Outcome ECA_O_5

Effective normative, programmatic and coordination products, services and processes.

In 2024, UN Women ECARO reinforced its streamlined approach and enhanced synergies to effectively implement the triple mandate, ensuring a cohesive and integrated strategy across normative, programmatic, and coordination functions. A key milestone was leveraging its normative mandate through the B+30 regional review process, which provided a strategic platform to assess progress, identify gaps, and set priorities for advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment in alignment with the Beijing Platform for Action and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). ECARO led multi-stakeholder dialogues on critical thematic areas, including WPS , GiHA, DRR, WPP, GRB, EU Accession, WEE, Climate Change and Social Norms, engaging government representatives, civil society organizations, and UN partners. By synthesizing key findings, ECARO positioned itself as a regional leader in producing data and knowledge, driving evidence-based policy recommendations, and fostering stronger accountability mechanisms for gender equality commitments. Capacity-building support was provided to CO/NPP teams in WPP, GRB, gender data, WPS, WEE, Climate Change, GiHA, and data/statistics, ensuring alignment with the 2023 functional review outcomes. ECARO also advanced its Learning and Development Strategy through the “ECALearn Initiative,” fostering a culture of knowledge sharing and professional growth, with over 160 CO staff members benefiting from learning opportunities. Strategic partnerships were pursued with longstanding donors, including the EU, Sweden, Japan, Norway, Switzerland, and the UK, while securing new funding sources, such as direct SN funding from Denmark. Organizational efficiency was prioritized by aligning efforts with lessons learned, functional review findings, and IAS audit recommendations. Organizational capacity was further strengthened with the onboarding of key staff to support core functions, including a Regional Strategic Planning Specialist (P4), Monitoring and Reporting Specialist (NOC), UN Coordination Specialist (P4), and Communication Specialist (P3). These efforts underline ECARO’s commitment to delivering effective normative, programmatic, and coordination products, services, and processes while bolstering institutional capacity and donor engagement.

Effective normative, programmatic and coordination products, services and processes.

UN Women RO made progress towards effective normative, programmatic and coordination products, services and processes during 2023. The Ukraine CO submitted a new SN for one year (2024 ) under the UN Transitional Framework which covers 2024. The draft SN was reviewed by the ECA RO and approved with no objection by Anna-Karin Jatfors Director, SPRED on November 15, 2023. All the Bi/annual Work Plans (WPs) for the ECA region (2024-2025), including the Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia, were revised and finalized in RMS on due time. ECARO provided substantial inputs and peer review during the regional peer review meeting on annual work planning process. All field office annual reports for 2022 were drafted, reviewed and finalized with detailed quality assurance by ECA RO and the preparation support for the annual reporting 2023 was provided. Project Managers from all ECA offices (90 participants) strengthened their skills and knowledge on project management, including in areas of international best practices on PPM, project cycle management, stakeholder management, project governance, and operational enablers of project management as a result of a 5-days training, organized jointly by ECARO and HQ PSMU. The training allowed cross-regional (with Asia Pacific and Arab States) and cross-office networking and exchange of knowledge; a dedicated session on Humanitarian Response was embedded as part of the training and concrete findings and recommendations were made related to the subject. Overall, participants were very happy and found the training and applied tools especially useful. During 2023, ECARO finalized the regional evaluation on “Capacity Development support to partners in the ECA region” and issued the Management response , uploaded in GATE. One of a key recommendation from this evaluation suggests that the ECA Regional Office should take a stronger lead on knowledge dissemination (including dissemination of any potential corporate guideline on capacity development), knowledge generation from the country level and facilitation of knowledge exchange and communities of practice, both among UN Women personnel and prominent partners. While some regional exchange and communities of practice have naturally grown within specific projects in the ECA (gender-responsive budgeting, Gender Equality Facility and others), there is a need for systematic and continuous exchange that would be more influential on both intercountry learning and the shaping of corporate capacity development policies and approaches. In the longer term, UN Women’s grant-making policies to all partners, but in particular to civil society partners should provide more space for strengthening the organizational/institutional sustainability of capacities and other results of capacity development. UN Women should identify a modality to ensure longer-term follow-up support and monitoring and evaluation of the results of its capacity development support to those groups.

Effective normative, programmatic and coordination products, services and processes.

All normative, programmatic and coordination products and processes improved in 2022. Moldova, Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine submitted t hree new , t op quality Strategic Notes (SNs) in a timely manner. To st r eamline the processes, ECARO combined RO & HQ technical reviews in one meeting and also introduced 'peer review' into the process to cultivate an exchange of experience and learning. All field office annual reports for 2021 were drafted, reviewed and finalized with detailed quality assurance by ECA RO. Mor eo ver , ECARO took a very active role and engaged all levels of the process for one-time course correction of the SP indicators which leads the organization for a more accurate and result focused reporting. Under various programme and projects, many knowledge products were produced which contributed to the Community of Practice exercises both at the regional and corporate levels. UNW's coordination mandate has been strengthened further both at regional and field levels through Issue-based Coalition on Gender Equality, close cooperation with Gender Theme Groups as well UNW's engagement with UNSDCF development processes.