Management Response

: Independent Evaluation Service (IES)
: 2012 - 2013 , Independent Evaluation Service (IES) (EO)
: The Contribution of UN Women to women's economic empowerment
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: Independent Evaluation Service (IES)
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UN Women welcomes the thematic evaluation of the contribution of UN Women to women’s economic empowerment 2011 – 2014. We are drawing on the analytical foundation and lessons learned highlighted in the evaluation to strengthen WEE in our work as an organization. The evaluation, together with the emerging Sustainable Development Goals, the Beijing Platform for Action and human rights instruments, include the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women, are informing the development of a comprehensive strategy for economic empowerment and of flagship programmes that will consolidate ongoing WEE initiatives to achieve a critical mass behind policy positions. The development of a strategy and its associated flagship programmes recognize that a lack of strategic focus in WEE has hampered UN Women leadership in this area. The flagship programmes will be based on explicit theories of change and facilitate the production of clear guidance for UN Women and its partners regarding UN Women’s normative position and operational approach to WEE. This enhanced strategic focus and programmatic clarity will foster engagement across headquarters and with regional and country offices in the design and delivery of UN Women’s work on economic empowerment. In addition, an enhanced EmpowerWomen.org is strengthening knowledge management, in particular through facilitating linkages between users and service providers, such as the UN Women Training Centre. We have taken good note of the recommendation to integrate microlevel projects into a broader programmatic context that links the micro to macrolevel work on policy and strengthens institutions. As such, both the strengthened strategic orientation, and programmatic focus through flagship programmes are being designed with broader outreach and engagement with partners in the public and private sectors, together with civil society organizations and United Nations entities. Similarly, our advocacy work – including that to ensure gender is better understood and mainstreamed into the Sustainable Development Goals - will be achieved through active participation in emerging multi-stakeholder platforms and through leadership, with the United Nations Global Compact, on improving training and accountability for signatories of the Women’s Empowerment Principles. Funding will be sought for the implementation of the flagship programmes, in which the Fund for Gender Equality can serve as a portal accessible for stakeholder groups.

: Approved
Recommendation: UN Women’s mission is best served by moving decisively into the macroeconomic space. It is the recommendation of the evaluation that UN Women needs to determine the extent to which it plans to move into and equip itself to engage with debate, dialogue, advising, action and advocacy in the macroeconomic space. The process of making this decision should be an inclusive one, involving all levels of the organization, as staff will need to get behind such a strategic direction to make it effective.
Management Response: As UN Women is at the midpoint in the current planning cycle (Strategic Plan 2014 – 2017) the evaluation correctly identifies the need for UN Women to determine the extent to which it plans to equip itself and move into the macroeconomic space. The evaluation identifies macroeconomic policy as pertaining to fiscal and monetary policy – areas in which UN Women currently lacks capacity, as resources have instead been invested in the broader macroeconomic space: influencing economic policy and the enabling environment, more broadly. For example, UN Women is working with counterparts such as international financial institutions and United Nations entities to mainstream gender into development frameworks, from the Sustainable Development Goals to national development plans and poverty reduction strategies. This level of advocacy falls within the competency of the organization, requires coordination across UN Women including with regional and country offices and enables UN Women to foster partnerships that are invaluable in assisting Member States convert commitments to implementation. Given that UN Women is at the midpoint of the current Strategic Planning cycle, and that significant financial and human resources are being invested in contributing to the development and implementation of development frameworks, UN Women acknowledges the importance of fiscal and monetary policies and will advocate for change through highlighting entry points in the above-mentioned development frameworks. UN Women remains committed to continuing to advocate for capacity-building for the collection and analysis of sex-disaggregated data, particularly in the context of the SDGs; and to improving gender budgeting. In line with the midterm action recommended, UN Women is designing programmes that will indeed, in the case of economic empowerment, “generate decent employment in rural areas, and promote the growth of medium and large scale women’s enterprises, helping to transform the lending practices of IFIs.” At the same time, measures to accelerate the realization of women’s economic and social rights are an integral part of UN Women’s programmes, helping UN Women to deliver sustainable results through impacting the normative framework as a contribution towards tackling key structural barriers.
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Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Women economic empowerment (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Advocacy
Organizational Priorities: Culture of results/RBM
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Efficiency, Relevance, Sustainability, Impact, Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Project developed and funded on gender and macroeconomics with the explicit aim of engaging the World Bank and other development banks in Africa on gender and development planning, and gender equitable growth strategies. Economic Empowerment Section Leadership and Governance Section Policy Division United Nations System Coordination Division 2017/12 Overdue-Initiated
Develop programmes on job and income generation that address the enabling environment. Projects on economic revitalization will strengthen UN Women’s support for post conflict and fragile states and the humanitarian pillar of our work; sustainable energy and agricultural technologies will deepen our impact on the ground; and moving women from unpaid to decent work will enhance results. Policy Division 2017/12 Overdue-Initiated
Build on the macro findings in Progress of the World's Women and the World Survey and other resources and alliances to develop a course on gender and macroeconomics with the UN Women Training Centre. Policy Division 2017/12 Overdue-Not Initiated
Recommendation: UN Women should provide clarity on its commitment to taking up the mantle and responsibility of leading through partnership. The evaluation recommends that increased efforts are needed to understand and maximize the value position of UN Women’s partnerships, including through a well-articulated advocacy strategy for WEE that civil society can rally behind. Better leveraging of UN Women’s convening role can further expand its influence in the WEE domain and solidly position the Entity as a representative, champion and broker for other organizations that have comparative advantage in WEE.
Management Response: UN Women is committed to leading through partnerships and is deepening engagement in existing partnerships and structuring platforms in strategic areas under our programmes. There are now almost 1000 signatories to the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs). UN Women and the United Nations Global Compact, as joint leads, are devising a strategy to improve the accountability of corporations against each of the seven principles. In addition, a training programme is foreseen that will draw on United Nations entities in areas of competence to deliver the training. At the corporate level, the Strategic Partnerships Division (SPD) is refining their Theory of Change for their coordination activities that identifies how to maximize the leverage from strategic partnerships. The Economic Empowerment Section has contributed to this Theory of Change and plans to work closely with SPD to develop an analytical framework of different types of partners and the utility of certain partnerships. We will also draw on work undertaken as part of our WEE consultations (2013-2014) to map potential partners and identify where we can leverage WEE resources and approaches to increase our reach and influence. We will support regional and country offices to apply these tools to their own contexts. IANWGE globally and UNDAFs at country level will increasingly be used to convene, coordinate and mobilize United Nations System efforts in relation to WEE. UN Women at global, regional and country levels will increasingly contribute expertise and knowledge to support particularly the United Nations economic agencies to effectively engender their work on economic empowerment. Successful initiatives financed through the Fund for Gender Equality can be taken to scale with other agencies and partners. To better engage a broader network of voices representing women’s economic and social right, UN Women is increasing the representation of unions and cooperatives in our Civil Society Advisory Groups.
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Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Women economic empowerment (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Advocacy, Not applicable, Capacity development
Organizational Priorities: Partnership
UNEG Criteria: Gender equality, Impact, Sustainability, Relevance, Efficiency, Effectiveness
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
WEE mapping of key actors and partners to identify UN Women's comparative strengths and advantages and link these to potential collaborations. Economic Empowerment Section 2017/12 Completed
Greater coordination between UN Women’s WEE and SPD teams on key forums and debates such as the Global Migration Group and the SDG process and engagement in the Due Diligence Review Committee to inform private sector partner selection. Policy Division Strategic Partnerships Division Inter-governmental Division 2017/12 Overdue-Initiated
Closer collaboration between Policy sections and the Fund for Gender Equality on WEE to distill lessons learned and disseminate knowledge on WEE. FGE, Policy Division 2017/07 Overdue-Initiated
Development of a searchable database on programmes and activities that allows all staff to identify and analyse WEE and rights-based work. Planning and Programme Guidance Unit 2015/07 Completed
Recommendation: UN Women’s work on WEE should be explicitly based on and guided by a rights-based approach. The evaluation recommends the establishment of a common approach that is institutionalized within UN Women, and forms the basis of all future knowledge generation. It is therefore recommended that a clear decision is made, and guidance provided, on what UN Women's core values are in relation to interpreting the world relating to WEE.
Management Response: At the macro level women’s economic and social rights enshrined in key commitments such as CEDAW, the Beijing Platform for Action and the forthcoming SDGs will inform the design and implementation of flagship programmes. In addition, in the country context, the concluding observations of the treaty bodies will inform the flagship programmes and UN Women’s contribution to the development and implementation of development frameworks such as the SDGs, national development plans and poverty reduction strategies.
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Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Women economic empowerment (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Not applicable, Internal coordination and communication, Advocacy
Organizational Priorities: Normative Support, Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Efficiency, Relevance, Sustainability, Impact, Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
UN Women is jointly organizing a session at the Business and Human Rights meeting at OHCHR as an entry point to broader collaboration and strengthened linkage between the WEPs and the realization of rights. UN Women UNGC Government of New Zealand 2015/11 Overdue-Initiated
UN Women Training Centre to develop a course on the care economy which includes segments on the right to care and be cared for. Training Centre Research and Data 2015/12 Overdue-Initiated
Close collaboration with the Global Migration Group. UN Women will take the chair in 2016 and will be positioned to influence the broader discourse about protecting migrant women and their families United Nations Coordination Economic Empowerment Section 2015/07 Overdue-Initiated
Project initiated on Protecting Migrant Women Worker´s Rights. Developing a training course in close collaboration with the Training Centre for migrant women on advocating for and claiming their rights. Training Centre Economic Empowerment Section 2015/07 Overdue-Initiated
Close collaboration between the Leadership and Governance and Economic Empowerment sections on the Constitutional Database. Leadership and Governance Section Economic Empowerment Section 2015/07 Overdue-Initiated
Ongoing work on women's rights to secure land tenure and ownership with United Nations Habitat, FAO, and support for a land rights campaign with the Finnish Government. Economic Empowerment Section United Nations System Coordination Division 2015/07 Overdue-Initiated
UN Women has hired and placed a P5 in OHCHR in Geneva and will expand the office in Geneva to address rights issues and collaborate more closely with OHCHR, UNHCR and IOM. Leadership and Governance Section 2015/07 Overdue-Initiated
Recommendation: UN Women needs to strengthen leadership across the organization in order to support work on WEE. The evaluation found different leadership styles, approaches and skills being applied to WEE throughout the organization. We accept that this inconsistency in leadership culture and skill, combined with a complex external situation, makes the boundaries of personal autonomy and accountability unclear for many staff members engaged in WEE. How staff members initiate relationships with external groups and organizations, who these engagements are cleared through, which section holds the ultimate responsibility for maintaining commitments and MOU is often confusing in the agency. Knowledge of the various MOUs with different organizations and their collective archiving for access by all sections and divisions is incomplete. The evaluation recommends that a clear position is taken with regard to developing leadership culture and capacity and ensuring greater knowledge of existing relationships and agreements with external partners in UN Women.
Management Response: UN Women accepts the recommendation that intellectual and executive leadership on WEE should steadily be returned to the Economic Empowerment Section within the Policy Division. Key staffing gaps in the management of the economic empowerment stream of work, have been filled. To promote inter-sectional and interdivisional cooperation multidisciplinary teams are in place that collaborate on shared tasks. The Economic Empowerment Section contributes to, inter alia, teams on strategic partnerships, the post 2015 development agenda, financing for development and the Global Migration Group.
More detail
Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Women economic empowerment (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Advocacy, Internal coordination and communication, Not applicable
Organizational Priorities: Not applicable
UNEG Criteria: Gender equality, Impact, Sustainability, Relevance, Efficiency, Effectiveness
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Recruit a Deputy Executive Director, Policy and Programmes; Director, Policy Division; and a Chief, Economic Empowerment. Human Resources and Office of the Executive Director 2015/07 Completed
Design and implement flagship programmes, including economic revitalization to support UN Women’s humanitarian work and in peace and security. Economic Empowerment Section 2015/08 Overdue-Initiated
Archive all MOUs in a central and searchable repository. Coordination Division 2015/07 Overdue-Initiated
Recommendation: UN Women needs to equip and organize itself in line with becoming a knowledge-led organization. UN Women has recognized the potential value of knowledge management as a function, and has started several initiatives in an attempt to address this. How these different parts will be brought together into a unified system is a critical decision that needs to be made sooner rather than later.
Management Response: The Knowledge Gateway has been upgraded to EmpowerWomen.org and is working with a wider range of stakeholders to deepen and broaden content, and facilitate linkages. UN Women is exploring how to improve linkages between EmpowerWomen.org, the Fund for Gender Equality and the UN Women Training Centre. This could include a funding platform to match donors, such as private foundations, with NGOs and CSOs. Future rounds of the Fund for Gender Equality competition could be channelled through this global gateway, as well as Training Centre courses and knowledge products. This would create an incentive for more WEE activists and organizations to regularly visit UN Women’s global gateway and benefit from the broader pool of learning points, contacts and networks. UN Women plans use EmpowerWomen.org and the UN Women Training Centre to disseminate courses on women’s economic empowerment to United Nations country teams, in addition to rolling out a global roster of experts in support of our knowledge leadership and capacity development. The Economic Empowerment Advisers based in the regional offices are being brought into these efforts and are engaged in capacity development and training in their regions as well as through the Training Centre. UN Women is exploring the suggestion to develop a set of rights-based key performance indicators for UN Women contributions to economic empowerment. This will be done in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals, to ensure our work assists Member States deliver on commitments. These indicators could inform HQ, regional and country office programme and project development across UN Women and, embedded in monitoring and evaluation indicators, capture a range of WEE impacts. Good practices on implementation, could be outcomes, results and impact communicated through EmpowerWomen.org.
More detail
Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Women economic empowerment (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Knowledge management
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities, Normative Support, Not applicable
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Efficiency, Relevance, Sustainability, Impact, Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Continue to provide a knowledge gateway to facilitate both knowledge management AND knowledge dissemination, global networking and linkages to markets for women in developing countries. Economic Empowerment Section 2015/07 Overdue-Initiated Urgent funding required for period beyond March 2016.
Further develop linkages between the Knowledge Gateway platform, the Training Centre and the Fund for Gender Equality. Policy division Fund for Gender Equality UN Women Training Centre Economic Empowerment Section 2015/07 Overdue-Initiated
Develop a peer reviewed working paper series as a collaboration between the Research and Data and EE Sections. Policy division Research and Data Section Economic Empowerment Section 2015/07 Overdue-Initiated