Background

The “Finland Programme Document” project is funded by the Government of Finland through the Finnish Embassy in Kenya from 2020 to 2023 and is ongoing until the end of December 2023. The programme is implemented at the national level and in 4 selected counties Turkana, Kwale, Marsabit and Kitui. It encompasses three UN Women thematic areas from the Strategic Note (SN), namely: 1) Women’s leadership and participation; 2) Elimination of violence against women and girls and 3) Women peace and security. All the three thematic programme components aim to create synergies and linkages in between them at national and county-level for a result-based, holistic and transformative approach to gender equality and women’s empowerment. The project is jointly implemented by UN Women Kenya, the national and county governments and various implementing partners.

Since the project is ending in December 2023, the evaluation is commissioned to identify the expected outcomes and the impact of the work and for measuring progress towards the achievement of results. The lessons and recommendations drawn from the evaluation will be utilized in drafting a new project document focusing on the same three thematic areas, which continue to form the priorities for the Embassy of Finland in Kenya.

2. Description of the Project

This programme is based on the KCO Strategic Note 2019–2022 (SN)[1] and the new Strategic Note 2023-2026. Both SN are aligned to the global UN Women Strategic Plans (2018-2021 and 2022-2025) and the gender priority areas by the Embassy of Finland in Nairobi. At country level the SNs are aligned to Government of Kenya priorities as set out in Vision 2030, the third Medium Term Plans (MTP III and MTP IV), President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Big Four Agenda, and the Constitution of Kenya. Additionally, the SN contributes to the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF)[2] (2018–2022 and 2023-2027) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The programme consists of two overall key result areas. Firstly, normative work on development and implementation of key selected gender equality policies are supported and implementation is measured on the ground. Secondly, at the operational level, the programme aims to increase the number of individual women to a) gain leadership positions and become effective in decision making for gender equality, b) have access to VAWG services including justice and number of stakeholders who engage in social norm and attitude changes towards VAWG and c) participate in peace and security processes in Kenya.

a) Theory of change

The programme is aligned to the Theory of Change of the UN Women Strategic Note 2019-2022[3], which was formulated through a rigorous process of consultations with staff and all UN Women partners in Kenya in 2018. The specific Theory of Change of the proposed programme is: If policy and legislative frameworks at national and county levels better conform to the constitution and international standards on women’s leadership, elimination of violence against women and girls and on women, peace & security, and if these policies and laws are fully implemented; If Kenyans at national level and in the targeted four counties are empowered to uphold and respect women’s rights and gender equality and oppose all forms of discrimination and violence against women: If women are increasingly empowered in driving Kenya’s political, social, and economic growth and the maintenance of peace and security in the country, led by a more coherent, influential, accountable, and coordinated women’s movement, which demands for accountability from the government: Then gender equality and women’s empowerment in Kenya will be advanced towards the SDG 5 on gender equality and SDG 16 on peace, justice and strong institutions.

b) Results Framework

The project’s total budget implemented by UN Women and its partners is US 5,344,783 million.

3. Purpose and Use of the Evaluation

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 about 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.

The primary intended users of this evaluation are:

• Embassy of Finland and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs Finland
• In Kenya, the relevant staff in target ministries, local government, and targeted government institutions, and participating CSOs
• Target beneficiary communities/groups
• Members of community leadership structures
• Staff of implementing partners
• UN Agencies technical working groups
• Development partners

Primary intended uses of this evaluation are:

• Pending on the funding situation the development and finalization of a new project with the Embassy of Finland with the same UN Women three thematic areas
• Information on the program’s effectiveness will be used to inform decision making for the scale up
• Feedback, participation, and accountability to affected communities
• Accountability for the development effectiveness of the investment to the donors and other stakeholders
• Capacity development and mobilization of national stakeholders to advance gender equality and the empowerment of women

4. Evaluation Criteria and Key Questions

Objectives

The Overall Objective of the final evaluation is to assess the extent to which the Project has achieved the intended and/or unintended outcomes, provide in-depth analysis and understanding of why certain intended or unintended outcomes have or have not occurred, analyse the challenges encountered, and document lessons for improving future projects in the area.

The specific objectives of the evaluation are to:

1. Analyse the relevance, effectiveness, and efficiency of the project in the delivery of the planned and unintended results including the Program Theory of Change advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment in Kenya towards the SDG 5 on gender equality and SDG 16 on peace, justice and strong institutions.
2. Assess the coherence of the interventions undertaken vis-à-vis the other interventions carried out by UN Women in other related projects[4].
3. Assess early impact results and sustainability of the project in addressing gender equality.
4. Determine the extent to which the human rights-based approach and gender equality principles are integrated into the design and implementation of the project.
5. Provide actionable recommendations with respect to the strategy, and overall approach to UN Women’s programming to the three thematic areas.

Evaluation Criteria

The evaluation will apply six UN Evaluation Group (UNEG) evaluation criteria (relevance, effectiveness-including normative, and coordination mandates of UN Women- efficiency, coherence and sustainability), as well as standards based on Human Rights and Gender Equality.

The tentative list of evaluation questions, which will be selected and refined during the inception phase and presented in the inception report:

[1] The SN prioritized four objective areas: 1) Women leadership in decision making, 2) Women’s Economic Empowerment, 3) Ending Violence Against Women and Girls and 4) and Women, Peace and Security. This proposal primarily focuses on objectives 2, 3 and 4 and UN Women’s coordination mandate, of holding the UN system accountable for gender equality results.

[2] Previously UNDAF

[3] If policy and legislative frameworks better conform to the constitution and international standards and ensuring gender-responsive governance; and Kenyans are increasingly socialized to uphold and respect women’s rights and gender equality and oppose all forms of discrimination and violence against women; and women are increasingly empowered in driving Kenya’s political, social, and economic growth led by a more coherent, influential, accountable, and coordinated women’s movement; and women have increased access to and control of productive resources and market opportunities, then gender equality and women’s empowerment in Kenya will be advanced towards the national vision of peace and prosperity for all and the SDG Goal 5.

[4] Canada, Joint Devolution and Italy Projects

[5] The evaluation will not be able to fully assess the project’s impact, however, it will address the following questions with the results and evidence that is available to date.

Duties and Responsibilities

The evaluation will cover the project implementation period from January 2020 to July 2023 in line with the results framework and the theory of change and against standard evaluation criteria (relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, coherence, impact, sustainability, and gender equality and human rights). It is to be noted, that due to Covid-19, the project resources were directed to the response as agreed with the Embassy of Finland in 2020. This is an end-term evaluation focusing on the achievements as well as recommendations for sustainability, learning and course correction for future programming. The geographic scope of the evaluation will include visiting the key stakeholders and beneficiaries’ representatives in the project counties – Turkana, Marsabit Kwale and Kitui.

In consultation with the Evaluation Management Group[1] and the Evaluation Reference Group[2], the International Consultant will work together with the National Consultant to further define the scope and sampling approach during the inception phase with the aim of defining the confines of the evaluation including the stakeholders and initiatives that will be included or excluded from the evaluation.

The International Consultant is expected to lead in undertaking a rapid evaluability assessment in the inception working closely together with the National Consultant. This should include the following:

1. An assessment of the relevance, appropriateness and coherence of the implicit or explicit theory of change, strengthening or reconstructing it where necessary through a stakeholder workshop.
2. An assessment of the quality of performance indicators in the program, and the accessibility and adequacy of relevant documents and secondary data.
3. A review of the conduciveness of the context for the evaluation.
4. Ensuring familiarity with accountability and management structures for the evaluation.

b) Evaluation Approach and Methodology

A detailed evaluation methodology will be developed by the consultants under the leadership of the International Consultant, who will work closely with the National Consultant, and presented for approval to the Evaluation Reference Group[3]. The methodology should use a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods. The assessment will be made using a theory-based approach against the project results framework as well as the Theory of Change. It should be utilization-focused, and gender-responsive and explicitly outline how it will integrate a human rights-based approach and explore the possibility of utilising participatory methods for developing case studies. Data should be disaggregated by sex, disability and according to other relevant parameters. The team will discuss with stakeholders involved in the project including direct beneficiaries such as women leaders, GBV survivors and traditional leaders, and indirect beneficiaries including government entities and CSOs.

The main recommended phases of the evaluation methodology are:

1) Inception Phase:

• Conduct an initial desk review of available documents, gather and analyze programme data, conceptualize the evaluation approach and develop an evaluation matrix, consult internally on the approach, develop data collection tools, stakeholder mapping, sampling strategy, engage reference group.
• Conduct inception interviews with key stakeholders to refine the evaluation scope and methodology.
• Draft an Inception Report that will be reviewed by the Evaluation Reference Group.
• Refine the evaluation methodology/question matrix based on Evaluation Reference Group’s feedback and integrate proposed changes (as appropriate) into the final evaluation report.

2) Data collection Phase

• Collect survey data from beneficiaries and key stakeholders as informed by the stakeholder analysis
• Conduct in-depth interviews with UN Women staff, partner organizations, donor representatives, and others as necessary.
• Deliver PowerPoint presentation of preliminary field key findings, that can be utilized in development of the new project document.

3) Analysis and Report Writing Phase:

• Review and analyze all available data including staff, partner and stakeholder survey(s) and interpret findings.
• Prepare first draft of the evaluation report and submit to Evaluation Reference Group for comments and possible endorsement.
• Revise report based on the feedback from Evaluation Management Group and debriefing session (as appropriate).
• Compile final report. The report should not be longer than 40 pages in the following format:
  • Title and opening pages
  • Executive summary
  • Background and purpose of the evaluation
  • Programme/object of evaluation description and context
  • Evaluation objectives and scope
  • Evaluation methodology and limitations
  • Findings
  • Conclusions
  • Recommendations
  • Lessons learned
  • Annexes (Terms of reference, documents reviewed, list of interviews conducted)

c) Stakeholder Participation

d) Time frame & Deliverables

The evaluation will be conducted between August and October 2023. The primary evaluation deliverables are: