Call for Consultant to Develop/Adopt Policy Monitoring Toolkits and Checklists for Monitoring VAW-Related Policies and Services

The Network of Ethiopian Women’s Associations (NEWA) is a non-partisan, non-governmental national network established in 2003, bringing together over 53 member organizations working across Ethiopia to advance gender equality and the rights of women and girls. As a national platform, NEWA serves as a coordinating and advocacy body that amplifies the collective voice of women and promotes inclusive and transformative change at policy, institutional, and community levels.

NEWA’s work focuses on strengthening advocacy, influencing policy and legal reforms, and promoting the socio-economic and political empowerment of women. The organization plays a critical role in fostering collaboration among civil society actors, engaging government institutions, and contributing to national and international policy dialogues on women’s rights and gender equality. Evidence-based advocacy, research, and policy engagement are central pillars of its strategic approach.

In addition, NEWA actively works to strengthen institutional accountability and the effective implementation of legal and policy frameworks that protect women and girls from violence and discrimination. Through partnerships with government, civil society, and development partners, NEWA supports initiatives that enhance access to justice, improve service delivery systems, and promote survivor-centered responses.

With the financial support from the UN Trust Fund, NEWA is implementing a project titled “Improving legal and service response to SGBV in conflict affected areas of Ethiopia.” It is designed to enhance the implementation of legislation, policies, national action plans, service standards, and accountability systems to prevent and end SGBV in Ethiopia, it will be strengthening both prevention and response mechanisms to Violence Against Women (VAW), including Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV). These interventions are implemented across both development and humanitarian contexts, with particular attention to conflict-affected and vulnerable settings, and are designed to contribute to more coordinated, accountable, and sustainable systems that uphold the rights, dignity, and protection of women and girls.

Background of the Assignment

Ethiopia has experienced recurring conflicts and humanitarian challenges across multiple regions, particularly in Amhara, Tigray, and Benishangul-Gumuz. These conditions have heightened the vulnerability of women and girls and increased the prevalence and risks of violence, including gender-based violence (GBV). At the same time, disruptions to essential systems have affected access to justice, health, psychosocial, and protection services.

Although a range of national policies, laws, strategies, and action plans exist to address Violence Against Women and Girls (VAW/G), challenges persist in ensuring their consistent implementation, coordination, and oversight. In particular, gaps remain in systematic monitoring, accountability, and implementation tracking.

Many institutions lack standardized tools and practical mechanisms to effectively monitor the implementation of VAW/G-related policies and strategies, assess the quality and accessibility of services and ensure accountability across sectors, including justice, health, psychosocial, and protection systems

In addition, coordination among stakeholders is often constrained by the absence of harmonized monitoring frameworks and user-friendly tools that can be applied consistently across federal, regional, and local levels.

In response to these challenges, NEWA is striving to contribute a user-friendly policy monitoring toolkits and service monitoring checklists that will support evidence-based tracking, reporting, and advocacy for service providers including one stope center, shelter, safehouse, justice and healthy system in respond to crisis related sexual violence, violence against women and girls

Purpose of the Assignment

The purpose of this assignment is to develop/adopt standardized policy monitoring toolkits and service monitoring checklists that enable systematic tracking of the policy implementation, effectiveness, and accountability of VAW/G-related policies and service delivery.

Objectives

General Objective

To strengthen monitoring and accountability mechanisms for VAW/G-related policies and services through the development of standardized tools

Specific Objectives

• To review existing national and international frameworks for monitoring VAW-related policies and services
• To develop/adopt standardized policy monitoring toolkits aligned with the Ethiopian context
• To design service monitoring checklists for key sectors (justice, health, psychosocial, protection, GBV service providers, One stope centers, shelters, safehouses etc)
• To ensure tools are practical, user-friendly, and adaptable at federal, regional, and local levels
• To integrate gender-responsive, survivor-centered, and rights-based approaches into the tools
• To engage stakeholders in validation and refinement of the tools

Expected Outcome of the Assignment

The assignment will contribute to strengthened systems for monitoring and accountability of VAW/G-related policies and services across national and regional levels, including in Amhara, Tigray, and Benishangul-Gumuz regions.

The developed tools are expected to support more consistent tracking of policy implementation, improved understanding of service delivery performance, and enhanced coordination and evidence use among relevant stakeholders, ultimately contributing to more effective, survivor-centered, and conflict-sensitive responses.

Scope of Work

• The consultant/firm will undertake the following tasks:
• Conduct a desk review of:
• National policies, strategies, laws, and action plans related to VAW/GBV
• Existing monitoring and evaluation frameworks
• International best practices and tools
• Analyze gaps in current monitoring systems and identify key indicators for tracking implementation
• Develop/adopt:
• A policy monitoring toolkit (including indicators, frameworks, reporting templates)
• Service monitoring checklists for assessing accessibility, quality, coordination, survivor-centeredness
• Ensure integration of human rights-based approach, gender-sensitive indicators, conflict-sensitive considerations and survivor centered
• present the inception and draft report to the stakeholder
• Revise and finalize tools based on feedback
• Provide a three-day training for WRO and other stakeholders on the developed toolkit

Methodology

• The consultant is expected to apply a participatory and mixed approach, including:
• Desk review of documents and frameworks
• Key Informant in-depth interview, FGD, Consultations (government institutions, CSOs, service providers)
• Comparative analysis of international best practices
• Stakeholder validation workshops
• All processes must adhere to ethical standards and ensure inclusivity and participation.

Key Deliverables

• The consultant/firm is expected to deliver:
• Inception Report (methodology, work plan, and outline of tools)
• Draft Policy Monitoring Toolkit
• Draft Service Monitoring Checklists
• presentation
• Final Toolkit and Checklists incorporating feedback
• User Guide/Manual for application of the tools
• Provision of a two days training for WRO and other stakeholders on the toolkit and checklists to familiarize them,

Duration and Level of Effort

• The assignment is expected to be completed within 45–60 days from the date of contract signing.

Reporting

The consultant/firm will work closely with NEWA and report directly to the assigned program coordinator.

All deliverables must be submitted in English.

Required Qualifications

• The consultant/firm should meet the following requirements:
• Advanced degree (MA/MSc or higher) in Gender Studies, Law, Public Policy, sociology, social work Development Studies, or related fields
• Minimum 5 years of relevant experience in policy analysis, monitoring and evaluation and GBV/VAW programming
• Proven experience in developing toolkits, frameworks, or guidelines
• Strong understanding of Ethiopia’s policy and institutional landscape
• Experience working with government and civil society organizations
• Strong analytical, facilitation, and report writing skills
• Knowledge of gender-sensitive and survivor-centered approaches
• Preference will be given to consultants with:
• Experience in GBV/VAW policy monitoring
• Familiarity with humanitarian and conflict contexts
• We encourage female lead consultant and a comparison of female in the team
• The consultant shall have a team of expertise with variety of fields listed above