• Workshop to share final report(s). We invite alternative methods of sharing the findings, and welcome creative, accessible formats for a final report(s).

5. Existing resources

The successful consultant(s) will be provided with: project proposal (including logframe and theory of change), quarterly and annual reports to FCDO, access to quantitative and qualitative MEL evidence. 

6. Selection criteria

1. Evaluation experience: The successful consultant will have experience of conducting project evaluations, including planning approaches, carrying out interviews, analysing evidence to draw out conclusions, working with stakeholders to validate the conclusions, and synthesizing the findings into useful final reports.
2. Qualitative, participatory approaches: The successful consultant will have experience using feminist, participatory approaches that centre women’s voices and experiences. They will be familiar with approaches that create safe spaces for diverse groups of women to share their views, and to shape the focus of learning and recommendations. 
3. Thematic and contextual understanding: The successful candidate will have deep understanding of the current context of women’s participation and leadership from local to national levels in Nepal. Understanding of the context and barriers facing women’s participation, particularly in Sudurpashchim Province (Province 7) in western Nepal is welcome. Understanding of the barriers facing marginalised women, and intersectional identities is welcome.  
4. Communication and facilitation skills: Strong oral and written Nepali and English skills are important. Understanding of languages of Sudurpashchim Province will be an advantage. The consultant will produce final reports in high quality, accessible English. The final reports should have limited jargon and aim to influence, inspire and educate a wider range of stakeholders, including women’s rights organisations, government officials, and donors.

7. Schedule and budget

We expect the evaluation to begin in early August 2022, and be completed between October - November 2022 (a timeline will be agreed with the chosen consultant).

The consultant will ideally be a Nepali resident, and able to work with the FEDO, Tewa and WHR teams in Kathmandu (and Womankind remotely) during the planning stage. They will then be able to travel to Sudurpashchim Province (Province 7) in order to speak with women and staff who have been directly involved with PAVE activities.

The maximum budget is GBP £13,500 (approximately NPR 20,000,00), inclusive of all taxes, travel and meeting costs.

8. How to apply

Interested applicants should submit the following to Sachin Bhattarai ([email protected]), [email protected]  and Fiona Wilks ([email protected]) before the deadline of 18 July 2022:

• A brief CV(s) demonstrating knowledge, skills and experience against the selection criteria.
• A proposal outlining an indicative methodology.
• A budget of estimated time and costs against the key deliverables and proposed methods.
• An example of previous evaluation work (will be treated in confidence).

We hope to interview shortlisted consultants between 20-22 July 2022, and to notify the selected consultant(s) by 29 July 2022.

9. Annex: Theory of Change

Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DHkuKJ0s4xL70wo85HoVJPVtqpTavsMD/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=106755148129806025610&rtpof=true&sd=true