Outcome FIJ_O_5

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

Throughout 2024, the UN Women Fiji MCO demonstrated progress in strengthening its operational effectiveness and institutional capacity across five Pacific Island Countries: Fiji, Kiribati, Samoa, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu. The office's approach to monitoring, capacity building, and process optimization has yielded improvements in service delivery and operational efficiency. The MCO's commitment to results-based management was shown through training programs that reached staff across all five countries. Weekly learning sessions focused on results-based reporting and monitoring techniques benefited teams from both the Markets for Change (M4C) and Women's Resilience to Disasters (WRD) programs. These capacity-building initiatives led to improvements in reporting quality, with staff showing enhanced ability to articulate behavioral changes, while effectively capturing both quantitative and qualitative results. In project implementation, the MCO achieved a 98% success rate in keeping outputs on track across all programs. This includes initiatives such as Strengthening Social Cohesion Pathways in Fiji, Markets for Change in four countries, the Pacific Partnership to End VAW in six countries, and Women's Resilience to Disasters in four countries. This achievement reflects the office's management of diverse programs across multiple geographical locations. The MCO's commitment to knowledge sharing and international cooperation was shown through various initiatives. The office facilitated south-south, north-south, and triangular cooperation through five field offices, surpassing its target. These initiatives included the Gender Equality Village and co-organizing the Asia-Pacific Gender Champions event with UN Women Manila. The Kiribati and Solomon Islands offices further strengthened international partnerships through engagement with experts at the Sexual Violence Research Initiative Forum. To ensure quality in monitoring and reporting, the MCO implemented a two-stage review process for annual reports, providing opportunities for improvement while maintaining realistic deadlines. The office also developed standardized reporting templates and established a centralized online platform for monitoring and reporting resources, showing its commitment to streamlining processes and maintaining standards of documentation. Looking ahead to 2025, the MCO has identified areas for further enhancement, including establishing a peer review system for reports and strengthening the ability to identify and document lessons learned. These initiatives show the office's commitment to continuous improvement in service delivery and operational effectiveness. Through these efforts, the UN Women Fiji MCO has demonstrated its capacity to discharge business processes that advance integrated delivery of its mandate across headquarters, regional, and country levels, while maintaining standards of efficiency and effectiveness in service delivery.

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

The completion of the mapping of UN Women's contributions to the Pacific United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) demonstrates the Fiji MCO’s strategic approach to aligning activities with broader development goals that are informed by global and regional normative frameworks. Further to this, the completion of 14 Country Implementation Plans (CIPs) for the three Regional Coordination Offices (Fiji, Samoa, Micronesia) indicates a comprehensive approach to programmatic planning and coordination at the country level, emphasizing the Fiji MCO’s commitment to tailored interventions. In addition, UN Women has leveraged its leadership of the Gender Theme Group to ensure the integration of gender, social inclusion and protection were weaved into the Pacific UNSDCF and CIPs. Committing to adaptability and streamlining, the Fiji MCO reviewed existing SOPs on HR, Procurement, Travel Finance to align workflows with the new corporate Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System for increased internal efficiency. Regarding programme implementation, all Fiji MCO projects have outputs on track or achieved in various locations, indicating strong programme management and delivery. The successful conclusion of 116 negotiations, averaging a processing time of 15 days, demonstrates the heightened efficiency within our procurement processes. Leveraging Long-Term Agreements (LTAs) and implementing shorter advertisement periods further enhances this efficiency, streamlining procurement and reducing processing time significantly. The processing of 91 Purchase Orders (POs)/Contracts from completed negotiations, coupled with transparent acknowledgment of cancellations or call-offs, underscores the Fiji MCO’s commitment to accountability and the pursuit of effective financial management practices. The cost-share projects implemented by Fiji MCO registered 79% in non-core delivery rate in 2023, primarily due to the challenges the team faced with transition to new ERP system (Quantum) and its roll over to field offices.

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

This output is on track. In 2025, the UN Women Fiji Multi-Country Office (MCO) demonstrated strengthened institutional performance in the way normative guidance, programme coordination, internal systems, and operational processes are applied across its multi-country portfolio. This continues to reflect an ongoing shift from fragmented or compliance-oriented practices toward more consistent, evidence-informed, and strategically aligned ways of working that support integrated delivery of UN Women’s mandate. Across programme and operations functions, staff increasingly applied results-based management as a routine practice rather than a reporting requirement. Targeted capacity strengthening and sustained coaching translated into observable behavioural change, with programme teams demonstrating greater confidence in articulating change, aligning activities to indicators, and substantiating progress using evidence. By the end of the reporting period, the majority of core reporting staff were independently structuring reports using results logic, applying the results chain sequencing, and integrating national and regional policy frameworks into outcome narratives. This has improved the quality, comparability, and analytical depth of reporting across Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Tonga, and Vanuatu, strengthening internal accountability and external credibility. At the institutional level, monitoring, learning, and risk management processes became more embedded within routine operations. Regular reviews of Strategic Note and Biennial Work Plan implementation supported earlier identification of delays and corrective actions, while alignment across reporting platforms (such as RMS and UNINFO), donor reporting, and planning instruments improved coherence and reduced inconsistencies. Preparations for the next planning cycle drew on monitoring data and evaluation findings, indicating a growing organisational culture of learning and adaptive management rather than retrospective compliance. Operational efficiency also improved during the year, particularly in procurement. Reduced processing times for standard procurement and micro-purchases, alongside expanded use of Long-Term Agreements, reflect more deliberate planning and stronger operational discipline. These gains have enabled programme teams to implement activities more predictably while maintaining compliance with corporate requirements, even within constrained supplier markets across the Pacific. The MCO also strengthened its institutional readiness to respond to crises. Lessons from emergency operations were formally captured and translated into operational guidance, reinforcing internal coordination, decision-making pathways, and preparedness for future shocks. This represents a shift from ad hoc crisis response toward institutionalised learning and preparedness. Beyond internal systems, the Fiji MCO contributed to stronger coordination and knowledge exchange across the Pacific through structured South–South, North–South, and triangular cooperation. Practice-oriented regional initiatives enabled Pacific women-led organisations, government counterparts, and political actors to engage as peers in cross-regional learning spaces, collectively articulate regional realities, and contribute evidence to global and regional dialogues. These processes strengthened durable networks and communities of practice that extend beyond single events, supporting the diffusion of learning, advocacy, and coordinated action across countries. Despite these gains, several risks and constraints continued to shape institutional performance during the reporting period. Variability in baseline RBM capacity across teams meant that progress in applying results logic and outcome-level analysis was uneven, requiring sustained coaching and quality assurance to maintain consistency. Procurement efficiency, while improved, remains vulnerable to market limitations in small island contexts, particularly where specialised or context-specific services are required and supplier pools are narrow. In multi-country programmes, differences in implementation timelines, partner readiness, and external shocks increased coordination demands and risked uneven pacing across the portfolio. In addition, the consolidation of new systems and practices places ongoing pressure on staff time and workload, particularly during peak reporting and planning cycles. Addressing these risks will require continued investment in staff capacity, supplier diversification, and realistic sequencing of programme ambitions to ensure that recent institutional gains are sustained rather than diluted. Taken together, these changes indicate that effective coordination products, systems, and processes are increasingly normalised within the Fiji MCO’s operations. Improved staff capability, institutional discipline, operational efficiency, and cross-regional engagement have strengthened the MCO’s ability to deliver coherently across countries, funding streams, and thematic areas. While UN Women’s contributions remain catalytic, the observed shifts in behaviour and institutional performance demonstrate progress toward more sustainable, resilient, and integrated systems that support delivery of gender equality commitments across the Pacific.