Context of the Assignment:

IRC Italia is implementing WISE, a new European-funded project integrating MHPSS and employment support components across four locations in Italy and Bulgaria. The project pairs a trauma and gender-sensitive approach, mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) with employment services enabled by technology driven solutions to create a Holistic Support System for employable refugee women from Ukraine in Italy and Bulgaria. This project aims to enhance Ukrainian women’s employability, skills-job match, lifelong learning, access and integration in the host-country the labor market, while improving their ability to navigate social and public services, as well as their mental and psychosocial well-being.

On M4 of the project, project partners jointly with key stakeholders and Ukrainian refugee women have developed a first draft of the Holistic Support Center model.

The HSC model will be designed as holistic centres integrating MHPSS support with employability and social services. Services will include, among others, job readiness, skills assessment, using the SkillLab AI tool, skills building, MH support, personalized case management, MHPSS group activities capitalising on the IRC Women Rise flagship Toolkit, all delivered through a one-stopshop model.

SCOPE OF WORK

RC Italy seeks a Consultant-Evaluator to support an external evaluation of the HSC (Holistic Support Center) Model under the WISE project in Italy and Bulgaria. This evaluation, conducted after eight months of piloting, will assess the effectiveness, achievements, and socio-economic impact of the HSC model on Ukrainian refugee women, using OECD DAC criteria. In the short-term Ukrainian refugee women attending the HSCs are expected to enhance employability, acquire new skills, improve psychological well-being, and achieve career goals, while in the long-term, the HSC model will enable sustainable socio-economic inclusion, career progression, durable psychosocial improvements, and transferable skills development. Stakeholders are expected to improve collaboration, adopt best practices, and replicate the model across Europe.

The overall objective of the external evaluation is to provide an unbiased and critical assessment of the effectiveness of the HSC Model, examining specific project achievements, project contribution to socio-economic integration of UA women in Italy and Bulgaria.

The evaluation will assess the level to which the envisaged aims and results of the HSC Model have been achieved, identifying both the successes and any specific shortcomings of the HSC Model, including the impact on beneficiaries of project activities. Evaluation findings should inform continuous improvement of the HSC Model in the project Y2 activities, provide inputs for project impact assessment, and a solid basis to advocate for the HSC model’s sustainability and replication across the EU.

Key Responsibilities and Evaluation Approach:

• Conduct a transparent, participatory evaluation involving beneficiaries (refugee women from Ukraine in Bulgaria and Italy), project staff, key stakeholders, and partners through a mixed-methods evaluation using Most Significant Change, Impact Value Chain, and quantitative KPIs, using OECD DAC criteria (especially effectiveness) and assessment of gender, age, and diversity factors.
• Collect qualitative and quantitative data from review of non-confidential documents relevant to the WISE project activities (project logframe and theory of change; reports/deliverables submitted to the donor, including curricula used and adapted for the project activities), pilot monitoring, baseline/endline assessments, / individual meetings with at least 30 beneficiaries and 4 group consultations/feedback sessions with at least 40 beneficiaries, key informant interviews (KII) with the project partners, key stakeholders. The criteria for the selection of stakeholders to be interviewed shall be clarified in the inception report at the beginning of the evaluation.
• Analyze findings to assess outcomes such as employment, career progression, education, psychosocial well-being, community integration, empowerment, and stakeholder engagement.
• Include in the evaluation framework tools and guidelines to enable impact evaluation after the 1 or 2 years of the project’s end.
• Contribute to the revision of the HSC model and development of a toolkit with guidance on implementation, M&E framework, and stakeholder engagement strategies for replication across the EU.
• Support advocacy and dissemination of evaluation results to promote sustainability, scalability, and policy uptake of the HSC model developing data-driven recommendations for policy advocacy, capacity building, and project replication across the EU.

Consultancy Schedule

The evaluation will take an estimated 25 days of work between April and June 2026. The consultant is expected to prepare an evaluation plan that will operationalize the evaluation. In the inception report, the consultant shall illustrate understanding of the evaluation questions, and elaborate on methods to be used, limitations or constraints to the evaluation, and schedules and delivery dates to guide the implementation of the evaluation. After this, the consultant shall conduct data collection remotely and draft the final evaluation report on the Model.

The timeline of the evaluation is as follows:

• Review project documents
• Draft detailed evaluation plan / inception report
• Approval of evaluation plan / inception report
• Design or adapt data collection tools (survey, interview guides, and others as needed)
• Collect data for evaluation
• Analyze evaluation findings
• Write and submit evaluation report (20-25 pages)
• Address questions from IRC and revise and edit report
• Present evaluation findings - External Evaluation Report (including lessons learned and best practices to the IRC team in Italy and other key stakeholders)

Work and Deliverables

Deliverables:

• Inception report and workplan, data collection tools, final evaluation report, April 10, 2026
• Inception report and workplan, May 8, 2026
• Collection of Data for the evaluation (Interviews), June 5, 2026

Deliverable: Final evaluation report and briefing to IRC WISE team including presentation slides, after revising report and addressing questions

Candidate’s Profile and Qualifications

The evaluation consultant(s) should meet the following, required skills and competence profile:

• Specialization/extensive experience in conducting evaluations, particularly through participatory evaluation processes, and a proven record in delivering professional results.
• In-depth knowledge and experience in refugee, migrants and/or MHPSS/Economic Empowerment projects evaluation
• Previous experience of evaluation in ESF+ project is a plus.
• Knowledge of strategic and operational management of humanitarian operations, as well as proven ability to provide strategic and practical recommendation to key stakeholders
• Strong analytical skills and ability to clearly synthesize and present findings, draw practical conclusions, make recommendations and prepare well-written reports in a timely manner
• Experience in qualitative and/or quantitative data collection and data analysis techniques
• Familiarity with transparency and downward accountability processes and their values
• Fluency in written and spoken English
• Knowledge of Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Italian is an asset
• Good understanding and appropriate sensitivity in regard to different cultures
• Minimum qualification of a master´s degree or equivalent combination of education and relevant work experience

The successful candidate should be able to provide an invoice for the services offered, and must be based in Europe.

Agreement and payment terms

The specific details of the agreement, including the scope of work, timelines, deliverables, intellectual property rights, and any other pertinent provisions, will be negotiated and outlined in the contractual agreement to ensure clarity, transparency, and mutual understanding between IRC and the consultant.