Management Response

: Turkey
: 2019 - 2022 , Turkey (CO)
: Final evaluation of the programme “Gender Equality in Political Leadership and Participation in Turkey”.
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: Turkey
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The final evaluation report has informed the development of the new Strategic Note (SN) of UN Women Turkey Office for 2022-2025 and has been used for developing a new three-year project in field of women’s leadership initiated in 2021. Despite the delays faced in the finalization of the evaluation report due to serious health problems of the team leader, the CO extensively used the draft version’s finding and recommendations in these programme formulation processes. It should be acknowledged that the project under evaluation was implemented over a seven-year period (2014-2020) which was characterized by significant political changes in the country, that directly impacted on the original Theory of Change. UN Women appreciated the reconstruction of the Theory of Change by the evaluation team given the long implementation period and the amendment carried to the original project document. Even though that reconstruction prepared a clear basis for the evaluation of the project, it should be noted that many of the 31 findings are at micro level, and some can be merged. The CO notes with appreciation the 5 recommendations of the evaluation which have been fully taken into consideration in the development of the new phase of its programming on women’s leadership as stated above.
: Approved
Recommendation: When designing and implementing projects to promote women’s empowerment and political participation, UN Women Turkey should develop a strategic policy dialogue capacity that includes a human rights-based approach to present the rights of men and women in the context of the country’s culture and regional ethnicity.
Management Response: UN Women’s country programme in Turkey for the upcoming four-year period is defined in its new Strategic Note (SN) that articulates the strategy of UN Women in pursuing the entity’s mandate to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment. The new SN 2022-2025 is aligned both time-wise and content-wise, to the UN-Turkey Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) for 2021-2025 and the new UN Women global Strategic Plan (SP) (2022-2025). The SN seeks to address the country’s main development and women’s empowerment-related priorities including women’s political participation, as articulated in the 11th National Development Plan (2018-2023) and the Women’s Empowerment Strategy (2018-2023), and key challenges and gaps identified in the realization of Turkey’s commitments under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, as well as The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and other international treaties. The SN is informed by consultations with different national and international stakeholders, including Government institutions, local authorities, civil society organizations, women’s rights advocates, private sector organizations, UN agencies, Embassies, and development partners. It is rooted in a human-rights based approach, with focus on leaving no one behind (LNOB). Considering the country context and UN Women’s strategic positioning for promoting women’s empowerment and political participation as elaborated in the new SN, UN Women plays a facilitator role for policy dialogue between government, political parties and civil society which is highly appreciated by the stakeholders. To enhance its capacity for strategic policy dialogue with the government, the CO has undertaken or plans to undertake a number of steps: secure additional in-house legal advisory expertise to support the CO in its provision of policy advice; continue the practice of tailoring global products to the Turkey context (i.e. manual for women political candidates; methodology for violence against women in politics (VAWP research), engage in long-term strategic partnership with CSOs and networks active in the field; develop and follow a structured advocacy plan for promoting the use of temporary special measures in view of the upcoming elections in 2023-2024.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Leadership and political participation (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Advocacy
Organizational Priorities: Not applicable
UNEG Criteria: Efficiency
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Secure additional in-house legal advisory expertise (international and national legal experts) to support the CO in its policy advisory role UN Women Turkey Office 2021/12 Completed One international and two national legal experts have been hired.
Organize series of policy dialogue workshops for women local leaders and municipal officials in different geographical regions to discuss matters of common concern and cultivate leadership skills and solidarity networks UN Women Turkey Country Office 2023/12 Ongoing
Conduct a research on VAWiP, tailoring the global methodology to the Turkey context UN Women Turkey Country Office 2022/10 Completed Qualitative research on VAWiP in Türkiye has been conducted.
Develop and implement a structured advocacy plan for promoting the use of temporary special measures, in cooperation with CSO networks UN Women Turkey Country Office 2023/12 Ongoing
Recommendation: UN Women Turkey should continue to focus on the political party code and the election code in its work on promoting women’s empowerment; these national legislative frameworks are critical to increasing women’s political participation.
Management Response: The CO agrees that revision of the above national frameworks is key to systematic changes in women’s political participation, and will continue its advocacy efforts for possible amendments. An analysis of pertinent international and national legislation, national policies, strategies, frameworks and other related documents has been carried out in 2021. Gaps in the Constitution, political parties law and election laws have been identified as the first step to overcome issues around women’s political participation through legislative framework. Based on the analysis and the recommendations on the way forward, UN Women will support the development of legal and regulatory amendments and will advocate with decision-makers for their adoption, in collaboration and consultation with civil society.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Leadership and political participation (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Advocacy, Oversight/governance
Organizational Priorities: Not applicable
UNEG Criteria: Relevance
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Analysis of existing legal and policy frameworks, including the Political Parties Law and the Electoral Code, to identify areas for improvement UN Women Turkey Country Office 2021/12 Completed Completed in 2021 under the new project “Advancing gender equality and women’s leadership in political and business life” (Women Lead) which is a follow up to the project under evaluation.
Development and advocacy of a draft legal amendments package for gender balance/parity in politics and decision making UN Women Turkey Country Office 2022/12 Completed Draft legal amendment package for gender balance/parity in politics and decision making has been developed in 2022 and advocacy efforts will continue.
Recommendation: UN Women Turkey needs to consider the limitations presented in this evaluation in terms of learning for future programming, including the achievability of outcomes and the coherence of planned activities and approaches to delivering these outcomes.
Management Response: In the area of women’s political participation (WPP) and leadership, UN Women Turkey has been implementing projects since 2011. Numerous challenges were faced during the implementation of the project, which generated lessons learnt that have been taken into account, along with the limitations presented in this evaluation, in the design and implementation of the new follow-up project “Advancing gender equality and women’s leadership in political and business life” and the new SN 2022-2025 that will guide future programming. In the new project and SN, the outcomes and delivery approaches have been determined in line with the strategic goals set in UNSDCF and UN Women global Strategic Plan however the project specific targets were set considering the achievability criteria as per the recommendation.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Leadership and political participation (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Internal coordination and communication
Organizational Priorities: Culture of results/RBM
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Design the follow-up project on women’s leadership in line with the limitations set forth and lessons learnt in this evaluation UN Women Turkey Country Office 2021/06 Completed The new project for example will focus on increasing the pool of women interested to run for office at local level and to support them with comprehensive and long-term capacity building as well as continuing to create spaces for cross-party dialogue of female politicians and increasing solidarity among women from different political affiliations and with women from outside government.
Ensure that the new CO Strategic Note for 2022-2025 takes into account the lessons learned and the limitations presented in this evaluation UN Women Turkey Country Office 2021/12 Completed The new SN includes revamped Theory of Change, more integration among different thematic/programmatic areas, stronger focus on pursuing strategic entry points, among other changes.
Recommendation: UN Women should use the project’s implementation experience to reflect on developing and expanding its range of approaches and capabilities to deliver future gender equality and women’s participation gains.
Management Response: UN Women has used its prior implementation experience in the design of the new 3-year action started by mid-2021 titled “Advancing gender equality and women’s leadership in political and business life” (Women Lead) that focuses on both political and economic decision-making and increases the scope of partnerships and approaches to achieve the intended outcomes. Under this project, the CO is also increasing the staffing capabilities in the office.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Leadership and political participation (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Advocacy
Organizational Priorities: Culture of results/RBM, Partnership
UNEG Criteria: Impact
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Design, raise funds for and start implementation of a new follow-up programme that has expanded focus and partnerships, and is backed by additional human resources. UN Women Turkey Country Office 2021/06 Completed
Sharing the project implementation experience with wider audience including donors and UN Women’s regional and global units for contributing to their programming. UN Women Turkey Country Office 2024/06 Ongoing
Recommendation: UN Women Turkey should strategically leverage the privileged trust developed with key national Turkish counterparts, including the TGNA, line ministries and municipalities. UN Women Turkey should expand its support for local women candidates and elected officials across the country. These efforts should incorporate lessons learned from this project.
Management Response: The evaluated project has paved the way for the development and implementation of another project of UN Women Turkey Office namely “Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting in Turkey” that was initiated in December 2020. Beneficiary of the Project is Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Services, and co-beneficiary is the Presidency of Strategy and Budget (PSB). It is being implemented at central level in selected Line Ministries and in four selected pilot municipalities (Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality, Eskişehir Metropolitan Municipality, Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality, Edirne Municipality) where also complementarity is ensured with the newly developed Women Lead project. The Women Lead project prioritizes local level work, where more entry points have been identified in the previous phase and based on this evaluation. One of the project’s objective is: a cadre of interested, diverse and capable women to run for political office at local level will be established and gender sensitive governance at the local level will be strengthened in line with the recommendation.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Leadership and political participation (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Advocacy
Organizational Priorities: Partnership
UNEG Criteria: Sustainability
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Utilize the strategic relationship developed with the TGNA Equal Opportunities Commission to pursue the CO SN normative objectives in all thematic areas (GRB, economic empowerment, political participation, EVAW) UN Women Turkey Country Office 2025/12 Ongoing
Implementation of training and capacity building programmes to advance women’s political leadership and skills development throughout the electoral cycle for women political aspirants at local level, including young and marginalized women UN Women Turkey Country Office 2024/06 Ongoing
Capacity development activities to local Equality Units and local councilors in target municipalities aimed at strengthening gender sensitive planning and service delivery UN Women Turkey Country Office 2023/12 Ongoing
Application of gender sensitive social risk maps in selected municipalities UN Women Turkey Country Office 2024/06 Ongoing