Management Response

: Jordan
: 2015 - 2015 , Jordan (CO)
: Strengthened capacities for inclusive and effective women’s (refugees and in the hosting communities) and girls’ participation in decision making processes affecting their lives
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Jordan

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Overall the evaluation was very positive, finding that the project met all of its results to a high standard and implemented donor funds in an effective and efficient way. A particularly positive finding was that the project resulted in a decrease in violence against women amongst its beneficiary population, as well as increased food security. The evaluation found that on-going programming could be strengthened by focusing on some of the implementation details, such as a) ensuring a more equitable distribution in opportunities through a rotation of the cash for work opportunities available, b) streamlining the literacy and protection services offered, c) creating structures to facilitate greater communication and teamwork among the project team. UN Women is in full agreement with all of these suggestions and in the response details actions that will be taken to implement these recommendations.

: Approved
Recommendation: At policy level: UN Women and other agencies should provide women – when appropriate- with more space on platforms such as “Community gathering” and “District regular meetings to express their needs and convey their voice to duty bearers.
Management Response: Completed. While UN Women’s support to leadership was in its early stages of developing in 2014, in 2015 UN Women organised 48 meetings between the UN Women-supported women’s committee and camp-decision makers to express their needs. This level of engagement between female camp residents and decision-makers will be maintained going forward.
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Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Leadership and political participation (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind, Advocacy
Organizational Priorities: Partnership
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Relevance
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Conduct “Community gathering” and “District regular meetings with partners to express their needs and convey their voice to duty bearers. Rachel Dore-Weeks 2016/06 Completed In 2015 UN Women organised 48 meetings between the UN Women-supported women’s committee and camp-decision makers to express their needs. This level of engagement between female camp residents and decision-makers will be maintained going forward.
Recommendation: At management level: The capacity of field staff of UN Women should be enhanced through team building activities and management training. The management structure and approaches used by UN Women were appropriate and, together with the technical competence and personal dedication of the project team achieved project promises. However the team dynamic at the field level could be strengthened Lines of communication between UN Women staff and beneficiaries are blurred, creating conflicts. Accountability systems should be strengthened with systematic feedback sessions conducted with beneficiaries. A complaints/suggestion box should be installed inside each Oasis and a formal accountability system with response and feedback systems should be in place.
Management Response: Accepted. UN Women is working to strengthen personnel relations within the camp and to ensure greater accountability between UN Women and beneficiaries. Details of actions are provided below.
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Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Not applicable
Operating Principles: Capacity development
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Relevance
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Enhance the capacity of field staff of UN Women should be enhanced Rachel Dore-Weeks 2016/06 Completed As detailed under recommendation 2, UN Women invested in a 1 week retreat in its camp based staff. One aim was to build better structures of communication within the team to enhance team building and understanding. This was followed by careful monitoring of team dynamics and efforts from HR and management to ensure good communication chains.
Strengthen accountability systems with systematic feedback sessions Rachel Dore-Weeks 2016/06 Completed UN Women has installed complaints boxes in each of its centres and has linked to the camp based complaints mechanism, administered by UNHCR.
Recommendation: At implementation level: It is recommend that UN Women work to rotate its cash for work beneficiaries. Where legally possible, UN Women should explore how it can support women no longer benefiting from cash for work opportunities through other interventions. Suggestions include linking them to other organizations or working to develop small scale livelihood activities within the camp. The literacy classes should be formalized. Many women come over day with no clear curriculum. A curriculum should be developed with clarity on stages and work towards accredited certifications for successful graduates should be sought for. In all new cash for work recruitment processes, the criteria of beneficiaries’ selection should be transparent and the list of criteria should be published prior to the call for applications. Confirmation visits should be conducted for potential beneficiaries to confirm their vulnerability status. The duration of the service should be clearly stated from the start of the involvement (e.g. the duration of the cash for work opportunity). Formal TOR/ SOPs for women committees should be revised to ensure the visibility of such a body, the unification of expectations and a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities. And implementation of the SOPs for protection committee should be enhanced. Protection specialist is needed to enhance the quality of the protection aspect of the women committee and the protection network inside the camp. The implementation and application of the UN Women protection referral SOPs should be ensured. This document is of great value but the protection team and also beneficiaries are not aware of it. As a suggestion, SOPs should be translated and a capacity building training for the protection committee and the women’s committees should be undertaken to understand them. It would also be important to develop a poster on the inter-agency referral system and hang it in each Oasis, so beneficiaries can understand the process and feel more confidence in it.
Management Response: Accepted. UN Women has put in place a plan to rotate its cash for work beneficiaries and to strengthen the quality of its literacy and protection programming. The details are listed below.
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Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Women economic empowerment (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Capacity development, Not applicable
Organizational Priorities: Not applicable, Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Relevance, Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Rotate cash for work beneficiaries and ensure transparency in the selection of new beneficiaries. Specifically a) rotate beneficiaries, b) publish the criteria of beneficiaries’ selection prior to the call for applications, c) conduct Confirmation visits, and d) clearly state the duration of the service for all new beneficiaries engaged Hanan Zanoun 2016/06 Completed UN Women rotated its cash for work beneficiaries in March 2016.
Formalize literacy classes Hanan Zanoun 2016/08 Completed UN Women engaged in discussions with UNESCO to support the upgrading of this work. UNESCO was unable to take on this role. As a result UN Women issued a RFP for a partner to upgrade this work. The deadline in July 7 2016. From this a partner will be brought on to undertake the work of formalising the literacy.
Assign a Protection Specialist to support UN Women's camp programming Rache Dore-Weeks 2016/06 Completed UN Women has hired a Protection Specialist in Za'atari camp.
Ensure the implementation and application of the UN Women protection referral SOPs Hanan Zanoun 2016/06 Completed UN Women has sought capacity building support from Justice Rapid Response on the implementation of its protection work. To this end JRR undertook an assessment mission in late December 2015 to ascerain the level of knowledge and implementation of the current protection SOPs and put together a comprehensive capacity building plan for staff to ensure full implementation and high quality work on protection referrals in Za’atari camp. The plan has been implemented and UN Women has hired a Protection Specialist to professionalise the referrals.
Revise women's committee TOR and publish Hanan Zanoun 2016/06 Completed UN Women will do this in Q1 of 2016 in consultation with the representatives of the women's committee.