Management Response

: Kenya
: 2019 - 2022 , Kenya (CO)
: Project Evaluation - Women’s Leadership, Empowerment, Access & Protection in Crisis Response (LEAP)
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: Kenya
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Overall, the evaluation findings, lessons learned, good practices and recommendations are considered informative for future programming on Women, Peace and Security agenda and Humanitarian Action in CO and ESA region. The evaluation findings and recommendations draw on robust consultations with diverse stakeholders and partners on the LEAP project including government and humanitarian agencies in the refugee camp. The evaluation also conducted a number of Focus Group Discussions with the beneficiaries of the activities. These were verified by an Evaluation Reference Group. The recommendations will be considered in the next project planning and implementation.

: Approved
Recommendation: Consider providing more resources to livelihood skill development as a strategy to build economic resilience as well as prevention of SGBV. This should be accompanied with a male engagement strategy to gain the understanding of male family and community members on women’s economic activities.
Management Response: UN Women accepts this recommendation to increase the efforts on livelihood skill development for women in refugee settings. UN Women will continue to build in economic empowerment interventions in future programming. KCO takes note of the recommendation to strengthen and expand its male engagement strategy in future interventions.
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Description: Livelihoods and economic empowerment and male engagement for GBV prevention
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Peace and security (SPs before 2018), Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Capacity development
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Allocate more resources to livelihood and skill development related interventions UN Women KCO- Peace and Security Specialist 2021/05 Completed In LEAP III project, more than half of the total project cost has been dedicated to intervention components related to livelihoods, skills development and protection as a strategy to build economic resilience and prevention of S/GBV among women and girls. Further, LEAP III project has a component of infrastructure development (construction of an automotive garage) in partnership with Toyote Kenya/Academy. This intervention seeks to enhance long-term employment and livelihood opportunities for women and youth which shall boost the local economy. Moreover, The Kalobeyei Handicraft Cooperative, being consisted of 150 women artisans, was established as a legal entity to transform women’s skills into income generation under LEAP Phase II (JSB FY 2019-2020). In the new phase of the project, the extension of the workshop has been launched to establish a women-friendly work environment with a child play area. During the construction work, 20% of the workforce is contributed by women as Cash-for-Work opportunities and GBV prevention and Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) training was conducted for construction workers.
Integrate male engagement to enhance project uptake on GEWE UN Women KCO- Peace and Security Specialist 2021/05 Completed UN Women has significantly integrated male engagement in LEAP Phase III project with planned HeForShe campaigns as part of the proposed interventions. Similarly, through community-based activism, UN Women is contributing to the change of social norms, attitudes and behaviours aimed at promoting gender equality and women empowerment in community-based leadership structures, enhancing women and youth participation in governance processes, and preventing violence against women and girls. As a result, male community members are supporting women in household work which was previously considered as women`s roles i.e, cooking, cleaning and childcare.
Recommendation: Consider providing Technical Assistance to mainstream gender on “Kalobeyei Integrated Socio-Economic Development Program”, a UN joint initiative to promote self-reliance for refugees and host communities. This is an opportunity to support holistic mainstreaming of GEWE in the development sector following the success of the Women Empowerment Centre which demonstrated gender responsive infrastructure as the first and the only centre dedicated for women’s use in Kakuma and Kalobeyei where social norms restrict women to attend public spaces.
Management Response: UN Women appreciates this recommendation and evidence generated through the evaluation process. UN Women will engage with other UN agencies working on the Kalobeyei socio-economic development programme to strengthen the gender technical expertise. UN Women will engage the other UN partners in the programme and advocate for them to allocate resources for gender technical assistance. This will help broaden the accountability for mainstreaming gender in the Kalobeyei programme to other UN agencies
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Description: Technical assistance to sustain gender equality initiatives and gains
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Peace and security (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Advocacy
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities, Partnership
UNEG Criteria: Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Capacity enhancement of government and UN partners, security, and humanitarian actors and CSOs on gender mainstreaming in the humanitarian-development nexus. UN Women KCO- Peace and Security Specialist 2021/01 Completed UN Women has partnered with Government and UN agencies and CSOs who engage in the “Kalobeyei Integrated Socio-Economic Development Program” and will continue to provide technical assistance to develop a gender-responsive settlement in Kalobeyei. The knowledge and skills of 107 police officers (M: 86, W:21, 2 of women were PWD) to conduct investigation and prosecution of GBV using a survivor-centred approach were improved in 1 police station and 14 police posts in Kakuma, and 6 police stations in Dadaab and Garissa town. Key results noted following the training include the stationing of ununiformed female police officers at the gender desks so as not to be intimidating to the survivors of GBV. 51 GBV survivors (35 in Garissa and 16 in Kakuma) received professional justice and essential services. Further, the project continues to support the operationalization of three previously exiting Gender Offices by stationing three community-based workers at Iftin Police Station in Garissa, Hagadera Police Station in Dadaab refugee complex and Dadaab Police Station in Dadaab town. The Gender Offices provide an enabling environment for the promotion and protection of survivors of GBV where GBV cases are reported, investigated, and taken to court with support from UN Women’s legal consultants. Through this intervention, survivors can continue to seek justice with dignity, privacy, and security.
Capacity enhancement of women leaders to influence decision-making on the refugee camp management and the “Kalobeyei Integrated Socio-Economic Development Program” UN Women KCO- Peace and Security Specialist 2021/05 Completed Through the LEAP III project, UN Women provided capacity development to women leaders to strengthen women’s representation in refugee camp management. The capacities of 656 women leaders were enhanced and actively engaged in decision-making and security meetings. 30 of the trained women established a women-led peace forum to strengthen the border security with Uganda. 220 peace committee members acquired knowledge of the Women, Peace and Security agenda and developed a local action plan to promote women’s participation in peace and security efforts and conflict resolution mechanisms. UN Women enhanced women’s capacity to participate in and influence policymaking and programming on conflict prevention and peace and security. During the reporting period, the knowledge and skills of 163 (39 refugee women, 124 host women) women leaders were enhanced in Garissa and Turkana counties to effectively engage in peace and security decision-making, specifically P/CVE, and humanitarian and GBV programming in line with the Relief and Recovery pillar of KNAP II and UNSCR 2250 on Youth, Peace and Security. In Garissa, the tailor-made capacity-building resulted in the establishment of a pool of women mediators, strengthened women peacebuilders’ network, and two young women participants became aspirants in the coming general election.
Recommendation: Conduct induction training for IP’s on M&E, data collection and outcome-based reporting to enhance IP’s M&E capacities and improve data disaggregation. This will contribute to quality of UN Women’s reporting.
Management Response: UN Women appreciates the recommendation and concurs with the need for further improvement on outcome-based reporting and data disaggregation in future engagement partnerships. KCO will ensure that future implementing partners are included in the capacity building workshops which are now a standard feature of our partnerships. These workshops cover several of the issues flagged by the evaluation including results-based management and reporting.
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Description: M&E, data and evidence
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Peace and security (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Capacity development, Knowledge management
Organizational Priorities: Culture of results/RBM
UNEG Criteria: Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Conduct induction trainings and follow-up trainings for M&E, data collection, disaggregation, and outcome-based reporting for UN Women’s implementing partners. UN Women KCO- Peace and Security Specialist, M&E Specialist, Project and M&E Staff 2021/05 Completed UN Women provides comprehensive induction and specialized trainings to UN Women’s partners in the beginning and during the implementation of the projects to strengthen their institutional capacities. Training and mentorship on Results-Based management will continue to be provided to all partners in addition to the regular monitoring and development of proper monitoring, evaluation, and reporting tools for use by partners. As part of the LEAP III project, UN Women partnered with six civil/women organizations to support the rollout of the implementation of the programmatic elements in the Kakuma and Dadaab refugee camps, and host communities. These organizations are; - Womenkind Kenya (Garissa County- Dadaab refugee camp and host community); Refugee Consortium Kenya (Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps and host communities); Rural Women Peace Link (Kakuma refugee camp and host communities); Peace Winds Japan (Kakuma refugee camp and host communities); International Rescue Committee (Kakuma and Dadaab refugee camp and host communities). Following the signing of grant agreements with the CSOs, the project team outlined the reporting responsibilities and requirements through a focused training on results and financial reporting as guided by UN Women principles. Further, the project team continues to engage the CSO partners virtually with discussions centered on improving the quality of results reporting.
Recommendation: The LEAP framework ensures the rights of refugee women and girls are upheld and response to the needs of women and girls in humanitarian settings. The uptake of knowledge and skills by women engaged in the project indicates a need to continue with empowerment interventions in the humanitarian space. To tackle the socio-cultural barriers and preconceived notions of women’s roles, project interventions require more time than the current project provided.
Management Response: UN Women accepts this recommendation. UN Women KCO will develop a concept note on the next phase of the project based on the evaluation report findings and recommendations to build on the results achieved and promote gender equality and women’s empowerment in crisis settings in Kenya. UN Women appreciates the recommendation on the project duration and understands the challenges women faced in the refugee camps. A longer-term intervention will be considered in the next phase of the project to address the socio-cultural barriers towards women.
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Description: Programme expansion
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Peace and security (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Advocacy
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Sustainability
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Mobilize funds to develop a comprehensive multi-year programme UN Women KCO- Peace and Security Specialist 2021/01 Completed UN Women KCO has mobilized additional resources (JPY 485,000,000.00) to implement phase III of the LEAP project commencing May 2021. The 2-year project will seek to upscale interventions undertaken in the 1st and 2nd Phases of the LEAP Project as well as address the identified existing gaps.