Management Response

: Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (Thailand)
: 2025 - 2026 , Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (Thailand) (RO)
: Evaluation of the UN Women Knowledge and Partnerships Centre – Republic of Korea
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Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (Thailand)

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The evaluation of the UN Women Knowledge and Partnerships Centre in the Republic of Korea (hereafter referred to as the Centre) was both strategic and timely. It provided critical input for the UN Women Centre in ROK, the UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, and the Centre’s donor—the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family of the Republic of Korea—as they prepare the Centre’s second phase (2027–2032). The evaluation found that the Centre has successfully established a credible institutional foundation, achieved strong regional visibility, and expanded its global engagement, particularly through collaboration with UN Women Headquarters. Its work was assessed as highly relevant and responsive to regional priorities and emerging issues. At the same time, the evaluation highlighted opportunities to further sharpen the Centre’s strategic focus and strengthen the depth, coherence, and sustainability of its contributions. The evaluation process was highly collaborative and offered a valuable opportunity for the Centre to receive timely and independent feedback from stakeholders in the Republic of Korea and across the region. These perspectives covered the Centre’s performance and its contributions to advancing gender equality and the empowerment of women at both national and regional levels, as well as expectations for its future strategic direction. The findings will support UN Women and MOGEF in making informed decisions regarding the next phase of the Centre. As the Centre is currently drafting its second phase for 2027–2032 in consultation with MOGEF, the evaluation recommendations and proposed key actions will be incorporated into the next Programme Document (ProDoc) to the extent possible. It is important to note that the evaluation covers activities implemented from the establishment of the Centre through September 2025, while the current project continues until the end of 2026. Consequently, several recommendations have already begun to be operationalised from late 2025, coinciding with the first year of implementation of the UN Women Footprint Document in the Republic of Korea. Building on the evaluation findings and lessons learned, and in alignment with the UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific Strategic Note (2026–2029), the Centre has placed greater emphasis on clarifying its operating model and strategic focus. The new ProDoc articulates a more defined approach to strengthening roles and division of labour within UN Women, as well as refining partnership architecture and collaboration modalities. This includes clearer parameters for how the UN Women Knowledge and Partnerships Centre, the Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, and Country Offices jointly develop, refine, and scale regional knowledge products and tools.

: Approved
Recommendation: Strengthen the Centre’s regional role by establishing a streamlined coordination model that unifies internal teams and formalizes strategic, multi-stakeholder partnerships across priority themes.
Management Response: The Centre accepts the recommendation. The Centre will continue to sharpen the Centre’s focus of work; closely coordinate and collaborate among internal teams for effective delivery of its care, TFGBV and private sector work; and formalise strategic, multi-stakeholder partnerships across priority themes 2025-6 with state, private sector and civil society entities.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Not applicable
Operating Principles: Internal coordination and communication, Knowledge management
Organizational Priorities: Not applicable
UNEG Criteria: Coherence
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Internally, establish a light coordination mechanism (e.g. quarterly joint planning) between Training, External Relations and Research and Data teams to link learning, follow-up and partnerships into a coherent learning pathway related to the revised footprint (care and TFGBV). Centre director and Specialists 2027/02 Initiated The Centre already convenes weekly staff meetings in which three specialists share updates on their work, and the Centre has held extensive meetings among the three teams for PCN and ProDoc development. When having meetings with potential as well as existing partners, the Centre is also gathering all three teams so that partner engagement is being conceptualised and implemented together. The Centre also holds joint discussions and forges collaborations on events organised by each of the teams. For instance, the ER team is working closely with the Training team for the regional Care Forum in September 2026, and the ER team is holding the partnership dialogue with the Seoul Foundation of Women and Family working with the Research & Data team, right from the beginning. Overall, the Centre will continue the weekly discussion among three teams and take proactive measures to facilitate information-sharing and collaborative work among the three teams to ensure coherent learning pathway related to the revised footprint.
Externally, develop joint workplans or thematic platforms (e.g. on care, as has already taken place for TFGBV) to formalize multi-stakeholder cooperation, including with the UN system. Enhance inclusion of national CSO and grassroots perspectives by leveraging the UN Women Civil Society Network on Gender-Based Violence in the Republic of Korea and Regional Office coordination expertise to co-convene dialogue and inform research. Centre Director and Specialists 2027/02 Initiated Under the second phase of the project (2027–2032), a thematic platform for multi stakeholder cooperation is proposed, with priority areas including the transformation of care systems for women’s economic empowerment and coordinated responses to TFGBV through research, advocacy, and policy engagement. The Centre is transitioning from ad hoc consultations to structured partnerships, exemplified by the Global Symposium co organized with Korean Institute for Gender Equality Promotion and Education (KIGEPE) and the Women’s Human Rights Institute of Korea (WHRIK). This recurring platform addresses technology facilitated gender based violence (TFGBV) and the influence of the “manosphere,” while fostering exchange of best practices and research. The Terms of Reference of the Steering Committee are being considered for revision to include the participation of a CSO representative, with the aim of ensuring that civil society perspectives are integrated into the Centre’s programme planning. The UN Women Research Network of the Centre, launched in 2025, will serve as a formal mechanism to strengthen multi stakeholder collaboration between the Centre, researchers, and CSOs in the Republic of Korea. Annual meetings would provide a platform for UN Women Centre teams to engage with national research and civil society expertise, ensuring grassroots perspectives inform dialogue, research, and programme development.
Continue to balance diplomatic, technical and private-sector partnerships, and where appropriate, formalize currently ad-hoc partnerships to ensure complementarity, clearer roles, more sustained engagement, and stronger representation of Korean and global partners in regional and international platforms. Centre Director and Specialists 2027/02 Initiated The Centre will strengthen engagement with diverse stakeholders based in ROK through conclusion of partnership agreements and/or regularized collaboration on joint activities, enabling co hosting of events with public, diplomatic as well as academic stakeholders based in ROK and sharing of Korea’s expertise promising practices on gender equality with the region. In addition, the Centre will strengthen partnerships with universities outside of Korea as regional think tanks in its priority areas to facilitate cross country exchange and shared learning on promising approaches to advancing gender equality. Engagement with the private sector will also be expanded through collaborative activities and the formalization of partnerships with Chambers of Commerce to support private sector collaboration.
Recommendation: To realize the Centre’s theory of change, ensure that capacity gains translate into sustained institutional change by improving follow-up and supporting the application of knowledge through systematic engagement with UN Women offices.
Management Response: The Centre accepts this recommendation and has initiated actions to strengthen follow up and the application of capacity development efforts in line with its theory of change. Initial steps were taken in late 2025. In particular, in 2025 the Centre updated its Monitoring, Evaluation framework to more systematically track post training engagement and support the application of knowledge through structured collaboration with UN Women Regional and Country Offices. These measures are intended to strengthen learning feedback loops, enhance the translation of capacity gains into sustained institutional and programmatic change, and improve measurement of the Centre’s impact at the regional level.
More detail
Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Not applicable
Operating Principles: Capacity development, Knowledge management
Organizational Priorities: Not applicable
UNEG Criteria: Coherence, Effectiveness, Sustainability
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Customize training modules based on participants’ technical backgrounds and institutional roles and develop localized resources where feasible (including translations and country case studies) to enhance relevance, usability and alignment with country-level priorities and policy processes. Centre Director and Specialists 2027/02 Initiated The Centre has proactively implemented this recommendation through its 2025 and 2026 workplans by adapting regional frameworks and capacity building modules to national contexts. For example, the Centre is applying the UN Statistical Framework for Gender related Killings through country specific pilot studies in Mongolia, Fiji, Indonesia, and Pakistan, which support the mapping of national data collecting institutions and the development of localized resources aligned with national policy priorities. In addition, the Regional Course on Crime Statistics targets practitioners from National Statistical Offices and criminal justice institutions, strengthening inter agency coordination and ensuring that technical training on SDG related data has directly applicable to country data systems through hands on exercises. The Centre has also provided country level technical assistance on transforming care systems, developing customized training packages for India, Nepal, and Viet Nam based on regional modules and national contexts in 2025. Following these capacity building efforts, policy briefs were jointly developed with UN Women Country Offices to document country experiences and policy recommendations, increasing relevance, usability, and alignment with national policy processes. This approach has also reinforced the Centre’s role as a regional knowledge hub on transforming care systems. The Centre will continue this approach in 2026 and further refine it in the next project phase, taking into account lessons learned, demand from Country Offices, and its comparative advantage within UN Women.
Strengthen collaboration with the Regional Office and Country Offices to localize outcomes and enhance national ownership. Centre Director and Specialists 2027/02 Initiated Strategic alignment with UN Women ROAP and Country Offices (COs) is a fundamental prerequisite for translating the Centre’s technical outputs into meaningful national policy impacts. For all flagship initiatives—including TFVAW measurement, Youth-led ToT, and Femicide Pilot Studies, the Centre maintains a robust collaborative framework with ROAP’s EVAW and Gender Statistics teams through consistent coordination. By integrating regional expertise and consulting directly with respective COs in countries such as Fiji, Pakistan, and Indonesia, the Centre ensures that project implementation, particularly the piloting of the Statistical Framework for Measuring the Gender-Related Killing of Women and Girls (Femicide), is precisely tailored to national contexts. At present, there are no direct fund transfers from the Centre to the COs for this pilot. The planning has instead been carried out in close consultation with the country offices, ensuring that activities are implemented in line with their identified needs. This unified UN Women approach guarantees that all deliverables meet global standards while fostering national ownership and enabling the effective scaling of results. For instance, in trainings focused on transforming care systems, materials are systematically localised to reflect specific national priorities and ongoing policy dialogues. The policy briefs jointly produced with Country Offices in India, Nepal, and Viet Nam following these sessions further demonstrate this deep institutional collaboration. Ultimately, this synergy empowers the Centre to effectively assist Country Offices in strengthening national data collection and implementing evidence-based solutions to complex regional challenges.
Develop an integrated knowledge platform linking training, research and partnerships to enhance system-wide access, cross-fertilization and feedback loops. Centre Director and Specialists 2027/02 Initiated The knowledge platform—linking training, research, and partnerships to enhance system wide access, cross fertilization, and feedback loops—is a key priority of the Centre. Under the new ProDoc, we have developed initial ideas and will continue discussions with ROAP KM to refine and position the Centre’s products so they can serve stakeholders across the region in the most effective and impactful ways.
Introduce systematic pre-training assessments to calibrate content depth, language and examples for participant roles and country contexts. Develop a structured post-training engagement model (e.g. technical follow-ups, alumni groups, peer-exchange channels) to reinforce learning and track application. Introduce light-touch post-training follow-up mechanisms (e.g. 3–9 month check-ins and optional thematic mailing lists) and occasional virtual knowledge circles to sustain engagement and track application of learning. Centre Specialists 2027/02 Initiated The Centre has started to institutionalize a robust evaluation model that links training, research, and partnerships to enhance system-wide feedback loops. For the Crime Data Training, we maintain a continuous feedback loop during the course to allow for real-time curriculum adjustments based on participant needs. Regarding the TFGBV prevention programme, the Centre employs a rigorous multi-point evaluation design to measure immediate shifts in student attitudes and peer norms. These evidence-based assessments are used to iteratively refine the Training of Trainers (ToT) manual and intervention logic, ensuring content depth is calibrated for maximum impact. To sustain engagement beyond the initial training, the Centre has developed structured post-training engagement models, such as technical follow-ups and peer-exchange channels. Moving forward, the Centre will conduct follow up reviews three months and six months after the training activities to gather updates on the actions taken by participants in applying the knowledge gained from the trainings in their home countries Furthermore, To sustain engagement beyond initial training, the Centre is institutionalising light-touch follow-up mechanisms, including virtual knowledge circles and alumni networking. These initiatives, complemented by six-month check-ins and dedicated surveys for gender statistics trainings, allow the Centre to monitor the continuous application of skills in domestic contexts. Data generated from these actions will support light-touch monitoring of inclusion, directly informing future targeting and outreach to ensure the Centre’s programmes remain responsive to the evolving needs of regional practitioners.
Recommendation: Strengthen organizational efficiency by establishing clear, accountable roles and responsibilities between the Regional Office and the Centre; optimizing staffing to ensure complementarity and avoid parallel efforts; streamline review and approval workflows for greater agility; implement integrated tools for coordination and knowledge management; and proactively diversify financial resources to ensure resilience and sustained impact.
Management Response: The Centre accepts this recommendation and recognizes its importance for strengthening organizational efficiency and effectiveness. Building on lessons learned from Phase I, the Centre has taken steps to further clarify roles, responsibilities, and accountability between the Regional Office and the Centre, including optimizing staffing arrangements to ensure complementarity and avoid parallel efforts. These refinements are being integrated into the design of the Second Phase of the Centre (2027–2032).
More detail
Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Not applicable
Operating Principles: Knowledge management
Organizational Priorities: Organizational efficiency
UNEG Criteria: Efficiency
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Strengthen internal efficiency and coordination Centre Director and Specialists 2027/02 Initiated The Centre has advanced work on its Second Phase, clarifying its roles and comparative positioning vis à vis the Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (ROAP) and Country Offices (COs) in the implementation of activities, drawing on lessons learned from Phase I and evaluation findings. Some of these refinements have already been applied in the Centre’s 2025 activities. For example, the Centre has enhanced organizational agility by clarifying roles and responsibilities with ROAP and COs in the implementation of the Femicide Pilot Studies. To ensure regional relevance, ROAP and COs are involved from the initial planning stage to align the studies with national and local contexts. While the Centre, in collaboration with UNODC and KOSTAT, provides technical expertise, COs —particularly Indonesia and Pakistan—facilitate coordination with national institutions, including designated champion agencies, to facilitate effective and seamless data collection. In other contexts, this national coordination is co-led or implemented directly in partnership with UNODC to reflect the specific operational modalities of each pilot country. COs lead coordination with national institutions, including designated champion agencies, to facilitate effective and seamless data collection. This streamlined division of labour enables the Centre to respond more nimbly to country office driven priorities, ensuring that activities remain demand driven and reinforce national ownership of results.
Enhance resource diversification Centre Director and Specialists 2027/02 Initiated In the second phase of the Centre, efforts will be made to diversify its resource base. Given that the Republic of Korea is an OECD context, mobilising additional resources for the Centre’s activities has been challenging, as stakeholders generally perceive the Centre to be adequately supported through funding from the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family of the Republic of Korea. As a result, the Centre will need to pilot new approaches to diversify its funding sources. For instance, the Centre may position itself within broader regional programmes, enabling it to benefit from regional funding streams mobilised by the Regional Office. The Centre is in close coordination with ROAP ERU, to explore opportunities to support resource mobilisation efforts for UN Women’s broader programmes, through which the Centre may implement selected interventions aligned with its mandate and comparative advantage. The Centre is diversifying its resource base by integrating in-kind contribution models into its resource mobilisation strategy. For example, the Centre has set to collaborate on a project led by Monash University of Australia, funded by an Australia-Korea Foundation grant, where the Centre will provide expertise through technical in-kind support. Additionally, the Centre is implementing a cost-sharing approach with national partners, such as KIGEPE and WHRIK, to co-organise joint research and knowledge-sharing forums. This multifaceted strategy allows the Centre to leverage external grants and partner resources, reducing reliance on single funding sources while maximising the impact of its regional programming. The Centre has successfully initiated co-financing of joint events with partners (both informal and formal) for its private sector work and will expand such co-financing further in the second phase. For instance, the British Chamber of Commerce will be financing the Centre’s Papa School in 2026 and Empower programme workshop, while the Centre is providing the content and delivery of these activities. The Centre is currently exploring other entities to co-host and co-finance its Papa School.
Strengthening results-based management and knowledge integration Centre Director and Specialists 2027/02 Initiated Building on its current results based management framework, the Centre has established a systematic mechanism to track, and document follow up actions undertaken by participants in their home countries after engaging in the Centre’s activities. For example, since 2025, the Centre has strengthening Results-Based Management (RBM) by establishing the Asia-Pacific Regional Technical Working Group (RTWG) on Measuring TFVAW as a key knowledge integration system. In close collaboration with UNODC, WHO, and UNFPA, the Centre serves as the Secretariat —with core technical input supported by UN Women Regional Office and Global Gender Statistics Specialists— coordinating national experts to consolidate national practices and identify existing data sources and methodologies across the region. This systematic modality allows the Centre to provide coordinated technical inputs into the development of a Global Statistical Framework, ensuring it meets regional needs. By operationalising these standardised measures, the Centre ensures that policy monitoring is grounded in validated evidence, directly enhancing the accuracy of gender equality assessments.
Recommendation: Systematically strengthen intersectional inclusion by proactively engaging marginalized groups and embedding social norms considerations across training and partnerships.
Management Response: The Centre accepts this recommendation and agrees on the importance of systematically strengthening intersectional inclusion across its work. The Centre will further institutionalize these approaches through updated programme guidance, partnership modalities, and Monitoring, Evaluation tools to ensure that inclusion and social norms considerations are consistently reflected in programme planning, delivery, and assessment. The Centre has already taken concrete steps in this direction. For example, in 2026 it made deliberate efforts to include the perspectives of women with disabilities. Building on phase 1, the Centre will ensure that the perspectives of persons with disabilities and other marginalized groups are meaningfully reflected in the ProDoc development process, including through their representation in consultation mechanisms.
More detail
Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Not applicable
Operating Principles: Not applicable
Organizational Priorities: Not applicable
UNEG Criteria: Gender equality, Human Rights
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Where feasible, systematically integrate and develop intentional outreach pathways with CSOs representing women with disabilities, LGBTQI+ groups, ethnic minority networks, youth-led feminist groups and community based organizations to ensure representation is planned rather than incidental. Centre Director and Specialists 2027/02 Initiated The Centre will proactively inform and engage relevant stakeholders on its principle of systematic engagement and intentional outreach in activities targeting CSOs and other partners across its priority areas. Where feasible, the Centre will systematically integrate and develop intentional outreach pathways with CSOs representing women with disabilities, LGBTQI+ groups, ethnic minority networks, youth led feminist groups, and community based organizations. This will include setting clear participation targets (e.g., ensuring that at least 20% of CSOs engaged represent marginalized groups), tracking representation across all activities, and producing periodic progress reports. These measures will demonstrate that inclusion is planned, measurable, and results in stronger collaboration and tangible programme outcomes rather than occurring incidentally. The Centre has already taken concrete steps in this regard. In 2026, for example, it made deliberate efforts to include the perspectives of women with disabilities by engaging the Chair of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, including inviting her to share reflections on the Centre’s work, deliver a keynote address at the 2026 International Women’s Day commemoration, and contribute to a podcast and Naver blog article based on her interview. Building on this approach, the Centre will ensure that the perspectives of persons with disabilities are meaningfully reflected in ProDoc development, including through their representation in consultation processes.
Integrate intersectionality into training and convening design, including tailored modules, context-specific case studies and adaptations for language, accessibility, digital inclusion and diverse learning needs Centre Director and Specialists 2027/02 Initiated The Centre will apply an intersectional and inclusive approach to the design and delivery of all training and convenings, in line with UN Women’s commitment to leaving no one behind. As much as possible, the Centre will collaborate with the RO intersectionality lead and, where needed, engage retainer technical consultants to review and validate all products prior to completion, ensuring quality, inclusivity, and alignment with intersectional standards. This includes proactively integrating tailored content, context specific case studies, and inclusive facilitation approaches, as well as making deliberate adaptations related to language, accessibility, digital inclusion, and diverse learning needs. These measures aim to ensure the meaningful, equitable, and safe participation of women and other groups facing intersecting forms of discrimination. This commitment will serve as a core guiding principle for the Centre’s work. In practice, the Centre is embedding intersectionality into its training design to help address the digital gender gap. Its Big Data and Data Science Training and e learning modules on technology facilitated violence against women (TFVAW) are available on multiple platforms, including UNSIAP and the UN Women Training Centre, to ensure broad accessibility. To accommodate diverse linguistic and technical contexts, the Centre, in collaboration with UNODC, has completed Spanish translations and is currently advancing Russian translations. This approach supports the delivery of context relevant, accessible training materials that respond to the varied learning needs of practitioners across regions.
Introduce structured participation support mechanisms, such as travel stipends, accessible materials, remote participation options and pre-engagement preparation for participants from marginalized groups. Centre Director and Specialists 2027/02 Initiated From 2026 onward, the Centre has ensured that clear criteria are applied across all activities to support the meaningful participation of marginalized and underrepresented groups, enabling them to benefit equitably from the Centre’s work. To this end, the Centre has consulted closely with UN Women Country Offices and relevant stakeholders to identify context specific needs and to ensure inclusive participation at national, multi country, and regional levels, in line with UN Women’s commitment to leaving no one behind.
Strengthen informal norm-shifting components by expanding safe-dialogue spaces, engaging men and boys meaningfully and incorporating reflection on bias, power dynamics and discrimination into programme design. Continue addressing gender norms through thematic entry points (care, AI, TFGBV) while explicitly linking discussions to gender power relations. Centre Director and Specialists 2027/02 Initiated The Centre has actively advanced these actions. In the draft ProDoc, social norms analysis has been integrated into the Theory of Change in line with UN Women’s guidance on Ideologies, Institutions and Power: Addressing Discriminatory Social Norms. It would focus on transforming narratives through its priorities on TFGBV and WEE. Through its activities, the Centre will document its collaboration with relevant stakeholders in challenging discriminatory ideologies and demonstrate progress toward advancing measurable gender equitable outcomes. From 2026, the Centre has advanced discussion on social norms change through initiatives such as the Global Symposium (co organized with KIGEPE), addressing the manosphere and its links to TFGBV; the expansion of the Papa School initiative to engage men and boys on care norms; and strengthened HeForShe engagement through advocacy platforms such as International Women’s Day, highlighting regional initiatives on social norms change for transforming care systems through the regional dialogues and knowledge products. These efforts have strengthened the Centre’s targeted approach to addressing the root causes of gender inequality and positioning men and boys as active agents of change.