UN TURKMENISTAN FINAL EVALUATION Turkmenistan - United Nations Partnership Framework for Development 2016-2020 Elinor Bajraktari & Selbi Jumayeva August 2019 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .......................................................................................................................... 7 CHAPTER 1: EVALUATION PURPOSE AND METHODOLOGY ....................................................... 19 1.1. OBJECTIVE AND SCOPE ............................................................................................................. 19 1.2. METHODOLOGY .......................................................................................................................... 20 1.3. LIMITATIONS ................................................................................................................................ 29 1.4. QUALITY ASSURANCE AND ETHICS ...................................................................................... 29 1.5. STRUCTURE OF THE REPORT .............................................................................................. 30 CHAPTER 2: SITUATION ANALYSIS ................................................................................................... 31 CHAPTER 3: PROGRAMME OVERVIEW ............................................................................................. 33 3.1. OVERVIEW OF ACTIVITIES ....................................................................................................... 33 3.2. KEY STAKEHOLDERS ................................................................................................................. 36 3.3. PFD COORDINATION MECHANISM ......................................................................................... 41 3.4. FINANCIAL OVERVIEW .............................................................................................................. 44 CHAPTER 4: MAIN FINDINGS ............................................................................................................... 48 4.1. RELEVANCE .................................................................................................................................. 48 4.1.1. Alignment with Government Priorities ..................................................................................... 48 4.1.2. Responsiveness to Country Needs ............................................................................................ 51 4.1.3. Perceptions of the Value of UN Contributions ......................................................................... 53 4.2. EFFECTIVENESS ........................................................................................................................... 55 4.2.1. Programme Design .................................................................................................................... 55 4.2.2. Achievement of Outcomes and Main Contributions ................................................................. 58 4.3. EFFICIENCY .................................................................................................................................. 82 4.3.1. Operational Efficiencies ............................................................................................................ 82 4.3.2. Cooperation among UN Agencies ............................................................................................ 84 4.3.3. Collaboration between UNCT and Government ....................................................................... 90 4.4. SUSTAINABILITY ......................................................................................................................... 92 4.4.1. Policy Implementation .............................................................................................................. 92 4.4.2. Pilots, Replication and Institutionalization ............................................................................... 94 4.4.3. Sustainability of Funding .......................................................................................................... 95 4.4.4. Information Sharing and Awareness Raising ............................................................................ 97 CONCLUSIONS......................................................................................................................................... 99 RECOMMENDATIONS .......................................................................................................................... 102 ANNEX I: TERMS OF REFERENCE OF THE ASSIGNMENT ........................................................... 107 ANNEX II: SITES VISITED FOR THE EVALUATION ....................................................................... 122 ANNEX III: INTERVIEW AND FOCUS GROUP GUIDE .................................................................... 124 ANNEX IV: KEY QUESTIONS DRIVING THE ANALYSIS OF DATA ............................................ 125 ANNEX V: LIST OF STAKEHOLDERS MET FOR THE EVALUATION .......................................... 129 ANNEX VI: EVALUATION MATRIX ................................................................................................... 132 ANNEX VII: ONLINE SURVEY FOR UN STAFF ................................................................................ 141 ANNEX VIII: PFD RESULTS FRAMEWORK ...................................................................................... 152 ANNEX IX: PROGRAMMES, POLICIES AND LAWS SUPPORTED BY THE UN .......................... 166 ANNEX X: DATA-RELATED INITIATIVES ....................................................................................... 172 ANNEX XI: PILOT INITIATIVES ......................................................................................................... 177 ANNEX XII: PUBLIC INFORMATION/AWARENESS-RAISING CAMPAIGNS AND EVENTS ... 182 3 FIGURES Figure 1: Evaluation Stages ........................................................................................................................ 22 Figure 2: Coverage of Data Collection Process .......................................................................................... 24 Figure 3: Method of Triangulation.............................................................................................................. 26 Figure 4: Steps in Analysis Process ............................................................................................................ 28 Figure 5: Outcomes ..................................................................................................................................... 34 Figure 6: PFD Coordination Mechanism .................................................................................................... 42 Figure 7: Contributions of UN Agencies (in %) ......................................................................................... 45 Figure 8: Cost-sharing by UN Agency ....................................................................................................... 46 Figure 9: Assessment of Relevance ............................................................................................................ 48 Figure 10: Support for Data Generation and Policy Making ...................................................................... 59 Figure 11: Levels of Cooperation ............................................................................................................... 86 Figure 12: Policy Cycle .............................................................................................................................. 92 TABLES Table 1: Data Sources ................................................................................................................................. 23 Table 2: Result Groups Established under the PFD .................................................................................... 35 Table 3: Resident and Non-resident UN Agencies ..................................................................................... 36 Table 4: Key Stakeholders by Result Group ............................................................................................... 38 Table 5: PFD Expenditure by Agency (in USD) ........................................................................................ 44 Table 6: Government Cost-sharing for 2016-2018 (in USD) ..................................................................... 45 Table 7: Contributing Development Partners ............................................................................................. 46 Table 8: National Programme Objectives and PFD Outcomes ................................................................... 49 Table 9: Average Score for Each Dimension of the Gender Scorecard ...................................................... 51 Table 10: Share of Government Financing to Total Expenditure (2016-2018) .......................................... 54 Table 11: Achievement of PFD Targets ..................................................................................................... 58 Table 12: Execution Rates by Agency ........................................................................................................ 83 Table 13: NSCC and Result Groups Meetings ........................................................................................... 90 Table 14: Government Financing (cost-sharing) ........................................................................................ 91 Table 15: Share of Government Financing