Management Response

: Independent Evaluation Service (IES)
: 2018 - 2018 , Independent Evaluation Service (IES) (EO)
: Corporate Thematic Evaluation: UN Women's Contribution to Humanitarian Action
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Independent Evaluation Service (IES)

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Overall Management Response: UN Women welcomes the findings and recommendations of the Corporate Evaluation of UN Women’s Contribution to Humanitarian Action. The evaluation assessed UN Women’s contribution to humanitarian action from 2014-2018 at global, regional and country levels. Based on an extensive desk and portfolio review, country visits, online survey and meetings with key stakeholders in Geneva and New York. The evaluation assessed the relevance and effectiveness of UN Women’s contribution in line with rights-based approaches and gender equality principles. UN Women appreciated the evidence generated from the evaluation which will inform organizational learning and future direction within the framework of organizational-wide efforts to optimize and align presence and engagement, specifically in the context of UN Development System Reform. The evaluation highlights the centrality of gender equality and women’s empowerment considerations to an effective and responsive humanitarian action. It highlights the strong recognition and appreciation of external partners of the relevant and positive contribution of UN Women in ensuring that gender equality and the empowerment of women remain central to Humanitarian action. UN Women welcomes the recognition of the evaluation, UN and donor organizations interviewed of its pioneering and highly effective normative and coordination role at the global level and key regional foras which resulted in the integration of gender equality and women empowerment into framework and policies that guide humanitarian action despite UN Women’s lack of membership in the IASC. UN Women agrees with the assessment of the evaluation team that these efforts provide a foundation for stronger engagement and links between UN Women’s global normative work and humanitarian coordination mechanisms, and efforts at country level. UN Women recognizes the opportunities outlined by the evaluation to increase UN Women’s effectiveness and impact at the country level by building on UN Women’s strengths in the development side of the nexus, sustaining catalytic transformative programming, and better linking its work to system-wide responses while minimizing small scale humanitarian programming that is not done in partnership or that does not have broader strategic importance. The evaluation notes that UN Women’s contributions to humanitarian action have been growing at a fast pace in influence and in budget, with a 700% growth in the past 6 years. UN Women appreciates the recognition of this growth and agrees with the evaluation that the heavy reliance on non-core funding for humanitarian assistance-(currently at 95%) poses significant challenges to UN Women’s staffing capacities and render it reactive and supply driven at times. UN Women recognizes that it has risen to a point where a more strategic and consistent approach is required to strengthen its contributions to humanitarian action, from emergency response to longer-term transformative change. This will require more resources and investment in UN Women’s humanitarian and nexus capacity to fully implement the recommendations of the evaluation.

: Approved
Recommendation: Develop a response-level strategy to complement UN Women’s global humanitarian strategy. Recommendation 1.1: UN Women to review HACRO Humanitarian Strategy and develop a complementary and detailed resource mobilisation strategy that can leverage opportunities at the country level (Humanitarian Needs Overview/Humanitarian Response Plans) and with key donors. Recommendation 1.2: UN Women to conduct internal annual reviews of Gender in Humanitarian Action/Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women in humanitarian action to see how strategies are contributing to demonstrable results.
Management Response: UN Women accepts this recommendation. UN Women’s established the Humanitarian Action and Crisis Response Office (HACRO) in 2017 to strengthen its global normative and coordination engagement for greater accountability for gender equality and women’s empowerment in crisis settings and to extend support to its regional and field offices.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Not applicable
Operating Principles: Alignment with strategy
Organizational Priorities: Humanitarian action
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Develop a resource mobilization strategy in consultation with regional and country offices HACRO , regional and country offices 2020/03 Overdue-Initiated Resource mobilization initiatives and discussions are currently ongoing at different levels: WDR program, UN Women’s normative and coordination work at global level, COVID-19 programmatic interventions in humanitarian settings and protracted crisis (including the organization of a donor roundtable jointly with OCHA and the development of a global CERF proposal covering humanitarian interventions in 6 country offices), submission of proposals to Japan under the Supplementary Budget support (to support country and regional level work), discussions with US State Department-PRM on the continuation of partnership in 2021.
Finalize the UNW Humanitarian Strategy, RM strategy and an accompanying detailed response level guidance, including UNW coordination role HACRO 2020/01 Completed A first draft ofhumanitarian strategy is completed in January 2021 in consultations with regional humanitarian advisers and a global UN Women Peace, Security and Humanitarian Action. The draft is shared for internal consultation and finalization
UN Women to conduct internal annual reviews of Gender in Humanitarian Action through its internal annual reporting, and IASC accountability framework reporting. HACRO 2020/06 Overdue-Initiated UNW to continue its function as IASC Gender Desk, UN Women annual reports. on the Grand Bargain and Agenda for Humanity. UNW/UNFPA GiHA Funding study completed. The action will be implemented annually end of the first semester. First UNW led IASC Gender Accountability Framework report was published. Second Accountability Framework report was submitted to the IASC for approval in 2020..Efforts to coordinate more closely with the IASC for the next iteration of the Gender Accountability Framework Report is underway
Recommendation: Identify the necessary leadership, minimum levels of staffing and office structures for a response-level strategy in humanitarian settings to ensure UN Women can maximize its influence at the country level.
Management Response: UN Women partially accepts this recommendation. UN Women is in the process of reviewing its overall human resources, management structures and country typology to be more fit for purpose in the broader efforts of UN system reform. The reality of limited core resources, limited humanitarian and unearmarked funding and heavy reliance on non-core funding to cover core humanitarian capacity pose significant challenges to UN Women in securing the needed human resources in crisis countries or sustaining core normative, coordination and country support functions at the global level. UN Women HACRO has launched a number of initiatives to strengthen UN Women’s humanitarian capacity with the launch of a number of regional and country level GiHA trainings and IASC gender handbook training targeting UN Women management and practitioner level in the field. Additional guidance and practical tools will be developed, finalized and disseminated in various areas recommended by the evaluation including but not limited to humanitarian coordination, Accountability to Affected Populations and Protection against Sexual Exploitation and Abuse
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Description:
Management Response Category: Partially Accepted
Thematic Area: Leadership and participation in governance systems (SP 2018-2021)
Operating Principles: Capacity development
Organizational Priorities: Humanitarian action
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Efficiency, Relevance, Sustainability
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Capacity development and in-person trainings and thematic webinars convened to address capacity needs, facilitate peer-to-peer learning and promote a coordinated, corporate approach to Humanitarian Action HACRO 2020/06 Overdue-Initiated GiHA trainings in WCARO, ESARO, APRO, ASRO. Country level trainings provided in Turkey, oPt. Dedicated discussions have been held on issues related to rapid gender assessment of humanitarian programming, promoting women’s leadership in humanitarian settings and partnerships with local women’s organizations as well as key elements for promoting gender transformative Cash based initiatives and programming. In 2020, in-person trainings were placed on hold. Separately, in 2020, more regular online discussions with Regional Humanitarian Advisors has facilitated a smoother information flow.
Finalize UNWs Crisis Management Protocols and Fast Track processes HACRO, DMA, Legal 2019/12 Completed A Crisis management policy was finalized but thie activity progress is put on hold due to change management process and requires further clarification with SPRED & Security focal points
Development of technical guidance notes on gender responsive localization, cash transfers, participation revolution and harmonized needs assessment, rollout of PSEA guidance HACRO 2019/12 Completed All guidance notes are completed. Published on the Grand Bargain website and widely distributed to Grand Bargain workstream co-conveners and members as well as internally with UN Women to inform coordination and programmatic related interventions in humanitarian settings and as part of UN Women’s engagement in regional and country level refugee plans and responses .
Populate UN Women’s global Knowledge Management Platform (sharepoint) with guidance notes, programmatic and country case studies, research and reports HACRO 2020/03 Completed A humanitarian SharePoint platform is ready for usage
Strengthen UN Women internal expert deployment systems at global and regional level leverage existing partnerships with emergency standby partners HACRO 2019/12 Completed UN Women entered into new partnerships with the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) in 2019 as well as with CANADEM in 2020 thereby strengthening UN Women’s collaborations with standby partners. Other existing partners include RedR Australia and NRC. In 2020, UN Women secured 93.5 months’ worth of support through standby partners (an increase from 77.7 months in 2019). Furthermore, in 2020, UN Women has also become an active member of the Standby Partnership Network to benefit from the partnership-driven network and learn from the best practices of other UN agencies as well as to provide technical support to the newly formed working groups in order to enhance the attention to gender priorities across the SBPN’s workstreams. In 2021, as of Feb, a total of 44 months worth of support to 10 field offices has already been secured
Recommendation: Develop global partnership frameworks with OCHA, UNHCR and UNFPA building on experience in partnerships in different contexts
Management Response: UN Women’s accepts this recommendation. UN Women supports and welcome the focus of the evaluation on partnerships. This focus is in line with UN Women’s commitment to the new way of working. Since the establishment of HACRO, significant efforts have been placed on building partnerships to maximize impact and reach at normative, policy and programmatic levels. As highlighted in the evaluation report, in 2018, UN Women partnered with 14 UN agencies and 9 international NGOs and Red Cross/Crescent Societies in 30 of crisis country contexts. UN Women recognizes the needed for executive leadership engagement to forge global framework for partnerships against the backdrop of competition over limited resources while noting the decentralized nature of some of the entities listed affects global agreements impact on country level joint efforts.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Not applicable
Operating Principles: Not applicable
Organizational Priorities: UN Coordination, Partnership, Normative Support, Humanitarian action
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Efficiency
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
SMT engagement with UN OCHA, UNFPA and UNHCR to clarify roles and mandates and elements of framework agreements Senior Management 2020/06 Overdue-Initiated Discussions with the three UN agencies are currently underway in relation to UN Women’s new Strategic Plan, humanitarian strategy and the development of a new Common Chapter. Discussions have also been held at SMT level between UNFPA and UN Women. A Global MOU is finalized in January 2021 between UNWOMEN and UNHCR. The new CERF global grant of USD 8 million entails joint programmatic interventions with UNFPA in 6 country contexts with focus on social norm programming as part of GBV prevention efforts in crisis settings; as well as strengthening capacities of local women’s organizations on GBV mitigation and response as well as engagement in humanitarian decision making and planning processes. The new agreement also foresees close coordination with OCHA on issues related to advancing the gender equality agenda across the different country contexts.
Engage with AAP and PSEA lead agencies (OCHA, UNHCR, UNICEF) to ensure guidance provides specifics on W&Gs accessing AAP/PSEA in country level strategies. HACRO 2020/06 Overdue-Initiated Ongoing through the IASC Results Group on Inclusion and Accountability. AAP and PSEA related interventions are integrated in the global CERF proposal, especially in country contexts where UN Women leads this work together with other UN agencies (for example, with UNICEF in Ethiopia). Experience sharing webinars will be set up to reflect on UN Women’s contribution and engagement in these mechanisms and discuss entry points to scale up collaboration and partnerships with other UN agencies in this area.
Recommendation: Increase effectiveness and impact in humanitarian action by better linking UN Women’s work to system-wide responses while minimizing programming that is not done in partnership or that does not have broader strategic importance.
Management Response: UN Women accepts this recommendation with a reservation that this shift will be contingent on backing and availability of funding by donors to UN Women’s normative and coordination work in HA. UN Women appreciates that the evaluation highlights the centrality of gender equality and women empowerment considerations to an effective humanitarian action, and the strong recognition of the relevant and positive contribution of UN Women in ensuring that gender equality and the empowerment of women remain central to Humanitarian action. UN Women also welcomes the recognition of the evaluation of UN Women’s effective normative and coordination role at the global and regional level and opportunities to strengthen these functions further at the country level. Despite challenges resulting from UN Women’s lack of membership in the IASC, UN Women has been establishing itself over the past years to strengthen accountability for Humanitarian action through its normative and coordination mandate while directly responding to humanitarian needs with catalytic and joint programming. Going forward, UN Women will consolidate its strength with a focus on bridging the gaps between commitments and implementation, strengthening CO capacities for the rollout of the IASC Accountability Framework on Gender; integrating gender responsive programming throughout the humanitarian programme cycle; developing gender profiles and alerts; promoting women and girl’s participation from the initial assessment stage to management, implementation, and assessment. To make such shift, this will require the backing and funding of an accountability and coordination mechanism for UN Women in Humanitarian Action and to reduce dependence on non-core short term project-based resources for key coordination functions.
More detail
Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Not applicable
Operating Principles: Alignment with strategy
Organizational Priorities: Humanitarian action
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Develop field level coordination SOPs so that UNW’s contributions to official humanitarian coordination and response planning are consistent and anticipated HACRO 2020/03 Overdue-Initiated UNW COs part of the GiHA AF monitoring process; SOPs backed with a funding mechanism for core GIHA and coordination capacities
Finalize Humanitarian strategy and programme guidance with a clear criteria and checklist for prioritization of programmatic engagement HACRO 2020/03 Completed A first draft of humanitarian strategy is finalized in Janaury 2021. A consultation process is on-going to receive UNW internal and external feedback