Outcome FIJ_O_1

Assuring an accountable organization through principled performance

In 2024, UN Women's Fiji Multi-Country Office (MCO) demonstrated its commitment to organizational accountability and development practices through financial management and institutional frameworks across the Pacific region. The MCO's performance saw financial stewardship, achieving a 72% overall delivery rate with a 79% utilization rate by December 31st, 2024. Across funding streams, core funding reached 88% delivery with 93% utilization, while non-core funding advanced to 70% delivery with 76% utilization, approaching the corporate requirement of 85%. A shift in institutional performance continues to emerge through accountability mechanisms. The office conducted NGO/National Implementation Modality audits with six partner organizations across 5 countries: Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu. Four partners achieved unmodified audit opinions, with two reports in final stages, while all financial findings from the 2023 NGO/NIM Partner audit exercise were implemented by the Fiji MCO. This improvement in partner performance was supported by monthly financial monitoring and compliance reviews examining project delivery across funding streams, advance tracking, travel expense management, and budget mapping through Quantum/RMS systems. To address challenges in partner advance liquidation, programme teams initiated monthly visits to partner sites, providing support and organizing learning sessions to strengthen partner capacity in FACE report utilization. In 2024, the Fiji MCO has addressed all outstanding IAS recommendations from 2022 internal audit of the office. The office's commitment to accountability was demonstrated through compliance ratings: overall compliance reached 99.8%, with information security at 99.5%, Occupational Health and Safety at 92.86%, and full compliance in both Business Continuity Planning/Crisis Management arrangements and Security and Safety protocols. The integration of Enterprise Risk Management principles into daily operations, supported by ROAP/HQ Quality assurance team input, strengthened organizational risk management frameworks. The Fiji Multi-Country Office continues to show institutional performance improvement in its organizational accountability, achieving a 93% timely donor reporting rate (approaching the 95% target) with 13 out of 14 reports submitted on schedule in 2024. This reflects internal systems and partner coordination mechanisms, which were enhanced following a review prompted by one delayed submission. The office's ability to maintain this standard while managing cross-regional initiatives underscores its institutional maturity in resource management and results documentation. This improvement in reporting practices has contributed to program oversight and decision-making across UN Women's Pacific operations. Operational efficiency improved through the expansion to 21 valid Long-Term Agreements covering essential services including design and advertising, money vendor services, land transportation, events management, internet and mobile services, printing, and travel. This resulted in reduced processing times from 18 to 7 working days for RFQs and from 37 to 14 working days for RFPs and ITBs. The office completed more than 20 formal procurement processes through Quantum in 2024, while establishing guidelines for advertisement timelines and procurement thresholds: L-PRC review for procurements over USD50K, R-PRC review for procurements over USD100K, and HQPRC review for procurements over USD250K. Staff development evolved from bi-weekly to weekly learning sessions, covering operational areas including Quantum Procurement Workflow, UNALL Travel Requests, InfoSec compliance, Results Management System writing, Work Planning, Human Rights-based Programming, and AI implementation through Co-pilot. Looking ahead, the office has scheduled joint learning sessions on Gender Responsive Procurement, Sustainable Procurement, and Disability Inclusion with UNICEF, UN Women, and WFP for Q1 2025. These achievements, led and coordinated by the Operations Unit of the Fiji MCO, demonstrate UN Women's capability to manage resources while advancing its programmatic ambitions and meeting fiduciary obligations in service of Pacific communities.

Assuring an accountable organization through principled performance

In 2025, the Fiji Multi-Country Office demonstrated clear progression from the system-strengthening and consolidation achieved in 2024 toward more embedded, predictable, and resilient institutional practice. While 2024 focused on establishing controls, clearing audit backlogs, and improving compliance metrics, 2025 showed these systems being applied consistently and correctly across the office, with reduced reliance on enforcement. This progression was reflected in the sustained achievement of 100 percent month-end certification throughout the year and the routine monitoring of 80 advances and 332 purchase orders. Compared with the previous year, when financial oversight relied more heavily on structured reviews and operations-led escalation, programme teams in 2025 assumed more consistent ownership of documentation, tracking, and follow-up. This reduced bottlenecks, lowered the risk of delayed corrective action, and distributed accountability more evenly across units. Audit management in 2025 further built on the recovery gains achieved in 2024. Following the clearance of outstanding Internal Audit Service recommendations and strengthened partner audit processes in the previous year, audit responsibilities in 2025 were managed with greater confidence and regularity. The coordinated completion of remaining audit actions and the facilitation of 10 partner audits across multiple countries were no longer treated as exceptional or high-pressure exercises. Staff engagement in audit documentation, coordination, and liaison expanded beyond a small number of focal points, reducing single points of failure and lowering the operational risk associated with staff turnover. This shift reflects a transition from audit readiness driven by concentrated effort to audit management functioning as a routine institutional capability. Risk management and information security practices also evolved beyond the framework-driven approach evident in 2024. While the previous year emphasised high compliance ratings, formal assessments, and alignment with enterprise risk management standards, 2025 demonstrated consistent application in practice. Completed risk frameworks and security assessments were actively used to inform regular drills, business continuity planning, and operational decision-making. Participation in risk-related processes became standard across units, reducing exposure to operational disruption and ensuring that risk considerations informed planning proactively rather than being addressed primarily during reporting or assurance cycles. Capacity-building in 2025 extended the learning foundations laid in 2024 and translated more clearly into behavioural change. More than 300 participant engagements across fraud risk, audit readiness, ethics, climate finance, business continuity, and results-based reporting expanded operational literacy across the office. Unlike previous cycles, the impact of these engagements was observable in later quarters, as staff across programme and operations units were able to complete compliance, documentation, and follow-up tasks with significantly less guidance. This reduced dependence on individual specialists, strengthened institutional memory, and increased procedural resilience during periods of peak workload or staffing transition. Procurement processes in 2025 reflected consolidation following the efficiency gains achieved in 2024. After significant reductions in processing times and the expansion of long-term agreements in the previous year, the focus shifted toward consistency and predictability. Stable turnaround times and continued use of established sourcing arrangements indicated that procurement procedures, thresholds, and expectations were well understood and routinely applied. Reduced variability in procurement execution lowered the risk of delays and reinforced procurement as a reliable operational function rather than a recurring pressure point. Overall, 2025 represents a shift from system recovery and compliance consolidation in 2024 to a more mature institutional environment characterised by normalised behaviours and shared accountability. Financial oversight became predictable and evenly distributed, audit and risk management were embedded in day-to-day operations, and procurement and compliance functions operated with greater stability. These changes reduced fiduciary and operational risk, strengthened organisational resilience, and positioned the office to sustain high-quality, compliant delivery across its multi-country portfolio with greater confidence and continuity. Despite these gains, some constraints remained in 2025. While accountability and compliance functions became more evenly distributed, the breadth of the multi-country portfolio continued to place pressure on staff capacity, particularly during peak reporting, audit, and procurement periods. The transition from operations-led oversight to shared ownership, although largely successful, required ongoing reinforcement to ensure consistency across all teams and duty stations. In some areas, reliance on institutional knowledge rather than fully standardised documentation created temporary inefficiencies, especially when responsibilities shifted due to staff movement or competing programme demands. In addition, external factors such as evolving corporate guidance, partner capacity variations across countries, and the administrative complexity of managing audits and procurement across multiple jurisdictions occasionally constrained the speed of execution. These constraints highlight the need for continued investment in documentation, cross-training, and forward planning to sustain gains and further reduce operational and fiduciary risk in future cycles.

Assuring an accountable organization through principled performance

During the reporting year, Fiji MCO progressed towards the corporate target results on implementation Regular Resources and Other Resources. As per preliminary 2023, delivery report Fiji MCO’s delivery rate for Regular resources represents 87%, whereas Other Resources – 79%. Fiji MCO achieved this delivery rate despite new ERP system challenges related primarily to budgets set-up, advances liquidation, processing reversals, and resolving partners audit financial findings. Program and operations staff increased their capacity in response to challenges related to new ERP System (Quantum) rollout through attending in person training organized by the regional office in May 2023 and virtual webinars and trainings throughout the year. In 2023 - a total of fifteen (15) partners have been subject to Partner's audit (Financial year 2022). 4 Partners (27%) obtained an umodified audit opinion with no findings. 5 partners (33%) obtained an unmodified audit opinion with Financial Findings, of which the MCO closed financial findings for 2 partners, with other 3 being under discussions for closure before end Q1,2024 6 partners (40%) obtained a qualified audit opinion. The MCO managed to fully close the audit financial findings for 1 partner and is working closely with the partners to resolve the pending findings in Q1,2024. Out of the total financial findings USD54,908 the office closed USD20,275 (37%), with the remaining 63% to be closed before end Q1,2024. The pending financial findings shall be resolved as part of partner advance liquidation which is currently under review by the programme teams. Fiji MCO is currently working on addressing and resolving the 11 medium risk recommendations of the Internal Audit with the aim to close during 2024. The MCO remained compliant with EMR policy and Framework Requirements. Through collaborative participation of all field offices under Fiji MCO, the office developed, validated and endorsed in time the Fraud Risk Register. The MCO remained compliant with BCCMA plan (online platform), as well as with the Occupational Health and Safety and UNSMS Security Policies. In the reporting year Fiji MCO managed to submit all donor reports in time.