Management Response

: Kazakhstan
: 2014 - 2015 , Kazakhstan (CO)
: Final Evaluation of the UN Women Project Empowering abandoned women from migrants families in Tajikistan
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Kazakhstan

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By the time of the final project evaluation report (20 June 2016), UN Women MCO Kazakhstan started development of a new concept note on WEE based on achievements and lessons learnt within all previous WEE related projects including the Regional migration programme completed in august 2015 and this particular project. The recommendations suggested as a result of the evaluation exercise were discussed with the project partners at the final project conference conducted on 21-22 April 2016 and are used for the new concept being prepared.
: Approved
Recommendation: The Project implementation period should be extended to at least 36 months, if not longer, and the Project should be expanded to more jamoats and/or districts to improve sustainability and expand impact. In addition, more time is needed to assist women in understanding and accessing their legal rights and resolving their legal problems; many of women’s legal problems are complex and involve their children as well. This recommendation should be considered by UN Women with future women’s economic empowerment projects, and should be raised with donors when developing future projects.
Management Response: Accepted. Though it must be recognized that project length and scope are very often dependent on donor funds available. MCO started to develop a new WEE related programme for Tajikistan (concept note is drafted and being shared with the potential donors), based on UN Women corporate FPIs and MCO’s strategic note for 2016-2020. WEE programme is being designed as multi-year programme (at least 3 years). MCO continues to monitor activities of SHGs created within the completed project and to help them to link with other potential partners to further develop their business.
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Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Women economic empowerment (SPs before 2018), Leadership and political participation (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities, Not applicable
UNEG Criteria: Efficiency, Impact, Sustainability
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Further WEE related programme will be developed by MCO in line with its Strategic Note for 2016-2020 for Tajikistan and will cover at least 36 months MCO with a support of ECA RO’s WEE thematic advisor 2016/12 Completed MCO in partnership with UNDP Tajikistan developed a new concept for the 5 years joint programme in this area. It has been submitted for the donor’s consideration on 15 December 2016.
Recommendation: The Project should commit more time and resources to developing the knowledge and skills women need to form SHGs and develop and sustain income generating activities. Some abandoned women may need basic literacy, numeracy, and financial literacy skills before other WEE activities. Others may be ready for helping to set up a small business or learning a skill, and how to manage money and connect with suppliers, sellers, and business associations. All WEE activities also need to have a component that addresses life skills, including her rights, gender and power, health relationships, decision-making, problem-solving, and more. UN Women should continue to apply the ILO adult learning models for capacity building. Capacity building should be delivered using adult learning models as many women’s reading and comprehension levels are very low, and training should be offered in stages, including basic/entry level trainings and more advanced training for women who have an interest in furthering their learning to advance their income generating activities further. Women should also be provided with training and skills building related their particular income generating activities (e.g., sewing, cattle breeding, milk processing, fruit process, weaving, and more) so that they can expand and enhance their production knowledge and skills and learn from others with technical expertise in the area they are working.
Management Response: Accepted. A comprehensive capacity development of rural women is kept as a priority for the further WEE related programming (integrated into MCO strategic note for 2016-2020 for Tajikistan). More detailed activity-based commitments will be addressed within the project document and a more graduated capacity building approach will be considered for incorporation.
More detail
Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Women economic empowerment (SPs before 2018), Leadership and political participation (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Capacity development
Organizational Priorities: Not applicable, Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Sustainability, Impact, Effectiveness
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Capacity development of rural women to enable to undertake income generation activities will be addressed within the new WEE programming in a comprehensive format, taking into account lessons learnt from the previous WEE projects and findings of the evaluation exercise MCO with a support of ECA RO’s WEE thematic advisor 2016/12 Completed Addressed within a new cross-border programme prepared in partnership with UNDP. The new programme includes a comprehensive component on capacity development of rural women for further sustainable and efficient income generation activities. ECA thematic advisor was involved into drafting and discussions on this new programme.
Recommendation: More advanced SHGs with existing capacities should be encouraged to formally register as PIBs and provided with increased access to core funding and capacity building to access micro-credits and/or loans to establish and support their income generating activities. Also, it would good to develop a core funding process that includes scaling down and phasing out the core funding over a longer period of time versus core funding coming to a sudden end. With future projects, it is important that UN Women and implementing partners ensure that only those SHGs that have received capacity building and more advanced should be encouraged to formally register as PIBs, and provided with increased access to core funding.
Management Response: Accepted. UN women and its implementing partners continue to monitor and coach the SHGs from perspectives of their sustainability and efficiency of their operations. PIBs registered within the project is also a subject of the attention and assistance to ensure the necessary advisory support form the available service providers for a further business development. Within new WEE related programming, UN Women MCO will undertake an analysis of PIB’s operations to define potential challenges and recommendations for their further activities operations as well as to assess PIB’s approach efficiency/relevance and sustainability to address the beneficiaries’ needs.
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Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Women economic empowerment (SPs before 2018), Leadership and political participation (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Capacity development, Not applicable
Organizational Priorities: Not applicable
UNEG Criteria: Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Perspectives/ways for institutionalization of SHGs (including PIBs’ model) will be a subject of the further work/support for SHGs by UN Women and its implementing partners MCO 2016/12 Completed Addressed within the new programme developed together with UNDP.
Recommendation: The amount of money and timing of core funding to SHGs should be more timely, in keeping with the projects, particularly projects that are influenced by growing and seasonal production. Another important issue that UN Women should consider is the timing of tranches. Timing of tranches was important given the fact that many projects were seasonal and core funding did not come at the right time to purchase seeds, for planting, and harvesting. It is important that UN Women and implementing partners work with each of the SHGs to develop a timeline for tranches that coincide with their income generating activities, particularly when the projects are tied to growing and seasonal production.
Management Response: Accepted and will be followed-up within the new projects.
More detail
Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Women economic empowerment (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Knowledge management, Capacity development
Organizational Priorities: Not applicable, Partnership
UNEG Criteria: Efficiency
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
The recommendation will be addressed within the next/new projects MCO 2016/12 Completed Addressed within the new programme drafted in partnerships with UNDP. Will be followed-up further in the process of the programme implementation
Recommendation: More focus should be given by UN Women, IOM and the government to help women access their legal rights, including getting their marriages registered and obtaining passports and birth certificates for women and their children.
Management Response: Accepted. This is being followed-up within UN Women new three year project supporting improvement of civil registration services in Tajikistan (started in May 2016)
More detail
Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Leadership and political participation (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind
Organizational Priorities: Not applicable
UNEG Criteria: Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Needs/priorities for improved access to civil registration and legal aid services are addressed by UN Women MCO within the new project. MCO 2016/12 Completed The recommended actions are fully addressed within the new civil registration project started in May 2016
Recommendation: Invest more time and resources into increasing women’s self-efficiency and financial independence by empowering women to manage their business and household budgets, and to have agency in decision-making, and to control resources and earnings from their income generating activities. The ILO trainings that UN Women relied upon in this Project can be further enhanced to increase women’s self-efficiency and financial independence through better money management skills. UN Women should partner with IOM and other partners to enhance trainings and support should also be provided to women on issues related to land, particularly given land is a key source of income in rural areas where many of the project beneficiaries live.
Management Response: Accepted. MCO will factor in this recommendation into the development of a new JP on WEE.
More detail
Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Women economic empowerment (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Capacity development
Organizational Priorities: Not applicable, Partnership
UNEG Criteria: Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
To incorporate the recommended actions into the new WEE related project for Tajikistan MCO 2016/12 Completed The recommended actions have been incorporated into the new cross-border UNDP/UN Women JP developed, based on UNDP and UN Women experience gained and lessons learnt for the economic empowerment-related projects.
Recommendation: Women’s empowerment projects should be coupled with efforts to EVAW. This includes awareness-raising, prevention, and protection activities, as needed, related to VAW and EVAW. In the future, it may also be beneficial to consider conducting a safety mapping exercise that looks at the varied perceptions of risks to abandoned women who are empowered and earning a living. The safety mapping can be combined with qualitative and quantitative data collection to identify specific profiles of women that are particularly vulnerable of violence within their marital and/or natal families, and strengthen effective strategies that communities employ to protect abandoned women who are participating in WEE activities.
Management Response: Accepted. MCO will consider how to make better linkages. As EVAW is an area of priority for Tajikistan programming, better links will be sought.
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Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Women economic empowerment (SPs before 2018), Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Knowledge management
Organizational Priorities: Culture of results/RBM, Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
To include abandoned migrant’s wives as beneficiaries for MCO EVAW related interventions MCO 2016/12 Completed UN Women has activities supporting EVAW related awareness and information within its 2016-2020 strategic note for Tajikistan. Within 2016 AWP MCO continued its work on prevention of VAW and keep the abandoned migrant’s wives as beneficiaries for its awareness raising campaign. Video materials produced within the Project for prevention of VAW and suicides in migrant’s families have been aired again during 2016 EVAW campaign.
Recommendation: Increase support for learning exchanges and “communities of practice” that help to support women’s continued economic empowerment, decision-making powers, and sustainability of their economic empowerment. It is important for SHGs to participate in communities of practice and learning exchanges that help to support their continued knowledge and capacity building, social and economic empowerment, and the sustainability of their income generating activities; however, to increase support for learning exchanges and communities of practice will require increased investment from donors.
Management Response: Accepted. MCO continues to support SHGs after the project and in particular is exploring possibilities for learning and south-south exchange.
More detail
Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Women economic empowerment (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Capacity development
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities, Not applicable
UNEG Criteria: Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
To continue a support for rural women to learn and share their practices and knowledge gained to manage their business MCO 2016/11 Completed MCO continues to help SHGs created under its WEE related projects to expand their cooperation with the potential partners/projects though its responsible/implementing partners. Supporting South-South cooperation is also priority for UN Women MCO within its all projects. The Women’s Entrepreneurship Forum in Dushanbe in October 2016 and the Entrepreneurship event in November 2016 were used to provide SHGs with an opportunity to attend to share their experiences and learn best practices/models for the SME
Recommendation: UN Women and IOM would benefit from committing more time and resources to improving national and local government officials understanding of the needs of abandoned women and their children, and support local and central level authorities to develop improved gender responsive planning and budgeting. Work on gender responsive planning and budgeting should begin at the central level where planning and budgeting decisions are made, while gender-responsive planning should simultaneously occur at the local levels. These capacity buildings should be more than one-off trainings, and they should involve more specific mappings and surveys of areas where gender responsive planning and budgeting would be beneficial in rayons and districts.
Management Response: Accepted. MCO plans to conduct GRB training in the future and will though this address this recommendation.
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Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Governance and planning (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Capacity development, Not applicable
Organizational Priorities: Partnership
UNEG Criteria: Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
To support capacity development of representatives of ministries/state agencies to apply GRB tools for policy making MCO 2016/11 Completed GRB related capacity development training for the personnel of the central state institutions/ministries was organized by MCO for September 2016 and is being followed-up by UN Women in partnership with UNDP. For this purpose UN Women hired an international expert who conducted a two day training (18-19 October 2016) to capacitate the respective staff of the key ministries and bodies. During the training the representatives of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Labour, Employment and Migration, State Committee on Investment and Property Management, State Committee on Women and Family affairs learned the practical application of GRB tools and discussed the existing best practices and knowledge for improving gender responsiveness of policies/budgets.
Recommendation: Measures of women’s economic empowerment should be improved in the household surveys UN Women would benefit significantly from improving the household survey and the measures of women’s economic empowerment, livelihoods, and economic security. This includes incorporating in the survey specific questions related to the women’s SHG and involved in an SHG, actual income generating activities, and SHG savings schemes to name a few areas where the survey can be improved. In addition, tools should be developed that would enable UN Women and IP NGOs to monitor and evaluation the WEE approaches to assess the levels of women’s empowerment, and any changes violence against women connected to WEE activities or results. It is also beneficial to develop self-reporting tools that allow project beneficiaries to report on the impact of interventions, and track and map their road to social and economic empowerment
Management Response: Accepted. MCO will factor into preparation of new survey methodology in new WEE projects in Tajikistan.
More detail
Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Women economic empowerment (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Advocacy, Knowledge management, Capacity development
Organizational Priorities: Culture of results/RBM
UNEG Criteria: Relevance, Effectiveness
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
To revise the households survey methodology, based on the recommendations made MCO 2016/10 Completed This is followed-up within the new WEE related programme developed jointly with UNDP. The revised methodology will be applied for the households’ survey once the programme implementation starts.