Management Response

: Georgia
: 2016 - 2020 , Georgia (CO)
: Final external evaluation of UN Women/EU project "Unite to Fight Violence against Women in Georgia"
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Georgia

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The final evaluation of the EU funded project “Unite to Fight Violence against Women” was conducted in August – September 2019 and provides analysis of the relevance of the project implementation strategy and approaches; reviews the relevance of the logical framework and respective monitoring and evaluation plan of the project; assesses effectiveness and organizational efficiency in progressing towards the achievement of the project’s results and assesses the sustainability of the results. The evaluation documents lessons learned, best practices, success stories and challenges informing future work of UN Women in the area of ending violence against women and domestic violence. UN Women welcomes the evaluation report, its findings and recommendations. However, while the findings were overwhelmingly positive, and recommendations made are especially timely in light of the development of the next phase of the project in 2020, UN Women finds that the report was largely descriptive and lacked strong analytical substantiation of findings. Majority of the recommendations put forward by the evaluation report were accepted subject to future funding. Five (5) recommendations were rejected with detailed justifications substantiated below.

: Approved
Recommendation: ]Evaluation and assessment framework for the domestic violence risk assessment tool (GRADA). While most users and observers agree the application of the tool has been highly successful, a more formal evaluation would help to validate these impressions and provide insights into necessary adjustments. Special attention needs to be paid to consistency of use across the police force, and the evaluation should investigate whether the on-line training was sufficient. It should also investigate the extent to which the tool (and training) have contributed to change in police behavior in response to complaints about DV. Supervision mechanisms should be included in the evaluation.
Management Response:
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Oversight/governance
Organizational Priorities: Culture of results/RBM
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
UN Women will include conducting effectiveness assessment of domestic violence risk assessment tool (GRADA) in the development of the second phase of the project. Implementation of this initiative is subject to funding decision of the European Union UN Women Georgia CO 2021/12 Completed UN Women Georgia CO managed to raise funds from the EU Delegation (agreement signed in November 2020 for 36 months) and has conducted the assessment of the tool in 2021.
Recommendation: Evaluation and assessment framework for the rehabilitation programme for perpetrators of DV in prison and on probation. Additional work on rehabilitation of perpetrators will be important going forward. Building a robust assessment framework into a future pilot will help the relevant government departments determine the most cost effective programme option.
Management Response:
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: National ownership
Organizational Priorities: Culture of results/RBM
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Developing assessment methodology for the DV rehabilitation programme for perpetrators of DV has already been included in the proposal submitted to the EU4GE – regional programme on gender equality for the EaP region. UN Women Georgia CO 2021/12 Completed The EU4GE – regional programme on gender equality for the EaP region is ongoing.
Recommendation: Assess VAW/DV mainstreaming effectiveness in the LAS and PDO. The Unite project invested in training a good proportion of the LAS lawyers and underwrote the cost of expert lawyers to deal with DV specifically in both LAS and the PDO office (PDO has retained some of these lawyers; LAS has not). An assessment of the LAS quality, frequency and location of legal services provided to victims of DV would enhance the agency’s insight into its responsiveness to the legal needs of survivors of DV. As the oversight body, the PDO could be a partner in this regard (although a separate assessment of the PDO’s effectiveness in oversighting compliance with new legislation would also be beneficial). Both assessments should include the voices of clients.
Management Response: The assessment of the quality of LAS services vis a vis victim outcomes, together with the assessment of the PDO’s effectiveness in its oversight functions will be assessed by GREVIO as a part of its monitoring of the implementation of the Istanbul Convention by Georgia in 2020 . Additionally, within the framework of the UN Joint Programme to Enhance Gender Equality in Georgia (UNJP) funded by the government of Sweden, UN Women has already institutionalized mandatory trainings for lawyers on VAW/DV under the Georgian Bar Association (GBA) thus ensuring sustainability of UN Women’s efforts in the area of mainstreaming VAW/DV in legal education.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Rejected
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Oversight/governance
Organizational Priorities: Culture of results/RBM
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness
Key Actions
Key Action not added.
Recommendation: Build rapid assessment loops into future public awareness campaigns. Public awareness is essential in the response to VAW/DV. The project’s efforts to mobilize multiple agencies and multiple media were laudable. At the moment, the impact of the two 16 days against VAW/DC campaigns is largely impressionistic. The main indicator is the high level of engagement by participating agencies. More could be done to get a snapshot of short- and medium-term outcomes in terms of raised understanding, and changes in attitudes and behaviors amongst key audiences. This could be done for instance by I) compiling data already gathered from participating agencies; ii) targeted, short surveys of select audiences—use of phone surveys or digital media reduces the cost; iii) focus groups with targeted audiences; iv) inclusion of select questions about attitudes and information sources in the national omnibus surveys. Such assessments will help focus messaging and media selection for future campaigns, validate how target audiences receive information, and build capacity within participating agencies.
Management Response: UN Women is regularly collecting data on its public awareness raising campaign (e.g. number of events held, number of social media reach etc.). However, when assessing impact of campaigns, we are looking at a bigger picture i.e. change in public opinion which can only be measured by population surveys, not focus group interviews or phone surveys as suggested above. Investing in population surveys to assess individual campaigns will require additional financial and human resources which is not available given the limited resources of our organization. However, we will continue conducting periodic public opinion surveys. We are also considering using omnibus surveys for collecting data in future in between the periodic public opinion surveys as necessary.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Rejected
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Advocacy, Knowledge management
Organizational Priorities: Not applicable
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness
Key Actions
Key Action not added.
Recommendation: Assess court application and social dimensions of GPS monitoring system. As noted above, because the legislation was not in place to roll out the GPS system, testing was only possible on the software during the project. An assessment of the use and outcomes of the system will be valuable to ensure it is contributing appropriately to victim protection. An assessment could also include a look at how judges are applying the use of the GPS bracelets (i.e. vs incarceration or probation without a bracelet) in terms of outcomes and value for money. An assessment will benefit from data gathered by the GPS system itself as well as police and MoJ records about offenders.
Management Response: Incarceration or probation is irrelevant, since the GPS system will only be applied in administrative proceedings, while pretrial detention is used in almost 90 per cent of cases in criminal proceedings and the large majority of convictions imply deprivation of liberty as punishment, therefore there is no need for electronic monitoring. We will however monitor how the electronic monitoring system is used by the courts vis-à-vis the level of risk identified as per the risk assessment tool
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Description:
Management Response Category: Partially Accepted
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Knowledge management, Oversight/governance
Organizational Priorities: Culture of results/RBM, Organizational efficiency
UNEG Criteria: Efficiency
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Follow up to GPS monitoring system will be foreseen under the proposal for the next phase of the project UN Women Georgia CO 2020/12 Completed The GPS electronic monitoring system legislative amendments entered in force in September 2020, and thus, the system is fully operational.
Recommendation: Support the development of legislation to give victims immediate access to shelter. At the present time, victims of domestic violence have to wait up to 12 days while a committee in Tblisi gives the official status of “victim” in order to get access to a shelter. Many respondents to this evaluation commented that this leaves a woman vulnerable and that the regulation needs to change.
Management Response:
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: National ownership, Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind
Organizational Priorities: Normative Support
UNEG Criteria: Sustainability, Impact
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Finalize provision of technical assistance to the government of Georgia in lifting legal procedures for status determination thus improving victims/survivors’ access to state shelters UN Women Georgia CO 2020/12 Completed In September 2019 UN Women within the framework of the “Unite to Fight Violence against Women” project supported the State Fund for Protection and Assistance of (Statutory) Victims of Human Trafficking in developing a standardized questionnaire, which will substitute the victim status. The questionnaire has been developed in line with the internationally established methodologies and best practices and will enable state services to assess eligibility of victims/survivors for accessing state shelters, bypassing legal and bureaucratic procedures. In October 2019 the questionnaire, together with the legislative amendments on lifting the victim’s status has been introduced to and validated by the Inter-Agency Commission on Gender Equality, Violence against Women and Domestic Violence. The staff of the shelters/crisis centers has been trained on utilizing the questionnaire. UN Women has further provide support to the government in introducing legal amendments to lift victims’ status as a requisite for accessing shelters. Respective legislative amendments are finalized and submitted to the Parliament for discussion and further scrutiny. This issue was presented by UN Women at the Inter-Agency Commission on Gender Equality, Violence against Women and Domestic Women and the political will in support of these amendments has been secured.
Recommendation: Pilot options for economic livelihood support for survivors.
Management Response:
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind
Organizational Priorities: Not applicable
UNEG Criteria: Human Rights
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
UN Women will include exploring options for economic livelihood support for survivors in the development of the second phase of the project. Implementation of this initiative is subject to funding decision of the European Union UN Women Georgia CO 2021/12 Completed The funding for the second phase of the project has been secured, the agreement with the EUD has been signed on 1 November 2020 for 36 months' project.
Recommendation: Revisit crisis center staff roles vis a vis outreach (demand generation). The crisis center offers valuable services to victims of DV. Outreach and public education should be included in those services, particularly in places where demand and/or awareness are low. The cost of maintaining a crisis center should be maximized by deploying staff to schools, community centers, and municipal government fora as appropriate to complement response function with awareness raising.
Management Response: State Fund for Protection and Assistance of (Statutory) Victims of Human Trafficking is the target agency for this recommendation. UN Women will ensure that this recommendation is communicated to the State Fund.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Partially Accepted
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind
Organizational Priorities: Not applicable
UNEG Criteria: Human Rights, Sustainability, Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
UN Women will communicate this recommendation to the State Fund to be integrated in their future work UN Women Georgia CO 2019/12 Completed The recommendation was shared and discussed with the State Fund colleagues - the title of the State Fund has changed to State Care Agency.
Recommendation: High level stock taking by IA Commission. The National Action Plan on VAW/DV will expire in 2020. This would be an appropriate moment to review progress and set a new agenda. Support for such an initiative will re-focus attention on the issue of VAW/DV. It would be an opportunity to share learning and garner commitments to on-going needs and next steps.
Management Response:
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: National ownership, Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind
Organizational Priorities: Not applicable
UNEG Criteria: Relevance, Human Rights, Sustainability
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
UN Women to support stalk-taking workshop for the national machinery on VAW/DV to assess implementation of the 2018-2020 National Action Plan (NAP) on VAW/DV and develop the next generation of the NAP UN Women Georgia CO 2020/12 Completed The Assessment of the implementation of the VAW/DV NAP has been completed in November 2020.
UN Women to support stalk-taking workshop for the national machinery on VAW/DV to assess implementation of the 2018-2020 National Action Plan (NAP) on VAW/DV and develop the next generation of the NAP UN Women Georgia CO 2020/12 Completed The Assessment of the implementation of the VAW/DV NAP has been completed in November 2020.
Recommendation: Advocate for government to provide on-going secretariat support to the IA Commission. Several more years of secretariat support to the IA Commission seems advisable so as not to lose the stature and momentum this Commission has achieved. External support is clearly not a sustainable solution, however, and any future project should seek to negotiate a transition to government budgetary and secretariat support, ideally within the life of a next generation project.
Management Response:
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Advocacy
Organizational Priorities: Not applicable
UNEG Criteria: Sustainability, Gender equality, Human Rights, Relevance
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Advocacy meeting with the Prime Minister’s Office to ensure secretarial support is provided to the Inter-Agency Commission on Gender Equality, Violence against Women and Domestic Violence UN Women Georgia CO 2020/01 Completed UN Women Country Representative conducted a meeting with Head of Administration of the new Prime Minister and secured commitment that the new administration will allocate resources to ensure effective operational support is provided to the Inter-Agency Commission on Gender Equality, Violence against Women and Domestic Violence. The Prime Minister’s Administration pledged to recruit new staff, including the new Assistant to the Prime Minister on Human Rights and Gender Equality by the end of 2019. All these commitments were implemented by the government in early 2020.
Based on the findings of the assessment and in line with international standards and best practices develop standards for state and NGO-run crisis centers to ensure uniform quality UN Women Georgia CO 2020/12 Completed UN Women has commissioned international and national consultants to develop the uniform standards for state and NGO-run crisis centers and shelters. A draft of the standards has been developed and is currently under review by the Ministry of IDPs from the Occupied Territories, Labor, Health, and Social Affairs subject to the approval of the Minister per Ministerial Decree.
Recommendation: More shelters, in more places, for longer. The most immediate need victims of DV often face is a safe space for themselves and their children. Shelters are not available everywhere in the country. Even when space is available somewhere else in the country women hesitate to relocate themselves and their children since at the moment there is a three to six-month limit on how long they can stay . The call for more shelters for victims of domestic violence in more places came from many informants in the evaluation. Lengthening the allowable stay in shelters or adjunct housing facilities, particularly if the woman is in training, should be considered.
Management Response: State Fund for Protection and Assistance of (Statutory) Victims of Human Trafficking is the target agency for this recommendation. UN Women will ensure that this recommendation is communicated to the State Fund.
More detail
Description:
Management Response Category: Partially Accepted
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind
Organizational Priorities: Not applicable
UNEG Criteria: Human Rights, Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
UN Women will communicate this recommendation to the State Fund to be integrated in their future work UN Women Georgia CO 2020/01 Completed The recommendation has been communicated with the State Fund (currently the State Care Agency) and the latter is planning to act on it. Also, in the frameworks of the second phase of this project (that UN Women secured from the EUD on 1 November 2020), one more shelter will be established in Tbilisi.
Recommendation: Public awareness, behavior change via edu entertainment. The media has been an important contributor to raising awareness on issues of DV for a long time. It was media coverage of the increased incidence of femicide that first shocked the public into awareness of the extent and consequences of domestic violence in the country. Media was reportedly used effectively throughout the 16 days of VAW/DV campaigns (2017/2018). In a follow on project, the media should continue to be engaged to maintain accurate awareness and help to mitigate the stigma surrounding reporting.
Management Response:
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Advocacy
Organizational Priorities: Not applicable
UNEG Criteria: Sustainability, Relevance
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
UN Women will include work with media in the development of the second phase of the project. Implementation of this initiative is subject to funding decision of the European Union UN Women Georgia CO 2021/12 Completed The implementation of this recommendation is in full force as the funding for this work have been secured from EU Delegation in the last quarter of 2020.
Recommendation: Engaging with schools, teachers. Because violence at home and corporal punishment in school is still considered acceptable, it normalizes the use of violence more broadly. Shifts in understanding and norms can be effective when they start in the school. The link between physical and psychological violence also needs to be brought out and talked about with young people and parents to help them understand the drivers and deeply damaging nature of such behaviors. Informants in the evaluation suggest that students are much more open to talking about these issues than their teachers. The ad hoc outreach to schools in the Unite project needs to be more systematic, working through the Ministry of Education. UN Women has done some research on teacher attitudes towards reporting DV, and an initiative for teachers is reportedly underway.
Management Response:
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Women economic empowerment (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind
Organizational Priorities: Youth engagement, Engaging men and boys
UNEG Criteria: Sustainability, Gender equality, Human Rights
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
UN Women will include working with schools and teachers in the proposal to be submitted to the UN Women Innovations Fund in 2020 UN Women Georgia CO 2020/12 Completed In 2019 UN Women in partnership with the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport (MoESCS) implemented a project “Teachers Taking Stance on Violence against Women and Domestic Violence in Georgia.” The second phase of the project was developed and the agreement with the EUD was signed in November 2020 for three years, the new phase of the project will address this recommendation fully.
Recommendation: Guidelines for medical professionals. The National Action Plan (2018-2020) anticipated training and guidelines for medical professionals to support a more effective response to victims of DV. A number of informants, particularly in the two regional sites, noted that while doctors are important responders in cases of domestic violence, they also face a number of disincentives to reporting. The victim may ask them not to, fearing reprisal, and the doctor has no obligation to do so in such a case (If children are victims of violence, doctors are obligated to report). Further, as with teachers, doctors often hold prevailing patriarchal views about fault and privacy and may be disinclined to even encourage patients to report. At the same time, a number of practitioners note that guidelines for medical practitioners dealing with cases of VAW/DV are not available.
Management Response: This is not UN Women’s area of work. Per its mandate, UNFPA is working with the health actors to develop guidelines for medical professionals on violence against women.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Rejected
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind
Organizational Priorities: Not applicable
UNEG Criteria: Relevance
Key Actions
Key Action not added.
Recommendation: Briefing, orientation for judges. The critical role of judges in addressing the State’s response to DV is recognized under the UNJP project. In the same way that first responders and service providers have benefited from training and sensitization, judges (who are mostly male) need more than just an understanding of new legislation.
Management Response: UN Women is in agreement with this recommendation. However, this work is already being carried out (working with judges on VAW/DV issues) under the UNJP funded by the government of Sweden.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Rejected
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Capacity development
Organizational Priorities: Not applicable
UNEG Criteria: Relevance
Key Actions
Key Action not added.
Recommendation: Briefing, orientation for judges. The critical role of judges in addressing the State’s response to DV is recognized under the UNJP project. In the same way that first responders and service providers have benefited from training and sensitization, judges (who are mostly male) need more than just an understanding of new legislation.
Management Response: UN Women is in agreement with this recommendation. However, this work is already being carried out (working with judges on VAW/DV issues) under the UNJP funded by the government of Sweden.
More detail
Description:
Management Response Category: Rejected
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Capacity development
Organizational Priorities: Not applicable
UNEG Criteria: Relevance
Key Actions
Key Action not added.
Recommendation: 16. Include M&E expertise on team (operational recommendation). M&E expertise should be included in the design and implementation stages of any future project. Such expertise will contribute to development of appropriate indicators, performance monitoring, enhancing robust learning from pilot initiatives, and strengthening capacity of partners through more robust reporting requirements, and the provision of advice on in-house monitoring systems.
Management Response: Even though UN Women acknowledges the need to have dedicated M&E staff in the office, we do not have financial resources available to cover the costs associated with this cost as donors are reluctant to commit resources.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Rejected
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Evidence, Data and statistics
Organizational Priorities: Culture of results/RBM
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness
Key Actions
Key Action not added.
Recommendation: 16. Include M&E expertise on team (operational recommendation). M&E expertise should be included in the design and implementation stages of any future project. Such expertise will contribute to development of appropriate indicators, performance monitoring, enhancing robust learning from pilot initiatives, and strengthening capacity of partners through more robust reporting requirements, and the provision of advice on in-house monitoring systems.
Management Response: Even though UN Women acknowledges the need to have dedicated M&E staff in the office, we do not have financial resources available to cover the costs associated with this cost as donors are reluctant to commit resources.
More detail
Description:
Management Response Category: Rejected
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Evidence, Data and statistics
Organizational Priorities: Culture of results/RBM
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness
Key Actions
Key Action not added.