Management Response

Recommendation:

The GALs (Gender Action Learning System) Tool should be more emphasized in future similar project in an endeavor to mainstreaming gender in local development and in similar settings

Management Response:

UGCO acknowledges the importance of the GALS methodology in mainstreaming gender in local development and humanitarian work. Management will work put systems in place to have the GALS expert trainer (Humanitarian Specialist) in the team to cascade training to staff and possibly partners in other thematic area through capacity building, community engagement, and monitoring. This will ensure other thematic areas can integrate the principles/utilize the tools more systematically (as applicable) in future projects.

Key Actions Responsible Deadline Status Comments Intergrated GALS methodology in future projects GIHA Program Specialist 2025/03 Overdue-Initiated

Recommendation:

Documentation and implementation of an exit strategy should commence at the design and start of implementation and should spell out the roles of key stakeholders and associated budget (for some aspects like psychosocial support, sustained training and maintaining farmer field schools).

Management Response:

The team recognizes the importance of an exit strategy in ensuring the sustainability of project outcomes beyond the support that UN Women can provide. Moving forward, we will integrate a clear exit strategy from the design phase, outlining stakeholder roles, responsibilities, and a dedicated budget for key components such as psychosocial support, sustained training, and farmer field school maintenance to enhance long-term impact. UN Women project teams will also discuss the exit strategies with partners and socialize them during inception and review meetings. Moreover, UGCO will advocate to the Regional Office/ PSMU to consider the inclusion of a specific section for exit strategy in future ProDoc templates, so that this is taken care off at the design stage.

Key Actions Responsible Deadline Status Comments Engage RO / PSMU to review the ProDoc template to include section for exit plan M&E Specialist 2025/03 Overdue-Not Initiated

Recommendation:

A consortium delivery model is highly recommended and worked well under this project and suited an emergency response scenario.

Management Response:

The project’s choice of taking the consortium approach was partly to facilitate the capacity building of Women’s Rights Organizations (WROs) and local partners to engage in Humanitarian Response, thereby enhancing continuity and sustainability. The Country Office has drawn invaluable lessons from the consortium approach so far and will continue to ensure that lead partners have enough capacity to provide support to the other partners (programmatic and financial) in the consortium. In 2024, UGCO participated in a learning session facilitated by PSMU and has strongly recommended to PSMU to develop clear guidelines for working with consortia to enhance mutual accountability, efficiency and addresses the proliferation of implementing partners.

Key Actions Responsible Deadline Status Comments Provide technical support to lead partners to ensure that the consortium is effective. This includes training for all consortium members on reporting, fraud and corruption among others GIHA Program Specialist 2025/03 Overdue-Initiated Management to follow up with PSMU on the proposed guidelines for working with Consortia SMT 2025/12 Not Initiated

Recommendation:

As a one-year project it is recommended that there is a timely disbursement of funds to implementing partners. This would enable them time to implement activities and generate the desired impact.

Management Response:

The Country Office as a matter of practice now ensures that new project proposals include project on-boarding period (inception period) of 4-6 months in project implementation plans to control for critical process activities that need to be completed ahead of actual project implementation. This has been implemented in recent projects with funding from Austria on Access to Justice and Japan on MUSHO. Furthermore, and where possible, the Country Office will negotiate for projects longer than one year. CO will endeavor to improve on timeliness of disbursements. However, there are a few projects where funders provide only one year for implementation (e.g. Japan and CERF).

Key Actions Responsible Deadline Status Comments Include an inception phase in project design GIHA Program Specialist Programme Managers of other thematic areas 2025/01 Completed During the design of the MUSHO project, funded by the Government of Japan, an inception phase for 3 months was included as part of the design. This provided for a startup of the project including organizing inception meetings and onboarding of partners. Project period has also changed from one year to 2-year period.

Recommendation:

During the Design stage, it is recommended that a needs assessment prior to the intervention be conducted with more active involvement of implementing partners and local leadership to enhance relevance and future sustainability.

Management Response:

The country office will give more consideration to the engagement of implementing partners and local leadership during needs assessment for future projects. Cognizant of the fact that 1) calls for proposal under Japan are usually on short notice with limited timeline for wide engagement, and therefore 2) we have mostly relied on secondary data and past experience to arrive at needs, UN Women Uganda will: • Enhance the process of co-creating the Programme ProDocs together with implementing partners, especially subject matter experts on specific areas. • Enhance the engagement of relevant district local government (DLG) officials to review and make input to draft proposals before submission for funding. While this is already being done, we will take deliberate steps to communicate it well across the respective DLGs, because in many cases, the officials who participate in the needs assessment are not be the same as those who are engaged by the evaluation consultant.

Key Actions Responsible Deadline Status Comments Consult with Responsible Partners where possible in designing interventions GIHA Program Specialist 2025/01 Completed During the design of the MUSHO project, consultations were made with proposed responsible partners especially Japan companies and organizations in line Government of Japan request.