Final Evaluator – FemTech

ABOUT THE OPPORTUNITY

For the past two years, Internews’ FemTech project has been working with women journalists, activists and human rights defenders and gender-sensitive advocacy groups in DRC, Senegal, Uganda and Cameroon; training public facing women to be safer online through the ‘Safe Sisters’ fellowship, offering higher level training to graduates of this program on organizational security, on the ‘Tech Sisters’ fellowship and also working with partner advocacy organizations to support public dialogue and advocacy around tech-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) and promote the strengthening of digital laws and protections in-country.

With the FemTech project ending, Internews is seeking a final evaluator to assess the project across various metrics, including its success in accomplishing its stated goals, its responsiveness to changes and ability to pivot, and where it could be improved for future programming on the subject. The final evaluation report will examine the impact of project activities on beneficiaries as well as the sustainability of results.

LOGISTICS

This is a remote-based, part-time, short-term consultancy with an expected term of late August through October 2023, approximately 15 working days during that period.

All remote candidates will be considered. However, you must have work authorization in your location that does not require sponsorship from Internews. Additionally, there are locations in which Internews is not able to support fully remote work.

The project is global and the evaluator should be willing and able to conduct virtual interviews with partners and other members of the community located in multiple time zones.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, so candidates are encouraged to apply soon.

OUR COMMITMENT TO FOSTERING A CULTURE OF BELONGING

We are an organization of dynamic, mission-driven individuals who are passionate about our core values and about supporting positive change in the world. We pride ourselves on our commitment to innovation and flexibility. We believe that diverse teams are strong teams and work to support an ethic of belonging, dignity, and justice for all people . Our current team includes a mix of genders, parents and non-parents, and people of multiple races, nationalities, ages, sexual orientations and socioeconomic backgrounds. We are an EEO employer and encourage candidates of all races, genders, ages, orientations, ethnicities, and national origins to apply, and welcome those with alternative backgrounds and experiences.

DAY-TO-DAY TASKS will include:

Inception phase:

• Evaluation Planning: Initial discussion with key project team stakeholders to identify internal priorities, lines of enquiry, and sensitivities. Based on this activity, the contractor will draft an evaluation workplan and methodological framework, detailing the qualitative and quantitative tools and evaluation questions to be used during the primary data collection phase. This workplan and framework will be shared with the Program Officer for review;
• Consolidate results by synthesizing past quarterly progress reports (to be included in final report analysis);
• This should include key accomplishments across the life of the project, notable challenges, and compilation of deliverables and reports.

Primary data collection:

• Collect new data through a survey and in-depth interviews with key staff and partners to paint a more complete picture of the program and its impacts (what is different now as a result of the project).

Final analysis and write up:

• Formulate recommendations: The evaluation should gather lessons from experience in carrying out data protection advocacy campaigns to identify recommendations for what future programming should look like/consider. Recommendations will be prepared in collaboration with Internews staff to ensure they are relevant and useful;
• Produce a report and smaller case studies that includes those elements and captures lessons learned and effectiveness of the project. In addition to reporting what the project delivered, it is also important to learn from how it operated and whether it substantively met all objectives;
• Meeting and finalizing report: Prepare and hold meeting with Program Director and Program Officer to review preliminary findings. Incorporate final comments by Program Director and Program Officer;
• Presentation: Organize and conduct a presentation of key findings, recommendations, and lessons learned.

TIMEFRAME

The evaluation will comprise of an estimated 15 days of work, and involve the following elements:

• Desk Review (3-5 days). This will involve reviewing quarterlies and other documentation that the project produced to track the evolution of the project as a whole;
• Data Collection and Analysis (3-5 days). In order to gather feedback from a wide range of project participants, formulate a survey or questionnaire to be disseminated with project partners, key communities, and key project stakeholders. Additionally, conduct a series of in-depth interviews or focus group discussions with project staff, subgrantees, fellows, and/or beneficiaries. Internews will provide introductions as necessary;
• Writing the Report and case studies (5-7 days). Outside of the work to analyze interviews and compile information from documentation, approximately 5-7 days will be needed to draft the report.

EXPECTED DELIVERABLES

• Report: The final product will be an 8-10-page report. The body of the report will provide a narrative description of results achieved (and impacts, when possible), operational lessons, and recommendations. Where appropriate, it will also include illustrative graphs and charts that provide useful summaries of project data. Appendices will provide detail such as cross tabulations from reviewing quarterly reports and interviews, as well as a list of people interviewed, and survey results (if any), so readers can clearly see the data that supports the findings and conclusions;
• 1-2 page “snapshots”: Develop four brief (1-2 page) country “snapshots” highlighting the strategies, key successes/challenges, impacts, and next steps based on current work from each of FemTech’s advocacy partners;
• As a part of the final evaluation and based on interviews with FemTech’s core country partners and both Safe and Tech Sister fellows, construct case studies for each country of focus that highlight key approaches or lessons learned in combatting tech-facilitated gender-based violence, strengthening digital safety awareness in activist and journalist communities and conducting advocacy work on digital rights. These reports should include the following structure:
  • Introduction to the country and its context (see and link to needs assessment reports);
  • Key approach or lesson learned (as determined by the partners and Internews);
  • Results/impacts on civil society/community awareness of digital safety and the negative effects of tech-facilitate gender-based violence in country.

Some potential core questions to be asked of partners include:

• What do you see as the biggest highlight/most successful element of your campaign?
• What approach did you take to make this possible, and why?
• What direct impacts do you think this had?
• What lessons would you share with others based on this success?

QUALIFICATIONS WE’RE LOOKING FOR:

Required

• Bachelor’s degree in a related field, graduate degree preferred;
• Fluency in both written and spoken English;
• Demonstrated experience conducting evaluations of advocacy and human rights programs, particularly for US donors;
• Experience with qualitative and quantitative M&E data collection and analysis methods;
• Strong facilitation, presentation, writing and communication skills.

Preferred

• Proficiency in French;
• Experience in the field of digital rights and/or internet freedom.

Note: Candidates who do not have these preferred qualifications, but who are interested and willing to learn, are encouraged to apply.