Management Response

: Palestine
: 2017 - 2017 , Palestine (CO)
: Final Evaluation of the One Stop Shop for Sustainable Development Joint Programme
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Palestine

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Recommendations of the evaluation focuses on the efficiency in relation to the Management Structure and on improving the Results Chain of the JP. UN Women is in the midst of developing its Strategic Note (SN) 2018-2022 and will invest in its ongoing consultation with national and international stakeholders to develop a results chain that includes specific outputs that sets the basis for any upcoming programme development. UN Women does have a general M&E System for its SN that integrates programmes and projects and that is adaptable for Joint Programmes. The M&E System and tools were used in the JP and UN Women is committed to further develop its M&E System to improve data collection through JP.

: Approved
Recommendation: R1. Disseminate the achievements, lessons learnt and technical knowledge developed by the JP, at several levels. Ensure that lessons learned and best practices highlighted in this report are taken into consideration in the upcoming process of designing future JPs.
Management Response: The Joint Programme Team took many measures during the implementation of the project to ensure that lessons learned and best practices are documented and disseminated to different stakeholders including national counterparts and international partners. These efforts included establishing a reference group for the Final Evaluation comprised of national stakeholders involved in the programme to disseminate the results, the lessons learned and the recommendations of the evaluation. Furthermore, UN Women provided the opportunity for the Business Women Forum to introduce the lessons learned and best practices through several platforms including the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) meeting in New York in 2017 and through regional closing ceremony of the Spring Forward Regional Programme in March 2017. The BWF attended the 61st Session of the CSW in March 2017 to introduce the approach adopted by the JP. Moreover, the BWF and Agility Services (member of the national consortium implementing UN Women component of the JP) attended the closing ceremony of the Spring Forward Programme and introduced the lessons learned through the JP in a meeting that involved several civil society organizations from the Arab Region working on economic empowerment of women. Both opportunities provided by UN Women was in the efforts to increase BWF networking efforts. UN Women acknowledge the need to dissiamnate the findings of the evaluation and all knowledge and lessons learned generated through the project. UN Women will be developing a Knowledge Management Plan for all knowledge generated by the Office including evaluations.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Women economic empowerment (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Knowledge management
Organizational Priorities: Normative Support
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Prepare a master list for all knowledge products in the Country Office. Samar Al-Shareef 2018/05 Completed The Country Office is still working on the Master List of the Key KP. This task is expected to be completed in the 1st Qurter of 2019. The UN Women PALCO we site is functional and contains all KP produced through all works.
Prepare summary of recommendations/key lessons learned per knowledge product generated. Staff Members responsible for knowledge product 2018/12 Completed The Country Office is preparing a KP Catalogue that will provide a summary for each of the KP. It is expected the KP Catalogue will be ready during the 1st quarter of 2019. The UN Women PALCO we site is functional and contains all KP produced through all works.
Develop e-version of key recommendations/lessons learned Staff Members responsible for each product in coordination with Communication Officor 2018/12 Completed The Country Office is preparing a KP Catalogue that will provide a summary for each of the KP. It is expected the KP Catalogue will be ready during the 1st quarter of 2019. The UN Women PALCO we site is functional and contains all KP produced through all works.
Disseminate e-version to national and international stakeholders Communication Officor 2019/03 Completed The Country Office is preparing a KP Catalogue that will provide a summary for each of the KP. It is expected the KP Catalogue will be ready during the 1st quarter of 2019. The UN Women PALCO we site is functional and contains all KP produced through all works.
1.1 Share the Final Evaluation report with the Consultant recruited for the development of the UN Women Strategic Note for the period from 2018 – 2022 to incorporate the recommendations into the development of future interventions. Alaeddin Ayesh 2017/07 Completed
Recommendation: R2. Ensure that training is provided to cooperatives on how to operate the equipment they have received through FAO matching funds is provided as planned.
Management Response: This recommendation relates directly to FAP work in the JO; while UN Women did not target cooperatives it is essential that the recommendation is followed up by FAO.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Women economic empowerment (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Advocacy
Organizational Priorities: UN Coordination, Partnership
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness
Key Actions
Key Action not added.
Recommendation: R3. Ensure sufficient time and resources are allocated to the process of design of future JPs, with meaningful participation of the partner agencies, government counterparts, as well as right holders and beneficiaries to maximise responsiveness to needs and alignment with beneficiaries’ priorities in line with aid effectiveness principles.
Management Response: The design phase of the JP was extensive and included multi consultative discussions among the UN Sister Agencies involved in the project. The design of the project was based on the ongoing dialogue with national counterparts and based on lessons learned from previous work completed by the three UN Sister Agencies involved. The work by each sister agency funded by the SDG-F was complemented by matching funds based on ongoing programmes/projects and therefore was based on previous experience and dialogue with national stakeholders. An international consultant was recruited also to draft the project document and the results chain which came about from the experience of the UN Sister Agencies. Documenting lessons learned and best practices and the ongoing and continuous dialogue with national stakeholders will continue to be the basis for developing JP in the near future. The UN Women CO is in the midst of developing the SN for the period between 2018 and 2022. The SN will include a robust Result Chain with very specific Outputs based on consultative process with national and international stakeholders. The SN results chain will be the bases for future UN Women programmes, including JP. UN Women invest extensively in designing programmes/projects through a participatory approach involving different stakeholders, both national and international stakeholders. UN Women will continue in investing in open and continuous dialogue with the government, women organizations, the private sector, UN Women Sister Agency and women to ensure that an effective dialogue is in place to identify priorities and needs of beneficiaries that becomes the basis of all programmes/projects. Concrete steps have been taken in 2017 through the design of the 2018-2022 SN design through consultations with the government, the donor community and women organizations to identify priorities for the next few years.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Not applicable
Operating Principles: Oversight/governance
Organizational Priorities: UN Coordination
UNEG Criteria: Efficiency
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Introduce a methodology for development of Concept Notes and Full Fledged Proposals that ensures that all proposals are aligned with the SN/AWP and proposed results are aligned with the DRF and the OEEF in the SN/AWP. Programme Staff 2018/06 Completed The Country Office is finalizing an SOP for the development of proposals. It is expected the SOP will be finalized during the 1st Quarter of 2019. All CN and proposals are lined with the SN?AWP through a method of jointly developing CN with Project Managers, M&R Associate and Operation Team.
UN Women Palestine CO will organize consultation sessions with national and international consultants during the development of the 2018-2022 SN. Inas Margieh 2017/09 Completed
Recommendation: R.4. Strengthen Programme formulation, M&E guidelines and their implementation, and ensure that change objectives and their indicators are realistic given the lifespan of JPs. At the same ensure that planned resources are fully applied during implementation. Ensure that the JP has adequate and empowered M&E resources for effective monitoring, accountability, and learning.
Management Response: Monitoring and reporting tools and guidelines were developed for the JP based on Un Women standardised M&E System. The tools and templates were introduced to implementing partners through two separate workshops. It shall be noted that the Business Women Forum used the templates and the tools provided to them and continually monitored the progress in relation to the work done with the MSME’s. UN Women conducted several monitoring mission and implemented monitoring activities as set through the M&E Plan including direct observations, focus group sessions and semi-structured interviews with national stakeholders. UN Women Palestine Country Office follows Results Based Management guidelines for formulating outcomes and output level results for all its programmes/projects. Outputs for the JP were formulated with clear understanding that UN Women and its partners are fully responsible for achieving these results while Outcomes define higher level results that UN Women and partners are not fully responsible for achieving, but rather will contribute to achieving. The formulation of the results came through a consultative process with UN Sister Agencies based on priorities identified in the relevant strategies and needs at a national level. UN Women invested highly in setting an M&E Framework through an external consultant who was recruited to develop a baseline study and revise and improve the initial M&E Framework. UN Women acknowledges the need to strengthen the capacity of all implementing partners and responsible parties in RBM and Monitoring and Evaluation including the design of M&E Plans that is robust and systematic.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Partially Accepted
Thematic Area: Not applicable
Operating Principles: Oversight/governance
Organizational Priorities: Culture of results/RBM
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Efficiency, Relevance
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Develop SMART Indicators for the Outcome and Output level results of the 2018-2022 SN. Programme/Operational Staff 2018/11 Completed
Finalize 2018-2022 SN M&E System Alaeddin Ayesh 2018/04 Completed The 2018-2022 SN M&E System is finilized. The System includes a monitoring plan that is aligned with the different ProDocs including those ProDocs under the WEE Portfolio.
Provide staff training on the finalized M&E System Alaeddin Ayesh 2018/05 Completed A training on the M&E System was conducted in May for all CO Staff Members. Individual working meetings will follow to develop Monitoring Activity Plan for each programme/projects.
Provide staff with on the job coaching for aligning Office M&E System to specific Programme/Project Alaeddin Ayesh and all UN Women Staff 2018/12 Completed A workshop was conducted in November 2018 with all staff members to draft the M&E Plan for the 2019 AWP. The workshop was participatory and in addition to reviewing main concepts related to M&E Staff, Programme Staff together drafted the M&E Plan identifying monitoring activities that will be implemented during 2019.
Provide UN Women Staff with on the job coaching to implement the M&E System Alaeddin Ayesh and all UN Women Staff 2018/12 Completed On the job coaching for the implementation of the M&E Plan is ongoing. A comprehensive M&E System was developed for the UN Women PALCO AWP. The system is being regularly maintained and implemented.
Provide responsible parties with training on RBM and Monitoring and Evaluation Alaeddin Ayesh 2018/12 Completed Responsible Parties for the WEE portfolio were provided with technical support to develop their M&E Plan and to implement the M&E Plan. A Baseline survey for the women entrepreneurs was conducted and templates and tools were provided for the responsible parties for data collection.
Recommendation: R.5. Ensure that Programme Governance and Management Structures are in place at the time of design, and take an active part in the design process. Moreover, ensure that Programme Management Teams responsible for the day-to-day implementation of JPs have the space not only to meet regularly, but also to plan for and implement activities together, including M&E activities.
Management Response: UN Women has set a management system together with its UN Sister Agencies to ensure proper coordination and implementation of the programme. While the turnover of staff and changing of the Progarmme Manager has caused some issues with follow up, UN Women maintained a proper system of coordination among the three involved agencies and the responsible parties.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Partially Accepted
Thematic Area: Not applicable
Operating Principles: Oversight/governance, Capacity development, Internal coordination and communication
Organizational Priorities: UN Coordination, Partnership, Operational activities, Culture of results/RBM, Organizational efficiency
UNEG Criteria: Efficiency
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
UN Women will set a Programme Management Structure for all JPs that ensures full coordination among sister agencies. JP Managers 2018/12 Completed The Management Structure for the UN JP "Haya" is in place.
UN Women will set a Programme Management Structure for all JPs that ensures full coordination among sister agencies. JP Managers 2018/12 Completed The Management Structure for the UN JP "Haya" is in place.
UN Women will set a Programme Management Structure for all JPs that ensures full coordination among sister agencies. JP Managers 2018/12 Completed The Management Structure for the UN JP "Haya" is in place.
Recommendation: R6. Using good practices already introduced, shift focus from supporting the development of individual enterprises and cooperatives to supporting development of more inclusive, pro-poor market systems.
Management Response: A main component of the JP was the development of national policies that contributes to promoting women’s participation in the economy through providing incentives for MSME’s and through the provision of protection for MSME’s to provide them with opportunities to compete in the market. The process for developing the policies through the JP was extensive including a consultative process with all relevant stakeholders to ensure that the proposed policies are acceptable to all parties and are implementable. Due to the multiple needs and national priorities, the process of developing the policies was prolonged to ensure both consensus and commitment by national stakeholders on the proposed polices and also the production of implantable polices. A Policy Paper was produced through the JP in partnership with national stakeholders. Work is continuing through UN Women to provide the needed technical and financial support to the national stakeholders to translate the Policy Paper into actionable policy instruments that will enable the government to translate the Policy Papers into concrete actions that empower women MSME’s. A consultant was recruited by UN Women in the 2nd Quarter of 2017 to work with the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, the Ministry of Labour, the Ministry of National Economy and the Ministry of Agriculture to identify the main priorities in terms of policy instruments based on the Policy paper produced through the JP. It is expected that Policy Instruments will be produced by end of 2017 that will work on providing the needed policy framework to include women and women MSME’s into economic activities. UN Women Palestine Country Office developed the 2018-2022 SN with a clear theory change stating that there is a need to address structural barriears preventing women from effectively partcipating in the economy. Focus over the next few years will be on polciy change to ensure that all women have the oppurtunity and resources to partcipate in the economy.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Women economic empowerment (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Alignment with strategy
Organizational Priorities: Normative Support
UNEG Criteria: Sustainability
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Develop a theory of change for economic empowerment thematic area UN Women Staff in coordination with stakeholders 2017/09 Completed
Develop Results Chain for SN/AWP based on the developed Theory of Change UN Women Staff Members 2017/09 Completed