Management Response

: South Sudan
: 2014 - 2016 , South Sudan (CO)
: Country Portfolio Evaluation
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: South Sudan
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The South Sudan Country Office (CO) conducted the final country portfolio evaluation (CPE) on the South Sudan Strategic Note (SN) 2014-2018. The evaluation assessed the normative, coordination and programmatic work of the CO. The key findings of the evaluation were 1) UN Women has achieved and sustained strategic positioning on normative work, especially at national level, 2) UN Women has been absolutely pivotal in supporting women’s genuine participation in the peace negotiations and laying the foundations for more gender equal peace building and eventual reconciliation efforts and 3) UN Women has sought to support key vulnerable groups in South Sudan even in the current very volatile and dangerous environment. There were 9 recommendations developed during the evaluation. The findings and recommendations from the CPE were seriously considered and incorporated in the UN Women South Sudan SN 2019-2021.
: Approved
Recommendation: In the next SN period, UNW should prioritise achieving the best fit between its scarce resources and the most relevant and effective interventions where its comparative advantage is best utilised and its relevance enhanced
Management Response: The Country office acknowledged and agreed on the recommendation. The recommendation is incorporated in the SN 2019 - 2021 which was designed to support the strengthening of normative environment and women' voices and agency, in the achievement of all the key national and UN indicators focusing on peace and security, ending violence against women/SGBV through humanitarian action.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Leadership and political participation (SPs before 2018), Peace and security (SPs before 2018), Women economic empowerment (SPs before 2018), Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018), Global norms and standards (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Not applicable
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities, Organizational efficiency
UNEG Criteria: Efficiency, Effectiveness
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Prioritize the area of focus in the SN 2019-2021 Senior Management 2018/08 Completed
Prioritize the area of focus for resource mobilization in the SN 2019-2021 Senior Management 2018/12 Completed Resource mobilization is an ongoing initiative.
Strengthen partnerships with other UN agencies for resource mobilization Senior Management 2019/12 Completed
Recommendation: For greater effectiveness and efficiency, UNW South Sudan should closely review how best it might tailor the RBM system, within the parameters of the UNDG criteria, to the South Sudan context for the SN 2019 - 2021
Management Response: The Country office acknowledged and accepted the recommendation. The SN 2019 -2021 has SMART indicators and all baseline data will be collected to follow and track outputs and outcomes. Importance of gender disaggregated data and data for GEWE will be promoted among both partners and UN agencies.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Global norms and standards (SPs before 2018), Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018), Women economic empowerment (SPs before 2018), Peace and security (SPs before 2018), Leadership and political participation (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Alignment with strategy, Evidence, Data and statistics
Organizational Priorities: Organizational efficiency, Culture of results/RBM, Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Efficiency, Relevance, Effectiveness
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Have clear indicators with appropriate targets In the SN 2019-2021 Senior Management and Programme Team 2018/12 Completed
Have SMART indicators In the SN 2019-2021 Senior Management and Programme Team 2018/12 Completed
Train all programme staff and IPs on RBM including reporting Senior Management and Programme Team 2019/12 Completed
Revise Implementing Partners' reporting format to collect all necessary data including gender disaggregated data and use the format Senior Management and Programme Team 2019/03 Completed
Provide all baseline data in the SN 2019-2021 Senior Management and Programme Team 2019/06 Completed
Recommendation: The next SN should prioritise work across its triple mandate and its Development Results on transformative social norm change to support gender equality and human rights
Management Response: The Country office acknowledged and accepted the recommendation. The country office will prioritise its work to support GE and HR in the SN 2019 - 2021.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018), Global norms and standards (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Advocacy
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities, Engaging men and boys
UNEG Criteria: Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Provide supports to men and young men in the target communities to promote positive gender/social norms Programme team 2019/12 Ongoing
Conduct discussions on ending violence against women and girls and gender equality in the target communities Programme team 2021/12 Ongoing
Facilitate community dialogues in schools, with young people, Including young women living with disabilities on changing negative norms Programme team 2021/12 Ongoing
Conduct radio talk shows and awareness rising and leading mass campaigns to sensitize communities about behavioral change related to gender based violence and gender equality Programme team 2021/12 Ongoing
Provide supports to the government and CSOs to enhance their capacity to systematically assess progress on implementation of normative frameworks Programme team 2021/12 Ongoing
Study to understand masculinity In South Sudan Senior Management and Programme team 2019/08 Completed The Masculinity study in South Sudan was conducted in 2020.
Recommendation: UNW should develop an explicit Theory of Change for the SN 2019 - 2021, for effective RBM and knowledge management and to assist work towards achieving social norm change to address GE & HR challenges
Management Response: The recommendation was acknowledged and accepted. An explicit Theory of Change for the SN 2019-2021 was developed and will be utilized during the SN period.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Global norms and standards (SPs before 2018), Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018), Women economic empowerment (SPs before 2018), Leadership and political participation (SPs before 2018), Peace and security (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Knowledge management, Evidence, Data and statistics
Organizational Priorities: Organizational efficiency, Operational activities, Culture of results/RBM
UNEG Criteria: Gender equality, Efficiency, Effectiveness, Relevance, Human Rights
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Develop an explicit Theory of Change for the SN 2019-2021 Senior Management and Programme team 2018/12 Completed
Recruit Knowledge management specialist Senior Management 2019/12 Completed
Support the government of South Sudan to develop its first CEDAW report which analysis GE and women's HR challenges Senior Management and Programme team 2019/07 Completed
Recommendation: In order partly to address the growing resource constraints in international development, UNW should consider venturing into non-traditional forms of resource mobilisation, e.g. with the private sector
Management Response: The country office acknowledged and accepted the recommendation. Although venturing into non-traditional forms of resource mobilization will be a challenge because the private sector is not yet advanced in South Sudan due to the Insecurity, the office will be continuously looking for new opportunities and strategies to mobilize more resource.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Not applicable
Operating Principles: Resource mobilization
Organizational Priorities: Partnership
UNEG Criteria: Not applicable
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Expand the "Friends of UN Women" group through women, peace and security working group which invites development partners Senior Management 2021/12 Ongoing
Strengthen partnership with other UN agencies and increase the number of joint programming through the UNCF result groups Senior Management 2021/12 Ongoing
Disseminate information on UN Women's work, results, and best practices through UN Women, One UN and local media Communication officer 2021/12 Ongoing
Increase the number of knowledge products and its dissemination Senior Management and knowledge management specialist 2021/12 Ongoing
Recommendation: UNW should lead the development of a systematic mechanism of screening all future stand-alone and joint programmes for alignment to GEWE programming principles
Management Response: The recommendation is acknowledged and accepted. The country office will work with the UNCT to ensure stand-alone and joint programmes for alignment to GEWE programming principles.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Global norms and standards (SPs before 2018), Peace and security (SPs before 2018), Leadership and political participation (SPs before 2018), Women economic empowerment (SPs before 2018), Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities, UN Coordination
UNEG Criteria: Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Conduct UN SWAP scorecard and facilitate development of action plan for the Implementation of the recommendations Senior Management and Programme Team 2021/12 Ongoing
Conduct advocacy and training for the UNCT on the use of the new Age and Gender marker tools Senior Management and Programme Team 2021/12 Ongoing
Serve as a C-Chair of the UNCF priority area 4 and be active members In all other priority groups Senior Management and Programme Team 2019/01 Completed Completed and still ongoing
UN Women's M&E staff to be a member of UNCF M&E working group M&E officer 2019/01 Completed
Recommendation: UNW should use the lessons learned from implementing GEWE focused humanitarian projects and facilitating women's participation in peace processes to develop models that has potential for scale up in other fragile situations
Management Response: The recommendation is acknowledged and accepted. The country office will strengthen its knowledge management and conduct more study.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018), Women economic empowerment (SPs before 2018), Leadership and political participation (SPs before 2018), Peace and security (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Knowledge management
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Produce knowledge productions on humanitarian projects Senior Management and Knowledge management specialist 2021/12 Ongoing A report on Women Economic Resilience Model was completed in 2019. A rapid gender analysis on COVID-19 was published in 2020.
Conduct a study on the gendered experiences of women in conflict Programme Team 2021/12 Overdue-Not Initiated
Support women's organization and individuals to enhance their capacities to influence international, regional, national and local peacebuilding processes Programme Team 2021/12 Ongoing
Deployment of a gender and humanitarian specialist Senior Management 2018/12 Completed
Recommendation: UNW needs to work with IPs to reduce partner dependency
Management Response: The recommendation Is acknowledged and partially accepted. The country office will continue to support strengthening partners' capacity in the SN 2019-2021. The country office will ensure the partners to consider their sustainability strategy.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Partially Accepted
Thematic Area: Not applicable
Operating Principles: Not applicable
Organizational Priorities: Partnership
UNEG Criteria: Not applicable
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Capacity building training to IPs Senior Management 2021/12 Ongoing Capacity building trainings to IPs were conducted in 2018 and 2019.
Support women's organizations to enhance their capacities to deliver humanitarian services Programme team 2021/12 Ongoing
Recommendation: UNW needs to consider how it can support interventions that last longer than 6 or 12 months
Management Response: The recommendation is acknowledged and partially accepted. This is beyond UN Women and the country office' control because it also relates to the donor funding arrangements which most of the donors fund UN Women year by year not multi year. UN Women also has a guideline for the partners selection which developed by the HQ and the country office complies with the guideline.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Partially Accepted
Thematic Area: Not applicable
Operating Principles: Not applicable
Organizational Priorities: Partnership
UNEG Criteria: Not applicable
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Discuss with the donors and partners to identify skilled and committed IPs and how to support them to ensure their core staff Senior Management 2021/12 Ongoing
Support partners to strengthen their management capacity Senior Management, Programme Team and Operation team 2019/12 Ongoing