Outcome BGD_O_3

UN-Women strategically plans for and transforms its business model to deliver impact at scale, through agile and ethical leadership rooted in a continuous improvement culture

In 2023, the Bangladesh Country Office has prioritized strengthening adaptive and inclusive leadership, especially in the context of external instability, economic downturn, coupled with the evolving political situation in-country, as well as extensive change-management within the UN Women system, with the introduction of a new ERP system, Quantum. The Country Office continued to promote a culture of openness, real-time information sharing, and knowledge exchange, that has strengthened, empowered and motivated the team. Business processes and workflows were reviewed to incorporate the changes resulting from the new ERP system, Quantum. The Country Office team demonstrated strong commitment to foster an environment of learning and continuous reflection, including facilitating both internal and external knowledge exchange. Good practices from Bangladesh, especially in terms of delivering its results at scale, were shared at various levels in Headquarters, including in the Executive Board sessions, and learning sessions held on Strategic Plan indicator reporting. The lessons from this reporting period highlight the importance of a whole-of-office approach in real-time knowledge sharing, as well as the value of peer-to-peer learning and exchange in facilitating successful transition and adaptation to new business systems to deliver impactful results.

UN-Women strategically plans for and transforms its business model to deliver impact at scale, through agile and ethical leadership rooted in a continuous improvement culture

In 2024, UN Women demonstrated its continued commitment to inclusive and adaptive leadership with an expanded focus on duty of care, particularly in the face of the unprecedented civil unrest in Bangladesh. Streamlined business processes and workflows enabled the Bangladesh Country Office (BCO) to be fit for purpose. A continuous improvement culture was fostered through real-time information sharing and knowledge exchange, both in-house and externally. Further, South-South collaboration was enhanced through the participation of government representatives and women’s rights activists in cross-regional exchanges supported by UN Women. Internally, good practices from the country office, especially in terms of communicating high-quality results and enhanced learning from programme implementation, were highlighted at regional and global levels. Despite a volatile operating context, the office was able to secure multiyear funding in line with the requirements for maintaining a large country typology office. Progress was made on relocation to the UN common premises; however, due to the civil unrest in the country, the timeline for shifting has been delayed to Q1 2025. Lessons learnt from this reporting period highlight the need for an inclusive approach that fosters knowledge exchange and peer-to-peer learning, with greater commitment to advancing gender equality across the broad spectrum of programmatic and operational interventions.

UN-Women strategically plans for and transforms its business model to deliver impact at scale, through agile and ethical leadership rooted in a continuous improvement culture

There has been progress in this area in 2022. The Country Office has focused on strengthening agile and ethical leadership, especially in response to the evolving context of post-COVID-19 pandemic, global conflicts, and the looming global recession. Through the promotion of real-time information sharing, colleagues have been empowered with the skills and knowledge to carry out the workflows to deliver impact in line with the Strategic Note. A continuous culture of improvement has also been fostered across the office through consultative revisions and reflection of workflows and processes, and budget utilization reviews. A lesson learned from 2022 to ensure better utilization of office-wide plans is the need for practical solutions which are customized for the team or office context while allowing for consistency across the office. For example, based on the learning from the rollout of 2022 utilization plans, in 2023, a Cox's Bazar utilization plan, which includes tracking of partners funded by multiple projects, will be developed. Country Office staff also have a stronger understanding and commitment to further explore and unpack their conscious and unconscious bias through interventions on leave no one behind (LNOB) and power dynamics by the Disability and Inclusion Team and the internal Youth Action Team. With the completion of the accessibility audit, Dhaka and Cox's offices have clear guidance on short-, medium- and long-term infrastructural changes to improve the accessibility of the premises for persons with disability in 2023.