Management Response

: Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (Thailand)
: 2017 - 2017 , Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (Thailand) (RO)
: Regional meta-evaluation
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: Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (Thailand)
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UN Women in Asia and the Pacific is committed to learning from evaluation. Thus, this first meta-analysis of evaluation reports was commissioned by the Regional Office with the aim of contributing to UN Women's knowledge on what works to advance gender equality and women's empowerment in Asia and the Pacific. The meta-analysis provides evidence-based information based on the aggregation and synthesis of the recurrent findings, conclusions, lessons learned, good practices and recommendations from the evaluation reports completed between 2011-2016. Given the broad timeframe of reports analysed, it should be kept in mind that many steps have already been taken or initiated to address the recommendations of the meta-analysis. Also, many of the issues raised by the report require coordination with Headquarters given the established corporate requirements. Finally, the majority of evaluations reviewed were country level evaluations and thus some of the issues raised may be more pertinent to country level work. Nevertheless, the meta-analysis provided useful recommendations for future programming at a critical time, as it was conducted towards the end of the Strategic Note cycle of the Regional Office and will feed into the drafting process of the new Strategic Note. The recommendations of the meta-analysis are insightful and mostly accepted by the Regional Office. The key actions may be refined through the new Strategic Note.

: Approved
Recommendation: Ensure that future programmes apply partnership-based models of programme design that are partner/stakeholder-driven and are based on solid analysis and evidence in order to ensure relevance, effectiveness, sustainability and adherence with a human rights-based approach. A particular focus should be on undertaking comprehensive gender analyses, baseline assessments and capacity assessments during the design phase of longer-term programmes in order to ensure that they are based on qualitative and quantitative analysis.
Management Response: UN Women's RBM guidelines follow UNDG RBM guidelines, which provide the direction to UN development agencies on how to conduct planning, monitoring and evaluation. Critical elements of UN Women's RBM approach include inclusive and evidence-based planning through-out the programming cycle, which implies that partners and stakeholders are engaged at the planning, monitoring, implementation and evaluation stage of each programme and project. UN Women's inter-agency coordination mandate and approach to programming in the UN system at regional and country level further strengthen the UN systems coherence, joint programming (including UNDAF and joint programmes) and accountability to advancing international, regional and national priorities for GEEW. Given that the meta analysis was conducted on evaluations between 2011 and 2016, it is important to note that this period has seen significant investment by UN Women in RBM and its partnerships approach, corporately and in the region (See the management response to the MOPAN evaluation 2014 and the "Corporate Evaluation on Strategic Partnerships 2016, for evidence of this), including through capacity development (of individual staff through training; investing in institutional structures to support strategic planning, monitoring and reporting and evaluations; and the roll out of M&E systems - RMS, LEADS, DAMS) and creating space for civil society and other partners engagement through the establishment of civil society advisory groups where appropriate. In Asia and the Pacific, UN Women uses evidence from evaluations, reviews and analyses of reporting and engages in consultations with partners to inform its Strategic Notes and component project documents. UN Women in Asia and the Pacific applies Theories of Change at programme and project level, based on a solid engagement of partners through its programme/project cycle, as demonstrated by flagship projects and Strategic Notes developed in 2016/17. In addition, UN Women in Asia and the Pacific ensures that Strategic Notes and projects are based on existing quantitative and qualitative data (including recommendations from Human Rights Treaty bodies such as CEDAW). In recognition of the limited availability of accurate and comparable data on the advancement of GEEW (globally and within national statistical systems), UN Women's programmes and projects in the region increasingly seek to address the dearth of gender statistics and data in project activities at inception and through capacity development efforts with national partners. Indeed, the roll out of a regional project on gender data and statistics should support these efforts. New methodologies to measure prevention of VAW are also being tested in the region.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Not applicable
Operating Principles: Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind
Organizational Priorities: Partnership
UNEG Criteria: Relevance
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
UN Women in Asia and the Pacific, as part of the regional UNDG and United Nations Country Teams, will extend its work within the framework of the UNCT, and its broad partnerships to ensure comprehensive gender assessments and analysis is conducted as part of the UNDAF cycle, including (i) to ensure better and more comprehensive understanding, ownership and support to GEEW across multiple partners, and (ii) to further highlight UN Women's contribution to key results and relevance within a broader and longer-term partnership approach/ context. Indeed UN Women has taken a lead role in developing the new UNDG UNDAF guidance, including to address this issue, and will support the role out of key actions to support the development of evidence based (joint) programming approaches at national level UN Women RO and CO's 2021/08 Completed SPE Coordination Training 18-19 Oct. 2018 Topics: GEEW coordination and gender mainstreaming tools in UNDAFs for COs. Attendees from UNW, UNFPA, RCOs for 17 countries in the region. In 2019 SPE intended to continue the above coordination training to support GEEW mainstreaming in UNDAFs for roll-out countries and to continue to conduct analysis and monitor and gender-related JPs and UNDAFs to better position UNW at country levels. Gender disaggregated data has been collected and used at national level in Asia and the Pacific region. The number of joint programmes has been increased. The time frame was revised in order to align with the Strategic Note. Although the current SN will end in December 2021, the time frame was revised to August 2021 given that the current key action needs to be reflected in the process of developing the new SN.
UN Women in Asia and the Pacific will further strengthen its engagement with national human rights processes and institutions to ensure the further institutionalization of partnerships that support the integration of human rights in UN Common Country Assessments, Strategic Notes and project level assessments to strengthen its HRBA. UN Women RO and CO's 2021/08 Completed In the framework of the Programme Women's Access to Justice, UN Women RO, ICJ and OHCHR have been partnering with National Human Rights Institutions including Komnas HAM in Indonesia, the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines, the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka to increase their capacity to support women to access justice at the national and local level. In Gender and Climate Change, the country-level assessments of gender equality and climate change was initiated in Viet Nam, Cambodia and Nepal. Such assessments were drafted by the teams of authors from research institutions in consultation with government representatives including ministries of women affairs, environment and other line ministries working on climate change policies. The findings will be made available to draft SNs, CCAs and other key national assessments and policies. The time frame was revised in order to align with the Strategic Note. Although the current SN will end in December 2021, the time frame was revised to August 2021 given that the current key action needs to be reflected in the process of developing the new SN.
UN Women in Asia and the Pacific will continue to strengthen the measurement of data and evidence to support programming and projects through the roll-out of regional and national components of the global flagship programme on gender data and statistics UN Women RO and CO's (Nepal and Bangladesh) 2021/08 Completed The MEWGC programme in Asia and the Pacific includes region-wide activities as well as targeted support to countries. At the regional level, a Subgroup on gender statistics has been established under SIAP’s Network of statistical training, which works towards developing a regional standardized training curriculum on gender statistics and promotes its implementation through statistical training institutes across the region. In addition, UN Women has established a close partnership with ESCAP’s Statistics division to implement segments of the programme pertaining to international coordination and to promoting user-producer dialogue. Thus, a proposal was submitted to ESCAP’s Committee on Statistics for UN Women to be allowed to participate and influence each of the Committee’s thematic work streams. This has established the foundation for UN Women to evaluate whether there is a need and an appetite for the establishment of an inter-governmental group on gender statistics. At the country level, UN Women APRO has been providing support to countries on request. For instance, training was provided to Nepal on Time Use Survey methodology and wider understanding of gender statistics. Similarly, technical support was provided to China on gender statistics and violence against women, to Pakistan on labor force and economic empowerment statistics, and to multiple countries in Asia-Pacific on the use of SDMX for data and metadata exchanges. Complementary to this work, the UN Women in partnership with UNEP has implemented a regional project on gender mainstreaming in climate change and DRR policies in three focus countries: Bangladesh, Cambodia and Vietnam and across the region. One of the project priorities is capacity building and provision of technical expertise on generation, use and application of gender statistics for policy making in climate change and DRR thematic areas. In Gender Statistics phase I of the global FPI Women Count will finalize in 2021. The programme has been successful in supporting the generation of better gender data and filling data gaps, including by implementing time use surveys, surveys on gender and environment, surveys on the consequences of COVID-19, and generating estimates on emerging and innovative areas of statistics such as women’s microbusiness and the digital economy, as well as on VAW in the context of COVID-19. The programme has also built enabling environments for data production and use, including training hundreds of data users and producers to better understand gender statistics and use them for decision making and advocacy. Strategies for the production of gender statistics have been created in the Pacific subregion and in selected countries in Asia. The programme has also succeeded in promoting data and metadata exchanges by supporting countries to use SDMX, and promoted the use of data in partnership with journalists and multiple universities across the region, who have created coursework on gender statistics following UN Women guidance. Furthermore, Women Count has made a critical contribution in positioning UN Women as a leading agency on gender data, and has allowed the organization to leverage partnerships with key statistical partners such as the Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific and tech companies in the private sector with whom UN Women partners for big data analysis. Women Count has also played an important role in enhancing decision making within the organization itself, by providing technical guidance for programming across the region and supporting the implementation of thematic programmes with data components. The work on gender statistics in climate change has involved developed of the national guidelines and protocols in Bangladesh, Viet Nam and Cambodia on the use of sex-disaggregated indicators to measure the progress in gender mainstreaming in climate change policies. Also, a questionnaire to pilot collection of information of gender statistics has been developed for the use in Bangladesh on a pilot basis. Besides this, a few virtual events have been organised for data users and journalists on gender statistics in climate change policy areas. The time frame was revised in order to align with the Strategic Note. Although the current SN will end in December 2021, the time frame was revised to August 2021 given that the current key action needs to be reflected in the process of developing the new SN.
UN Women in Asia and the Pacific will continue to strengthen and apply the Theory of Change approach in the development and implementation of its Strategic Notes and projects documents - which includes a broad partnership-based model UN Women RO and CO's 2021/08 Completed The Planning Team has been providing training to the CO's, such as the training on the Strategic Note (SN) roll-out to Indonesia, Cambodia, Myanmar, RO and ROAP. They have continued to provide continuous training within Programme and CO's to be more rigorous in applying the Theory of Change within the SN. The application of Theory of Change was incorporated into the WEE design for the EU funds for 2018. In the project development, China, Thailand, and the Philippines, applied a greater articulation of the TOC and R-PAC. Training was provided on the use of TOC and Results Based Budgeting (RBB) in the AWP development based upon request from Bangladesh and China. The Planning team has provided to thee 2018 AWP's. The time frame was revised in order to align with the Strategic Note. Although the current SN will end in December 2021, the time frame was revised to August 2021 given that the current key action needs to be reflected in the process of developing the new SN.
Recommendation: Explore ways to further diversify programmatic partnerships, particularly in relation to engagement with men, the judiciary, media, marginalized and vulnerable groups. In the context of the region, strategies to increase partnerships with the private sector are particularly relevant and necessary and UN Women should consider a process to harvest input from past private sector partners in order to identify future opportunities and the best modes for cooperation.
Management Response: While UN Women in Asia and the Pacific has several examples of substantive programming engaging men, the judiciary, media, marginalized and vulnerable groups, the meta analysis highlights some pertinent points in terms of systematizing, scaling up and furthering this engagement. Indeed, this is a corporate priority as highlighted in the management response of the global corporate evaluation on strategic partnerships conducted in 2016, which underscores that "UN Women corporately recognizes that diverse strategic and catalytic partnerships are a prerequisite for UN-Women to achieve and scale up results. Through engagement with partners, UN-Women: supports movements for gender equality; advocates for gender equality commitments from decisionmakers at all levels; expands constituencies for gender equality; convenes partners against discriminatory social norms; and builds institutional partnerships and mobilizes resources to support UN-Women’s work and gender equality more broadly". UN-Women recognizes the need for a strategic partnership policy framework at corporate level and is committed to developing one, including in the region.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Partially Accepted
Thematic Area: Not applicable
Operating Principles: Resource mobilization
Organizational Priorities: Partnership
UNEG Criteria: Relevance
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
As part of Strategic Note and project development, continue to strengthen the regional vision for strategic partnerships and consult with rights holders, and in particular marginalized groups, including migrant women; youth; and women affected by HIV/AIDS. RO and CO's 2021/08 Completed The Planning Team provided special attention and in-country training to China, the Philippines and the urgent need in Fiji MCO in the development of their Prodoc that applied a strengthened vision including a stronger Theory of Change. Projects have been implemented based on the Theory of Change approach. The time frame was revised in order to align with the Strategic Note. Although the current SN will end in December 2021, the time frame was revised to August 2021 given that the current key action needs to be reflected in the process of developing the new SN.
Conduct a review of UN Women's engagement with the private sector in the region to feed Into a strategy for effective private sector engagement and support. RO 2021/08 Completed Extensive analyses of fundraising performance, trends, and prospect research, particularly with the private sector were conducted. Research on countries and prospective donors as well as strategic business analyses on fundraising performance and trends was conducted. Opportunities for potential engagement have been included into the Regional Partnerships and Resource Mobilization strategy. A draft of the strategy was developed in 2020 and was further revised in Q1/Q2 2021. The Partnerships & RM Survey was also conducted to better understand the fundraising and partnerships needs for RO units and COs. This will be included in the revised Regional Partnerships and RM Strategy which will be reviewed again by ROAP Senior Leadership in August 2021 as new parts need to be added, namely on strategy aligning to the new UN Women Strategic Plan. The time frame was revised in order to align with the Strategic Note. Although the current SN will end in December 2021, the time frame was revised to August 2021 given that the current key action needs to be reflected in the process of developing the new SN.
Recruit a resource mobilization and partnerships lead for the RO to strengthen regional vision, strategy and policy implementation through the development of a partnership strategy focusing on engaging new sectors and vulnerable groups. RO 2021/08 Completed The recruitment was completed, and Maria Guimaraes joined ROAP in Feb. 2018 The partnership strategy is under development to go hand in hand together to go with the approved SN 2019-2021. The baselines and analysis have been completed as well as the market strategy.
Continue to expand evidence based programming on access to Justice, including working with the judiciary. RO and CO's 2021/08 Completed Based on the studies on women's access to justice (A2J) in plural legal systems that were conducted in Myanmar, Vietnam, South Asia, Indonesia and the Philippines, a mapping on Women's Access to Justice in Asia and the Pacific: Bridging the gap between formal and informal systems was conducted (Oct. 2018-Feb. 2019) in Timor Leste, Indonesia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Philippines and Vanuatu. To respond to the economic impacts of the COVID-19, partnerships with women’s CSOs have been scaled up to enhance women’s avenues to claim economic rights. The time frame was revised in order to align with the Strategic Note. Although the current SN will end in December 2021, the time frame was revised to August 2021 given that the current key action needs to be reflected in the process of developing the new SN.
Recommendation: Deepen partnerships and coordination, including through increased joint programming, in order to leverage UN Women’s comparative advantage, strengthen depth of expertise offered and maximise efficiency.
Management Response: UN Women in Asia and the Pacific has seen an expansion of joint programming in the region during the period under review, recognizing that involving key stakeholders and deepening partnerships is crucial for achieving results for women and girls. Indeed, the collaborative co-creation of projects by multiple partners is a crucial part of its current modus operandi, as demonstrated, inter alia, by a number of projects designed and agreements finalized in 2017. As per UN Women's Corporate Evaluation on Strategic Partnerships, UN-Women agrees with this recommendation. In addition, a full evaluation of UN-Women’s implementation of its coordination mandate was finalized and submitted to its Executive Board in September 2016. In response to the evaluation of UN-Women’s coordination mandate and its strategic partnerships approach, the organization is already addressing elements reflected in this recommendation.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Not applicable
Operating Principles: Not applicable
Organizational Priorities: UN Coordination
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Strengthen the integration of GEEW in UN Common country programming processes, including the UNDAF and joint programmes, through, inter alia, supporting the implementation of the gender scorecard in order to deepen joint programming, broaden and deepen partnerships and advance the coordination of results for GEEW at national level. RO and CO's 2021/08 Completed SPE Coordination Training 18-19 Oct. 2018 Topics: GEEW coordination and gender mainstreaming tools in UNDAFs for COs. Attendees from UNW, UNFPA, RCOs for 17 countries in the region. In 2019 SPE intended to continue the above coordination training to support GEEW mainstreaming in UNDAFs for roll-out countries and to continue to conduct analysis and monitor and gender-related JE's and UNDAFs to better position UNW at country levels. As such, UNCT SWAP Gender Scorecard training for 14 COs including RCOs was held in March 2019. The RO was encouraging and facilitating CO/POs to implement the Common chapter through the regional inter-agency working group that aims to provide countries TA to countries. Gender disaggregated data has been collected and used at national level in Asia and the Pacific region. The number of joint programmes has been increased. The time frame was revised in order to align with the Strategic Note. Although the current SN will end in December 2021, the time frame was revised to August 2021 given that the current key action needs to be reflected in the process of developing the new SN.
The RO will continue the current trend of conceptualization and co-creation of larger multi-stakeholder programmes to leverage the expertise and comparative advantages of key partners (including development partners, the UN system and national partners), and maximise synergies between different projects. RO 2021/08 Completed Use of platform of R-PAC to ensure quality feedback to the offices and in-country support for strategic planning and coordination, PS, RMS (Janneke), training and technical assistance provided to the inception process for the Prodoc an AWP. A quarterly KM coordination product on good practices eg. Bangladesh Gender Responsive DRR. Co-creation with partners materialized in the regional programme on: 1. Climate Change; 2. Access to Justice, and ; 3. Cox Bazaar in Bangladesh as well as a proposal was drafted for a Joint Programme with UNDP in Rakhine, Myanmar for funding from Canada. Based on these experiences, UN Womenn has maximised opportunities to collaborate with partners. The time frame was revised in order to align with the Strategic Note. Although the current SN will end in December 2021, the time frame was revised to August 2021 given that the current key action needs to be reflected in the process of developing the new SN.
Recommendation: Continue building and leveraging platforms for South-South knowledge exchange in order to continue the process of learning and innovating in the space of gender equality. UN Women should further expand these platforms to include more countries from the region, more stakeholders from the participating countries, and more UN agencies. Regional and country-level Funds are in a unique position to access information and insights from a wide range of actors and activities across numerous, diverse countries.
Management Response: UN Women in Asia and the Pacific successfully uses its triple mandate to support south-south collaboration, knowledge sharing, and policy advocacy by providing demand driven evidence based support to regional and sub-regional bodies. Recent examples at the regional level include collaboration with ASEAN under the regional CEDAW and EVAW projects. UN Women will continue to provide technical expertise and strengthen these platforms with its partners, including: ESCAP; AP Forum on Sustainable Development; APEC; ASEAN, SPC, PIF, etc. UN Women is in agreement that it is in a unique position to strengthen south-south collaboration through (intra) regional initiatives including the promotion of dialogue and knowledge sharing between government, academia, civil society and the Private sector AND; regional Intergovernmental platforms (ie. ASEAN; ESCAP), while ensuring key linkages to national and cross-border learning and knowledge exchange.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Not applicable
Operating Principles: South-South cooperation
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Develop, disseminate and implement a measurable (intra)regional south-south approach to ensure concerted and dedicated advancement in this area. RO & HQ to provide guidance 2022/12 Completed HQ launched a KM strategy 2018-2021 (https://unwomen.sharepoint.com/management/LF/Repository/Knowledge%20Management%20Strategy%20_English.pdf#search=knowledge) that covers South-South cooperation. Through regional projects, the RO leads South-South and triangular exchange and provides platform for knowledge exchange and building, especially in the area of migration, climate change, PVE, WPS, VAW and so on. In addition, ASEAN, UN GiHA group, UNEDAP and other inter-agency platforms are used for regional South-South approaches.
Ensure that new regional /multi-country projects have embedded south-south knowledge exchange with a broad range of stakeholders. RO planning and programme teams, and respective regional project management units 2022/12 Completed Regional EVAW project has been implementing this by facilitating learning among project countries (UN Women staff and their stakeholders) and sharing tools and guidance notes, for example in the implementation of costing studies, regarding VAW data, prevention of VAW, addressing violence against women migrant workers, addressing GBV in emergencies (linked with COVID), and school-based prevention work. The regional migration programme has been working on leveraging the tools and guidance and other policy advocacy materials concerning gender-responsive employment contract and recruitment produced to promote and protect the rights of women migrant workers in the South Asia context during 2015 – 2019 by adapting them to the work in the Thailand - Cambodia, Lao PDR and Myanmar migration corridor under the Poverty Reduction through Safe Migration, Skills Development and Enhanced Job Placement in Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar and Thailand (PROMISE). This will enhance the implementation of the Colombo Process in strengthening labour migration governance among the member states of this regional mechanism. In relation to this, the programme is now starting a new regional project, Governance of Labour Migration in South and South-East Asia (GOALS) which will address knowledge gaps on labour migration and decent work in South and South-East Asia, link existing learning to enhance and inform policy dialogues and evidence-based decision making on labour migration governance mainly in the South Asia– Middle East migration corridor, at the regional and national level. . The regional project on the prevention of Violent Extremism also has an embedded knowledge sharing component. UN Women in partnership with UNEP implements a regional project on mainstreaming gender equality in climate change and DRR policies. The project focuses on exchange of technical expertise and learning among three countries: Bangladesh, Cambodia and Vietnam and also across the region in the context of the South-South exchange and collaboration. WeEmpowerAsia (WEA) programme has been ensuring the south-south cooperation between the seven programme countries and their broad range of stakeholders through different activities at regional and national level, including the “Policy Review of the Enabling Environment for Women’s Economic Empowerment in Asia”, which seek to provide policy makers, private sectors with guidance on good practice for reporting and implementing Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) related policies, actions and programmes. In addition, the work of WEA on “Costing Study for Sexual Harassment for Private Sector” which is ongoing in India, Indonesia and the Philippines has embedded the plan for knowledge exchange with broad range of stakeholders both at/ between programme countries and regional level. The South-South cooperation in the areas of gender and climate change is encouraged between the pilot countries (Bangladesh, Viet Nam and Cambodia) through regular sharing of information on progress in implementation of the project activities that engage the UN Women CO staff and government counterparts. This is done through the regular annual project steering committee meetings. Also, the regional learning events and peer convenings are organised targeting various knowledge gaps communicated by developing countries from the region. For example, the regional virtual meeting was organised to discuss the progress in implementation of the gendered climate action under the UNFCCC Gender Action Plan (July 2020). Prior to that, the regional peer convening was organised with the participation of the representatives of 9 countries to discuss lessons learned and challenges in gender mainstreaming in energy and agriculture sectors (November 2019, Manila). Besides this, the project shares information through its dedicated project website www.empowerforclimate.org.
Staff participate in Communities of Practice (Cops) to share good practices. RO, CO/POs 2021/08 Completed Staff have participated in CoPs led by HQ on resource mobilization, inter-governmental coordination, donor reporting, and so on. A regional CoP on evaluation was formed. The Regional Operations Training held in May 2018, Bangkok was considered a COP to share good practice in HR, Finance, Procurement, Security and ICT. The time frame was revised in order to align with the Strategic Note. Although the current SN will end in December 2021, the time frame was revised to August 2021 given that the current key action needs to be reflected in the process of developing the new SN.
Recommendation: Conduct a review of the Funds administered by offices within the region (including the China Gender Fund for Research and Advocacy, the China Gender Facility for Research and Advocacy Fund, the Pacific Regional EVAW Fund and the EVAW Special Fund in Afghanistan) and consider conducting a meta-analysis of project results in order to identify a more strategic and sustainable approach to how Funds are managed and implemented. Examine and draw upon existing evaluations of other funds outside the region as well as the experience of the global funds (the Fund for Gender Equality and the Trust Fund) in order to benefit from identified lessons learned and good practices.
Management Response: UN Women in Asia and the Pacific recognizes that while the funds mentioned are directly managed by the respective country programmes / offices, interaction between the respective CO fund managers and ROAP could be further strengthened. The regional office commits to facilitating learning from the global funds administered at the regional level, as there is a wealth of relevant information that can be shared. This recommendation is partially accepted because the Fund for Gender Equality carried out a global evaluation and meta-analysis of evaluation reports during 2017-Q1 2018, thus, the ROAP will leverage these results instead of carrying out a new review or meta-analysis of the funds. Communication between the respective fund focal points will be encouraged in order to ensure that learning from the Funds informs broader programming.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Partially Accepted
Thematic Area: Not applicable
Operating Principles: Knowledge management
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Facilitate a series of learning sessions on relevant points from the Global FGE evaluation & meta-analysis. Regional FGE UN Trust Fund for EVAW focal points 2019/12 No Longer Applicable Lack of resources to facilitate due to the phasing out of the RO's role in FGE.
Facilitate a series of learning/training sessions on the "toolbox" for fund management being developed by FGE, as well as knowledge and know-how from EVAW Trust Fund on grant-making and management of funds. Regional FGE UN Trust Fund for EVAW focal points 2019/12 No Longer Applicable FGE and UNTF FPs' plan to train FGE FPs on the “toolbox” was cancelled with the development/finalization of the corporate small grants policy. The small grant policy was targeted to be rolled out in Dec 2018. When the small grant policy was finally launched in November 2019, the RO FPs of FGE and UNTF were phasing out from the role in December 2019.
Recommendation: Ensure that future programmes are responsive to GEEW and human rights by identifying possible barriers to participation and designing tailored intervention strategies to maximize inclusion of target groups and stakeholders based on empowerment approaches. Increased attention is also needed to ensure that all future programmes are informed by, and designed to directly support, implementation of CEDAW Concluding Observations and other relevant human rights treaty bodies.
Management Response: All of UN Women’s programmes and projects in Asia and the Pacific aim to advance GEEW and seek to apply a HRBA approach. However, it is recognized that the operationalization of a HRBA could be strengthened by further expanding the inclusion of rights holders into programming, and by more systematically integrating the recommendations of treaty bodies and (national) human rights institutions into analysis and programming. Nevertheless, Good practices exist in the region in this regard (ie FijI, Nepal, India, FGE and trust fund projects) and UN Women will ensure this information is shared and informs new programming.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Partially Accepted
Thematic Area: Not applicable
Operating Principles: Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Human Rights, Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Share and monitor good practices on applying HRBA and ensure these inform the development of strategic notes and project documents. UN Women RO and CO's 2021/08 Completed Good practices on HRBA were shared and applied through R-PAC, Pre-PAC, and Technical Review Committees, as well as planning process of SN and AWP. The regional human rights and climate change report provided information on good practices in integration of human-rights based approach in the context of climate change across various economic sectors with the focus on the practices in Bangladesh, Cambodia and Viet Nam. This information could be used for preparation of the strategic notes and project documents. The time frame was revised in order to align with the Strategic Note. Although the current SN will end in December 2021, the time frame was revised to August 2021 given that the current key action needs to be reflected in the process of developing the new SN.
Continue to work with national governments and CSO's to support CEDAW reporting and implementation. UN Women COs 2021/08 Completed Nepal UNCT has submitted a confidential report to the CEDAW Committee and was represented by our UN Women Deputy Representative, Gitanjali Singh, in Geneva Oct. 2018. The assessment of the capacity building needs and identification of interest among the national-level CSO community in working in the space of gender and climate change and DRR led to preparation of the dedicated training manual on gender and climate change. This manual includes information on how the provisions of CEDAW could be implemented by CSOs. This manual was developed in English, Bangla, Vietnamese and Khmer to ensure that the local and sub-national CSOs could benefit from this learning material. Fiji MCO has implemented the activity to support engaging the Pacific stakeholders with CEDW process and the incorporation of CEDAW in national laws and policies. Advocacy for gender-responsive and CEDAW compliant legislative change continued in a number of countries including Indonesia and the Philippines. The time frame was revised in order to align with the Strategic Note. Although the current SN will end in December 2021, the time frame was revised to August 2021 given that the current key action needs to be reflected in the process of developing the new SN.
Roll-out of HRBA training together with OHCHR/UNDG AP human rights advisor. UN Women RO 2018/12 Completed Held Webinar, "Human Rights Based Approach & Gender Equality" on 23 Mar. 2018 with attendees from UNW RO, MCO, and CO's. The presenters were from UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific Strategic Planning and Coordination Unit.
Ensure recommendations made by Human Rights bodies (CEDAW) and mechanisms (UPR) are integrated in new Strategic Notes and project documents. UN Women RO and COs 2021/08 Completed UN Women ROAP (WEE/Migration Unit) was a member of the ASEAN Task-force (led by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, MOLISA, in Vietnam) in a technical advisory role. This involved supporting the development of regional ASEAN Guidelines on Mainstreaming Gender into Labour and Employment policies, using CEDAW principles to set regional standards and concluding observations to establish a baseline for compliance at the country-level. This process was initiated in Sept. 2018 and ended in 2020. As per this recommendation and advice of the Sida, the regional study on gender, human rights and climate change was conducted. The study looked into the theoretical linkages and practical work on addressing the human rights violations through climate change policies at the national level in 3 countries – Bangladesh, Cambodia and Viet Nam. Many new SNs and prodoc have addressed CEDAW and UPR. The time frame was revised in order to align with the Strategic Note. Although the current SN will end in December 2021, the time frame was revised to August 2021 given that the current key action needs to be reflected in the process of developing the new SN.
Recommendation: Ensure the development and further strengthening of M&E systems and plans (i.e. realistically commensurate with resources, capacities and requirements) at the start of programmes, and the allocation of necessary resources (human/financial) so that they can be fully implemented to maximise efficiency and effectiveness. Examine ways to ensure that monitoring data and information is used to support broader organizational learning.
Management Response: UN Women in Asia and the Pacific agrees with the recommendation. Recognizing the importance of strong M&E for effective programme delivery/implementation, a dedicated Monitoring and Reporting unit has been created in the RO to support monitoring and reporting of the RO and of CO/POs. This unit will work closely with the Regional Evaluation Specialist to strengthen technical support and oversight in M&E. Also, RO/COs are making conscious effort to fully reflect the cost of monitoring and evaluation in project proposals, in line with the cost recovery policy.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Not applicable
Operating Principles: Knowledge management
Organizational Priorities: Culture of results/RBM
UNEG Criteria: Efficiency
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Continuously build capacity of RO and CO teams to ensure that proper indicators, baselines, targets, sources are in place. Planning FPs and monitoring FPs of RO/CO/POs 2021/08 Completed Capacity of RO units/RPMs has been being built to develop more complete PMFs and collecting data through technical assistance in reviews of indicators, baselines, targets and data sources through RPAC, pre-PAC and R-PRG and pre-PRG appraisals/reviews. Most recently, based on reviews with RO units/project teams, indicators, baselines and targets and data sources were adjusted and polished in September 2020 and again reviewed in June 2021. A training workshop on monitoring and reporting was organized by Nepal CO in September 2020. In addition, various RBM, monitoring and reporting training have been planned in 2021 AWPs of some COs Including Pakistan and the Philippines. The time frame was revised in order to align with the Strategic Note. Although the current SN will end in December 2021, the time frame was revised to June 2021 given that the current key action needs to be reflected in the process of developing the new SN.
Ensure realistic MERPs are developed and monitored and update them biannually. Monitoring and evaluation FPs of RO/CO/POs 2021/08 Completed Technical assistance has been given to develop and update CO/RO MERPs. QA is done to offices/PMs but HQ may want to review the format to make it more functional. The time frame was revised in order to align with the Strategic Note. Although the current SN will end in December 2021, the time frame was revised to August 2021 given that the current key action needs to be reflected in the process of developing the new SN.
At the project level, ensure realistic monitoring and evaluation plans established at inception of projects. Project managers with support from M&E FPs. 2021/08 Completed At the RO level, through pre-PAC and RPAC reviews, it is made sure that M&E plan is developed as part of the pro docs. Efforts have been made to make sure that missing info in PMFs is completed within 4 months of the inceptions. For example, in Gender and Climate Change, the M&E strategy has been developed at the beginning of the project, i.e. during its inception phase. The plan involved development of the M&E timeline and milestones, templates, communication tools to pass information on M&E, and recruitment of the part-time M&E expert who provided on-the-job guidance and training to the project staff at the COs and RO and project partners on the project results and resources framework, and ways to collect the evidence and data to track progress. The current practice involves bi-monthly calls with the COs involved in the project implementation, quarterly calls of the project team, quarterly updates on the project progress by indicator, monthly risk register updates and quarterly reporting in RMS. In addition, the project prepared the annual progress report for the project steering committee meeting and annual donor report. Finally, the mid-term review was conducted in April-July 2020, which reviewed the progress and provided the recommendations on how to improve the project implementation. The time frame was revised in order to align with the Strategic Note. Although the current SN will end in December 2021, the time frame was revised to June 2021 given that the current key action needs to be reflected in the process of developing the new SN.
Data from monitoring is stored In the RMS. Data should be analyzed depending on the needs of organizational learning. HQ/RO thematic advisors should lead learning initiatives. 2021/08 Completed For example, in Gender and Climate Change, RMS is updated on a regular basis based on the bi-monthly progress update calls with the CO colleagues and quarterly calls with UNEP and CO colleagues working on the project implementation. In addition, a separate Excel tool has been developed to collect the evidence of progress on a quarterly basis by each indicator of the project results and resources framework. Something similar has been done in most large size projects. The time frame was revised in order to align with the Strategic Note. Although the current SN will end in December 2021, the time frame was revised to June 2021 given that the current key action needs to be reflected in the process of developing the new SN.
Recommendation: Continue to examine ways to simplify and streamline internal administrative and operational procedures to avoid implementation delays and support flexibility in programme design and implementation.
Management Response: The Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific has led, and continues to lead, the region in identifying operational and programmatic bottlenecks, propose solutions and implement them, and/or escalate to HQ for intervention. In fact, a number of new business processes or innovations in management effectiveness have been initiated in ROAP and then introduced as good practice to other regions/corporately. A lot of initiatives to simplify and streamline processes and workflows have been implemented in both the regional office and AP countries, and this will continue going forward. Infact, several new business processes and innovations have been initiated in the ROAP and adopted as best practices in other regions and Globally.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Not applicable
Operating Principles: Not applicable
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Efficiency
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Implementation of Sharepoint based workflow process improvements. Regional Office Corporate Leads 2017/12 Completed The Region has taken a Lead in Sharepoint based process Improvements over the last 2 years. A Helpdesk system by which all requests are properly tracked and monitored, with timelines was designed by the Regional Office and the same replicated in various offices both in the AP Region and in other regions. In addition, a Policy Advisory Tracking system was also designed, enabling a proper tracking and time allocative efficiency on the part of Policy Advisory Services. These 2 systems' benefit compelled HQ to adopt these 2 systems as Global systems.
Review procedures, policies and guidelines and propose to HQ a strategy for streamlining these to respond better to the needs of offices in the region. Regional Office Corporate Leads 2018/12 Completed As part of the drive towards operational and programmatic efficiency, the RO has been actively reviewing processes and workflows and coordinating with AP offices in a bid of ensuring processes a leaner and guidelines and policies efficiently respond to changing needs of offices. Consequently, various proposal documents have been sent to HQ for consideration, and there have been policy revisions as a result. The same process will continue, with the latest document having been compiled for remittance in September 2019. RO compiled Input/proposals for improvements and revisions to the PPG and corporate systems and submitted it to headquarters Programme division.
Recommendation: Ensure that future programmes contain clear exit strategies, designed with partners and stakeholders, that outline priority areas and strategies for continuation of results at the close of the programme.
Management Response: UN Women in Asia and the Pacific accepts this recommendation. Sustainability is a key criteria identified in the UN Women programme and operations manual for the appraisal of good projects and indeed UN Women’s capacity development support strives to ensure the sustainability and institutionalization of project initiatives at project finalization. However, limited predictability of sources of funding for project continuation, including due to shifting donor priorities, can hamper on-going demands and needs for financial or technical support. This calls for clear approaches for "Phasing out, down or over” of specific projects and programmes, including in the context of the UN reform.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Partially Accepted
Thematic Area: Not applicable
Operating Principles: National ownership
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Sustainability
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
In the context of UN reform, ensure that programmes have clear exit/transition strategies where relevant (based on key criteria). RO and MCO India (transition plan) 2018/12 Completed RO placed a senior staff to develop a transition plan for India. Planning provided clear guideline to SN in Prodoc on sustainability through quality assurance in R-PAC and technical review committee. As part of the transition, RO took steps to ensure the offices that were under India MCO, and which made it an MCO, ceased to be under India. In terms of Sri Lanka, a formal note was prepared to specify the change in management and administration as well as appointment of Officer-in-Charge of UN Women Sri Lanka Office. This is being enhanced through guidance provided by RPAC and also portfolio review. Field offices are awaiting for clearer corporate guidance on exit strategy.
Disseminate criteria / guidance for project exit strategies In the POM . RO 2021/08 Completed Advocating with HQ in the POM revision. Shared the draft template for exit strategy with headquarters Programme Division. Changes to the POM should be made by HQ. While HQ is finalizing the exit strategy, RO shared the draft strategy with colleagues in the Asia Pacific region. HQ will disseminate the finalized strategy once it is finalized. The time frame was revised in order to align with the Strategic Note. Although the current SN will end in December 2021, the time frame was revised to August 2021 given that the current key action needs to be reflected in the process of developing the new SN.
Make sure that sustainability and exit strategies are articulated in project documents where applicable. RO and CO's 2021/08 Completed The project document on the EmPower: Women for Climate-Resilient Societies included a section on the Sustainability. Besides this, the issue of sustainability has been discussed at the project steering committee meeting held in January 2020 to guide the work of the project team from the start of the project implementation process. According to the portfolio review, most projects have sustainability and exit strategies. Results have been shared with some of the project managers. RO encourages PMs to ensure including strategies. The time frame was revised in order to align with the Strategic Note. Although the current SN will end in December 2021, the time frame was revised to August 2021 given that the current key action needs to be reflected in the process of developing the new SN.
Recommendation: Consider increased use of pooled funding in order to diversify funding sources, ensure a consistent approach with donors and ensure greater sustainability.
Management Response: Agreed, as per the UN reforms and in line with the corporate direction, UN Women Asia and the Pacific will take this on board.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Not applicable
Operating Principles: Resource mobilization
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Sustainability
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Offices to ensure that 30% of all annual revenue targets are received through contributions related to joint programming (as per the SN Guidance Note 2017). UN Women RO and CO's 2021/08 Completed RO has been encouraging COs to do more JPs taking advantage of the "Common chapter" implementation. The EVAW team has mobilized funding from the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative to end VAW, for joint UN programming in ASEAN (US $13 million), as well as supported other CO's in the region as Spotlight projects were in development. Other funding to UN Women is also tied to joint programming efforts, such as the Essential Services Package (a joint UN approach piloted in several countries in the AP region). The work on gender and climate change is financed by Sida through a regional project that is led by UN Women but co-implemented with UN Environment. In multiple occasions the Women Count programme has implemented activities through joint programming with partners. For instance, training of hundreds of statisticians has taken place through joint programming with SIAP, the Roadmap on Gender Statistics was put in place through joint programming with SPC, the work on SDMX was coordinated jointly with UNSD, the work on communicating gender data was carried out jointly with ESCAP, the work on data on gender and the environment is being implemented through joint programming with ESCAP, IUCN and UNEP; and UN women has a joint work programme on statistics on land ownership with FAO. The arrangements for all of these initiatives include joint funding of activities, with shared costs with partners. As of June 2021, the regional non-core revenue through Joint Programmes is 56 %. The time frame was revised in order to align with the Strategic Note. Although the current SN will end in December 2021, the time frame was revised to August 2021 given that the current key action needs to be reflected in the process of developing the new SN.
The incoming RM & Partnership Specialist will propose strategies for increasing engagement with donors, UN, government and other stakeholders in order to identify sustainable financing mechanisms for long-term results for GEEW. RO and CO's 2018/12 Completed The capacity building with various country offices including China and Bangladesh has been conducted. There have been webinars and on-site workshops provided by the broader PRMAC (Partnerships & RM, Advocacy and Communications) unit on various areas to ensure regional and country office colleagues' knowledge and skills across partnerships, advocacy and communications are strengthened. PRMAC has been providing tailored advice to each country office, as well as conducted extensive donor research and analysis for regional office programme units. Initiated private sector strategy in Indonesia and Bangladesh with Unilever. Initiated prospecting in key fundraising markets such as China, Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong, and the Philippines. Relationships continue to be cultivated and activities have increased with bilateral partners such as the Republic of Korea, EU, Canada, and other government donors. The time frame was revised in order to align with the Strategic Note. Although the current SN will end in December 2021, the time frame was revised to August 2021 given that the current key action needs to be reflected in the process of developing the new SN.
Recommendation: Country Offices should consider the conduct of Country Programme Evaluations. Such evaluations have been proven to support and inform MCOS/COs with more strategic and integrated programming and would position Country Offices well to systematically assess relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability and impact of programming in relation to UN Women’s strategic position and partnerships in the country.
Management Response: UN Women in Asia and the Pacific is fully committed to enhancing a culture of evaluation in the region. CPE’s are an important source of information for learning from previous programming and ensuring UN Women’s work in the country is strategic and effective. In cooperation with the evaluation office, the RO will advocate for the inclusion of CPE’s in the programme of work of CO’s in the region.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Not applicable
Operating Principles: Knowledge management
Organizational Priorities: Culture of results/RBM
UNEG Criteria: Impact
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Dedicated session on evaluation in regional for a [regional retreat 2018] RES, senior management ROAP 2021/08 Completed A dedicated session on evaluation was organized during the rep's retreat in Feb. 2018, Nepal.
Key performance indicators for evaluation are met including, three per cent target of dedicated funding for evaluations. senior management COs and RO 2021/08 Completed The KPIs are collected annually and reported to the board.
RES to provide support to planning and conduct of CPE and co-manage with CO/MCO. RES, CO/MCO 2021/08 Completed 2018 CPE is the evaluation of PO's under the RO. co-led by the RES. RES provided support for planning and conducting of CPEs of PNG, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Recommendation: In order to maximise learning from evaluations, meta-analyses of evaluation reports should be conducted one year prior to the development of the regional and country-level Strategic Notes basis in order to support learning from, and utilization of, evaluations. Staff managing evaluations should ensure that lessons learned sections are included in all reports. For programmes with multiple phases or for those conducted over a period of five years or longer, impact evaluations should be conducted in order to analyse how programme interventions by UN Women have affected the lives of women and girls and contributed to addressing the underlying causes of inequality and marginalisation.
Management Response: UN Women in Asia and the Pacific is fully committed to enhancing a culture of evaluation in the region. Meta-analyses provide a rich source of evidence based knowledge that can be used to inform programme and project planning and enhance effective implementation. The UN Women evaluation handbook advocates for the inclusion of a lessons learned section in evaluation reports. Through the support of the Regional Evaluation Specialist support to staff managing evaluations will be strengthened including the planning of impact evaluations.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Not applicable
Operating Principles: Knowledge management
Organizational Priorities: Culture of results/RBM
UNEG Criteria: Impact
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Advocate the planning of meta-analysis as part of the country portfolio evaluation that feeds into the SN. RES, senior management of ROAP & CO's 2021/08 Completed Recommendations of the Meta Evaluation was fed into the new SN of the RO. Findings of the CPE's have been or being or will be fed into the new SNs: Afghanistan, Vietnam, Bangladesh, and PNG. RES and RO Strategic Planning and Coordination Specialist will make sure that they will be fed into new SNs in case they are to be developed. The time frame was revised in order to align with the Strategic Note. Although the current SN will end in December 2021, the time frame was revised to August 2021 given that the current key action needs to be reflected in the process of developing the new SN.
RO to ensure planning of meta-analysis in advance of planning SN. RES, senior management of ROAP 2021/08 Completed ROAP decided to wait for two SN periods to conduct another meta analysis. The time frame was revised in order to align with the Strategic Note. Although the current SN will end in December 2021, the time frame was revised to August 2021 given that the current key action needs to be reflected in the process of developing the new SN.
Advocate and support impact evaluations where appropriate. RES, senior management of ROAP & COs 2021/08 Completed 2018/19 PNG Safe Cities/Safe Public Transport Impact Evaluation. The Guidance on evaluating impact of GEWE was co- led by RES.