Management Response

: Policy, Programme and Intergovernmental Division
: 2022 - 2023 , Policy, Programme and Intergovernmental Division (HQ)
: Evaluation of the Strengthening Resilience of Women and Girls affected by conflicts, violent extremism and climate change in the Lake Chad Region (LCB) programme
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: Policy, Programme and Intergovernmental Division
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UN Women conducted a final evaluation of the Strengthening Resilience of Women and Girls in the Lake Chad Region (LCB) programme with the main objectives to: analyse programme outcomes and assess effectiveness of the approach and strategies used to increase women’s resilience to crises; examine programme results in relation to the intended outcomes and outputs and identify the strengths and weaknesses in programme design and implementation; assess how the regional and global components of the programme contributed to UN Women’s global learning and partnership enhancement; examine critical factors that enabled and/or hindered effective achievement of intended results; and provide recommendations on how to address and/or leverage these critical factors, drawing good practices and key lessons on the role/contribution of partnerships in the achievement of planned outputs and outcomes, documenting lessons learned and best practices and assessing potential for sustainability of the on-going work in programme countries. The evaluation findings and supportive recommendations focus on the analysis of the LCB programme design, its theory of change, programme implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and five aspects: relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability, and gender equality and human rights. UN Women welcomes the findings and recommendations of the evaluation and is in general agreement with the five recommendations. The evaluation highlights that the LCB programme has brought tangible changes to the beneficiaries and communities which are likely to last after the project closure. Progress has been made towards both outcomes, and the women reached by the initiative are demonstrating improved resilience to crises. The evaluation also found that significant progress has been made in empowering women leaders to influence policy and encouraging improved gender sensitivity in both work areas. The management response includes key actions for implementing the evaluation recommendations.
: Approved
Recommendation: RECOMMENDATION 1 : INCREASE STAFFING Considering the highly complex a nd multi sectoral interventions of the programme, staffing levels could be increased to ensure closer monitoring, technical follow up and assessment of progress towards the overall project goals at the country level, in addition to the hugely appreciated regional and global components.
Management Response: UN Women agrees that efforts should be taken to increase staffing to ensure closer monitoring, technical follow up and assessment of progress towards the overall project goals at country level.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Peace and security (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Capacity development
Organizational Priorities: Humanitarian action, Climate change
UNEG Criteria: Efficiency
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
UN Women Nigeria Country Office to continue the practice on proper staff planning, and include it in proposals and budgets to ensure better project tracking and partner support. Nigeria Country Office. 2023/12 Completed UN Women Nigeria Country Office (CO) invested adequate staff time and senior management oversight during the implementation of this programme. The Nigeria CO has also adopted a system of staff planning in its new Strategic Note which will be reflected in resource mobilization and proposal development to ensure strong project management, monitoring and financial tracking.
UN Women Cameroon Country Office to conduct a Human Resource (HR) assessment to fill the organigram and to make the necessary recruitment for the increased capacity of the office. This assessment will review every project to ensure suitable staffing is placed for each project. Cameroon Country Office 2023/12 Completed The HR assessment for the UN Women Cameroon Country Office (CO) was completed in 1Q of 2023, leading to a new organigramme which includes: • A programme specialist • A monitoring and evaluation officer • A communication and knowledge management officer • A programme coordinator for each programme, and • An assistant for each programme. Recruitment for these positions is ongoing.
Recommendation: RECOMMENDATION 2 SET UP A PROPER M&E SYSTEM FOR TRACKING AND EVALUATING Having an individual data base, and conducting periodic follow up, including analysing progress levels, would inform the programme management with in-depth information of the project impacts in a timely manner. It is suggested to build on the recently published UN Women’s tools1 which explain how UN Women and its partners can measure the impact of capacity building investments. Conducting capacity assessment for women’s organisations and potentially mapping any other capacity building initiatives by other partners in line with UN Women indicators would maintain a clearer picture of both needs and progress.
Management Response: UN Women agrees that efforts should be taken to strengthen or set up robust tracking and evaluation system, building on UN Women's ongoing tools and initiatives.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Peace and security (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Capacity development
Organizational Priorities: Humanitarian action, Climate change
UNEG Criteria: Efficiency
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Facilitate knowledge sharing and dissemination of UN Women’s relevant tools for capacity assessment and M&E, with Country Offices and other partners DRR and resilience team (WPSR section) 2023/12 Completed The DRR and resilience team facilitated knowledge sharing and dissemination of UN Women’s relevant tools for capacity assessment and M&E, such as the toolkit for assessing women's leadership in disaster and climate resilience, with the COs and other partners.
UN Women Nigeria Country Office to roll out the new tools and ensure alignment with national data protection policies for project tracking and beneficiary monitoring. Nigeria Country Office 2023/12 Completed UN Women Nigeria CO is strengthening its M&E systems, including ensuring sufficient human resources for M&E. Tools were developed to enhance tracking of beneficiaries while ensuring alignment with relevant policies, and sustained supports are available to partners including monthly engaging and review meeting and joint monitoring. In addition, the CO is in the process of recruiting a field-based M&E staff, to further strengthen tracking and monitoring.
Following the HR assessment and increased capacity of the UN Women Cameroon Country Office, a focal point will be assigned for knowledge management and dissemination Cameroon Country Office 2023/12 Completed A communication and knowledge management officer is under recruitment for this purpose.
Recommendation: RECOMMENDATION 3 : PARTNERSHIPS WITH G OVERNMENTS The evaluation team will recommend adding tangible outputs and indicators to measure enhanced par tnership, particularly with the government, in the Theory of Change (ToC) of the Women’s Resilience to Disasters (WRD) framework.
Management Response: UN Women agrees that substantive efforts should be promoted to enhance partnership with relevant stakeholders, including governments, where appropriate. Given that the ToC of the WRD framework already acknowledges the importance of partnership, and has the relevant output/indicator on partnership with stakeholders including government entities, and that the programme implementing offices have the liberty to adjust the outputs/indicators based on the local context and needs, this recommendation is already accommodated within the ToC of the WRD.
More detail
Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Peace and security (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Capacity development
Organizational Priorities: Humanitarian action
UNEG Criteria: Efficiency
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Continue to disseminate the recommendations and findings with Country Offices on the importance of partnerships with government partners where appropriate. DRR and resilience team (WPSR section) 2023/06 Completed The DRR and resilience team has continued to share the recommendations and findings with relevant offices on the importance of partnerships with government partners.
UN Women Nigeria Country Office will continue to explore and partner with the government where necessary and in line with UN Women’s policies and procedures. Nigeria Country Office 2023/12 Completed Under its new Strategic Note (2023-2027), the Nigeria CO has continued to prioritize and strengthen the ongoing partnership with the government at all levels (federal, state, and local government). The CO has actively engaged with government in the implementation of its Strategic Note, including joint project delivery and monitoring.
UN Women Cameroon Country Office will collaborate with government partners and will ensure these partnerships are mobilized for the projects in the future, in particular for the ones funded by the Government of Japan. UN Women Cameroon 2023/12 Completed The CO has elaborated a joint action plan with the Ministry of Women Empowerment and Family, which includes the activities of the Japan Supplementary Budget project.
Recommendation: RECOMMENDATION 4 : SET CLARITY ON CASH BASED INTERVENTIONS (CBI s It is recommended to set clarity on CBIs for the WRD and protection (GBV) outcomes. It seems there was an unclear norm or def inition on CBIs. While the project proposal was mainly targeti ng ‘Cash for Work’ modality, implemented interventions, particularly the assessment reports contain much wider scopes (cash based interventions, socio economic opportunities, income generating activities). While these assessments provide much deeper insights over potential usages of CBIs for women’s resilience, the assessments do not directly lead to the planned activities (i.e., 45 women benefited from cash for work in each country). Cash intervention could mitigate a delay in the distribution of kits, missing the seasonal factors as well as increase choices for the beneficiaries if safely administrated. As it seems UN Women is still at an early stage of using CBIs in both countries, further clarification and guidance on the main purposes and objectives of cash usage in the resilience building programme may be required.
Management Response: UN Women agrees that further clarification and guidance on criteria, purposes and objectives of cash usage in the humanitarian action and resilience building programmes would help facilitate the activities of Country Offices
More detail
Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Peace and security (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Capacity development
Organizational Priorities: Humanitarian action
UNEG Criteria: Efficiency
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Contribute to the ongoing discussion on CBIs to identify the current corporate guidelines, and disseminate the guidance with Country Offices, as appropriate. DRR and resilience team (WPSR section 2024/03 Overdue-Initiated The corporate policy on CBI is scheduled to be developed in 2024, with the opportunity for the WPSR section as well as the COs to contribute to the policy. Relevant corporate resources on CBIs, such as a guidance note on cash assistance, have already been shared with the COs, intending to inform discussions during the policy development.
UN Women Nigeria Country Office to participate in global discussions on modalities for humanitarian operation following admittance of UN Women into the IASC. Nigeria Country Office 2024/06 Completed This action has been aligned with the global discussion following the admission of UN Women into the IASC. The Nigerian CO presented its humanitarian work and operation in Nigeria at the Executive Board’s informal briefing on UN Women's humanitarian strategy held in September 2023.
UN Women Cameroon Country Office to elaborate a CBI strategy based on the global guidance as well as guidance from the national cash working group Cameroon Country Office 2024/06 Overdue-Initiated UN Women Cameroon CO is contributing to the ongoing process for the design of the global strategy for CBI. In addition, the CO is a member of the national cash working group which has planned some trainings to enhance the capacities of its members. The CBI strategy is under elaboration under the framework of the CBI working group.
Recommendation: RECOMMENDATION 5 : AN INTERVENTION TO REMOVE BARRIERS FOR WOMEN TO ACCESS EDUCATION AND SKILL TRAINING BEFORE BUSINESS KIT DISTRIBUTION It is suggeste d to further develop the intervention models on socio economic empowerment based on the assessment findings over g ender based violence GBV risks and gender norms.
Management Response: UN Women agrees to explore possibility of developing the intervention models on socio-economic empowerment based on the assessment findings over GBV risks and gender norms.
More detail
Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Peace and security (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Capacity development
Organizational Priorities: Humanitarian action, Climate change
UNEG Criteria: Efficiency
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
UN Women Nigeria Country Office and partners conduct vocational skills training and climate smart agriculture livelihood support for women beneficiaries in its programming, which usually precedes startup kit distribution Nigeria Country Office 2023/12 Completed Project beneficiaries received vocational skills training before receiving startup kits. The empowerment hub established in Yobe State continues to ensure that the government support for income generation activity is always preceded by training and necessary education even beyond the project lifespan. The Government of Yobe state has continued to utilized the empowerment hub to train conflict affected women and provide them with business start-up kits. Through expanded partnership with the World Bank, the government has established classrooms to facilitate transition of young girls who have received literacy skill training into school.
UN Women Cameroon Country Office will develop a livelihood strategy based on the assessment findings over GBV risks and gender norms Cameroon Country Office 2024/06 Overdue-Initiated A draft livelihood strategy for UN Women Cameroon is pending approval.