Final Internal Project Evaluation for “Increasing Access to Employment Opportunities for Vulnerable Urban Population in Basra City - IQ Talent Marketplace

Background information
Basra governorate, despite being the major hub for oil exports in Iraq, has a high rate of
unemployment, poverty, and a lack of basic services. According to the 2021 Labour Force Survey, Basra
city with an estimated population of four million, unemployment reached to 21.8% way higher than
the national average unemployment rate of 16.5%, which makes the governorate the 5th highest rate
in unemployment rate in the country. Basra also has the 3rd highest NEET rate amongst young women
in the country, and the 5th highest amongst young men (at 62.5% and 27.5% respectively).1
Furthermore, during the designing phase of the project, COVID-19 pandemic was rampant in the
region and has negatively affected the most vulnerable people, particularly those living in the informal
settlements deprived of services. Many households depend on informal economy and minimal savings
which led them to precarious economic situations. Besides, the city is renowned for its informal
settlements which is densely populated with inadequate potable water and sanitation, little or no
waste collection, and limited access to formal health care facilities.
Against these backdrops, UN-Habitat launched a project with the support of the European Union
entitled “Increasing Access to Employment Opportunities for Vulnerable Urban Population in Basra
City in Response to the COVID 19 Crisis” to curb the pervasive situation on the ground. The project
envisaged to achieve two objectives, namely: a) improve water, electricity, waste management
services and access in three underserviced settlements in Basra (Al-Ahrar, Al-Kubiyah, and Jurf Al-
Melah) which was led by UN-Habitat, and b) enhance job opportunities for unemployed young men
and women, led by the International Labour Organization (ILO).
The ILO signed UN-to-UN agreement with UN-Habitat on 24 October 2022 to implement the second
component of the project with the overarching objective of creating more and better employment
opportunities in basic services and waste management sectors for unemployed youth and vulnerable
urban population in the three neighbourhood of Basra city. Furthermore, the project was designed in
such a way entrepreneurs to benefit from quality support services that allow them to start businesses
or enhance the productivity of existing businesses. The project has the following three outcomes:
Outcome i: Mainstream the Employment Intensive Investment Programmes (EIIP) into the
construction activities and application of decent work principles.
Outcome ii: Strengthen employment services through employment centres and digital
employment platform for employed and unemployed young women and men in the three
targeted neighbourhoods and support participants’ access.
Outcome iii: Delivering vocational and business skills training through the Start and Improve
Your Business (SIYB) approach to enhance the skills and capacities of vulnerable urban
populations and SMEs in Basra City and to increase employability and productivity.
The logical framework which depicts the underlying results chain, indicators, targets, sources of
verification, and assumptions regarding each project objective can be found in Annex 1.
The overall UN-Habitat project aimed to reach 21,000 individuals from the three neighbourhoods with
improved access to services, to which the ILO will contribute through the EIIP component. More
directly, the ILO planned to reach 450 young men and women in technical skills programme with the
EIIP methodology and 150 beneficiaries (including 50 informal waste collectors and SMEs engaged in
waste collection) to receive training on the Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) programme package. These project participants were planned to also access employment services as delivered by
the employment centre, which will also target unemployed young men and women from the
neighbourhoods more widely, with the objective of reaching a total of 600 individuals over the project
period.
This project was designed to contribute towards the achievement of several objectives of the current
Decent Work Country Programme (DWCP) for Iraq (2019-2023). In particular, it contributes to the
achievement of Outcome 4, which is creating more and better employment opportunities ensuring
that private sector development supports much-needed creation of new jobs.
Moreover, it also contributes to the accomplishment of some important objectives of the ILO
Programme & Budget (P&B) 2022-2023, that set out the strategic objectives and expected outcomes
for the organization’s work, Outcome 4: Sustainable enterprises as generators of employment and
promoters of innovation and decent work. It is also expected that the implementation of the project
might contribute to the achievement of the Country Programme Outcomes (CPO) IRQ 126 and IRQ
127.
Most importantly, the project contributes to the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) under the UNSDCF (2020-2024) for Iraq under strategic priority 2: Growing the Economy for
All, especially in what concerns the promotion of inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and
productive employment, and decent work for all (SDG 8), targets 8.5 “achieve full and productive
employment and decent work for all women and men, including for young people and persons with
disabilities, and equal pay for work of equal value”.
All proposed activities have been looked into through a gender and disability inclusion perspective
and reinforce equal consideration of women and Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) while implementing
the activities.

Project management set-up and implementation arrangement: At local government level, the
Directorate of Labour and Social Affairs have been the main counterpart of the project, especially as
one of the key objectives of the project is to strengthen the capacity of the Directorate to deliver
employment services through the established employment service centre. The ILO has also been
extensively engaging with local employment service providers (including TVET centres, development
partners and civil society organisations) to strengthen collaboration in the delivery of services through
the centre.
The project is implemented under the overall guidance and supervision of the ILO Country Coordinator
based in Baghdad with technical assistance team comprised of small team stationed in Basra with
support from Erbil and Baghdad ILO offices:
1. Senior Project Officer/Project Manager stationed in Basra responsible for planning,
implementation, coordination trainings, monitoring and reporting of programme in close
coordination with Technical Officers of different project’s components.
2. Operational Support Unit stationed at ILO Erbil to provide administrative and financial
services to Project Team, and programme support unit at Regional Office for Arab States
(ROAS) – Beirut.
The ILO Specialists from the Regional office for Arab States in Beirut and technical officers from Erbil
and Baghdad offices, carried out specialized technical backstopping and provided oversight according
to relevant components. Short-term International/National experts services were also provided for preparing technical
support, guidelines, training materials and supervision and other required assignments.
UN-HABITAT has also been providing the required logistical support including transportation and
security services.

Purpose, objectives, and scope of the evaluation
ILO considers evaluation as an integral part of the implementation of development cooperation
projects. Provision is made in the project that a final evaluation will be conducted in collaboration with
UH-Habitat in accordance with the ILO evaluation policy and guidelines.
The project document states that the final evaluation will be the opportunity for an in-depth reflection
on the Theory of Change, strategy and assumptions guiding the intervention, as well as the impact of
the action in the lives of targeted beneficiaries of the project. The final evaluation will be used to
assess the progress towards the results, identify the main difficulties/constraints, assess the impact of
the project for the targeted populations, and formulate lessons learned and practical
recommendations to improve future similar projects. Furthermore, the evaluation might be
instrumental to provide an opportunity for an in-depth reflection on the strategy and assumptions
guiding the intervention.
This final evaluation will examine the relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability,
and potential impact of the project. It will provide recommendations for future similar projects. This
evaluation will also identify strengths and weaknesses in the project design, strategy, and
implementation mechanisms as well as lessons learned and good practices.
Specifically, the evaluation will examine the following aspects:
 Relevance and Coherence: Alignment with the country, constituents’, and beneficiaries
needs, changes in context and review of assumptions (relevance): Is the project’s design
adequate to address the problems at hand? Were the project objective and outcomes
relevant in relation to the context on the ground?
 Effectiveness: Results in terms of outcomes and outputs achieved (effectiveness): How has
the project contributed towards project’s goals? To what extent did it contribute to the ILO’s
Programme & Budget, Country Programme Outcomes, and more largely SDGs?
 Efficiency: Use of resources in achievement of projected performance (efficiency): How have
the resources been used to fulfil the project performance in an efficient manner with respect
to cost, time and staff?
 Assessment of potential impact: To what extent has the project contributed long-term
intended and unintended impact?
 Sustainability: Will the project’s effects remain over time?
The evaluation will comply with ILO policy guidelines for results-based evaluation2, and the UNEG
ethical guidelines3 will be followed.
The evaluation should cover the life span of the project which is from 24 October 2022 up until 31
January 2025. The evaluation will examine the project outcomes and outputs to date. As cross-cutting themes, the evaluation will also take specific note of integration of gender mainstreaming4, disability
inclusion, International Labour Standard, social dialogue5, and environmental sustainability as well as
contribution to SDGs and COVID-19 response6.
The evaluation will also provide due attention to how the project is relevant to the ILO’s programme
and policy frameworks, UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework and other relevant
national development frameworks.
The evaluation should also highlight the areas of convergence between the UN-Habitat Iraq
Programme and the ILO Iraq Programme, examining how this joint partnership can effectively
reinforce both programmes and advance their respective mandates. The primary clients of this
evaluation are Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, Ministry of Youth and Sports, Ministry of
Environment, the Basra Governorate and the Directorate of Labor and Social Affairs in Basra
Governorate – Vocational Training Centre in Basra Governorate, Worker’s representative
organizations; Employer’s representative organizations in Basra, Delegation of the European Union to
Iraq, UN-Habitat, ILO DWT-Beirut, ILO ROAS, ILO-Iraq. Secondary users include project stakeholders
and units within the ILO that may indirectly benefit from the knowledge generated by the evaluation.

Evaluation criteria and questions (including Cross-cutting issues/ issues of
special interest to the ILO)
The evaluation utilizes the standard ILO evaluation framework and follows the OECD/DAC evaluation
criteria:
Relevance
 Is the project relevant to the targeted beneficiaries needs?
 Are the project objectives aligned with national development framework in fulfilling its
obligations?
 Are the project strategies and structures coherent and logical? To what extent was sustainability
of impact taken into account during the design of the project?
 Does the project make a practical use of a monitoring and evaluation framework? How
appropriate and useful are the indicators in assessing the project’s progress? Are indicators
gender sensitive? Are the assumptions for each objective and output realistic?
 To what extent did the project design take into account: Specific gender equality and nondiscrimination
concerns, including inclusion of people with disabilities?
Coherence
 How does the project contribute to the ILO’s Programme & Budget (P&B) 2022-2023, Country
Programme Outcomes, Decent Work Country Programme for Iraq 2019-2023, United Nations
Sustainable Development Framework (2020-2024), and SDGs?
 To what extent was the project coherent with other similar ILO’s Development Cooperation
interventions and other development partners initiatives?
Effectiveness
 To what extent did the project achieve the overall objective, outcomes, and outputs?
 How has the project benefited direct and indirect beneficiaries?
 How did outputs and outcomes contribute to the DWCP (2019-2023) mainstreamed strategic
priority areas?
 To what extent did the project respond to the emerging needs of targeted beneficiaries during the
aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic? To what extent the pandemic hindered or reversed the
progresses that had been made in the governorate?
Efficiency
 To what extent have project activities been cost-efficient? Have resources (funds, human
resources, time, expertise etc.) been allocated strategically to achieve the intended outcomes?
 To what extent can the project results justify the time, financial and human resources invested in
the project?
 To what extent has the project been synergized with other ILO Development Cooperation Projects
either at national or governorate level, in particular regarding to the establishment the new ILO
Operation Support Unit arrangement to provide administrative support in cost sharing manner?
 How effective was communication among the project teams, the regional office RPU and the
responsible technical department at ROAS? Has the project received adequate technical and
administrative support/response from the ILO backstopping units?

Methodology
This evaluation is summative, and it includes examining whether the intervention’s Theory of Change
(ToC) holds true with particular attention to the long and short term impact of the project
intervention, identification of assumptions, risks, and mitigation strategies, and the logical connect
between levels of results against the targeted indicators stipulated in the project logical framework
(see Annex 1) and their alignment with ILO’s strategic objectives and outcomes at the global and
national levels, as well as with the relevant SDGs and related targets.
The evaluation will use both primary and secondary data collection techniques and apply mixed
method (quantitative and qualitative) data analysis approaches to respond to evaluation questions
and fulfil the purpose of the evaluation to capture intervention’s contributions to the achievement of
intended and unintended outcomes. Data collection and analysis methodology includes:
 Desk review of existing documents: The evaluator will conduct systematic analysis of existing
documents and obtain existing qualitative and quantitative evidence prior to primary data
collection. The desk review also facilitates assessment of the situation and available data to
plan the evaluation and develop the inception report.
 Key informant interviews: Online/in-person individual interviews will be conducted with a
pre-agreed list of stakeholders, who have been engaged during the implementation of the
project. Key informants should be identified based on their familiarity and understanding of
the project. Interview guide(s) and data collection instruments will be developed during the
inception phase to stimulate discussions in relation to the identified evaluation questions.
 Focus group discussions: Focus group discussions with direct and indirect beneficiary will be
organized to collect their insights on the project relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact
and sustainability.
 Preliminary finding briefing: Upon completion of primary data collection, the evaluator will
present preliminary findings to ILO Senior Officer in Basra, ILO’s DWT Technical Specialist
based in Beirut and Project Steering Committee for validation. The evaluator will also collect
further insight from the group to feed them into the final report.
 Triangulation: To enhance the data quality and analysis as well as overcome bias that comes
from single information sources, and the use of single methods or single observations; the
evaluator is expected to employ data triangulation technique to ensure accuracy, robustness,
and reliability of the evaluation results.
 Data disaggregation: Data gathered and analysed during the evaluation process should be
presented with appropriate gender disaggregation. The data collection, analysis and
presentation should also be responsive to issues related to diversity and non-discrimination,
including disability issues.
Limitation of the Evaluation: The evaluation manager foresees minor limitations that can be
impediment to the evaluation process.
Access to primary and secondary data: Security issues and restriction of movements in the
governorate may create limitations to obtain primary and secondary data as much as the evaluation
requires. Hence, the evaluator is expected to find out a solution for the existing limitation and present
in the inception report how the evaluation team intends to overcome such limitations.
Detailed evaluation approach and methodology, including the evaluation workplan should be part of
the inception report. Any changes to the methodology should be discussed with the Evaluation
Manager and approved by the Evaluation Manager during the inception phase.
The evaluator will make sure the involvement of key stakeholders in the evaluation process starting
from the inception phase up until dissemination of the evaluation products.

Scope of Work and Detailed Assignment:
a) Kick-off meeting
The evaluator will have an initial consultation with the evaluation manager, the project manager and
relevant project team members as needed. The objective of the consultation is to reach a common
understanding regarding the status of the project, agree on the evaluation questions, available data
sources and data collection instruments and an outline of the final assessment report. The following
topics will be covered during the kick-off meeting, including status of logistical arrangements, project
background and materials, key evaluation questions and priorities, outline of the inception and final
report.
b) Desk Review
The evaluator will review project background materials before conducting interviews. Documents to
review include but are not limited to project document including results framework, project progress
reports, and project monitoring tools and systems, UN-to-UN agreement, Decent Work Country
Programme (DWCP) for Iraq (2019-2023), ILO Programme & Budget (P&B) (2022-2023) and (2024-
2025), and the United Nation Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) – (2020-
2024).
c) Inception Report
The evaluator will draft an inception report, which should describe, provide reflection, and fine-tune
the following issues:
• Project background
• Purpose, scope and beneficiaries of the evaluation
• Evaluation matrix, including criteria, questions, indicators, data source, and data
collection methods
• Methodology and data collection tools (FGD, KII guiding questions and instruments)
• Main deliverables
• Management arrangements and work plan
d) Primary Data Collection (Key Informant Interviews & Focus Group Discussions)
Following the inception report, the evaluator/international consultant will have remote interviews
with stakeholders and targeted direct and indirect beneficiaries together with a national consultant
supporting the process, if necessary. Individual or group interviews will be conducted with key
stakeholders that include but not limited to Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, Ministry of Youth
and Sports, Ministry of Environment, Directorate of Labor and Social Affairs in Basra Governorate –
Vocational Training Centre in Basra Governorate, local employment service providers, project steering
committee members and the ILO project team and ROAS technical backstopping units.
Focus group discussions will also be conducted with direct beneficiaries of the project by the national
consultant who will be contracted separately if the international consultant is not able to conduct the
discussion by her/himself in person.
e) Preliminary finding presentation
Upon completion of data collection, the evaluator will provide a briefing of preliminary findings to the
ILO project team and the evaluation manager.

Main deliverables
The main outputs of the evaluation consist of the following:
 Deliverable 1: Inception Report
 Deliverable 2: Draft evaluation report (to be prepared within two weeks upon completion of
interviews)
 Deliverable 3: PowerPoint Presentation on preliminary findings
 Deliverable 4: Final evaluation report with separate template for executive summary and
templates for lessons learned and good practices duly filled in as per ILO’s standard procedure,
the report will be considered final after quality review and endorsement of the ILO Evaluation
Manager and Project Manager.
The final report will follow the format below and be in a range of 35-40 pages in length, excluding the
annexes:
1. Title page
2. Table of Contents, including List of Appendices, Tables
3. List of Acronyms or Abbreviations
4. Executive Summary with key findings, conclusions and recommendations (in prescribed
ILO template)
5. Background and Project Description
6. Purpose of Evaluation
7. Evaluation Methodology and Evaluation Questions
8. Key evaluation findings (organized by evaluation criteria)
9. A table presenting the key results (i.e. figures and qualitative results) achieved per
objective (intended and unintended)
10. Clearly identified conclusions and recommendations (identifying which stakeholders
are responsible and the time and resource implications of the recommendations)
11. Lessons Learned (in prescribed ILO template)
12. Potential good practices (in prescribed ILO template)
13. Annexes (list of interviews, TORs, list of documents consulted, good practices and lessons
learned in the ILO format, etc.)
The quality of the report will be assessed against the ILO Evaluation Office (EVAL) Checklists 4.2, 4.3,
4.47. The deliverables will be submitted in the English language and structured according to the
templates provided by the ILO.
7. Management arrangements and work plan (including timeframe)
Management Arrangements
The evaluator will report to the ILO’s evaluation manager and should discuss any technical and
methodological matters with him. The ILO project office in Basra will provide administrative and
logistical support during the data collection. The evaluation manager will coordinate with the regional
evaluation officer to endorse the final evaluation report.
The evaluator is responsible for conducting the evaluation according to the terms of reference (ToR).
She/he will:
 Review the ToR and propose any refinements to evaluation questions and methodology
during the inception phase.

Review project background materials (e.g., project document, UN-to-UN agreement, project
technical progress and financial reports, technical vocational training tracer study report,
employment impact assessment report, etc.,).
 Prepare an inception report (including Evaluation Questions Matrix (EQM), data collection
instruments, prepare list of stakeholders to meet/interview, work plan and others).
 Develop and implement the evaluation methodology (i.e., conduct interviews, review
documents) to answer the evaluation questions.
 Conduct preparatory consultations with the evaluation manager prior to the evaluation
mission.
 Conduct key informant interviews and focus group discussions to collect information in
relation to the predefined evaluation questions.
 Analyse findings from desk review, key informant interview and focus group discussions.
 Present preliminary findings.
 Prepare an initial draft of the evaluation report with input from ILO project staff members,
evaluation manager, project steering committee and key stakeholders.
 Prepare final evaluation report incorporating all feedback from the ILO, donor and other
stakeholders obtained from the draft report review.

The ILO Evaluation Manager in close consultation with the Regional Evaluation Officer (REO) is
responsible for:
 Drafting the ToR.
 Finalizing the ToR with input from Project Manager and project steering committee.
 Review technical and financial proposal submitted by potential applicants and hire competent
evaluator.
 Providing the evaluator with the project background materials and documents.
 Assisting the implementation of the evaluation methodology, as appropriate (i.e., participate
in meetings, review deliverables submitted by the consultant).
 Reviewing the inception report, initial and final draft reports, circulating it for comments and
providing consolidated feedback to the evaluator on the inception report, draft and final
evaluation report.
 Reviewing the final report in relation to ILO evaluation policy guidelines.
 Coordinating with the ROAS REO and ILO Evaluation Office for the clearance of the final report
and submitting the relevant documentation for final uploading on i-eval Discovery.
 Disseminating the final report to stakeholders.
 Coordinating follow-up as required.
The Project Manager/Senior Project Officer is responsible for:
 Reviewing the draft TOR and providing input.
 Providing project documents logframe, workplan, progress reports, studies, assessments,
training materials/packages, training evaluation reports, pre- and post-training test results,
coaching reports from Master trainers, technical vocational tracer study report, employment
impact assessment report, publications produced, and any relevant background notes.
 Providing a proposed list of key stakeholders and list of project target beneficiaries.
 Participating in the preparatory briefing prior to the actual data collection sessions.
 Scheduling key informant interviews and focus group discussions.
 Ensuring necessary logistical arrangements for the missions to conduct primary data
collection.
 Reviewing and providing comments on the initial draft report.
 Participating in the debriefing on the findings, conclusions, and recommendations.

Facilitating translation for any required documents: ToR, PPT, final evaluation report,
executive summary of the final evaluation report, summary of lessons learnt and emerging
good practices, etc.
 Making sure appropriate follow-up action is taken including filling out the management
response matrix.

Project steering committee and partners will be responsible to:
 Actively engage and participate in the evaluation process (data collection, reviewing and
provide comments on the draft and final reports, participate in debriefing and dissemination
sessions, etc.).

Evaluation Tentative Timeframe
The evaluation is to commence in last week of November 2024 and complete in January 2025. The
following table describe the tentative timeline:
Responsible person Tasks Number of
billable
Working days
Indicative Date
Evaluator & Evaluation
Manager
Kick-off meeting 1 27th Nov 2024
Evaluator Desk review of documents related to
project, drafting inception report
6 28th of Nov 2024–
5th Dec 2024
Evaluator Submit inception report 5th Dec 2024
Evaluation Manager Review of inception report 10th Dec 2024
Evaluator Revise and resubmit inception report 1 12th Dec 2024
Evaluator with the
logistical support of
Project Manager and
staffs on the ground
Interviews & focus group discussions 7 15th Dec 2024 – 25th
Dec 2024
Evaluator Data analysis and drafting evaluation
report
7 20th Dec 2024 – 31st
Dec 2024
Evaluator Submission of the draft report to the
Evaluation Manager
31st Dec 2024
Evaluator Presentation of the findings 1 7th Jan 2025
Evaluation Manager Circulating the draft report with key
stakeholders for review and feedback
Evaluation Manager Send consolidated comments to
evaluator
7th Jan 2025
Evaluator Revising draft final report 1 15th Jan 2025
Evaluation Manager Review of Second Draft 22nd Jan 2025
Evaluator Integration of comments and
finalization of the report
1 24th Jan 2025
Evaluation Manager
and ROAS REO
Submit the final evaluation report to
EVAL for publication on ieval.
31st Jan 2025

Terms of Payment
i. 10 per cent of the total fee against the submission of deliverable 1 upon endorsement by the
evaluation manager and regional evaluation officer.
ii. 30 per cent of the total fee against the submission of deliverable 2 and 3.
iii. 60 per cent of the total fee against the submission of deliverable 4, following the endorsement
of the final evaluation report.
8. Profile of the evaluation team
The evaluator is expected to have the following qualifications:
 Proven experience in evaluation related to private sector development, EIIP approaches,
Employment Service Centres, Entrepreneurship, MSMEs development, Skills and
employability enhancement projects.
 Prior experience in the region, particularly in Iraq, is asset.
 High professional standards and principles of integrity in accordance with ILO Evaluation
Policy and United Nations Evaluation Group Norms and Standards.
 An advanced degree in Social Science or related fields.
 Proven expertise on evaluation methods.
 Understanding of the ILO Decent Work agenda and tripartite foundations.
 Very good command of English. Good command of Arabic is an advantage.
 Previous experience in evaluations for UN agencies is preferred, particularly ILO.
Given the current security restrictions, the consultant who conduct this evaluation may remotely work
with a national interpreter, who will also provide the necessary support for data collection.
9. Legal and ethical matters
 This evaluation will comply with ILO evaluation guidelines and UN Norms and Standards.
 The ToRs is accompanied by the code of conduct for carrying out the evaluation “Code of
conduct for evaluation in the ILO”. The selected consultant will sign the Code of Conduct form
along with the contract.
 UNEG ethical guidelines will be followed throughout the evaluation.
 The consultant will not have any links to project management or any other conflict of interest
that would interfere with the independence of the evaluation.

ILO Website:

https://www.ilo.org/resource/vacancy-notice/project-evaluation-increasing-access-employment-opportunities-basra