Outcome NPL_O_3

Enhanced quality of programmes through knowledge, innovation, RBM and evaluation

Evaluation, innovation, RBM and knowledge management further enhanced UN Women Nepal’s programming in 2021. The lessons from the Developmental Evaluation (DE) of NCO’s Strategic Note 2018 – 2022 – Phase II enabled the office to schedule time for innovation, shift to more creative work approaches, and strengthen the application of ‘learning by doing’ as an office-wide approach. In line with the recommendation of the Thematic Evaluation of WEE programme to use qualitative monitoring methodologies to capture the invisible changes, UN Women and the Government of Finland embarked on an innovative co-creation initiative to foster social norms change using storytelling. It will be implemented in the next five years starting from 2022. Another innovative approach was the “Changing Norms, One Step at a Time – Youth Video Competition”, in which UN Women provided mentoring and technical support to five youths representing diverse excluded groups to develop films about social norms that impede equality. The films were disseminated across the country to raise awareness and generate support to norms change. In addition, the capacities of 22 UN Women Nepal personnel and partners on cognitive thinking, self-directedness and being other-centric were further strengthened through a training on Foundation of Coaching, resulting in an environment of positivity and high performance. With the continuous use of RBM, the office has remained as a tier 1 in donor reporting in 2021. It submitted timely and quality quarterly and annual reports in the RMS and complied with all reporting requirements from the regional office and UNCT. All personnel have completed the RBM training online. In 2021, 12 RBM-compliant reports were submitted to donors. The office produced 17 knowledge products this year, which were disseminated electronically to strategic users. These include eight Gender Equality Updates (GE) and nine other publications. The GE updates documented the challenges, lessons, successful approaches and recommendations to ensure that no one is left behind in the response to the COVID-19 and beyond. A statistical annex to the Country Gender Equality Profile (CGEP), “Gender Equality in Numbers: Progress and Challenges in Achieving Gender Equality in Nepal” was published. The CGEP will be completed and disseminated in early 2022. It highlights the key drivers and constraints to women’s leadership and participation, economic security and rights, and GBV in Nepal.

Enhanced quality of programmes through knowledge, innovation, RBM and evaluation

Significant progress was made to this output. In this period, the quality of UN Women programmes was further enhanced using knowledge, innovation and evaluation and application of results-based management (RBM) standards and principles. This was evidenced by the following: a. The findings and lessons learned from evaluations were consistently used to inform UN Women’s programme interventions in Nepal. For example, in line with continuing implementation of the recommendations from the WEE thematic evaluation, a common understanding amongst all UN Women’s partners of the programmatic strategy for transformational change was enhanced. This was evidenced by the additional 16.60 per cent correct responses from the participants to the post-test questionnaires as compared to the pre-test of the refresher session on integration of RBM and human rights-based approach into programming. Further, a standard checklist for the induction package for partners was developed. This includes orientations/refresher on: (a) programming priorities; (b) financial management and reporting; (c) results-based narrative reporting; (d) protection against sexual exploitation and abuse; and (e) communications and visibility. In response to recommendations from Developmental Evaluation (DE), UN Women Nepal continued to facilitate learning opportunities among UNCT members by conducting four learning sessions, namely: (a) sharing of findings from the study on “Financial Inclusion of Conflict-Affected Single Women”; (b) refresher session on LNOB and intersectionality; (c) sharing of findings from the “Feminist Analysis of Socio-Economic Impact of the COVID-19 in Nepal”; and (d) Introductory Learning Session on DE for UNCT M&E Working Group. In line with a recommendation from the Country Portfolio Evaluation (CPE), the NCO’s new Strategic Note has adopted a nested approach to support the federalization process with focus on local/community level. As recommended by CPE, several consultations were also conducted with key partners/stakeholders including the Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens, National Women’s Commission, National Judicial Academy, National Human Rights Commission, Dalit group, indigenous group, persons with disabilities, and CSO partners. b. RBM standards were consistently applied into programme design, monitoring and reporting. An RBM Report Writing Tool was developed and made available in both English and Nepali languages for partners in support of strengthening their RBM report writing skills. Performance Monitoring Frameworks (PMFs) of four project partners (LACC, FWLD, CDWN and JuRI Nepal) were developed and finalized with substantive technical support from UN Women Nepal. Also, eight quality RBM-compliant progress reports were submitted to the respective donors. Among them, only one donor shared the report rating till date, which was “very satisfied”. In addition, the annual progress against the SN 2018 – 2022 results have been reported in the UN Women’s Results Management System. c. A total of four knowledge products on key GEWE issues were finalised and disseminated by NCO to key stakeholders (available at: https://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications?f%5B0%5D=country_publications%3A1646). These include Invisible “Violence, Visible Harms - Violence against Women in Politics in Nepal”; “A Practitioner’s Guide on Financing for Gender Equality in Humanitarian Action”; “Forward Looking Assessment of Gender-responsive Public Finance Management in Nepal” and “Local Governance, Gender-responsive and Socially Inclusive Public Finance Management: Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices” (the last two were conducted in close collaboration with NASC). Further, six studies were completed in 2022 including: “Assessment of available gender disaggregated data on migration”; “Local governance and SDG responsive medium-term expenditure framework: improving GESI prioritization & financing”; “Feminist Analysis of the Socioeconomic Impacts of COVID-19 in Nepal”; Measuring social norm change through storytelling”, Feasibility Analysis of gender responsive basic income (with UNDP and UN RCO) and “Country Gender Equality Profile”. Additionally, four GE updates on evolving issues and challenges faced by women and excluded groups were developed and disseminated.