Management Response

: Kenya
: 2026 - 2029 , Kenya (CO)
: Final Evaluation ‘Let It Not Happen Again: Safeguarding the Rights of GBV Survivors Through Access to Justice’ Project.
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Kenya

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Management welcomes the evaluation’s evidence-based and forward-looking recommendations. The recommendations are broadly accepted and will be implemented through a phased approach that prioritizes survivor-centered services, institutional ownership, inclusion, sustainable financing, and stronger results measurement. Implementation will be coordinated with OHCHR, national and county duty bearers, civil society, women’s rights organizations, human rights defenders, organizations of persons with disabilities, service providers and development partners. Progress will be monitored quarterly using defined milestones, responsible parties, evidence sources and risk assumptions.
: Approved
Recommendation: Recommendation 1. Strengthen and sustainably resource existing multi-sectoral GBV coordination, referral and justice mechanisms, including Court User Committees, Gender Technical Working Groups, focal-person arrangements, institutional training and induction, and progressive public financing.
Management Response: Accepted. Management agrees that coordination and referral mechanisms should move from project-supported arrangements to routinely financed and monitored institutional functions. Support will focus on functionality, clarity of roles, referral completion, institutional learning and county ownership rather than establishing parallel structures.
More detail
Description: Implementation will build on existing structures. Progress evidence should include meeting regularity, attendance and representation, resolved bottlenecks, completed referrals, institutional budget lines, released funds and examples of improved practice. Public financing and staff transfers remain key risks.
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women
Operating Principles: Capacity development
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Gender equality, Relevance, Sustainability
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
. Map the functionality, membership, referral protocols, financing and performance gaps of supported mechanisms in the six counties. 2. Agree minimum functionality standards, focal-person responsibilities and quarterly performance indicators. 3. Integrate survivor-centred GBV competencies into induction, continuing professional development and institutional workplans. 4. Support costed annual coordination plans and inclusion of recurrent costs in national and county budgets. Team Lead, EVAWG 2027/10 Initiated Implementation will build on existing structures. Progress evidence should include meeting regularity, attendance and representation, resolved bottlenecks, completed referrals, institutional budget lines, released funds and examples of improved practice. Public financing and staff transfers remain key risks.
Recommendation: Strengthen continuity of survivor-centred support from reporting through longer-term recovery, including health and psychosocial support, legal aid, accompaniment, transport, shelter, protection, post-judgment support and better-linked economic reintegration.
Management Response: Accepted. Management recognizes that awareness and reporting must be matched by safe, accessible and continuous services. Future programming will track survivor pathways and referral completion while protecting confidentiality and avoiding the collection of personally identifiable survivor information beyond what is necessary and ethically appropriate.
More detail
Description: Prioritization will be based on service gaps, survivor safety and feasibility. Monitoring should distinguish unique survivors from service contacts and document completed referrals without compromising confidentiality. Availability of shelters, legal aid and recurrent financing may affect pace.
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women
Operating Principles: Capacity development
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Coherence, Gender equality, Relevance, Sustainability
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
1. Update county service and referral maps and identify gaps in legal, health, psychosocial, protection, transport, shelter and recovery support. 2. Establish or strengthen referral protocols, safe case follow-up, feedback loops and escalation procedures. 3. Define minimum survivor-centred service standards and monitor timeliness, accessibility, quality and referral completion. 4. Link economic empowerment support to individualized recovery plans, mentoring, market linkages and follow-up. Team Lead, EVAWG 2027/10 Initiated Prioritization will be based on service gaps, survivor safety and feasibility. Monitoring should distinguish unique survivors from service contacts and document completed referrals without compromising confidentiality. Availability of shelters, legal aid and recurrent financing may affect pace.
Recommendation: Strengthen monitoring and reporting of inclusion, accessibility and intersecting vulnerabilities by systematically disaggregating participation, access and outcomes and documenting reasonable accommodation and remaining barriers.
Management Response: Accepted. Management agrees that inclusion must be operationalized through indicators, budgets, standards, partnerships and routine data-quality controls. Disaggregation will be proportionate, safe and consistent with data-protection and do-no-harm principles.
More detail
Description: Targets and disaggregation categories will be defined during programme design and validated with affected groups. Small-cell suppression and restricted access protocols will be applied where disclosure risks exist. Data will be used for adaptive management, not only reporting.
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women
Operating Principles: Alignment with strategy, Evidence, Data and statistics
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Impact
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
1. Revise monitoring tools to capture sex, age, disability and geography, and other context-relevant characteristics where safe and ethical. 2. Introduce an accessibility checklist and accommodation log for activities and services. 3. Establish data-quality checks for completeness, consistency and non-duplication. 4. Engage organizations of persons with disabilities and underserved groups in design, monitoring and periodic learning reviews. Team Lead EVAWG and M&E Focal Point 2027/11 Initiated Targets and disaggregation categories will be defined during programme design and validated with affected groups. Small-cell suppression and restricted access protocols will be applied where disclosure risks exist. Data will be used for adaptive management, not only reporting.
Recommendation: Strengthen and adequately resource HRDs, WROs and community-based responders within GBV systems, including accompaniment, referrals, transport, communication, safeguarding, protection, digital security, psychosocial wellbeing and formal participation in coordination and accountability structures.
Management Response: Accepted. Management recognizes these actors as essential links between survivors, communities and formal institutions. Support will be designed to avoid transferring unfunded responsibilities or protection risks to community actors.
More detail
Description: Partner capacity and risk assessments will inform support packages. Monitoring will cover reach, referral completion, responder safety, wellbeing, participation and institutional uptake. Compensation and support arrangements will comply with organizational policies and available funding.
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women
Operating Principles: Capacity development, Resource mobilization
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Sustainability
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
1. Define formal roles, referral boundaries, safeguarding standards and escalation pathways for community responders. 2. Include eligible transport, communication, accompaniment and protection costs in workplans and partner budgets. 3. Provide continuing technical support, digital and physical security measures, psychosocial wellbeing support and referral supervision. 4. Track meaningful participation and influence in coordination and accountability mechanisms. Team Lead EVAWG and M&E Focal Point 2026/10 Completed Partner capacity and risk assessments will inform support packages. Monitoring will cover reach, referral completion, responder safety, wellbeing, participation and institutional uptake. Compensation and support arrangements will comply with organizational policies and available funding
Recommendation: Deepen national and county ownership by linking GBV commitments to recurrent public financing and institutional responsibilities and by tracking allocations, releases and expenditure for essential functions.
Management Response: Accepted. Management agrees that durable results require government ownership and predictable financing. UN Women and OHCHR will provide technical, convening and advocacy support; decisions on appropriation, release and expenditure remain with mandated government institutions.
More detail
Description: The financing tracker should distinguish commitments from approved, released and spent funds and link expenditure to service outputs. Political transitions, fiscal constraints and weak budget execution are key assumptions and risks.
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women
Operating Principles: Capacity development
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Sustainability
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
1.Cost priority coordination and survivor-service functions and identify the responsible budget programmes and institutions. 2. Support gender-responsive budget analysis, budget submissions and advocacy based on service and coverage gaps. 3. Establish a financing tracker covering allocation, approval, release, expenditure and funded outputs. 4. Use annual joint reviews to assess whether financing improves service continuity, access and institutional ownership. Team Lead EVAWG 2027/12 Initiated UN Women will be keen to distinguish commitments from approved, released and spent funds and link expenditure to service outputs. Political transitions, fiscal constraints and weak budget execution are key assumptions and risks.
Recommendation: In future programming, strengthen the results framework and monitoring system to capture institutional change, survivor pathways, inclusion and sustainability, with clear indicators, baselines, targets, aggregation rules, unique-beneficiary definitions and ownership of the interoperable GBV repository.
Management Response: Accepted. Management agrees that the next results framework should follow the Theory of Change and balance reach with measures of quality, institutional practice, accessibility, referral completion and sustainability. Contribution will be assessed without overstating attribution.
More detail
Description: Management agrees that the next results framework should follow the Theory of Change and balance reach with measures of quality, institutional practice, accessibility, referral completion and sustainability. Contribution will be assessed without overstating attribution.
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women
Operating Principles: Alignment with strategy, Capacity development
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Efficiency
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
1. Develop a revised Theory of Change with assumptions, risks, feedback loops and non-linear survivor pathways. 2. Prepare indicator reference sheets defining numerator, denominator, unit of count, frequency, source, responsibility, disaggregation and verification. 3. Establish baselines and realistic targets before implementation and distinguish unique people from repeat service contacts. 4. Introduce routine data-quality assessments, outcome harvesting or contribution analysis, beneficiary feedback and sustainability measures. 5. Agree institutional ownership, governance, privacy, interoperability standards and maintenance arrangements for the GBV repository. M&E Focal Point 2027/12 Not Initiated The monitoring plans should include a results calendar, data-flow map, verification responsibilities, reporting templates and learning agenda. Counts should be reconciled across agencies and partners. Repository development should proceed only with clear ownership, governance, resourcing and data-protection safeguards.
Recommendation: Retain the complementary UN Women–OHCHR partnership while strengthening joint planning, accountability support, contribution tracking and learning, including specialized support to accountability pathways for serious GBV and human rights violations.
Management Response: Accepted. Management values the partnership’s complementary gender equality and human rights mandates. Any continuation will require a single results logic, clearer division of labour, joint risk management, coordinated partner oversight and evidence that distinguishes shared contributions from agency-specific results.
More detail
Description: Management values the partnership’s complementary gender equality and human rights mandates. Any continuation will require a single results logic, clearer division of labour, joint risk management, coordinated partner oversight and evidence that distinguishes shared contributions from agency-specific results.
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women
Operating Principles: Alignment with strategy, National ownership
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Efficiency, Sustainability
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Develop a joint programme design, results framework, workplan, risk register, monitoring plan and resource-mobilization strategy. 2. Define agency and partner responsibilities, decision rights, reporting lines and escalation mechanisms. 3. Hold semi-annual joint reflection and contribution-analysis reviews using institutional, survivor and partner evidence. 4. Maintain specialized technical support for complex accountability pathways, victim participation, protection and inter-institutional cooperation. 5. Produce joint learning products on what works, for whom, under what conditions and at what cost. Team Lead EVAWG 2027/12 Initiated Continuation is subject to strategic prioritization and resource availability. Joint reporting will use contribution-based language and document partner roles. Accountability support will remain survivor-centred, rights-based and sensitive to protection, confidentiality and ongoing legal processes.