Management Response

: Liberia
: 2025 - 2028 , Liberia (CO)
: CPE-Liberia
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Liberia

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UN Women Liberia Country Office (CO) acknowledges and endorses the six recommendations outlined in the Strategic Note 2020-2025 Country Portfolio Evaluation. The CO will take a proactive and coordinated approach to strengthening its gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE) outcomes through enhanced coordination, normative leadership, institutional engagement, results-based management, inclusivity and sustainability of programming.
: Approved
Recommendation: The Country Office should prioritize its comparative advantage in coordination by scaling up the monitoring of gender equality trends; providing data and statistics to the UN system; and supporting implementation of the Gender Equality Acceleration Plan. In parallel, the Country Office should continue to strengthen joint programming as it has consistently added value in advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment in Liberia. Increased visibility of gender-related results through stronger monitoring processes would allow UN Women to showcase its contribution to advancing gender equality in the country. Based on findings 1, 2, 3. PRIORITY: High. TIMELINE: Short-term.
Management Response: UN Women Liberia Country Office endorses this recommendation and recognizes the strategic importance of leveraging its coordination mandate to advance GEWE in Liberia, while scaling up gender data production and monitoring and strengthening joint programming.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Not applicable
Operating Principles: Internal coordination and communication, Evidence, Data and statistics
Organizational Priorities: UN Coordination
UNEG Criteria: Relevance, Coherence
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
1. Explore opportunities for developing a joint UN programme to improve the availability and use of disaggregated (LNOB) data and gender statistics. Country Office Management Team 2026/06 Not Initiated The action point is drawn from the UNCT-SWAP Comprehensive Assessment (2025) action plan. This action point will contribute to deepening the CO’s role as a provider of data and statistics on gender equality for the UN system.
2. Support the UNCT in building and regularly updating a repository of all available disaggregated (LNOB) data and gender statistics. Country Office Management Team 2026/06 Not Initiated The action point is drawn from the UNCT-SWAP Comprehensive Assessment (2025) action plan. This specific action will contribute to deepening the CO’s role as a provider of data and statistics on gender equality for the UN system.
3. Deepen the office’s substantive role in key UNCF processes (i.e. CCA, CGEP), continue integrating recommendations from CEDAW observations and the UNCT-SWAP Scorecard, and support the GEAP implementation. Country Office Management Team 2026/06 Not Initiated
4. Increase visibility of GEWE results through improved monitoring and communications, (including joint UN monitoring), and launch quarterly learning exchanges to share best practices across agencies and partner. Country Office Management Team 2026/06 Not Initiated
Recommendation: UN Women Liberia should strengthen and step up its normative work to translate it into tangible results by creating roadmaps within each impact area that link normative work with practical implementation. These roadmaps should align with UN Women’s triple mandate and integrate (a) capacity-building methods with clear indicators to monitor progress and inform decisions on scaling up interventions and (b) advocacy and technical support as the main strategies for normative work. The Country Office’s convening role should be leveraged to maximize its relationships with the government and civil society. Based on Findings 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. PRIORITY: High. TIMELINE: Short-term.
Management Response: UN Women Liberia Country Office endorses this recommendation and recognizes the strategic importance of translating normative frameworks into actionable programming. The SN 2026-2030 outlines several measures to operationalize this recommendation.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Not applicable
Operating Principles: Alignment with strategy, National ownership
Organizational Priorities: Normative Support
UNEG Criteria: Relevance, Coherence
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
1. Develop roadmaps outlining implementation strategies on how to work with partners based on evidence of how to link across impact areas and normative level efforts. EVAW, WPP and WPS hold potential based on documented models. Country Office Management Thematic Leads 2026/06 Not Initiated
2. Invest in long-term capacity-building, advocacy, and technical support as the main roadmap strategies, accompanied by clear progress indicators to monitor progress and inform decisions. Country Office Management Thematic Leads 2026/06 Not Initiated
3. Enhance cross-learning and knowledge-sharing across impact area pillars to increase collaboration when reporting on outputs and results. Country Office Management Thematic Leads 2026/06 Not Initiated
Recommendation: UN Women Liberia should work with national and local authorities to consolidate the effectiveness of its Women’s Leadership and Political Participation, Economic Empowerment, and Elimination of Violence Against Women interventions by supporting closer integration between grassroots platforms and public institutions. To translate localized progress into systemic change, UN Women should facilitate national actors’ uptake of gender mainstreaming tools; promote legal enforcement mechanisms and help institutionalize successful pilot models within public service and governance frameworks. Stronger disaggregation of results by geography, literacy, and age group, and targeted follow-up mechanisms, will also be critical to ensure inclusive impact and sustained progress. Based on findings 4, 5, 6, 7. PRIORITY: High. TIMELINE: Short-term.
Management Response: UN Women Liberia Country Office agrees with the recommendation and will take strategic steps to consolidate the effectiveness of its interventions Women’s Leadership and Political Participation, Economic Empowerment, and Elimination of Violence Against Women. UN Women will strengthen programme effectiveness by ensuring that its innovations are scaled up, adapted, and sustained by national actors beyond donor support. Through joint monitoring, stronger public-private delivery partnerships, and robust legal enforcement mechanisms, UN Women will help translate promising practices into lasting, structural improvements in women’s access to power, income, services, and voice, especially in under-served regions.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Not applicable
Operating Principles: Oversight/governance, Capacity development, Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind
Organizational Priorities: Normative Support, Organizational efficiency
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Efficiency
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
1. Support government partners in using gender mainstreaming tools across WPP, WEE and EVAW initiatives, with disaggregated indicators by geography, literacy, age and socioeconomic profile. Country Office Management Team, in close coordination with relevant line ministries and private-sector partners. 2026/06 Not Initiated
2. Facilitate national enforcement of legal and policy frameworks (e.g. candidate quota enforcement, VAWIE/P protocols, Anti-FGM provisions) through costed implementation road maps and parliamentary engagement. Country Office Management Team, in close coordination with relevant line ministries and private-sector partners. 2026/06 Not Initiated
3. Promote the institutionalization of community platforms (e.g. Peace Huts, VSLAs, women-run cooperatives) within county-level economic planning, public accountability mechanisms and justice delivery frameworks. Country Office Management Team, in close coordination with relevant line ministries and private-sector partners. 2026/06 Not Initiated
4. Help formalize time-bound agreements with partners such as Orange Liberia, including clear targets, service standards and exit clauses Country Office Management Team, in close coordination with relevant line ministries and private-sector partners. 2026/06 Not Initiated
5. Strengthen joint monitoring arrangements with ministries, the National Elections Commission and CSOs to follow user trajectories in digital and economic empowerment initiatives. Country Office Management Team, in close coordination with relevant line ministries and private-sector partners. 2026/06 Not Initiated
6. Ensure that the scale-up of digital access and livelihood models is accompanied by tailored support for rural, low-literacy, and otherwise marginalized women. Country Office Management Team, in close coordination with relevant line ministries and private-sector partners. 2026/06 Not Initiated
Recommendation: To secure the sustainability of gender equality and women’s empowerment results achieved under the Strategic Note, UN Women Liberia should support national and county-level authorities in institutionalizing service delivery and accountability platforms (e.g. Peace Huts, heritage centres, solar agro-units) within public planning and financing frameworks. In parallel, the Country Office should help catalyse cross-sector incentives that align government actors, civil society and private-sector stakeholders around shared gender equality and women’s empowerment priorities. Sustaining legislative momentum (e.g. on the Anti-Female Genital Mutilation Bill and the quota law) and strengthening women’s cooperatives to access larger markets will require UN Women’s continued advocacy, technical assistance and coordination support, while primary leadership and accountability remain with national institutions. Based on findings 4, 5, 6, 7. PRIORITY: High. TIMELINE: Medium-term.
Management Response: UN Women Liberia CO endorses the recommendation. The CO will strengthen the sustainability of gender equality and women’s empowerment gains by embedding commitment platforms and infrastructure within national and local public systems and budgets. By facilitating technical solutions, fiscal incentives, and coalition-building, UN Women will support county authorities, national legislators, and service providers to internalize and own these responsibilities over time, ensuring that progress toward gender equality remains resilient to political transitions, funding gaps, and shifts in donor support.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Not applicable
Operating Principles: Capacity development
Organizational Priorities: UN Coordination, Partnership, Normative Support
UNEG Criteria: Efficiency, Relevance, Sustainability
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
1. Support the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning to revise the 2026 Budget Call Circular to require costed one-year workplans for all gender equality and the empowerment of women commitments made by lead ministries; and provide coaching and templates to facilitate compliance. Country Office Management Team, in partnership with line ministries, county governments and private-sector actors 2026/10 Not Initiated
2. Assist the Women’s Legislative Caucus and relevant parliamentary bodies in sustaining the 30 per cent gender quota bill effort by producing cost–benefit briefs and facilitating multiparty dialogue. Country Office Management Team, in partnership with line ministries, county governments and private-sector actors 2026/10 Not Initiated
3. Work with County Service Centres and the Ministry of Internal Affairs to embed Peace Hut and heritage centre maintenance budgets in county-level development plans and to assign funds for the upkeep of solar-powered and agro-processing infrastructure Country Office Management Team, in partnership with line ministries, county governments and private-sector actors 2026/10 Not Initiated
4. Advocate with the Spotlight Initiative Steering Committee to reallocate 5 per cent of Spotlight 2.0 funds towards a “Zoe” Transition Fund supporting cooperatives led by former FGM practitioners (e.g. in soap-making, farming). Country Office Management Team, in partnership with line ministries, county governments and private-sector actors 2026/10 Not Initiated
6. Formalize performance-based agreements with Orange Liberia and other private actors, specifying resource contributions, service uptime targets and maintenance obligations for digital centres. Country Office Management Team, in partnership with line ministries, county governments and private-sector actors 2026/10 Not Initiated
5. Provide technical support to cooperative networks in forming federations that can negotiate bulk contracts and leverage the Buy from Women platform for sustained market access. Country Office Management Team, in partnership with line ministries, county governments and private-sector actors 2026/10 Not Initiated
Recommendation: UN Women Liberia should strengthen its results-based management by repositioning the monitoring, evaluation, and learning function under the country representative, streamlining indicators, and harmonizing reporting. Joint field verifications, data checks, and quarterly reflection sessions with partners will embed accountability, foster adaptive learning, and ensure credible results narratives. Based on findings 10, 11. PRIORITY: Medium. TIMELINE: Medium-term.
Management Response: UN Women Liberia Country Office endorses the recommendation, acknowledging the need to enhance results-based management. Following the early CPE-A findings and effective June 2025, the CO repositioned its monitoring and evaluation (M&E) function under direct reporting of the Country Representative. With the new SN 2026-2030, the CO has streamlined its results, including output indicators, by reducing and aligning them to the new UN Women Strategic Plan.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Not applicable
Operating Principles: Capacity development, Knowledge management, Evidence, Data and statistics
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities, Culture of results/RBM, Organizational efficiency
UNEG Criteria: Efficiency, Sustainability
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
1. Strengthen the M&E function by placing its team under direct reporting to the Country Representative to enhance the independence of the function. Monitoring and Evaluation team with Country Office Management Team 2026/10 Initiated
2. Review the SN output indicators to reduce and align them to the new Strategic Plan. Monitoring and Evaluation team with Country Office Management Team 2026/10 Initiated
3. Strengthen the plan for regular monitoring and validation visits by the M&E function to provide continuous support and ensure real-time data collection. Monitoring and Evaluation team with Country Office Management Team 2026/10 Initiated
4. Ensure consistent use of reporting templates linked to SN results frameworks to ensure uniform reporting against indicators. Monitoring and Evaluation team with Country Office Management Team 2026/10 Initiated
5. Enhance learning and sharing across impact area teams and knowledge exchange on results monitoring and evaluation that reflect a shared responsibility among teams. Monitoring and Evaluation team with Country Office Management Team 2026/10 Initiated
6. Continue engaging partners to allow for deeper reflection sessions and to promote continuous improvement and collaboration. Monitoring and Evaluation team with Country Office Management Team 2026/10 Initiated
Recommendation: UN Women Liberia should strengthen its approach to disability inclusion and intersectionality by taking a more systematic approach. Based on findings 4, 5, 6, 7, 9. PRIORITY: Medium. TIMELINE: Long-term.
Management Response: UN Women Liberia Country Office endorses the recommendation and will adopt a more systematic approach to disability inclusion and intersectionality. This will be embedded into programming through a dedicated roadmap that addresses the diverse needs of marginalized groups, particularly women with disabilities, to promote inclusive and transformative development outcomes.
More detail
Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Not applicable
Operating Principles: Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind
Organizational Priorities: Organizational efficiency
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Relevance, Sustainability, Human Rights, Gender equality, Coherence
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
1. Develop a roadmap for designing and implementing initiatives through an intersectional perspective, acknowledging the varied priorities and needs of the most marginalized stakeholders, especially women with disabilities. Country Office Management Team and Focal Point on Disability Inclusion, in consultation with Global Lead on Disability/LGBTQ+ 2026/12 Not Initiated
2. Develop internal capacities within the CO on disability inclusion with training provided to all thematic leads. Country Office Management Team and Focal Point on Disability Inclusion, in consultation with Global Lead on Disability/LGBTQ+ 2026/12 Not Initiated
3. Explore knowledge exchange sessions for CO personnel to discuss good practices related to disability inclusion indicators and ways to measure it effectively in the Liberian context. Country Office Management Team and Focal Point on Disability Inclusion, in consultation with Global Lead on Disability/LGBTQ+ 2026/12 Not Initiated