Call For Offers: Final Evaluation Of Community Driven FGM/C Abandonment And Women Empowerment In Somaliland Project

CALL FOR OFFERS: FINAL EVALUATION OF COMMUNITY DRIVEN FGM/C ABANDONMENT AND WOMEN EMPOWERMENT IN SOMALILAND PROJECT

Background

The International Solidarity Foundation (ISF) is a Finnish development organization, founded in 1970. ISF’s mission is to support development that strengthens democracy, equality, and human rights globally and challenges people to build a more equitable world. We envision a world where women and girls are empowered to build their own future, their self-determination is fully realized, and the right to bodily integrity is respected. ISF has the vision to be an organization with a leading role in the empowerment of women and girls in East Africa by 2030.

ISF has operated in Somaliland since 2000 to promote women’s rights, focusing particularly on the prevention of female genital mutilation (FGM) and promotion of women’s livelihoods. In 2020-2022, ISF together with two local implementing partners in Somaliland, Network Against FGC in Somaliland (NAFIS) and Candlelight for Environment, Education and Health has implemented a Community Driven FGM/C Abandonment and Women Empowerment in Somaliland project funded by UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women (UNTF EVAW).

The project has been implemented in all regions of Somaliland, focusing in Toghdeer, Sahil and Maroodi-Jeeh regions. Its main objective is to empower local communities in Somaliland to abandon all forms of FGM/C. To achieve the objective, both empirical expectations (what people believe others will do) and social expectations (what people believe others expect of them) upholding FGM/C need to be addressed, as well as women’s marginalized position in decisions concerning their bodies. The results the project aims to achieve in target communities are 1) awareness of physical, social, and psychological health effects, of religious and human rights aspects to FGM/C, and of growing local FGM/C opposition; 2) women’s enhanced agency in identifying and claiming their right to bodily integrity; and 3) coordinated grassroots movement to collectively advocate for FGM/C abandonment.

The intervention logic is based on social change theories, whereby increased knowledge and awareness affect attitudes that gradually change behaviour. Hence, the action has trained and sensitized local change agents (see below) about harmful consequences, unacceptability, and preventability of VAWG (especially FGM). All activities are interrelated, aiming to challenge empirical expectations (what people expect others to do) and normative expectations (what people believe others think they ought to do) about violent and harmful practices.

Final beneficiaries include over 11,000 girls who are saved from FGM when targeted change agents (secondary beneficiaries) have been trained on the health risks, religious and human rights aspects concerning FGM, and mobilized to call for FGM abandonment. The secondary beneficiaries include 915 people attached to local CSOs, 150 religious leaders, 210 traditional leaders and community management community members, 180 local journalists, and 200 university students. These change agents (secondary beneficiaries) are expected to reach 3-15 families each (see assumptions above) who will renounce their decision to cut their daughters.

Final beneficiaries also include 13,500 internally displaced women who belong to women’s self-help groups (SHG), and whose marginalized position is among the root causes upholding FGM and other forms of VAWG. 1800 women attached to Cluster Level Associations that coordinate SHGs (secondary beneficiaries) are trained on human rights and legal perspectives to bodily integrity and mobilized to train their respective SHGs. SHG women thereby gain confidence to share experiences, participate in community dialogues, and claim for effective measures to abandon all forms of VAWG in Somaliland. Subsequently, the process will break social barriers and expand the role and status of women who will become women’s right promoters and increase community movement to renounce VAWG.

Purpose of the evaluation

As the project is coming to an end, and extensive final evaluation is conducted to assess the effectiveness, relevance, efficiency, sustainability and impact of the project, as well as the cross-cutting objectives on gender equality and human rights. All target groups, beneficiaries, associates, and other key stakeholders will be engaged.

The evaluation is expected to identify key lessons and promising or emerging good practices in the field of EVAWG, particularly ending FGM. These findings will inform ISF and its implementing partners in their programme planning and development. In practice, ISF and NAFIS will utilize the findings in the planning of their 2023-25 cooperation in the field of FGM prevention in Somaliland. In that process, information on which of the components in this project have had most impact and/or should be scaled up is highly valuable. The findings will also inform ISF establishment in Puntland and the Somali region in Ethiopia (planned to take place in 2023). In both areas, FGM prevention will be in focus of ISF intervention.

The findings will also be disseminated to all ISF implementing partners in Somaliland (and the relevant parts also with partners implementing similar projects in Kenya and Ethiopia) as well as other interested CSOs and key stakeholders (such as government officials and other ISF donors). Beyond East Africa, the evaluation report can be shared with the Community of Practice on FGM to build bridges between FGM professionals from Africa and Europe, as well as the UN Women coordinated SHINE online hub and Generation Equality Gender-Based Violence Action Coalition members.

The Evaluation Team should consist of one national or international consultant (Senior Evaluator), one national Evaluation Field Manager, local enumerators (and a report editor if needed). Evaluator(s) must be independent from any organizations that have been involved in designing, executing, managing or advising any aspect of the project that is the subject of the evaluation. Preference will be given to women-led consultant teams. The evaluation team should be available for this task from November 21st (latest).

The complete Terms of Reference including evaluation questions and criteria, proposed evaluation design and methodology, evaluation team requirements, key deliverables and timelines will be published on ISF web page https://solidaarisuus.fi/en/cfo.