Management Response

: Tanzania
: 2014 - 2016 , Tanzania (CO)
: Final Evaluation of the Wanawake Wanaweza Project Phase I
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Tanzania

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The UN Women Tanzania ProDoc for the WLPP Phase 2 Project is based on the findings of the Final Evaluation of Phase 1. Phase 2 envisages the adoption of a long term electoral cycle approach. Apart from incorporating the below mentioned recommendations and ensuring that the scaling up of initiatives is adopted in continuation and firmly grounded on the lessons learned through interventions initiated in Phase 1, Phase 2 also takes into account some of the structural and management lessons learned. For instance, it is ensured that a comprehensive team is put in place, enabling a closer support to Responsible Parties in regards to reporting, monitoring and evaluation, as well as financial and procurement aspects. The project has also integrated a more in depth approach in regards to the capacity building of Responsible Parties, as most of these are strategic key partners, whose mandate is fundamental for the pursuit of an increased and improved political participation and leadership of women.

: Approved
Recommendation: Mapping and training of aspirants and training of candidates for 2015 elections: One of the key project strategies to increase the participation of women, youth and PWD aspirants in the electoral process was mapping and training of political aspirants and training of candidates across all political parties and regions in Tanzania. The strategy has been used previously in the 2010 elections and UN Women, learning from the previous experiences of this strategy, engaged with political parties through implementing partners to undertake this activity. Partners that have engaged with political parties previously and were adequately placed to communicate and coordinate with political parties were identified to carry out the activity. Implementing partners reached out to all the 22 registered political parties in Tanzania to procure the list of women, youth and PWD aspirants for the 2015 elections across 30 regions. The process resulted in the mapping of 1925 aspirants who were then followed up for training before elections. The training of aspirants was conducted by implementing partners that had extensive experience in the space of aspirant training. Overall, 1282 political aspirants were trained by the project. Similarly, 713 political candidates were trained for the 2015 elections that consisted of 618 women, 25 PWDs and 70 youth. Several challenges were observed during the process of mapping and training of aspirants and training of candidates. There were delays reported in procuring a list of aspirants from political parties and the list of aspirants underwent several changes and updates before finalization. During the training of aspirants, drop outs were reported across some training centres. Despite the challenges, the activity of mapping and training of aspirants and training of candidates was one of the major elements of support provided that had a positive effect on the self-confidence of women, youth and PWD trainees. Trainees felt more confident in planning their campaign, speaking out in the public and competing in a male dominated electoral processes. It is suggested that the strategy should be adapted in phase 2 of Wanawake-Wanaweza (2017-2020). The project should reflect on the geographical coverage per region, continue to identify specific needs of aspirants and candidates within each region to tailor-make training and interventions according to needs. This recommendation is drawn from the engagements of implementing partners across the 15 regions, with Mara, Lindi and Mtwara requiring more intensive training and follow-ups than other regions. It is also recommended that the project should scale up the training activity to more number of regions than phase 1. Phase 2 of the project can draw from the previous engagement of working with local government authorities (LGAs) at district, village and ward level to advocate gender and social inclusion at the grassroots. Implementing partners engaged with LGAs across Dar-es-Salaam, Kilimanjaro and Morogoro in phase 1 with successful results.
Management Response: The recommendation is very relevant and immediate action has been taken by the CO. Currently, a consultancy is being undertaken by the Department of Political Science of the University of Dar es Salaam to review the methodology for the identification and capacity strengthening of the women political aspirants. It will consist of a comprehensive consultative process with all relevant stakeholders and will take account the following aspects: - lessons learned and best practices from the previous project, as well as regional and global experiences; - a long term approach to strengthening capacities of the women political aspirants; - most effective way of covering all regions of Tanzania; - setting up of a support structure for women political aspirants to seek advice and practical support.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Leadership and political participation (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Capacity development, National ownership
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Relevance, Sustainability, Human Rights, Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Revision of the methodology for the Identification and training of women political aspirants. Erasmina Massawe - Programme Specialist for Leadership, Political Participation and Governance 2019/01 Completed The methodology for the identification and training of aspirants was revised. The next step is to implement the strategy.
Recommendation: At a policy level, UN Women provided technical and financial support to ORPP on identifying gender gaps in existing electoral laws under its mandate (Political Parties Act & Electoral Expenses Act). A major highlight in this regard was the development of Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Strategy (GESI) by ORPP that focuses on gender and socially inclusive nomination process. Similarly, the Gender and Social Inclusion Strategy was introduced by ZEC before the 2015 elections. This strategy document is a critical document as it would guide ORPP in incorporating gender and inclusiveness principles in the electoral cycle plans and strategies and it is recommended that in Phase 2, the project should capitalize on this notable achievement, and support ORPP to implement and monitoring the implementation of the recommendations. Phase 2 of the Wanawake-Wanaweza project should continue supporting the development and implementation of the elections manifesto developed by the Women’s Coalition for the Constitution and Elections. The manifesto can be used by institutions, such as the ORPP, but also by the women’s movement to advocate for greater gender equality and social inclusion within political parties, including during the party nominations. However, the monitoring of the commitments made by political parties should be intensified in the post-election period regarding whether the winning party is honouring their commitment to the implementation of the manifesto as they form a government. While ORPP has the mandate of regulating the electoral process before the election period through the Political Parties Act, Election Management Bodies (EMBs) have the mandate of electoral regulation during elections. As noted in several studies, the past elections have witnessed incidences of violence and discrimination against women, youth and PWDs. EMBs (NEC/ZEC), through the National Elections Act and the Local Government Elections Act, have a critical role to play during elections to ensure conflict free and peaceful elections. UN Women, through the DEP project, had supported the EMBs in revising the Electoral Code of Conduct, Election Observer’s Guidelines and Voter Education Guidelines to discourage use of discriminatory language against women and persons with disabilities along with several other measures. UN Women also worked with NEC through DEP in providing technical assistance to engendering the voter education manuals and observer guidelines to ensure recording and reporting of incidences of violence against women during elections (VAWE). The approach of partnering with EMBs during election period has shown potential as it can lead to a change in existing policies and should be continued in the second phase of the project, and it is recommended that this is scaled up in the next phase of the project.
Management Response: Continuous support has been provided to the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties (ORPP) in the implementation of the Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Strategy (GESIS), and law review. Negotiations have been undertaken with the National Electoral Commission to provide support for the development of a Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Strategy. Further support will be provided to the Zanzibar Electoral Commission for the implementation of the Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Policy, as soon as the political situation has been resolved and the engagement with ZEC is possible. All of these aspects have been integrated within the WLPP Phase 2 Project.
More detail
Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Leadership and political participation (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Capacity development, National ownership, Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind, Advocacy
Organizational Priorities: Partnership, Normative Support, Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Relevance, Sustainability, Human Rights, Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
1. Continuous capacity strengthening of ORPP for the implementation of the GESIS. Support to NEC for the development and implementation of a GESIS Erasmina Massawe - Programme Specialist for Leadership, Political Participation and Governance Frida Nyberg Monitoring and Reporting Analyst- Leadership, Political Participation and Governance 2020/12 Completed The Political Parties (Amendment) Act, 2019 integrates provisions & principles that promote women’s leadership and political empowerment, i.e. gender equality youth and social inclusion principles, Article 6A (5) entails political parties to promote same principles in the; a) formulation and implementation of its policies, b) nomination of candidates for elections and c) election of its leaders. Moving towards the general elections in 2020, the Political Parties (Amendment) Act, 2019 and the Regulations, provide an opportunity for promoting adoption of gender responsive strategies and policies within political parties. Overall, this is This is a result of the long-term capacity building, gender strategy and policy revision for ORPP, already since the first phase of WW I.
Support to the Women's Manifesto for the Elections. CO Erasmina Massawe - Programme Specialist for Leadership, Political Participation and Governance Frida Nyberg Monitoring and Reporting Analyst- Leadership, Political Participation and Governance 2020/01 Completed In 2019, UN Women supported the development and launch of the Women’s Elections Manifesto. The Manifesto was developed, validated and disseminated to key stakeholders (Political parties, Aspirants, Police, PCCB, WROs, etc.). UN Women supported the participation of 250 women from grassroots CSOs and networks to the National Convening on the Women’s Election Manifesto which was launched in September 2019.
Support to NEC for the development and implementation of a GESIS CO Sara Negrao - Head of Leadership, Political Participation and Governance Erasmina Massawe - Programme Specialist for Leadership, Political Participation and Governance 2019/01 No Longer Applicable In 2020, UN Women Tanzania was not able to engage with the Electoral Management Bodies (EMBs) and the Office of Registrar of Political Parties (ORPP) as there was no formal request from the Tanzanian government to the UN for electoral support. This situation denied the opportunity to support EMBs directly on the delivery of women’s rights and gender equality within implementation of their mandate including adoption of gender policy, strategies, and arrangements. UN Women however continued its technical and financial support to the Women’s Coalition on Constitution Review and Leadership under Women Fund Tanzania to advocate for gender response policies including through generating data on gender gaps in the election Regulations and Code of Conduct. UN Women will explore opportunities in the future to support NEC to develop its gender policy In 2021, UN Women supported dialogues with the National Electoral Commission (NEC) on the development of its Gender Strategy. The Gender Strategy will provide guidance on how to effectively mainstream GEWE in NEC’s mandate. The desk review of the best practices in various countries is under way. This initiative is being implemented in collaboration with the Department of Political Affairs and Public Administration of the University of Dar es Salaam (PSPA-UDSM).
Recommendation: Training and capacity strengthening of women’s caucus It is highly recommended that training and capacity strengthening of the women’s caucus should be scaled up. UN Women supported the Women’s Caucuses across Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar on training and capacity strengthening of women parliamentarians. With the project support, 12 initiatives were organized by the Women’s Caucuses across Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar. The initiatives were aimed at increasing the awareness and sensitization of parliamentarians/ministries on legislations and policies toward gender mainstreaming and social inclusion. Supported by UN Women, the women’s caucus in Zanzibar has also tabled its first private motion on gender based violence in the House of Representatives for Zanzibar. Similarly, training and capacity strengthening is a key element of support as several women parliamentarians do not have previous legislative and policy experience. In the absence of continued training and capacity strengthening support, many women parliamentarians may find it difficult to engage in policy debates in the male dominated political landscape. Given the need for training and capacity strengthening activities, the phase 2 of Wanawake-Wanaweza project should continue engaging with the women’s caucuses to strengthen capacities on parliamentary procedures, gender responsive budgeting, policy advocacy, leadership and conflict management etc. In addition, the training can also focus on providing refresher training to women parliamentarians on their upcoming election campaigns, thus increasing their likelihood of getting re-elected.
Management Response: Recommendation is accepted.
More detail
Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Leadership and political participation (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Capacity development, National ownership, Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind, Advocacy
Organizational Priorities: Partnership, Normative Support, Engaging men and boys
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Relevance, Sustainability, Impact
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Upscaling of capacity strengthening support to the women’s caucuses Erasmina Massawe - Programme Specialist for Leadership, Political Participation and Governance Frida Nyberg Monitoring and Reporting Analyst- Leadership, Political Participation and Governance 2021/12 Completed Strengthening of capacities of women MPs has continued through training and mentorship to enable them to effectively assume their leadership roles including budgetary and legislative functions. This has enabled women and women parliamentary caucuses to continue to play a significant role so far in advocating for GEWE and increased gender mainstreaming in the core parliamentary functions.
Recommendation: Community awareness to increase the support for women, youth and PWD candidates Community mobilization and support are one of the important deciding factors which can act as a strong barrier or enabler to the electoral participation of women, youth and PWD candidates. Implementing partners in the project rightly identified the importance of garnering support from the community and engaged in 2 ways to positively influence the perception of the community. First, implementing partners in the project directly engaged with grassroot leaders, CSOs, faith-based and religious leaders through the existing networks of its implementing partners. More than 10,000 community members were mobilized directly through sensitization workshops through implementing partners. The project supported 13 grassroots women’s rights organizations from both Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar to implement different interventions to promote women’s leadership and political empowerment. Awareness raising sessions and advocacy conducted by implementing partners in 8 regions in Tanzania Mainland and 4 regions in Zanzibar led to the adoption of 30 initiatives/Action Plans by the grassroots leaders, i.e. faith based and community leaders. In the second approach, the implementing partners in the project engaged with media houses such as newspapers, community radios and television networks to increase the coverage of gender and social inclusion issues. The second approach was aimed at increasing community’s perception about women, youth and PWD candidates as well as identify and report cases of discrimination and violence against this group. During the 2015 elections, 40 community radios (i.e. 36 community radios under COMNET and 4 community radios, i.e. Country FM, Furaha FM, Hope FM and Over Corners FM) increased coverage on issues that promoted women, youth and PWDs leadership and participation because of sensitization conducted by the implementing partners. In addition, 20 mainstream TVs/Radios actively promoted women, youth and PWDs leadership and participation. Both the approaches have been effective in reducing the barriers and bias against women, youth and PWD leaders. Continuing the engagement, it can be recommended that the strategy should be adapted in phase 2 of the project. The engagement with the community, which was done in 8 regions in Tanzania Mainland and 4 regions in Zanzibar, can be scaled up to cover more regions.
Management Response: Accepted
More detail
Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Leadership and political participation (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Capacity development, National ownership, Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind, Advocacy
Organizational Priorities: Partnership, Normative Support, Engaging men and boys
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Relevance, Sustainability, Impact, Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Scale up interventions regarding community sensitization and engagement with media houses to cover gender and social inclusion issues. CO Sara Negrao - Head of Leadership, Political Participation and Governance Erasmina Massawe - Programme Specialist for Leadership, Political Participation and Governance 2020/12 Completed In 2019, UN Women continued to implement interventions focused on community sensitization and media engagement to change social norms and increase positive portrayals of women in leadership Capacity of 139 journalist from 97 media institutions were strengthened on gender-responsive reporting, as a result, this is demonstrated by the 537 media programmes implemented in Zanzibar and Mainland on the role of women in leadership and participation in decision making. Moreover, perceptions and understanding of over 100,000 community members (approximately 44% women and 56% men) in 636 wards (67 in ZNZ, 569 Mainland) was strengthened on the importance of women in leadership and participation in decision making through the media programs, implementation of 140 dialogues and advocacy initiatives at the grassroots level including sensitization and engagement with non-traditional partners such as the Male Change Agents (76), male religious leaders (60), Wanawake Sasa Champion groups (120), Boda-boda groups using public events, meetings, open markets and religious gatherings, etc.
Recommendation: Research and evidence building for effective advocacy One of the highlights of the project was the literature produced on political participation of women, youth and PWDs in the political landscape of Tanzania. The extensive research and evidence building through situation analysis, baseline assessments, need assessments etc., have resulted in a rich pool of knowledge products that can be effectively used for advocacy. Continuing the initiative of evidence building, phase 2 of Wanawake-Wanaweza should also continue supporting research initiatives on identifying new barriers and drivers for political participation among women, youth and PWD in the post-2015 and pre-2020 election scenario. Identification and assessment of similar interventions within and outside Tanzania can be one of the key areas of research that can enable cross-sectoral and cross-geographical learning. Identify and undertake research in key areas to inform advocacy and programming on women’s leadership.
Management Response: Accepted
More detail
Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Leadership and political participation (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Advocacy, Knowledge management
Organizational Priorities: Organizational efficiency
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Sustainability, Human Rights, Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Identify and undertake research in key areas to inform advocacy and programming on women’s leadership. Erasmina Massawe - Programme Specialist for Leadership, Political Participation and Governance Frida Nyberg Monitoring and Reporting Analyst- Leadership, Political Participation and Governance 2020/12 Completed In 2020 UN Women supported research work to assess the functioning of women wings of political parties in Tanzania. Data collection will continue in 2021, recommendations will inform future support to the Tanzania Women Cross Party Platform, which is an umbrella organization for women leader from political parties. In, 2021, a study on the functioning of women wings of political parties was conducted in collaboration with University of Dar es Salaam is at advanced stage. The study will provide concrete recommendations on the nature of support to the Tanzania Women Cross Party Platform, (TWCP), an umbrella organization for women leaders from political parties to strength the capacity of the women's wings in promoting women's full political participation. In the last quarter of 2021, University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) continued to finalize the draft report of study of women’s wings along with arrangements for additional interviews to be conducted with the DPs and Women Caucuses during the next quarter. The UDSM project team also engaged in planning a retreat for the researchers to harmonize the chapters and incorporate findings from additional interviews. The writing retreat and validation of the final draft report will be conducted in the first quarter of 2022. Also, the implementation of the recommendations of the study will start in 2022.