Management Response

: China
: 2022 - 2023 , China (PP)
: EVALUATION OF THE “DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PREVENTION AND RESPONSE IN POST COVID-19 CHINA” PROGRAMME
:
: China
:

The Final Evaluation of the “Domestic Violence Prevention and Response in Post CoVID-19 China” programme has brought the following key lessons into focus, which will be used to inform the design and implementation of its ongoing work on EVAW, as well as to inform the development of our next Strategic Note 2026 – 2030: Overall, the evaluation found substantial achievement of programme objectives aimed at capacity development of national and local services providers in response to GBV and the mobilization of women, girls, men, and boys, including influencers, to advance respectful relationships, healthy social norms, and gender equality. The evaluation noted considerable important contributions towards strengthening effective implementation of the Anti-Domestic Violence Law and relevant implementing regulations, including through technical support for the Supreme People’s Court on the issuance of Domestic Violence (DV) case guidance, technical trainings and mentoring for service providers and lawyers, and capacity building and financial support for CSOs engaged in community awareness raising. The evaluation recommended sustained support for each of these areas moving forward. Recommendations also include: enhancing and targeting efforts to reach and more effectively engage boys and men in outreach/public awareness raising efforts around DV; provide advanced training for senior practitioners and heads of organizations interested in providing anti-DV services, including capacity support on policy advocacy, public advocacy, and the promotion of local multi-sectoral joint mechanisms; build a more diversified and long-term experience exchange platform for anti-DV service providers, including the development of a self-sustaining online community, and regular sharing and exchange activities; and explore opportunities to further amplify and disseminate knowledge products and training curricula developed under the programme to reach a broader audience.

: Submitted
Recommendation: 1 Maintain Targeted Partnerships: Continuously assess and update the domestic economic, political, and cultural landscape in China to refine cooperation strategies accordingly.
Management Response: UN Women China welcomes this recommendation. As mentioned in Finding 6, UN Women China's specialization in the field of EVAW, wealth of partner resources, and status as a prestigious and experienced multilateral organization make UN Women irreplaceable in the implementation of the EVAW agenda. UN Women China acknowledges the importance of continuously assessing and updating our strategies to align with the evolving economic, political, and cultural landscape in China. Desk research on EVAW is currently underway to ensure our cooperation strategies remain relevant and effective. A Situational analysis on risk factors and protected factors that facilitate VAWG will be conducted before the end of 2024, which will help to ensure alignment on the context with local government partners, CSO partners and UN Women’s EVAW programme team.
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Description: Continuously assess and update the domestic economic, political, and cultural landscape in China to refine cooperation strategies accordingly.
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Knowledge management, Evidence, Data and statistics
Organizational Priorities: Partnership
UNEG Criteria: Relevance, Impact
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Conduct a comprehensive desk research on EVAW to assess and update strategies. Expected output: Desk research on VAWG response in China. UN Women China 2024/12 Initiated The EVAW team of UN Women China has started conducting desk research to map the situation of VAWG response in China. This is part of our ongoing efforts to update our knowledge of the domestic economic, political, and cultural landscape in China, with the purpose of ensuring that our programming is responsive to local needs and to maximize the impact of our work.
In collaboration with a City-level women’s federation research institute and local experts, conduct a situational analysis on risk factors and protected factors that facilitate VAWG in Changsha before the end of 2024. UN Women China; Changsha Women’s Federation; Local research team (to be procured) 2024/12 Initiated In the context of the pilot implementation of UN Women China’s SEEVAW programme in Changsha, UNW China will conduct and finalize a situation analysis by the end of 2024. The latter aims to identify risk and protected factors within the local context; findings will be used to inform programming. UNW China is currently undergoing the procurement process to engage the research team for this work.
Recommendation: 2 Strengthen Internal Management Support: Integrate considerations for objective challenges into the administrative management process, providing flexible support for the implementation team when facing major adjustments. Strengthen administrative support for partner women's organizations, adapting to their current capacity.
Management Response: UN Women China welcomes this recommendation and recognizes the importance of integrating considerations for objective challenges into our administrative management processes, particularly considering transitions like the Quantum, ERP system. As suggested by findings 18 and 19, UN Women China will commit to further conduct process monitoring and disruption response. As discussed in finding 5, the programme had to adapt to contextual changes, including the significant impacts brought by Covid-19, and did so effectively and without compromising results. We have addressed and will continue to address these challenges to provide flexible support for our implementation teams. Support for partner women's organizations has been enhanced based on their administrative needs and to better align with UN Women corporate standards. Capacity building for women’s organizations continues to be a high priority for UNW China and the office will continue to emphasize this in our work.
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Description: 1.Integrate considerations for objective challenges into the administrative management process, providing flexible support for the implementation team when facing major adjustments. 2.Strengthen administrative support for partner women's organizations, adapting to their current capacity.
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Capacity development, Knowledge management, Internal coordination and communication
Organizational Priorities: Organizational efficiency
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Efficiency, Sustainability
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
In order to enhance administrative support for partner women's organizations based on their current capacities, UN Women China will deliver an administrative capacity development workshop with partner women’s organization by August 2024. UN Women China 2024/08 Completed One workshop on administrative capacity development with women's organizations has been conducted in August2024. This workshop aimed to enhance the already ongoing support provided to our partner women's organization, tailored to their needs and in the context of our collaboration. The Workshop was designed to build the understanding and capacity of our partner to comply with UN Women’s Financial management and administrative regulations.
Refine the current administrative manual with user friendly language and roll-out among CSO partners. UN Women China 2025/06 Not Initiated The Operations team developed two training presentations for CSO Responsible Parties during 2021-2022, focusing on 1) Financial Management and 2) Reporting and Administrative Support. The EVAW team utilized these presentations for related training sessions. Based on feedback from the Responsible Parties, the EVAW team has incorporated updates and will share them with the Operations team to update the training manual by Q4.
Provide training, dedicated learning resources, and other support for new UN Women Staff members on the use of Quantum and financial and operational policies, practices, and tools. UN Women China 2025/06 Not Initiated The staff learning resources on Finance and Administration have been planned under HR resources as part of the ongoing EVAW program.
Recommendation: 3 Optimize Monitoring Tools: Try to identify indicators and methodologies to measure increased public awareness and substantive capacity in the context of domestic violence/gender equality issues.
Management Response: UN Women China welcomes this recommendation. Considering the population landscape of China, measuring public awareness nationwide is resource intensive. However, we acknowledge the importance of localized campaigns with measurable indicators. As mentioned in Finding 8, the results of our social media advocacy significantly exceeded the planned target. Therefore, building on past successful best practices and new inputs, new monitoring tools will be designed during Theory of Change sessions for the next EVAW programme, in collaboration with local and international experts. Future awareness campaigns will be conducted at the community-level to enhance measurability.
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Description: Try to identify indicators and methodologies to measure increased public awareness and substantive capacity in the context of domestic violence/gender equality issues.
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Advocacy, Evidence, Data and statistics
Organizational Priorities: Culture of results/RBM
UNEG Criteria: Relevance, Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Conduct 2 Theory of Change sessions with stakeholders, CSOs,WROs, and EVAW experts. Based on these sessions, develop a tailored monitoring toolkit for the on-going EVAW programme UN Women China, local and international experts. 2024/12 Initiated Sessions to design Theory Of Change for the next programme (SEEVAW) are scheduled for fall 2024. Interactive workshops will be led by international experts (Prevention Collaborative), and local experts and Programme partners will develop a series of M&E tools to capture and document different levels of results.
Conduct community-level awareness campaigns with measurable indicators by the end of 2024. UN Women China 2025/06 Not Initiated Targeted awareness campaigns are expected to be conducted by the end of 2024, based on discussion with local partners and social media partners. A set of measurable indicators for monitoring will be developed with parents before the campaign (included as part of the TOC sessions referenced above).
Recommendation: 4 Maintain Cooperation in the Justice Sector: Maintain active engagement with the justice sector and align program priorities, accordingly, proposing suitable initiatives to address their needs.
Management Response: UN Women China welcomes this recommendation and reaffirms its commitment to actively engage with the justice sector in China. As highlighted in finding 21, UN Women China’ partnership with the Supreme Court offers the possibility of scaling up the programme approach to a national level partner. Therefore, the programme team made efforts towards this direction and recently secured the financial resources to continue implementing our MOU with the SPC to continue international knowledge exchange and formulate new guidancecases on handling domestic violence cases. This collaboration will continue to ensure our programme priorities are aligned with the needs of the justice sector.
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Description: Maintain active engagement with the justice sector and align program priorities, accordingly, proposing suitable initiatives to address their needs.
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: National ownership, Alignment with strategy
Organizational Priorities: Partnership, Normative Support
UNEG Criteria: Gender equality, Human Rights, Impact, Relevance, Sustainability
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Implement an international knowledge exchange convening on survivor-centered and gender-responsive judicial practices. UN Women China 2024/12 Initiated With new funds secured by UN Women China, we will work with the SPC to involve judges in an international knowledge exchange on survivor-centered and gender-responsive judicial practices. This convening is tentatively scheduled to take place in the November of 2024.
Develop new guidance on handling domestic violence cases in collaboration with the justice sector. UN Women China 2025/12 Not Initiated With new funds secured by UN Women China, we will work with the SPC to develop a new round of “ten guiding cases on anti-domestic violence in China”. This guidance will build on the initial ten guiding cases developed by the SPC with technical support from UN Women China, which were released in 2023.
Recommendation: 5 Extend Capacity-Building for Human Resources: Continue providing advanced training for senior practitioners and heads of organizations interested in anti-domestic violence services, including capacity building for policy advocacy. Establish a diversified and long-term experience exchange platform for anti-domestic violence service providers.
Management Response: UN Women China welcomes this recommendation. Based on the suggestions of Finding 24 and 25, and the successful experience from the programme (training engaging heads of Rights Protection from 5 provinces), UN Women China acknowledges the importance of engaging senior practitioners and heads of organizations in EVAW training. UN Women China will continue providing advanced training for senior practitioners and heads of organizations involved in anti-domestic violence services. We are expanding our Community of EVAW Practitioners (COEP) and planning two training sessions for social service providers in August and September, in both 2024 and 2025, within the current UNSDCF period. These efforts aim to strengthen capacity for policy advocacy and ensure a robust exchange platform for service providers.
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Description: Continue providing advanced training for senior practitioners and heads of organizations interested in anti-domestic violence services, including capacity building for policy advocacy. Establish a diversified and long-term experience exchange platform for anti-domestic violence service providers.
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Capacity development, Advocacy, Knowledge management
Organizational Priorities: Organizational efficiency
UNEG Criteria: Sustainability, Efficiency, Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Expand the Community of EVAW Practitioners (COEP). UN Women China 2025/12 Initiated A community of 50 practitioners has already been established. More practitioners are expected to be recruited on a recurring basis. Practitioners are continuously connected to ESP capacity development resources, which have been allocated to the COEP. This includes both on-site training and online case management mentorship sessions.
Conduct two training sessions for national and sub-national stakeholders and social service providers, focusing on response and senior practitioner skills. UN Women China 2025/08 Not Initiated One session is planned for August 2024 and one for August 2025.
Recommendation: 6 Keep Focusing on Local Experience and Knowledge: Maintain the ongoing promotion and iteration of practical knowledge achievements, including revising, publicly releasing, and updating the Domestic Violence Social Service Training Manual. Publicize the Domestic Violence Social Service Training Manual to reach broader and more profound impact in the future.
Management Response: UN Women China welcomes this recommendation and is committed to promoting and sharing knowledge products developed through our programming, including the Domestic Violence Social Service Training Manual (currently being updated and pending publication). We concur with findings 9 and 23, which highlight the importance of the dissemination of the Manual to reach broader beneficiaries and expand our impact The programme unit plans to disseminate the first tranche of 500 copies to social service provider organizations (for free)
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Description: Maintain the ongoing promotion and iteration of practical knowledge achievements, including revising, publicly releasing, and updating the Domestic Violence Social Service Training Manual. Publicize the Domestic Violence Social Service Training Manual to reach broader and more profound impact in the future.
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: National ownership, Advocacy, Capacity development, Knowledge management
Organizational Priorities: Culture of results/RBM
UNEG Criteria: Relevance, Sustainability, Gender equality, Impact
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Continue revising and conduct by-annual updating of the Domestic Violence Social Service Training Manual. UN Women China 2025/12 Initiated The manual will be revised and updated on a bi-annual basis.
Facilitate an international knowledge exchange on VAWG response and prevention in Vietnam in 2024 and other regions in future programming. UN Women China 2024/11 Initiated UN Women China will convene an international knowledge exchange on VAWG response and prevention in Vietnam in 2024. The participants will include Chinese local government stakeholders, SEEVAW project responsible partners for implementation, Chinese local experts who will facilitate the implementation, local Vietnamese experts who facilitated intervention programmes in Vietnam, and UN Women China and Vietnam staff.
Recommendation: 7 Continue to cooperate with civil society organizations in advocacy: Continue to collaborate with civil society organizations for local-level advocacy activities and support them to make their voice heard. Further refine and tailor advocacy efforts to reach target audiences / beneficiaries.
Management Response: UN Women China welcomes this recommendation and will continue collaborating with civil society organizations (CSOs) for local-level advocacy activities. We have recently signed a contract with Xinchen, a CSO responsible for program implementation in Changsha, and are finalizing ToRs with CSOs in Yunnan for new collaborations and community-based advocacy adapted to the local context. Learning from the insights outlined in finding 14, advocacy efforts will be refined to more effectively reach target audiences and beneficiaries. The EVAW programme will continue to work closely with the UN Women China communication team, social media platforms and media outlets when designing campaigns and other advocacy initiatives (see also relevant action items under Recommendation 3).
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Description: Continue to collaborate with civil society organizations for local-level advocacy activities and support them to make their voice heard. Further refine and tailor advocacy efforts to reach target audiences / beneficiaries.
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Capacity development, Advocacy, National ownership, Knowledge management
Organizational Priorities: Organizational efficiency
UNEG Criteria: Efficiency, Effectiveness, Impact, Sustainability
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Strengthen collaboration with Xinchen, Changsha Women’s Federation, and local media for programme advocacy in Changsha. UN Women China 2025/12 Initiated Discussions are ongoing with partners to finalize a strategy for advocacy.
Finalize workplan with CSOs in Yunnan to initiate community-based advocacy activity. UN Women China 2024/12 Initiated Discussions are ongoing with partners to finalize a strategy for advocacy.
Develop a communication strategy with summarized lesson learnt for the EVAW portfolio in China. UN Women China 2025/06 Initiated An internal discussion is ongoing to finalize a strategy for advocacy.
Recommendation: 8 Increase the attention to the DV victims’ complex vulnerabilities: Maintain the current links and establish new connections with CSOs serving different beneficiaries and provide them with resources such as the Domestic Violence Social Service Training Manual.
Management Response: UN Women China welcomes this recommendation. As finding 26 demonstrates, UN Women China has integrated gender, human rights and disability inclusion considerations into proramme design and implementation. Therefore, UN Women China acknowledges the importance of addressing the complex vulnerabilities of DV victims. We will maintain existing partnerships and establish new connections with CSOs serving diverse beneficiaries, including people with disabilities, WLHIV, girl-child survivors, and LGBTQ+ community. Resources such as the Domestic Violence Social Service Training Manual will be leveraged to support these efforts.
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Description: Maintain the current links and establish new connections with CSOs serving different beneficiaries and provide them with resources such as the Domestic Violence Social Service Training Manual.
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind, Capacity development, Knowledge management
Organizational Priorities: Partnership
UNEG Criteria: Relevance, Impact, Human Rights
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Maintain and expand partnerships with CSOs serving diverse beneficiary groups. UN Women China 2025/12 Initiated Discussions are ongoing with different potential CSO partners who work with diverse beneficiaries affected by DV.
Continue to leverage financial and technical resources to address the needs of vulnerable groups affected by DV. UN Women China 2025/12 Initiated Efforts are being made towards securing new resources to ensure the needs of vulnerable groups affected by DV are met.
Recommendation: 9 Make achievable and focused objectives for future programmes: Make the programs objectives to be more focused and achievable, especially regarding the establishment of policy mechanisms. This task needs to be done in a long way with notable uncertainties.
Management Response: UN Women China welcomes this recommendation and is committed to ensuring that our program objectives are focused, achievable, and responsive to a changing political, economic, and geo-political landscape. As Finding 8 underlines, Programme outputs have been mostly achieved, but the ambitious objective of establishing a sustainable policy mechanism has not yet been achieved. We recognize the need for long-term planning amid uncertainties and will make every effort to adapt objectives to ensure practicality and impact, recognizing that there are sometimes developments outside of our control.
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Description: Make the programs objectives to be more focused and achievable, especially regarding the establishment of policy mechanisms. This task needs to be done in a long way with notable uncertainties.
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Internal coordination and communication, Evidence, Data and statistics
Organizational Priorities: Organizational efficiency, Culture of results/RBM
UNEG Criteria: Efficiency, Sustainability
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Maintain annual EVAW consultation meeting with key stakeholders such as National and local-level Women’s Federations, government partners, EVAW Academia, CSOs, WROs and implementing partners to ensure close alignment on, and feasibility of, programme strategies and expected results. UN Women China 2025/12 Initiated Discussions and collaborations with relevant stakeholders are ongoing and take place on a recurring basis.