DOCSLIB.ORG

STRENGTHENING ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE for DELIVERING GENDER EQUALITY RESULTS Corporate Evaluation of the Regional Architecture of UN Women

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
STRENGTHENING ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE for DELIVERING GENDER EQUALITY RESULTS Corporate Evaluation of the Regional Architecture of UN Women CORPORATE EVALUATION OF THE REGIONAL ARCHITECTURE UN WOMEN EVALUATION CORPORATE STRENGTHENING ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE FOR DELIVERING GENDER EQUALITY RESULTS Corporate evaluation of the Regional Architecture of UN Women Independent Evaluation Office ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This report, and the overall evaluation process, was and Central Africa; Mohammad Naciri, Regional Director, informed and enriched by the participation of more than Regional Office for Arab States; Roberta Clarke, former 300 stakeholders, staff and partners, many of whom actively Regional Director, Regional Office for Asia Pacific; Belen contributed to the development of evaluation findings by Sanz, Country Representative, Colombia; Awa Ndiaye Seck, serving as reference group members, attending focus group Country Representative, Liberia; Leila Rhiwi, Multi-Country discussions and workshops, and completing comprehensive Office Representative, Morocco; Elaine M. Conkievich, surveys. Without the support and active participation of all Multi-Country Office Representative Kazakhstan) who these women and men involved in the consultation process, provided thoughtful comments and insights, and invested this report would not have been possible. significant time and effort during the inception phase to The evaluation was conducted by an external evaluation ensure that the evaluation would be of maximum value company with a large team and led by Tessie Tzavaras and use to the organization. Catsambas from Encompass. The UN Women Indepen- We also extend our thanks to the Senior Management dent Evaluation Office team included Marco Segone, Inga Team of UN Women for their feedback contribution to Sniukaite and Florencia Tateossian. the evaluation, particularly Yannick Glemarec, Assistant We would like to thank Evaluation Advisor (Charles Lusthaus, Secretary-General/Deputy Executive Director of Policy and Programme; Maria Noel Vaeza, Director, Programme expert in management, organizational theory, and insti- tutional evaluation and change, co-founder and senior Division; Lakshmi Puri, Assistant Secretary General/Deputy consultant at Universalia) and the Internal Evaluation Director of UN System Coordination, Intergovernmental Reference Group (Prasun Chakraborty, Human Resources Support and Strategic Partnerships; Khetsiwe Dlamini, Chief Specialist, Human Resources Division; Themba Kalua, of Staff; Moez Doraid, Director, Division of Management Strategic Planning and Coordination Specialist, Regional and Administration; Fiona Bourdin-Farrell, Director, Human Office for Eastern and Southern Africa; Alia El-Yassir, Resources Division; Kristin Hetle, former Director, Strategic Deputy Director, Regional Office for Europe and Central Partnerships Division and Julien Pellaux, Strategic Planning Asia; Moni Pizani, former Country Representative, Ecuador; and Operations Adviser. Sabine Machl, Country Representative, Palestine; Michele The evaluation also benefited from active involvement Ribotta, Coordination Advisor, Coordination Division; and buy-in from five country office visited. We thank the Julie Ballington, Political Participation Advisor, Policy country representatives and staff of these offices for all the Division; Jean-Luc Bories, Secretary of the Executive Board; dedicated time they invested in supporting the evaluation Daniel Seymour, Deputy Director, Programme Division; process and in facilitating the engagement and inclusion Donna Grimwade, Chief of Accounts, Finance Section; of a wide range partners, stakeholders and beneficiaries of Axel de Ville, Deputy Director, Regional Office for West their work. EVALUATION TEAM: EVALUATION MANAGEMENT: Tessie Tzavaras Catsambas, Team Leader UN Women Independent Evaluation Office Katherine Bourne, Senior Evaluation Expert Director: Leslie Fox, Senior Organizational Assessment Expert Marco Segone Fred Carden, Governance and Decentralization Expert Evaluation Task Managers: Kelsey Simmons, Evaluation Associate Inga Sniukaite, Senior Evaluation Task Manager Florencia Tateossian, Evaluation Task Manager Editor: Margo Alderton Design: Ursula Damm, Dammsavage Inc. Cover Photo: UN Women/Catianne Tijerina 2016 UN Women. All rights reserved. Produced by the Independent Evaluation Office of UN Women handbook for national action plans on violence against women 4 REPORT STRENGTHENING ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE FOR DELIVERING GENDER EQUALITY RESULTS Corporate evaluation of the Regional Architecture of UN Women NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 2016 Independent Evaluation Office TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF EXHIBITS 4 2 EVALUATION CONTEXT 31 2.1 UN Context 31 List OF ACRONYMS 5 2.2 Background on UN Women 32 3 FINDINGS 36 FOREWORD 7 3.1 Relevance of UN Women’s Regional Architecture 36 3.2 Effectiveness of UN Women’s Regional Architecture 43 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 8 3.3 Efficiency of UN Women’s Regional Architecture 60 LIST OF FINDINGS 22 4 REFLECTIONS 80 1 BACKGROUND 24 5 PROMISING PRACTICES 82 1.1 Overview 24 1.2 Purpose, Objectives and Scope 24 6 CONCLUSIONS 85 1.3 Evaluation Approach 25 1.4 Ethics, Gender Equality and Human Rights 29 1.5 Evaluation Constraints and Limitations 30 7 RECOMMENDATIONS 94 8 ANNEXES: VOLUME 2-3 98 STRENGTHENING ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE FOR DELIVERING GENDER-EQUALITY RESULTS 3 LIST OF EXHIBITS Exhibit 1: Regional architecture theory of change embedded in Executive Board Papers 11 Exhibit 2: Working definitions of evaluation criteria 24 Exhibit 3: Overview of the portfolio review and case study countries 26 Exhibit 4: Desk review and quantitative analysis data sources 27 Exhibit 5: Cases for benchmarking in relation to UN Women’s regional architecture 28 Exhibit 6: Overview of main data analysis methods 28 Exhibit 7: Evaluation limitations and mitigation strategies 30 Exhibit 8: Response to stakeholders by office type 39 Exhibit 9: UN agencies act as “boundary partners” for UN Women in the GEWE mandate 42 Exhibit 10: Theory of change for the regional architecture 44 Exhibit 11: New reporting and monitoring processes since the regional architecture 49 Exhibit 12: Operationalizing the triple mandate in five case studies 56 Exhibit 13: Weak linkages between parts of HQ and the field 62 Exhibit 14: Responsibilities and presence of policy advisors in ROs 63 Exhibit 15: Contributing factors to the insufficient response to need for policy advice in thematic areas 65 Exhibit 16: Range of delivery $ per person (staff and non-staff) in ROs in 2015 65 Exhibit 17: Average workforce per country by office type 2016 66 Exhibit 18: Programme presence offices’ more limited capacity, budget and delivery as compared to COs 67 Exhibit 19: Recently initiated process and systems improvements from HQ 69 Exhibit 20: Delivery rates were not correlated with budget size or total workforce 70 Exhibit 21: Visibility of UN Women regional architecture from different levels of the system 72 Exhibit 22: Regular or other resources 76 Exhibit 23: Polarities in UN Women that need to be balanced 81 Exhibit 24: Elements of UN Women’s promising leadership practices 83 Exhibit 25: Regional architecture theory of change embedded in Executive Board Papers 86 STRENGTHENING ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE FOR DELIVERING GENDER-EQUALITY RESULTS 4 LIST OF ACRONYMS ASEAN Association of Southeast Asian Nations CO Country Office COAT Country Office Assessment Tool CSAG Civil Society Advisory Group CSO Civil Society Organization DAMS Donor Agreement Management System DMA Division of Management and Administration FPI Flagship Programming Initiative GEWE Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment HQ Headquarters IB Integrated Budget IEO Independent Evaluation Office MCO Multi-country Office MOPAN Multilateral Organization Performance Assessment Network POM Programme Operations Manual QCPR Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review RMS Results Management System RO Regional Office ROAP Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific SDG Sustainable Development Goal UN United Nations UNAIDS Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS UNCT United Nations Country Team UNDAF United Nations Development Assistance Framework UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNFPA United Nations Population Fund UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund UNIFEM United Nations Development Fund for Women UN Women United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women USAID United States Agency for International Development WEE Women’s Economic Empowerment STRENGTHENING ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE FOR DELIVERING GENDER-EQUALITY RESULTS 5 STRENGTHENING ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE FOR DELIVERING GENDER-EQUALITY RESULTS 6 FOREWORD The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the integrated mandate the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) was cre- (normative, coordination ated in January 2011 with the goal of contributing to and operational) in the the achievement of gender equality and women’s field. However, there are empowerment. The institutional set-up was designed variations in results by the with a regional architecture that aimed to maximize office type. Overall, the the organization’s ability to deliver on its mandate. The different levels in the re- regional architecture was intended to: bring capacity gional architecture support each other well, but there closer to the field; empower UN Women staff at the are limitations in efficient response due to alignment field level; reduce transaction costs arising from mul- of structures, capacities and funding availability. tiple layers of oversight for key business processes; better distinguish higher level programmatic and Drawing on UN Women achievements and challenges operational
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Biographies: Moderators/Speakers/Panelists for All Sessions
    Biographies: Moderators/Speakers/Panelists for all Sessions Mr. Chadi Abdallah: Mr. Chadi Abdallah is a Researcher and Geologist, holds a PhD in GIS and RS of natural resources, a Post-doc in Radar Interferometry and is an adjunct professor with the University of Missouri Columbia- USA. He is also a Researcher at the Lebanese National Council for Scientific Research, Remote Sensing Center. Mr. Abdallah is Principle Investigator on several projects on natural disasters, water information management, modeling and decision-making; assessment, monitoring and management of natural resources and sustainable development. He is a member of the Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Unit / Presidency of Councils, and Chair of the Arab DRR Science and Technology Advisory Group. He has authored/co-authored over 80 scientific papers in international journals and conferences. Ms. Hazar Belli Abdelkefi: Ms. Hazar Belli Abdelkefi has been Deputy Director at the Ministry of Local Affairs and Environment,Tunisia since 1999. She has been the National Project Coordinator of the Disaster Risk Reduction portfolio since 2011 and the Bio-risk management portfolio since 2000, as well as the National Focal Point for the Sendai Framework. During the last decade, Ms. Abdelkefi has been involved in several working groups and programs at national, regional and international level. She is a founding member and President of the Tunisian Association for Biosafety and Environment Education (ATB2E). Ms. Abdelkefi holds a master’s degree in biotechnology and immunology from the Faculty of Pharmacy in Tunisia. Mr. Ziad Abdel Samad Mr. Ziad Abdel Samad has been Executive Director of the Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND) since 1999.
    [Show full text]
  • Authors' Bios
    AUTHORS’ BIOGRAPHY: Ganesh N Devy was educated at Shivaji University, Kolhapur and the University of Leeds, UK. Among his many academic assignments, he held fellowships at Leeds University and Yale University and has been THB Symons Fellow (1991-92) and Jawaharlal Nehru Fellow (1994–96). He was a Professor of English at the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda from 1980 to 96. In 1996, he gave up his academic career in order to initiate work with the Denotified and Nomadic Tribes (DNT) and Adivasis. During this work, he created the Bhasha Research and Publication Centre at Baroda, the Adivasis Academy at Tejgadh, the DNT- Rights Action Group and several other initiatives. Later he initiated the largest-ever survey of languages in history, carried out with the help of nearly 3000 volunteers and published in 50 multilingual volumes. He is a thinker, cultural activist and an institution builder, best known for the People's Linguistic Survey of India and the Adivasi Academy created by him. He is credited to start the Bhaashaa research and Publication Centre. He writes in three languages—Marathi, Gujarati and English. His first full length book in English After Amnesia (1992) was hailed immediately upon its publication as a classic in literary theory. Since its publication, he has written and edited close to ninety influential books in areas as diverse as Literary Criticism, Anthropology, Education, Linguistics and Philosophy. Lakshmi Puri is a former Assistant Secretary-General at the United Nations and the former Deputy Executive Director of UN Women. She was Director of the flagship International Trade division and the acting Deputy Secretary-General of United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
    [Show full text]
  • Us$ 6 Million Project to Assist Floods Affected
    A Word by UNDP Resident Representative In this issue: Ms. Pratibha Mehta Page 2 US$ 6 MILLION PROJECT TO Welcome to the first issue of UNDP newsletter Yemeniate. ASSIST FLOODS AFFECTED Yemeniate means Yemenizing our works and programmes >>>>>>> for the benefit of the Yemeni people. In this first issue, you will read about some of our activities and programmes we launched recently to promote human Page 3 US$ 13 MILLION FOR THE development in Yemen. ECONOMIC DIVERSIFICATION Through this newsletter, we hope to communicate with you on >>>>>>> development issues and UNDP assistance, and hear about your expectations and concerns. Page 5 NO HOME FOR THE HOUSE CROW ON SOCOTRA >>>>>>> A Word by UNDP Country Director Mr. Selva Ramachandran Page 7 AN INTERVIEW WITH MR. SELVA RAMACHANDRAN Dear readers, >>>>>>> I’m pleased to present to you this first issue of UNDP Page 10 HUMAN SECURITY IN ARAB Yemen newsletter Yemeniate. In this issue, we highlight our development work in several areas such as COUNTRIES >>>>>>> economic diversification, early recovery, biodiversity conservation, and others. Page12 FREE ZONE >>>>>>> Please feel free to share with us your feedbacks on our newsletter. US$ 6 MILLION PROJECT TO ASSIST needs of the affected communities. Moreover, FLOODS AFFECTED AREAS IN and from the outset, it will promote approaches and activities that go beyond initial recovery HADRAMOUT AND AL-MAHARA towards more sustained social and economic SIGNED recovery. In the long run, the project aims to lay the foundation for a long-term development of the floods affected areas, in Hadhramout and Al- Mahra Governorates. It will support GoY in enhancing its coordination capacity for the recovery of the local economic and social structures.
    [Show full text]
  • Partnerships for Promoting FLYER
    Partnerships for Promoting Women’s Economic Empowerment: A PRE-REQUISITE FOR ACHIEVING INCLUSIVE AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Monday 2 April, 2018 09:00 am - 11:00 am Ramada Plaza Tunis Moderator Meg Jones is an International Expert on Gender and Trade. As Chief Economic Empowerment at UN Women, she was responsible for global job creation for women and for developing private and public sector partnerships to deliver inclusive sustainable development. Speaker 1 H.E. NézihaLabidi is the Minister of Women, Family and Childhoodin Tunisia. She has conduct- ed a number of research and studies on the Arab and Muslim civilization and has a long life experience with NGOs. Speaker 2 Mohammad Naciri is the Regional Director of UN WOMEN Regional Oce for Arab States.Mo- hammad has extensive experience in the Arab region and in gender and development issues.Before joining UN Women, Mohammad was the Deputy Country Director of UNDP in Yemen. Speaker 3 Dr. Amani Asfour is the President of the Egyptian Business Women Association and President of the International Federation of Business and Professional Women (BPW). Dr. Asfour also initiated the Mediterranean Congress for Business and Professional Women as a platform for sharing good practices among women entrepreneurs in the MENA region. Speaker 4 Dr. Soukeina Bouraoui is the Executive Director of the Center of Arab Women for Training and Research (CAWTAR). She founded the Tunisian Centre for Information, Documentation, Studies and Research on Women and was the Chairperson of the Women’s Development Plan Commit- tee for the Eighth Tunisian National Economic and Social Development Plan. Speaker 5 Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • Lebanon 2017-2020” to Discuss the Key Issues and Priorities the UNSF Intends to Address
    UNITED NATIONS STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK (UNSF) LEBANON 2017-2020 1 SIGNATURE PAGE Through the present United Nations Strategic Framework (UNSF), the United Nations System in Lebanon pledges to work in support to the Government of Lebanon to meet the country’s security, political, human rights, humanitarian and developmental priorities for the period starting January 2017 to December 2020. In implementing the United Nations Strategic Framework, the United Nations system in Lebanon reaffirms its commitment to leverage its resource and capacities in a coherent and integrated manner to improve the lives of the Lebanese people and all those Lebanon seeks to protect. The United Nations Strategic Framework is the result of consultations carried out by the various members of the UN family in Lebanon with various national authorities to ensure it reflects national priorities. By signing the below, the Government of Lebanon and the United Nations system in Lebanon approve this United Nations Strategic Framework as the basis of cooperation between the two entities for the 2017-2020 period and express their engagement to the realization of its objectives. _________________________ ___________________________ Fouad Fleifel Philippe Lazzarini Secretary General of the Council of Ministers Deputy Special Coordinator Government of Lebanon UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon 2 UN AFP signatures _________________________ ___________________________ Iyad Abumoghli Fawzi Al-Zioud UNEP Director and Regional Representative IOM Country Representative
    [Show full text]
  • Itcdtab36 En.Pdf
    UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT POLICY ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND COMMODITIES STUDY SERIES No. 35 IBSA: AN EMERGING TRINITY IN THE NEW GEOGRAPHY OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE by Lakshmi Puri Director of Division on International Trade in Goods and Services, and Commodities, UNCTAD UNITED NATIONS New York and Geneva, 2007 NOTE The purpose of this series of studies is to analyse policy issues and to stimulate discussions in the area of international trade and development. This series includes studies by UNCTAD staff, as well as by distinguished researchers from academia. In keeping with the objective of the series, authors are encouraged to express their own views, which do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations. The designations employed and the presentation of the material do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the United Nations Secretariat concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Material in this publication may be freely quoted or reprinted, but acknowledgement is requested, together with a reference to the document number. It would be appreciated if a copy of the publication containing the quotation or reprint were sent to the UNCTAD secretariat: Chief Trade Analysis Branch Division on International Trade in Goods and Services, and Commodities United Nations Conference on Trade and Development Palais des Nations CH-1211 Geneva UNCTAD/ITCD/TAB/36 UNITED NATIONS PUBLICATION ISSN 1607-8291 © Copyright United Nations 2007 All rights reserved ii ABSTRACT This paper explores the opportunities for further economic cooperation between India, Brazil and South Africa in the context of the IBSA Trilateral Cooperation Forum.
    [Show full text]
  • After \221Remarkable Year\222 for Gender Equality
    After ‘Remarkable Year’ for Gender Equality, Women’s Empowerment, ... http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2011/gashc4008.doc.htm 10 October 2011 General Assembly GA/SHC/4008 Department of Public Information • News and Media Division • New York Sixty-sixth General Assembly Third Committee 9th & 10 th Meetings (AM & PM) AFTER ‘REMARKABLE YEAR’ FOR GENDER EQUALITY, WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT, MOMENTUM MUST BE TURNED INTO TANGIBLE GAINS FOR WOMEN, GIRLS EVERYWHERE, THIRD COMMITTEE TOLD UN-Women’s Deputy Executive Director: ‘We Are Moving in the Right Direction’; Special Rapporteur on Violence, Chair of Anti-Discrimination Committee Also Speak Following a remarkable year in the promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment that was marked by the establishment of UN-Women and the launch of the Secretary-General’s Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health, it was now time to turn the momentum generated in 2010 into clear, tangible gains for women and girls everywhere, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) was told today. Speaking at the start of the Committee’s three-day discussion on the advancement of women, Lakshmi Puri, Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director, Intergovernmental Support and Strategic Partnerships Bureau of UN-Women, said those landmark events had strengthened global resolve to close the persistent gaps between commitments and women’s daily realities, between women’s rights in the law and their enjoyment of those rights in practice, and between existing empowerment policies and women’s actual well-being and security. “We have many good indications that we are moving in the right directions,” she stressed, noting that, during the General Assembly’s annual debate last month, world leaders had signed on to a joint statement on advancing women’s political participation and UN-Women was committed to translating it into concrete results.
    [Show full text]
  • In Depth-Session: Changing World Geopolitics and Global Governance: Making Sense of the Trends, Actors and Their Implications for Women’S Rights
    In Depth-Session: Changing World Geopolitics and Global Governance: Making sense of the trends, actors and their implications for women’s rights AWID INTERNATIONAL FORUM, 18 April 2012. This in depth session takes place in the afternoon of day one and two of the AWID Forum. Overall length: 6 hours, divided into four panels, with each 1,5 hours. Interpretation: Arabic, English, Spanish, Russian, Turkish. CONCEPT NOTE Why and how is global governance relevant to women's rights and why is it so complex and difficult to talk about in the current world reality? With contributions from key leaders and thinkers in this field, participants will learn about relevant characteristics of the current global context, exploring for example the connections between how growth is defined and progress is measured, and other key phenomena within current global governance arrangements and shifts. This session will look at some of the actors and institutions (new and old) defining what global governance looks like today. It will also provide a space for brainstorming about our vision of future global governance to advance women's rights, social justice, environmental sustainability and human rights. Then we will discuss the implications of this information, analysis and reflection for our own strategizing as women's rights activists. We’ll close with a focus on ‘what’s next’ on the global agenda, for example: the structures being proposed as part of the Rio+20 agenda, the Cairo and Beijing + 20 process, the proposals for reshaping global financial architecture, the proposed new global development partnership and the likely ‘post-MDG’ framework.
    [Show full text]
  • Joint Programme Document A. COVER PAGE
    Joint Programme Document A. COVER PAGE 1. Fund Name : Joint SDG Fund for Social Protection in Thailand 2. MPTFO Project Reference Number : PSP 2019 THA 3. Joint programme title : Accelerating progress towards an integrated and modernized Social Protection System for All in Thailand 4. Short title : Social Protection for All in Thailand 5. Country and region : Thailand, Asia and Pacific 6. Resident Coordinator : Deirdre Boyd, [email protected] 7. UN Joint programme focal point : Nuno Meira Simoes Cunha, ILO, [email protected] 8. Government Joint Programme focal point : Porametee Vimolsiri, Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, [email protected] 9. Short description : - Demonstrating proof of concept to support a comprehensive integrated programmatic approach to social protection and for political buy-in to scale up the child support grant (from 700,000 to 2 million by end 2021) and increasing coverage for informal, including domestic, workers. - Thailand has solid position as regional leader on social protection with priority given to South- South learning exchanges and support - New Government needs policy support as aging population and influx of migrants and domestic workers increase demand for social protection. - UN team (ILO, UNICEF, UN, IOM and UN Women) has solid outreach to beneficiary level of community groups; while local (Thailand Development and Research Institute) and international expertise (EPRI) have led connection with global best practices and comparative advantage at national level - WB and wider UN committed; ESCAP to bring regional economic aspects Expected results: - Integrated policy solutions developed following a review of the social protection system - Scale up of coverage of the Child Support Grant from 700,000 children to 2 million by end 2021 as a result of strengthened integrated social protection systems - Policy options to ensure a more effective coverage of domestic workers, including migrants, within the existing social security schemes, are designed and tested 10.
    [Show full text]
  • LAKSHMI PURI Former Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations and Deputy Executive Director of UN Women; Former Ambassador of India
    LAKSHMI PURI Former Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations and Deputy Executive Director of UN Women; Former Ambassador of India Lakshmi Puri is a former Assistant Secretary- General at the United Nations and the former Deputy Executive Director of UN Women. She was Director of the flagship International Trade division and the acting Deputy Secretary- General of United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. She led the preparations for the Fourth Least Developed Countries Conference as Director at OHRLLS. Before her 15-year stint at the United Nations, she served as an Indian diplomat for 28 years. Lakshmi joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1974 and served in Japan, Sri Lanka, Switzerland (Geneva), and as an Ambassador to Hungary and accredited to Bosnia and Herzegovina. She was active in conceptualising and negotiating India’s many bilateral, plurilateral and multilateral economic diplomacy initiatives. Joining the leadership team of UN Women at its inception, she contributed strategically and vitally in building UN Women into a dynamic entity, a powerful advocate, knowledge and partnership hub, norm setter and program driver for gender equality and women’s empowerment. Lakshmi was instrumental in convening by UN Women of the first-ever Global Summit on gender equality in 2015 with 70 key heads of state and government attending and making commitments. She also led imaginative Movement building campaigns such as HeForShe and Planet 50/50 with global impact. Puri has multifaceted experience in bilateral and multilateral diplomacy, negotiations of international agreements and norm-setting. She has been active on public advocacy spanning, critical areas of sustainable development including poverty eradication, food security and agriculture, water, energy, urban development, education, trade in goods, services, and commodities investment and intellectual property rights regimes, migration and refugees, climate change and humanitarian action.
    [Show full text]
  • Bio of Panelists
    Ms. Lakshmi Puri Acting Head of UN WOMEN since 26 March 2013 Ms. Lakshmi Puri, a former diplomat from India was appointed as Assistant Secretary-General for UN Women in March 2011. In this position Ms. Puri is responsible for the leadership and management of the Bureau supporting intergovernmental bodies, United Nations coordination and external relations. She also serves as one of the two Deputies to UN Women Executive Director Michelle Bachelet. Ms. Lakshmi Puri has more than 37 years experience in economic and development policy-making as well as in political, peace and security, humanitarian and human rights–related diplomacy. More than twenty years of these have been in relation to the United Nations system. She has been actively involved in pioneering efforts to analyse and advocate positive linkages between economic development and gender equality. She has worked on ensuring inclusion of a gender perspective in trade investment, migration and labour mobility, financial flows, environment and climate change, energy, agriculture and food security, and access to essential services, among other issues. Ms. Puri held the rank of Permanent Secretary of the Government of India, was Ambassador of India to Hungary and accredited to Bosnia and Herzegovina. FLAVIA PANSIERI United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Flavia Pansieri was appointed United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights on 15 March 2013. In the past 30 years she has held a number of increasingly responsible positions in a number of UN system agencies and in various countries and headquarters locations. Most recently, Ms. Pansieri served as the Executive Coordinator of the UN Volunteers (UNV) Programme, from February 2008 to December 2012.
    [Show full text]
  • FOURTEENTH UNITED NATIONS CONGRESS on CRIME PREVENTION and CRIMINAL JUSTICE
    FOURTEENTH UNITED NATIONS CONGRESS on CRIME PREVENTION AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE Kyoto, Japan – 7 through 12 March 2021 Report on the Activities of the Ancillary Meetings Support for this work has been provided by: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Government of Japan Ministry of Justice Contact Center, Inc. CEGA Services, Inc. Members of the PNI The Siracusa International Institute for Criminal Justice and Human Rights Phoenix Web Group For Information, contact: Gary Hill Email: [email protected] P.O. Box 81826 Lincoln, Nebraska 68501-1826 USA Phone: +1 402 420-0602 Web site: http://un-congress.org/ Table of Contents Purpose of This Report ................................................................................................................................................................ 2 Overview ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 2 Activities Prior to the Congress ................................................................................................................................................... 2 Visits and Presentations ....................................................................................................................................................... 2 Notification to NGOs ............................................................................................................................................................ 3 Exhibits
    [Show full text]