Evidence Review Consultant (Women Empowered)

Overview

Global Communities works at the intersection of humanitarian assistance, sustainable development and financial inclusion to save lives, advance equity and secure strong futures. We support communities at the forefront of their own development in more than 35 countries, partnering with local leaders, governments, civil society and the private sector to achieve a shared vision of a more just, prosperous and equitable global community. We work with government, non-government, private sector, and community stakeholders to promote transparency, foster accountability, and access the channels they need to make their voices heard, promote change, and realize their full potential.

About the Program

Global Communities has implemented the Women Empowered program for more than 10 years. With the current phase of the program in its final year, we are interested in reviewing the evidence and learnings from the past three years in order to define strategic opportunities to build new and strengthen existing efforts around women’s economic empowerment.

Women Empowered (WE) is a GC global initiative dedicated to the social and economic empowerment of women through the formation of self-managed and self-sustaining savings groups. WE groups are formed based upon proven savings group methodologies which bring 15-25 members together to save money, develop financial literacy, make loans to one another, and invest in income-generating activities. Beyond that, WE groups support women’s empowerment by building skills and capacities; providing leadership experience to build self-esteem and self-efficacy; increasing access to information and resources; and promoting collective action and community organizing. WE groups become a platform for members to raise awareness on important topics and act collectively to improve their lives and communities.

The WE Methodology includes a core set of required savings groups modules along with additional components that are included depending upon the goals and timeframe of a given project. These additional components include the P.A.C.E. (Personal Advancement and Career Enhancement) Life Skills curriculum, as well as training on basic business skills and access to sustainable sources of income (program META). META’s approach aims to catalyze the progress WE members make in increasing their incomes with consumption smoothing and regular income generation activities. Finally, Global Communities has incorporated a gender transformative couple’s discussion component into certain WE projects to promote men’s engagement in support of women’s economic advancement.

Responsibilities

Scope of Work:

The goal of this consultancy is two-fold.

The first objective is to compile a summary evidence and findings report based upon a review of existing evaluation reports, project reports and studies generated over the life of the current program (between 10-15 existing documents). The final product report will include overviews of major project goals and approaches; summaries of evidence and findings; and recommendations based upon the findings.

The second objective is to develop concrete evidence-based recommendations for strengthening existing women’s economic empowerment strategies and outline new strategies that would build from and complement existing programmatic efforts. This will be done in collaboration with select members of the WE team and others within Global Communities.

Deliverables:

• Outline of evidence and findings report
• Draft evidence and findings report
• Final summary evidence and findings report (5-10 pages)
• Draft and final versions of Women’s economic empowerment strategy recommendation presentation document

Allocated Budget:

The budget available for this effort is between $10,000 – 13,000.

Period of Performance:

Ideally, work under this consultancy will begin in May and we will completed by mid-June.

Qualifications

• 7+ years’ relevant work experience in women’s economic empowerment, financial inclusion
• Strong experience and familiarity with savings group programming, male engagement, livelihoods strengthening
• Excellent writing and communication skills
• Research, evaluation and analysis experience a must