Management Response

: Regional Office for Arab States (Egypt)
: 2019 - 2021 , Regional Office for Arab States (Egypt) (RO)
: Strengthening the Resilience of Syrian Women and Girls and Host Communities programme: EU MADAD Programme
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: Regional Office for Arab States (Egypt)
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UN Women welcomes the independent evaluation report of the Regional Programme 'Strengthening the Resilience of Syrian Women and Girls and Host Communities in Iraq, Jordan and Turkey’. The overall quality of the final evaluation report is very good. The report provides useful insights for the development of future resilience programmes on gender equality and women’s empowerment. The recommendations included in the evaluation acknowledges the complexity of 1) applying the UN Women theory of change on protection and livelihood support services when the programme was mainly focused on empowering women through addressing economic vulnerability and violence by increased access to recovery and livelihood opportunities paired with comprehensive protection services and support to national justice structures to promote accountability for violence against women (VAW); 2) analyzing the programme's regional dimension given the diverse approaches used regionally and at the country level, as well as the fact that the programme - despite having strong common elements - differed from one country to the other, and had to take into account context specificities in each of the three countries. The overall findings are well articulated and well developed. The 26 recommendations (11 regional, 5 for each country) are detailed, and mostly concise and concrete with a set of proposed actions. Most of the recommendations acknowledge UN Women's value proposition and robust positioning with regards to gender-responsive refugee response, refer to the need to continue the areas of intervention and support which is understood as evidence of the need to deepen and expand achieved results. Further analysis of successful interventions to be replicated could have been useful for future programming.

: Approved
Recommendation: UN Women should continue to play a leading role in the advocacy work to gender mainstream the Syria crisis response at a regional and national level in the MENA region
Management Response: UN Women plays a fundamental role in coordinating advocacy efforts and in the provision of technical expertise to policy makers, stakeholders and other UN Agencies in key coordination structures at the regional and country levels, including the Regional Refugee Resilience Plan (3RP) structures as well as the Humanitarian Country Teams (HCT). UN Women uses these as entry points to leverage its mandate and support national entities and the humanitarian community better understand and address gender mainstreaming in response plans. For example, a regional needs overview (RNO) has been developed for the first time and included to help set the direction as well as inform the strategic response during the new 3RP planning cycle for 2021-2023 and in light of the COVID pandemic. UN Women has been actively engaged in this process and led an interagency discussion on gender and youth to strengthen the RNO from a gender perspective, inform the planning process, participated in the development of livelihoods and social cohesion sectors sections. In Turkey, thanks to UN Women’s technical expertise and capacity development support during the preparations of the Turkey Chapter of 3RP in the second half of 2021, the document contains robust gender analysis, gender mainstreaming, gender-responsive outcomes, outputs and indicators across all the sectors.
Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Peace and security (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Capacity development, Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind, Advocacy, Knowledge management
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities, Humanitarian action
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Efficiency, Relevance, Sustainability, Human Rights, Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
UN Women has established itself as a central actor in coordination of the Syria response through its work on gender mainstreaming and gender-sensitive response. The agency will continue to further this by prioritising active engagement in coordination bodies and in offering constructive and tailored guidance and capacity building support in these areas. UN Women Regional Office and Country Offices 2023/01 Completed As long as the Syria crisis remains underway, a response to the conflict will continue to be required. While efforts at regional level need to be better established, UN Women has already taken several key actions since the evaluation has occurred: In the context of the 3RP Syria refugee crisis response cycle, a regional needs overview (RNO) has been developed for the first time and to help set the direction as well as inform the strategic response during the new planning cycle for 2021-2023 and in light of the COVID pandemic. UN Women has been actively engaged in this process and led an interagency discussion on gender and youth to inform the planning process, participated in the development of livelihoods and social cohesion sectors sections. This resulted in strengthening the RNO from a gender perspective. Furthermore, Turkey CO provided technical and substantive support to the 3RP sectors during the preparation of the Turkey Chapter of the 3RP for 2011-2022, which resulted in a gender-responsive strategic planning document. UN Women led the development of a gender-sensitive resilience index, based on FAO’s econometrics, approaches and experiences. This work resulted in a collaboration between UN Women and FAO to generate evidence around resilience of women. The tool was also presented at a 3RP resilience monitoring workshop. In response to the need for high-level regional humanitarian coordination needs, UN Women engaged since June 2020 with OCHA and CARE on the establishment of a regional Gender in Humanitarian Action (GiHA) Working Group. UN Women, OCHA and CARE – as co-chairs – have established the Working Group with a core group of stakeholders including UNDP, UNICEF, WHO, WFP, UNHCR well as key I/NGOs.
Recommendation: UN Women should continue to work strategically for longer-term international donor commitment to, and prioritization of, comprehensive services in women-only safe spaces. This could be a central aspect of UN Women’s contribution to the response to the Syria refugee situation.
Management Response: UN Women’s commitment will continue toward the provision of comprehensive, wide-ranging services in women-only safe spaces and strategic engagement with key donors will continue to take place at country, regional and corporate levels with the objective to secure long-term donor commitment and prioritization of such services. Ownership of host governments is also key for ensuring gender-responsive comprehensive services. One option is to proceed with pooled fund mechanism and as an example, UN Women Jordan’s Oasis model is funded through the generous support of multiple donors through a pooled fund mechanism fully aligned against the Strategic Note and Annual Workplan of UN Women Jordan. The pooled fund modality allows multiple donors to come together and leverage their individual contributions towards the holistic implementation of the Oasis model and joint attribution of all results, while sharing political risks and operational costs and lowering reporting burdens on partners. The pooled fund and rolling acceptance of contributions has also meant that different streams of funding could always be leveraged to ensure as few gaps as possible were encountered during Oases service provision.
Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Peace and security (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Capacity development, Advocacy, Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind, Knowledge management
Organizational Priorities: Humanitarian action, Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Human Rights, Sustainability, Relevance, Efficiency, Effectiveness, Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Advocate strategically vis-à-vis the donors through targeted discussions (for example, at the 3RP and at global (ie. Brussels conferences), regional and country level fora) for the sustenance and expansion of the safe space models, where possible using government owned centres and with the support of grassroots women’s organisations, to ensure sustainability and standardization of the multisectoral services including: 1. Psycho-social, legal, referrals, and other protection support is availed to women in need/at-risk. 2. Childcare and transportation facilities are provided to women, allowing them to enter the labour market, have work-life balance as well as engage in the public sphere, while taking into account context and socio-cultural restraints so as not to place women at risk. 3. Training on economic empowerment/resilience building and soft skills (particularly leadership, communication and problem-solving skills) so that they are more confident engaging in the public sphere and are able to recognise and ask for their rights. UN Women will continue working closely with host government as partners and contributors to the programme of work UN Women Country Offices- Jordan, Iraq and Turkey 2022/01 Ongoing UN Women Türkiye Office has been actively advocating the benefits of women-only safe space models in provision of different protection and livelihood related services vis-à-vis the donors and local public agencies. In this regards, UN Women Türkiye Office were able to mobilize resources for the continuation of SADA Women-Only Center in Gaziantep and Women Support Center in Izmir, Turkey. Furthermore, UN Women Türkiye aims to expand this beneficial model across different provinces where women’s and girls’ access to gender-based violence (GBV) and other protection services is limited. Ongoing with donors in Jordan.
Recommendation: Part of UN Women’s strategic drive could be an in-depth comparative investigation of the pros and cons of the Oasis and SADA models of women-only centres, and work towards streamlining a model that finds the right balance between quality and depth of service, and operational cost and availability to a larger number of beneficiaries
Management Response: It should be noted that a full-fledged, in-depth comparative analysis of the two women-only centers models would not feasibly or consistently consider the national contexts, donor interests and governmental positions that informed the way the models were developed in different countries. Nevertheless, UN Women will create opportunities for cross-country learning on women-only centers and models to ensure the centers can evolve be sustained taking into account their unique contexts.
Description:
Management Response Category: Partially Accepted
Thematic Area: Leadership and political participation (SPs before 2018), Leadership and participation in governance systems (SP 2018-2021)
Operating Principles: Capacity development, Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind, Advocacy
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities, Humanitarian action
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Efficiency, Relevance, Sustainability, Human Rights, Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Enlist the views and expertise of partners (public institutions and CSOs) running the centres on efficiencies and priorities by: 1. Conducting virtual evidence-focused workshops for managers and specialist staff at women-only centres in the two countries. 2. Host a dialogue with the participation of host governments, local authorities, CSOs and women’s groups to share experiences around the women only-centers and exchange good practices. UN Women Country Offices – Turkey and Jordan 2023/01 Completed Completed – most recently JCO held a workshop on redesigning the Oasis model with key stakeholders in November 2022 and further workshops planned in 2023. UN Women Turkiye Office built dialogue mechanisms with women, different civil society actors, representatives of local and national government as well as different duty bearers. Besides, in an active dialogue with two women’s committies established in the UN Women supported centers, UN Women Turkiye Office managed to successfully engage affected populations to decision making mechanisms including future programming.
Recommendation: For programmes with complex objectives such as the Madad programme, UN Women and EUTF (whether funding UN Women or other organisations) should design strong mechanisms for outcome-level monitoring and results reporting, in order to better track the results of programme interventions and understand their relationship with other factors influencing outcomes. This could include budgeting for post-programme monitoring to measure longer-term/sustainability of outcomes
Management Response: UN Women has already taken steps to better design, establish and utilize monitoring frameworks for outcome level indicators, as evidenced by the monitoring efforts under other regional resilience focused programmes (namely, LEAP and COVID-19 response programmes). However, monitoring of outcome-level (and subsequently reporting) also requires a corporate investment to prioritise the development of a robust monitoring framework. As for post programme monitoring, this is contingent on funds received from donors which generally do not fund the measurement of longer-term/sustainability of outcomes in resilience programmes. Further, post programme monitoring also requires a corporate investment from core funds.
Description:
Management Response Category: Partially Accepted
Thematic Area: Peace and security (SPs before 2018), Leadership and participation in governance systems (SP 2018-2021)
Operating Principles: Capacity development, Advocacy, Knowledge management
Organizational Priorities: Humanitarian action, Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Human Rights, Sustainability, Relevance, Efficiency, Effectiveness, Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
UN Women is prioritizing investments in robust monitoring frameworks, guidance and approaches institutionally; and will continue to build robust evidence on the positive effect of women-only comprehensive service centres. In generating such evidence UN Women will take into account the recommendations in Annex 11 on strengthening survey design and analysis to capture outcomes over time and assess relative contributions of interventions. UN Women Regional Office and Country Offices 2023/01 Completed In Q2, 2022, the GS-RCI was being operationalised across 7 LEAP or LEAP-like projects in the Arab States, Europe and Central Asia, as well as Asia and the Pacific regional offices. The countries engaged are Egypt, Iraq, Palestine, Yemen, Jordan, Myanmar, and Turkey. During the reporting period, endline surveys for were launched and data collection was completed. Country level staff have also received a training session on translating/coding survey responses using the GS-RCI statistical model. Furthermore, UN Women continued to be engaged with the deployment of this monitoring approach within the 3RP structure in Lebanon using the Vulnerability Assessment for Syrian Refugees (VASyR) with 2018 and 2019 household data. Lastly, UN Women engaged with FAO Regional Office in Cairo to prepare for a regional collaboration agreement to extend the support provided to UN Women beyond December 2022 (when the current agreement expires), instead of an HQ to RO agreement. Several meetings on this were held and while FAO expressed interest in a collaboration at the regional level, it was agreed (due to time constraints) that the collaboration is extended from FAO HQ level while discussions at the regional level continue to identify scope of collaboration within the Arab States Region.
Recommendation: UN Women should continue the work to develop and refine the gender-sensitive RIMA with its gender-sensitive Resilience Capacity Index. This work can become a significant contribution of UN Women and FAO to filling gender-sensitive data and evidence gaps and further the understanding of the drivers and barriers to resilience.
Management Response: UN Women initiated the process of refining the methodology and tools under the framework of other resilience programmes, as referred to under Recommendation 5. The tool is being rolled out in 5 countries in the Arab States region in 2021 and tested again using a large set of data. The Gender-Sensitive Resilience Index (GSRI) will also be applied in Turkey under the Refugee Response Programme. UN Women intends to invest in the tool further as it continues to implement similar programmes.
Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Peace and security (SPs before 2018), Leadership and participation in governance systems (SP 2018-2021)
Operating Principles: Capacity development, Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind, Advocacy
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities, Humanitarian action
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Efficiency, Relevance, Sustainability, Human Rights, Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
UN Women will continue to refine the GSRI methodology and tools by rolling it out in 5 countries within the Arab States region by (1) building the capacities of the relevant country offices’ and implementing partners’ monitoring staff capacities and (2) working closely with the country offices on refining the data analysis and reporting. UN Women Regional Office and Country Offices 2023/01 Completed In 2022, the GS-RCI was being operationalised across 7 LEAP or LEAP-like projects in the Arab States, Europe and Central Asia, as well as Asia and the Pacific regional offices. The countries engaged are Egypt, Iraq, Palestine, Yemen, Jordan, Myanmar, and Turkey. During the reporting period, endline surveys for were launched and data collection was completed. Country level staff have also received a training session on translating/coding survey responses using the GS-RCI statistical model. This was one of the critical steps for strengthening staff capacities not only in data collection, but analysis process. Along with this training, a manual on coding was developed by the Regional Management Specialist on resilience and was shared with the country offices for reference. Due to lack of dedicated M&E capacity at country level, only 50% of the CO staff implementing the GS-RCI monitoring approach were able to undertake the conversion themselves. The rest such as Egypt, Iraq and Yemen required regional support. Upon the completion of the endline surveys, country level reports will be produced in subsequent quarters. Furthermore, UN Women continued to be engaged with the deployment of this monitoring approach within the 3RP structure in Lebanon using the Vulnerability Assessment for Syrian Refugees (VASyR) with 2018 and 2019 household data. Lastly, UN Women engaged with FAO Regional Office in Cairo to prepare for a regional collaboration agreement to extend the support provided to UN Women beyond December 2022 (when the current agreement expires), instead of an HQ to RO agreement. Several meetings on this were held and while FAO expressed interest in a collaboration at the regional level, it was agreed (due to time constraints) that the collaboration is extended from FAO HQ level while discussions at the regional level continue to identify scope of collaboration within the Arab States Region.
Recommendation: UN Women should develop a robust learning framework for such programmes and facilitate regular structured learning exchanges between the countries such as by undertaking country-specific, thematic meetings for the purpose of conducting ‘deep dives’ on thematic issues (such as GBV, cash for work, and social cohesion). These thematic meetings would be beneficial for collecting best practices and challenges on specific thematic issues (for example gender), which could be shared with other countries.
Management Response: UN Women has structures in place that promote cross country learning and cover wide range of thematic issues and the structure is composed of a communities of practice (CoPs). The CoPs are of central importance for knowledge exchange around plans and best practices. While at regional level in the Arab States region, UN Women has put in place a COVID-19 response CoP structure to cover monthly themes as recommended to strengthen knowledge around these key areas, a corporate investment to prioritise resilience programme learning especially for refugee response.
Description:
Management Response Category: Partially Accepted
Thematic Area: Peace and security (SPs before 2018), Leadership and participation in governance systems (SP 2018-2021)
Operating Principles: Capacity development, Advocacy, Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind
Organizational Priorities: Humanitarian action, Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Human Rights, Sustainability, Relevance, Efficiency, Effectiveness, Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
UN Women will organise regular (remote) meetings on various thematic issues and continue to produce online and offline materials, documenting outcomes of these meetings, which can be accessible to UN Women country teams and partners. UN Women HQ (HACRO) 2022/01 Completed
UN Women will enhance communication mechanisms at country/regional level to ensure that relevant internal stakeholders are aware of programme activities and lessons learned, and that best practices are shared UN Women Regional Office and Country Offices 2022/01 Completed Regular sharing forums are in place now and are bbeing run by the regional gender and humanitarian specialist.
Recommendation: UN Women should ensure that it has core staff at regional and country level (i.e. M&E, staff) available from the outset of programmes.
Management Response: UN Women agrees that a greater investment in core staffing (including M&E) capacities at regional and country levels is required.
Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Peace and security (SPs before 2018), Leadership and participation in governance systems (SP 2018-2021)
Operating Principles: Capacity development, Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind, Knowledge management
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities, Humanitarian action
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Efficiency, Relevance, Sustainability, Human Rights, Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
UN Women will ensure that dedicated programme oversight, reporting and M&E, financial oversight and communications staff for the programme at regional and country level are recruited in good time, to be available from the inception phase of programmes. UN Women Regional Office and Country Offices 2022/01 Completed This will be taken on board for future programmes. A regional programme specialist on resilience monitoring was recruited to strengthen monitoring aspects of LEAP or LEAP like programmes
Recommendation: Greater investment of efforts to create sustainable and decent income-generating opportunities across beneficiary groups – Syrian refugees, IDPs and vulnerable host communities.
Management Response: UN Women operates within legislative environments in each of the countries, which can be constraining, especially when it comes to refugees. Long term income generation opportunities are bound by host governments’ laws with limitations placed on obtaining work permits, which can limit refugees’ long-term engagement in the economic space. Structural barriers in the labour market can also limit the number of decent work opportunities for refugees. UN Women will invest in these efforts through public and private partnerships and corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes within companies. UN Women will also continue to collaborate with other UN agencies working in improving livelihoods opportunities with the objective to create sustainable and decent income generation opportunities.
Description:
Management Response Category: Partially Accepted
Thematic Area: Peace and security (SPs before 2018), Leadership and participation in governance systems (SP 2018-2021)
Operating Principles: Capacity development, Advocacy, Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind
Organizational Priorities: Humanitarian action, Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Human Rights, Sustainability, Relevance, Efficiency, Effectiveness, Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
UN Women will continue to focus programmatic efforts and interventions on both host and refugee populations taking into account the different country contexts, including through needs analyses, focused on host community women as well as refugee women, which may help draw host community women to the integrated services. UN Women Country Offices- Jordan, Iraq and Turkey 2023/01 Completed UN Women Türkiye Office continues to provide technical support to SADA Women’s Cooperative through local and international consultants. Moreover, UN Women Türkiye Office in partnership with UN Women Iceland National Committee has established a partnership model through which SADA Women’s Cooperative and North 66, an Icelandic garment brand, will cooperate in production of textile materials to generate income for women partners of the Cooperative.
UN Women will collaborate with the private sector to create employment opportunities for Syrian refugees, IDPs and vulnerable host communities (through their CSR programmes for example), dependent on country-specific legislation. UN Women Country Offices- Jordan, Iraq and Turkey 2023/01 Ongoing
UN Women will further examine models such as cooperative associations, whereby women can collectively work together to generate income. UN Women Country Offices – Iraq and Turkey 2023/01 Ongoing Turkey has completed this. Iraq CO has to complete this action.
UN Women will further examine income-generating models such as through home-based businesses. UN Women Country Offices- Iraq, Jordan and Turkey 2023/01 Ongoing UN Women in Jordan carried out a study on business incubators in 2018.
Recommendation: Continue working on initiatives that support behaviour/attitudinal changes among men and boys and ensure these are carefully integrated into programme design, theories of change and the development of monitoring indicators. Consider developing long-term strategies for initiatives on changing gender norms that take into account that changes in attitude and behaviour require long-term efforts. This should not be at the expense of women-only centres, which are valuable, in particular for the most vulnerable women
Management Response: UN Women recognizes that gender equality cannot be achieved without a systematic involvement of men and boys in its programmes. UN Women also acknowledges that gaining support from men, whether in the broader community or family members, is central to achieving women’s economic empowerment in deeply gender-unequal societies. Programmes aimed at promoting women’s rights and empowerment are strengthened when components aimed at men’s behaviour and attitudes are integral to the programme. UN Women will continue in its future programmes to work with men and boys to advance gender equality, women empowerment and end violence against women and to challenge the elimination of harmful gendered practices and stereotypes (aligned to the “Men and Women for Gender Equality” programme under the global Impact area 6: A comprehensive and dynamic set of global norms, policies and standards on gender equality and women’s empowerment).
Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Peace and security (SPs before 2018), Leadership and participation in governance systems (SP 2018-2021)
Operating Principles: Capacity development, Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind, Advocacy, Knowledge management
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities, Humanitarian action
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Efficiency, Relevance, Sustainability, Human Rights, Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
UN Women will work with civil society organisations on programmes and initiatives that address behaviour change among men and boys and which target youth and adolescents (refugees, IDPs and host communities). One of the ways this will be done is using innovative media initiatives to reinforce messages and enlist men as creators and participants in initiatives rather than just audiences. UN Women Regional Office and Country Offices 2023/01 Completed This is part of UN Women regular efforts. In the Arab States region, this is carried out under the “Men and Women for Gender Equality” programme.
Recommendation: IRAQ CO-specific: Programming aimed at addressing the barriers women face in reaching economic empowerment should include consideration of the provision of childcare support, since lack of childcare is a key barrier for women to access the labour market in Iraq
Management Response: UN Women will ensure that all livelihood trainings and cash for work programmes will include childcare support. Women Leadership Institute (WLI) (Kirkuk) for instance now includes childcare support under the LEAP project, following monitoring visits and recommendations to include childcare facilities in their site in Kirkuk. It is worth noting that some UN Women-supported women centers had spaces for childcare support, including Mosul and in Baserma camp, where a room for children that accompanied their mothers was allocated under the supervision of a social worker.
Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Peace and security (SPs before 2018), Leadership and participation in governance systems (SP 2018-2021)
Operating Principles: Capacity development, Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind
Organizational Priorities: Humanitarian action, Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Human Rights, Sustainability, Relevance, Efficiency, Effectiveness, Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
All livelihoods training and cash for work programme will include support for childcare as a matter of best practice for allowing more women to access training and engage in economic activity. UN Women Country Office - Iraq 2023/01 Completed all proposals that include cash for work component submitted by UN Women Iraq office in 2022 has an element of child care or costs dedicated for the provision of child care services.
Recommendation: Consider conducting needs assessments at two stages for livelihoods training programmes: First, at design stage, a community-level needs assessment to identify target groups and geographical areas. Then, during implementation, at individual level in order to better align and adapt training opportunities to existing skill levels.
Management Response: UN Women will ensure to continue to conduct both vulnerability assessment at design stage as well as during implementation to adapt training opportunities to existing skill levels.
Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Peace and security (SPs before 2018), Leadership and participation in governance systems (SP 2018-2021)
Operating Principles: Capacity development, Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities, Humanitarian action
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Efficiency, Relevance, Sustainability, Human Rights, Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
More nuanced approach will be adopted to take into account the individual backgrounds and starting points of vulnerable women and girls, including a comprehensive vulnerability assessments for livelihood training programmes, in order to 1) support eligibility for entry into the programme and 2) support alignment of the programme activities with the skills of women. UN Women Country Office - Iraq 2023/01 Ongoing
Recommendation: Iraq CO specific- In order to ensure equitable programming and reaching vulnerable women and girls from all backgrounds, intervention sites and beneficiary populations should be selected on the basis of a review of programmatic data about the population in need, offering opportunities based on vulnerability rather than displacement status. This will support equitable programming and reach of vulnerable women and girls from all backgrounds
Management Response: UN Women selected the most vulnerable women beneficiaries in each location and did not base the selection on displacement status. However, UN Women takes note of the comment for future programming. However, the Madad programme mainly focused on refugee’s population as refugee camps within Iraq are in great need of assistance and services.
Description:
Management Response Category: Partially Accepted
Thematic Area: Peace and security (SPs before 2018), Leadership and participation in governance systems (SP 2018-2021)
Operating Principles: Capacity development, Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind
Organizational Priorities: Humanitarian action, Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Human Rights, Sustainability, Relevance, Efficiency, Effectiveness, Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Future programmes will continue to ensure that the most vulnerable women and girls will be reached. Selection will be based on review of programmatic data of population in need. UN Women Country Office - Iraq 2022/01 Completed As part of UN Women resilience monitoring efforts in Iraq, the evidence base on resilience and demographic profiles is being expanded across LEAP like programmes. All future programmes will deploy resilience monitoring approach to expand this evidence base, which later will be used to review the selection and targeting criteria.
Recommendation: Iraq CO Specific- In any further iteration of the programme, UN Women should prioritise the quality improvement of pragmatic, income-generating activities for women and girls, as these were identified as the most impactful interventions, but also those which would benefit from enhanced alignment with beneficiary needs and expectations
Management Response: UN Women will continue to work with local and national businesses to develop training activities that are relevant to preparing women to take advantage of Iraq’s emerging 21st-century business sector.
Description:
Management Response Category: Partially Accepted
Thematic Area: Peace and security (SPs before 2018), Leadership and participation in governance systems (SP 2018-2021)
Operating Principles: Capacity development, Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities, Humanitarian action
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Efficiency, Relevance, Sustainability, Human Rights, Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Programmes will continue to work with local and national businesses and business organisations to develop training activities that are relevant to preparing women to take advantage of Iraq’s emerging 21st century business sector. UN Women Country Office - Iraq 2023/01 Ongoing
Recommendation: Iraq CO specific-UN Women should strengthen efforts at country level to ensure that the programme design and implementation are owned by the government in order to support sustainability purposes.
Management Response: UN Women’s Country Representative conducted five meetings with governmental officials (including the Office of the Secretary General of the Council of the Ministers), the EU Ambassador and representatives from civil society organizations (CSOs) with the objective of presenting as well as ensuring the approval and endorsement of the project. UN Women presented the main objectives and expected results of the EU Madad programme to make sure that its impact was in line with governmental and international donors’ priorities and policies on gender equality and women’s empowerment in Iraq.
Description:
Management Response Category: Partially Accepted
Thematic Area: Peace and security (SPs before 2018), Leadership and participation in governance systems (SP 2018-2021)
Operating Principles: Capacity development, Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind
Organizational Priorities: Humanitarian action, Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Human Rights, Sustainability, Relevance, Efficiency, Effectiveness, Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Reference groups and/or steering groups will be established during the design phase of the programme, when feasible. The groups will be actively involved throughout the programme timeframe. UN Women Country Office - Iraq 2019/01 Completed In Iraq, a steering group was not established due to the political transition the country was undergoing at the beginning of 2018. To make sure it could successfully implement the programme, UN Women worked very carefully to navigate this transition and ensure that it kept building consensus and endorsement for the programme a different manner to other countries due to this contextual specificity. In future programming, UN Women will consider establishing a steering group.
UN Women country managers will play an important role in ensuring that information on the programme at a regional and country level is shared with relevant government counterparts. UN Women Country Office - Iraq 2019/01 Completed UN Women Country Representative conducted a series of meetings with government officials and the donor community to ensure the impact of the project was in line with governmental and international donors’ priorities and policies on gender equality and women’s empowerment in Iraq. The results of the meetings were essentially:  Counterparts were able to understand the Madad project’s objectives and expected results;  Counterparts were able to discuss possible adjustments to the project to better meet the needs of Syrian refugee and IDP women and girls. Counterparts endorsed the project and highlighted its great value in the context of Iraq. A complete list of stakeholders who endorsed and reviewed the project are listed below: 1) (Former) Secretary General of the Council of Ministries 2) Mayor of Baghdad and Chairperson of Standing Committee for the Advancement of Status of Iraqi Women 3) EU Ambassador in Iraq 4) Secretary General of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) High Council of Women Affairs 5) Representative from Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (MoLSA) 6) Ministry of Interior (MOI) 7) Cross Sector Task Force (CSTF) 1325 Secretariat 8) Representatives from CSOs, including, President of Baghdad women Association (BWA); President of Women Leadership Institute (WLI); Tajdid’s CEO; and Women Empowerment Organization (WEO) Director
Recommendation: Jordan CO- Focus on capacity development and job placement opportunities that are based on local market needs as well as on the situation and needs of Syrian refugee and vulnerable Jordanian women.
Management Response: UN Women is committed to ensuring that the job trainings and placement efforts are linked to the local market needs and the situation and needs of Syrian refugee and vulnerable Jordanian women. UN Women has been doing this through regular local labour market needs assessments and monitoring activities with beneficiaries where data is collected at the baseline, midline and endline. UN Women will continue to support women through relevant job trainings in the second phase of the MADAD programme.
Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Peace and security (SPs before 2018), Leadership and participation in governance systems (SP 2018-2021)
Operating Principles: Capacity development, Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities, Humanitarian action
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Efficiency, Relevance, Sustainability, Human Rights, Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Conduct a localized labour market needs assessment to identify market needs at a localized and national level. UN Women Country Office - Jordan 2023/01 Completed – JCO’s RP EFE did a local level labour market need assessment prior to their implementation of the WEE programme. JCO further has done a national one, that covered 6 governorates in partnership with GIZ.
Conduct a capacity assessment to identify existing capacities of beneficiaries and areas where capacity development is needed based on their interests and localized labour market needs assessment. UN Women Country Office - Jordan 2023/01 Over due Overdue – to be explored in 2023 under the new phase of EBE
Create partnerships with local/national service providers in order to link women to job opportunities. Conduct a gender analysis to assess suitability of available employment opportunities for women and gaps that need to be addressed so that women can engage in suitable job environments. UN Women Country Office - Jordan 2023/01 Completed The responsible party that supports UN Women with job training and job placement conducted a due diligence process to ensure the compliance of the enterprises that offer job placements with decent job standards. JCO has done this through the partnerships we have established with the private sector. Jordan has a network of more than 128 private sector enterprises that are Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) Signatories called “Jordan’s WEPs Network”. Each of those enterprises go through a due diligence process before accepting their signature and announcing their participation in the WEPs network. 25 companies have utilized WEPs Gender Gap Analysis Tool, which has helped them to identify the gender gaps in their enterprises in a confidential manner, where UN Women has offered support in developing a gender mainstreaming action plan to address the identified gaps.
Conduct regular monitoring checks to obtain feedback from women on their satisfaction. UN Women Country Office - Jordan 2022/01 Completed this can been included as part of the midline and endline survey questionnaires.
Recommendation: Provide women with opportunities to start their own businesses and encourage innovative ideas such as mushroom growing and productive kitchens. Provide continued mentoring and follow-up to support women in sustaining their businesses.
Management Response: UN Women undertook a business incubator feasibility study in 2018 to inform programming around micro entrepreneurship. UN Women plans to continue support to women entrepreneurs in the second phase of the MADAD programme through a holistic approach of providing training, mentorship/peer support and linking it to access to financial services (taking forward the guidelines launched in the first phase of the Madad programme).
Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Peace and security (SPs before 2018), Leadership and participation in governance systems (SP 2018-2021)
Operating Principles: Capacity development, Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind, Knowledge management
Organizational Priorities: Humanitarian action, Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Human Rights, Sustainability, Relevance, Efficiency, Effectiveness, Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Conduct capacity assessments to identify existing capacities of beneficiaries and areas where enhancements are needed based on their projects. Ensure that trainings include value chain, feasibility studies development, as well as soft skills, such as communication and marketing. UN Women Country Office - Jordan 2023/01 Over due – to be explored in 2023 under the new phase of EBE
Develop strong marketing strategies for entrepreneurial ventures. Utilise UN Women’s and other partners CSR programmes as a marketing outlet for ventures. UN Women Country Office - Jordan 2023/01 Over due Overdue – to be explored in 2023 under the new phase of EBE
Ensure that long term mentorship/coaching is provided to women entrepreneurs. UN Women Country Office - Jordan 2022/01 Over due Overdue – to be explored in 2023 under the new phase of EBE
Recommendation: Continue to apply and advocate for comprehensive and holistic support through the Oasis model, in collaboration with government.
Management Response: Ministry of Social Development (MOSD), in partnership with UN Women, is working closely with international partners to strengthen, adapt and scale nationwide the Oasis Model and leverage it as an entry point for community resilience and development by centering women’s economic participation and empowerment as a key driver of Jordan’s recovery and long-term stability and security. Under the ministry’s leadership, UN Women plans to expand to at least five new centers per year, while continuing to address the broader practical and social barriers that hinder women’s economic, social and civic participation and to cultivate the knowledge and skills necessary for their resilience in the COVID-19 era and support the long-term recovery of their families and communities. The Oasis model’s holistic approach to women’s economic and social empowerment and protection – specifically, its graduation approach (from social assistance to income generation), GBV prevention, access to education and skills development and women’s civic participation engagement – parallel the national social protection strategy’s three pillars, and will be a key factor contributing to its successful implementation.
Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Peace and security (SPs before 2018), Leadership and participation in governance systems (SP 2018-2021)
Operating Principles: Capacity development, Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind, Advocacy
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities, Humanitarian action
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Efficiency, Relevance, Sustainability, Human Rights, Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
With MOSD’s leadership, UN Women will roll out the expansion of the Oasis model UN Women Country Office - Jordan 2022/01 Completed
Further strengthen capacities of MOSD staff to ensure that they are able to provide comprehensive and holistic services within the safe spaces. UN Women Country Office - Jordan 2022/01 Completed Completed and to be continued in 2023 under the new phase of EBE
Ensure robust feedback and complaint mechanisms enable Oasis centres to adapt to the needs of beneficiaries. UN Women Country Office - Jordan 2022/01 Completed Completed and to be continued in 2023 under the new phase of EBE
Recommendation: Jordan CO specific- Look into options where virtual support and services can be provided, such as online trainings, psychosocial support, and income-generating opportunities.
Management Response: With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns, UN Women managed to seamlessly shift to online and remote services. This included direct cash assistance via blockchain, remote GBV counselling, dissemination of reliable information and support for remote learning, and training through the Second Chance Education (SCE) virtual skills school. While the shift to online services and learning opportunities, ensured that vulnerable women continued to access services during the pandemic, as the movement restrictions ease, it will be critical for women to be provided on-site support and services. The pandemic has opened avenues for new online opportunities which will allow for further reach and for no delay in services in case of closures. This will be leveraged and strengthened going forward.
Description:
Management Response Category: Partially Accepted
Thematic Area: Peace and security (SPs before 2018), Leadership and participation in governance systems (SP 2018-2021)
Operating Principles: Capacity development, Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind
Organizational Priorities: Humanitarian action, Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Human Rights, Sustainability, Relevance, Efficiency, Effectiveness, Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Develop capacities of UN Women’s protection staff to provide online/remote sensitive and confidential services UN Women Country Office - Jordan 2023/01 Completed protection staff attended various trainings by the GBVSWG on this.
Extend trainings offered through the Second Chance Education virtual platform to beneficiaries at the Oasis. UN Women Country Office - Jordan 2022/06 Over due Overdue - to be explored in 2023 under the new phase of EBE
Recommendation: Jordan CO- UN Women should consider extending partnerships with NGOs that go beyond existing ones that are Amman-focused and well-established. Provide support to local NGOs and CSOs in the areas of intervention
Management Response: UN Women makes efforts to reach out to CSOs outside of Amman through its competitive selection processes, its co-leadership of the Localization Task Team of the Humanitarian Partners Forum, and its implementation of projects supported by the Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF) During the first phase of the Madad programme, few partners were not Amman based, including the Working Women's Association. UN Women will continue to focus on increasing outreach to local CSOs.
Description:
Management Response Category: Partially Accepted
Thematic Area: Peace and security (SPs before 2018), Leadership and participation in governance systems (SP 2018-2021)
Operating Principles: Capacity development, Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities, Humanitarian action
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Efficiency, Relevance, Sustainability, Human Rights, Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Create networking opportunities between NGOs at local / national and international level to share experiences, best practices and open opportunities for collaboration. UN Women CO Jordan 2023/01 Over due Overdue - to be explored in 2023 under the new phase of EBE
Promote joint submissions which include an element of knowledge and capacity transfer from the more established NGO/CSO partner (Similar to the approach under the WPHF). UN Women Country Office – Jordan 2023/01 Over due Overdue - to be explored in 2023 under the new phase of EBE
Recommendation: Turkey CO-UN Women should focus on the ‘missing link’ between training and longer-term employment or income-generation in its economic empowerment programming
Management Response: UN Women has already taken steps to reinforce the links between the skills trainings, employment and income generation in its ongoing and new programming. For example, UN Women has closely collaborated with Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality and Gaziantep Chamber of Industry to facilitate the re-location of a part of the SADA Women's Cooperative to a new incubation center owned by the local authorities, for sustainability purposes. UN Women also supported the SADA Women's Cooperative to receive new donor funding, and manage the funding on its own. Skills trainings to be offered under new progamming will continue to be in line with the needs of the local labour market. They will reinforce the existing skills of women wherever possible, including the provision of language and soft skills. Added value and targeting of specific skills trainings will be carefully considered prior to their launch. However, as stipulated under recommendation no 9 for the whole programme, there are structural barriers also in Turkey regarding women’s participation in the labour market, which affects the extent to which UN Women can commit to ensure long-term employment or income generation following skills development and vocational trainings. It should also be noted that women's economic empowerment is not a stand-alone programme and that it is part and parcel of UN Women Turkey's Refugee Response Programme
Description:
Management Response Category: Partially Accepted
Thematic Area: Peace and security (SPs before 2018), Leadership and participation in governance systems (SP 2018-2021)
Operating Principles: Capacity development, Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities, Humanitarian action
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Efficiency, Relevance, Sustainability, Human Rights, Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
UN Women’s future programming in refugee response shall reinforce the link between skills trainings and employment through closer cooperation with government agencies, local authorities, private sector, chambers of commerce and other local economic actors, building on and streamlining the experience of the SADA Women’s Cooperative. Cooperation with actors offering job placement and income generation will be further reinforced. UN Women Country Office - Turkey 2023/01 Completed UN Women Türkiye Office have reinforced the link between skills trainings and employment. Between 2021-2022, UN Women Türkiye Office partnered with Public Employment Agency (IŞKUR) and Chamber of Industry through its CSO partner to complement skills trainings with employment opportunities. Furthermore, UN Women Türkiye Office partnered with North 66, an Icelandic garment brand, to support SADA Women’s Cooperative. In addition, UN Women Türkiye Office has linked women beneficiaries in İzmir to Bebemos, a private toy company. UN Women Türkiye Office also supported SADA Women’s Cooperative to expand its marketing channels to provide catering services for local authorities, CSOs, and UN agencies in Gaziantep, Türkiye.
Recommendation: Turkey CO specific- Going forward, it would be highly valuable for UN Women to conduct a careful, forensic examination of the SADA centre model and its results in Turkey, with the aim of taking what is best from this pilot and developing a less costly, or at least a gradually down-scalable, model that has better prospects for long-term sustainability
Management Response: A gradual scaling-down of the model of the SADA Centre would increase the chances of the centre’s sustainability, as well as of the similar structures, both through donor funding and support from the local and national authorities. It should be noted that the COVID-19 pandemic’s evolution will also be a determinant for the re-modeling of women's empowerment hubs such as the SADA Center, where some of the services may continue to be provided online, wherever feasible and required. Ensuring women's participation and leadership in the examination and `re-modeling` of the SADA Center and similar structures is crucial.
Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Peace and security (SPs before 2018), Leadership and participation in governance systems (SP 2018-2021)
Operating Principles: Capacity development, Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind
Organizational Priorities: Humanitarian action, Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Sustainability, Relevance, Efficiency, Effectiveness, Gender equality, Human Rights
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Acknowledging that the SADA Centre is an example of best practice albeit with high management and running costs, UN Women, in partnership with its civil society partners, will carry out an in-depth forensic examination of the SADA Center and similar structures to propose a less-costly model, without compromising the quality of its services and maintaining its safe space and gender-responsive approach. This key action will be implemented in conjunction with recommendation 4 addressed to the broader MADAD programme. UN Women Country Office - Turkey 2022/07 Completed UN Women Country Office conducted 1 in-depth forensic examination of the SADA Center with the support of an international consultant. Furthermore, UN Women Türkiye Office required its CSO partner The Association for Solidarity with Asylum Seekers and Migrants (ASAM) to conduct another forensic examination. The models proposed as a result of the two forensic examination revealed that all services are essential for the resilience of vulnerable women and girls. However, it has been underlined that the Centers may put more emphasis on referrals to available services provided by other agencies to reduce the running cost of the centers.
Recommendation: Carefully examine the balance between prioritizing the most at-risk, and broader availability of training and livelihoods skills opportunities
Management Response: It should be noted that training and livelihoods skills opportunities for most-at-risk women not only increases their employability but should also be considered as a process of empowerment. Given the limited availability of women-only safe spaces serving the most-at-risk women, UN Women’s refugee response, including at the SADA Centre, will continue to be inclusive of such women, facing multiple forms of vulnerabilities. UN Women will prioritize the targeting of the training and skills development opportunities, taking into account women's individual needs, backgrounds and pathways, where women with more robust learning or employment backgrounds may be provided with or referred to more advanced trainings.
Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Peace and security (SPs before 2018), Leadership and participation in governance systems (SP 2018-2021)
Operating Principles: Capacity development, Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities, Humanitarian action
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Efficiency, Relevance, Sustainability, Human Rights, Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
UN Women and its CSO partners will ensure that counselling and follow-up continues for at-risk women during training periods and that training levels are targeted and be tailored to different levels. UN Women Country Office - Turkey 2023/01 Completed At women-only centers operated by UN Women Türkiye Office, women who benefit from skills building interventions also have regular access to protection services. Furthermore, women who resort to women-only center for livelihood opportunities are also provided with an information session on protection services including but not limited to GBV, psyscho-social support, early and forced marriages, child labour etc. In addition, UN Women Türkiye Office continues to refer women to available livelihood opportunities provided by other agencies in the field through both direct counselling sessions and the dissemination of available opportunities.
UN Women will continue to refer women who resort to women-only centers to livelihoods opportunities offered by other operators in the field. UN Women Country Office - Turkey 2023/01 Completed
Recommendation: Continue to advocate the SADA centre model as best practice
Management Response: Thanks to the advocacy efforts and positive relationships with its donors built on mutual trust, UN Women secured additional funding for the sustainability of the SADA Center, as well as for the continued operation of the center In Izmir and similar models until April 2021. Further resource mobilization efforts are ongoing.
Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Peace and security (SPs before 2018), Leadership and participation in governance systems (SP 2018-2021)
Operating Principles: Capacity development, Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind
Organizational Priorities: Humanitarian action, Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Sustainability, Relevance, Efficiency, Effectiveness, Gender equality, Human Rights
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
UN Women will continue to advocate the SADA Centre as a best practice in gender-responsive and comprehensive service delivery, women’s empowerment and leadership, at the relevant national, international and inter-agency platforms, so that funding and resourcing decisions are influenced in favour of such structures. UN Women Country Office - Turkey 2023/01 Completed UN Women Türkiye Office advocates the SADA Center as a best practice at inter agency platforms such as 3RP Protection and Livelihood Working Groups. Moreover, UN Women Türkiye Office conducts meeting with local stakeholders for the continuation of the women-only center model. Resource mobilization efforts has been increased and different donor submissions were realized.
Recommendation: Future programming on social cohesion or men’s gender awareness activities should include efforts to develop outcome indicators so that results beyond output level (how many activities were organised or women included) can be monitored. This would help develop evidence on best practice.
Management Response: Future programming in the field of social cohesion and engagement of men and boys will need to be aligned with the national priorities, as well as with the Turkey Chapter of the Refugee and Resilience Plan (3RP). Men’s gender awareness will be mainstreamed into all relevant outputs of programmes in a cross-cutting manner, rather than several stand-alone activities. The limitation for this recommendation is the overall gap in methodological approaches to measure the progress in social cohesion.
Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Peace and security (SPs before 2018), Leadership and participation in governance systems (SP 2018-2021)
Operating Principles: Capacity development, Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities, Humanitarian action
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Efficiency, Relevance, Sustainability, Human Rights, Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Regardless of the identification of the indicator either at the outcome or output levels, UN Women will ensure that sex and age-disaggregated qualitative and quantitative evidence is collected and generated on best practices, going beyond the number of activities and participants. UN Women Country Office - Turkey 2023/01 Completed -UN Women Türkiye Office has published several success/impact stories where qualitative evidence is collected from beneficiaries regarding the efficacy and quality of the services provided at women-only centers. In addition, UN Women Türkiye Office collected qualitative data from beneficiaries during the assessment of UN Women’s Refugee Response Strategy in 2022. Furthermore, UN Women Türkiye Office conducts baseline and endline surveys for beneficiaries benefitting from the services provided at women-only centers to measure the change in women’s and girls’ resilience to conflicts and crisis.
UN Women will build on the experiences gained through the men-engagement activities held with the male family members of women attending the SADA Center, as well as the ‘neighbourhood leader women’ as promising practices. UN Women Country Office - Turkey 2023/01 Completed Building on the experience of neighborhood leader women, UN Women Türkiye Office in partnership with the Foundation for the Support of Women's Work implemented Resilient Neighborhoods Programme. The programme expanded the geographical scope to include one neighborhood in Istanbul and five neighborhoods in Gaziantep. UN Women Türkiye Office has prepared “Men and Boys’ Engagement Strategy Document” where experiences gained through the men-engagement activities held at the SADA Center are reflected. In addition, UN Women Türkiye Office plans to mobilize resources for men-engagement directed at refugee and host community youth at universities.