Management Response

: Malawi
: 2014 - 2014 , Malawi (MCO)
: Formative evaluation of the Pacific Regional EVAW Facility Fund
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Malawi

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: Declined
Recommendation: Evaluation Recommendation 3: Transition planning should not be limited to the development of an exit strategy, but should consider the possibility of a handover to another agency or extension and expansion of the Pacific Fund. This formative evaluation revealed that within the next year the Pacific Fund needs to devote more attention to transition planning. The recommendation is that transition planning should not be limited to the development of an exit strategy, but should also consider the possibility of a handover to another agency or extension and expansion of the Pacific Fund. Demand for services provided by the Pacific Fund are very high and are expected to grow in the future; clearly, the demand for services will continue to exceed supply. The Pacific Fund offers important services that, through UN Women, are provided by an agency with important competitive edges, including: a mandate; independence and neutrality from local political pressures; an ability to adapt to national circumstances; engagement with stakeholders; and effective knowledge management capacities. Transitioning to an agency that can offer similar competitive advantages is warranted, but will likely to take time; therefore, implementation should continue into the future with a specific focus on developing a transition plan with timelines for handover of the Pacific Fund to another agency or extension and expansion of the Pacific Fund.
Management Response: Management Response: Agreed. The work that has been undertaken to develop and implement the Pacific Fund has been significant and as the evaluation identifies there is considerable need and demand for the financial and capacity building services of the Fund to continue. There is no other systemic approach in the Pacific that provides opportunities for small organisations to design community-based/grass-roots projects that address and attempt to prevent VAW, that also provide the level of technical support that UN Women provides. The Fund is also unique as it offers the same support to governments within Pacific Island countries to implement aspects of their national action plans to address and prevent VAW. If it was determined that the plan was for UN Women to transition the Pacific Fund to another organisation/body there would be a need to develop a strategy for this to occur. As stated in the report UN Women have some important competitive edges and any transitioning would need to think about whether these ?edges? are important in ?moving forward? and if so who else has similar ?competitive edges? and could manage such a complex, involved grant mechanism. The organisation or body would need to be regional, covering all or at least a large part of the Pacific and would ideally be an intergovernmental organisation, and would need a strong technical capacity in EVAW. If the team is to be fully resourced to ensure it is able to meet all necessary project requirements (comprehensive capacity support to grantees, improved communications and more timely responses), it has the capacity to take the project model forward in more Pacific countries and issue further Calls for Proposals. As stated in the report UN Women has some important ?competitive edges? that enhance the value of the Pacific Fund. These include the unique linkages between normative and operational work, connecting international agreements, advocacy and events with Pacific contexts and organisations, ability to draw upon the organization?s leading technical expertise on EVAW, potential to create synergies with projects funded through the UN Trust Fund on EVAW administered by UN Women on behalf of the UN System, etc. UN Women?s ability to integrate the activities of the Pacific Fund in its EVAW regional work and to bring together several thematic issues related to EVAW were also underlined, and the Fiji MCO is working to further strengthen these connections including with its women?s economic empowerment and disaster risk reduction and climate change portfolio. Any transitioning to another organization would therefor require to evaluate how crucial ?edges? are in ?moving forward? and ensuring maximum impact of the Pacific Fund and, if so, who else has similar ?competitive edges? and could manage such a complex, involved grant mechanism. The organisation or body would need to be regional, covering all or at least a large part of the Pacific and should ideally be an intergovernmental organisation seen as neutral in the regional political context, and would need a strong technical capacity in EVAW. UN Women is not convinced that such an organization exist at this point. We do agree however that a strategy on the future of the Pacific Fund needs to be established which takes into account the growing demand on the fund, the funding reality, and provides sustainable options to move forward. Even if there was another organization capable of taking over the Fund, it would face the same challenges as UN Women in terms of size and funding of the project. DFAT has provided funding for the Pacific Fund through 2015. Without funding to continue or expand the Fund, the possibility of ?closing? all projects by 2017 has been discussed. We believe however that considering the success of the Fund so far, efforts should be directed at extending the Fund, and if possible expending its reach, especially as we are just starting to see the results of the improvements to the management of the Fund. As it stands, the UN Women team has the capacity to deliver within the current range of grantees at least through 2015 and additional resourcing would ensure that it has the capacity to take the project model forward in more Pacific countries and issue further Calls for Proposals. The first priority of Pacific Fund stakeholders should therefore be to try to consolidate the financial resources of the Pacific Fund. While it is true that DFAT, the largest donor in the Pacific, has recently announced significant funding cuts to its aid budget, it has maintained the Pacific as one of its main area of regional focus, and gender equality and EVAW as two of its main substantive areas of focus. It can be hoped therefore that with proper focus on communication of the results of the Pacific Fund there would be funding to at the very minimum extend it beyond 2017. Pacific Fund stakeholders should also continue to seek interest from other donors in the region and beyond with a strong focus on EVAW as part of their ODA policy and develop a strategy to engage the private sector.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Not applicable
Thematic Area: Not applicable
Operating Principles: Not applicable
Organizational Priorities: Not applicable
UNEG Criteria: Not applicable
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Begin working on an ?exit and transition? or ?extend and expand? strategy to determine whether or not UN Women are best placed and willing to continue to manage the Pacific Fund. EVAW Pacific Fund Team & UN Women Fiji MCO 2015/04 Ongoing Concept on process and timeline to be cleared internally Fiji MCO.
Update resource mobilisation strategy for Pacific Fund EVAW Pacific Fund Team & UN Women Fiji MCO 2015/04 Ongoing Resource mobilisation strategy is being updated.
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Recommendation: Evaluation Recommendation 4: The Pacific Fund should plan for and secure technical assistance and additional financing for conducting high-quality baselines for a subset of 2013 grant recipients. This formative evaluation revealed that progress made in results-based monitoring and evaluation will go a long way towards properly measuring the results of the Pacific Fund?s activities and progress towards its objectives; however, a significant gap exists in information required to properly assess the Pacific Fund?s impact and effectiveness. Therefore, high quality baseline and follow-up results assessments are needed. It is recommended that the Pacific Fund plan for and secure technical assistance and additional financing for conducting high-quality baselines for a subset of 2013 grant recipients. These baselines should ideally be conducted in the second half of 2014, with follow-up results assessments two years later. High quality qualitative baselines and results assessments can provide important information and evidence of impact at a level of detail and insights that are needed to understand VAW and what works and what does not in EVAW. In addition to high quality baseline and results assessments, the Pacific Fund should also consider one or two grant recipients who are in a position to conduct high-quality quantitative baselines and results assessments. Ideally these quantitative baselines and results assessments would be conducted with the same grant recipients that are conducting qualitative baselines and assessments, so the joint analysis can be used to provide a more in-depth analysis and understanding of the results of the Pacific Fund?s activities and progress toward its objectives. As with the qualitative investigations, this requires external technical expertise, working with the grant recipient agencies. Both qualitative and quantitative baselines and assessments provide important opportunities for developing the capacities of Pacific Fund grant recipients and their personnel. These mixed methods baselines and assessments will provide important information to assess the impacts of the Pacific Fund, and complement results monitoring and evaluation activities. Data and findings from such mixed methods baselines and assessments can also be used to further test the ToC behind the Pacific Fund and a number of UN Women interventions, as well as help test the efficacy of grant mechanisms in the EVAW response overall.
Management Response: Management Response: Agreed. The Pacific Fund wishes to engage technical assistance to undertake a qualitative and quantitative baseline with a small number of grantees from the 2013 call so the baseline is established close to the beginning of their projects. This would enable the Fund to better test out the Theory of Change and the impact and effectiveness of the facility, and support those organisations taking part in the baseline to strengthen their understanding of M&E results monitoring. While the newest set of Pacific Fund grants is now beginning, funding for this recommended action would be needed immediately to capture baselines. Funding has yet to be secured. Stakeholders of the Fund requested that UN Women assess whether any internal resources could be devoted to this exercise. UN Women will explore how either existing Pacific Fund resources may be utilized, or new resources raised for this work.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Not applicable
Thematic Area: Not applicable
Operating Principles: Not applicable
Organizational Priorities: Not applicable
UNEG Criteria: Not applicable
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Develop strategy for resource mobilisation for baseline study. EVAW Pacific Fund Team 2015/02 Completed Funds have been identified within the Pacific Fund budget for the additional baseline work, in consultation with DFAT. The work has commenced
Identify 2-3 grantees from the 2013 call who would be appropriate to undertake a baseline study on. EVAW Pacific Fund Team 2015/02 Completed In-depth baselines have been completed with Fiji Girl Guides Association and House of Sarah in Fiji, and with Ministry of Internal Affairs in Tonga
Contract consultant to undertake baseline study with a small number of grantees, if funds raised. EVAW Pacific Fund Team with M&E support from Bangkok 2015/12 Completed Baseline support has been completed and reports are being finalized
Recommendation: Evaluation Recommendation 5: Additional calls for proposals should be issued for 2014/15, and for additional years if the Pacific Fund continues. At the time of this formative evaluation, funds were not yet secured for a 2014/15 call for proposals and associated support for new grants. However, additional calls for proposals should be issued for 2014/15, and for additional years if the Pacific Fund continues pending funding. An effective call for proposals system is now in place that, with improvements, should be used to issue additional grants. This recommendation requires additional financing for new grants and expanded technical assistance and capacity building support. It is also recommended that two key changes be made to the call for proposals process for 2014/15. The first is to issue a call for pre-qualification proposals, where interested agencies can provide a concise concept note together with evidence of institutional competence, demonstrating whether the organization meets the basic administrative and financial requirements for grant implementation, and has a ?good idea? in responding to VAW. Those agencies that meet these criteria would then be invited to submit full proposals for vetting by national and regional processes already in place. The second is to consider a parallel limited call for proposals that targets agencies already administering grants for project extension, adaptation, or expansion. Strong implementing partners should be encouraged to apply for project extension, adaptation, or expansion.
Management Response: Management Response: Partially agree. If the Fund is to continue beyond the current grants, there should be additional calls beyond 2014 to seek proposals from organisations interested in working to address or prevent VAW. Currently there are funds available for an additional call for proposals, but none beyond that. If further funding does not emerge, then an additional planning exercise for the Fund needs to be undertaken and the funds now allocated for grants may need to be realigned to other budget areas to support existing grants. The evaluation report recommends that there be two key changes to the call for proposals for 2014/15: 1.Using a ?pre-qualification? proposal such as a concept note; and 2. Including a ?parallel? call to allow certain grantees to either extend or expand their projects. The first recommendation is being explored, including by looking at how similar Funds manage the application process. A first stage concept note could encourage organisations to apply that are likely to not be successful if they were fully aware of the expectations of the full proposal, however would be balanced by requiring specific criteria to be met for submission. Adding a concept note stage to the application process would result in another layer to an already lengthy multi-step process, designed to be transparent and have strong national input. If this process could be added in a way that does not further extend the application process significantly, it could be implemented. The second recommendation change allowing for a ?parallel? or ?limited? has merit as it would enable the Fund to further support those organisations who have undertaken a successful project but have no funds to continue or expand it into other areas of needs or other target groups. This would also support sustainability of actions and results, especially in long term support/services for victim/survivors of violence. This approach could allow the Fund to support certain types of interventions or areas of focus.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Not applicable
Thematic Area: Not applicable
Operating Principles: Not applicable
Organizational Priorities: Not applicable
UNEG Criteria: Not applicable
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Assess feasibility and administrative costs (time, effort) of adding a concept note step to the application process EVAW Pacific Fund Team 2015/04 Ongoing Once a new Call for Proposals is planned as agreed with donors and based on funding, this process will take place. As of now a new Call for Proposals is uncertain.
Develop a strategy to undertake a parallel call. EVAW Pacific Fund Team 2015/04 Ongoing Once a new Call for Proposals is planned as agreed with donors and based on funding, this process will take place. As of now a new Call for Proposals is uncertain.
Recommendation: Evaluation Recommendation 6: There should be improved communications within the Pacific Fund Project and with its partners, as well as between Pacific Fund Project and other projects involved in the EVAW response. This formative evaluation revealed there is significant room for improvement in Pacific Fund communications. As with any project, there is room for improvement in communications at all levels within the Pacific Fund and with its partners, as well as between the Pacific Fund and other projects and agencies involved in the EVAW response. There has been a justifiable tendency in the Pacific Fund to focus on formal communications; however, since 2012, efforts to improve communications have been part of the overall changes made to the Pacific Fund. These efforts to improve communications should continue and be a key focus of the Communications Coordinator who is expected to join the Pacific Fund in 2014. The Communications Coordinator should have a strong background in journalism and should know how to go after good stories and ?translate? these into useful knowledge products. There are numerous compelling stories in EVAW, but these are not necessarily being captured. The Communications Coordinator should also effectively liaise with EVAW stakeholders and work closely with grant recipients and their target groups; this will require that the Communications Coordinator post be at least half-time field-based, working with grant recipients and their target groups. Ultimately, the Communications Coordinator should lead the development of a Communications Strategy which should involve aligning Pacific Fund communications activities with those of the UN Women MCO - Fiji, and the communications strategy of UN Women. If a suitably qualified and experienced Communications Coordinator cannot be identified or recruited the Pacific Fund should consider filling the post with a volunteer or soliciting proposals from suitable short-term consultants. This evaluation also found that what is sometimes overlooked is the importance of informal communications. Informal communications are especially important in situations where it may take some time for decisions to be made that result in formal communications. For example, the proposal review process for the 2013 call for proposals have taken a considerable amount of time owing to funding clarifications, yet feedback to stakeholders and grant applicants has been lacking. Simple e-mails that let different stakeholders and grant applicant know where the Pacific Fund is in the review process would go a long way in ensuring that relationships are not undermined.
Management Response: Management Response: Agreed. There is room for improvement and the team acknowledges that with Project Coordinator positions previously vacant in 3 countries (and covering 5 countries) the focus on communications has not been as strong as it could have been. Both informal and formal communications with grantees can be strengthened. This will result in the ability to further develop stories from grantees? work that can highlight the positive contributions that the Pacific Fund is making to address and prevent VAW or the learnings that the grantees have undertaken in the process of designing, planning and implementing their projects. The strengthening of communication on programmatic work has actually been a priority of the Fiji MCO overall over the last year and one in which the MCO has accomplished great strides with the setting up of a communication unit. Considering this and the fact that the MCO wants to focus on keeping the size of the Pacific Fund team under control as recommended by the evaluation, the Fiji MCO will take this recommendation forward by fully using the project coordinators, the Pacific Fund Knowledge Management and M&E Coordinator and the MCO communication unit rather than by hiring a Communications Coordinator. As noted in Recommendation 2, increasing the time spent by project coordinators on the ground and with grantees will be an essential step towards ensuring formal and informal conversations between grantees and Project Coordinators. This will allow for time and opportunity to reflect on good practice or lessons learned and impact/results analysis that can be developed into stories with support from communications personnel with a wide range of readers in mind.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Not applicable
Thematic Area: Not applicable
Operating Principles: Not applicable
Organizational Priorities: Not applicable
UNEG Criteria: Not applicable
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Develop a communications strategy including communication with grantees, implementing partners, other EVAW stakeholders, donors and rights holders; & for the identification, writing of and sharing stories from grantees that highlight good practices and learnings. EVAW Pacific Fund Team 2015/04 Overdue-Initiated A draft Communication Strategy is developed. Awaiting approval. PCs are working with Communications team to develop stories of work of grant recipients.
Hold monthly meetings with Communications team members and the EVAW/Pacific Fund Team EVAW Pacific Fund Team, Communications team members of MCO 2016/01 Completed Regular/monthly meetings with the Communications team is taking place, and greater collaboration established.
Recommendation: Evaluation Recommendation 7: Effective knowledge management should be significantly strengthened and expanded related to the Pacific Fund. Findings from this formative evaluation revealed systems of effective knowledge management have been significantly strengthened since 2012; nevertheless, considerably more can be done to strengthen and expand knowledge management related to the Pacific Fund. The Pacific Fund is in a unique position to access information and insights from a wide range of actors and activities across numerous, diverse countries. Every visit to grant recipients and their target communities is an opportunity to hear and capture stories in a coherent fashion to create insightful knowledge products. The importance of sharing these stories cannot be understated; in particular, donor agencies require evidence of impact and individual?s stories are quite powerful. As with communications, the Pacific Fund has focused attention on building strong knowledge management systems, including review processes that ensure quality products are produced and shared. These activities should continue and significantly expand with the appointment of the Communications Coordinator who will work closely with the Pacific Fund team.
Management Response: Management Response: Agreed. See also Recommendation 6. Knowledge Management products are an effective tool to engage a wide range of readers with the issues being raised, support resource mobilisation activities, engage communities, and inform victim/survivors and other community members of campaigns to end VAW, etc. The team acknowledge that there are many opportunities to share information that they have not always taken advantage of in the past. This was partially because of time constraints, and lack of clarity on the fact that this is part of the TORs of the Pacific Fund team members Vacant positions within the team have left little time and resources to undertake anything except the grantee process administration tasks and the most urgent of other activities leaving the gathering of good practice stories without a strong focus. With the appointment of new project coordinators this should be solved. The Fiji MCO has further recently appointed a monitoring and evaluation advisor who is helping the office wide efforts in knowledge management. The Fiji MCO will seek support from internal resources, such as Knowledge Management Specialists at UN Women HQ to develop a knowledge management strategy. These efforts will be completed by the new focus on communication supported by the MCO communication team.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Not applicable
Thematic Area: Not applicable
Operating Principles: Not applicable
Organizational Priorities: Not applicable
UNEG Criteria: Not applicable
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Develop a knowledge management strategy to include: a) capturing and collection of approaches, lessons, good practices etc. in the work of grantees, their capacity development and other key components; b)establishment of partner networks, sharing information, collaboration and consultations through the online Nesian Tok and Communities of Practice; and c) promoting knowledge and learning through south-south exchanges. EVAW Pacific Fund Team 2015/04 Ongoing Knowledge management strategies underway. Information sharing continues via Nesian Tok (online COP). Fiji COP began in March 2015. Fiji based grantees began monthly meetings in February 2015. Tonga began COP in March 2015. First regular meeting held between members of Regional Project Steering Committee and Fiji based grantees on the progress of their project began in April 2015. Similar meetings planned with grantees in other countries.
Seek support from UN Women HQ Knowledge Management specialists for ideas and tools to facilitate KM EVAW Pacific Fund team 2015/04 Completed UN Women Fiji MCO organized a webinar with a Knowledge Management expert at UN Women HQ, who shared numerous tools and methods that are of use to the team.
Recommendation: Evaluation Recommendation 8: The Pacific Fund should consider how it can help grant recipients implement their projects in a manner that strengthens the right of participation among target groups and valuable rights-holders. Finally, this formative evaluation revealed that over the past few years the Pacific Fund has committed to strengthening gender equality and human rights-based approaches at the stakeholder and grant recipient levels, this has included attention to the rights of participation of target groups. However, there is still room for improvement, especially in terms of the rights of participation of target groups by grantee organisations. Based upon these findings, it is recommended that the Pacific Fund specifically consider how it can help grant recipients implement their projects in a manner that strengthens the right of participation of target groups as agents of change, informed participants, and valuable rights-holders. This is an important gap that will undermine the effectiveness of the Pacific Fund if it continues, and may weaken the Fund?s sustainability. Beyond participation as a right, it is also based on the hypothesis that ownership is key to sustainability; all implementation actions should be based on the assumption that this hypothesis is valid. The right of participation of target groups and valuable rights-holders is widely agreed upon and accepted as a ?best practice?; yet, the sometimes top down and directive interventions used by grant recipients can undermine the ability of target groups and valuable rights-holders to exercise their right to participation. This formative evaluation revealed basic ?rules? of participation are not always practiced by grant recipients, such as engaging target groups with due respect and encouraging their direct involvement in project design and implementation. While it sounds straightforward to ensure that rights to participation be respected, it requires skills that are not common in most projects, including grant projects supported by the Pacific Fund. Pacific Fund staff and UN Women personnel engaged in supporting grant implementation, as well as grant recipients themselves, need training to improve their capabilities to engage with target groups in project design, so as to strengthen the relevance of project approaches to the needs of affected persons and communities and to ensure proper ethical protocols are followed, especially when involving survivors of VAW. In addition, approaches to ensure the right to participation of target groups and rights-holders in project design and implementation need to be tested. Finally, rights of participation also need to be part of how the Pacific Fund approaches Project implementation and how grant recipients approach their own project implementation.
Management Response: Management Response: Agreed. The Fund agrees to further strengthen supports related to participation, and notes significant attention to rights based approaches, including participation, that have already been made and which have shown results. The application form for the Pacific Fund requests information from potential grantees about how they have engaged the target group/s. The application form asks how target groups are involved in the project planning including their proposed participation in the project implementation. To assist grantees to think about this prior to developing their proposal, advice is provided in the Guidance Notes to the Application Form. Grantees are expected to report on this - the reporting templates specifically ask for information as to whether they have consulted with and had people from the identified target group participate in the design and development phase of the project proposal and as well whether they have involved survivors of violence in their projects and what this involvement looked like. In other words, the Fund provides guidance and support in a number of ways to strengthen participation of grantee target populations. The annex in the Reporting Package on HRBA is extensive (5 pages) in its promotion of the involvement of rights-holders and duty bearers from the design to the monitoring (results) phase. These knowledge products are directly influencing grantees to approach project management from the right-to-participate perspective. From the reports that we are receiving it is clear that those organisations who read the Guidance Notes thoroughly are the ones who are reporting on the involvement of rights holders and duty bearers in their projects. Therefore a gap that we are recognising is that the EVAW Pacific Fund Project Coordinators and the grantees need to all become more familiar with the content of the Reporting Package. The Pacific Fund Project has benefited from wide and regular consultation with organisations working on VAW in the Pacific from the very beginning (design phase). Women and women?s groups were engaged from the beginning (in workshops and consultations) as to what the Facility would actually look like ? a mechanism that would increase their access to funding support. During Project implementation, grantees demands for increased capacity building support, were responded to by intensifying capacity building activities together with grants. The Pacific Fund monitoring tools were remodelled following consultation and learning from how grantees were using the tools. The UN Women process rules stipulate that there must be a ?level playing field? for all applicants, so limited support can be provided at application stage. In the future support can also be offered via the EVAW Toolkit that is currently being developed. It is a resource for potential and current grantees to support them in the design, development and implementation of their project work. The Toolkit includes some information on working with the target group and this could be strengthened to ensure it captures the concept of participation rights.
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Description: testdata
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Women economic empowerment (SPs before 2018), Not applicable
Operating Principles: Capacity development, Not applicable
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities, Not applicable
UNEG Criteria: Relevance, Not applicable
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Discuss with Implementing Partner, RRRT, to idea of strengthening the ?participation rights? focus of their training and mentoring with grantees. EVAW Pacific Fund Team & RRRT 2015/04 Completed An example is the workshop with SVSG on addressing challenges of implementation of the Family Law Act. Recent regional workshop from 8 to 12 June 2015 incorporated participation principles.
Consult with the EVAW Toolkit consultant/designer to ensure that the focus on participation rights is appropriately targeted. EVAW Pacific Fund Team & Toolkit consultant 2015/10 Completed Participation is incorporated appropriately.
EVAW Pacific Fund Team & Toolkit consultant EVAW Pacific Fund Team & Toolkit consultant 2015/12 Completed Planned to be launched on July 25, 2015