Management Response

: Palestine
: 2012 - 2013 , Palestine (CO)
: ?Establishment, Rehabilitation and Activation of Eight Women?s Centres in the Gaza Strip and West Bank?
:
: Palestine
:

<>
: Approved
Recommendation: Evaluation Recommendation or Issue 1: UN Women should plan for a new phase of the project, reformulating its outcome and outputs towards greater focus on women?s economic empowerment on the one hand, and to reflect more clearly the specific results that will be achieved and the key performance indicators that will be used to judge the success of the project on the other hand.
Management Response: Management Response: Following this recommendation, a consultant was contracted in order to prepare the project document for Phase II. Once final draft is received from the consultant, the project document will be extensively reviewed by UN Women Palestine senior staff, ASRO and HQ and discussed with project partners, the potential donor and other stakeholders. To ensure easier monitoring of achievements, the project document will include objectively verifiable performance indicators to be measured against the baseline data that will be collected during the needs assessment.
More detail
Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Governance and planning (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Advocacy
Organizational Priorities: Culture of results/RBM
UNEG Criteria: Sustainability
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Draft ToR for the Consultant UN Women oPt office UN Women RO 2012/09 Completed Completed by August 2012
Contract a consultant for preparation of project document for Phase II. UN Women oPt office UN Women RO 2012/09 Completed Completed by September 2012
Draft project document including the recommendations of final evaluation UN Women oPt office UN Women RO 2013/06 Completed Final proposal in Arabic and English are ready to be submitted to Donor
Finalize a project document for Phase II of the project UN Women oPt office UN Women RO 2013/06 Completed The scale up proposal was finalized and shared with the Saudi Ministry of Exterior in Amman for their comments and recommendations to the Saudi Committee. A meeting will be conducted with the Saudi Ambassador to discuss the proposal on 26 May in Amman
Recommendation: Evaluation Recommendation or Issue 2: The new phase should make provisions not only for establishing new women?s centers, but also to provide additional financial and technical support to income generating projects for women in the eight centres.
Management Response: Management Response: The proposal for the new phase will include activities for new women?s centres as well as for women?s centres from the previous phase of the project. Adequate time and resources will be allocated to carry out feasibility studies and establish income generating projects. In addition, an extensive needs assessment will be carried out by the Implementing Partner and a training and on-the-job coaching programme will be designed in order to build up sustainability of the income generating projects.
More detail
Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Women economic empowerment (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Capacity development
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Impact, Gender equality, Sustainability, Effectiveness
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Allocate adequate budget and time for income generating projects in the proposal for Phase II. UN Women oPt office 2013/03 Completed The consultant conducted a business plan for the old 8 women centers and was included to the project document.
Recommendation: Evaluation Recommendation or Issue 3: Given the complexity and level of effort and time involved in the selection of communities and women?s centers, the new phase of the project should carefully consider the time and resources needed for this purpose. A three-year planning time frame should be considered if UN Women decides to maintain the same scale of the current project.
Management Response: Management Response: The new phase of the project will be of three-year duration in order to allow for adequate planning, needs assessment and selection of beneficiaries as per recommendation of the Final Evaluation. The first year will be fully dedicated to carrying out a detailed and participatory selection of communities by including stakeholders such as the representatives of the local government institutions and other important community figures in the process. The needs assessment will be carried out jointly by UN Women staff, the Implementing Partner and the Ministry of Local Government (MoLG) in the West Bank, and the project staff of UN Women and the Implementing Partner in Gaza. The needs assessment will take into consideration the possibility of obtaining land donation for the construction of the women?s centre, without which the project could not be carried out. The first year will also see the coordination activities for land clearance finalized. The second year will focus on building/rehabilitating the women?s centres and conducting a needs assessment for capacity building while the training programme itself will be implemented in the third year. At the same time, the project will focus on creating income generation opportunities for the women centers from the previous phase of the project.
More detail
Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Governance and planning (SPs before 2018), Women economic empowerment (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Capacity development, Advocacy
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities, Not applicable
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Sustainability, Gender equality, Impact
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Include adequate time and budget provision for selection of communities and needs assessment in the proposal for Phase II. UN Women oPt office 2013/03 Completed
Coordinate with project partners and stakeholders for a participatory selection of communities 2013/09 Completed The project team conducted a field visit to new location to select the most suitable locations in West Bank and Gaza Strip to be included to Phase II.
Work together with the MoLG to find suitable land for building the women?s centres and obtain land clearance. UN Women 2013/12 Completed
Recommendation: Evaluation Recommendation or Issue 4: Given the experience gained from the implementation of the current project, the first year of the project?s new phase should be allocated to providing the support needed for the eight centers that were targeted under the current phase to establish income generating activities, and selecting the communities and CBOs to be newly targeted. The second year should be allocated to the establishment of the centers; and implementation of capacity building activities, including the establishment of income-generating projects. The third year?s activities should focus on providing technical support and follow-up.
Management Response: Management Response: Following the recommendation, the first year of Phase II will be fully dedicated to carrying out a detailed and participatory needs assessment and selection of communities for the construction of 8 new women centres. The second year will focus on building/rehabilitating the women?s centres and conducting a needs assessment for training. The training programme will be implemented in the third year. Simultaneously, activities with women?s centres from the previous phase of the project will focus on establishment of income generating projects, specific training and on-the-job coaching and providing resources and strategies for sustainability of these projects.
More detail
Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Women economic empowerment (SPs before 2018), Governance and planning (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Capacity development
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities, Not applicable
UNEG Criteria: Impact, Gender equality, Sustainability, Effectiveness
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Include adequate time and budget provision for the different project components for the old and the new women's centres. UN Women oPt office 2013/03 Completed
Recommendation: Evaluation Recommendation or Issue 5: Much of the weaknesses related to the capacity building approach of the current identified in this evaluation have been a function of the lack of capacity building expertise in the project management structure and the changes that have occurred in the ?Project Manager? function. Hence, the evaluation strongly recommends that UN Women makes every possible effort to appoint a dedicated Project Manager to the project for its entire duration. This person should ideally have high level of practical expertise in institutional development and training, and ? to the extent possible - take part in the formulation of the new phase.
Management Response: Management Response: As per recommendation, a Project Manager will be contracted in order to ensure smooth implementation of the project. The Project Manager will dedicate part of his/her time to the project and his/her main function will be that of overall monitoring and coordination. In addition, two Project Associates and two Field Coordinators in Gaza and the West Bank will assist the Project Manager in the project implementation. Simultaneously, the capacity building expertise will be enhanced by contracting an Implementing Partner who will be expert in providing trainings in institutional development and financial management. Moreover, specialized trainings will be provided by professional organizations subcontracted by the Implementing Partner. This modality will allow for designing an optimal training programme to respond to the needs of the women?s centres. The Project Manager will review the training programme, training materials and monitor its implementation, but in general terms the training will be under the responsibility of the Implementing Partner.
More detail
Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Governance and planning (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Capacity development
Organizational Priorities: Not applicable
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Efficiency
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Include adequate budget provision for a part-time Project Manager's position UN Women oPt office 2013/03 Completed
Recommendation: Evaluation Recommendation or Issue 6: Significant improvements should be introduced to the capacity building approach of the new phase. These should include ?at least- the following: i) clear linkages between the women?s and CBO needs assessment and capacity development objectives and results of the programme; ii) ensuring that the design and delivery of training materials is underpinned by adult-learning and best-practice methodologies (i.e. development of comprehensive and coherent training packages that are sufficiently customized to the identified needs of the trainees, and delivered using interactive approaches that ensure affecting changes in knowledge, practice and attitudes of trainees); and iii) putting in place a comprehensive system for monitoring and measuring the impact of training.
Management Response: Management Response: As mentioned in the response to recommendation 5, the training will be under the responsibility of Implementing Partner who will conduct an extensive needs assessment in advance of the training in order to tailor the programme to the needs of the women?s centres and contribute to the sustainability of the project. The ToR for the Implementing Partner will include needs assessment, the elaboration of high quality and effective training materials adapted to the needs of the training participants as well as adequate and innovative teaching methodology. In addition, UN Women project staff will work jointly with UN Women M&E Officer to create and put in place a system for monitoring the impact of the trainings. This specialized approach will ensure adequate choice of topics and allocation of sufficient time for each topic taking into account its difficulty and/or relevance. Moreover, gender mainstreaming will be taken into consideration when designing the training programme, both in regard to location and time of the trainings as well as to topics, the selected trainers and the teaching methodology.
More detail
Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Governance and planning (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Capacity development, Knowledge management
Organizational Priorities: Not applicable, Culture of results/RBM
UNEG Criteria: Efficiency, Effectiveness
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Begin process of identifying potential Implementing Partners for the second phase of the project UN Women oPt office 2013/09 No Longer Applicable No new phase
Recommendation: Evaluation Recommendation or Issue 7: The evaluation team strongly advises that future assessments follow a more diverse approach involving multifaceted participatory assessment methods and gender analysis frameworks to assess needs more effectively.
Management Response: Management Response: In the new phase, more time and resources will be allocated to the needs assessment component, including a participatory approach by inviting community representatives and employees of the local government institution to take part in the needs assessment. In addition, the needs assessment will be coordinated with and reviewed by UN Women Gender Expert who will provide recommendations to further engender the needs assessment and therefore respond adequately to the needs of the women in the community.
More detail
Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Governance and planning (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind
Organizational Priorities: Partnership
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Efficiency
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
7.1 Include adequate time and resource provisions for carrying out a detailed and participatory needs assessment. UN Women oPt office 2013/03 Completed
Recommendation: Evaluation Recommendation or Issue 8: Significant additional support is needed in the eight centers to build and institutionalize their internal management and financial systems. An even greater support is needed to enhance the systems and culture of governance within these organizations, particularly in Gaza where they continue to have limited decision-making powers and functional autonomy on account of being part of the CBOs that host them.
Management Response: Management Response: The new phase will provide for time and resources to work adequately with the organizational culture and governance of the women?s centres. On the one hand, the project monitoring and follow up with the women?s centres will be enhanced by contracting a Project Associate and a Field Coordinator in Gaza who will be able to provide support to the women?s centres under local CBOs and strengthen their autonomy. However, bearing in mind the current political circumstances in Gaza, particularly as regards registration of organizations, it might be difficult for the women?s centres to obtain full autonomy and registration, if this situation persists. Nonetheless, the Implementing Partner will provide close follow up to this issue in both Gaza and the West Bank through additional training programmes and on-the-job coaching, as per needs assessment.
More detail
Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Governance and planning (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Internal coordination and communication, Not applicable
Organizational Priorities: Not applicable
UNEG Criteria: Efficiency
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Include adequate budget provisions for strengthening the governance component of the women's centres, particularly in Gaza. UN Women oPt office 2013/03 Completed