Management Response

: Guatemala
: 2020 - 2020 , Guatemala (CO)
: Project final evaluation: Realizing the transformational effect of the Sepur Zarco reparation sentence to break the continuum of conflict and post-conflict related sexual and other forms of violence against women
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: Guatemala
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The evaluation provides solid evidence-based information of what has worked best and what has been learned and offers fresh “outsider’s” views and suggestions to the possible next steps when implementing similar projects at the country level. In addition, it is a timely input to the ongoing development of UNW´s country office Strategic Plan 2021-2025 and the third phase of Projects for the Peace Building Fund in Guatemala. The evaluation documents lessons learned, best practices, and challenges informing future work of UN Women and key partners in Guatemala. Out of the total 16 recommendations in the final evaluation, six were addressed to UN Women and UN agencies and the other ten were addressed to government institutions, civil society organizations, and the PBF Secretariat. This Management Response accordingly is concentrated on the six recommendations addressed to UN Women.
: Approved
Recommendation: When designing and implementing projects that aim to provide support and sustainability to rural and indigenous community processes, continue to promote, reinforce, and strengthen the participation of women based on their culture, worldview, language, needs and expectations through consultation mechanisms that guarantee their participation in the planning, implementation, and monitoring of their own processes.
Management Response: As mentioned in the evaluation report, the inclusion of the Sepur Zarco grandmothers and implementing partners of the project in its management structure was a good and innovative practice that changed the relationship among UN Women, participant UN organizations, and women. The project’s governance structure incorporated implementing partners and associates (beneficiaries) in the Technical Committee and the Project Board, the latest co-presided by Demecia Yat, one of the Sepur Zarco case Grandmothers, representing the implementing partners and women (beneficiaries) involved in the project. Acknowledging the positive impact and contributions of this practice, it has been adopted for other projects of the WPSHA portfolio to continue fostering good practices at the country level on how to incorporate and promote women and associate’s participation in the overall project cycle, including its governance structure.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Peace and security (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind
Organizational Priorities: Not applicable
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Continue the good practice in other projects of the WPSHA portfolio, including interagency projects when lead by UN Women and the governance structure allows it. UN Women Guatemala (All Areas in Coordination with Country Representative) 2021/12 Completed The inclusion of women beneficiaries and women CSOs in the governance structure of projects has been a practice adopted for the WPSHA portfolio, most recently in the PBF funded Gender Promotion initiative lead by UN Women “Creating new avenues of resilience to sustain peace: Kaqchiquel, Q’eqchi’ and mestizo women pathfinders for peace at the center. As a strategic long-term institutional recommendation, this will continue to be a practice in the WPSHA portfolio.
Recommendation: For projects related to the implementation of transformative reparation measures, it is advisable to consider strengthening the capacities of State institutions linked to the implementation of these measures, with emphasis on a human rights and gender approach; place at the center the responsibility of the State in complying with the implementation of the measures established in the sentence and considering the institutional and legal gaps in the national context.
Management Response: The project made a significant change creating and enabling environment for transformative reparation, despite the difficult social and political challenges faced at the country level where, after 23 years of the Peace Agreements, institutions created by the peace accords to promote human rights, indigenous and women´s rights have been dismantled and weakened, with serious consequences for gender equality and women’s empowerment. Despite the above, with the project support, Q'eqchi' women's leadership generated profound and irreversible transformations in the status of women, including their role in advancing gender justice and transformative reparation, attitudinal changes and institutional transformations that lead, i.e. to the adoption of the Judiciary's Policy on Transformative Reparation, the establishment of a interinstitutional mechanism to monitor advances in the implementation of the reparation sentence where the Grandmothers are the main actors, the translation of the generated knowledge by the Sepur Zarco Sentece into measurable indicators to regularly evaluate advances in the status of women (situation, condition and position) through the proposed Index on women's access to justice and transformative reparation lead by the MIMPAZ. While actions to strengthen State institutions on transformative reparation measures are part of UN Women’s interventions, additional steps to enhance institutional evidence collection and to measure results will be developed in response to this recommendation.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Rejected
Thematic Area: Peace and security (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Capacity development
Organizational Priorities: Organizational efficiency
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness
Key Actions
Key Action not added.
Recommendation: In projects implemented at the local level: a. When working in different geographic areas, it is recommended that projects consider the design of differentiated indicators, activities, and products, considering both common aspects and those that are specific to each particular geographic area. b. Consider developing dialogue spaces in the geographical area of Project implementation among women, communities, and public officials, and at the central level, to raise awareness and ensure that they assume their responsibilities related to the compliance of the reparation measures.
Management Response: Considering the RBM impact approach of the PBF projects, differentiated indicators for different geographic areas and women’s groups cannot be included in logical framework of projects as it will weaken project’s design and dilute results. Exchange processes in the geographical areas of intervention are continuously carried out when implementing projects at the local level, to leverage the diversity of knowledge and enrich their experience with cross-fertilization dialogues; due to the extent of unique Sepur Zarco’s case reparations measures, coordination and dialogue mechanisms were developed at the national and local level to generate a collective sense of reparation and to learn and facilitate the local adoption of practices that lead to improve women’s status. While it is not possible to follow the recommendation as described, the implementation of different M&E methods will be considered for complex projects.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Rejected
Thematic Area: Peace and security (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Evidence, Data and statistics
Organizational Priorities: Culture of results/RBM
UNEG Criteria: Efficiency
Key Actions
Key Action not added.
Recommendation: During the process of formulation and approval of the Projects: a. In inter-agency projects, define exchange processes on practices to strengthen coordination mechanisms, clearly identify roles, establish responsibilities, and identify spaces for articulation. b. Ensure that the formulation of the theory of change considers not only the historic and political context of the region to determine the assumptions, but also to define clear results, achievable according to the timeframe of the project and measurable quantitatively and qualitatively. c. Conduct in-depth risk analysis and formulate mitigation measures at the national, local and community levels for both project design and the implementation of measures. d. Define a standardize administrative processes and procedures to make it easier to implement joint projects by different United Nations agencies.
Management Response: To generate capacities and strengthen the coordination with stakeholders and the governance structure members, the project included exchange processes and dialogue mechanisms at different levels. It is noticed that due to constant personnel changes within UN Agencies, State institutions, and CSO, mitigation actions to strengthen communication and dialogue need to be continually implemented. Accordingly, additional in-depth risk analysis will continue to be developed when formulating theories of change in complex contexts. UN Agencies administrative processes respond to their own finance-administrative and legal frameworks, thus room for the definition of a standardize administrative process for joint programs is limited and the standardization process does fall in to UN Women’s decisions at the country level.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Partially Accepted
Thematic Area: Peace and security (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Oversight/governance, Internal coordination and communication
Organizational Priorities: Organizational efficiency, UN Coordination
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Efficiency
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Identify and develop innovative communication and coordination mechanisms with stakeholders for UNW’s PBF Phase III project portfolio. UN Women Guatemala (Women, Peace, Security, Justice and Humanitarian Response Area in coordination with Country Representative) 2021/09 Completed This recommendation is completed for PBFs project under implementation. PBF INFRAPAZ project, being implemented by UNDP (lead agency), UNESCO and UN Women, has integrated into its coordination mechanisms and governance structure periodical technical meetings with stakeholders at local and national level. Including, when needed, the participation of the Resident Coordinators Office. As part of the design of UNW’s lead PBF Phase III portfolio, coordination mechanisms within the governance structure have been described as part of the project management and coordination section. As a strategic medium-term recommendation for PBF Phase III portfolio, this will continue to be a practice until 2025.
As part of PBF Phase III project portfolio design, consultation processes will be developed with stakeholders for in-depth risk analysis. UN Women Guatemala (Women, Peace, Security, Justice and Humanitarian Response Area in coordination with PBF Secretariat) 2021/05 Completed Consultation processes, including risk analysis sessions, for the design of PBF Phase III projects have been implemented. With the participation of State institutions chosen based on each projects approach and with civil society organizations for the Gender Promotion Initiative 2.0.
Recommendation: Regarding governance structure: Clarify the roles between the Project Board and the Technical Committee and establish mechanisms for the transmission of information between these two bodies. Likewise, since there are spaces where the direct project stakeholders participate, define a mechanism to guarantee the rotating participation of the actors to strengthen their learning and empowerment.
Management Response: The project had a governance structure based on the standard managerial arrangement for the PBF country portfolio. UNW, as lead agency for the project, added value to these management arrangements by incorporating women civil society organizations and women beneficiaries’ participation in the governance structure of the project and supported their concerted actions to establish their own mechanisms to elect and rotate their leadership for equitable representation. Support was constantly provided to enhance their own coordination, learn from the experience, and potentiate the role of elected representatives in the governance structures. It is noticed that due to constant personnel changes within UN Agencies, State institutions and CSO, mitigation actions to strengthen communication and dialogue need to be implemented.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Partially Accepted
Thematic Area: Peace and security (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Oversight/governance
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Efficiency, Sustainability
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Identify and develop innovative communication mechanisms within the governance structure for UNW’s PBF Phase III project portfolio UN Women Guatemala (Women, Peace, Security, Justice and Humanitarian Response Area) 2021/09 Completed This recommendation is completed for PBFs project under implementation. PBF INFRAPAZ project, being implemented by UNDP (lead agency), UNESCO and UN Women, has integrated into its coordination and communication mechanisms within its governance structure. Including, when needed, the participation of the PBF Secretariat. As part of the design of UNW’s lead PBF Phase III portfolio, coordination mechanisms within the governance structure have been described as part of the project management and coordination section. As a strategic medium-term recommendation for PBF Phase III portfolio, this will continue to be a practice until 2025.
Recommendation: It is necessary that a specific monitoring and accompaniment system be implemented for the joint projects that allows for the collection, analysis, and dissemination of information with all actors involved in its implementation, in order to contribute to decision making, inform and capitalize on the results that are obtained in order to provide feedback for learning. It should also promote women's participation as a mechanism for empowerment as well as ownership and sustainability of the different actions implemented.
Management Response: Recommendation accepted.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Peace and security (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Oversight/governance, Evidence, Data and statistics
Organizational Priorities: Culture of results/RBM
UNEG Criteria: Efficiency, Sustainability
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Hire technical support (consultants) to strengthen the development of monitoring and strategic communication actions with stakeholders for UNW´s WPS country portfolio. UN Women Guatemala (Women, Peace, Security, Justice and Humanitarian Response Area in coordination with Country Representative) 2021/04 Completed A technical liaison consultant for the security and justice institutions has been hired as part of the WPS team. Additionally, in the projects that are being designed, specific funding has been included to finance this type technical support based on portfolio needs. As a strategic long-term institutional recommendation, this will continue to a practice in the WPSHA portfolio.
Include, in the M&E plans for the PBF Phase III, working session with stakeholders, based on results, to identify what is working and best practices derived from the quality of implemented actions. UN Women Guatemala (Women, Peace, Security, Justice and Humanitarian Response Area) 2021/11 Completed This recommendation is completed for PBFs project under implementation. The M&E plan for the PBF INFRAPAZ project includes working sessions with stakeholders to monitor the overall implementation, including the identification of best practices in conflict prevention. As a strategic medium-term recommendation for PBF Phase III portfolio, this will continue to be a practice until 2025.