Management Response

: Independent Evaluation Service (IES)
: 2014 - 2015 , Independent Evaluation Service (IES) (EO)
: UN Women contribution to the United Nations system coordination
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: Independent Evaluation Service (IES)
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UN Women congratulates the evaluators for having conducted the first corporate formative evaluation of the implementation of the Entity's inter agency and system wide functions for gender equality and the empowerment of women. The evaluation provided timely insights and lessons learned, useful for implementation of UN Women's composite mandate. The evaluation yields both an assessment of the achievements in leveraging the collective strength of the UN system and offers recommendations to further enhance aspects of the Entity's coordination functions, which effectively enhance programmatic and functional coherence. UN-Women itself is the result of Member States’ resolve to achieve greater coherence. Its universal mandate integrates development, peace and security, humanitarian action and human rights, through normative support, coordination, and operational activities. This integration enables us to work cohesively across the three “pillars” of the UN, and to support governments to achieve their gender equality commitments. The Commission on the Status of Women at its 59th and 60th sessions requested the Entity to fully leverage the UN system for the effective and accelerated implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, and the gender responsive implementation of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development. UN Women is fit for purpose to deliver results – including jointly with the rest of the UN System. The Entity has gone through a full process of maturity both in terms of strategic positioning and of organizational effectiveness, as it was also confirmed by other evaluations and multilateral reviews. UN Women sees its role as true catalyst for change by utilizing its triple mandate (normative, coordination and operational) in a fully integrated fashion, and ensuring coherence in its work, especially as is increasingly defined by the context of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals.

: Approved
Recommendation: UN Women should continue to actively engage in strategic dialogue with other UN entities and Member States, through existing mechanisms at all levels of the UN, to catalyze greater system coordination and coherence, particularly on GEEW
Management Response: UN Women fully agrees with this recommendation. Greater coordination and coherence across the work on gender equality and the empowerment of women, including its mainstreaming in the broader work and functions of the UN system constitutes an imperative of the current political and economic context. Most specifically, the SDGs constitute a set of interconnected goals that require an integrated approach for implementation such that the sum of the contributions of the UN system lead to a result larger than the component parts of its contributions. It is this integration of approaches and complementarity of mandates that makes the UN fit for purpose. The Entity will continue to ensure UN coordinated input to the annual sessions of the Commission on the Status of Women, including through developing UN joint statements on its priority themes. It will also continue to leverage the UN system to ensure effective gender mainstreaming in key intergovernmental processes and outcomes, such as for example in Habitat III and the UN summit on migrants and refugees. The Entity will support the implementation of the 2030 agenda for sustainable development in line with the common principles guiding the UN System that were endorsement by the CEB in April 2016. By contributing to the ECOSOC Dialogue on the longer term positioning of the UN Development System, UN Women will assist member states, as needed and jointly with other UN entities, in the development of the new QCPR, including with regards to UN coherence and delivering as one for gender equality and the empowerment of women. UN Women will continue to leverage the UNDG through its Advisory Group and the Working Group on Sustainable Development. It will also co-chair the Programme Working Group, the Communication and Advocacy Working Group as well as the Task Team on Gender Equality. As co-chair of the Programme Working Group, UN Women will focus on the finalization and roll out of the new UNDAF guidance for UNCTs, which includes a strong focus on human rights and gender equality as key programming principles for the UNDAF. At the country level, it will also support the finalization and application of the updated Gender Scorecard. UN Women will work with UNCTs to strategically position gender equality and the empowerment of women, using a human rights based approach including through joint analysis of inequalities and discrimination patterns. Since its establishment, UN Women has formalized over 130 MOUs with UN/IFI/IGO entities aimed at fostering partnerships collaboration and joint action in areas of mutual interest. The Entity will continue to enter into formal agreements as necessary to further its system wide and inter agency functions and collaboration with UN System entities. UN Women's Regional Offices will support Regional UNDGs with leadership and substantive contributions, including through dedicated working groups on gender equality issues in the context of the SDGs
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Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Governance and planning (SPs before 2018), Global norms and standards (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Internal coordination and communication, Not applicable
Organizational Priorities: UN Coordination
UNEG Criteria: Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Develop an Internal Framework for Action on the 2030 Agenda that builds on and promotes UN coherence for GEEW UN Women WG on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda 2016/12 No Longer Applicable Draft Framework developed and presented to relevant SMT members. Working Group was advised not to pursue finalization of the internal Framework document, and to focus instead on finalization and roll out of a new UNDAF guidance that promotes UN coherence on GEEW.
Engage to support a strong gender outcome in the new QCPR, including through: a) provide substantive input in development of UNDG proposals for the new QCPR DED Programme and Policy and UN Coordination Division 2016/08 Completed Worked closely with DESA to develop gender related QCPR indicators.
Engage to support a strong gender outcome in the new QCPR, including through: b) lead the UNDG on the mapping of human resources focusing on gender in the UN System UN Coordination Division 2016/09 Completed Mapping completed and findings presented to the UNDG Gender Equality Task Team in June 2016
Engage to support a strong gender outcome in the new QCPR, including through: c) contribute to development of its new monitoring framework UN Coordination Division and PPGU (DESA led) 2017/07 Completed Active support to development of monitoring and reporting framework. Framework finalized by DESA with support from UN development system entities including UN Women.
Co-lead UNDG Programme WG in finalizing UNDAF guidance for UNCTs Programme Division 2017/02 Completed Guidance was finalized, as well as endorsed and rolled-out by the UNDG in the Spring of 2017. Human rights and Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women features as a key programming principles.
Recommendation: UN Women should align the current Coordination Strategy with the Strategic Plan and current UN context, bringing greater focus on UN coordination as a means for development results/changes for GEEW
Management Response: UN Women fully agrees with this recommendation. Aligning its system wide and interagency functions with its Strategic Plan is key. In the current Strategic Plan (2014-2017) leveraging the collective strength of the UN system forms an integral part of the Entity's approach to achieving gender equality results. Both the Development Results Framework (DRF) and the Operational Effectiveness and Efficiency Framework (OEEF) feature specific coordination results. In its new Strategic Plan (2018-2021) these aspects and leveraging of the entity's triple mandate (normative, coordination and operational) in a coherent and mutually reinforcing fashion are expected to be further strengthened. UN Women will continue to support policy development for enhanced gender mainstreaming as a key lever for fostering substantive results for GEEW across the UN system UN Women's coordination strategy and related ToC will be reviewed and updated to address the findings of this evaluation, and those emerging from the evaluation of the implementation of the Entity's regional architecture. The Mid Term Review of the Strategic Plan 2014-2017 addresses coordination results and UN Women contribution to the implementation of the QCPR. The ultimate objective of the Entity's coordination functions is to expand and maximize positive changes for gender equality consistently with the SDGs. In this context, the Entity's engagement in inter agency coordination mechanisms ad process at all levels will be closely linked with supporting the achievement of substantive changes for gender equality and the empowerment of women. Its Results Management System will be further upgraded to better capture results of the Entity's coordination functions (e.g. Joint Programmes - Gender Theme Groups - UNDAF results groups etc.). The Flagship Programme Initiatives (FPIs) - currently being rolled out - will constitute a key aspect of the updated coordination strategy. Thanks to their comprehensive theories of change, the FPIs provide clear opportunities to capitalize on the vast expertise and capacity available in the UN System to support transformative change for gender equality and the empowerment women, beyond the specific contributions of UN Women. Ongoing changes in accountability frameworks for gender equality and the empowerment of women, both at global and country levels, address the need to ensure stronger linkages between institutional performance and development results, consistently with the SDGs, and to increase overall effectiveness of the UN System (see response to recommendation 5 for greater detail).
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Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Global norms and standards (SPs before 2018), Governance and planning (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Not applicable, Internal coordination and communication
Organizational Priorities: UN Coordination, Culture of results/RBM
UNEG Criteria: Relevance, Sustainability
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Reflect and align development and organizational results of UN Women's coordination mandate in the new Strategic Plan EDO with support from Programme, Policy and UN Coordination Divisions 2017/06 Completed Draft new Strategic Plan clarifies how the composite mandate of UN Women is indivisible and will be leveraged in a fully integrated fashion, including through the Strategic Plan.
Integrate FPIs into the Strategic Notes of ROs, MCOs and COs Programme Division 2017/06 Completed UN Women Regional, Multi-Country, and Country Offices were provided with guidance on Integration of FPIs into Strategic Notes as part of the UN Women 2017 SN-AWP guidance note. The New SNs developed in 2017 fully integrate FPIs.
Update UN Women Theory of Change and Coordination Strategy on the implementation of its coordination mandate UN Coordination Division in collaboration with Programme, Policy and other relevant Divisions 2017/02 Completed Following internal and external consultations, the ToC and strategy have been updated and circulated to EMT for further feedback. Final draft was endorsed by the SMT in September 2017.
Upgrade Results Management System to better capture results of Entity's coordination functions (e.g. Joint Programmes - GTGs - UNDAF results groups etc.) PPGU with support from UN Coordination Division 2017/06 Completed PPGU continues to closely collaborate with UN DOCO to ensure UNDG's UNDAF result system integration with UN Women Results Management System. This integration will allow UN Women Regional, Multi-Country and Country Offices to firmly integrate UNDAF results into Strategic Notes and will enable to demonstrate the progress on attainment of UNDAF results in coordination with other UN entities. Furthermore, UN Women has developed a project module as part of the Results Management System, that will gradually capture joint programmes implemented on the ground.
Recommendation: UN Women should align the scope of its mandate with its resource base
Management Response: UN Women partially agrees with this recommendation. The Entity does not have the authority to modify the scope of its mandates. However, UN Women concurs that resource constraints have impacted on the Entity's ability to fully leverage its system wide and inter agency functions, and to enhance gender mainstreaming in the UN System, especially at the country level. Notwithstanding this, and while simultaneously striving to diversify and raise its resource base, all efforts will be made to better align its implementation with its current resource base and in accordance with the findings of this evaluation, as well as of those emerging from the evaluation of the implementation of the Entity's regional architecture. This applies to its work in all locations. UN-Women is investing heavily in strengthening and focusing its programming, broadening its normative reach, and developing its operational systems, most notably its Results Management System (RMS) in order to ensure an ever more precise costing of the organization’s work and greater transparency and accountability on funding allocation and gaps as inputs to its structured dialogue. This system will allow the linking of results to resources and people, and enable regular progress monitoring. Notably, UN-Women will be able to track budgets and expenditures against its strategic plan, including the Flagship Progamme Initiatives (FPIs). With reference to implementation of its coordination mandate, UN Women will include a resource mobilization section in the forthcoming guidance (as per response to Recommendation 4). UN Women's approach to addressing existing resource constraints will be in line with option B identified by the evaluation, i.e. better integrating financing for the coordination function in the Entity’s resource mobilization strategy. These may include: applying direct costing for coordination functions into programme implementation; leveraging the FPIs as a platform to attract additional non-core resources to support transformative change through Inter agency engagement; accessing dedicated capacity for coordination through - inter alia - the Junior Professional Officer programme and UN Volunteers, as well as exploring the possibility of replicating models such the Swedish funded SARC (Special Assistant to the Resident Coordinator); reviewing functional responsibilities of regional planning and coordination specialists across ROs, to maximize capacity for coordination. With particular reference to the regional level, UN Women agrees that merging the strategic planning and coordination functions is not an ideal arrangement and limits the ability of regional offices to adequately support both aspects of the Entity's work. However, the Entity is currently not in a position to add a full time staff in each regional office.
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Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Governance and planning (SPs before 2018), Global norms and standards (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Internal coordination and communication, Not applicable
Organizational Priorities: Culture of results/RBM, UN Coordination
UNEG Criteria: Sustainability, Relevance
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Review project development and approval requirements to ensure integration of direct costing for coordination functions whenever applicable Programme Division (PSU) 2017/06 No Longer Applicable The Programme Division, in liaison with DMA, has initiated the review of the UN Women Cost Recovery policy. In addition, the incorporation of the direct costing in project development and approval is being strengthened through the provision of revised guidance and budget templates. Completion is expected by the 2nd quarter of 2018. A revision of the completion date was warranted due to the change of key personnel in the Budget section of DMA. Currently, a joint cost-recovery policy as outlined in document DP/FPA-ICEF-UNW/2020/1 (approved by EB Decision 2020/8) supersedes the previous cost-recovery policy and rates and will be effective 1 January 2022.
Review functional responsibilities of regional planning and coordination specialists across ROs, to maximize capacity for coordination PPGU and UN Coordination Division 2017/03 Completed Functional review conducted in October 2016 with PPGU, UN Coordination Division and the regional and coordination specialists. Results of the functional review were shared with Directors of Programme and Coordination Divisions. No revision of relevant job descriptions took place as a result of this review.
Develop standard job descriptions for JPO coordination officers at HQ, regional and country levels UN Coordination and Programme Divisions 2016/12 Completed Job descriptions developed in consultations with Regional Offices and submitted to the Human Resources Division.
Recommendation: UN Women should provide operational guidance for UN Women staff on how to approach, plan, implement and report on the Entity’s UN coordination role in different geographic and thematic contexts
Management Response: UN Women fully agrees with this recommendation. This evaluation represented a timely exercise to better understand how the Entity adapts the implementation of its system wide and interagency functions across the themes and contexts in which it operates. The evaluation of the implementation of UN Women's regional architecture is currently being finalized and confirms that the ability of the Entity to integrate its triple mandate varies depending on the typology of field presence. UN Women will further clarify operational guidance for the implementation of its coordination role and functions. The operational guidance will complement the updated coordination strategy, by providing additional operational clarity - both internally as well as with respect to UN partners - on the implementation of the Entity's coordination mandate. The guidance will be aligned with the new QCPR, relevant CEB principles and policies, the new Strategic Plan and Strategic Framework of UN Women and its Flagship Programmes. Drawing on the principle of flexibility and context specific, it will identify 'minimum requirements' for coordination across the spectrum of contexts and typologies of field presence. UN Women will continue to strengthen its foundations for knowledge exchange and operational coherence. Knowledge platforms such as the internal Community of Practice for interagency coordination on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women will be maintained, while thematic ones are under development. Broader and deeper operational coherence will be supported through programming initiatives and instruments of system wide gender mainstreaming and accountability such as the flagship programmes, the new UN-SWAP and UNCT Scorecard.
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Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Governance and planning (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Not applicable
Organizational Priorities: UN Coordination, Operational activities, Not applicable
UNEG Criteria: Impact, Human Rights
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Develop operational guidance for the implementation of the Entity's coordination mandate UN Coordination Division, Programme Division and Policy Division 2017/02 Completed The draft guidance developed in 2018 has been included as part of the preparations for the new Strategic Plan 2022-2025.
Develop COPs across the key priority areas of the strategic plan Policy Division 2017/06 Completed COPs have been established and are active while others are being finalized. To ensure dedicated capacity and sustained action on this initiative, a Knowledge Management Specialist is under recruitment. This staff member will take the lead in managing COPs in line with the Strategic Plan 2018-2021.
Recommendation: UN Women should enhance the role it plays in promoting UN system accountability for its commitments on GEEW
Management Response: UN Women fully agrees with this recommendation. UN Women agrees with the evaluation that the UN-SWAP has played a major role in improving overall accountability of the UN System on gender equality and the empowerment of women. UN Women will continue to support entities reporting in 2016 and 2017 assisting them, resource permitting, to further improving their implementation of performance standards. Working in consultation with the network of gender focal points system-wide, UN Women will update the UN SWAP (UN-SWAP 2), expecting to roll it out in 2018. The UN-SWAP 2 is to be piloted in 2017. Within the UNDG task team on gender equality, UN Women is working with UNDP to revise the existing gender scorecard and develop a country level UN SWAP for implementation by UN country teams. The new tool will align with the UN SWAP, the SDGs and the new UNDAF guidance that is currently being finalized by the UNDG. Following a pilot phase in 2016, the new tool will be made available to UNCTs - through the UNDG - in 2017.
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Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Global norms and standards (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Capacity development
Organizational Priorities: Not applicable, UN Coordination
UNEG Criteria: Impact, Sustainability
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Roll out a new UN-SWAP framework: a) Development UN System Coordination Division 2016/12 Completed Draft updated UN-SWAP developed and pilot tested in 8 UN Entities.
Roll out a new UN-SWAP framework: b) Roll out UN System Coordination Division 2018/01 Completed The new framework has been finalized and will be released in the Spring of 2018 with its supporting Technical Notes. Entities will begin reporting against the new standards in January 2019.
Develop and roll out new gender marker guidance focused on common coding standards UN System Coordination Division 2017/02 Completed Guidance developed and will be launched in early 2018 in tandem with additional gender maker guidance on quality assurance processes which were endorsed by the CEB Finance and Budget network.
Roll out a new version of the gender scorecard - for implementation by UN country teams UN System Coordination Division 2017/07 Completed Scorecard updated, and piloted in six UNCTs. The tool and companion technical notes were finalized and are in the process of being endorsed by the wider UNDG.
Provide guidance for the development and implementation of entity specific accountability tools including gender policies and gender responsive strategic plans UN System Coordination Division 2018/01 Completed New guidance for gender policy development has been developed that is aligned to UN-SWAP 2.0 and will be released in the Spring of 2018 when the framework is finalized.
Recommendation: UN Women should strengthen its efforts to ensure that GEEW principles are consistently taken into account by the UN system in the areas of UN Women’s thematic expertise
Management Response: UN Women fully agrees with this recommendation. UN Women agrees that effectively leveraging the UN system across key impact areas is crucial. As part of its response to the growing demand for knowledge, evidence and gender expertise, UN-Women has played a catalytic role in supporting cutting-edge research across thematic areas, building partnerships and in developing innovative programming in response to findings. UN Women's contributions and expertise continue to be in high-demand also in the development of gender statistics and gender-responsive budgeting. The Entity will promote development of joint initiatives and gender-sensitive analysis through both UN Women-led thematic coordination mechanisms across its priority impact areas, as well as others to which it will be able to contribute. UN Women will host the Secretariat for the UN Secretary General High-level Panel on Women's Economic Empowerment, and support related research and analysis. The Entity will be active in several other senior level coordination mechanisms, and seek membership in other senior management groups, such as for example the Senior Action Group of the Human Rights up Front initiative and the Senior Advisors’ Meeting on Peace and Security. Through the UN Partnership on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNPRPD) UN Women will contribute to gender mainstreaming in joint UN initiatives to implement the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Humanitarian Action At the corporate level, UN Women will continue to enhance its role in the coordination of humanitarian action by developing its partnership with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), including through the development of joint pilot initiatives in the Central African Republic, Colombia, Nepal, South Sudan, and the State of Palestine. UN Women will strengthen strategic partnerships with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) to further promote its coordination role in refugee humanitarian contexts and in DRR and resilience strategic planning. Within the Inter Agency Standing Committee (IASC), UN Women maintains its role as one of the Co-Chairs and the Secretariat of the Gender in Humanitarian Action Reference Group, which is the IASC’s global community of practice on GEWE in humanitarian action. At the field level, UN Women will place greater emphasis on strengthening its engagement in humanitarian coordination and programming. UN Women has identified four core actions which are primarily focused on its coordination role: 1) Coordination and leadership – UN Women will provide technical capacity to ensure planning and implementation of humanitarian response integrates gender equality and women’s empowerment; 2) Capacity building – UN Women will support the capacity of national gender authorities, civil society organizations and other relevant local stakeholders to engage with, and contribute to, the planning and implementation of gender-integrated humanitarian action; 3) Evidence-based response – UN Women will support humanitarian coordinators to identify and address the response and recovery needs of crisis-affected populations by undertaking gender-focused assessments; 4) Targeted programming – Where programming gaps are identified, UN Women will respond operationally, providing crisis-affected women with the protection, empowerment and livelihood services they need. UN Women will roll out two flagship programme initiatives to achieve transformative results through gender equality and women’s empowerment in humanitarian action. These are high-impact scalable initiatives focused on “Women’s Leadership, Empowerment, Access and Protection (LEAP) in Crisis Response” and “Addressing the Gender Inequality of Risk and Promoting Community Resilience to Natural Hazards in a Changing Climate”. UN Women will continue to advocate for membership to the IASC, the primary mechanism for inter-agency coordination of humanitarian assistance. UN Women will continue to advocate for accountability for gender equality in the processes, following the World Humanitarian Summit, and as the co-chair of the IASC Gender Reference Group. UN Women will also continue to advocate for sex and age disaggregated data to allow for systematic analysis of the extent to which humanitarian assistance responds equally to the needs of women and men and leads to gender-related outcomes.
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Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Global norms and standards (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Internal coordination and communication
Organizational Priorities: Culture of results/RBM
UNEG Criteria: Sustainability, Impact
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Follow-up on requests for membership in key UN senior-level coordination mechanisms across relevant thematic areas. Policy, Programme and UN Coordination Divisions 2017/06 Completed UN Women is one of only 13 members of the Secretary-General's Executive Committee at the Principals level. This body and its subsidiary Deputies Committee of which UN Women is also a member at the ASG level, were established by the Secretary-General in January 2017. In addition, UN Women is a member, again at the Principals level, of the Joint Steering Committee to advance Humanitarian and Development Collaboration which was formed in October 2017 and is chaired by the DSG with a membership of also only 13 members. Moreover, UN Women is leading the UNDG Group on Strategic Financing. Lastly, UN Women applied for membership to the IASG in April 2017. The application was not properly addressed at the IASC Principals meeting in April, as the IASC Principals wanted to delay these discussions in the context of the ongoing IASC reforms. UN Women subsequently discussed membership issues with development partners (Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, Canada). Sweden is particularly interested in promoting UN Women membership. Follow-up meetings were held with IASC Secretariat and with ASG Mueller and while UN Women has demonstrated extensive engagement and leadership through IASC GRG, there are no indications that other agencies are warming up to having UN Women as an IASC member. The UN Women ED is expected to follow-up with OCHA's USG Lowcock in January 2018.
Develop IASC Gender Policy Statement on Accountability Framework and update the IASC Gender in Humanitarian Action Policy Statement Humanitarian Unit within the IASC Gender Reference Group 2017/12 Completed IASC Gender Policy and IASC Gender Accountability Framework completed and approved by the IASC Gender Reference Group and forwarded to IASC Working Group for endorsement.
Develop global Indicators to measure UN Women’s effectiveness and contribution to change for women and girls in Humanitarian Response and Recovery Humanitarian Unit 2016/12 Completed Strategic Plan 2018-2021 global indicators include: -Percentage of humanitarian assistance targeting women and girls -Percentage of humanitarian assistance that are gender-responsive -Percentage of humanitarian assistance that Is channeled through local women organisations
Recommendation: UN Women should modify policies and practices in order to model a gender-responsive organization for the UN
Management Response: UN Women partially agrees with this recommendation. As regards HR policies, the key standards and principles on Human Resource Management are set out in the Staff Rules and Staff Regulations of the United Nations. UN-Women is subject to these rules and regulations, under its delegation of authority in HR matters from the Secretary-General. The delegation specifies that the entitlement of UN-Women staff members to allowances and benefits must be in accordance with applicable Staff Regulations and Rules and related administrative instructions issued under the authority of the Secretary-General; UN Women is well represented at the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC) and HR Network sessions and advocates towards incorporating the gender lens in all policy making discussions. During the ICSC compensation review exercise, which was approved by the General Assembly in December 2015 – UN Women strongly advocated for providing additional support to single parents with a view to further promote the recruitment and retention of staff, in particular female staff.
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Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Global norms and standards (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Internal coordination and communication, Not applicable
Organizational Priorities: UN Coordination
UNEG Criteria: Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Develop and roll out a UN Women gender diversity and inclusion strategy and plan for implementation Human Resources in consultation with UN System Coordination Division 2017/06 No Longer Applicable There are no current plans for the development of a UN Women gender diversity and inclusion strategy. UN Women created the role of Senior Advisor on Diversity, Inclusion and Shared Leadership. UN Women also launched the Young Women Leaders Initiative. In addition, UN Women is reviewing its internal processes, including its workforce composition and diversity statistics, to address any racial discrimination in recruitments and promotion, aiming for better diversity in the workforce, with adequate representation of African and Afro-descendent people, and better distribution across regions and levels. Two other strategies/policies have been developed: Disability Inclusion Policy and Harassment, Sexual Harassment, Discrimination and Abuse of Authority Policy
Conduct unconscious bias and safe to speak up training for all staff Human Resources 2017/03 Completed Pilot training on unconscious bias developed and delivered. HR Business Partners trained to deliver using “training of trainers” mechanism. The 2017 phase of Unconscious Bias training focused on Recruitment & Selection processes and targeted Interview Panelists. The training was delivered as onsite and online 2-hr interactive workshops for all HR focal points of each of our regions via our HR Communities of Practice. At HQ, our HR Business Partners were trained. The materials are also available online and the workshops can be repeated in 2018 as well.
Audit of existing UN Women HR policies and practices Human Resources in consultation with UN System Coordination Division 2017/07 Completed HR started with recruitment and performance management in 2017, and as a result have introduced subsets of new policy/guidelines. Review of other policies will continue throughout 2017/18.
Review the effectiveness of existing flexible work arrangements and implement identified improvements Human Resources in consultation with SMT 2017/07 Completed UN Women’s Flexible Work Arrangements (FWA) intranet site has been updated. UN Women continues to strengthen its approach based on global best practices.
Design and roll out mentoring and leadership programmes to foster female leadership Human Resources in consultation with SMT 2016/12 Completed First round of Leadership Development programme and Mentoring Programme implemented.
Recommendation: UN Women should strengthen gender-focused coordination mechanisms at HQ and in the field that have been key in the Entity’s approach to implementing its UN coordination mandate
Management Response: UN Women fully agrees with this recommendation. UN Women concurs with the evaluation findings that the Entity has contributed to strengthening the functioning of inter-agency coordination mechanisms at global, regional and country levels. At the global level, the focus and purpose of the IANWGE will continue to promote substantive exchanges across entities on gender related aspects of global policy debates and intergovernmental processes. The Entity will continue to engage with Inter-agency networks such as the Finance and Budget Network, the Strategic Planning Network, the UN Evaluation Group and others to support harmonization and coordination within the context of accountability for the work of the UN on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women At the regional and country level, the Entity will continue to leverage and strengthen gender theme groups and UNDAF results groups to support stronger strategic positioning and joint action by UNCTs. Within the context of the overall realignment of UNDG working mechanism to address the 2030 agenda for sustainable development and the SDGs, the Task Team on gender equality was placed under the working group on sustainable development. The UNDG working mechanisms focus on supporting the RC system and UNCTs. Since the purpose and focus of the IANWGE and the UNDG Task Team on Gender Equality are distinct, it appears more appropriate to maintain the existing separate set ups. A HQ standing committee will be set up to ensure a more coordinated approach to the Entity's work in the UNDG and its working mechanisms.
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Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Global norms and standards (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Not applicable
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Review the working methods of the IANWGE UN Coordination Division 2017/03 Completed The 16th annual session of the IANWGE was held 9-11 March 2017 in New York which included a full day retreat to discuss the Network’s role and future direction. The outputs emerging from the retreat included agreement on the purpose of IANWGE, its working methods and a programme of work.
Update the UNDG resource guide for the functioning of Gender Theme Groups UN Coordination Division within UNDG Task Team on Gender Equality 2017/06 Completed UN Women and UNFPA on behalf of the UNDG Gender Equality Task Team, and with substantive input by regional teams, developed the updated resource guide for Gender Theme Groups or equivalent coordinating mechanisms.
Upgrade Results Management System to better capture results of Entity's coordination functions (See action 4 under Recommendation 2) PPGU with support from UN Coordination Division 2017/06 Completed PPGU continues to closely collaborate with UN DOCO to ensure UNDG's UNDAF result system integration with UN Women Results Management System. This integration will allow UN Women Regional, Multi-Country and Country Offices to firmly integrate UNDAF results into Strategic Notes and will enable to demonstrate the progress on attainment of UNDAF results in coordination with other UN entities. Furthermore, UN Women has developed a project module as part of Results Management System, that will gradually capture joint programmes implemented on the ground.
Set up a HQ coordination committee on UN Women's participation in the UNDG and its working mechanisms All divisions involved in UNDG working mechanisms (Programme, Policy and UN Coordination, Communication and Advocacy, DMA, Human Resources) 2016/09 Completed Internal email group created and used to coordinate UN Women's participation across UNDG and its working mechanisms.