Management Response

Recommendation:

During 2020, UN Women should undertake key analyses that will help UN Women prioritize efforts by continuing the current scaling up of some, and assessing the possibility of scaling back or shifting focus of others; and put in place adequate capacity to deliver its ambitious programme.

Management Response:

1. UN Women PNGCO has taken steps to evaluate and assess its current projects to determine its successes and challenges and areas for improvement. Under Impact 3: Ending Violence Against Women and Girls, the PNGCO has completed an end of project Evaluation for the Safe City and Safe Public Transport Programmes, to determine successes, challenges and opportunities for scaling out and up. A number of project evaluations are planned for 2020 and 2021 for projects in the Highlands and Bougainville to enable learning and improvement. 2. It has taken PNGCO a while to raise funds to respond to some pillars such as the efforts in the Highlands during the earthquake response. In the Highlands, UN Women is jointly implementing peace building interventions with other UN agencies and there are plans to scale up these efforts. It is not an option to scale back. The need is great in the Highlands as women and girls are more disadvantaged and vulnerable within the humanitarian and conflict context. 3. The PNGCO is planning to change its project delivery approach this year working through Implementing Partners, particularly for the larger projects such as the Spotlight Initiative and the Safe and Prosperous Districts Programmes.

Key Actions Responsible Deadline Status Comments Undertake a mapping of efforts related to GEEW and partners in the proposed areas of expansion UN Women 2022/01 Completed There are avenues for collecting such information and within PNG most agencies working on GEEW are familiar and aware of who is doing what. Some of these Information will be collected as part of the baselines for the Spotlight Initiative as well as other new projects that the PNGCO is embarking on in 2020 and onwards. Spotlight initiative programme carried out the mapping and engaged 25 partners to implement programmes under spotlight and WPHF. Undertake a functional analysis to identify staffing needs and implement work-flow enhancements for implementing programming in the most economical and efficient way. UN Women 2019/12 Completed The HR Specialist from Regional Office has already undertaken an assessment of the PNGCO Staffing needs and will be sharing a report on key findings. (Report completed by Jianfan) Undertake a cost-effectiveness analysis of current sub-office presence; and projected costs of operating sub-offices vs. other potential modalities. UN Women 2022/01 Completed Noted and we agree that we do need to be careful about setting up sub-offices as it depends on how much money we have and the likelihood of scaling up our efforts in these new locations. It is important to note that we need to start expanding our work into the rural areas where our support Is needed the most. The PNGCO has missed important opportunities to work with local governments and stakeholders because we do not have local presence in our targeted sites for expansion. In 2022 UN Women CO trialed field offices Tari, Kimbe, Wabag, and Bougainville. It clearly showed the challenge with connectivity and power blackout. We had established relationships with provincial authorities. Undertake a prioritization exercise (possibly using a framework such as Gender@Work) assessing the long-term priority issues and how they align with UN Women thematic areas, based on available data, including from a “leave no one behind” angle, and funding landscape to inform focus of work and resource mobilization strategy. This should include a careful review of where UN Women may need to scale back; evidence from this evaluation points to the need for a strategy in the area of Women, Peace and Security; the office may consider whether it makes sense to continue short-term programming if core resources are too limited to support the thematic area or whether a different angle, such as Women’s Political Participation or Ending Violence Against Women could be used to move the related work forward. UN Women 2022/01 Completed We want to work in the WPS context because women have some of the worse conditions and have high levels of violence, their development indicators are some of the worse in the world and therefore we should not be shying away because it is a difficult context to work in. The UN as a whole in PNG has made a commitment to remain in SHP which involves an agreement with the Prime Minister of PNG. The work in the Highlands is not an option for us, it is part of the UNs Joint efforts in the country because of its high risks and volatile context. The need is greater and the appalling conditions for women calls for UN Women's presence. From our work we know that hundreds of women are abused in these contexts, therefore there Is no option to scale down work where the need is great. UN Women never had a presence in the Highlands of PNG and therefore there will be issues with establishing our presences and getting projects off the ground. However, these Issues can be overcome and improved as lessons are learnt and relationships are built in communities. UN Women has a small project under the WPS pillar and we are trying to leverage the Highlands response with other UN Women projects such as Women Make the Change and Spotlight to address some of the intersecting problems. This is not an option for UN Women both programmatically and as part of the UN presence in PNG. 2022 Established Women Peace Security in Bougainville. The project was visited by Regional advisor and funds were allocated in 2023 to develop national Women Peace Security Strategy. The WPS had been incorporated in the Cooperate Framework CO is advised to take heed of the recommendation of the Corporate Evaluation on UN Women’s contributions to humanitarian action that there needs to be “staffing and office structures for a response-level strategy in humanitarian settings to ensure UN Women can maximize its influence”. The CO may develop a strategy for humanitarian action so that it is ready for any future humanitarian response. UN Women 2022/01 Completed No UN Agency has staffing in the Highlands because its new and we agree that this needs to happen. This project responded to a crisis (earthquake response) because there was a need. Going forward UN Women PNGCO will look at developing a strategy for engaging in humanitarian and disaster contexts. 2022 Update. The CO engaged a protection Specialist who doubled up as Humanitarian Coordinator. Moving forward the CO is creating a position for a humanitarian coordinator + DRR. Advocate to funding partners that key personnel (beyond the specialist, M&E and operations) must be part of programming efforts in order to be effective. UN Women 2022/01 Completed We will continue to advocate for these roles. CO incorporated DPMC of up to 5% in all projects. Was able to have donor contribution.

Recommendation:	During 2020, the CO should work with partners to develop a long-term strategy and action plan that outlines how it will engage with and strengthen civil society and government institutions as a means for stimulating systemic level social norm change.
Management Response:	The management partially accepts this recommendation and will work towards re profiling current staff role to fill in the gaps identified

Key Actions Responsible Deadline Status Comments Develop an explicit strategy for how it will build the women’s movement (including youth, men and boys) and civil society through its efforts; this will include Spotlight efforts but should be broader and longer-term. This strategy should be incorporated or referred to in all programme documents (SN and prodocs). This strategy should move beyond training and one-off events to detail how UN Women will work together with partners to build sustainable capacities. UN Women 2022/01 Completed This is a good idea, we do need a strategy for engaging Civil society- CSAG, in other countries there are strong women’s network and we don’t have a strong women’s movement, the current mechanisms through the National Council of Women is not working. We will work with Civil society in different ways through our programmatic activities. We agree and will with this recommendation and work on this if we have funding to do this. We will reprofile the current coordinators role to include mapping of existing partners and coordinating their efforts better. That role will also develop the Civil Society Engagement Strategy. The country created Spotlight Capacity Hub, Strengthened CSO capacity through WPHF fund and recruited CSO Capacity Building Specialist. Take regular stock of its existing relationships with partners (across partner types: government, donors, civil society), identify their priorities and agree opportunities for leveraging broader normative processes, such as those related to SDGs, as a means for identifying gaps in progress towards GEEW and deepening response to these gaps. UN Women and PNG Governments at all levels 2022/01 Completed We agree with this recommendation and acknowledge that we need to take stock of existing relationships and partners. We also need to reprofile our existing terms of reference for the person who is coordinating the normative work to ensure that coordination efforts and relationship building Is happening as expected. Currently we are short staffed and not able to fully implement normative functions. We are doing a lot of programmatic activities that contribute to our normative efforts, these include working with local, district and provincial governments to increase their awareness and capacity to implement the SDGs at the sub-national level. Created 2 position 1. Resource Mobilization and Partnerships Coordinator 2. Special initiatives Manager Map existing external and UN coordination mechanisms where GEEW perspective exists or could be relevant and strategize with a broad group of partners how best to link civil society, development partners and government UN Women and external partners 2022/01 Completed As mentioned above, we will reprofile the current coordinators role to include mapping of existing partners and coordinating their efforts better. That role will also develop the Civil Society Engagement Strategy. Partnered with CIMC to created a CSO forum for 2 years Advocate to funding partners that resources must be dedicated to capacity building of implementing partners (on managerial aspects in addition to gender lens) rather than UN Women direct implementation. UN Women and donor partners 2022/01 Completed Noted and we are using this model going forward. UN Women CO secured WPHF grant and Spotlight pillar 6 for capacity building of implementing partners.

Recommendation:

In advance of the new United National Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF), and recognizing that coordination efforts require collective and collaborative action, the CO should continue building upon its strategic positioning within the UNCT by further strengthening its support to coordination (both within and beyond the UN system) and contributing to coherence and management of programmes (in particular joint programmes). PRIORITY: MEDIUM; SUGGESTED TIMEFRAME: 2020-2021.

Management Response:

That is a gap we have recognized and will be addressing through Improvements in staff capacity and reprofiling of current coordinators role to coordinate better and enable collaboration between UN Agencies as well as with external stakeholders.

Key Actions Responsible Deadline Status Comments If the office continues to have difficulties hiring a communications specialist, explore alternative temporary approaches such as jointly funding post with another UN agency, consultancy, UNV or JPO. UN Women and UNV 2022/01 Completed We are currently working with UNV to engage an International Consultant Done, Communication Specialist was recruited. Enhance communication about UN Women overall approach and work plan by developing succinct user-friendly communication products such as a video, brochure or brief UN Women and UNV 2022/01 Completed We have no money for staffing and communication products which are expensive to produce here. We are looking to get a UNV, ideally proficient and a range of communication mediums and can help us build our online presence. The recruitment for an International UNV to support in communications is currently underway. Facebook updates improved with video. A Twitter Account was created. Enhance communication about UN Women overall approach and work plan by developing succinct user-friendly communication products such as a video, brochure or brief UN Women and UNV 2022/01 Completed We have no money for staffing and communication products which are expensive to produce here. We are looking to get a UNV, ideally proficient and a range of communication mediums and can help us build our online presence. The recruitment for an International UNV to support in communications is currently underway. Done. Clarify the roles of the GEEW working groups and identify synergies between agencies efforts in GEEW, while exploring opportunities for reducing the number of working groups. UN Women and other UN Agencies 2022/12 Completed The PNGCO is currently doing this through the three Priority Working Groups. Gender and HRWG was resuscitated. Continue engaging actively in UNCT working groups, particularly UNCT Operations Management team which will support enhanced partnership management UN Women and other UN Agencies 2022/01 Completed PNG CO is currently doing this through the UNCT Working Groups UN Women OM is active member of OMT and Co Chaired in 2022 Continue to leverage the gender marker as a data tool for holding the UN system accountable and share this information broadly UN Women and other UN Agencies 2022/12 Completed Yes its shared broadly through UNINFO which is an online reporting mechanism used by all UN Agencies in PNG Training was conducted in 2022 Through its joint programmes, continue to demonstrate good practice by investing in co-creation of joint programmes that build off each other’s synergies and can be a model for other country offices UN Women and other UN Agencies 2022/12 Completed PNG CO is doing this as most of our projects are jointly implemented with other UN Agencies. More than 30% of CO budget is through Joint Programmes Once staff is onboard to support coordination efforts, review and strengthen the PSEA reporting mechanism in partnership with UNCT UN Women 2022/12 Completed Noted and will action where appropriate It was done in 2021 and in 2022 handed over leadership to UNFPA

Recommendation:	The CO should strengthen its RBM and risk management to ensure more effective programme management, placing accountability and engagement with populations front and centre, seeking support from the ROAP and HQ as necessary and advocating with funding partners to invest more in RBM capacity. PRIORITY: HIGH; SUGGESTED TIMEFRAME: 2020-2021.
Management Response:	We will not be able to get funding partners to Invest more in RBM capacity

Key Actions Responsible Deadline Status Comments Continue dedicating resources to an M&E post that can provide support to the CO and continue to explore ways to hire an M&E Officer; as necessary exploring pooling of funds from projects UN Women and UNV 2020/01 Completed Managed to recruit IUNV ME&R specialist and the person started in February 2020. Integrate risk analysis throughout the programme cycle as a management tool with action plans that are updated continuously. Explore opportunities for adopting Harmonized Approach to Cash Transfers (HACT) as a risk-based management approach UN Women 2022/12 Completed Noted and the PNG CO has been doing this. CO is completing risk register annually and reviewing it quarterly Ensure validation of monitoring and reporting efforts. UN Women 2022/11 Completed PNG Country Office had updated the Strategic Note DRF and Monitoring and evaluation Plan. Data collection instruments for the country office had been reviewed and being piloted. CO and Implementing Partners were trained on the tools and monitoring and evaluation systems Continue proper on boarding and training of personnel in coordination with RO/HQ UN Women 2022/12 Completed Noted and the PNG CO has been doing this. Establish a “buddy” or mentorship programme between more experienced staff and those in the field / across thematic areas to build understanding of programmatic linkages and gender expertise UN Women 2022/12 Completed Noted and a good idea to trial in small teams and through regular team meetings, and lunch and learn sessions Conducted cross thematic collaboration such as joint initiation for 16 Days of Activism Prioritize knowledge sharing through brownbag lunches; or other informal presentations among staff. UN Women 2022/12 Completed Noted, we are trying to do this and have been working to prioritize staff training needs in the 2020 Training Plan. Conducted clinics, budget management, Atlas Leverage existing capacity and mechanisms that exist in the UNCT, such as the PWG risk monitoring and the M&E Working Group. UN Women 2022/12 Completed Noted we are doing that