International Consultancy

**Purpose of consultancy**:
UNFPA is the lead UN agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled. UNFPA’s new strategic plan (2022-2025), focuses on three transformative results: to end preventable maternal deaths; end unmet need for family planning; and end gender-based violence and harmful practices.
Literature reviews on the Arab region indicate a growing demand for sexuality education among young people. However, various challenges hinder their ability to reach their full potential, realize their sexual and reproductive health and rights, and access accurate information and services. These obstacles can heighten their vulnerability and increase engagement in risky behaviors.
Across the Arab States region, countries are making progress in implementing Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) programs, a commitment reaffirmed during the ICPD+30 conference. Most UNFPA Country Programme Documents in the Arab region include CSE, and several Ministries of Education are developing school curricula and materials. Additionally, some countries are involved in Global out-of-school CSE projects funded by Norway, Canada, and Spain, while others integrate CSE into existing initiatives, such as girls' safe spaces, peer education programs, and youth responsive health services.
Despite advancements, many sexuality education curricula lack comprehensive coverage of essential topics, or alignment with the International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education. Although efforts have been made to enhance teacher training, many educators still feel ill-equipped to deliver CSE effectively. Students often report receiving information too late, underscoring the need for earlier implementation. While opposition to CSE—often driven by misinformation—persists, numerous countries have cultivated supportive environments by engaging parents, school officials, religious leaders, and young people.
CSE remains a key component of youth programming in Arab States Country Offices, yet the scope and implementation of these programs vary widely, ranging from comprehensive curricula to more limited initiatives. Some countries have adopted full, partial, or limited CSE programs, while others lack CSE programming altogether. A notable trend is the prevalence of out-of-school and digital CSE initiatives.
In recent years, the UNFPA Arab States Regional Office (ASRO) has conducted a desk review of CSE in the region, identifying challenges, opportunities, and lessons learned. ASRO has also developed a research paper on CSE integration in the Arab region. Other initiatives, such as the Regional CSE Operational Guide: Towards scaling up comprehensive sexuality education in the Arab Region: an operational guide for UNFPA staff and partners working on CSE implementation (2022), and the Regional CSE Situation Analysis - published in 2020. UNFPA ASRO also conducted internal mapping for country programs and CSE initiatives that provide valuable insights and frameworks.
Building on these efforts, UNFPA ASRO plans to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of CSE programs in the Arab region to further strengthen and inform future programming.

The consultant will be working directly with the Youth team and under the supervision of the Youth Advisor and in cooperation with the Monitoring and Evaluation unit and in coordination with gender and RH units.

**The consultancy shall be conducted remotely.**

**Purpose of the Evaluation**:
This evaluation will strategically assess the performance of UNFPA ASRO's CSE programming (in-school, out-of-school, and digital) over the past four years (2021-2024). Beyond assessing relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability, the evaluation will adopt a forward-looking lens. It will analyze the lessons learned and contextual realities to generate actionable findings on how to most effectively reach the next generation of adolescents and youth with quality CSE in the Arab States region.
Crucially, this evaluation will critically examine the underlying assumptions and success of the UNFPA ASRO CSE theory of change. It will identify what aspects of the current approach have proven successful and hold promise for the future, and what needs to be adapted or discontinued to optimize CSE access and impact for the next generation.

The evaluation will also identify/document lessons learned and make recommendations that CSE programmes might take into account to improve the design and implementation of other related projects and programs.
The evaluation will cover the period of 2021-2024. This evaluation will comprise an overview of CSE in the 14 countries in the Arab region in addition to in-depth analysis of 5 countries (Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan, Syria, & Palestine).

The evaluation seeks to answer the following key questions:
**(i) Relevance for next generation**:

- How well do current CSE country programming align with evolvi