Gender Responsive Evaluation: a Call for Action to Leave No One Behind

ISSUE 6 / MAR 2016

The Magazine for Gender-Responsive Evaluation

Gender Responsive Evaluation: A call for action to leave no one behind

Gender-responsive evaluation: A key to accelerating progress on the Sustainable Development Goals PAGE 2

Why evaluation matters for gender equality PAGE 8 Dear Readers,

As we enter 2016, we also officially enter the era of the 2030 Agenda. This means we need to collectively shift from planning for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to implementing them. Evaluation, and more specifically gender-responsive evaluation, has an important role to play throughout the implementation process in ensuring that these ambitious targets are met, while Think Beyond. leaving no one behind. Stay Ahead. However, gender-responsive evaluation can only play this role if evaluators and the global evaluation community agree to integrate gender equality in their evaluations. In this issue, we EDITORS look at how global partnerships for evaluation, UN system-wide Marco Segone Shravanti Reddy coordination on evaluation and UN Women’s evaluation function Florencia Tateossian can all contribute to making this a reality. We hope you find this information useful for better understanding the importance of COPY EDITOR gender-responsive evaluation in the context of the SDGs and how Margo Alderton the UN Women Independent Evaluation Office will be working to ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS support its integration at the global, regional and national level. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka Caroline Heider Colin Kirk Awuor Ponge Tessie Catsambas Jim Rugh Helen Wedgwood Kalmomas Jaiyen Simone Ellis Oluoch-Olunya

Mohammad Naciri Marco Segone Director, Independent Evaluation Office ART DIRECTION & DESIGN Ultravirgo [email protected] @msegone UN WOMEN 220 East 42nd Street New York, New York 10017 [email protected] www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/evaluation Twitter: @unwomenEval UN WOMEN/RYAN BROWN UN WOMEN/RYAN © The analysis and recommendations in this magazine do not necessarily reflect the views of UN Women, its Executive Board or the United Nations Member States. The designations in this publication do not imply an opinion on the legal status of any country or territory, or its authorities, or the delimitation of frontiers.

The text has not been edited to official THIS PAGE: BANK DEVELOPMENT ASIAN © publication standards and UN Women

accepts no responsibility for error. COVER: Issue No. 6 1 March 2016

Gender Responsive Evaluation: A call for action to leave no one behind

GENDER-RESPONSIVE EVALUATION A key to accelerating progress on the Sustainable Development Goals

PAGE 2 A call for action to leave no one behind

PAGE 4

Transforming Why evaluation matters how we assess for gender equality progress against

PAGE 8 global goals

PAGE 14

EVALUATION IN Supporting UN Women UNITED NATIONS contribution to 2030 It is time for shifting Agenda: The critical role “business as usual” of the UN Women evaluation function PAGE 30

PAGE 40 Partnerships for 2030 success

PAGE 22 2

GENDER-RESPONSIVE EVALUATION

A key to accelerating progress on the Sustainable Development Goals UN WOMEN / SARAH STACKE / SARAH UN WOMEN 3

By PHUMZILE MLAMBO-NGCUKA Executive Director, UN Women

We kick off 2016 with a strong focus on implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We worked hard to place gender equality at the heart of this new global agenda through a standalone goal on gender equality and women’s empowerment (Goal 5) and the integration of gender equality targets within the other goals. Our focus now must be on harnessing that momentum and ensuring that we are on track to deliver on our commitments.

Crucially, the 2015 reviews also slow so that we can course-correct. It showed that our monitoring and eval- will give us a better understanding uation mechanisms for the MDGs of how to overcome obstacles, while were not robust enough to alert us to identifying the ingredients that sus- the slow pace of implementation and tain gender equality and women’s the bottlenecks faced, and did not empowerment across all SDGs in the provide sufficient insight into how long-term. to overcome these barriers. At UN In addition to our internal eval- Women, we place strong emphasis uation function, UN Women also on the importance of evaluation and advocates for and supports coordina- regular reporting on results. Close tion of gender-responsive evaluation scrutiny can be uncomfortable, but within the UN system and among it is an essential aspect of well-man- national evaluation policies and aged progress. Using gender-respon- systems. This helps us all to align, sive evaluation for the SDGs gives strengthen, and prioritize all of our us the tools to monitor our commit- work, in line with supporting the ments and ensure that words be- achievement of the SDGs. come actions. We have made bold commit- We now begin SDG implementa- ments, and now is the time for tion with targets and indicators that action, implementation and evalu- are more gender-responsive and a ation. If evaluations conducted by global focus on improving national governments, UN system entities, capacities on data, statistics and eval- civil society and the private sector all uation among all stakeholders. This integrate gender equality and wom- will give us evidence-based insights en’s empowerment, together we can into what is working and raise alarm ensure that our ambitious goals be- bells when the pace of progress is too come reality. 4

A call for action to leave no one behind

In 2015, the “evaluation torch” celebrating the International Year of Evaluation linked 92 events all over the world to discuss the Rebalance of Global Evaluation Agenda 2016-2020 (EvalAgenda). EvalAgenda— leadership in the officially launched at the Parliament of Nepal in November 2015 in the presence of the Nepali Prime Minister and Parliament global evaluation Speaker, 100 Parliamentarians, and 50 leaders of the evaluation community community—is a call for action to ensure evaluation is fit for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development endorsed by 193 heads of state at the UN General Assembly in September 2015. Until 15 years ago, the best national evaluation systems were in the The overriding message of the 2030 their fellow citizens. global North (i.e., the United States, Agenda for Sustainable Development At the same time, EvalAgenda the United Kingdom, and Canada). is “to leave no one behind” and to envisages that evaluation will help The big majority of voluntary orga- ensure “targets are met for all nations to raise the voice of all stakeholders nizations for professional evalu- and peoples and for all segments of that are impacted by such decisions, ation (VOPEs) were in the global society.” How can evaluation help to particularly those of the marginal- North. The demand for evaluation achieve this commitment? ized and disadvantaged. Evaluation was in the global North. Today, this The vision of the thousands should therefore be driven by values is changing dramatically. Several of evaluators who took part in the of human rights, gender equality and excellent national evaluation sys- EvalAgenda 15-month global consul- social equity. tems are in the global South (i.e., tation is that evaluation is an integral EvalAgenda, which builds on the Mexico, Colombia, Chile, South part of all efforts by governments, success of the International Year of Africa, Morocco, Benin, Kenya, civil society and the private sector to Evaluation, is further impetus to the Uganda and Malaysia). The big improve the lives and conditions of global trends described below. majority of the existing 150+ VOPEs ESTEBAN TAPELLA ESTEBAN © 5

By MARCO SEGONE Director, Independent Evaluation Office, UN Women Chair, United Nations Evaluation Group Co-founder, EvalPartners

are in the global South. Regional par- In the future, demand, supply and use liamentarian forums for evaluation now exist in Asia, Africa, the Middle of evaluation will truly be universal. East and Latin America (but not in Europe or in North America). In the future, demand, supply and use of UN Women and the International A stronger evaluation will truly be universal. Organization for Cooperation in movement for Evaluation (IOCE), and whose members are the United Nations professionalizing Stronger demand Evaluation Group (UNEG), VOPEs, evaluation for evaluation, 16 UN agencies, multilateral banks and the Global Parliamentarian particularly Forum for Evaluation, is launch- The challenges noted above will equity-focused ing an inclusive process to develop accelerate the need to profession- guidance to evaluate the Sustainable alize evaluation. Several VOPEs and gender- Development Goals with an equi- (including the European Evaluation responsive ones ty-focused and gender-responsive Society, the UK Evaluation Society, lens. In the future, demand for equi- the Canadian Evaluation Society, ty-focused and gender-responsive the Japanese Evaluation Society The first ever Global Evaluation evaluation will be the norm. and the International Development Event held in a national parliament Evaluation Association), are leading is a strong signal of the new trends this process. UNEG is exploring this of policymakers’ demand for eval- Complexity area too, and UNEG members (i.e., uation. The official launch of the is the new normal UN Women and the International Global Parliamentarian Forum at Labour Organization) already the Parliament of Nepal is a clear launched professionalization ini- indication that parliamentarians are The 17 goals and 169 targets included tiatives. In the future, evaluation becoming new evaluation leaders. In in the 2030 Agenda are intercon- will become a mature profession. parallel, the strong call by the 2030 nected and synergic. While this is Agenda for Sustainable Development necessary, it also adds complexity. for leaving no one behind and, In addition, the focus on “no one accordingly, the positive response left behind” means that socio-cul- by the evaluation community with tural-political contexts, as well as equity-focused and gender-respon- power relationships, are critical to sive evaluations, is another positive evaluating sustainable and equi- development. This led to the cre- table development. In the future, ation of EvalGender+, a multi-stake- evaluation theory and practice holder movement to ensure will decisively move to the evalu- evaluation will meet the expecta- ation of complexity, adopting sys- tion to inform policies that leave no tem-thinking and network analysis. one behind. EvalGender+, led by ESTEBAN TAPELLA ESTEBAN © 6 TRANSFORM: GENDER RESPONSIVE EVALUATION – A CALL FOR ACTION TO LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND

92 events of the EvalYear Copenhagen, Denmark Bern, Switzerland Prague, Czech Republic Vienna, Austria Krakow, Poland Kiev, Ukraine Istanbul, Turkey Luxembourg Moscow, Russia Saarbrücken, Germany Wageningen, The Netherlands Antwerp, Belgium Paris, France Montpellier, France Welsh Cardiﬀ, Llandudno Junction and Aberystwyth Ottawa and Montreal, Canada London, UK West-Sussex, UK Chicago, USA Genoa, Italy Geneva, Switzerland New York, USA Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republica Sevilla, Spain Rome, Italy Washington, USA Belgrade, Serbia Islamabad, Pakistan Skopje, Macedonia Athens, Greece Tokyo, Japan Marrakesh, Morocco Galloway, USA Kathmandu, Nepal Rabat, Morocco Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Montego Bay, Jamaica Thimphu, Bhutan Mexico City, Mexico Nouakchott, Mauritania San Juan, Puerto Rico Delhi, India Managua, Nicaragua Amman, Bangkok, Thailand San José, Costa Rica Cartagena de Indias, Colombia Jordan Panama city, Panama Abidjan, Côte d’ Ivoire Colombo, Sri Lanka Beer Sheva, Israel Manila, Philippines Events organised: Ghana Cairo, Egypt Cotonou, Rep of Benin Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Abuja, Nigeria Lusaka, Zambia by Evaluation Associations (VOPEs) Lima, Peru Yaounde, Cameroon Harare, Zimbabwe by UN agencies Belo Horizonte, Brazil Antananarivo, Madagascar by Governments

by Parliamentarian Forum Johannesburg, South Africa Santiago, Chile by Multilateral Banks Melbourne, Australia by Universities Auckland, New Zealand by Think Tanks Buenos Aires, Argentina Wellington, New Zealand

A more and more above-mentioned parliamentarian Multi-stakeholder diverse multi- forums, local governments (at the partnerships state and municipal level, i.e., San stakeholder Paulo in Brazil and Johannesburg will become the community in South Africa) are developing and most meaningful, strengthening local evaluation systems. Impact social investment, which influential In the past, national governments, generates billions of dollars and is and impactful VOPEs, UN agencies, multilateral already more significant than the offi- banks and bilateral donors were cial development aid, is also engag- approach the main actors in the evaluation ing with evaluation. In the future, the community. Today, new stakehold- evaluation community will be truly To address the new opportunities and ers are emerging. In addition to the made up of multi-stakeholders. challenges of leaving no one behind A CALL FOR ACTION TO LEAVESTORY NO ONE TITLE BEHIND HERE 7

Copenhagen, Denmark Bern, Switzerland Prague, Czech Republic Vienna, Austria Krakow, Poland Kiev, Ukraine Istanbul, Turkey Luxembourg Moscow, Russia Saarbrücken, Germany Wageningen, The Netherlands Antwerp, Belgium Paris, France Montpellier, France Welsh Cardiﬀ, Llandudno Junction and Aberystwyth Ottawa and Montreal, Canada London, UK West-Sussex, UK Chicago, USA Genoa, Italy Geneva, Switzerland New York, USA Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republica Sevilla, Spain Rome, Italy Washington, USA Belgrade, Serbia Islamabad, Pakistan Skopje, Macedonia Athens, Greece Tokyo, Japan Marrakesh, Morocco Galloway, USA Kathmandu, Nepal Rabat, Morocco Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Montego Bay, Jamaica Thimphu, Bhutan Mexico City, Mexico Nouakchott, Mauritania San Juan, Puerto Rico Delhi, India Managua, Nicaragua Amman, Bangkok, Thailand San José, Costa Rica Cartagena de Indias, Colombia Jordan Panama city, Panama Abidjan, Côte d’ Ivoire Colombo, Sri Lanka Beer Sheva, Israel Manila, Philippines Ghana Cairo, Egypt Cotonou, Rep of Benin Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Abuja, Nigeria Lusaka, Zambia Lima, Peru Yaounde, Cameroon Harare, Zimbabwe Belo Horizonte, Brazil Antananarivo, Madagascar

Johannesburg, South Africa Santiago, Chile

Melbourne, Australia Auckland, New Zealand Buenos Aires, Argentina Wellington, New Zealand

in a complex world, multi-stake- [OECD/DAC] countries) and several sure, the Eval Agenda for the next four holder partnerships will increas- other stakeholders. This generated years is broad and complex, but pro- ingly become the most meaningful, the International Year of Evaluation crastination is not a sensible option. influential and impactful approach. and EvalAgenda, among other EvalPartners, the global partnership things. It is now time to expand the That is why 2016 must for national evaluation capacities, partnership to welcome new actors, be the year to do the brought together IOCE (the network as well as new challenges. “right thing,” and leave of VOPEs), UNEG (the network of no one behind. evaluation offices of UN agencies), In the future, evaluation EvalNet (the network of evaluation will be an agent of change offices of Organisation for Economic for the world’s 193 nations commit- Co-operation and Development ted to achieving the 2030 Agenda Development Assistance Committee for Sustainable Development. To be © DOMINIC CHAVEZ / WORLD BANK 8 9

Why evaluation matters for gender equality 10 TRANSFORM: GENDER RESPONSIVE EVALUATION – A CALL FOR ACTION TO LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND

By CAROLINE HEIDER Director General and Senior Vice President, Independent Evaluation Group, World Bank and Chair of the UN Women Global Evaluation Advisory Committee

Despite the progress made during the last two decades, gender results in order to understand what disparities persist in many countries today. Women still lag has worked and why. And third, it behind men when it comes to economic opportunity, education, provides a window through which we employment and participation in decision-making. This is further can compare results and experience evidence that bringing about gender equality is a tough job. The across the UN system and beyond, to issues of gender equality have a lot to do with behavior. These share knowledge, build on success behaviors are determined by mindsets, which in turn are formed and avoid repeating mistakes. by longstanding traditions and cultural factors. Influencing All this sounds like standard fare these social norms is hard enough without a critical voice that for evaluation. But, here is what is reminds us that results have not (yet) been achieved or things different: Gender roles and relations could have been done better. That’s where evaluation comes in. are rooted in deeply held, often sub- conscious norms, which define what One could argue that if there is one work. Plus the recent adoption of success looks like in rather diverse organization where evaluation is an the Sustainable Development Goals ways across the globe. Achieving essential part of the mandate, it is provides both the political will and a gender equality challenges us to put the United Nations Entity for Gender platform from which to leverage fur- these social norms to the test and Equality and the Empowerment of ther support. calls for evaluations to demonstrate Women (UN Women). As a global All of this sounds like a perfect whether or not they change, why leader, UN Women’s normative, combination, so what could evalua- they change, and how these changes operational and coordination roles tion possibly add? affect the well-being of men and provide a powerful combination of Evaluation strengthens our women, girls and boys, and progress responsibilities to accomplish the ability to achieve gender equality and prosperity of communities and challenging goal of gender equality. in three important ways. First, it countries. It also creates an impera- Advocacy and partnerships expand enables us to take a critical look at tive for the Independent Evaluation reach and influence well beyond existing social norms and corre- Office at UN Women to innovate and the bounds of the organization. sponding policies and programmes rise to another level of evaluation Research provides the necessary to ask whether or not we are doing practice to better capture transfor- underpinnings to inform opera- the right things. Second, evalua- mative changes in gender equality. tional choices and shape normative tion allows us to review operational WHY EVALUATION MATTERS FOR GENDER EQUALITY 11 DOMINIC CHAVEZ / WORLD BANK / WORLD DOMINIC CHAVEZ ©

an evaluation process with the par- Choosing a different yardstick ticipation of stakeholders can create the space to share and listen to each other’s underlying assumptions and value systems. Valuable in itself, Evaluating whether or not things other times without even intending such exercise might lead to choos- have gone according to plan assumes to do so. Therefore, it is essential that ing a different yardstick for defining benchmarks that tell us what’s right evaluations probe the values embed- what success looks like. and wrong without questioning ded in both the context and inter- In this way, evaluation com- whether the plan is right. Evaluations ventions to unpack overt and hidden plements research that informs undertaken in this way ask whether assumptions about gender roles, how UN Women’s normative work with or not objectives set at the beginning they are changing, and the role that insights into underlying values, were achieved. This is no doubt an interventions play in that process. changes to them that occur as a delib- important question. An equally or maybe even more important question for gender equality is whether An equally or maybe even more important question or not the underlying assumptions of an intervention were right. This for gender equality is whether or not the underlying means evaluating whether or not a assumptions of an intervention were right. project was a good fit with government policy. Many evaluations tend to stop at assessing relevance—but Such an approach challenges the erate or unintended consequence of they don’t have to. evaluation practice to query the val- interventions, and the way in which Another important question that ues it uses—explicitly and implicitly we view success and failure. Such evaluation needs to answer is whether —in its assessment, as each judg- insights will contribute to dialogue or not an intervention is “fit for pur- ment presupposes value systems and facilitate the difficult process of pose.” For instance, existing policies that serve as benchmarks to assess transforming gender relationships, might perpetuate inequality; at times results and performance. Unpacking resulting in greater gender balance to reinforce existing traditions, at social and cultural norms as part of and equality. 12 TRANSFORM: GENDER RESPONSIVE EVALUATION – A CALL FOR ACTION TO LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND

When people can see how measures to strengthen gender equality affect their lives, communities and prosperity, it becomes easier to accept and implement them.

easier to accept and implement them. Creating positive incentives Learning, as these measures are implemented, about what works, why for change and to what end, can make sure timely adjustments are made to prevent mistakes and increase good results. However, this works only if there is Research has shown that gender equal- When it comes to people affected by ongoing decentralized evaluation in ity, while desirable in itself as a human interventions—from changes to poli- place and its results are reflected upon right, also positively impacts growth. cies, programmes and projects—very and used. Both reinforce each other, as empow- few differentiate within stakeholder It is when programmes go on for too ering women economically also groups, even less among women and long while having negative effects that enhances their voice and vice versa. men, boys and girls. Unless, of course, harm is done and reputations are dam- Projects need to translate this prom- these are targeted programmes such aged—not when a justified critical reflec- ise into operational reality. Evaluation as increasing girls’ school enrollment tion signals early on how to do better. can help illustrate which interventions rates or improving maternal health. But it will take changing the dis- worked and give us a sense why and However, there are many other fac- course—the language in which lead- under what circumstances. tors that may affect female and male ership, management and staff speak Once more, sounds rather run-of- parts of the population, community about evaluation and attitudes—to get the-mill evaluation practice, so what’s and households in different ways, and to that place. And evaluation will need so special at UN Women? those influences may be positive or to prove that it can deliver: not positive The development and evalua- negative, deliberate or unintentional. programme outcomes, but positive tion practices very often use rather While research shows us what can incentives for change. broad brushstrokes for various stake- happen, evaluation tells us what actu- holders—policymakers, decision ally has happened, why and what the makers, public sector, private sec- consequences are. When people can tor, beneficiaries, non-governmental see how measures to strengthen gen- organizations—as if they were mono- der equality affect their lives, com- lithic and without differentiation. munities and prosperity, it becomes WHY EVALUATION MATTERS FOR GENDER EQUALITY 13 BINYAM TESHOME / WORLD BANK / WORLD TESHOME BINYAM ©

Creating multiplier effects for At the same time, it will be a challenge for evaluation, which transformational outcomes needs to play its role in embedding gender equality in evaluation methods and approaches, to assess what has worked and why—espe- UN Women’s system-wide respon- But, more importantly, evidence cially with many stakeholders play- sibility has received a further boost from evaluation can help translate ing diverse roles. UN Women and with the adoption of the Sustainable collective action into transforma- its Independent Evaluation Office Development Goals. Gender equal- tional outcomes. As with govern- can play a leading role in bringing ity is a stand-alone goal and also ments, communities and people, partners together to continuously embedded in many of the other it will require active engagement develop better methods and prac- goals. Partnership is one of the five and convincing evidence to bring tices. It is a tough challenge, but it pillars on which successful imple- partners along in embedding gen- can serve as an example for those mentation of the 2030 Agenda rests. der equality in their work. Creating who are dedicated to serving other As much as we recognize the a greater collective understanding disadvantaged, excluded groups importance of partnerships, it is no secret that it takes time and resources to do things together, Evidence from evaluation often negotiating difficult arrange- ments and contrary views to arrive can help translate collective action at hard won compromises. into transformational outcomes.

How can evaluation help in such a difficult undertaking? of the effects of values and social and will differentiate UN Women as In a first instance, evaluation can norms, operational realities and a leader that has demonstrated with help us understand better how well practices, and results will help rally hard evidence how the world can be partnerships have worked and how efforts and resources around the a better place when both genders they affected programme efficiency. shared goals and practical actions. enjoy equal opportunities. © UN PHOTO / MARTINE PERRET 14 15

Transforming how we assess progress against global goals 16 TRANSFORM: GENDER RESPONSIVE EVALUATION – A CALL FOR ACTION TO LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND

By SHRAVANTI REDDY UN Women Evaluation Specialist

More than 150 world lead- decision-making, and accountabil- it possible to conduct robust eval- ers attended the historic UN ity. The good news is that this lesson uations that can tell us more about Sustainable Development Summit has been taken on board. Monitoring what results were achieved, how we on 27 September 2015 that resulted and evaluation are now integrated achieved them and if there might in an unprecedented political com- within the Outcome Document have been a better way to go about it. mitment: the formal adoption of a entitled Transforming our world: There is also much more work new global sustainable development The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable that needs to be done to strengthen agenda for the next fifteen years Development. computer evaluation capacities. Shoring up called “2030 Agenda”. It includes 17 Yet, inclusion of monitoring and evaluation capacities at the national new sustainable development goals evaluation in the official document level—given that the SDGs are coun- with 169 agreed/proposed targets is only a partial victory. It’s true that try-driven—is the ultimate focus. (and 304 proposed indicators) that common indicators for each target This means building and strengthen- aim to leave no one behind by 2030. are being agreed upon and energy ing national evaluation systems and As we all know, these are not the first set of global development goals. This means that we have had the The Millennium Development Goals opportunity to learn from past experience, and there are two lessons that lacked a strong monitoring have come across strongly. and evaluation framework The previous set of global development goals—the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)—lacked is being directed towards shoring up policies. With the United Nations’ a strong monitoring and evaluation national data and statistics capaci- role in capacity development, it also framework. Had this been in place, ties to improving monitoring against means that UN system evaluators it’s widely believed that the MDGs them. These are important steps in need to strengthen their own prac- would have supported better prog- their own right, but also increase tices and be ready to support evalu- ress against the goals by generating evaluability of the Sustainable ation capacity development needs important evidence for learning, Development Goals (SDGs)—making when called upon to do so. TRANSFORMING HOW WE ASSESS PROGRESS AGAINST GLOBAL GOALS 17 UN PHOTO / ALBERT GONZÁLEZ FARRAN / ALBERT UN PHOTO ©

NO ZERO GOOD HEALTH QUALITY GENDER CLEAN WATER POVERTY HUNGER AND WELL-BEING EDUCATION EQUALITY AND SANITATION

But the challenge doesn’t end SDG GOAL 5 there. Another lesson learned from Achieve gender equality the MDG era is that progress overall and empower all does not mean progress for all. Some women and girls groups benefit from progress more than others, while some might not AFFORDABLE AND benefitDECENT at all—or WORK ANDmay end up worseINDUSTRY, INNOVATIONTARGETS REDUCED SUSTAINABLE CITIES RESPONSIBLE CLEAN ENERGY ECONOMIC GROWTH AND INFRASTRUCTURE— End all forms of discriminationINEQUALITIES against all women and ANDgirls COMMUNITIESeverywhere CONSUMPTION off. Groups of individuals tradition- AND PRODUCTION ally discriminated, marginalized or — Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private excluded in society are at most risk of spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation not receiving the benefits of sustain- — Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and able development, unless this is pur- female genital mutilation sued with respect to human rights — Recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies and the promotion of shared and gender equality and specific tar- responsibility within the household and the family as nationally appropriate geted measures are undertaken. — Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leader- CLIMATE ThisLIFE key lesson was also recLIFE- PEACE, JUSTICE PARTNERSHIPS ACTION BELOW WATER ON LAND ship at all levels of decision-makingAND STRONG in political, economic FORand publicTHE GOALS life ognized in the adoption of the — Ensure universal accessINSTITUTIONS to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive Sustainable Development 2030 rights as agreed in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Agenda slogan: “No one left behind!” Conference on Population and Development and the Beijing Platform for Action and There is a commitment to ensuring the outcome documents of their review conferences that all groups benefit from devel- — Undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources, as well opment, including, importantly, a as access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property, financial services, inheritance and natural resources, in accordance with national laws special focus on gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEEW). — Enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communi- cations technology, to promote the empowerment of women There is a dedicated Goal 5 to GEEW — Adopt and strengthen sound policies and enforceable legislation for the promo- and it is also mainstreamed across Developed in collaboration with | [email protected] | +1.212.529.1010 tion of gender equality and the empowermentFor queries on ofusage, all contact:women [email protected] and girls at all levels all 17 goals. From: Transforming our world: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 18 TRANSFORM: GENDER RESPONSIVE EVALUATION – A CALL FOR ACTION TO LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND

Gender equality and women’s empowerment mainstreamed across the 2030 Agenda “Realizing gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls will make a crucial contribution to progress across all the goals and targets. The achievement of full human potential and of sustainable development is not possible if one half of human- ity continues to be denied its full human rights and opportunities. Women and girls must enjoy equal access to quality education, economic resources and political participation as well as equal opportunities with men and boys for employment, leadership and decision-making at all levels. We will work for a significant increase in investments to close the gender gap and strengthen support for institutions in relation to gender equality and the empowerment of women at the global, regional and national levels. All forms of discrimination and violence against women and girls will be eliminated, including through the engagement of men and boys. The systematic mainstreaming of a gender perspective in the implementation of the Agenda is crucial.”

From: Transforming our world: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development UN PHOTO / MARTINE PERRET / MARTINE UN PHOTO ©

Combining these two challenges evaluation have been strengthened, Internally, UN Women is also work- brings us to two key questions new partnerships have emerged and ing to strengthen its own evaluation now before the global evaluation ambitious plans are in the works function to guide UN Women’s work community: to strengthen gender-responsive towards the achievement of GEEW • How can we collectively ensure evaluation. Within the UN system, within the context of the SDGs, espe- that evaluation is planned, entities have been working collec- cially at the country-level. undertaken and used to support tively through the United Nations The second piece of good news is progress against all 17 goals? Evaluation Group (UNEG) to ensure that some success has already been • How can we collectively ensure that the UN evaluation functions achieved. Two examples are specifi- that evaluation also supports are also fit-for-purpose to conduct cally worth mentioning. For the first progress on gender equality and gender-responsive evaluation and to time ever, the UN General Assembly women’s empowerment? meet demands for evaluation capac- passed a resolution on evaluation The first piece of good news is that a ity development by countries. (A/RES/69/237), “Capacity building vibrant global evaluation community UN Women, with its specific for the evaluation of development exists—drawn from national govern- niche in gender-responsive evalu- activities at the country level.” computer It ments, UN system, voluntary orga- ation—given its mandate—is also acknowledged the call by the global nizations for professional evaluation playing a vital role within global evaluation community to declare (VOPEs), academic institutions and the private sector—and has been gal- vanizing and coordinating itself to The first piece of good news respond to this challenge. Throughout 2015, the global evaluation com- is that a vibrant global evaluation munity has been celebrating the community exists International Year of Evaluation with the aim of advocating and promoting evaluation and evidence-based policy partnerships and within the United 2015 as the International Year of making at all levels. Nations to advocate for the conduct Evaluation and also called for part- Existing global partnerships for of gender-responsive evaluation. nerships to support country-led TRANSFORMING HOW WE TRACK PROGRESS AGAINST GLOBAL GOALS 19

“A positive enabling environment for evaluation exists when all sectors of a country’s society—not just the executive and legislative branches of the national government, but also the judicial branch, civil society, academia, the media, and citizens in general— understand and appreciate the value of evaluation, insist on evaluations being conducted, provide the necessary resources for those evaluations, and use the resulting findings to improve policy and decision-making that supports learning and achieved positive outcomes for all.”

EVALAGENDA 2020

evaluation activities and the strengthening of national evaluation capacity. This has done much to help gal- vanize and strengthen support for Sustainable Development Goals follow-up and review evaluation throughout 2015, which A robust, voluntary, effective, participatory, transparent and integrated follow-up ended with the celebration of a and review framework will make a vital contribution to implementation and will Global Evaluation Week hosted by help countries to maximize and track progress in implementing 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in order to ensure that no one is left behind. Operating at the Parliament of Nepal. During the the national, regional and global levels, it will promote accountability to our citizens, event, a global evaluation agenda support effective international cooperation in achieving this Agenda and foster that was developed through exten- exchanges of best practices and mutual learning. The follow-up and review processes sive consultation throughout the at all levels will be guided by the following principles: year was agreed upon: EvalAgenda • They will track progress in implementing the universal goals and targets, including the means of implementation, in all countries in a manner that respects their uni- 2020. versal, integrated and interrelated nature and the three dimensions of sustainable A 15-month participatory con- development. sultation process, involving a • They will be open, inclusive, participatory and transparent for all people and will wide range of stakeholders from support the reporting by all relevant stakeholders. around the world, led to the devel- • They will be people-centered, gender-sensitive, respect human rights and have a opment of EvalAgenda 2020. It particular focus on the poorest, most vulnerable and those furthest behind. provides a common global frame- • They will be rigorous and based on evidence, informed by country-led evaluations work for the evaluation com- and data that is high-quality, accessible, timely, reliable and disaggregated by munity to organize. Four new income, sex, age, race, ethnicity, migration status, disability and geographic location and other characteristics relevant in national contexts. partnerships have already sprouted under its umbrella: EvalSDGs, • They will require enhanced capacity-building support for developing countries, including the strengthening of national data systems and evaluation programmes, EvalYouth, EvalIndigenous and particularly in African countries, least developed countries, small island developing EvalGender+. This last partnership, states, landlocked developing countries and middle-income countries. which focuses specifically on gen- • They will benefit from the active support of the UN system and other multilateral der-responsive evaluation, provides institutions. 20 TRANSFORM: GENDER RESPONSIVE EVALUATION – A CALL FOR ACTION TO LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND

EvalAgenda 2020 EvalAgenda 2020 was developed through a consultative process involving 90 events over a 15-month period. It contains the results of global discussions amongst the evaluation community to develop an agenda for evaluation for the first five years of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) implementation. Consensus was reached on two main issues:

• Evaluation has enormous potential to • Evaluation has not yet reached its full This led to the development of a vision improve society. Evaluation is not simply potential. Despite its success and for Evaluation in the Year 2020. In this a value-neutral management tool. In growing acceptance in many parts of vision, four essential dimensions of the order to reach its fullest potential, the world, evaluation has not yet been evaluation system make up the core of evaluation must combine effective embraced as widely as it should be. EvalAgenda2020. These are: methods and techniques and the values In many organizations and countries, • The enabling environment for evaluation that drive policies geared to the public there is inadequate appreciation of what • Institutional capacities interest. EvalPartners members are evaluation is, how it differs from policy • Individual capacities for evaluation united by a shared commitment to research, performance measurement • Inter-linkages among these first three promoting and supporting equitable and or performance auditing, and how it dimensions sustainable human development. Our can help improve policymaking and alliance promotes evaluation processes programme implementation efforts on and criteria grounded in values of equity, a practical level. It is the gap between gender equality, and social justice, and potential value and current accep- on shared principles of partnership, tance that motivates us to work harder innovation, inclusivity, and human rights. towards improving evaluation quality and usefulness and spread its benefits

worldwide and across all segments of EvalAgenda 2020 (excerpts from the draft society, including the private and volun- Executive Summary) tary sectors.

a new space for collaboration, learn- No one left behind: Evaluating SDGs with a gender lens ing and advocacy. The transition to the agreed Progress on social equity and gender equality is fundamental for realizing human rights for all. Social equity and gender equality are the building blocks for sustainable, EvalAgenda 2020 starts now. The inclusive and peaceful societies. The SDGs provide a new opportunity to strengthen countdown begins. The world has sustainable development “leaving no one behind”. This is why, following the approval thrown down the gauntlet, meta- of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the UN General Assembly, phorically speaking, to the evalua- EvalGender+, United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG) and the Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) of UN Women, in collaboration with EvalPartners, Global tion community. Are you ready to Parliamentarians Forum for Evaluation, International Organizations for Cooperation meet the challenge? in Evaluation (IOCE), UNICEF, UNFPA, UNDP, Swiss Development Cooperation, Government of Sri Lanka, CONEVAL Mexico and the Government of the Republic of Tunisia have launched a multi-stakeholder consultative process to develop a framework to evaluate the Sustainable Development Goals with a gender lens, 2030 AGENDA FOR and promote gender-responsive national evaluation systems. The framework will COMPUTER SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT be fed by contributions from the “No one left behind” online consultation and the http://bit.ly/2030asd High-Level and Technical Event to be held in New York in March. Following this,

training and technical assistance on how to use the guidance will be provided to up to six countries. computer UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESOLUTION COMPUTER http://bit.ly/UNevalresolution

EVALUATING SDGS WITH AN EQUITY COMPUTER FOCUSED AND GENDER RESPONSIVE LENS http://bit.ly/evalgendersdgs

A new global partnership for gender-responsive evaluation

Join EvalGender+, a partnership of 37 organizations with the intent of promoting gender-responsive evaluation through: • SOCIAL MOBILIZATION • PROMOTION OF PRACTICAL INNOVATION • FACILITATION OF LEARNING AND SHARING EXPERIENCES

Learn more: www.mymande.org/evalgender © ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK 22 23

Partnerships for 2030 success

By INGA SNIUKAITE and FLORENCIA TATEOSSIAN UN Women Evaluation Specialists

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable The UN Women Independent Development calls for global part- Evaluation Office actively engages nership and international support in developing and supporting eval- for implementing effective and uation partnerships. From 2013 to targeted capacity-building and to 2015, UN Women was co-leading mobilize and share knowledge, EvalPartners with the International expertise, technology and financial Organization for Cooperation in resources. From EvalPartners to the Evaluation (IOCE). EvalPartners is Global Parliamentarian Forum and a global evaluation partnership for EvalGender+, partnership is asserted national evaluation capacity devel- as a key working strategy for wider opment that advocates for envi- impact and for achieving transforma- ronments that enable good quality tive results in the evaluation field. and gender-responsive evaluations The global multi-stakeholder at the international, regional and partnerships are based on the national levels. EvalPartners made assumption that each one has to play significant contributions in driv- its part: governments, parliamen- ing the global evaluation agenda by tarians, voluntary organizations for declaring 2015 as the International professional evaluation (VOPEs), the Year of Evaluation (EvalYear). This United Nations, universities, women’s was reinforced when the UN General organizations and other interested Assembly passed Declaration A/ groups. Only by working together RES/69/237, “Capacity building for can the change be achieved in the the evaluation of development activi- interconnected domains of evalua- ties at the country level”. The work of tion capacity development—enabling EvalPartners on EvalYear culminated environment, institutional and indi- in the Global Evaluation Forum in vidual capacities for evaluation. Nepal unveiling EvalAgenda 2020, 24 TRANSFORM: GENDER RESPONSIVE EVALUATION – A CALL FOR ACTION TO LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND

NO ZERO GOOD HEALTH QUALITY GENDER CLEAN WATER POVERTY HUNGER AND WELL-BEING EDUCATION EQUALITY AND SANITATION

AFFORDABLE AND DECENT WORK AND INDUSTRY, INNOVATION REDUCED SUSTAINABLE CITIES RESPONSIBLE CLEAN ENERGY ECONOMIC GROWTH AND INFRASTRUCTURE INEQUALITIES AND COMMUNITIES CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION UN PHOTO / PERNACA SUDHAKARAN / PERNACA UN PHOTO ©

CLIMATE LIFE LIFE PEACE, JUSTICE PARTNERSHIPS ACTION BELOW WATER ON LAND AND STRONG FOR THE GOALS INSTITUTIONS SDG GOAL 17 which further energizes the global Strengthen the means of evaluation community around implementation and revitalize the evaluation of the Sustainable the global partnership for Development Goals (SDGs). sustainable development In the context of EvalPartners, UN Women also contributed to the — Enhance international support for implementing effective and targeted capaci- launch of parliamentarian forums,

ty-building in developing countries to supportDeveloped national in collaboration plans with to implement all the| [email protected] | +1.212.529.1010 ensuring that women SDGs, including through North-South, South-SouthFor queries on usage, and contact: triangular [email protected] cooperation parliamentarians are at the table in — Enhance the global partnership for sustainable development, complemented debating and developing national by multi-stakeholder partnerships that mobilize and share knowledge, expertise, evaluation agendas. With the aim technology and financial resources, to support the achievement of the sustainable of strengthening national demand development goals in all countries, in particular developing countries and use of evaluation in policymak- — Encourage and promote effective public, public-private and civil society partnerships, building on the experience and resourcing strategies of partnerships ing, parliamentarians have been invited to engage in strengthening an — By 2020, enhance capacity-building support to developing countries, including for least developed countries and small island developing States, to increase enabling environment for evaluation. significantly the availability of high-quality, timely and reliable data disaggregated by Under the leadership of income, gender, age, race, ethnicity, migratory status, disability, geographic location EvalPartners and UN Women, and and other characteristics relevant in national contexts with the support of the United — By 2030, build on existing initiatives to develop measurements of progress on Nations Development Programme sustainable development that complement gross domestic product, and support (UNDP) and the African Development statistical capacity-building in developing countries Bank, selected parliamentarians from all over the world met and collectively acknowledged their role in evidence-based policymaking. The

From: Transforming our world: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Global Parliamentarians Forum for PARTNERSHIPS FOR 2030 SUCCESS 25

In developing this article, Transform talked about the role of evaluation partnerships with Colin Kirk, Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Evaluation Office and the United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG) Vice- Chair for Partnerships to get his perspective on exciting moments in partnership development and opportunities and challenges for evaluation in the context of the 2030 Agenda. Colin has recently taken on the role of co-Chair of EvalPartners, succeeding Marco Segone, who was co-Chair from January 2012 to November 2015.

Colin Kirk

Q: What was the most exciting moment for you in the initiatives have a truly catalytic role to play in providing platforms context of your engagement with global initiatives for sharing experience, knowledge and skills between nations, for evaluation? and in advocating with national and regional decision-makers for increased generation and use of evidence from monitoring, A: I can recall many exciting moments over the past few years research and evaluation. where I have been involved in global evaluation initiatives. UNEG has an important role to play in strengthening technical Perhaps one of the biggest highlights came in December 2012, capacities in evaluation within UN agencies. Beyond the UN, when a group of over 80 evaluators representing evaluation EvalPartners has a key role to play in mobilizing evaluation asso- associations from all over the world got together in Chiang Mai, ciations to demand better evaluation, better use of evaluation Thailand, and pledged to take forward a global effort to build a evidence, and ultimately better policies and programmes which worldwide partnership on evaluation. There was tremendous serve to improve the lives of citizens around the globe. excitement and energy, particularly at the moment where each participant signed the Chiang Mai Declaration—quite literally Q: What would be a major breakthrough for global signing the Declaration, as a giant copy had been pinned up on evaluation initiatives in supporting national a big roll of paper on the wall of the conference room! I think all evaluation systems? of us sensed that this was the beginning of an important global commitment to better evaluation—and better use of evalua- A: Personally, I am not a believer in the “Hollywood approach”, tion—all around the world. And, of course, that partnership has which looks for a handsome hero to make a breakthrough and come to be known as EvalPartners, which has just celebrated a save the planet. (And as we know, with Hollywood it does tend very lively “Evaluation Week” in Kathmandu, involving nearly 500 to be the hero and not the heroine who gets the starring role.) participants. Participants did commit to taking forward a global What I know is that patience, persistence and partnership can evaluation agenda aimed at further strengthening capacities for bring success. Over the years, I have been involved in various evaluation, with 2030 Agenda in mind. capacity-building initiatives which, when successful, have always centered on joint efforts among trusted partners. The key to suc- Q: What are the opportunities and challenges for cess was the long-term, supportive accompaniment of national global initiatives on evaluation to support national and local officials in building their skills while getting the day to evaluation systems in the context of 2030 Agenda ? day job done. I believe the same lesson applies in supporting the development of national evaluation systems. Peer support over A: First, let me say something about the challenges. For anyone extended periods will be the way forward. And I am pleased to say who cares about the future of the planet, the 2030 Agenda is that EvalPartners has already been supporting such a “peer to enormously exciting and deeply challenging. It confronts us with peer” initiative, which has generated huge interest and is begin- fundamental choices we need to make to build a better and more ning to show practical results. We need to build on this approach equitable world, not least by eliminating extreme poverty in our and look for opportunities to scale it up, both through work with own lifetimes. But the agenda recognizes that each country and governmental partners but also through further work with civil region faces a distinct set of challenges and will need to find society partnerships. And who knows, maybe there will one day its own solutions. Evaluation, which pays close attention to the be a Hollywood movie that tells this story! specifics of each development situation, provides a set of tools that can help in the search for the most appropriate and effective I would like to say a final word on why evaluation matters as a key ways forward, and can support governments, citizens and busi- element of the 2030 Agenda. We have heard a great deal about ness in zooming in on affordable solutions which work and which the need for data and the importance of measurement. And, of are sustainable. course, there do need to be clear targets and indicators to chart progress towards the goals. But we need sensitive analysis of the Country-led development needs country-led evaluation. This is data; we need to properly contextualize the numbers; and above where efforts to build effective national evaluation systems come all we need to hear from people themselves—children and young in. Evaluation evidence has informed the design of major social people, women and men—about development efforts that affect programmes that have helped to lift large numbers of people out them in one way or another. Evaluation can give meaning to met- of poverty—for example, look at the success of such programmes rics, and it can amplify the voices of ordinary people. If the world in Latin America, underpinned as they are by robust evaluation listens to these voices, we can be more certain that “no one is left work. But of course we know that not every country has strong behind” by development efforts in the coming decade. evaluation systems in place. I believe that global evaluation 26 TRANSFORM: GENDER RESPONSIVE EVALUATION – A CALL FOR ACTION TO LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND

EvalGender+ aims to contribute to achieving social equity and gender equality by engendering development policies through equity-focused and gender-responsive evaluation. NO ZERO GOOD HEALTH QUALITY GENDER CLEAN WATER POVERTY HUNGER AND WELL-BEING EDUCATION EQUALITY AND SANITATION

Development Evaluation was launched wave of more targeted partnerships at the EvalPartners Global Evaluation such as Global Parliamentarians, Week organized at the Parliament of EvalGender+ and others. The chal- Nepal in November 2015. lenge of the 2030 Agenda is still EvalGender+ (a new multi-stake- ahead, however, according to the holder partnership co-led by UN EvalAgenda2020 that fully embraces Women,AFFORDABLE EvalPartners AND and the IOCE)DECENT the WORK challenge AND of SDGsINDUSTRY, —“Together INNOVATION REDUCED SUSTAINABLE CITIES RESPONSIBLE was alsoCLEAN launched ENERGY in NovemberECONOMIC we can!” GROWTH AND INFRASTRUCTURE INEQUALITIES AND COMMUNITIES CONSUMPTION at the Global Evaluation Forum. AND PRODUCTION EvalGender+ aims to contribute to achieving social equity and gender equality by engendering SDG GOAL 10 development policies through equity-focused and gender-responsive Reduce inequality within evaluation. This partnership also and among countries harnessesCLIMATE the opportunities and LIFE LIFE PEACE, JUSTICE PARTNERSHIPS —By 2030, progressively achieve and sustain income growth of the bottom 40 per challengesACTION presented by the sustain- BELOW WATER ON LAND AND STRONG FOR THE GOALS cent of the population at a rate higher than the national average able development 2030 Agenda and INSTITUTIONS —By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irre- seeks to better inform the implemen- spective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status tation of SDGs at the global, regional —Ensure equal opportunity and reduce inequalities of outcome, including by and national level with credible gen- eliminating discriminatory laws, policies and practices and promoting appropriate der-responsive and equity-focused legislation, policies and action in this regard evaluative evidence. EvalGender+ —Adopt policies, especially fiscal, wage and social protection policies, and intends to coordinate and maximize progressively achieve greater equality efforts in strengthening equity-fo- —Improve the regulation and monitoring of global financial markets and institutions cused and gender-responsive eval- and strengthen the implementation of such regulations Developed in collaboration with | [email protected] | +1.212.529.1010 For queries on usage, contact: [email protected] uation through social mobilization —Ensure enhanced representation and voice for developing countries in of key actors, promotion of practical decision-making in global international economic and financial institutions in order innovation, and the facilitation of to deliver more effective, credible, accountable and legitimate institutions learning and sharing of experiences. —Facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people, including through the implementation of planned and well-managed migration policies These three key examples of global partnership supported by UN —Implement the principle of special and differential treatment for developing countries, in particular least developed countries, in accordance with World Trade Women demonstrate the growing Organization agreements influence of multi-stakeholder ini- —Encourage official development assistance and financial flows, including foreign tiatives in shaping global political direct investment, to States where the need is greatest, in particular least developed support for evaluation. EvalPartners’ countries, African countries, small island developing States and landlocked achievements show that global developing countries, in accordance with their national plans and programmes partnerships were effective in posi- —By 2030, reduce to less than 3 per cent the transaction costs of migrant tioning evaluation in global and remittances and eliminate remittance corridors with costs higher than 5 per cent national evaluation agendas through EvalYear. It also encouraged a new From: Transforming our world: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development HOW IS GENDER- RESPONSIVE EVALUATION DIFFERENT FROM OTHER EVALUATION?

WHAT DO I NEED HOW CAN TO KNOW TO EVALUATION BE HOW IS GENDER- MANAGE OR A DRIVER FOR RESPONSIVE CONDUCT AN CHANGE TOWARDS EVALUATION EVALUATION AT GENDER EQUALITY DIFFERENT UN WOMEN? AND WOMEN’S FROM OTHER EMPOWERMENT? EVALUATION? HOW TO MANAGE WHAT DO I NEED HOW CAN TO KNOW TOHOW IS GENDER- EVALUATIONGENDER-RESPONSIVE BE MANAGE OR RESPONSIVE A DRIVER FOR CONDUCT ANEVALUATION CHANGE TOWARDS EVALUATIONEVALUATION ATDIFFERENT GENDER EQUALITY FROM OTHER UN WOMEN? AND WOMEN’S EVALUATION? EMPOWERMENT? EVALUATION HANDBOOK

WHAT DO I NEED HOW CAN HOW TO MANAGETO KNOW TO EVALUATION BE MANAGE OR A DRIVER FOR CONDUCT AN GENDER-RESPONSIVECHANGE TOWARDS EVALUATION AT GENDER EQUALITY UN WOMEN? AND WOMEN’SEVALUATION EMPOWERMENT? EVALUATION HANDBOOK

Find out how UN Women manages gender-responsive evaluation with the new UN Women Evaluation Handbook: How to manage gender responsive evaluation.

The Handbook is available at: http://genderevaluation.unwomen.org

Independent Evaluation Office

1 28 TRANSFORM: GENDER RESPONSIVE EVALUATION – A CALL FOR ACTION TO LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND

PERSONAL VOICES

Awuor Ponge

IDEAS Board Member Member of the EvalGender+ Management Group Recipient of the 2015 EvalPartners Award

TRANFORM approached the three recipients of the 2015 EvalPartners I’d like to share the most important moment in engaging with Award to hear their stories. We asked the EvalGender+ initiative. For me, this was when we were seated there at the Parliament of Nepal, the whole world them to tell us a story about their most watching as a dream became reality. This was during the official exciting moment in the context of their launch of EvalGender+ among other EvalPartners initiatives engagement with the EvalPartners to drive the evaluation agenda in the post-2015 era. This was initiative and their views in supporting a culmination of long months of working behind the curtains with likeminded persons, who appeared to share with me a national evaluation systems in the dream. It was a great pleasure working with Marco Segone and context of the 2030 Agenda. Rituu B. Nanda. From our respective organizations, we shared a common dream for the establishment of a global partnership to promote the demand, supply and use of equity-focused and gender-responsive evaluations. To me, it was a dream come true, especially after my initial work with the Gender and Evaluation Thematic Interest Group at IDEAS, which prompted EvalPartners to see the need for inviting us to the partnership. The vision is one of sustained engagement to ensure that we build the capacity at the individual level and also at the institutional level to be able to not only conduct gender-responsive and equity-focused evaluations, but also to ensure that there is an enabling environment to demand for and facilitate the utilization of evaluation findings. There can be no humbling experience than seeing one’s dream come true. The major breakthrough in supporting national evaluation systems in the context of 2030 Agenda would be when all nations in the world have put in place systems that are able to track and report on the SDGs with a gender-responsive and equity-focused lens. This can only be realized by making EvalGender+ a one-stop shop where all key actors in evaluation will be looking for good practices in evaluations that is cognizant of the differences in access to and benefit from development interventions, based on the principle of social equity. This will be achieved through concerted efforts of likeminded partners to strengthen social equity and gender- responsive strategies within the SDGs, establishing indicators for the targets set for them, while ensuring that in the pilot countries, policies are gender-responsive and focused on equity. PARTNERSHIPS FOR 2030 SUCCESS 29

Tessie Tzavaras Catsambas Jim Rugh

President of EnCompass LLC Co-Coordinator of the EvalPartners Initiative Program Chair of the 2015 AEA Conference focused Recipient of the 2015 EvalPartners Award on the Global Evaluation Agenda 2016-2020 Recipient of the 2015 EvalPartners Award

The International Year of Evaluation resulted in greater I’m amazed by how much influence EvalPartners has had, visibility for evaluation throughout the world. We now need given the amazingly high profile that evaluation has achieved to channel this visibility toward continuing to promote the globally, especially during this EvalYear 2015. There is much demand and use of evaluation to inform policies and pro- evidence of that, including the 92 EvalYear events, the penul- grammes, and, at the same time, promote the supply of good timate event in Kathmandu the last week of November, the quality evaluations to strengthen the credibility of evalua- number of parliamentarians who have shown their interest tion. Building on EvalPartners’ strengths, we have a continu- in promoting evaluation by and of their governments, the ing important role in facilitating international collaboration launching of the Global Parliamentarians Forum hosted by and peer-to-peer learning, and maintaining focus and energy the Parliament of Nepal, the launching of the new initiatives for the evaluation agenda. We also need to recognize that of EvalSDGs, EvalYouth, EvalGender+, EvalIndigenous, and those of us at the international level do not know what will the increased interest in and promotion of the professional- actually work at the national and local level; we, therefore, ization of evaluation. need to continue encouraging inclusive processes that If one narrowly defined EvalPartners as the 24 members of the build on local knowledge and support local champions EvalPartners Management Group, it would be either ludicrous for building national evaluation systems. By integrating or presumptuous to think this little group of well-meaning an international perspective that sees across boundaries individuals could have had that large of an impact. But with local, culturally-responsive perspectives, we will best one must acknowledge the vision and leadership of Marco position ourselves to support the 2030 Agenda that calls for Segone that has convinced so many organizations to affiliate leadership of complex, interdependent, multi-cultural and with EvalPartners as partners; that this has, indeed, become equity-focused approaches. a movement beyond the “control” of any small group like the EvalPartners Management Group. Part of that requires letting go of a tendency to be in control; to letting “one thousand flowers bloom”—promoting (but not controlling) multiple networks of multiple individuals and organizations that are promoting evaluation in so many ways. We also need to acknowledge that “the stars were aligned” with the adoption of the SDGs [Sustainable Development Goals] during the same year as the International Year of Evaluation (not by coincidence). Thus, at both international and national levels, the promotion of evaluation goes hand-in-hand with the promotion of the SDGs. I anticipate that these two international movements, synergistically, will contribute to the strengthening of national evaluation policies, systems and capacities. Indeed, this has great potential to take advantage of this special EvalYear of 2015 and go way beyond—let’s see as we look back from 2030, and, indeed, evaluate the progress between now and then. © PHOTO: UN WOMEN / FARIA SALMAN 30 31

EVALUATION IN UNITED NATIONS It is time for shifting “business as usual” 32 TRANSFORM: GENDER RESPONSIVE EVALUATION – A CALL FOR ACTION TO LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND

By SABRINA EVANGELISTA Evaluation Specialist, UN Women

equality and human rights in its work. Adopting a new way Together, these system-wide efforts represent important opportunities of doing business to promote and implement a coherent approach to gender-responsive evaluation and ensure the gender equality dimensions across the UN The UN system has been coordi- coordinate system-wide efforts on system work are evaluated, including nating its efforts on gender-respon- gender equality. The United Nations its efforts towards achievement of the sive evaluation to ensure a coherent System-wide Action Plan (UN-SWAP) Sustainable Development Goals. approach and to enhance awareness computer for gender mainstreaming, man- UNEG, through its Working and knowledge on how to integrate aged by UN Women, has created an Group on Gender Equality and human rights and gender equality accountability mechanism through Human Rights, co-led by UN in evaluation, with the aim of facili- which entities must report on their Women, has been supporting a tating understanding across the UN actions to mainstream gender in their coherent approach to human rights system about the successes and chal- evaluation activities (amongst other and gender-responsive evaluation lenges to achieving gender equal- issues). Another key development through the development of the fol- ity. The United Nations Evaluation is the establishment of the Interim lowing key products: Group (UNEG), computer an interagency Coordination Mechanism (ICM) for • Integrating Human Rights and professional network of the evalua- system-wide evaluation of opera- Gender Equality in Evaluation computer tion units of the UN system, has been tional activities for development of • The UN-SWAP Evaluation instrumental in facilitating coordi- the UN system, established in 2015 Performance Indicator Technical nation and establishing common to develop and pilot the Independent Note and Scorecard computer norms, standards and guidance for System-wide Evaluation (ISWE) human rights and gender-responsive Policy. The ISWE Policy recognizes evaluation. UN Women was estab- the need to evaluate the UN sys- UN EVALUATION GROUP lished in 2011 with a key mandate to tem’s efforts to integrate gender COMPUTER http://www.unevaluation.org

UN-SWAP COMPUTER http://bit.ly/UN-SWAP The UN system has been coordinating its efforts on gender-responsive evaluation to ensure a coherent INTEGRATING HUMAN RIGHTS AND COMPUTER GENDER IN EVALUATION approach and to enhance awareness and knowledge http://bit.ly/hrgeedoc on how to integrate human rights and gender equality UN-SWAP PERFORMANCE INDICATOR in evaluation COMPUTER http://bit.ly/unswapdoc

EVALUATION IN UNITED NATIONS: IT IS TIME FOR SHIFTING ‘BUSINESS AS USUAL’ 33

“The SDGs Agenda 2030 comes with a heightened political functions should be drivers or promoters of efforts to meet declaration of commitments for accountability to people. such demand. UNEG can make a powerful contribution in Strengthening nationally-led evaluations and national evaluation mobilizing efforts within the United Nations for better imple- capacity for the systematic follow-up and reviews of results mentation of gender-responsive evaluations. Specifically, its achieved through the SDG commitments are vital for translating Working Group on Gender Equality and Human Rights provides such pledges into action. The 2030 Agenda opens an opportunity the overall framework and guidance to facilitate progress on for UNEG members to rethink current approaches and introduce gender mainstreaming in evaluations across the UN system innovation for systematic assessment of progress towards SDG 5: via the UN-SWAP Evaluation Performance Indicator, exchange gender equality and empower all women and girls. In this context, workshops and webinars.” gender-responsive evaluation is important to UNEG members for their engagement in enhancing gender-sensitive evaluation norms, standards and ethical guidelines in light of the SDGs. UNEG can support the UN system through advocacy and initiatives that generate evidence through gender-responsive Helen Wedgwood evaluations. Within the international humanitarian and develop- Director, Office of Evaluation, ment system, there is a high demand for credible evidence on UN World Food Programme performance and impact of interventions on gender. Evaluation and UNEG Vice Chair UN PHOTO / MARTINE PERRET / MARTINE UN PHOTO © 34 TRANSFORM: GENDER RESPONSIVE EVALUATION – A CALL FOR ACTION TO LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND

How UN entities are changing their way of doing evaluation business Largely as a result of coordination efforts for gender equality, UN entities are making changes to their evaluation systems and guidance, which is a key step to achieving more gender-responsive evaluation and increasing evidence on what works for gender equality. Two key examples are presented below.

Evaluation Office (EVAL), Office of Evaluation (OED), International Labour Organisation (ILO) Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) ILO-EVAL has taken a lead promoting gender-responsive FAO-OED established a dedicated Gender Team and Quality evaluation as one of the first offices to develop specific Assurance mechanism for gender mainstreaming in its evalua- guidance for integrating gender equality in evaluation. It was tion processes. The guidelines issued in 2013 establish that all developed with inputs from the ILO Bureau for Gender Equality Terms of Reference and draft and final reports must go through and United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG) members. The the Quality Assurance mechanism, and established a scoring guidance specifically refers to the global mandates for uphold- system with clear criteria for assessing the products. The ing human rights principles and the ILO mandate and policy guidelines also refer to the UN System-wide Action Plan on on gender mainstreaming. It also provides practical tools on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-SWAP). how to integrate gender equality in evaluation, such as specific Access the guidelines: here. evaluation questions that could be adapted. ILO-EVAL has learned that “guidance, by itself, is insufficient to mainstream gender into the evaluation culture of a UN agency.” In order to improve the quality of evaluative information on gender equality, ILO-EVAL has taken several steps including the establishment of an Evaluation Manager Certification Programme, the inclusion of a standard paragraph on gender for terms of reference, and checklists for evaluators. UN WOMEN / HENRIETTE BJOERGE UN WOMEN © How to evaluate normative work?

The latest guidance from the United Nations Evaluation Group will provide you with an integrated approach to the evaluation of normative work in the UN along with hands-on methodological guidance, concise practical examples and tools for conducting evaluations of normative work.

Available at http://www.uneval.org/document/download/2014 in English, French and Spanish 36 TRANSFORM: GENDER RESPONSIVE EVALUATION – A CALL FOR ACTION TO LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND UN WOMEN/HENRIETTE BJOERGE UN WOMEN/HENRIETTE ©

Opportunities for enhancing Focusing on building gender- capacities in gender- responsive evaluation: responsive evaluation capacity United Nations Evaluation Development Group for Asia and the Pacific (UNEDAP) UNEDAP supports UN country teams in Asia and the Pacific region to Professionalization initiatives pres- How to manage gender responsive conduct more rigorous evaluations ent a great opportunity for ensuring evaluation, computer which is part of its of the UN contributions towards across the UN system that evaluators professionalization initiative aimed national development priorities. It promotes an evaluation culture have a set of skills and competencies at building knowledge and aware- and strengthens evaluation skills for gender-responsive evaluation. ness of key concepts for evaluation of evaluation focal points and Currently under development are managers. At the regional/country management of UN agencies to United Nations Evaluation Group’s level, UN regional evaluation net- ensure that evaluations are of high quality, relevant and useful for the (UNEG’s) professionalization ini- works, such as the United Nations users. Gender-responsive evaluation tiative and an eLearning course Evaluation Development Group for is integrated into the annual training dedicated to integrating gender Asia and the Pacific (UNEDAP), are for UN monitoring and evaluation equality and human rights in evalu- providing training for individuals on professionals within the region. To date, 270 UN staff members have ation. Individual entities have also gender-responsive evaluation. These received the training module on embarked on their own capacity resources, in particular those that are gender-responsive evaluation. In development efforts building upon openly accessible to any development 2015, this training expanded to the UNEG norms, standards and guid- professional, are key for supporting country level for government staff ance: United Nation’s Children’s capacity to evaluate the Sustainable and partners; trainings were held in Cambodia and Laos. Fund (UNICEF) in partnership with Development Goals (SDGs) in a gen- EvalPartners launched an eLearn- der-responsive manner. ing course on Equity-focused and gender-responsive evaluations, computer and UN Women launched a pub- EQUITY-FOCUSED AND GENDER HOW TO MANAGE GENDER-RESPONSIVE COMPUTER REPONSIVE EVALUATION COMPUTER EVALUATION licly accessible eLearning course, http://bit.ly/equitygendercourse https://trainingcentre.unwomen.org

EVALUATION IN UNITED NATIONS: IT IS TIME FOR SHIFTING ‘BUSINESS AS USUAL’ 37

Coordinating with key partners at the national and regional level Kamolmas Jaiyen Evaluation & RBM Specialist, Bangkok Regional Hub, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Co-Chair UNEDAP The 2030 Agenda presents evalu- Network on Development Evaluation ation units and groups within the (APNODE) established in 2014 “Gender equality is more important UN system an opportunity for coor- explicitly states its commitment than ever in the context of the SDGs, dinating efforts with partners for to integrating gender equality in as the 2030 goals address the root national evaluation capacity devel- evaluation, and the 2015 Forum of causes of inequality and discrimination existing in societies, which is opment with a gender-responsive Parliamentarians for Evaluation in multi-dimensional in nature. UNEDAP, lens, which is highly relevant to Latin America engaged in promo- being a multi-UN agency network of the achievement of 2030 Agenda. tion and sharing of knowledge on evaluation specialists and advisors, UN regional groups are already col- gender-responsive evaluation. The is in a good position to bring together laborating with parliamentarians identification and engagement of their organizational expertise and mandates to promote the use of to establish forums for evaluation, key partners at national and regional equity- and gender-responsive eval- which include a focus on gender-re- level can have a multiplier effect and uation as a key accountability and sponsive evaluation. The constitu- secure integration of gender equal- learning tool for the United Nations tion of the African Parliamentarians’ ity in the evaluation of the SDGs. to become more effective in supporting governments and civil societies in achieving the SDGs.”

Engaging parliamentarians in thinking about gender-responsive evaluation: United Nations Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) Interagency Working Group on Monitoring and Evaluation One of the key activities of the United Nations LAC Interagency Working Group on Monitoring and Evaluation from 2015 was the “Parliamentarians Forum on Development Evaluation in Latin America: Evaluation, SDGs and public policies in the Agenda”, which took place in September 2015 in Panama. The objective was to promote the demand and use of evaluation for good governance, encourage the establishment of national evaluation policies and systems in Latin America, and contribute to the establishment of a forum of parliamentarians for evaluation in Latin America. The forum also enabled the group to engage in promotion and sharing of knowledge on gender-responsive evaluation. 38 TRANSFORM: GENDER RESPONSIVE EVALUATION – A CALL FOR ACTION TO LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND

Moving beyond “box ticking”

One key recommendation of a UN Programme (UNDP) evaluation of its assessment are found on the UNDP Women review of evaluations of cor- Gender Equality Strategy, because Independent Evaluation Office web- porate gender mainstreaming pol- it provides an example and tools for site. The UN system must step up its icies is that the UN system adopt a evaluation units on how to tease out efforts to measure and analyse gen- more coherent approach to evaluat- the gender dimensions of develop- der equality results if it is to support ing corporate gender mainstreaming ment results. The evaluation team the achievement of the SDGs. policies, including assessing both used two analytical frameworks to institutional results and develop- assess the effectiveness and the type ment results for gender equality. of gender change: the Gender Results A coherent approach will enable Effectiveness Scale (GRES), which demonstration across the UN system consists of a five-point scale showing of how gender equality policies can different levels of effectiveness mov- lead to better development outcomes ing from gender-negative towards

A coherent approach will enable demonstration across the UN system of how gender equality policies can lead to better development outcomes for gender equality.

for gender equality. The UNEG gender-transformative results; and Working Group on Gender Equality the Gender@Work quadrant analy- and Human Rights discussed this sis, which enables analysis of four recommendation at a webinar in types of change—individual change, 2015, highlighting the efforts of formal change, systemic change the United Nations Development and informal change. Details of the WWW.UN.ORG/SUSTAINABLEDEVELOPMENT/GENDER-EQUALITY/ EVALUATION IN UNITED NATIONS: IT IS TIME FOR SHIFTING ‘BUSINESS AS USUAL’ 39 ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK DEVELOPMENT ASIAN ©

Taking the Sustainable Development Goals on full throttle

It is inspiring to see that the UN sys- Gender-responsive evaluation presents a great tem is already organizing events to facilitate a shared understanding opportunity for upholding the values and achieving of the SDGs and discuss the eval- the transformative change envisioned in the SDGs. uability of the goals. In November 2015, CGIAR (formerly known as the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research), the Food regional level, the LAC Interagency development: No one left behind,” and Agriculture Organization of Working Group on Monitoring in which one stream will be dedi- the United Nations (FAO), the and Evaluation, composed of nine cated to “No one left behind: The International Fund for Agricultural UN agencies, hosted a webinar in role of evaluation in ensuring equity, Development (IFAD) and the World December 2015 titled: “Evaluation equality and non-discrimination.” Food Programme (WFP) jointly and SDGs: The challenges of mon- It is important that these discussions organized a technical seminar enti- itoring and evaluation in the con- continue and that gender-respon- tled “Enhancing the evaluability of text of the new 2030 Agenda.” sive evaluation is a fundamental part Sustainable Development Goal 2: UNEG is dedicating its annual of these and future events organized End hunger, achieve food security Evaluation Practice Exchange in by the UN system on evaluating and improved nutrition and pro- 2016 to the topic “Evaluation fit for the SDGs. mote sustainable agriculture.” At the the 2030 Agenda for sustainable

The UN system must put human rights and its gender dimensions front and central in evaluation Gender-responsive evaluation presents a great opportunity for upholding the values and achieving the transformative change envisioned in the SDGs. This can only be achieved if the evaluators and evaluation systems of the UN system truly adopt and integrate in their work the values enshrined in 2030 Agenda: human rights and gender equality. 40

Supporting UN Women contribution to 2030 Agenda: The critical role of the UN Women evaluation function

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are an ambitious factors perpetuating gender inequal- agenda, and success in attaining them will rest, in part, on how ities and the difficulty in measuring well efforts and resources can be directed. It is widely recognized qualitative indicators relating to that the SDGs need to be supported by more effective follow-up power relations, gender structures and accountability processes than were available to the and systems. Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). A great deal needs to be To address this, the UN Women done to help realize the SDGs, not only by monitoring the specific evaluation function needs to be “fit indicators, but also by objectively and systematically assessing for purpose”. Both its corporate and what it takes to achieve the goals in various contexts. decentralized evaluation functions need to be adapted to support the Under the rallying call of “Leave no Office of UN Women is a front-run- organization’s efforts and the global one behind”, the SDGs have placed ner in advancing gender-responsive aspiration to rigorously evaluate substantial emphasis on addressing evaluation within the framework of what is working, for whom, and inequalities and increasing gender the SDGs agenda. The task of advo- under what conditions. This helps equality and women’s empower- cating for and supporting efforts to to ensure that investments result in ment. The recognition of gender ensure a coherent gender-respon- real and sustained change to accel- equality and the empowerment of sive evaluation is further magnified erate the achievement of gender women and girls as a standalone goal by the need to measure progress at equality and improve citizen’s lives. (SDG 5), and the systematic integra- different levels, contexts and com- tion of gender-sensitive targets in plexities. Assessing SDG 5 will be a At the global level…. other goals, is a positive step towards particular challenge given the com- UN Women has a mandate that ensuring gender equality by 2030. plex political, social, legal, eco- spans normative, operational and The Independent Evaluation nomic, institutional and cultural coordination work. UN Women UN WOMEN / FARIA SALMAN / FARIA UN WOMEN © STORY TITLE HERE 41

By MESSAY TASSEW UN Women Evaluation Specialistst

The recognition of gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls as a standalone goal (SDG 5), and the systematic integration of gender-sensitive targets in other goals, is a positive step towards ensuring gender equality by 2030.

UN Women evaluation tools at the global level works with countries to help trans- Evaluation Policy: Governs the independent evaluation function of UN Women and late international norms and stan- applies to all initiatives supported and funds administered by the organization dards into concrete actions and Evaluation Strategic Plan: Provides a results-based framework to strengthen the impacts at the national level in order evaluation function at UN Women in the context of the Evaluation Policy and UN to achieve real change in the lives of Women 2014-2017 Strategic Plan women and girls. Corporate Evaluation Plan: Provides a coherent framework within which useful Achieving gender equality evaluation evidence is generated systematically on the relevance, effectiveness, requires transformational change in efficiency and, as far as possible, impact and sustainability, of work under the UN the way families, communities, soci- Women Strategic Plan 2014-2017 eties, countries and institutions func- Evaluation Handbook: How to manage gender-responsive evaluation: A practical handbook to help those initiating, managing and/or using gender-responsive tion. This transformational mandate evaluations extends to the evaluation function, The Global Accountability and Tracking of Evaluation Use (GATE) is a publicly which remains central to the achieve- accessible online system designed to enable the dissemination of evaluative evi- ment of UN Women’s mission. dence and tracking of the use of evaluation, ensuring that knowledge gained from UN Women has made evaluation evaluations becomes an integral part of the UN-Women accountability, transparency an integral part of the organization. and organizational learning process. It has acknowledged its strategic The Global Evaluation Oversight System (GEOS) is a corporate dashboard estab- role—extending beyond simple com- lished with the aim to provide greater oversight and transparency on the performance of the evaluation function within UN-Women. The system is based on a suite pliance into engagement in perfor- of 9 key performance indicators (KPIs). mance assessment, learning, and The Gender Evaluation Consultant Database (GECD) is a publicly accessible data- strengthening accountability mech- base which is chiefly devised to provide a link between prospective consultants and anisms, as well as feeding in to policy institutions in need of evaluators with gender equality expertise. and decision-making processes. UNITED NATIONS 2016 UNITED NATIONS © 42 TRANSFORM: GENDER RESPONSIVE EVALUATION – A CALL FOR ACTION TO LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND

“A programme without a quality evaluation is akin to a stranded ship with no direction”

The ever-changing development landscape and emerging chal- and widely accessed in real time. We also need a system to lenges require continuous evaluative evidence for directing the track the use and impact of these evaluations by both internal process of change and development in achieving gender equal- and external users as an important driver of positive change ity and the empowerment of women. In this context, decentral- towards gender equality. ized country specific evaluations add great value in responding Within the framework of national evaluation capacity devel- to the need for providing timely evidence on the ground and opment, the decentralized evaluation function should provide making immediate changes where it matters the most. a bouquet of good practices and lessons learned (from the To have more influence and impact, the decentralized function MDG era) to help policymakers at regional and national levels needs to be responsive to demands for accountability for to accelerate the implementation of the SDGs and SDG 5 in results and for using evaluative evidence to improve UN particular. This ensures value for the investment on evaluation Women programmes at the country level. Given the current and helps to maximize the relevance and related learning for financial climate, more investment should be made on few strengthened effectiveness in the context of the sustainable and strategic decentralized evaluations capable of providing development agenda. credible and strong evidence on what works to ensure gender equality and the empowerment of women. Learning and active use of the evidence and knowledge generated from evaluations should remain the main purpose and Simone Ellis Oluoch-Olunya, value of the decentralized evaluation function of UN Women. Deputy Regional Director, In this context, technology needs to be taken advantage of Regional Office for East and so that evaluation findings can be summarized, disseminated Southern Africa, UN Women

More specifically, corporate evaluations play a pivotal role in generating Achieving gender equality requires transformational evidence and knowledge on normative, operational and coordination change in the way families, communities, societies, work. This complements UN Women’s countries and institutions function. advocacy and research activities to position gender equality, women’s rights and women’s empowerment at outcomes on gender equality and the At the field level…. the center of the global agenda. empowerment of women. While SDGs are universal in char- Within the framework of the To ensure expanded reach and acter, they need to be adapted to UN Women Evaluation Policy and maximum impact, findings, recom- national contexts. Adapting global Corporate Evaluation Plan, corpo- mendations and lessons learned goals into national targets ensures rate evaluations will continue to from corporate evaluations will ownership and promotes an account- be undertaken and adapted to the continue to be used to improve the ability framework that is inclusive, changing development landscape relevance, effectiveness, efficiency transparent and participatory. and priorities of UN Women. This will and sustainability of UN Women UN Women is a decentralized help ensure the SDGs are tracked and interventions, UN system-wide organization and its decentralized refined and implementation actions performance, and global efforts evaluation function is shaped by the are evaluated. This approach will also on Goal 5 and related SDGs. The need to respond to varying contexts help leverage the unique advantages reports of these evaluations will in order to improve performance and UN Women has in advocating for be publicly available, contribut- accountability for results on gender the evaluability of the performance ing to UN Women’s transparency equality and women’s empowerment. indicators of the SDGs, particularly as well as to global knowledge on These efforts are complemented by Goal 5, and support processes to inte- what it takes to bring transforma- its unique mandate of promoting grate evaluation into national and tive changes to improve the situa- evaluations that are gender-respon- global review mechanisms for better tion of women around the world. sive, nationally owned and inclusive ACCOUNTABILITY S LEARNING GATE System: The Global Accountability and Tracking of Evaluation Use An on-line based Public Information Management System, which facilitates UN Women’s effort to strategically plan and effectively use evaluations for accountability, management for results, and knowledge management. >>>> http://gate.unwomen.org/ 44 TRANSFORM: GENDER RESPONSIVE EVALUATION – A CALL FOR ACTION TO LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND

Results Management System: An opportunity to enhance evaluability of programmes

In order for the evaluation function to play a more critical and coordination work, including capturing lessons learned and overall influential role, more needs to be done to enhance internal impacts in this area (building on existing evaluations done). capacity for performance monitoring and the capacity of UN We are becoming better at integrating evaluation as part of Women partners in capturing and reporting on results. The our core planning and functions. However, we often get stuck roll-out of the Results Management System (RMS) provides in doing business as usual, because we think it works. In many an opportunity to address the challenges of availability and cases, this is true, but it does not mean that we should negate quality of data and evidence-based monitoring in UN Women. innovation or new approaches. The SDGs are a tremendous This will not only facilitate the evaluability of UN Women opportunity for all offices to solidify our expertise in the area programmes but also provide broader support to countries of gender equality and the empowerment of women. Now we to track progress towards national sustainable development must take on the challenge of building innovative decentralized priorities. The decentralized evaluation function should also evaluations that respond to the needs of UN Women and its take this strategic approach, which would facilitate not only aspiration to achieve gender equality by 2030. monitoring of SDG 5 and relevant goals, but also be used as a key instrument to raise areas of concern at an earlier stage.

In order to implement changes more effectively, we need to Mohammad Naciri, Regional ensure that value added is highlighted, which is something Director, Regional Office for that can be done through solid evaluations of normative and Arab States, UN Women

with a particular focus on the poorest, most vulnerable and those fur- Corporate evaluations play a pivotal role thest behind. Within the framework of its in generating evidence and knowledge on decentralized evaluation function, normative, operational and coordination work UN Women will embark on strategic country portfolio evaluations to systematically assess the con- suite of decentralized evaluations— Women evaluation community of tributions made by UN Women to thematic, cluster, programme, port- practice, the Global Accountability development results with respect to folio and project—will help generate and Tracking of Evaluation Use gender equality at the country level. evaluative evidence on what works (GATE) system, and the repository These evaluations will be carried out and what does not to advance gen- of gender-equality evaluations to in consultation with national gov- der equality within the framework promote behaviors and incentives ernments and other stakeholders to of the SDGs. UN Women’s distinct that drive better performance and ensure the validity of evidence and arrangement and deployment of its achievement of results. greater ownership of development regional evaluation specialists at the The imperatives of the SDGs results. This approach is believed to regional offices, its intensive profes- necessitate partnership, inclu- have a cascading effect in strength- sionalization programme on gen- sive approach, government ening regional and national account- der-responsive evaluation, and its ownership, and flexible accountability mechanisms, organizational roster of consultants’ database will ability and review mechanisms. The learning and evaluation capacities. drive fundamental change to nation- Independent Evaluation Office of This, in turn, contributes to strate- al-level capacity for monitoring and UN Women should take on the chal- gic policy and programmatic deci- evaluation, which in turn, will assist lenge of strengthening its evaluation sions including tracking progress in achieving long-term outcomes. function to guide UN Women’s work towards the achievement of SDG 5 In addition, UN Women will con- towards the achievement of gender and related indicators. tinue to maintain and expand its equality and the empowerment of Strengthening the decentralized knowledge management systems women within the context of the evaluation function and the on evaluation, including the UN SDGs, especially at the country-level. How do we integrate gender equality into national evaluation policies and systems?

Find the latest guidance and tools to strengthen national evaluation capacities for equitable and sustainable development

National Evaluation Policies for Sustainable and Equitable Development—Providing guidance on integrating gender equality into national evaluation policies and systems being implemented in an increasing number of developing countries around the world.

Read more at http://bit.ly/nationalevalpoliciesbook I want equality for women and men. I am

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