Outcome ECU_O_3

A strengthened knowledge based and innovative organization for high quality of programes

he first Gender Equality Profile in Ecuador was finalized and delivered to government, civil society, private sector, among others. This knowledge product was led by UN WOMEN as leadership of Gender Interagency Working Group and was design with the participation and validation of relevant stakeholder of public and private sector and civil society. The Country Gender Profile its organized in seven sections: (1) Poverty, hunger, and social exclusion; (2) Health; (3) Education; (4) Gender-based violence; (5) Work and care; (6) Participation; and (7) Environment, to present the advances, challenges and targets on gender equality in the Country. Planning, monitoring and evaluation actions was developed in this year regarding planning, the office developed a New Strategic Note for the period 2023 – 2026 focusing on women´s empowerment, climate change and violence eradication, an important input to this corporate planning instrument was the lessons learned and the recommendations identified in the Strategic Note 2019 – 2022 Evaluation . 3. Implementation of the Knowledge Management Strategy was continued, in 2022 the Ecuador office team developed a total of 25 knowledge products including studies, diagnoses, baselines, reports, among others, also a local repository was developed in accordance with regional knowledge repository. It is important to emphasize that during 2022 the knowledge generated by the projects was replicated by the beneficiaries as the Masculinites in Movement Metodology, also a Safe Cities knowledge product was completed. The knowledge product is a compilation of the experience of 10 years of program implementation in Ecuador and includes the best practices of the 4 pillars of intervention in the cities of Quito, Cuenca and Guayaquil: i) regulations and policies, ii) data, iii) investment in infrastructure with a gender focus, and iv) change of social norms. Another important aspect to consider is that the construction of biannual work for the planning of 2023- 2024 was done with a comprehensive vision with each of the projects on the frame of the new Strategic Note 2023 - 2026, generating information at the programmatic, procurement and communication levels, which will allow a collaborative implementation through identified common lines of action. As an effect of the improvement in the programmatic implementation capacity of the UN Women Ecuador office in 2022 new contracts signed for the implementation of “Capacities for peace, security and violence reduction in Ecuador” project funded by the Peacebuilding Fund ($613,000), and “Strengthening of rural women's identities in the Metropolitan District of Quito” project ($300,000).

A strengthened knowledge based and innovative organization for high quality of programes

In 2021, the UN Women Ecuador office continued with its internal strengthening process to continue with its program growth and project implementation in the country. In terms of knowledge management, the Knowledge Management Strategy for the term 2021-2026 was built based on the institutional guidelines of UN Women, which aims to contribute to the positioning of UN Women Ecuador as a benchmark on the promotion of the rights of women, women, gender equality and women's empowerment, through 4 specific objectives: i) Strengthen the production, documentation and analysis of knowledge; ii) Strengthen knowledge sharing within UN Women and with partners; iii) Develop a culture of knowledge exchange and strengthen collaboration between the different areas; iv) Generate products that support the advocacy and incidence work of the UN Women office. In order to achieve this strategy, in 2021 the Ecuador office team developed a total of 85 knowledge products including studies, diagnoses, baselines, reports, among others. In addition, the internal knowledge space called "Sharing" was reactivated, which had 6 sessions in which operational and programmatic issues were discussed; in addition to 2 exchange sessions with the offices of Colombia and El Salvador to work on climate change and the private sector. It is important to emphasize that during 2021 the knowledge generated by the projects has made it possible to find synergies with other office teams that have applied or adapted tools for their own contexts and beneficiaries, raising quality and innovation within the office and thus generating corporate knowledge, which will be systematized in 2022. In order to improve the implementation and monitoring of the projects, the support and technical assistance of the monitoring and evaluation area to the different areas and projects of the office has been strengthened, this has been accompanied by constant consulting and internal training, along with the support of the regional office to raise the quality of our reports. Another important aspect to take into account is that the construction work for the planning of 2022 was done with a comprehensive vision with each of the projects, generating information at the programmatic, procurement and communication levels, which will allow a collaborative implementation through identified common lines of action. As an effect of the improvement in the programmatic implementation capacity of the UN Women Ecuador office in 2021, cooperation with the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration of the United States was expanded for $1,315,436, this demonstrates the trust that donors have in the implementation capacity of UN Women Ecuador.