UN Women National Consultant (Evaluation) – Link Women Phase II End-Line Assessment - Home Based, India, Home based, Remote

## UN Women National Consultant (Evaluation) – Link Women Phase II End-Line Assessment - Home Based, India, Home based, Remote - Organization:UN Women - United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women - Office:UN Women in Home-based UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security. UN Women India Country Office is implementing Link Women Phase II as part of its broader mandate to advance women's economic empowerment (WEE) by enhancing women's access to skills, employment opportunities, and agency in decision-making. The programme is aligned with UN Women's strategic priorities on expanding women's economic opportunities, strengthening gender-responsive skills and employability pathways, and addressing structural barriers that limit women's participation in the labour market. Link Women Phase II aims to support young women from marginalised backgrounds to transition successfully from education into employment, entrepreneurship, or higher education pathways. The programme focuses on strengtheningemployability and work-readiness skills, life skills and confidence, and gender awareness and agency, recognising that technical skills alone are insufficient for sustained labour market engagement. Key programme interventions include structured training modules on employability and life skills, career guidance and exposure opportunities, placement support, and aFellowship componentdesigned to provide deeper engagement, mentorship, and leadership development for a selected group of participants. The primary beneficiaries of the programme areyoung women enrolled in higher education institutions, particularly those with limited access to skills training, labour market information, and support networks. In addition, the programme engages a wider set of stakeholders, includingfaculty and institutional partners, who play a critical role in programme delivery; theimplementing partnerresponsible for on-ground coordination and training; andemployers and industry actorswho support exposure and placement pathways. The programme is implemented across two states (Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh) and four districts (Mumbai, Pune, Bhopal, Indore). UN Women is now undertaking the endline assessment of Link Women Phase II, which will be led and managed in-house by the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) function of the UN Women India Country Office. A substantial body of evidence has already been generated over the course of the programme, including the Link Women baseline and endline surveys, partner-submitted training and activity reports, participation, placement and transition records, Fellowship documentation, and routine monitoring data received from the field. Against this background, the present assignment is a short-term, consultancy. The consultant will conduct the primary qualitative study with stakeholders, consolidate, analyse and synthesise these multiple data streams and prepare a comprehensive endline report. The expected outcome is a well-evidenced and analytically sound endline report that documents programme results against baseline, explains what has worked and what has not across different cohorts of participants, and generates lessons to inform the design, adaptation and scale-up of future women's economic empowerment initiatives. The consultant will work under the direct supervision and day-to-day guidance of the M&E Lead, UN Women India Country Office, and in close coordination with the Programme Analyst, WEE. The Programme Associate will serve as the contact person for contract and payment matters. Description of Responsibilities/ Scope of Work The key responsibilities will include: 1. Desk Review and Familiarisation - Review all relevant programme documentation, including the programme design and implementation plans, results and monitoring framework, partner training and activity reports, and UN Women's Strategic Note 2023-27. - Participate in orientation discussions with the M&E Lead and the WEE programme team to understand the scope of the endline, the key areas of enquiry, and the expected structure of the endline report. - Review and map the available Link Women data sources, including baseline and endline survey tools and datasets and field-level monitoring data, and identify key data gaps and quality issues to inform the endline analysis. 2. Analysis of available programme data - Conduct analysis of available programme data including, training pre and post-test data, placement and mentorship data participants feedback forms and any other programme data available. . - Identify data gaps, inconsistencies or quality issues and work with the M&E Lead, programme team and implementing partner to address them. 3.Analysis of Baseline and Endline Survey Data - Clean and prepare the baseline and endline survey datasets for analysis, including checking for missing, inconsistent or duplicate data and addressing data quality issues. . - Conduct data analysis of baseline-endline analysis across key programme indicators, including employability and work-readiness, life skills and confidence, gender awareness and agency, and education-to-work transition outcomes using appropriate statistical software (SPSS, STATA, R, SAS etc). - Disaggregate findings by relevant categories, including state, district, institution, cohort and Fellowship participation, and analyse differences across participant groups. - Develop tables, graphs and other appropriate data visualisations to present the findings clearly. 4.Secondary Data Collection and Synthesis - Identify and collect relevant secondary data and literature, including national and state-level evidence on female labour force participation, skilling, higher education and youth employment, and documentation from comparable employability and education-to-work transition programmes. - Synthesise this secondary evidence to contextualise and benchmark the Link Women endline findings. - Maintain a properly referenced bibliography and source list in a consistent citation style. 5.Conduct qualitative interviews with respondents in programme states and analysis - Review and revise the existing qualitative tools (FGD, IDI and KII) and finalise the tools in consultation with the programme team and M&E lead - Conduct focus group discussions, In-depth Interviews and Key Informant Interviews (approximately 10-15) with participant to understand the pathways of change and how the programme influences their future decisions. This will include:Focus group discussions with Programme participants across different transition pathways (employment, entrepreneurship, higher education, and non-transition cases), including Fellowship participants; (4-5)Key Informant Interviews with faculty and institutional partners (3-4);Key informant interviews with Implementing partner staff, and employers or industry actors engaged in exposure and placement pathways (1-2)In-depth interviews with identified programme participants (2-4) - Focus group discussions with Programme participants across different transition pathways (employment, entrepreneurship, higher education, and non-transition cases), including Fellowship participants; (4-5) - Key Informant Interviews with faculty and institutional partners (3-4); - Key informant interviews with Implementing partner staff, and employers or industry actors engaged in exposure and placement pathways (1-2) - In-depth interviews with identified programme participants (2-4) - Apply UN Women's ethical standards throughout, including informed consent, confidentiality, data protection and the safe handling of personal information. - Develop transcripts and translations of interview notes and share the same wit