Management Response

: Bangladesh
: 2022 - 2023 , Bangladesh (CO)
: End line evaluation of “Combatting Gender Based Violence” (CGBV) project
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: Bangladesh
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The CGBV evaluation findings and recommendations are important to understand the effective approaches to violence against women( VAW) prevention from national to local level, following the socio-ecological model of a prevention approach. It is critical to capture the effect of existing gaps in coordination among the different government stakeholders from national to local level for VAW prevention, which limited the scope of ownership from the government for sustaining the interventions. That would benefit the evaluation team as well as capture challenges and way forward on the interventions even after the turnover of the government officials who were involved during the project implementation. Coordinated initiatives at the local level by the implementing CSOs and government and other stakeholders such as educational institutions and community groups, are also important to prepare and implement a VAW prevention and response action plan and a monitoring plan for upholding accountability. Impactful social norms changing approaches should be scaled up at the institutional and community levels. The lessons learnt from the evaluation have informed the project designs on the CGBV second phase, as well as prevention and response projects for the potential donors.

: Approved
Recommendation: RECOMMENDATIONS 1.1 Continue with a second phase of CGBV using the same holistic and integrated approach and socio-ecological model to allow the manifestation of long-term results by scaling the programme horizontally (i.e., replication in an expanded geographical scope) and vertically (policy, legislative reform and institutional scaling).
Management Response: This recommendation is accepted. Although there is no commitment yet from the development partner for a second phase of CGBV, the recommendation has been incorporated in the project proposal on Ending Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (ESGBV) in public and workplaces submitted to another development partner, and linkages identified with other UN joint projects contributing to gender equality and women’s empowerment.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Capacity development, Advocacy, Resource mobilization
Organizational Priorities: Partnership
UNEG Criteria: Relevance, Effectiveness, Coherence
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
1. From the design stage, engage strategic partners at different levels of their institutions, from the related apex bodies and ministries to local level offices, to achieve vertical scaling for the normative policy support interventions (e.g., implementation of HCD 2009 and institutionalization of prevention mechanisms). EVAW Programme Team, UN Women 2025/06 Initiated UN Women has initiated consultations with strategic partners such as Ministry of Women and Children Affairs (MoWCA), the University Grants Commission (UGC) of Bangladesh on the design of a comprehensive prevention programme, building on the lessons learned from past projects including the CGBV project. There is a hard-pipeline commitment from the European Union. Subject to mobilization of non-core resources, a Technical Assistance Project Proposal (TAPP) with the government will be developed. This will include support to relevant government institutions to strengthen the prevention mechanism for sexual harassment and gender-based violence and implementation of the High Court Directive (2009).
2. Articulate the TOC more specifically and according to the size and duration of the financial resources. Carry out a multi-stakeholder consultation for the articulation of the TOC. EVAW Programme Team, UN Women 2025/06 Initiated For the proposed European Union (EU) project on the prevention of sexual and gender- based violence, a detailed Theory of Change (ToC) has been developed in consultation with the EU and relevant government ministries, civil society organizations and other key stakeholders. The ToC will be reviewed with a larger stakeholder group during the implementation phase of the project periodically.
3. Design a separate project for economic interventions with thorough market analysis and gendered value chain analysis to strengthen women’s economic leadership which contributes to the reduction of VAW. UN Women Senior Management 2025/12 Initiated Under UN Women's Economic Empowerment portfolio, a joint project ‘Women Empowerment for Inclusive Growth (WING)’ is being implemented with UNDP and UNCDF. Under this project, capacity development support is provided to women entrepreneurs drawing on the Women Empowerment principles. These include equal pay for work of equal value, gender-responsive supply chain practices and zero tolerance against sexual harassment in the workplace. Further, as part of its Rohingya Response Programme, UN Women has undertaken a gendered analysis of livelihoods and skill development opportunities in the Cox’s Bazaar district (host community). This will entail a market analysis to identify opportunities for women’s economic participation. UN Women will continue to reflect on the lessons learned including the linkages between women’s economic empowerment and leadership, and ending VAW, in future programmatic interventions.
4. Reframe and develop a partnership strategy that includes sustainable relationships with all levels of the stakeholder institutions key for preventing VAW, i.e., national to local level. EVAW Programme Team, UN Women 2025/06 Initiated UN Women BCO has developed a resource mobilization and partnership strategy for 2022-2026 in line with its Strategic Note (2022-2026). The RM action plan was updated as part of the BWP 2024-25 development process. The EVAW programme unit will continue to draw on the BCO RM Strategy to define/frame its partnership and engagement approach with different stakeholders at different levels from national to local for VAW prevention.
Recommendation: RECOMMENDATIONS 1.2 Enhance the effectiveness of the second phase of the CGBV project by narrowing focus on the replication of the most successful strategies (e.g., engagement of men and boys) and community-based approaches tested in this programme coupled with effective planning and follow-up mechanisms based on adaptive management principles.
Management Response: This recommendation is accepted. The community-based approach will be applied to the GBV interventions subject to the non-core fund availability. The key actions under this recommendation have been considered in ongoing initiatives and the project proposals being developed by the EVAW programme unit.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Advocacy
Organizational Priorities: Engaging men and boys
UNEG Criteria: Coherence, Effectiveness, Relevance
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
1. Increase the engagement of men and boys in the social norms change interventions and implement initiatives that incorporate strategies for sustaining the shift in attitudes. EVAW Programme Team 2025/06 Initiated The draft UN Women BCO EVAW strategy that is aligned with the corporate Gender Equality Accelerator on Prevention and Response to VAW has a result area on transformative and multi-level social norm change approach promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment to prevent VAW by engaging communities with a special focus on men and boys. The Strategy will be finalized by the end of 2024. In line with the global RESPECT framework and draft EVAW Strategy, the proposed ESGBV prevention project with the EU includes interventions with government administration and tertiary educational institutions to prevent sexual harassment and other forms of GBV at the workplace and on campus engaging men and boys. Further, UN Women co-chairs the UNSDCF Strategic Priority 5 with UNFPA. Social norm change is one of the key priorities identified by the SP 5 working group. This includes a proposed joint social norm change campaign design with a focus on men's and boys’ engagement.
2. Capacity development strategies should consider the following lessons from this project to ensure effectiveness: a. Design further comprehensive training for all stakeholders, particularly the staff of RPs implementing activities at the field level. Include refreshers and various relevant topics that deepen their understanding of the approaches, principles and models that are being implemented, as well as foundational topics such as GBV, sexual harassment, human rights framework, intersectionality, etc. b. Design the training in the local language with contextual examples considering the level of participants. c. Design the timing and mode in consultation with the intended beneficiaries of the training. EVAW programme team 2025/06 Initiated UN Women supports capacity development of its responsible parties (RPs) on a range of issues. The regular partner induction package includes orientation on Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA). Further, the risk-based capacity assessment (RBCA) conducted as part of the programme partner selection procedure, includes dedicated questions on PSEA. Depending on the RBCA rating, technical and capacity building support is extended to RPs to strengthen their organization policies and mechanisms on PSEA. Key partner project personnel are also encouraged to complete the online PSEA and human rights courses. Drawing on global good practices such as the fund for gender equality as well as lessons learned through its programming in Bangladesh UN Women will develop and implement a comprehensive capacity development initiative for partners. This has been identified as a key priority for the strategic partnership between UN Women and the Embassy of Sweden to be executed through the direct SN funding modality. The focus will be on the institutional capacity development of women’s rights/led organizations to ensure greater coherence in their programming and advocacy efforts in line with feminist and LNOB principles, as well as facilitate context specific adaptations as required following the adaptive programming principles. Adequate resources will be allocated for this purpose.
Recommendation: RECOMMENDATIONS 2.1 In the second phase of the CGBV project, address the challenges stemming from issues in communication, coordination and human resources that compromised efficiency while continuing with practices which increased the efficiency of the CGBV project, such as adaptive management and results-based monitoring.
Management Response: This recommendation is accepted. In line with the newly promulgated Planning Monitoring and Reporting (PMR) Policy as well as the updated Selection and Monitoring of Programme Partner Procedures, UN Women Bangladesh will continue to support responsible parties (RPs) for the result-based monitoring and reporting and also facilitate coherent capacity development on a range of cross-cutting programming principles.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Oversight/governance
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities, Partnership
UNEG Criteria: Efficiency
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
1. Design a workflow for smooth communication and enhanced transparency to ensure the multitude of teams working on different components and locations are all receiving timely information, and cross-sharing between different interventions enhances coordination and synergies. EVAW programme team 2025/06 Not Initiated This action is subject to the availability of non-core funds and will be undertaken when the programme partners are on board.
2. Engage the related apex bodies and ministries at the national level to enhance coordination and collaboration between the local offices and the RPs’ staff in the field EVAW programme team 2025/12 Not Initiated This action is subject to the availability of non-core funds and will be undertaken when the programme partners are on board.
3. Look into the institutional arrangement of Programme Partners (RPs) and assist them in developing Standard Operating Procedures to monitor workload and other rights issues of RPs and CSO staff working in the field for the project. EVAW programme team and Selected civil society partner 2025/12 Not Initiated This action is subject to the availability of non-core funds. In line with the project, the capacity building support will be provided to develop the workflow for effective implementation.
Recommendation: RECOMMENDATIONS 3.1 Secure longer-term support to replicate and upscale the results of the CGBV project. A longer duration is more likely to establish structures and behavioural changes that can sustain the project’s results. The focus should be on institutionalizing the prevention of VAW through intensive efforts targeting apex bodies by strengthening the system and capacity.
Management Response: This recommendation is accepted. The proposed project on ESGBV (with the EU) aims to strengthen law and policy formulation and build the institutional capacity for VAW prevention targeting apex bodies of the government institutions.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Oversight/governance, Resource mobilization
Organizational Priorities: Partnership, Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Impact, Sustainability
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
1. Formulate the proposal for mobilizing the necessary resources in consideration of the longer duration and expanded scale as part of the Country Office’s resource mobilization target. UN Women Senior Management and EVAW Programme Team 2025/12 Initiated UN Women BCO has a resource mobilization and partnership strategy for 2022-2026 in line with Strategic Note (2022-2026). Aligning with this, a five-year prevention project has been designed and submitted to the development partner (EU). UN Women has initiated dialogues with other development partners (including the Government of Canada) for additional resource mobilization for the EVAW portfolio.
Recommendation: RECOMMENDATIONS 3.2 Ensure the second phase of the CGBV project articulates a sustainability and exit plan that includes strategies to transfer the ownership of results to relevant stakeholders with milestones to assess the efficacy of the exit plan. These strategies, such as capacity development, gender-responsive budgeting, collaboration with other development partners to advance social change synergistically, etc., should be embedded within the results framework to ensure implementation.
Management Response: This recommendation is accepted and applied to upcoming project proposals.
More detail
Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Oversight/governance, Resource mobilization
Organizational Priorities: Partnership
UNEG Criteria: Sustainability, Impact
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
1. Develop a sustainability and exit plan that identifies the entity/group who would be responsible for sustaining the result beyond the project lifecycle. Articulate the measures that should be taken as part of this plan to ensure the entity/group has the capacity, resources and inclination to undertake this role. EVAW programme team 2026/12 Initiated The proposed ESGBV project document with EU has section on sustainability. This draws on UN Women’s corporate guidance on sustainability and exit plans. For the ESGBV project, the sustainability strategy will be detailed out in consultation with stakeholders and programme partners, during the implementation phase.
2. Identify strategies and milestones for the sustainability and exit plan of the project from the start of the second phase and incorporate them in the results framework to ensure annual planning and implementation of related activities. EVAW programme team 2025/12 Initiated The proposed ESGBV project document with the EU has section on sustainability. This draws on UN Women’s corporate guidance on sustainability and exit plans. For the ESGBV project, the sustainability strategy will be detailed out in consultation with stakeholders and programme partners, during the implementation phase of the project.
Recommendation: RECOMMENDATIONS 4.1 Strengthen the integration of gender equality and human rights-based approach in the programme strategy and enhance inclusivity with intersectional considerations in line with the “leave no one behind” commitment of the organization. When needed address capacity gaps of partners to apply these principles in all phases of the programme.
Management Response: This recommendation is accepted. UN Women BCO’s Strategic Note (2022-2026) identifies the priority groups, including GBV survivors and persons with disabilities, in line with the Leave No One Behind (LNOB) principles. The proposed project with the EU is designed to target GBV survivors, including women and persons with disabilities. Capacity building of the Organizations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs) will be built into BCO’s VAW prevention programming in line with the SN and (draft) EVAW Strategy that is aligned with the corporate Gender Equality Accelerator on Prevention and Response to VAW.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind
Organizational Priorities: Partnership
UNEG Criteria: Human Rights, Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
1. Dedicate a section of the project document to explicitly outline the adoption of an intersectional approach in the planning, design, and implementation of the next prevention programme and/or project. The application of intersectionality in interventions should be backed by analysis, smart indicators, dedicated resources, and capacity development of RPs and CSOs. EVAW programme team 2025/12 Initiated The ESGBV project document (submitted to the EU) has been developed using an intersectionality lens. In line with UN Women’s Strategic Note, the following vulnerable groups (women and girls with disabilities, GBV survivors including minority groups) have been identified as priority groups for UN Women’s engagement and support. The identification of these groups is based on data and evidence related to the specific experiences of marginalization faced by these diverse groups of women. The ProDoc accordingly identifies strategies to address these gaps, and dedicated resources have been proposed for the same. During the inception phase, the engagement approach and results framework will be reviewed by a wider stakeholder group, and relevant changes will be made. This will inform the capacity development of RPs and CSOs engaged in the project, going forward; and will build on UN Women’s corporate guidance on LNOB, and disability inclusion as well as lessons learned from UN Women’s previous programming.
2. Develop and implement a capacity development strategy for current and future RPs on the application and integration of human rights approach, gender equality and intersectionality principles in the planning, design and implementation of interventions. UN Women EVAW programme team 2025/12 Initiated As mentioned in 1.2. 2 a, adequate resources have been allocated for capacity development of responsible parties (RPs) on a range of issues including human rights approach, gender equality and intersectionality principles in the ESGBV project proposal (to EU) as well as in the SN Direct funding proposal (to Sweden).