Management Response

: Kyrgyzstan
: 2018 - 2022 , Kyrgyzstan (CO)
: Joint programme on: Accelerating Progress Towards the Economic Empowerment of Rural Women (JP-RWEE)
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: Kyrgyzstan
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The purpose of the evaluation was to assess in more detail the programmatic progress and performance of the Joint Programme on Accelerating Progress towards Economic Empowerment of Rural Women (JP RWEE) from the perspectives of relevance, effectiveness, impact, organizational efficiency and sustainability. It provided all partner UN agencies with a useful assessment of project achievements and produced actionable findings, recommendations and documented lessons learnt. Specifically, the evaluation certified that the programme has reached targets for most of its key performance indicators via creating intended positive changes leading to increased income, better livelihoods, food security and leadership role of participating rural women. Factors that facilitated these results include the promotion of solidarity economic models such as self-help groups and group economic initiatives, as well as providing access to training and interest-free commodity and cash loans. Community members who were not directly involved in the programme benefitted from the transfer of skills and knowledge from program participants and development activities implemented by local authorities upon request from the program participants. One of JP RWEE’s important results is that its direct beneficiaries and community members broadened their perspectives and adopted more advanced practices. Moreover, adding GALS into the implementation model considerably increased the JP RWEE’s positive impact on women empowerment and even to some extent offset the disempowering effect of the reduction in leisure time available for women because of greater engagement in income generating activities due to more equal distribution of domestic tasks. However, the evaluation also underlined that despite significant contributions of the JP RWEE towards better livelihoods, increased income, food security and leadership role of participating rural women, its impact on the situation of poor rural women and rural women in Kyrgyzstan is still small. The JP RWEE has been designed as a 5-year initiative with a total budget of 5 million USD for 2012-2017. It is a joint programme coordinated by four UN agencies in Kyrgyzstan, namely UN women as a leading agency, FAO, IFAD and WFP. The joint programme is part of a global joint initiative implemented in seven countries globally including Guatemala, Niger, Ethiopia, Liberia, Rwanda, Nepal and Kyrgyzstan. The first allocation was received in 2014 from Norway followed by a funding from Sweden in 2015 through end 2017. With the confirmed funding of 800,000 USD for the current phase (2018-2019), the programme intends to replicate the best practices gained over the period of three years and strengthen the capacity of previous cohorts. Under the limited funding and time resources, the programme will partly attend the recommendations of the evaluation although all of the recommendations have been accepted by the partner agencies (see clarifications below). The partners are ultimately responsible for their agreed part of implementation. Those actions that have been initiated and/or are ongoing have been included in the 2020 AWP, pending approval for the funding from the Government of Norway. Below only Key Actions joint with UN Women or by UN Women are listed. WFP, FAO and IFAD have also committed to additional Key Actions in the joint management response process.
: Approved
Recommendation: RECOMMENDATION 1 For the next stage of the JP RWEE implementation the partner UN agencies shall use the operational model that enhances all aspects of rural women economic empowerment as defined by the Women Empowerment in Agriculture Index.
Management Response: JP RWEE’s design was informed by the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index since its inception in 2014. Indeed, the WEAI, realized by IFPRI in the same implementation areas as the JP RWEE, served as a baseline, and provided information across five empowerment dimensions: production, resources, income, leadership, and time. The results showed how group membership and access to credit were two key disempowering factors in target areas. Accordingly, the JP RWEE activities in the previous phase have focused on providing access to affordable starting capital in their communities through establishment of revolving funds, strengthening women’s activism at the community level, building skills for running income-generating activities and provision of high-quality inputs for increased agricultural productivity. In the current phase, JPRWEE will continue addressing the above five domains through the following programme components: 1) increasing women’s access to and control over resources, assets and services, and capacitating them to enhance and control local food security reserve and their production. 2) enhancing women’s entrepreneurial skills and value chains to access markets for their products. 3) enhancing rural women’s confidence and leadership skills to participate in local governance, improving their organizational capacities to form, sustain and participate into producer organizations, cooperatives and unions, increasing their capacity to engage in and influence relevant policy forums at national and regional levels, and enhancing their awareness on their rights in a more supportive environment. 4) providing GALS trainings to old and new cohorts of beneficiaries.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Women economic empowerment (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Alignment with strategy
Organizational Priorities: UN Coordination, Partnership, Operational activities, Organizational efficiency
UNEG Criteria: Efficiency, Relevance
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Conduct trainings and awareness raising campaigns to strengthen leadership skills of rural women and their understanding of local policy formulation and decision-making processes, leading up to improved gender responsiveness of local development plans based on needs assessment in pilot local governments. UN Women Kyrgyzstan Country Office 2019/09 Completed 15 gender-sensitive local strategies in 15 municipalities developed as a result of capacity building provided within the Schools of leadership on gender to initiative groups consisting of members of SHGs, local self-governments and members of local councils. Completed within the current AWP (2018-2019). A similar activity will be conducted if funding for 2020 AWP is approved.
Support initiatives at community level for identifying and solving issues of local concern from gender perspectives through data collection, dialogues with local governments, lobbying etc. UN Women Kyrgyzstan 2019/09 Completed 15 gender-sensitive local strategies in 15 municipalities developed as a result of capacity building provided within the Schools of leadership on gender to initiative groups consisting of members of SHGs, local self-governments and members of local councils. The initiative groups were provided training on and have conducted gender analyses in their respective municipalities, as a consequence of which gender-sensitive local development strategies have been elaborated and approved via the "public hearing" dialogue instrument.
Capacitate rural women to formulate recommendations to relevant policies/laws related to enhancing economic empowerment and support to rural women activists in identifying and lobbying for legislative and policy changes affecting lives of rural women at the local and national levels. UN Women Kyrgyzstan 2019/09 Completed Schools of leadership on gender with participation of initiative groups consisting of members of SHGs, local self-governments and members of local councils from 21 municipalities have resulted in approval of 15 gender-sensitive local strategies. A network of women activists was established within the programme to become a platform for lobbying legislative and policy changes in the area of GEWE and women's economic empowerment.
Raise awareness of on rural women’s rights through informal women councils, forums and platforms. UN Women Kyrgyzstan 2019/09 Completed 10 local level awareness raising events were organized by SHGs mobilized within the JP RWEE dedicated to raising awareness about women's rights. The programme has contributed to the organization of the first national conference "Women's economic empowerment: a new impulse" in July 2019, which resulted in government's commitment to elaborating a national Programme of Women's Entrepreneurship Development" and public attention to women's economic empowerment. 2 national level events dedicated to the International Women's Day and national Rural Women's Day were organized within the programme with the participation of parliament members and local officials, which shed more light on issues of women's rights.
Provide GALS trainings to first and third cohorts of beneficiaries, and apply GALS instruments during refresher trainings for the second cohort UN Women Kyrgyzstan, IFAD 2019/09 Completed GALS directly covered 1,078 beneficiaries in Osh and Jalal-Abad provinces (7 villages of the 3rd cohort and 3 villages of the 2nd cohort).
Recommendation: RECOMMENDATION 2 In the second phase of the JP RWEE GALS shall be applied in the second cohort of villages to mitigate the negative JP RWEE impact on women leisure time. Limited funding did not allow the JP RWEE to roll out GALS in the second cohort of villages. Given that the programme continues, it has an opportunity to correct the unintended disempowering effects on women in the second cohort of villages.
Management Response: With insufficient time and budget available in the current phase, RWEE will not apply the full GALS catalyst process in the second cohort of beneficiaries. However, to mitigate time poverty following enhanced engagement of women in economic activities, JP RWEE will continue working with this cohort by providing it with capacitation tools informed by GALS.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Women economic empowerment (SPs before 2018), Leadership and participation in governance systems (SP 2018-2021)
Operating Principles: National ownership, Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind, Capacity development
Organizational Priorities: Partnership, Normative Support
UNEG Criteria: Sustainability, Impact, Human Rights, Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Strengthen the capacity of the selected self-help groups from among the second cohort of beneficiaries who sustain and run their revolving funds by offering them a series of trainings using selected GALS tools. UN Women Kyrgyzstan 2019/09 Ongoing SHGs from 3 villages of the 2nd cohort were provided GALS tools. Pending approval of the 2020 AWP, the rolling out of GALS will continue for SHGs of cohort 2.
Recommendation: RECOMMENDATION 3 Under the second phase, the JP RWEE shall continue supporting four women’s organizations until they are fully self-sustainable. One of the expected results of the Global JP RWEE is that “Rural women have greater organizational capacities to form, sustain and participate into POs, cooperatives and unions” (Output 3.2). This output was not explicitly included in the results framework for the Kyrgyzstan JP RWEE, but it in fact started to work towards this output when four women’s organizations were established. At the time of evaluation rural women from cohort 1 still did not have enough capacity to sustain these organizations, and continuation of the JP RWEE provides an opportunity to fully achieve this output. Sustainability of these organizations will ensure sustainability of self-help groups, village associations and group economic initiatives in the first cohort of villages. It is necessary to find mechanisms that would allow for increasing the amount of the revolving funds and generating enough revenue to have professional management and cover administrative costs as well as ensure that the women’s organizations are owned by members rather than professional managers.
Management Response: The recommendation is accepted with the caveat that the sustainability focus will be on the four women’s producer organizations and enabling members of self-help groups to fully participate in the activities and decision-making processes of these organizations. Specifically, JP RWEE will assist in strengthening institutional sustainability of these organizations with the aim of increasing their management capacities in relation to performance beyond the programme duration by undertaking a series of activities including a financial and institutional sustainability assessment of the organizations, and based on its results, developing and implementing an action plan.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Women economic empowerment (SPs before 2018), Leadership and participation in governance systems (SP 2018-2021)
Operating Principles: Capacity development, National ownership, Resource mobilization
Organizational Priorities: Partnership, Culture of results/RBM, Organizational efficiency
UNEG Criteria: Gender equality, Human Rights, Sustainability
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Conduct a financial and institutional assessment of producer organizations UN Women Kyrgyzstan 2019/09 Completed The financial and institutional assessment of POs will launch in October 2019.
Identify growth and sustainability gaps and develop mechanisms that would allow for increasing the revolving funds, generating sufficient revenue and ensuring an enhanced ownership by members UN Women Kyrgyzstan 2019/09 Ongoing Included in the 2020 AWP, pending approval for funding.
Based on the results of the assessment, develop and implement an action plan. UN Women, FAO, WFP, IFAD Kyrgyzstan 2019/09 Completed UN Women will implement this action in close coordination with FAO, WFP and IFAD
Assist the self-help groups, created under the second cohort and third cohorts, to join these women’s organizations. UN Women, FAO, WFP, IFAD Kyrgyzstan 2019/09 Ongoing All agencies under their own activities will pursue inclusion of beneficiaries to the women’s organizations active in their regions by informing them about the existing opportunities and advantages of participating in such producer cooperatives and associations and actively linking them with each other. Pending approval of 2020 AWP, this action will receive special attention in 2020 AWP.
Recommendation: RECOMMENDATION 4 Partner UN agencies shall consider developing and testing the strategy for replication of women economic empowerment model in the villages and ayl aimaks where the programme has already worked. The JP RWEE already has a proven strategy for entering a village by recruiting 30-40 “early adopters”. But there is no strategy for replication of the JP RWEE model in these villages. Evaluation findings suggest that people who saw the benefits the JP RWEE model creates for the participants may be willing to share costs with the programme. Potentially village associations of self-help groups may be interested in taking the leadership role in replication of the model because by adding new members they can increase the inflow of membership fees and accumulate funds that eventually could be used as revolving funds to support group economic activities of their members. This replication strategy will be an important step towards the JP RWEE exit strategy.
Management Response: The model of women’s economic empowerment built on the foundation of the first cohort proved to be JPRWEE’s best practice recommended for further replication. Strengthening of the institutions built and their membership ensures the model’s overall sustainability. JP RWEE’s replication and exit strategy is therefore grounded in further strengthening of the institutional sustainability of the four women’s organizations (two cooperatives and two producer associations) by their further technical capacitation, integration of specific mechanisms to ensure their viability and growth and encouraging beneficiaries of the second and third cohort to join them. We will also apply the GALS household methodology to stimulate the community level replication by using self-help groups as delivery entry.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Partially Accepted
Thematic Area: Women economic empowerment (SPs before 2018), Leadership and participation in governance systems (SP 2018-2021)
Operating Principles: National ownership, Knowledge management, Capacity development
Organizational Priorities: Partnership, Organizational efficiency, Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Efficiency, Sustainability
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Reach out to new villages which would be located in the same local municipalities, so the new participants would be within easy reach by Programme activists and champions for social mobilization, mentorship, and GALS. UN Women, IFAD Kyrgyzstan 2019/09 Completed The coverage was expanded to 14 new villages in the southern provinces located in the vicinity of the "old villages".
Conduct a financial and institutional assessment of women’s organizations to identify growth and sustainability gaps and develop mechanisms that would allow for increasing the revolving funds, generating sufficient revenue and ensuring an enhanced ownership by members UN Women, Kyrgyzstan 2019/09 Completed The financial and institutional assessment of POs will launch in October 2019.
Based on the results of the assessment, develop and implement an action plan. UN Women, FAO, WFP, IFAD Kyrgyzstan 2019/09 Completed UN Women will implement this action in close coordination with FAO, WFP and IFAD
Assist beneficiaries of the old and new cohorts in joining the women’s organizations UN Women, FAO, WFP, IFAD Kyrgyzstan 2019/09 Ongoing All agencies under their own activities will encourage the beneficiaries to join the women’s organizations active in their regions by informing them about the existing opportunities and advantages of participating in such producer cooperatives and associations and linking them with each other. Pending approval of 2020 AWP, this action will receive special attention in 2020 AWP to ensure sustainability of the programme results.
Link the women’s organizations with other producer associations, agricultural input providers, different value chain players, providers of financial goods and business associations to strengthen their institutional networking. UN Women, WFP, FAO Kyrgyzstan 2019/09 Ongoing Within the new branch of GALS - BALI (Business Action Learning for Innovation), tools on market evaluation are included, which helps SHG members build value chains. This training is supplemented by mentorship from the implementing partners (CDA and Insan-Leilek).
Continue rolling out GALS with the first and third cohorts and use community consolidation tools informed by GALS with the second cohort. UN Women, IFAD Kyrgyzstan 2019/09 Ongoing Rolling out of GALS for the second cohort was completed within the 2018-2019 AWP, but GALS process for cohort 3 covered Jalal-Abad and Osh provinces, leaving out Batken province. For cohort 2, GALS was provided for 3 villages. The action is included in the AWP for 2020, pending approval of AWP and funding.