UN Women: International Evaluation Expert for the Country Portfolio Evaluation of UN Women Albania Country Office Strategic Note 2022-2026, Tirane Albania, Consultancy contract

Background:

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. Placing women's rights at the centre of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. 

UN Women Albania has been at the forefront of support for Albania’s continuous commitment to implement international norms and standards on women’s rights[1], and the enhancement and implementation of relevant national legal and policy frameworks. Active in Albania since it set up its Country Programme in 2007, UN Women works closely with government institutions, civil society and international partners to support the design and implement of laws, policies, programmes and services to improve the status of women and achieve global standards for gender equality. 

The Country Office Strategic Note 2022-2026[2] is the main planning tool for UN Women’s support to normative, coordination and operational work in Albania. It outlines the strategy for promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment in Albania during this period. The Strategic Note is linked to the UN Women Global Strategic Plan 2022-2025[3] - contributing along its 4 Strategic areas: Governance and participation in public life, Women’s economic empowerment, Ending violence against women and girls, Women, peace and security, humanitarian action and disaster risk reduction. It is also linked to the National Strategy on Development and Integration II[4] and the new National Strategy on Gender Equality (2021-2030)[5] and country-level United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework 2022-2026 (UNSDCF) [6]. 

The SN was developed in alignment with the UNSDCF which for the first time includes a stand-alone gender equality outcome. UN Women Albania contributes programmatically to three of the four UNSDCF Outcomes, to which SN Outcomes are aligned: 1) By 2026, government institutions ensure increased and more equitable investment in people to remove barriers and create opportunities for those at risk of exclusion; 2) By 2026, all persons benefit from, and contribute to, innovative and integrated policy solutions that accelerate sustainable, productive and inclusive development, enhanced climate change adaptation and mitigation and transition to a green and blue economy; 3) By 2026, all persons contribute to, gender-responsive governance that strengthens equality and non-discrimination, promotes women’s empowerment and human rights, and reduces violence against women and children. 

II.2 Context

Albania is an upper middle-income country of about 2.4 million people according to the 2023 Census, with a high level of human development. It has a GDP per capita of current USD of almost 8,368 at the end of 2023. EU-SILC estimates that at-risk of poverty rate in Albania, in 2023, was 19.7 %, experiencing a decrease by 2.3 percentage points compared with 2021, whist the average of at-risk of poverty rate for EU countries (27 countries) is 16.5 %.[7] The average of at-risk of poverty rate is higher for women and girls than for men and boys, across all age groups. The highest risk of poverty is observed among the youngest population group, aged 0-17 years old, for both sexes. However, girls and women in this age group face a higher risk of falling into poverty compared to men. This suggests that gender-based disparities in economic outcomes start at an early age, linked to family structures, gender roles, or limited access to resources and opportunities for girls. 

Albania's economy is based on the three key sectors: services (54.1% - with tourism representing half of it); agriculture (21.7%), and industrial (24.2%) sectors, with construction also being prominent. Unemployment remains high, with a national rate above 10% in recent years. In 2023, unemployment was slightly higher for women (10.9%) than for men (10.5%). Youth unemployment is particularly severe: 25.6% for ages 15–24 (26.6% for women, 24.8% for men), and 19.6% for ages 25–29 (16.5% for women, 22.6% for men)[8]. These figures suggest that young women face greater barriers to entering the workforce, potentially due to gender discrimination, limited access to certain sectors, or sociocultural norms. The informal sector, estimated at 26%, further limits access to secure employment and social protections.

The 2023 Population and Housing Census[9] revealed that the resident population of Albania is 2,402,113 persons, marking a decline of approximately 420,000 people compared to the 2011 Census. The total number of children under 18 is 457,974 - representing 19 percent of the population. This figure represents a 38.7 percent decrease from Census 2011. This decline continues a trend observed since 1990, primarily driven by emigration. The sex ratio stands at 98.2 males per 100 females. This minor gender imbalance reflects various societal factors, such as gender-specific migration patterns which disproportionately affect women and girls. Notably, approximately one-third of the population, 31.6%, resides in the prefecture of Tirana, underscoring the capital's centrality in the nation's demographic distribution. The census also shed light on the prevalence of disability. Women have a higher prevalence of disability (7.2%) compared to men (5.9%). This suggests that women may be more likely to experience functional limitations, which could be related to various factors, such as health issues more common among women or the fact that women generally have a longer life expectancy and thus may face more age-related disabilities. 

The latest United Nations Sustainable Development Report 2024 was released in June 2024, which catapulted Albania from the rank of 54 in 2023 to 42[10], a jump of 12 places (building on a jump of 7 places last year, and a jump of 3 the year before). The third National Strategy for Development and European Integration (NSDEI) 2022–2030[11] has been prepared, supported by the UN, in consultations with all stakeholders, and launched at the start of 2023. A Roadmap for SDG acceleration[12] was prepared by the State Agency for Strategic Programming and Aid Coordination (SASPAC). These initiatives have the potential to enhance the alignment between socio-economic and environmental targets, as well as to support ongoing governance reforms in good governance, the rule of law, and anti-corruption requirements of the EU accession process and Albania’s commitment to enter the EU by 2030.

Albania's EU accession process continued to accelerate during 2024-2025. The Government of Albania (GoA) officially opened negotiations with the European Union (EU). The screening process has been completed and 24 out of 33 EU acquis chapters have been opened thus far[13]. Albania’s EU integration process is a key driver of reform, with gender equality embedded in the EU acquis and the EU Gender Equality Strategy. The country is aligning its legal and policy frameworks with EU standards, including directives on equal pay, work-life balance, and combating gender-based violence. The new EU Growth Plan and the Reform and Growth Facility further emphasize gender mainstreaming and women’s empowerment as prerequisites for socio-economic convergence.

II.3 Description of the UN Women country portfolio [14]

The work of UN Women in Albania is focused on responding to the entity’s three core mandates:

As framed in the Strategic Note, and in response to the key gender equality challenges, UN Women Albania has focused on three strategic priorities (outcomes) in the 2022-2026 period and carried out programmes and projects in partnership with central and local, government institutions, civil society, private sector, media, academia, etc.  In doing so, UN Women leveraged its comparative advantages and its unique positioning to:  1) support the translation of international gender norms and standards and the EU gender equality acquis into national policies and legislation; 2) influence gender-responsive governance systems and sustainable financing for gender equality across sectors, including through strengthened gender-responsive budgeting and improved gender statistics; 3) promote a strong feminist agenda to transform social norms, challenge gender stereotypes, and end violence against women, including through its work with women CSOs at central and local levels; and 4) introduce a gender lens across programmatic interventions and sectoral areas, ensure the application of the “leave no one behind” approach, and nurture synergies amongst its programme areas as well as with other partners and UN agencies.

Strategic Note Theory of Change

The Strategic Note Theory of Change (ToC) is provided above, which will be reviewed by the evaluation team through a participatory process during the inception phase of the evaluation. As per the corporate requirement, UNSDCF Outcome statements were verbatim as the outcomes of the SN.

In line with UN Women’s commitment to Results Based Management, a Development Results Framework (DRF) was developed with performance indicators The Strategic Note includes an Organisational Effectiveness and Efficiency Framework (OEEF) with performance indicators The evaluation is expected to use this to assess organizational performance.

The Country Office is based in Tirana, with a workforce of 22 personnel, as of 19 May 2025. In addition to this, UN Women Albania Country Representative participates and contributes as relevant in UN coordination and other related activities in Montenegro where UN Women is a non-resident Agency.

The total available resources budget of the UN Women Albania Strategic Note has been USD 13.8 million for 4 years period 2022-2025, including mainly non-core resources amounting 76% of total budget. Sweden, Italy, European Commission, Switzerland, UK, and the UN Peace Building Fund are the main donors of the projects and programmes carried under the Strategic Note. 

The list of interventions under the Strategic Note 2022-2026 period include the following: Name Modality Status[15] Ending violence against women in the Western Balkans and Turkey, Phase II  Regional programme Completed “Transformative Financing for Gender Equality towards more Transparent, Inclusive and Accountable Governance in the Western Balkans” Regional Programme On-going Earthquake recovery support through the UN SDG Acceleration Fund Earthquake Window Joint Programme Completed Gender Rural Equality and Tourism (GREAT) Country Project Completed EU for Gender Equality - Implementation of the EU Gender Equality acquis Joint Programme Completed \"Leave No One Behind\" Phase 2 (LNB 2)  Joint Programme On-going Strengthening the role of youth in promoting increased mutual understanding, constructive narrative, respect for diversity, and trust in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Serbia and Kosovo Joint Programme On-going Ending Violence Against Women in Albania Phase II Joint Programme On-going Implementation of the UN Women Strategic Note 2022-2026 Strategic Note Direct Funding On-going Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress towards gender equality in Albania Country Project On-going Empowering women for rural development in Northern Albania Country Project On-going EU 4 Gender Equality II - Gender Equality Facility in Albania Country Project On-going LEAP Albania-Lifelong Empowerment and Protection in Albania  Joint Programme – through UN-to-UN agreement On-going

II.4 Evaluation approach, objectives and intended use

A Country Portfolio Evaluation (CPE) is a systematic assessment of the contributions made by UN Women to development results with respect to gender equality at the country level. The UN Women portfolio responds to three core mandates, which include normative, operations and coordination work. The CPE focuses on their individual and combined success in advancing gender equality in Albania. It uses Strategic Note as the main point of reference. 

It is a priority for UN Women that the CPE will be gender-responsive and will actively support the achievement of gender equality and women’s empowerment. The key principles for gender-responsive evaluation at UN Women are: 1) National ownership and leadership; 2) UN system coordination and coherence with regard to gender equality and the empowerment of women; 3) Innovation; 4) Fair power relations and empowerment; 5) Participation and inclusion; 6) Independence and impartiality; 7) Transparency; 8) Quality and credibility; 9) Intentionality and use of evaluation; and 10) Ethics. 

The UN Women Evaluation Policy, and the UN Women Evaluation Strategy 2022-2025  are the main guiding documents that set forth the principles and organizational framework for evaluation planning, conduct and follow-up in UN Women. These principles are aligned with the United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG) Norms for Evaluation in the UN System, and UNEG Ethical Guidelines.

This CPE is conducted by IES as a primarily formative (forward-looking) evaluation to support the Country Office (CO) and national stakeholders’ strategic learning and decision-making for the next Strategic Note, due to be developed in 2025. The evaluation is expected to have a secondary summative (backwards looking) perspective, to support enhanced accountability for development effectiveness and learning from experience.

The specific evaluation objectives include:

The primary intended users of this evaluation are: 

Primary intended uses of this evaluation are:

II.5 Evaluation criteria and key questions

The evaluation will apply five OECD/DAC evaluation criteria (relevance, effectiveness, coherence, efficiency, and sustainability) and Human Rights and Gender Equality as an additional criterion. The evaluation will seek to answer the following key evaluation questions/sub-questions[16] which will be further tailored during the inception phase of the evaluation: 

Relevance: Is the CO doing the right things?

Coherence: How well do the interventions fit?​

Internal coherence:​

External coherence:​