Management Response

: Georgia
: 2014 - 2015 , Georgia (CO)
: Final evaluation of UN Joint Programme "To Enhance Gender Equality in Georgia"
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Georgia

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The final evaluation of the UN Joint Programme to Enhance Gender Equality in Georgia (UNJP) provided a good assessment of the strategies used in the UN Women’s component of the Programme aimed at creating an enabling environment to eliminate violence against women and girls (VAWG), in particular domestic violence (DV). Strategies rated as successful will continue to be applied in UN Women’s work on EVAWG taking into account all of the recommendations under the final evaluation report. Specifically, the recommendations have been taken into consideration in the drafting of the project document for the UN Joint Project to Enhance Gender Equality in Georgia Phase II (hereinafter referred to as the “UNJP II”) – a five year continuation of the UNJP phase I, will be also implemented by UNDP, UN Women and UNFPA and is expected to start in November 2015. The EVAWG component of the UNJP II will be implemented by UN Women, whereas the political and economic empowerment and reproductive health components will be implemented by UNDP and UNFPA respectively -building on each agency previous work and comparative advantage at the country level.

: Approved
Recommendation: A future UNJP should be more explicit on the theory of change bringing the components together, and the potential of the joint approach needs to be spelled out clearer; all staff needs to buy into the joint approach. As part of building domestic ownership and the capacity of the national institutions participating in the Steering Committee, the next UNJP needs to involve the Georgian counterparts actively into the programme design phase, including in the formulation of the theory of change underpinning the programme.
Management Response: Accepted: UN Women is in agreement with this recommendation and integrated it into the UNJP II proposal
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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
A theory of change for the UNJP II to be developed in consultation with state and non-state partners and to be included in the proposal submitted to the Government of Sweden. UN Women CO Georgia 2015/07 Completed A theory of change for the UNJP II has been developed in consultation with state and non-state partners and included in the proposal submitted to the Government of Sweden.
The UNJP II joint approach to be implemented through the introduction of the function of a Convening Agent (to be performed by UN Women). Joint approach to be exercised in the following aspects of UNJP II: o Research; o Advocacy and Policy Advice; o Capacity Development; o Communications and Awareness Raising; UN Women CO in Georgia 2020/11 Completed The function of a Convening Agent (CA) has been introduced in the approved final version of the UNJP II. UN Women serves as the CA making sure all the PUNOs exercise joint approach to work in the key four areas spelled out in the action.
Recommendation: There needs to be a clearer strategic approach on how to involve ethnic and religious minorities in a future UNJP and how to account for their involvement beyond a formal commitment in the Programme Document;
Management Response: Accepted: UN Women is in agreement with this recommendation and integrated it into the UNJP II proposal
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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
Within UNJP II, UN Women’s target regions are Tbilisi, Samegrelo and Kakheti regions. The Kakheti region is densely populated by ethnic (Kisti and Chechen) and religious minorities (Muslim), where UN Women will work with local self-government and civil society to promote zero tolerance towards violence against women and domestic violence phenomena. UNJP II will further develop capacities of civil society and government partners in these regions to better meet the needs of victims/survivors of violence against women. UN Women CO in Georgia 2020/11 Overdue-Initiated
Recommendation: A future UNJP should make clear its position on “gender”, and be clear on how it focuses explicitly on certain target groups, while pursuing the work with other groups in a more implicit manner, for example the work with the LGBT community;
Management Response: Accepted: UN Women is in agreement with this recommendation and integrated it into the UNJP II proposal
More detail
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
In UNJP II, UN Women will continue strengthening of the capacity of key policy and service delivery institutions to promote and protect women's human rights to life free from sexual and domestic violence. In these efforts, special emphasis will be made on integration of the needs and priorities of the LBTI persons in the capacity development interventions of the service providers (the staff of shelters, hotline, law-enforcement, and social workers). UN Women CO in Georgia 2020/11 Overdue-Initiated
Recommendation: The “pilot approach” to outputs and activities within outputs needs to be more clearly thought through. Guiding parameters have to be whether and how pilots created are really of a critical scale and are likely to generate sufficient ownership to serve as examples for replication country-wide;
Management Response: Accepted: UN Women is in agreement with this recommendation and integrated it into the UNJP II proposal
More detail
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
Domestic violence crisis centers is the only service that UN Women will continue to pilot in the UNJP II. At the same time, the UNJP II UN Women will continue advocacy work with the government to support establishment of domestic violence crisis centers from state budget, as such centers are essential elements of the victim protection and support system also foreseen by Georgia’s Domestic Violence Law. UN Women CO in Georgia 2020/11 Overdue-Initiated
Recommendation: A future project should consider consolidation of activities as opposed to the currently considered extension to other regions of Georgia. This concerns in particular the economic empowerment activities within the UNDP sub-component of the UNJP. The UN should explore where they can best add value, which might be normative concerns such as property rights issues that affect women, or advocacy for gender mainstreaming in existing national programmes for economic development, including such programmes that provide access to credit for women. Existing networks should be used to spread awareness about and to create demand for the opportunities available. The economic empowerment activities need to be examined critically to avoid gender stereotyping.
Management Response: Accepted: UN Women is in agreement with this recommendation and integrated it into the UNJP II proposal
More detail
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
UN Women has not extended its activities to other regions of Georgia as per the UNJP II proposal – the focus will remain in Tbilisi, Samegrelo and Kakheti regions. UN Women CO in Georgia 2015/07 Completed
Under UNJP II, UN Women will work closely with UNDP to ensure placement of the victims/survivors of sexual and domestic violence in UNDP supported vocational education programs. UN Women CO in Georgia 2020/11 Overdue-Initiated In 2015 UN Women and UNDP have already produced a joint leaflet on TVET services especially designed for the victims / survivors of domestic violence that has been distributed to all the state and NGO supported shelters in Georgia.
Recommendation: All sub-components must work towards diminishing the dependence of their partners, including NGOs that are providing services, on UNJP resources. UN Women in particular is aware that it needs to continue its advocacy work to ensure that UNJP resources do no continue to fund services that should be paid out of the state budget;
Management Response: Accepted: UN Women is in agreement with this recommendation and integrated it into the UNJP II proposal
More detail
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
With UNJP II support gender equality topics will be added to already existing course on domestic violence (developed with UNJP I support) of the curricula of Police Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia. UN Women CO in Georgia 2020/11 Overdue-Initiated UN Women is supporting the Police Academy with the finalization of the training module on gender equality for future police officers.
With UNJP II support, Georgian Bar Association (GBA) will institutionalize SGBV education for lawyers through incorporating the SGBV training module into the mandatory Continuous Legal Education System (CLE) (in addition to already integrated course on DV). UN Women CO in Georgia 2017/12 Overdue-Initiated
The funding of the fifth shelter for the victims/survivors of domestic violence to be established by UNJP are taken over by the state budget – as it has been the case with the first four shelters established with UNJP I support. UN Women CO in Georgia 2020/11 Overdue-Initiated
As part of the efforts to enhance sustainability, the UNJP II will develop a phase-out strategy based on the findings of the programme mid-term review. The strategy will be discussed and agreed with programme partners and stakeholders to make sure that each party is well aware of its role and ready to undertake further responsibilities once the project is over. UN Women CO in Georgia 2020/11 Overdue-Not Initiated
Recommendation: With limited resources available, all parts of the UNJP should be strategic, and the need to fund individual events and one-off activities should be re-appraised in a future phase of the programme;
Management Response: Rejected: as this recommendation is not relevant for the findings of the evaluation in relation to the UN Women component of the UNJP
More detail
Description:
Management Response Category: Not applicable
Thematic Area: Not applicable
Operating Principles: Not applicable
Organizational Priorities: Not applicable
UNEG Criteria: Not applicable
Key Actions
Key Action not added.
Recommendation: UNJP should review its partnerships and open up to potentially new domestic actors in Georgia who could carry the gender equality debate forward independently of the UN
Management Response: Accepted: UN Women is in agreement with this recommendation and integrated it into the UNJP II proposal
More detail
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
After the review of existing partnerships, UN Women to add an organization that specializes on the rights of sexual minorities as one of its responsible parties to the UNJP II. UN Women CO in Georgia 2016/05 Overdue-Initiated
After the review of existing partnerships, UN Women to work closer with the State Legal Aid service to enhance their capacities in the area of violence against women and girls. UN Women CO in Georgia 2016/05 Overdue-Initiated
Recommendation: Given that the groundwork is laid with regards to data collection on instances of domestic violence, the UNJP should build the authorities’ capacities to use this data to inform the design of domestic responses and policies
Management Response: Accepted: UN Women is in agreement with this recommendation and integrated it into the UNJP II proposal
More detail
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
In order to support the GOG in to organize the exchange of DV-related data among relevant government agencies, UN Women under the UNJP II will cooperate with the DV Council and the National Statistics Office of Georgia (GEOSTAT) to develop a comprehensive statistical database on domestic violence and sexual violence in line with the UNECE minimum gender indicators related to VAWG/DV. UN Women CO in Georgia 2020/11 Overdue-Not Initiated
Recommendation: Consider making aspects of the UNJP more efficient, for example through the introduction of a joint monitoring and evaluation function, which should be included in the funding proposal for the next phase of the programme. Monitoring and evaluation should involve the collection of evidence on key programme assumptions, such as that greater awareness indeed leads to increased realization of the individual’s rights;
Management Response: Accepted: UN Women is in agreement with this recommendation and integrated it into the UNJP II proposal
More detail
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
UN Women’s work under the UNJP II will be monitored throughout its duration and evaluated in accordance with the UNDAF (UNPF) M&E plan. In addition there will be a developed programme specific monitoring and evaluation plan. Participating UN Organizations will share information and progress updates, and undertake joint visits where appropriate. UN Women CO in Georgia 2020/11 Overdue-Initiated
An External evaluation of the joint programme will take place twice during the Joint Program lifetime. The mid-term and final evaluations will be carried out after two years and in the last year of the JP implementation respectively to collect feedback from stakeholders – partners and beneficiaries, analyse the results achieved and challenges encountered, adjust implementation modalities as needed and incorporate changes throughout all program components. UN Women CO in Georgia 2020/11 Overdue-Not Initiated
Recommendation: The UNJP should consider a more integrated approach to reporting, and which would consolidate reflection (and learning) on the achievements at programme level, as opposed to the current reporting at sub-component level.
Management Response: Accepted: UN Women is in agreement with this recommendation and integrated it into the UNJP II proposal
More detail
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
The results of monitoring UN Women’s activities within UNJP II as well as reports on its implementation will be presented to the Programme Steering Committee by the Programme Management Unit and summarized in form of annual progress reports. UN Women as the Convening Agent of UNJP II will play an instrumental role in the consolidation of reflections and lessons learnt from the implementation of the UNJP II. The Steering Committee will carry out annual reviews of the implementation, desirably, in the framework of larger UNDAF (UNPF) annual reviews. UN Women CO in Georgia 2020/11 Overdue-Initiated UN Women has started to play the role of a Convening Agent from the commencement of UNJP II phase.