Mid-Term-Review (MTR) of the 10th Country Programme (2023-2027) Consultant - Jordan

Purpose of consultancy:

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is the lead United Nations agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled. It plays a unique role within the United Nations system: to address population and development issues, with an emphasis in sexual and reproductive health (SRH), reproductive rights, gender equality, within the International conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Program Action and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in particular SDGs 3 & 5. UNFPA aims to ensure that women, adolescents and youth can lead healthy and productive lives free from violence, discrimination and coercion, by working towards three Transformative Results: (i) Zero preventable maternal deaths; (ii) Zero unmet need for family planning; and (iii) Zero gender-based violence and harmful practices, including child marriage and female genital mutilation.

UNFPA has been operating in Jordan since 1976 and has been supporting the government in Jordan through its Jordan Country Office under the framework of the tenth country program that was built on the national development needs and priorities.

UNFPA Jordan Country office is planning to conduct the independent Mid-Term-Review (MTR) of the 10th Country Programme (2023-2027), this document presents the Terms of Reference (ToR) for the MTR, which is to be undertaken in 2025. This ToR sets out the expectations for this MTR that will be explained in the following sections.

UNFPA COUNTRY PROGRAMME: The 10th Country Program aims to support the Government of Jordan’s ongoing efforts to enhance sexual reproductive health and rights (SRHR), ending gender-based violence and harmful practices, realizing rights and choices for young people, and strengthening the use of population data for development. 

The overall goal of the UNFPA Jordan’s 10th Country Programme (CP) (2023-2027) is universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights and reduced maternal mortality, as articulated in the UNFPA Strategic Plan 2021-2025. The CP contributes to the following outcomes of the UNFPA Strategic Plan 2022-2025:

The focus of this MTR will be only on the following specific CP outputs as per the UNFPA Strategic Plan outcomes; namely; 

Output 1. Improved integration of sexual and reproductive health and rights and prevention of and response to gender-based violence and harmful practices into relevant national policies and accountability frameworks

The new country programme will directly contribute to the four outcome areas outlined by the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework(UNSDCF), 2023-2027. Fostering integrated approaches across UNFPA outputs and UNSDCF outcomes, UNFPA will reinforce its collaboration with other United Nations organizations to accelerate and scale up interventions to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with particular attention to gender equality and human rights-based approaches. UNFPA will partner more closely with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on ending child marriage and youth and twenty-first century skills development through global programmes and large public-private platforms, such as Generation Unlimited. UNFPA will join forces with the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) and others to scale up the tackling of social norms. UNFPA will continue to collaborate with UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) for health systems strengthening to deliver high quality reproductive and maternal health services, and it will align with other United Nations organizations to strengthen data and evidence and build institutional capacities to strengthen resilience and mitigate impact of disasters on achievement of the three transformative results. UNFPA will coordinate and strengthen partnerships with United Nations organizations, including the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), UNICEF, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), UN-Women and World Health Organisation (WHO), to promote gender equality and access to sexual and reproductive health, gender-based violence and youth services in both development context and humanitarian settings to reach the furthest left behind communities

Output 2. Strengthened capacity of government, community-based and non-governmental organizations to provide high-quality, comprehensive sexual and reproductive health information and services, including family planning and supplies, as well as essential services to address gender-based violence and harmful practices

The pathways to achieve this output include: (a) investing in strengthening health and social services systems to ensure availability and accessibility of integrated, high quality sexual and reproductive health and gender-based violence information, services and supplies, especially for the most vulnerable groups such as women, youth, elderly, people with disabilities and other furthest left behind persons; (b) improving preparedness, readiness and functionality of primary health care systems, and scaling up operationalization of the comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights package, including emergency obstetric and newborn care; (c) supporting the national maternal mortality surveillance and response system; (d) strengthening accessibility and uptake of high-quality multisectoral, integrated, human-centred, inclusive gender-based violence services for women and girls, with focus on reaching the most left behind people , including women, youth and people with disabilities; (e) scaling up the provision of life-saving inclusive support for gender-based violence survivors in humanitarian contexts, including through cash voucher assistance and mental health and psychosocial support; (f) strengthening sexual and reproductive health and gender-based violence referral pathways and network of services available particularly for women, people with disabilities, adolescents and youth; (g) expanding access to and coverage of nationwide comprehensive sexuality education by integrating it in school curricula; (h) promoting the use of innovation and digital technologies for the expansion of sexual and reproductive health and rights and gender-based violence prevention and response services; and (i) strengthening emergency preparedness to respond to future shocks or crises.

Output 3. Strengthened mechanisms and capacities of actors and institutions to address discriminatory gender and social norms towards gender equality and women’s decision-making

The pathways to achieve this output include: (a) addressing gender inequalities and supporting the transformation of sociocultural norms through a combined behavioural change approach, which will involve men and boys and decision-makers and influential leaders in society, including religious leaders; (b) expanding demand for sexual and reproductive health and rights and family planning by addressing sociocultural barriers and promoting youth and adolescent agency through comprehensive sexuality education based on informed choices; (c) strengthening the role of midwives as community-based service providers who promote gender and social norms that progress gender equality; (d) improving the agency of adolescent girls and youth, especially adolescent girls, by building their health, social and economic assets; (e) adopting human rights-based and gender transformative approaches to promote positive masculinity, nurture gender and social equitable norms, and foster the individual agency and bodily autonomy of women and girls; (f) increasing community-led initiatives and supporting local women’s/feminist and youth-led organizations; (g) working on stigma reduction and attitudes on child marriage and disability inclusion at policy, family and community level; (h) tackling gender digital divide as a means to empower women and girls and people with disabilities; (i) supporting the implementation of the national action plan to limit child marriage, including among refugees, and advocate for law reform; and (j) conducting investment cases on child marriage and providing empowerment-tailored programming for adolescent girls.

Output 4. Strengthened capacity of national institutions to generate and utilize data to develop policies and programmes that address population dynamics and other megatrends in relation to sexual and reproductive health and rights

The pathways to achieve this output include: (a) improving the collection, analysis, use and dissemination of demographic data to identify vulnerabilities, reduce inequalities and inform the development of public policies, including for emergency preparedness and response; (b) supporting the monitoring and tracking of the SDG population-related indicators and voluntary commitments made at the 25th anniversary summit of the International Conference on Population and Development in Nairobi (ICPD+25) in 2019; (c) applying innovative approaches and using technology solutions to address operational challenges to improve sexual and reproductive health and rights programming; (d) generating data and evidence on the determinants of unmet need for family planning and maternal deaths; (e) strengthening health data systems for maternal mortality prevalence in health facilities and communities at large; (f) strengthening information systems to capture and analyse real-time data on gender-based violence and harmful practices in development and humanitarian contexts; (g) providing technical assistance to identify and support sharing and gaining of developed knowledge products, useful and successful experiences, and innovative practices regarding population policies, including climate change and youth empowerment, South-South and triangular cooperation and partnerships; (h) strengthening the leadership of women, young people and people with disabilities and other left behind groups by creating platforms for learning and exchange; (i) building capacity of women and young people in sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender-based violence, and youth peace and security; and (j) supporting the design of gender-sensitive climate-resilient health systems and interventions.
 

Scope of work:

The Mid-Term Review (MTR) is intended as a light exercise, focusing primarily on assessing progress at the output level and the interventions contributing to them under the 10th Country Program (CP). While it will consider the CP’s contributions to outcomes, the emphasis will be on reviewing achievements, implementation progress, and gaps in relation to outputs. The MTR will also generate learning among key stakeholders and provide strategic recommendations to guide the remainder of the program and related strategies.

In addition, the MTR will provide an opportunity to review the recently approved UNFPA Strategic Plan 2026–2029 and examine its implications for the Country Programme. This will allow for assessing the coherence and alignment between the CPD and the new Strategic Plan, and identifying any necessary adjustments or realignments to ensure that the CPD remains responsive, strategically relevant, and well-positioned to contribute to both national priorities and UNFPA’s global strategic directions.

As an accountability mechanism, the review will enable the UNFPA Jordan Country Office (CO) to take stock of progress, indicators and results delivered to date. The recommendations will inform adjustments to strategies, interventions, implementation modalities, measurements, indicators and management practices within the current CP. Covering the period from 2023 to the third quarter of 2025, the MTR will offer a targeted and systematic analysis of progress and lessons learned, with the aim of ensuring the CO is well positioned to fulfill UNFPA’s corporate mandate and contribute to the outcomes of the UNFPA Global Strategic Plan.

Specific Objectives: The MTR will help assess:

PRELIMINARY MTR QUESTIONS Program Strategy:

- To what extent (i) the outputs and activities were custom-designed to the local context of the country? (ii) Were they addressing gender in a direct manner? Were they contributing to the national development plans, strategies and policies? (iii) were the previous lessons learnt taken into consideration while planning for these outcomes, outputs and activities?

Progress towards Results:

- To what extent (i) the indicators, milestones and targets were realistic and well linked to the outcomes and outputs that the CO wants to achieve within its CP?(ii) The monitoring and tracking tools were used and helped  in maintaining the program activities on track? 

Program Implementation and Adaptive Management

- To what extent the CO (i) managed to have results-based work plans? (ii) to have clear implementation guidelines and procedures (including clear reporting lines) to ensure the good management of its program with its implementing Partners and donors? managed and utilized the resources (human, financial and administrative) efficiently to deliver the objectives sought? What are the recommended adjustments?

MTR APPROACH & METHODOLOGY

MTR Approach. The MTR consultant is expected to follow a collaborative and participatory approach ensuring close engagement with the CO team, government counterparts and other relevant stakeholders identified by the Jordan CO. Engagement of stakeholders is vital to a successful MTR. 

MTR Methodology. The MTR will provide evidence-based information that is credible, reliable and useful. The MTR consultant will review all relevant sources of information including – but not limited to the Country Programme Document (CPD), Logical Framework, QuantumPlus, Strategic Information System (SIS), ATLAS, Implementing Partner Authorisation System (IPAS) and Enterprise Risk Management (ERM), the list of information and reference documentation that is useful for this evidence-based review will be provided to the Consultants upon awarding. 

Stakeholder involvement should include interviews with stakeholders who have project responsibilities, including but not limited to; executing agencies, senior officials and task team/ component leaders, key experts and consultants in the subject area, program team, stakeholders, academia, government and Central Statistics Offices (CSOs), etc. The MTR consultant would finalize the methodology for the review at the inception phase and submit an inception report that describes the full MTR approach and methodology, as well as the rationale for the approach making explicit the underlying assumptions, challenges, strengths and weaknesses about the methods and approach of the review.

Duration and working schedule:

The MTR consultancy will be 40 business days, starting tentatively on October 12, 2025, and shall not exceed 2 months from when the consultant is hired. The tentative timeframe below serves as guidance to allocate the time to deliver the outputs and UNFPA to track the progress. 

Consultant Activity Inception Phase 3 10-page inception report (English only) Data Collection Phase 12 Data collection and analysis  Analysis and Reporting Phase 15 Analysis and write-up of a draft MTR report (20 pages) and presentation for consultation and discussion (including time for presentation and consultation)

Finalization of the report

and presentation

Place where services are to be delivered:

Jordan. However, services can be delivered remotely, with in-country support provided by one of the two consultants, or in-person by both consultants, depending on operational requirements.
 

Delivery dates and how work will be delivered (e.g., electronic, hard copy etc.): # Deliverable Timing/ Duration Responsibilities 1 MTR Inception Report 3 working days to review and approval by MTR manager  MTR consultant  to submit it to the MTR manager in the CO,  2 Presentation (of initial findings) 3 working days to review and approval by the MTR manager. MTR consultant  presents to the CO team for approval  3 Draft Final Report 5 working days to review and feedback MTR consultant will submit it to the MTR Manager for review 4 MTR Final Report 5 days for approval. MTR consultant  will send it to the MTR Manager

Monitoring and progress control, including reporting requirements, periodicity format and deadline:

The consultant will work closely with the Monitoring and Evaluation Analyst at UNFPA Jordan, acting as the MTR Manager, to ensure that deliverables are completed on time and meet all required standards.

The consultant will work under the overall guidance of UNFPA Country Office in Jordan Representative and under the direct supervision of the M&E Analyst.

The M&E Analyst with the support of other designated program personnel (under the supervision of the Representative) will support and oversee the MTR processes and ensure the quality and independence of the evaluation (in line with United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG) Norms and Standards and Ethical Guidelines).

Expected travel:

Yes, where and if applicable. This may include travel to project sites and offices of IPs and other stakeholders within Jordan. This is also subject to change, and travel may be undertaken as requested by the Jordan CO.

Education, Qualifications, Languages, and Experience: 

Inputs / services to be provided by UNFPA or implementing partner (e.g., support services, office space, equipment), if applicable:

The main responsibilities of the CO are: 

Other relevant information or special conditions, if any:

The following is required as part of the proposal submissions. Please attach them all to your application:

a) Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability

b) CV or a Personal History Form (P11 form);

c) A brief description of the individual’s approach to the assignment, including a technical proposal explaining why they consider themselves the most suitable candidate, and a proposed methodology for completing the work. The proposal should also describe any additional resources that may be engaged, such as subject-matter experts or subcontractors, as the assignment is anticipated to require such support.; (max 1 page) 

Engaging additional resources or subject-matter experts/subcontractors, if deemed necessary by the consultant to ensure quality delivery, may be permitted by UNFPA subject to prior written approval. Any related costs should be factored into the consultant’s proposal. UNFPA will not be liable to any third party engaged by the consultant, and the consultant will remain fully responsible for the quality, timeliness, and completion of all deliverables under the contract in accordance with UNFPA’s terms and conditions.

Subcontractors: 

In the event that the Contractor requires the services of subcontractors to perform any obligations under the Contract, the Contractor shall obtain the prior written approval of UNFPA for any such subcontractors. UNFPA may, in its sole discretion, reject any proposed subcontractor or require such subcontractor’s removal without having to give any justification therefor, and such rejection shall not entitle the Contractor to claim any delays in the performance, or to assert any excuses for the non-performance, of any of its obligations under the Contract. The Contractor shall be solely responsible for all services and obligations performed by its subcontractors. The terms of any subcontract shall be subject to, and shall be construed in a manner that is fully in accordance with, and shall give full effect to, all of the terms and conditions of the Contract. 

This consultancy is subject to UNFPA General Terms and Conditions of Individual Consultant Contracts 
 

UNFPA Work Environment:

UNFPA provides a work environment that reflects the values of gender equality, diversity, integrity and healthy work-life balance. We are committed to ensuring gender parity in the organization and therefore encourage women to apply. Individuals from the LGBTQIA+ community, minority ethnic groups, indigenous populations, persons with disabilities, and other underrepresented groups are highly encouraged to apply. Reasonable accommodation may be provided to applicants with disabilities upon request, to support their participation in the recruitment process. UNFPA promotes equal opportunities in terms of appointment, training, compensation and selection for all regardless of personal characteristics and dimensions of diversity. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is at the heart of UNFPA's workforce - click here to learn more.

Disclaimer:

Selection and appointment may be subject to background and reference checks, medical clearance, visa issuance and other administrative requirements. 

UNFPA does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process and does not concern itself with information on applicants' bank accounts. 

Applicants for positions in the international Professional and higher categories, who hold permanent resident status in a country other than their country of nationality, may be required to renounce such status upon their appointment.