ACT Global has been selected to lead the independent evaluation of Expanding Choices II, a regional programme implemented by UNFPA across five Western Balkan countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Serbia. The assignment, commissioned by UNFPA's Eastern Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (EECARO) with funding from the Austrian Development Agency (ADA), represents a significant addition to ACT Global's growing portfolio of work in social inclusion, gender equality, and evidence-based policy development across the region.
Expanding Choices II supports the expansion of women's and men's real choices around career, care, family, and fertility, working simultaneously across three mutually reinforcing levels: legislative reform, private-sector engagement through the Family-Friendly Workplace (FFW) model, and shifts in social norms around caregiving and gender roles. In its first phase, the programme engaged more than 13,000 employees through 20 "champion" companies, demonstrating what workplace-level change can look like when paired with supportive legal frameworks.
ACT Global's evaluation will assess the programme's relevance, effectiveness, and sustainability, using a theory-based, contribution analysis approach aligned with both the UNFPA Evaluation Handbook and ADA's evaluation guidelines.
The methodology combines document review, key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and on-site fieldwork across all five countries, with quantitative data drawn from national labour force surveys, SDG reporting, and statistics from the World Bank and ILO.
Findings are intended to serve several audiences at once: UNFPA technical teams and evaluation specialists, senior decision-makers shaping the next programme cycle, government counterparts responsible for policy follow-through, and the private-sector partners and rights-holders whose experience the programme is ultimately meant to improve.
For ACT Global, this assignment extends a track record of supporting evidence-based, gender-responsive policy work across Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus, and Central Asia, and reflects the organization's continued commitment to programmes that translate rigorous evaluation into practical, actionable guidance for policymakers and development partners across the region.
