Fòs Feminista is hiring a
I. General information
1.1 Introduction
Fòs Feminista is as an intersectional feminist organization centered around the sexual and reproductive rights and needs of women, girls, and gender-diverse people. Led and governed by the Global South, Fòs Feminista works as an alliance of organizations in 40+ countries worldwide to advance sexual and reproductive health, rights, and justice. As the connecting fabric of this alliance, Fòs Feminista orchestrates transnational and transregional action, amplifies partners’ work, and promotes South-South learning and collaboration toward achieving common objectives.
Together with our partners, we provide access to sexual and reproductive health care, including contraception, abortion, and care for victims of gender-based violence, and we reach young people with comprehensive sexuality education. We recognize that the ability of women, girls, and gender-diverse people to make free and informed choices about their sexual and reproductive lives, including access to safe and legal abortion, is central to their life plans and to achieving gender and reproductive justice. As such, we are at the forefront of advocating for sexual and reproductive health and rights from an intersectional lens in national, regional, and global spaces, coordinating with our partners to ensure that diverse experiences, priorities, and voices of the Global South are represented in these spaces.
In December of 2021, Fòs Feminista signed a four-year grant agreement for the project titled Pathways to Reproductive Justice: Intersectional Feminist Approaches to Advancing Health and Rights in Latin America with Sida, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (see Annex A). The overall objective of the project is to advance an intersectional feminist development agenda in Latin America that centres reproductive justice. This project has been designed and implemented in alignment with Sweden’s regional strategy, which can also be found in Annex A and in response to the political and social context in Latin America, including both advances and setbacks for democracy and human rights, in the last several years.
In response to this context, Fòs Feminista and our partners will contribute to this overarching goal by achieving four interconnected specific objectives, with each representing critical pathways to advancing reproductive justice. The first specific objective is to increase evidence and advocacy for the sexual and reproductive health (SRH) needs and rights of Indigenous, Afro-descendant, and rural women, girls, and gender-diverse people across Latin America. While work toward this objective seeks to apply an intersectional lens to SRH policy, the second specific objective aims at expanding access to safe and legal abortion in Colombia and El Salvador. The third specific objective, meanwhile, is to strengthen and amplify evidence-based feminist approaches to emergency preparedness and response, and the fourth objective seeks to enhance the organizational capacities of all project partners and bolster South-South solidarity.
Fòs Feminista is seeking a senior-level external evaluator to conduct a midterm evaluation of different elements of the project to promote evidence-based decision making and learning among all stakeholders involved.
The deadline to submit a proposal according to the specifications included in these Terms of Reference is July 5**, 2024.**
1.2 Evaluation object: Intervention to be evaluated
The evaluation object comprises three of the four objectives of the intervention titled Pathways to Reproductive Justice: Intersectional Feminist Approaches to Advancing Health and Human Rights in Latin America:
These objectives are being implemented in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Peru as well as at the regional level.
The intervention logic or theory of change of the intervention may be further elaborated by the evaluator in the inception report. An inception report is prepared by the evaluator after an initial review of inputs or other relevant documents, and it establishes their monitoring and evaluation plan.
1.3 Evaluation rationale
The midterm evaluation will be carried out following the second year of the four-year project because it will allow us to identify what has been working well and what can be improved at the midpoint of the project so that we can make changes as needed and its optimize the impact.
Engaging with local implementing partners for this process is important because it allows us to understand the positive effects generated by the project in each of their unique contexts, which, in turn, helps to inform our decision-making, boost accountability, and ensure that all stakeholders can communicate the value of the project. Conducting a midterm evaluation will support the creation of a space for sharing power and build trust and accountability across stakeholders. Finally, conducting a midterm evaluation is important because it will generate valuable learnings that can be shared and applied across project partners, as well as the wider ecosystem, to enhance the effectiveness, efficiency, and performance of future programming.
2. The assignment
2.1 Evaluation purpose: Intended use and intended users
The purpose or intended use of the midterm evaluation is to help Fòs Feminista to assess the progress of an on-going intervention, Pathways to Reproductive Justice, halfway through its implementation to learn from what works well and less well. The evaluation will be used to inform decisions on how project implementation may be adjusted and improved.
Prior to developing these Terms of Reference, Fòs Feminista conducted a stakeholder analysis to identify the intended users of this midterm evaluation and to better understand their needs and interests. This involved holding virtual meetings with local implementing partners (or, in some cases, soliciting written feedback) to ask about what they had already learned, what they would like to learn, what has made evaluation challenging, and what kinds of learnings would help to advance the project objectives.
Based on the stakeholder analysis that was conducted, the primary intended users of the midterm evaluation are Fòs Feminista, Sida, and local implementing partners in the countries of intervention. The evaluation is to be designed, conducted, and reported to meet the needs of the intended users and evaluator shall elaborate in the tender on how this will be ensured during the evaluation process. Other stakeholders that should be kept informed about the evaluation include the research institutions and feminist organizations with whom our local implementing partners collaborate for this project.
During the inception phase, the evaluator and the users will agree on who will be responsible for keeping the various stakeholders informed about the evaluation.
2.2 Evaluation scope
The scope of the midterm evaluation will cover the three of the four objectives of the project, listed in section 1.2 above. The timeframe of the evaluation is limited to the first half of the project and covers the period from January 1, 2022, until the start of the evaluation (tentatively June 17, 2024). The geographic scope of the evaluation will include the countries where the local implementing partners are implementing project activities, including: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Peru, as well as a regional focus as contributed by Fòs Feminista as part of the last two objectives of the project. However, it is unlikely that travel will be needed in all of the above-mentioned countries.
If needed, the scope of the evaluation may be further refined by the evaluator in the inception report.
2.3 Evaluation objective: Criteria and questions
The objective of this evaluation is to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention Pathways to Reproductive Justice and formulate recommendations on how its management team can improve and adjust implementation.
The evaluation questions are:
Additionally, Fòs Feminista is interested in understanding how our new alliance structure has affected the relationships with local implementing partners on the project.
Questions are expected to be further developed in the tender by the evaluator and further refined during the inception phase of the evaluation.
2.4 Evaluation approach and methods
It is expected that the evaluator describes and justifies an appropriate evaluation approach/methodology and methods for data collection in the tender. The evaluation design, methodology and methods for data collection and analysis are expected to be fully developed and presented in the inception report.
The evaluator is to suggest an approach/methodology that provides credible answers (evidence) to the evaluation questions. Limitations to the chosen approach/methodology and methods shall be made explicit by the evaluator and the consequences of these limitations discussed in the tender. The evaluator shall to the extent possible, present mitigation measures to address them. A clear distinction is to be made between evaluation approach/methodology and methods.
A gender-responsive and intersectional feminist approach/methodology, methods, tools, and data analysis techniques should be used. This includes acknowledging that evaluation is a political activity and using mixed methods to incorporate multiple ways of knowing. It also involves sharing power with all stakeholders, building trust with local implementing partners, and ensuring that they have a leading role in the evaluation process. Finally, it means making sure that evaluation activities are useful to local partners and that they are not experienced only as an accountability exercise.
Our approach to evaluation is utilization-focused, which means the evaluator should facilitate the entire evaluation process with careful consideration of how everything that is done will affect the use of the evaluation. It is therefore expected that the evaluator, in their tender, present i) how intended users are to participate in and contribute to the evaluation process and ii) methodology and methods for data collection that create space for reflection, discussion and learning between the intended users of the evaluation.
In cases where sensitive or confidential issues are to be addressed in the evaluation, evaluator should ensure an evaluation design that does not put informants and stakeholders at risk during the data collection phase or the dissemination phase.
2.5 Organization of evaluation management
This evaluation is commissioned by Fòs Feminista. The intended users are Fòs Feminista, Sida, and the five local implementing partners, including their member organizations, who carry out project activities. The intended users of the evaluation form a steering group, which has contributed to and agreed on the ToR for this evaluation. The steering group is a decision-making body that will approve the inception report and the final report of the evaluation. The steering group will participate in the start-up meeting of the evaluation, as well as in the debriefing/validation workshop where preliminary findings and conclusions are discussed.
2.6 Evaluation quality
This evaluation shall conform to OECD/DAC’s Quality Standards for Development Evaluation and the evaluator should use the OECD/DAC Better Criteria for Better Evaluation. The evaluator shall specify how quality assurance will be handled by them during the evaluation process.
2.7 Time schedule and deliverables
It is expected that a time and work plan is presented in the tender and further detailed in the inception report. The evaluation shall be carried out from mid-June 2024 to December 31, 2024. The timing of any field visits, surveys and interviews needs to be settled by the evaluator in dialogue with the main stakeholders during the inception phase.
The inception report will form the basis for the continued evaluation process and shall be collectively reviewed with Fòs Feminista before the evaluation proceeds to implementation. The inception report should be written in Spanish and cover evaluability issues and interpretations of evaluation questions, present the evaluation approach/methodology including how a gender-responsive and intersectional feminist approach will be ensured, methods for data collection and analysis as well as the full evaluation design, including an evaluation matrix and a stakeholder mapping/analysis. A clear distinction between the evaluation approach/methodology and methods for data collection shall be made. All limitations to the methodology and methods shall be made explicit and the consequences of these limitations discussed.
A specific time and work plan, including the evaluator’s number of hours/working days, for the remainder of the evaluation should be presented. The time plan shall allow space for reflection and learning between the intended users of the evaluation.
The final report shall be written in Spanish and be professionally proofread. The report shall clearly and in detail describe the evaluation approach/methodology and methods for data collection and analysis and make a clear distinction between the two. The report shall describe how the utilization-focused approach has been implemented i.e., how intended users have participated in and contributed to the evaluation process and how methodology and methods for data collection have created space for reflection, discussion and learning between the intended users. Furthermore, the gender-responsive approach shall be described and reflected in the findings, conclusions, and recommendations along with other identified and relevant cross-cutting issues. Limitations to the methodology and methods and the consequences of these limitations for findings and conclusions shall be described.
Evaluation findings shall flow logically from the data, showing a clear line of evidence to support the conclusions. Conclusions should be substantiated by findings and analysis. Evaluation questions shall be clearly stated and answered in the executive summary and in the conclusions. Recommendations and lessons learned should flow logically from conclusions and be specific, directed to relevant intended users and categorized as a short-term, medium-term, and long-term.
The report should be no more than 35 pages excluding annexes. If the methods section is extensive, it could be placed in an annex to the report. Annexes shall always include the Terms of Reference, the Inception Report, the stakeholder mapping/analysis, the Evaluation Matrix, and a summary of results and recommendations to be shared with local implementing partners. Lists of key informants/interviewees shall only include personal data if deemed relevant (i.e., when it is contributing to the credibility of the evaluation). The inclusion of personal data in the report must always be based on a written consent.
As a part of the virtual seminar, the evaluator should also prepare a slide deck that can be shared with local implementing partners to help inform their activities in the final year of the project. The seminar should be participatory in nature and create space for local implementing partners to validate the findings of the midterm review and provide feedback.
2.8 Evaluator qualifications
The evaluator selected for this consultancy shall have the following competencies.
It is desirable that the evaluator have the following competencies.
Candidates shall include their CV in their application. It should contain a full description of relevant qualifications and professional work experience. Additionally, candidates shall include a proposal for this evaluation, not to exceed 5 pages, which includes the following components:
Fòs Feminista strongly encourages applications from candidates based in the Global South, specifically Latin America.
2.9 Financial and human resources
The maximum budget amount available for the evaluation is USD $20,000.
Invoicing and payment shall be managed according to the following: The consultant may invoice based on hours or days of services rendered or by deliverable with a maximum of 30% after approval of the Inception Report and a maximum of 70% after approval of the Final Report and when the assignment is completed.
Contact details to intended users (cooperation partners, Swedish Embassies, other donors etc.) will be provided by Fòs Feminista so that they can provide input to the evaluator.
Travel to the project countries may be required for this role, though not for all countries where project activities take place. Where necessary, Fòs Feminista will pay for these costs and support the evaluator to arrange the logistics for booking interviews and preparing visits, including any necessary security arrangements.