“Financial Planning Capacity to Reduce Domestic Violence in Vietnam” Project TERM OF REFERENCE FOR PROJECT EVALUATION

The popular form of domestic violence is the violence of husband to the wife and the underlying reason is gender discrimination. Domestic violence has serious consequences for both society and individual victims, including the children witnessing violent behaviors.

In Vietnam, the Law o­n Domestic Violence Prevention was passed in the National Assembly in November 2007 and took effect 1 July 2008. The Law regulated o­n preventing domestic violence; protecting and supporting for victims; responsibility of individuals, family, organization in preventing domestic violence; and dealing with perpetrators.

A survey conducted by the General Statistic Office (GSO) in 2010 shows relevant data of domestic violence in Vietnam. According to this research, 32% married women have suffered physical violence by their partners. Even if beating is the most visible form of abuse there are others types of violence treated in this survey. 54% women reported lifetime emotional abuse, 9% economic abuse and 10 % of the women stated to have suffered sexual abuse in their lifetime. This available data, in accordance to previous studies, stress the importance of the actions designed to face domestic violence in Vietnam. Even when legal framework in Vietnam provides means to cope with domestic violence there are still some hurdles which difficult the right intervention of the authorities in charge for its eradication. Quoting the United Nation Office o­n Drug and Crime (UNODC): “The introduction of family relationships into the traditional response to public offenses poses many challenges for the police, criminal investigators, procurators and courts. Domestic violence is still viewed as a private matter”. The justice sector, police and other actors involved in domestic violence prevention and control in Vietnam shows a lack of effectiveness in their responses that leaves victims unprotected and exposed to new episodes of violence.

The Vietnam Women’s Union (VWU) has an unique role in dealing with the problem of domestic violence. As other mass organizations, VWU is regulated by the Law to conduct communication and education activities; propose necessary measures for the Law implementation; and supervise the Law enforcement. Besides, VWU as an organization of the women has the responsibilities to organize victim centers; provide services to victims; and help protect victims.

Over the time, especially since the introduction of the DV Law, the VWU has identified the following barriers in addressing domestic violence issue in Vietnam:

·The VWU has limited resources for development efforts, including domestic violence prevention and control.

• Community has little awareness o­n domestic violence, despite the issuance of DV Law and related Decrees. Many people cannot tell whether a behavior being domestic violence behavior or not, or still consider domestic violence as normal and acceptable. Communication materials o­n domestic violence are not provided adequately to the people.
• When domestic violence happens, victims do not usually receive timely and adequate support and responses from responsible agencies. Many victims dare not reach out for support. Cooperation among supporting agencies is limited.

With the donation of Spanish Agency for International Development Co-operation (AECID), the VWU has implemented two-phase project “Improve the financial planning and resource mobilizing capacity of the Vietnam Women´s Union and raise community´s awareness to reduce domestic violence in Vietnam” (In brief “Financial Planning Capacity to Reduce Domestic Violence Vietnam”). The phase I, with the budget of EUR 350,000, was implemented from March 2010 to June 2011 at Central and other 4 provinces/cities Bac Ninh, Da Nang, Kon Tum and Can Tho. The phase II, granted with EUR 510,000 started from July 2011 and will end in September 2012 with two extended provinces Hau Giang and Soc Trang.

The multi-dimensional and comprehensive approach of the project (using at the same time communication, training, victim support, perpetrator handling, awarding, networking, etc.) has brought about initial changes in DV responses and cultural environment of the project localities.

This phase II is to finish in September 2012, providing a good occasion to asses the results of this project as well as to compare them with the results obtained with the first phase, as the project carried out a baseline survey to be able to measure advancements o­n some areas of performance as capacity building and awareness raising.

II.OBJECTIVES OF THE EVALUATION:

This evaluation will consider the first and second Phases of the project with activities in 6 provinces/cities, in order to:

·Assess the design, performance (including management/organization) and the results obtained during implementation of the project in terms of relevance, efficiency, appropriateness and sustainability

·Determine the possible impacts of the Project, focusing o­n those obtained o­n gender-based violence awareness and prevention. Measuring achievements based o­n the data collected by the baseline survey developed by phase I

·Analyze main project activities in detail to determine pertinence, relevance, weaknesses and strengths, focusing in communication materials production and dissemination, capacity building and assistance to victims of gender based violence, especially trusted addresses.

·Identify lessons learned and provide recommendations for model duplication

III.EVALUATION STAKEHOLDERS:

·Primary stakeholders: Project Management Unit, Project and VWU staff, AECID representatives

·Secondary stakeholders: Women who are victims of domestic violence and have been beneficiaries of the project. Representatives of relevant agencies in preventing and control domestic violence, representatives of local authorities and local functional agencies and national and international organizations in the network.

IV.EVALUATION QUESTIONS:

Effectiveness

1. To what extent the objectives of the projects have been achieved?

2. What effects either positive or negative were produced?

3. To what extent the capacity building for VWU staff has been strengthened?

4. What have been the reasons which have made easier or have hindered to achieve the goals of the different activities?

5. To what extent have the activities and cares implemented by the VWU met the necessities of the people attended?

6. Did the victims of domestic violence experience any change after they were assisted by the means of this project? What were these changes? Were the changes positive?

7. Were the support services provided by the VWU effective in assisting victims of domestic violence?

8. Was the project able to fulfill its specific objectives to generate its expected outcomes?

9. Have the implemented activities been efficient according to resources and outcomes?

10. Do the people in project provinces know the possibilities to receive help in case of being a victim of gender based violence?

Sustainability

11. What is the probability for the obtained results to endure o­nce the financial aid is withdrawn? For how long?

12 To what extent it is possible to spread the experience acquired in this project to other actors working o­n issues related to gender based violence?

13. Can these activities be replicated in Vietnam? What changes should be made to be able to improve and replicate them?

Pertinence

14. To what extent does society living in the intervention areas consider domestic violence to be important matters and socially relevant?

Cooperation

15. Has there been a fluent collaboration among VWU and other relevant agencies/ organizations involved in Gender based violence? Which other agencies or organizations? Has this collaboration been useful to achieve the expected outcomes?

16. To what extent has the organization of the project been effective? Has the implemented organization been effective to coordinate the project in 40 communes, 20 districts and 6 project provinces?

17. Has there been a good coordination among the different participants involved in the project from central to local level? What difficulties have they found to coordinate themselves? How this coordination could have been more effective to better achieve the goals of the project?

V.EXISTING EVALUATION SOURCES:

Information sources available are the following:

-Project document

-Baseline survey report

-Monitoring reports

-Communication material produced by the project

VI.METHODOLOGY:

The suggested stages/methods for the evaluation include:

1. Literature review (Review existing project documents and related materials)

2. Presentation of the inception report. This will be a 25 pages report product of the literature review phase. It will describe the preliminary conclusions after revision of all the relevant literature, the methodology for data collection and analysis, key informants, complementary evaluation questions and detailed schedule. The study tools will combine observation visits, with different types of interviews, questionnaires and group discussion to be applied to different actors. This will include the design of specific tools to measuring achievements taking in account the base line survey developed during phase I

3. Collected data and information processingand analysis

4. A feedback workshop for initial findings sharing and feedbacks

5. Drafting the report to be submitted to the Project Director and AECID in order to receive feedback

6. Evaluation final report to be analyzed and approved by the project Director and AECID

7. A final workshop for sharing evaluation results and receiving final comments.

All evaluation process will be conducted in accordance with ethical regulations in managing and providing information

VII.DELIVERABLES:

-01 Evaluation Final Report (in both English and Vietnamese about 30-40 pages)

The evaluation will be able to properly answer the evaluation question listed in this document and other relevant questions arisen during the evaluation process. The evaluation report must at least consist of the following contents:

·Context of the establishment of the project

·The intervention logic of the project

·The validity and reliability of information sources,

·The explanation of Methodology used,

·The main findings o­n results and impacts obtained related to the different criteria of evaluation

·Description and analysis of the main activities of the project pointing at strengths, weaknesses and specific recommendation for replication

·Recommendations, implementation and future sustainability

·Acknowledgements of changes and limitations of the Evaluation,

·Incorporation of Stakeholders’ comments

-01 Executive Summary of the Evaluation Report (in English and Vietnamese) of at least 10 pages

-A Power Point presentation of the main results and conclusions of the evaluation (in Vietnamese and English)

-Annexes of processed data by SPSS (in Vietnamese)

-Transcript of in-depth interviews (in Vietnamese)

VIII.QUALIFACATIONS AND REQUIRED EXPERIENCES:

It is required a team of consultants who meet the following requirements:

For the Team leader:

·At least a Master degree in Gender issues and or social related fields.

·Intensive and proved experience in evaluation of developmentprojects funded by international cooperation agencies (applying, qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods). (5- 8 years of proved experience)

·Substantive knowledge of gender issues in Vietnam (especially Gender based violence and domestic violence), and the situation of Vietnam grassroots communities. Ability to dialogue directly in Vietnamese with victims and project beneficiaries.

·Familiarity with the operation of the Vietnam Women’s Union and the Vietnam political system.

·Ability to work under pressure and meet strict deadlines, and to start immediately o­nce the proposal is approved

·Substantive knowledge about Vietnamese laws and policies o­n domestic violence.

For the team member(s):

·Education background in Gender issues and or social related fields (a Master degree is an advantage).

·Intensive and proved experience in evaluation of developmentprojects funded by international cooperation agencies (applying, qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods). (3- 5 of proved experience)

·Substantive knowledge of gender issues in Vietnam (especially Gender based violence and domestic violence), and the situation of Vietnam grassroots communities. Ability to dialogue directly in Vietnamese with victims and project beneficiaries.

·Familiarity with the operation of the Vietnam Women’s Union and the Vietnam political system.

·Ability to work under pressure and meet strict deadlines, and to start immediately o­nce the proposal is approved

·Substantive knowledge about Vietnamese laws and policies o­n domestic violence.

·Good knowledge of English

IX.PROJECT SUPPORT FOR THE CONSULTANT(S):

Once the contract is signed, the project will conduct financial procedures according to its regulations and provide the consultant (s) with the following:

·Project’s documents and relating documents (records of existing forms, data, images and implemented activities)

·Arrange meetings with Project Director, donor organization, project staff

·Support with field trips and arrange meetings in the visited areas in 6 provinces/cities

·VWU will organize the two workshops in coordination with the consultants

·Support for other needs (if appropriate)

10. EXPECTED TIME FRAME:

The evaluation is expected to take 02 months as maximum o­nce the consultancy service contract has been signed and follow the time frame below:

The number of days in the table is o­nly a reference. The Team leader will devote a minimum of 25 days. The second consultant will work at least 10 days. The technical proposal will include a table explaining the number of days every consultant will devote to each phase of the evaluation.

11. REMUNERATION

A maximum package of 12,000 EUR is foreseen for this consultancy.

The selected candidates will be paid against valid invoices: 30% upon signature of the contract and presentation of a detailed work plan and schedule and 40% upon submission and approvalof the first evaluation report and 30% upon submission and approval of the final report. Payment will be product based according to the evaluation requirements. The package is understood to include all taxes, levies and insurance. PIT will be deducted from the total amount of payment according to Vietnamese law. No extra amounts can be allocated for this consultancy.

12. CONTRACTING AND REPORTING PROCEDURE

The selected consultant will be contracted by the Project unit of VWU, after a consensus has been reached with AECID. The consultant will report to the Project Director and AECID.

13. APPLICATION & CONTRACT PROCEDURE

Interested candidates should send a detailed technical proposal and budget proposal (detailing consultancy fees, field expenses and other expenses…) with their CV and a concept note outlining how their knowledge and experience could be best used to achieve the evaluation results expected.

Only those who meet the above qualifications and experiences are considered. The criteria to be used for the selection of the consultants will be:

·Quality of the technical proposal: 40% (proposed methodology and data collecting tools)

·Qualification, experience and complementary of the team of consultants: 40%

·Budget proposal: 20% (competitive price and coherence between the proposal and the phases/ products of the evaluation)

All the documentation should be sent not later than 20^th June 2012 to the both addresses:

1.Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID)

Nº.18 Ngo Van So Str., Hoan Kiem Dist., Hanoi

ATT: Mr Pablo Gismera (pablo.gismera@aecid.vn)

2.Vietnam Women Union

Nº.39 Hang Chuoi Str., Hai Ba Trung Dist., Hanoi

ATT: Ms.Duong Thi Minh Chau (chau.margarita@gmail.com)

Mobile: 0989.649.117

Tel: 04.3821.0067