Management Response

: Bangladesh
: 2019 - 2019 , Bangladesh (CO)
: Final Evaluation of the Project titled ‘Building capacity to Prevent Violence Against Women (BCPVAW)
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Bangladesh

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UN Women Bangladesh Office welcomes the findings and recommendations of the evaluation. The evaluation confirmed that that the project has addressed very relevant rights and needs of women and girls to live a life free of violence and have implemented relevant programming strategies in doing so. The project ensured institutional policies and actions that are in place to prevent VAW in the targeted universities, as well as strengthening the monitoring and accountability role of the University Grants Commission in prevention of sexual harassment in universities. The project was also effective in changing the state of knowledge, attitude and practices of students and teachers on sexual harassment. At the institutional level, the evaluation found that all four universities developed an overall strategy for taking action to address and prevent sexual harassment following igh Court Directive on Sexual Harassment (2009). The evaluation also pointed out some of the challenges regarding limited institutional support to the Sexual Harassment Complaints Committees. As UN Women in Bangladesh will continue to work on ending violence against women with a focus on preventing violence before they occur, the recommendations of the evaluation is already informing the design of the new programme that will be implemented over the next 4 years.

: Approved
Recommendation: RECOMMENDATIONS 1 UN Women should continue to provide guidance and technical support to strengthen institutional response to violence against women on campus and to bring sustainable changes in this regard.
Management Response: UN Women Bangladesh Office accepts the recommendation and would apply the below mentioned key actions from May 2019 in the newly started Combating Gender Based Violence project in which work will continue with universities and the University Grants Commission (UGC) to prevent sexual harassment.
More detail
Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Capacity development, Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind, Advocacy, Knowledge management
Organizational Priorities: Partnership, Urban agenda (safe cities and safe public spaces), Youth engagement, Engaging men and boys
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
1. UN WOMEN WOULD CONTINUE TO PROVIDE TECHNICAL INPUTS TO UGC’S MONITORING MECHANISM AND ACCOUNTABILITY ON UNIVERSITY COMPLIANCE WITH THE GUIDELINES OF THE HIGH COURT DIRECTIVE ON PREVENTING SEXUAL HARASSMENT ON CAMPUS. UN Women Bangladesh Office 2019/12 Completed UN Women signed an MoU with UGC on this matter as part of the CGBV project supported by the government of Canada. The project is working at 6 educational institutions in the districts of Cumilla, Bogura and Patuakhali. Through the partnership, UN Women supported UGC in improving its data collection to monitor the compliance of the High Court Directive across all universities. A new tool has been developed and agreed with UGC.
2. UN WOMEN WOULD CONTINUE WORKING WITH THE UGC TO DETERMINE A STANDARD PROCEDURE FOR THE FUNCTIONS OF THE SHPC. UN Women Bangladesh Office 2019/12 Completed Through the MoU with UGC, UN Women provided technical support in developing the TORs and SOPs of the SGPC. As a result of this and the partnership with educational institutions at district level, UN Women also conducted sexual harassment trainings for SHPC.
3. UN WOMEN WOULD COORDINATE WITH UGC AND SELECTED UNIVERSITIES TO ORGANIZE TO DISSEMINATE THE KEY THEME OF THE HIGH COURT DIRECTIVE UN Women Bangladesh Office 2020/06 Completed Knowledge products and IEC material on the High Court Directive was widely shared at national and district level, through advocacy events with the universities.
Recommendation: RECOMMENDATION 2 UN Women should develop a comprehensive awareness raising campaign plan and knowledge management strategy to ensure wider participation of the students, teachers and staff within and beyond participating universities.
Management Response: UN Women Bangladesh office agrees with the recommendation and would apply the below mentioned key actions from May 2019 in the newly started CGBV project which continues to us the strategy of engage with universities and students for prevention of violence against women and social norm change.
More detail
Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Capacity development, Knowledge management
Organizational Priorities: Urban agenda (safe cities and safe public spaces), Youth engagement, Engaging men and boys
UNEG Criteria: Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
1. UN WOMEN WOULD USE LEARNING MATERIALS AND GOOD PRACTICES OF THIS PROJECT AS GOOD EVIDENCE FOR UN WOMEN AND ITS PARTNERS IN ADVOCATING FOR OTHER PUBLIC AND PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES TO PREVENT SEXUAL HARASSMENT AND CREATE VIOLENCE FREE ENVIRONMENT. UN Women Bangladesh Office 2020/06 Completed UN Women developed and disseminated learning and communication materials to advocate for the prevention of SH and a campus free environment.
2. UN WOMEN WOULD IMPLEMENT INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGNS LIKE HEFORSHE AND UNITE AND ARRANGE CROSS LEARNING VISIT AMONG UNIVERSITIES UN Women Bangladesh Office 2020/06 Completed UN Women organized an event on innovation at the University of Dhaka under the IWD theme for students and teachers. HeforShe events and UNiTE campaigns were organized across universities and colleges in the three districts. A short film competition was organized under the HeforShe campaign. A 16 Days Fair was organized at the University of Cumilla, where innovators against GBV and heforshe competitors launched their innovations and films to raise awareness on prevention of violence.
3. UN WOMEN WOULD WORK/SUPPORT THE PROCESS OF DEVELOPING A COMPREHENSIVE LAW ON SEXUAL HARASSMENT WITH CSOS AND OTHER UN AGENCIES UN Women Bangladesh Office 2019/12 Completed In 2019, UN Women led UN agencies and provided support to the National Human Rights Commission and CSOs to agree on the scope of a law on sexual harassment. UN Women provided technical assistance to the NHRC and drafted the sexual harassment law, that collected all previous drafts formulated by CSO. The draft law is now under revision of a working group under the NHRC.