Recruit consultant for final evaluation of the project Youth address gender stereotypes and promote gender equality.

1. Introduction

 The Consultative Institute for Socio Economics Development for Rural and Mountainous Areas (CISDOMA) was established in 2000, is a Vietnamese non-governmental organization. CISDOMA is working in partnership with local people; organizations and government bodies to help poor people in Vietnam meet their basic needs as well as expand their opportunities to reach their full potential.

Oxfam is a confederation of 19 organizations working together in more than 90 countries. We are part of a global movement for change, empowering people to create a future that is secure, just, and free from poverty. Oxfam in Vietnam is working to seek transformative changes in policies, practices and beliefs in ways that will fundamentally improve the lives of poor and marginalized women and men, and ensure that all citizens have the same opportunity to enjoy their rights.

The project “Youth address gender stereotypes and promote gender equality” is funded by the European Union and implemented by Oxfam in Vietnam and CISDOMA, aiming at promoting gender equality in Vietnam by increasing youth engagement and participation in addressing gender stereotypes. This Project has been implemented in three cities of Vietnam including Hanoi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City from April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2024 with the following expected outcomes of the Project:

Overall Objective of the Project: To promote gender equality in Vietnam by increasing youth engagement and participation in addressing gender stereotypes.

Outcome 1: Youth become gender equality change makers in the community.

Output 1.1. Knowledge and practices on challenging and changing gender stereotypes are effectively introduced to students through extracurricular programs in universities.

Output 1.2: Youth groups receive technical and financial supports to lead initiatives on promoting gender sensitive practices among women and men.

 Outcome 2: Media and businesses have transformed practices to gender sensitive communications and advertisements.

Output 2.1: Media and enterprises have enhanced knowledge, capacity and encouragement to mainstream gender sensitivity in media products and advertisements

Output 2.2: Media and enterprises actively challenge gender stereotypes through media reports and business advertisements

 Outcome 3: Men and women in Hanoi, Danang and Ho Chi Minh City have acquired gender sensitive behaviours.

Output 3.1: A public campaign on challenging and changing gender stereotypes is completed with active participation of youth, media, social enterprises and social activists.

 The target groups of this Project comprise 1,000 youth in 5 universities; 20 university-based youth groups in 3 cities; marketeers, marketing enterprises and brands of 30 enterprises; 100 journalists; and 1.5 million people in 3 cities.

The project is going to phase out after 4 years’ implementation and close all its activities by March 31, 2024. Oxfam, CISDOMA and our partners are commissioning an independent evaluation to understand the project’s impacts/outcomes and key lessons learnt.

CISDOMA, the main commissioning manager plans to conduct this final evaluation among:

1. Project teams of Oxfam, CISDOMA and partners (TUVA, RED Communications and VJA)
2. University students and lecturers.
3. Marketers, marketing departments of enterprises.
4. Creative/advertising agencies.
5. Journalists, editors, reporters and other media professionals
6. Youth groups
7. Public under outcome 3 through social listening tool analysis

2. Objective of the evaluation

CISDOMA is seeking for a national consultant / consultancy team to (i) assess the project achievements, to (ii) document good practices and lessons learnt in gender equality promotion activities for dissemination.

• The consultant/consultancy team is expected to conduct his/her analysis through overarching criteria: Relevance, Effectiveness, Efficiency, Impact, Sustainability of the activities and approaches of the project.

The objective of the evaluation is to:

• Provide an assessment of project achievement to date against the intended results
• To identify and assess key lessons, challenges, best practices
• And recommendations for utilizing in future gender equality promotion programmes/projects of Oxfam and CISDOMA.

The audiences of the final evaluation report are Oxfam’s and CISDOMA’s senior management and front-line project officers, implementing partner staff, beneficiaries, the donor and other relevant stakeholders.

3. Key questions

[ Relevance

• To what extent has the project been relevant to the needs of the target populations, partners’ and donors’ priorities?
• To what extent has the project been aligned with the policies and strategies of the provinces and the country?
• How relevant have the Theory of Change of the project proven to be?

[ Effectiveness

• To what extent have the identified specific objective been achieved, and how these achievements have contributed to the overall goal of the project?
• To what extent have the project interventions and approaches contributed to to the successes or challenges of the project?

[ Efficiency

• Were the resources and inputs converted to outputs in a timely and cost-effective manner?
• Was the management, coordination and monitoring efficient and appropriate for project implementation?
• Was the partnership appropriate? How did the partners work together to contribute to results?
• To what extent the project information and learning were shared among beneficiaries and stakeholders?

[ Impact

• To what extent has the project achievements contributed to promoting gender equality in Vietnam?  

[ Sustainability

• How have the project results been adopted/institutionalized/taken over by the marketing agencies, universities and other institutions?
• What are the opportunities and/or challenges for the dissemination and replication of the project results in other marketing agencies, provinces, and/or nationwide?

4. Evaluation design and methodology

 The consultant is expected to use a panel of approaches, methods and tools that include at least the followings:

(i) Secondary data review, including project documents, annual narrative and financial reports, MEL data, social listening tools, publications, and other communication products

(ii) A participatory approach with emphasis on capturing the diverse views of different stakeholders including: semi-structured interviews of key informants (CISDOMA project team, Oxfam project team, project partners including TUVA, RED Communications, Press Association, universities), field visit observations , and group discussions with students, university lecturers, journalists, marketers groups,  questionnaire for students, and appropriate tools for analysis of gender equality promotion;.

The evaluation is expected to be gender-sensitive, rights-based, inclusive, culturally sensitive and comply with professional ethical standards. Innovative approaches are welcomed to foster interaction, learning and capacity building for all partners.

5. Process of the evaluation and time frame

During the evaluation process, the consultant will undertake and be responsible for the following activities:

• Review of all reports and documents such as project proposal, six-month reports, baseline survey, mid-term review etc.
• Discuss with CISDOMA and Oxfam to understand the context as well as the constraints encountered during the project implementation. After initial discussions, an inception report will be drafted by the consultants and submitted to the evaluation management team of CISDOMA and Oxfam for final approval.  
• Field visits to the project area(s) will be conducted to gather primary data and first-hand understanding of the activities at the field level.
• Compilation of data, analysis of findings and preparation of a draft evaluation report as well as a case study/ies, for submission to CISDOMA.
• A validation and learning workshop with CISDOMA, Oxfam, and other project implementers will be organized to present preliminary findings
• Finalising evaluation report
• Final meeting to present findings and final evaluation report, case study/ies.

6. Expected products

 Inception Report – The inception report will be a scoping exercise for the evaluation and will include the Background/Introduction, proposed methodologies, sampling strategy, data collection and detail workplan with draft data collection tools such as interview guides, the allocation of roles and responsibilities within the team, a timeframe with firm dates for deliverables, and the travel and logistical arrangements for the team, etc. The inception report should be approved by CISDOMA.

• A presentation or debriefing to CISDOMA, Oxfam, and all project implementers for validation: The consultant will report its preliminary findings to CISDOMA/Oxfam.
• Drafts of evaluation report: A draft report identifying key findings based on facts and conclusions, recommendations and lessons for the current and future operation, will be submitted by the team leader within one week of the evaluation team’s return from the field.
• Final report: The final report will contain a short executive summary (no more than 1,000 words) and a main body of the report (no more than 6,000 words) covering the background of the intervention evaluated, a description of the evaluation methods and limitations, findings, conclusions, lessons learned, clear recommendations. Recommendations should be specific and feasible. The report should also contain appropriate appendices, including a copy of the ToR, cited resources or bibliography/reference, a list of those interviewed, case studies and any other relevant materials. The final report will be submitted one week after receipt of the consolidated feedback from CISDOMA/Oxfam.
• Gender equality promotion documentation to highlight stories of success of youth, marketer/marketing agencies in good practices in gender equality promotion in the field.

7. Key qualifications of the evaluators

 The consultant/consultancy team shall have the following skills and experience.

• At least 7 years of theoretical and practical work on M&E with strong focus on qualitative research methodologies
• Knowledge on gender, gender stereotypes, gender roles, LGBTIQ+, gender gap, gender discrimination, gender equity, gender equality is a must.
• Knowledge and experience in gender related communication campaigns, behavior changes activities are important.
• Experience working with gender related projects is an advantage
• Effective communication skills with diverse beneficiaries’ groups as students, lecturers, journalists, marketers, enterprises, NGOs… is essential
• Concise and insightful analysis and writing skills with clear evidence and impactful description of the results, outcomes, case studies, stories of changes.
• Excellent communication and documentation skills in English and Vietnamese.
• Results focused and accountable.

8. Content of the evaluator’s offer

 Interested candidates are invited to contact Mr. Dao Ngoc Ninh (ninh.dn@cisdoma.org.vn) for additional details about the assignment and then to send their applications by email in English consisting of a CV, a letter of motivation and a financial and technical offer to: info@cisdoma.org.vn and cc to Mr. Dao Ngoc Ninh: ninh.dn@cisdoma.org.vn. Please indicate clearly your application subject: “EU2 CISDOMA – Final Evaluation consultant”.

 Deadline for application:   15^th November at 17:00, Hanoi time. Please note that only applications which are submitted in English and contain all above mentioned documents shall be considered. While CISDOMA appreciates all responses, only short-listed candidate under will be contacted for an interview.