Management Response

: Kenya
: 2012 - 2013 , Kenya (CO)
: Final evaluation of Gender & Governance Programme (GGP III Kenya), Gender and Governance Component
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: Kenya
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Overall comments: UN Women Kenya Country Office has recently completed its 5 year strategic plan. The strategy is informed by the lessons learned and wide consultations with representatives from Government ministries, UN agencies, women?s human rights organisations, non-governmental organisations, development partners and the private sector, and contributes to Kenya?s Vision 2030 national development priorities, articulated in the 2nd Medium Term Plan (2014-2018), under the economic, social and the political pillars. The strategy has been designed with a programme approach targeting upstream interventions to support the government and the civil society on the gender agenda. It addresses most of the recommendations in a holistic manner through the five pillars of i) Women Leadership and Participation, ii) Women Economic Empowerment, iii) Ending Violence Against Women, iv) Peace & Security and Humanitarian actions and v) Inclusive (National and Devolved) Planning and Budgeting. The following management responses are aligned with the UN Women Kenya Development Results Framework 2014-2018 and have been extracted to respond specifically to the recommendations.

: Approved
Recommendation: Evaluation recommendation 1. Facilitate the development a response to the Supreme Court ruling on what mechanisms will be used to ensure a minimum 1/3 level of representation of women at the national level, as well as to ensure that nominated MCAs are not excluded from appointments to County Assembly.
Management Response: Management Response: Partly agreed. This was already planned and UN Women is providing support to National Gender and Equality Commission-NGEC, the National Women?s Steering Committee-NWSC, CSO and other stakeholders to develop a mechanism that can guide the implementation of 2/3 gender principle. To date (Mar 2013), UN Women supported three stakeholders meetings further consultation are ongoing.
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Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Leadership and political participation (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Not applicable
Organizational Priorities: UN Coordination, Normative Support, Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Sustainability, Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Technical support to National Gender and Equality Commission-NGEC and the National Women?s Steering Committee-NWSC to mobilize CSOs and other stakeholders on development of a new mechanism/ formula UNW KCO Deputy Director, Democratic Governance Unit 2014/09 Completed Consultation meetings have been completed and the initiative taken over by NGEC.
Recommendation: Evaluation recommendation 2. Future programming needs to add work in the areas of: i) greater attention to work with the media to profile both women aspirants and gender equality issues related to devolution and women?s leadership; ii) early identification and training of potential women leaders in diverse areas of leadership at the county level; and building women aspirants? capacity to mobilize electoral financing; iii) support for both capacity-building of women MCAs and MPs (whether elected or nominated) to carry out their roles effectively and visibly to these proven strategies; and find systematic ways to work with traditional leaders at the community level to promote women?s leadership and that of youth. iv) expand the peace building work with women and youth conducted with the NCIC across more counties;
Management Response: Management Response: Agreed. i) UN Women will be supporting the National Women Steering Committee to develop a media strategy on media engagement for profiling of women leaders, gender equity and equality issues. ii) UN Women will be partnering with Kenyatta University (Africa Centre for Transformative Leadership ? ACTIL), the Kenya Parliamentary Association-KEWOPA and women?s? movement to train and mentor women aspirants on elections and engagement with full electoral cycle, including leadership skills. In addition, partnering will be strengthened with strategic CSOs and NGEC for training of potential women leaders and youth at county level. Discussion with NGEC on strengthening the 2012/2013 website database for women aspirants and candidates is currently ongoing (Jan-Mar 2013). iii) For the current MPs and MCAs, UN Women is partnering with the Centre for Parliamentary Studies and Training (CPST) to train women at the national and county assemblies to articulate the gender agenda effectively and to develop their capacity to carry out their legistrative, oversight and representative role. We have mainstreamed gender, youth and minority in the national assembly CPST training curriculum and made it county specific. iv) UN Women is partnering with Internal Peace Support Training Centre (IPSTC) to institutionalize the peace building work with women and youth.
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Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Leadership and political participation (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Not applicable
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities, Normative Support, UN Coordination
UNEG Criteria: Gender equality, Sustainability
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Partnership with KEWOPA, NGEC, CPST, Kenyatta University, and IPSTC. UNW Deputy Director, Democratic Governance Unit 2014/05 Completed Partnerships finalized with KEWOPA, NGEC and IPSTC. Currently stated discussions on the CPST and Kenyatta University engagements.
Support NWSC on medial strategy and profiling of women leaders UNW Deputy Director, Democratic Governance Unit 2014/07 No Longer Applicable Profiling of women leaders ongoing
Support NGEC to strengthen the database. Democratic Governance Unit 2018/06 Overdue-Initiated Continous
Recommendation: Evaluation recommendation 3. Expansion of the Training of Trainers and Training of Facilitators (TOT/ToF) approach to provide coverage in all 47 counties; ensure there is a retainer fee for the TOTs and the TOFs, and solid contracts in place for them along with ongoing training over a 3 to 4 year programme period to continue building their skills.
Management Response: Management Response: Partially agree. Scaling up of the ToTs/ToFs to 47 counties is unrealistic. However UN Women agrees to support key partners in select counties who can work with ToT and ToF as a strategic mechanism and to manage their contracts for better coordination of efforts with possibility of scale up subject to availability of funding.
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Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Governance and planning (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Capacity development
Organizational Priorities: Not applicable
UNEG Criteria: Sustainability, Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Identify select counties UNW Deputy Director, Democratic Governance Unit 2017/07 Completed Continuous - Done in line with GoK pilot counties.
Identifying strategic partners in select counties UNW Deputy Director, Democratic Governance Unit 2014/07 Completed
Recommendation: Evaluation recommendation 4: Support review and revision of the Co-operative Act to facilitate more women leaders coming up through the ranks of the co-operative movement. This would both strengthen women?s leadership in co-operatives and provide a potential pool of experienced women leaders who already have a community base who could stand for election in 2017 and beyond.
Management Response: Management response: Disagree. The cooperative act can be reviewed from a gender perspective but the management cannot draw a clear correlation between the act and how it can provide a potential pool of experienced women leaders in Kenya.
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Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Leadership and political participation (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Capacity development, Advocacy, Not applicable
Organizational Priorities: UN Coordination
UNEG Criteria: Gender equality, Sustainability
Key Actions
Key Action not added.
Recommendation: Evaluation recommendation 5: Future programming needs to seriously consider a joint programming approach in which UNDP would also be a key player and which would involve other UN agencies. There is a need to mainstream gender and governance into UNDP?s approach to democratic governance in Kenya to capitalize on their further reach and size as well as influence at the policy level while still taking advantage of UN Women?s specialized technical expertise and established relationships in this field as well as that of other UN agencies that operate in Kenya.
Management Response: Management response: Agreed. This will be addressed by the UN Delivering as One initiative in Kenya. Different agencies will lead on different thematic areas through joint programmes, with the other agencies supporting in implementation. The division of labor will be outlined by the UNCT and UN Women will closely work will not only UNDP but all agencies on governance and related themes. For example UN women will be leading Gender Equality and Women?s Empowerment (GEWE) results area with other agencies participating in the implementation of that result.
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Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Leadership and political participation (SPs before 2018), Governance and planning (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Internal coordination and communication
Organizational Priorities: UN Coordination, Partnership, Operational activities, Not applicable
UNEG Criteria: Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Participate in the development of UNDAF Governance and GEWE result area and support other agencies on this result UNW Country Director, Deputy Director, Gender and Governance Unit 2014/07 Completed Kenya UNDAF Finalized and UN Women participated significantly in the process.
Division of labor on UNDAF result areas UNCT SPOT 2014/06 Completed Completed
Recommendation: Evaluation recommendation 6: There is a need to identify which organizations/bodies will serve as the primary coordinating bodies for future programming. If the plan is to continue with such a complex and comprehensive programme that encompasses both government and civil society under the same umbrella, there needs to be a coordinating body that can bridge the two sectors.
Management Response: Management response: Agreed. UN Women will select lead agencies on a competitive basis based on pre-determined criteria. This organizations/bodies will then serve as the primary coordinating bodies for future programming and implementation at all levels with various communities in Kenya.
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Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Governance and planning (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Advocacy, Internal coordination and communication, Not applicable
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities, Culture of results/RBM, Partnership, UN Coordination, Not applicable
UNEG Criteria: Sustainability
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Expression of Interest sent out Operations unit Democratic Governance Unit 2014/06 Completed
Analysis and identification of lead agency(ies) Operations unit Democratic Governance Unit 2014/08 Completed Identification of partners completed with some working as conrtiums
Contracting the lead agencies Operations unit 2014/09 Completed
Recommendation: Evaluation Recommendation 7: The exact nature of technical assistance to Government needs to be outlined explicitly in formal MOUs or agreements with each government body concerned, with clear deliverable, a defined plan for skills transfers and indicators for measuring results as opposed to engaging in a more reactive, ad hoc approach.
Management Response: Management Response: Agree with the recommendation that support to strategic and targeted government ministries will be more formal through Letter of Agreements (LOAs), as per UN Women Programme and Operations policies.
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Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Governance and planning (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Advocacy, Not applicable, Internal coordination and communication
Organizational Priorities: UN Coordination, Partnership, Culture of results/RBM, Operational activities, Not applicable
UNEG Criteria: Sustainability, Relevance
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Draft LOAs with government partners UNW Deputy Director, Democratic Governance Unit Social Economic unit 2014/07 Completed Completed
Recommendation: Evaluation Recommendation 8: For the CSOs, funding arrangements need to cover longer periods of time (between 3 to 5 years depending upon when a new programme starts), even for the sub-projects with smaller CSOs.
Management Response: Management response: Not agreed. This is not possible at the moment, when UN Women is receiving funds from the donors on a short term basis. However, this option will depend on the commitment by development partners. In principle, UN Women is moving towards having longer term partnerships with strategic implementing partners with capacity to absorb longer term funding.
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Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Governance and planning (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Advocacy, Internal coordination and communication, Not applicable
Organizational Priorities: Culture of results/RBM, UN Coordination, Not applicable
UNEG Criteria: Relevance, Sustainability
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Resource mobilization for the 5 year strategic plan 2014 UNW Country Director, Deputy Director, M&E Specialist 2014/12 Overdue-Initiated Round table discussion held with donors, and follow discussions are planned.
Recommendation: Evaluation Recommendation 9: Reporting on results for both government and CSOs should be on a six-month basis to reinforce the need to report on results as opposed to primarily on activities and to reduce the administrative burden on programme partners.
Management Response: Management response: Not agreed. This is a requirement for internal reporting mechanisms for transparency and accountability as per the UN Women Financial Management Policy. Funding to the implementing partners is also disbursed on quarterly basis based on their absorption capacity and therefore this reporting requirement cannot be relaxed.
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Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Governance and planning (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Advocacy, Not applicable, Internal coordination and communication
Organizational Priorities: UN Coordination, Culture of results/RBM, Not applicable
UNEG Criteria: Sustainability, Relevance
Key Actions
Key Action not added.
Recommendation: Evaluation Recommendation 10: Develop a more workable alternative to the 10% holdback procedure, at the very least for the smaller CSOs. This policy interfered with programme implementation. One option might be to reduce the holdback to 5% per reporting period, and not hold back the full amount until the end of each sub-project.
Management Response: Management response: Not agreed. The 10% of the project budget is withheld, due to risk assessment of the partner and is usually reimbursed upon receipt of final narrative report, as per the UN Women Financial Management Policy (Cash Advances and other Cash Transfers to Partners). The 10% holdback will be retained as part of our risk management. However this will not be an issue if the partners can do their reporting accurately and timely.
More detail
Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Governance and planning (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Advocacy, Internal coordination and communication, Not applicable
Organizational Priorities: Culture of results/RBM, UN Coordination, Not applicable
UNEG Criteria: Relevance, Sustainability
Key Actions
Key Action not added.