Management Response

: Malawi
: 2017 - 2018 , Malawi (CO)
: Mid-Term evaluation of GBG project
:
: Malawi
:

This mid term evaluation was conducted to review progress made by the programme towards achieving the expected outcomes and goals. The evaluation was meant to propose specific recommendations for the future direction of the programme that will be used by UN Women and different stakeholders to re-strategize the programme for maximum impact. The following are the key recommendations.

: Approved
Recommendation: The programme Theory of Change for the GBG programme should be examined closely by UN Women in collaboration with implementing partners in order to decide whether it should be adapted wholesale or with some adaptations.
Management Response: The programme Theory of Change for the GBG programme should be examined closely by UN Women in collaboration with implementing partners in order to decide whether it should be adapted wholesale or with some adaptations.
Description: Rejection justification: This recommendation will be difficult to respond to as the project has been completed based on the initial ToC. Further, there is lack of clarity on which parts of the ToC need adapting.
Management Response Category: Rejected
Thematic Area: Leadership and political participation (SPs before 2018), Governance and planning (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Evidence, Data and statistics
Organizational Priorities: Culture of results/RBM, Partnership
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Efficiency, Relevance, Sustainability, Impact
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Review and revise the programme’s ToC GBG Specialist 2018/03 Completed The ToC was revised based on the new Global Strategic Note
Collectively support the reviews, development and implementation of gender related laws and ensure reporting National Program Officer and GBG specialist 2018/07 Ongoing UNW, UNDP and UNFPA continue to engage government to review, develop and implement gender related laws and policies to create enabling evironment
Recommendation: Strengthening the GBG Results Framework: The framework should be matched with the proposed ToC for the GBG program and aligned accordingly. This also entails adopting results based indicators across all projects so that there is more focus on results based reporting, and not simply output based reporting.
Management Response: Review GBG Results Framework and align it with programme ToC.
Description: Rejection justification: This recommendation will be difficult to respond to as the project has been completed based on the initial ToC. Further, there is lack of clarity on which parts of the ToC need adapting. Further,
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Leadership and political participation (SPs before 2018), Governance and planning (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Alignment with strategy
Organizational Priorities: Culture of results/RBM
UNEG Criteria: Impact
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Review GBG Results Framework and align it with programme ToC. M&E 2018/03 Completed
Indicators for the WEP, Spotlight and other existing programme have indictors whose focus is to measure results. M&E 2018/03 Completed
Recommendation: The programme should focus on fewer activities
Management Response: UN Women must reduce number of activities under this programme to ensure a more focused and results oriented approach.
Description: Rejection justification: Time inefficiency and irrelevant activities have not been cited as problems in the achievement of the programme’s objectives. Hence, reducing number of activities in this case doesn’t add much. Further, the project activities have all been implemented thus far.
Management Response Category: Rejected
Thematic Area: Governance and planning (SPs before 2018), Leadership and political participation (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Alignment with strategy
Organizational Priorities: Culture of results/RBM
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Efficiency, Impact
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Review programme activities and reduce their scope GBG Specialist 2018/03 Completed
Recommendation: Re-orientation of activities to show link with poverty situation in Malawi.
Management Response: UN Women should review the programme activities and ensure they respond to the poverty situation and gaps in the country.
Description: Rejection justification: Programme activities were proposed based on country situation – including poverty analysis. This will continue for all UN Women interventions in Malawi. Further, there is lack of clarity on which activities do not reflect the poverty context of the country.
Management Response Category: Rejected
Thematic Area: Leadership and political participation (SPs before 2018), Governance and planning (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Alignment with strategy
Organizational Priorities: Culture of results/RBM
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Impact, Efficiency
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Review activities to reflect poverty gaps in Malawi GBG Specialist 2018/03 Completed The WEP Programme, the Spotlight programme, Climate Smart Agriculture project and the governance are designed based on the poverty situation analysis of the country.
Recommendation: UN Women Malawi must conduct thorough partner assessments before partner engagement to assess their programmatic and finance management capacities. This will help UN Women identify and engage the best partners.
Management Response: Efforts should be made to review the existing approach to partnership selection.
Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Leadership and political participation (SPs before 2018), Governance and planning (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Capacity development
Organizational Priorities: Partnership
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Sustainability, Impact
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
UN Women CO should conduct thought partner capacity assessments before engaging any partners. National Programme Officer Team Leads 2018/12 Ongoing Completed with the partners UN women has currently. Plans to conduct the assessment with partners that will be recruited in 2019.