Management Response

: Regional Office for West and Central Africa (Senegal)
: 2016 - 2016 , Regional Office for West and Central Africa (Senegal) (RO)
: Thematic Evaluation on Women’s Leadership and Political Participation (2011-2015)
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Regional Office for West and Central Africa (Senegal)

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UN Women welcomes the thematic evaluation of the contribution of UN Women to women’s political participation. We are drawing on the analytical foundation and lessons learned highlighted in the evaluation to strengthen WPP in our work in the region.This enhanced strategic focus and programmatic clarity will foster engagement across regional and country offices in the design and delivery of UN Women’s work on WPP. The evaluation recognizes that a lack of focus and resources has hampered UN Women’s leadership in the area of Women’s Political Participation. We have taken good notes of the recommendations on the work with political parties, civil society and mean and religious leaders. The upcoming flagship programs and advocacy work will be informed by the results of the evaluation in terms of reporting as well as resource mobilization.

: Approved
Recommendation: Redesign the regional WPP program in a way that takes into account population diversity. The new program should have a 3-5 year continuous program and seek to address: i. Electoral policy reform and application of parity in respect of the Maputo Protocol and ECOWAS; ii. Identification, training and preparation of female leaders and structures; iii. Civic education and work with men, religious leaders and other gatekeepers to build buy-in and support for Women as leaders and decision makers at the national and local levels; iv. financial barriers to Women’s participation in the electoral processes and exercises.
Management Response: MANAGEMENT RESPONSE [The management response specifies the reaction to the recommendation and highlights key issues raised and steps UN Women will take.] The evaluation correctly identifies the need for UN Women to redesign its regional WPP program so that it can be continuous (3-5 years) and seek to address strategic issues. The four thematic areas identified are relevant in the framework of women’s political participation. The point on training of female leaders should however comprise the training of newly elected women (women parliamentarians or women elected at the local level). Another key recommendation would also be preventing political violence against women as women candidates are increasingly targets of gender-based violence, which preclude them from participating fully in the electoral process. Existing regional frameworks including the Maputo Protocol as well as ECOWAS’ legal framework on gender equality and the African Union Agenda 2063 will keep informing regional flagship programs ( this Include , most notably: The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (1986) and its Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol, 2003), which explicitly states that the enjoyment of such rights are to be without distinction of any kind, including sex or gender; the ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance (2001); and the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance (2007). The promotion of women’s rights in the zone of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is captured in the Supplementary Act on Equality of Rights between Women and Men for Sustainable Development in the ECOWAS Region, adopted by the Conference of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government in 2015.) UN Women is currently elaborating a proposal for a four-year program on women’s political participation that will be implemented in the Central African Republic, Guinea, Liberia and Nigeria. This program targets the same areas: enhanced capacity of national stakeholders (governments, parliaments, EMBs),improved legislative practices and frameworks, increased technical capacities of women, support to civil society networks) UN Women is also developing a broader regional Flagship targeting 13 countries in West and Central Africa to be implemented over 4 years. UN Women acknowledges the importance of educating men and boys to support women’s leader and remains committed to continuing to advocate for capacity-building for women and to eradicate financial barriers to women’s participation in electoral processes.
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Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Leadership and political participation (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Not applicable
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Relevance
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Finalize the proposal and start implementing the program to be funded by the Canadian government targeting key areas in terms of WPP. COs and CPs: Nigeria, CAR, Liberia Regional Office: WPP team 2017/12 Completed
Update Regional Situation Analysis of the issue of WPP in the West and Central Africa Region in the context of the regional Flagship under development WCARO WPP team 2017/12 Completed
Recommendation: Prioritize working with political parties to ensure that their protocols, manifestos and guidelines for functioning are systematically gender sensitive and responsive
Management Response: UN Women is committed to leading through partnerships and is deepening the work currently implemented partnerships with political parties in strategic areas of women’s political participation. During a workshop on women’s participation to elections in West and Central Africa, an important number of stakeholders highlighted the importance of integrating the provision on WPP in the political parties’ day to day work to allow them to present more women to the different elections. UN Women has already been working with political parties at the country level and will continue mapping parties who are willing to change their internal rules in terms of women’s engagement in the parties. The proposal currently under elaboration also targets “Capacity building and awareness raising to political parties on gender equality in candidate nomination, including ways of identifying and supporting potential women leaders”
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Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Leadership and political participation (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Capacity development
Organizational Priorities: Normative Support
UNEG Criteria: Relevance
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Advocate for election policy reform with incentives for political parties that observe parity or gender sensitive electoral practice COs RO WPP team 2017/12 Completed
Mapping of Parties and Gender Audit of Political Parties in partnership with UNOWAS (the concept note has already be elaborated and will be finalized in consultation with Country Offices) COs RO WPP team 2017/12 Completed
Capacity building and awareness raising on gender equality in political parties COs 2017/12 Completed
Good practices of gender sensitive policies in strategies for political parties can be shared with Country Offices to inform their engagement WCA 2017/12 Completed
Recommendation: Adopt a more comprehensive reporting approach that surpasses the emphasis on activities and examines performance of the entire WPP program at CO and RO levels.
Management Response: UN Women accepts the recommendation that a more comprehensive reporting approach that examines the performance of the entire WPP program at national and regional levels. UN Women will support the Country Offices to report on regular basis and to establish a database of key indicator (number of women parliamentarians, number of women in the government, at the local level etc.). A community of practice will also be used to share good practices and lessons learned UN-Women’s WCARO office will provide policy and programmatic support to countries to implement, ensuring effective and consistent regional oversight, and partnership building, and generate knowledge through capturing lessons learned. Reporting to accelerate the realization of women’s political rights is an integral part of UN Women’s programs, 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: Not applicable
Operating Principles: Not applicable
Organizational Priorities: Culture of results/RBM
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Compile WPP key performance indicators on a regular basis at the regional and national levels and and establish WPP database of key indicators for COs & RO UNWOMEN-WCA 2017/12 Completed
Establish regular comprehensive WPP reporting (on a quarterly or semi-annual basis) for timely oversight of performance UNWOMEN-WCA 2017/12 Completed The template can be revisited to align with the recommendation from the evaluation, in a more comprehensive framework
Establish a strong virtual community for dialogue amongst WPP programme managers regarding program performance, challenges and best practices. UNW-WCA 2017/12 Completed The CoP on WPP will provide a platform for those with shared interests and programs to engage in discussions, provide support and share information and experiences – including those related to the implementation of the FPI on WPP and women’s leadership at country, regional and global levels.
Recommendation: Build resource mobilization capacity at the national and regional levels by creating positions in regional and national offices to lead resource mobilization
Management Response: UN Women WCARO has mobilized funds from the Canadian Government to implement a regional WPP Flagship for CAR, Guinea, Liberia and Nigeria. Country Offices are already supported by the Regional Office to apply resource mobilization tools in their own context. Within the framework on the regional flagship, countries also have the option to tailor the flagship to the national context and COs can reach to RO and HQ to mobilize funds to support them. UN Women agrees it is important to leverage resources and approaches to keep influencing electoral processes. Successful initiatives can also be taken to scale with other donors. Resource mobilization will be undertaken using existing human resources. Donor roundtables at the country level will be organized within the framework of the flagship program. The flagship proposal itself is a resource mobilization strategy to bring partners on board. There is no specific need for creating positions to lead resource mobilization.
More detail
Description:
Management Response Category:
Thematic Area: Leadership and political participation (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Not applicable
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Efficiency
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Organise resource mobilisation training to equip program staff with effective techniques for donor mapping and resource mobilization. UNWOMEN-WCA 2017/12 Completed