Management Response

Recommendation:

Follow up follow-up programming to GEWEE should continue to ensure work at two levels: National / Policy Level and Community Level. At the National / Policy Level it should include the development of a strategic gender sector support programme with a focus on implementation of commitments in the National Gender Policy (NGP) through supporting development of government capacities to coordinate delivery of this policy.

Management Response:

Recommendation is accepted and the Ministry of Gender and Development and UN Women will develop a Gender Sector Support Programme, in coordination with civil society and in follow up to JP GEWEE. This programme will form a part of the UN One Gender Framework and provide institutional and technical support for the Government of Liberia and civil society in ensuring the implementation and tracking of the National Gender Policy in Liberia.

Key Actions Responsible Deadline Status Comments 1.1 Endorsement of the plan for a Gender Sector Support Programme by the JP GEWEE Steering Committee and by the UN Country Team UN Women / MoGD 2013/12 Completed Endorsed by JP GEWEE SC in July 2013; by UNCT in October 2013 1.2 Source funding and support for completing assessments and studies necessary for the development of a strategic and targeted 3-4 year Gender Sector Support Programme including for: o A national gender situation assessment / baseline for NGP (and the future programme itself) o Institutional assessment of MoGD to determine the strategic interventions needed to best support Liberia?s national gender machinery to fulfill its normative mandate. UN Women / MoGD 2014/03 Overdue-Initiated Proposal for preparatory phase developed and submitted to donors; Funding not yet secured. 1.3 Develop 3-4 year Gender Sector Support Programme under UN Women to support MoGD and the Government of Liberia in the implementation and tracking of the gender commitments in the National Gender Policy. The programme should engage in strategic gender mainstreaming priorities, focusing on institutional strengthening of the Ministry of Gender and Development, as well as support to strengthening the mainstreaming of gender in strategic priority areas (i.e. land reform, decentralization, etc.) UN Women / MoGD 2014/06 Overdue-Not Initiated Pending completion of activity above. Plans are included in UNDAF and in UN Women?s 2014-2017 strategic plan.

Recommendation:

At the community level, future programming should focus on ensuring joint delivery of a comprehensive, sequenced ?package? of core interventions to support women?s economic and social empowerment - through a combination of direct implementation and on-the-ground coordination with other community-level programming

Management Response:

Recommendation is accepted and appreciated. All efforts will be made to ensure that follow up programming to GEWEE (whether in a joint programme or in programming implemented by single agencies) will involve a more holistic approach to delivery, taken into account stronger coordination at the community level with stakeholders and ensuring joint delivery of a comprehensive, sequenced ?package? of core interventions to support women?s economic and social empowerment.

Key Actions Responsible Deadline Status Comments 2.1 Identify opportunities within the implementation of UNDAF priorities for the UN to focus on joint delivery of programming to support women?s economic empowerment and support the development of a strategy for the UN in Liberia?s theory of change for women?s empowerment at the community level. UN Country Team (through Gender Theme Group) 2013/12 Completed UN One Gender Framework completed and endorsed, including Theory of Change for UN in Liberia?s empowerment of women and identification of community-level interventions to be supported by the UN, with responsible agencies 2.2 Support implementation of the joint programming approach to holistic community level interventions through specific pilots and through monitoring in the UNDAF UN Country Team (through Gender Theme Group) 2015/12 Overdue-Initiated Pilots identified (UNHSTF communities) 2.3 Incorporate recommendation within UN Women?s programming under its 2014 ? 2017 Strategic Plan, focusing on a holistic approach to the empowerment of women at the community level with a comprehensive and sequenced package of core interventions for women?s economic and social empowerment including: literacy and business skills training; access to finance; leadership and women?s participation; women, peace and security programming; working with men; and linkages to strategic social and health services. UN Women 2013/12 Completed Holistic approach to empowerment of women forms the foundation of the UN Women Liberia 2014 ? 2017 Strategic Plan, following consultations with partners and women on the priorities and sequencing of this package. 2.4 UN Women to implement holistic approach to women?s empowerment at community level within the implementation of its 2014-2017 Strategic Plan, adjusting package and sequence based on programme monitoring and ongoing consultations with women and women?s civil society on its implementation. UN Women 2017/12 Overdue-Initiated Ongoing with implementation of UN Women?s Strategic plan

Recommendation:

Follow up programming on gender equality and women?s empowerment should be designed, structured and managed to ensure: 1. Joint and efficient delivery of interventions on women?s empowerment at community level and gender sector policy-level and capacity building and national level; 2. Direct alignment with and delivery of GOL and UN policy commitments on gender outlined in the NGP and UNDAF ? thus with a programme timeframe to end 2017 with a mid-term review

Management Response:

Recommendation accepted and will be pursued with the UN Country Team in the development of the second phase of the programming and in looking at the implementation of the UNDAF (2013 ? 2017)

Key Actions Responsible Deadline Status Comments 3.1 Gender Theme Group to develop proposal for second phase of gender joint programming, in line with the findings and recommendations of the evaluation, and present to the UNCT for its endorsement GTG, with technical leadership by UN Women 2013/12 Completed Completed and One Gender Framework proposal developed and presented to IAPT and UNCT 3.2 Endorsement of the new programme / programming approach by the UN Country Team. UN Country Team 2013/12 Completed UN Liberia One Gender Framework fully endorsed by UNCT in January 2014 3.3 Implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the new programming approach within the UNDAF. UNCT (through the Gender Theme Group) 2017/12 Overdue-Initiated Implementation over next four years in line with UNDAF