Outcome FIJ_O_3

Advancing business transformation

In 2024, UN Women Fiji Multi-Country Office (MCO) continued reshaping its business model with a focus on leadership and a culture of continuous improvement. This approach allowed the organization to deliver impact across the Pacific region. The transformation included knowledge management, results-based management, and operational infrastructure, creating new pathways for effective and inclusive program delivery. Knowledge management remained a key part of this transformation, with a systematic approach to sharing gender equality resources. Staff received quarterly updates on evidence-based programming tools, and these knowledge products were also shared with governments, civil society organizations (CSOs), and development partners across the Pacific and beyond, enhancing their utility and reach. Over the year, forty-five new strategic resources were developed, focusing on disaster resilience and violence prevention. The Women's Resilience to Disasters program contributed thirty-one specialized products that integrated gender-responsive approaches across multiple risk areas. Accessibility was prioritized, with twenty-five resources localized for Kiribati through bilingual production in English and the local language. These resources were created in diverse formats, including print, visual, and video media, to ensure accessibility for varied audiences. Among the key initiatives, the Samoa National Prevention Framework and Project Golkipa in Solomon Islands demonstrated faith-sensitive approaches that fostered community engagement. Similarly, the Fiji Disability Inclusive CBDRM Toolkit reflected the integration of disability perspectives into disaster risk management. Partnerships with the University of the South Pacific further enriched this work, resulting in six postgraduate courses and four case studies on gender-responsive disaster risk reduction. Four cross-regional knowledge exchange initiatives supported by the Fiji MCO have fostered ways of working and the sharing of practices across the Pacific and other regions, showing the principles of South-South and triangular cooperation. These initiatives have strengthened the capacities of Pacific leaders, women entrepreneurs, and development practitioners through collaborations with counterparts from Asia, the Caribbean, and beyond. By addressing shared challenges such as climate change, disaster risk reduction, and women's economic empowerment, these exchanges have contributed to building resilience and advancing gender equality while facilitating learning and the development of solutions. In results-based management, UN Women Fiji MCO introduced digital solutions to enable real-time program tracking, marking a step in its data management capabilities. Staff capacity was enhanced through training programs, with weekly sessions conducted for the Markets for Change and Women's Resilience to Disasters teams. These efforts improved reporting quality, prompting the expansion of training to other project teams. Building on this progress, specialized training for new data management tools is planned for 2025, further supporting the culture of continuous improvement. The transformation also included operational infrastructure, with enhancements balancing organizational needs and resource efficiency. A physical presence was established across six Pacific nations through partnership models. In Fiji, the extension of Kadavu House's lease for five years, alongside planned renovations to improve staff well-being, demonstrated planning in infrastructure. Across the region, UN Joint Presence Offices in Kiribati, Vanuatu, and Solomon Islands supported operational efficiency, while expansions in Samoa and plans for a presence in Tonga reflected a response to local contexts and regional priorities. These initiatives highlight UN Women Fiji MCO's success in transforming its business model. By equipping staff with enhanced capabilities, developing accessible knowledge products, and optimizing operational infrastructure, the office has fostered a culture of leadership and continuous improvement. This transformation aligns with UN system-wide frameworks and reflects the needs of the Pacific region, ensuring the organization remains responsive, inclusive, and effective in its mission.

Advancing business transformation

In 2025, the Fiji Multi-Country Office (MCO) consolidated the business model reforms initiated in 2024 into a more disciplined, agile, and learning-oriented operating environment. While 2024 focused on introducing new systems and expanding capabilities across knowledge management, results-based management, evaluation, and operational infrastructure, 2025 demonstrated these reforms being applied more consistently as routine organisational practice. This consolidation strengthened the MCO’s ability to manage complexity across multiple countries and interagency processes while sustaining evidence-informed delivery of gender equality programming. Knowledge management in 2025 progressed from system establishment toward institutionalisation. In 2024, the MCO prioritised expanding the volume, accessibility, and localisation of gender equality knowledge products across thematic areas. Building on this foundation, 2025 embedded knowledge management as a regular organisational learning function. Quarterly Knowledge Management emails were institutionalised as a consistent practice, providing staff with curated summaries and direct access to newly released reports, articles, and analytical resources. Increased staff familiarity with these materials supported more consistent interpretation and application of gender evidence in programme design, implementation, and policy engagement, reinforcing a culture of continuous learning rather than ad hoc knowledge use. Business transformation in 2025 was reinforced through cross-regional learning on leadership in Fiji, and survivor services in Australia, which strengthened south–south, north–south, and triangular cooperation and supported the emergence of a regional community of practice. These internal gains were complemented by outward-facing knowledge production. In Quarters 3–4 of 2025, the MCO developed 21 knowledge products across women’s leadership, women’s economic empowerment, ending violence against women, and women’s resilience to disasters and humanitarian action. Nineteen products were finalised and disseminated during the reporting period, with two pending endorsement or publication. Compared with the broader production emphasis of 2024, dissemination in 2025 was more strategic, including systematic use of the Women’s Resilience to Disasters Knowledge Hub to strengthen uptake by governments, humanitarian actors, and development partners. At the UN system level, business transformation in 2025 was reflected in strengthened pathways for gender analysis and diagnostics. Building on results-based management improvements introduced in 2024, the MCO supported the updating and review of Common Country Analyses (CCAs) across 14 Pacific Island Countries during Quarters 2–3. Programme and country leads contributed to the gender analysis sections of each CCA, ensuring that country-level gender information reflected current programme realities and evidence. This work improved the coherence and quality of gender analysis informing UN country programming across the Pacific. Progress toward Country Gender Equality Profiles(CGEPs) in 2025 focused on laying coordinated foundations rather than implementation. Discussions continued with UN Heads of Agencies and Gender Theme Group(GTG) members to advance the development of 14 CGEPs, identified as a priority action under the UN Pacific Gender Equality Acceleration Plan. Following the Strategic Talanoa Dialogue with Heads of Agencies in April, UN Women developed a proposal outlining the scope and approach for CGEP development in the Pacific. This proposal was discussed at the November GTG meeting and subsequently shared with the UN Country Team on 27 November. Parallel discussions with the Resident Coordinator in Fiji explored joint resource mobilisation options, positioning the CGEPs for coordinated implementation once funding is secured. Internal programme planning, monitoring, and reporting systems continued to mature in 2025. A localised tracking mechanism aligned with the Donor Agreement Management System strengthened oversight of donor agreements and programme documents, enabling clearer task ownership, timely follow-up, and improved accountability. While one donor report was submitted late due to inter-office miscommunication, this isolated issue highlighted residual coordination risks inherent in a multi-country operating model. Results-based management practices were further strengthened through an offline system aligned with the Results Management System. This enhanced staff understanding of results architecture and theories of change, enabling more systematic progress tracking and timely programme adjustments. These improvements strengthened the quality of data feeding into UNINFO and alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework. Analysis of the 2024 UN Pacific Annual Report indicated that approximately 20 per cent of reported results related to women’s empowerment and gender equality, largely driven by UN Women. While this confirmed the MCO’s leadership role, it also underscored the need—explicitly recognised in 2025—for stronger system-wide ownership of gender equality outcomes across all UNSDCF pillars. Evaluation governance and evidence use continued to mature during 2025. The End-of-Phase 1 and Mid-Term Phase 2 Evaluation of the Markets for Change programme was completed, with final reports and management responses published in the Global Accountability and Tracking of Evaluation Use system. Findings are informing Phase 2 implementation and the design of the forthcoming Women’s Economic Empowerment programme. Ongoing evaluations, including the Women’s Resilience to Disasters Final Evaluation and the Get Into Rugby Plus evaluation, were actively managed in line with corporate standards. Standard tools and templates aligned with the UN Women Evaluation Policy and Handbook were institutionalised through M&E focal points, strengthening quality assurance and consistency. Operational systems supporting programme delivery reached greater stability by the end of 2025. The MCO applied the Flexible Work Guidance and Policy across six offices and maintained context-specific premises arrangements, including a direct lease in Fiji, UN Joint Presence Offices in Kiribati and Vanuatu, shared premises under Memoranda of Understanding with UNDP in Samoa and Solomon Islands, and embedded staffing within UN Joint Presence Offices in Tonga and the Federated States of Micronesia. These arrangements supported operational continuity, staff safety, and interagency coordination. Overall, 2025 reflects the consolidation of reforms introduced in 2024 into a more coherent, disciplined, and learning-oriented operating model. The Fiji MCO is increasingly characterised by systematic use of gender knowledge, strengthened results and evaluation pathways, clearer interagency coordination mechanisms, and stable operational foundations. These changes demonstrate enhanced organisational capacity to plan strategically, manage complexity, adapt based on evidence, and deliver gender equality results at scale across the Pacific region. Despite these gains, the breadth/pace of business transformation initiatives—particularly around knowledge management, results-based management, evaluation, and interagency coordination—continued to place pressure on staff capacity, especially during overlapping reporting, coordination, and programme delivery cycles. While systems and tools became more standardised, reliance on manual coordination and institutional knowledge persisted in some areas, creating inefficiencies when responsibilities shifted across teams. These constraints highlight the need for continued investment in automation, documentation, and cross-training, as well as sustained interagency resourcing, to consolidate reforms further and ensure strengthened systems can be maintained consistently across the multi-country model.

Advancing business transformation

The Fiji MCO continues to progress its adaptation and innovation for business transformation, ensuring its programs and strategies remain responsive, effective, and aligned with their social impact goals. This culture of improvement, focused on integrating real-world insights into operational and programmatic strategies, has yielded sustained positive outcomes, advancing gender equality and women's empowerment across the Pacific region. Central to this effort is the production of 17 knowledge products in 2023 which were developed from expertise, research, and lessons learned, to glean valuable insights into a wide array of gender dynamics, social issues, and developmental challenges prevalent across the Pacific region. These serve as important resources, providing deep understanding, identifying critical gaps and opportunities, and guiding evidence-based decision-making processes. Utilizing these insights, the Fiji MCO is iterating on existing products and services to ensure their alignment with global and Pacific regional normative frameworks, as well as with evolving societal needs and expectations. For instance, the "Pathways Document - Pacific Prevention Summit" is refining strategies for preventing violence against women and girls, informed by real-world insights. Moreover, findings and recommendations from these knowledge products play a crucial role in shaping the direction of programmatic continuity, like the designs for the second phases of two large MCO projects, namely the Pacific Partnership to End Violence against Women and the Women in Leadership in Samoa (WILS) project. The WILS documentary, recording the journey of women from Phase I of the project has been inspirational, spotlighting the remarkable achievements of Samoan women leaders. The documentary has amplified awareness and commitment to the cause, catalyzing momentum towards women's leadership in Samoa and the Pacific. It has also been a crucial advocacy tool, extending its influence to informing the design and resource mobilization efforts for Phase II of the WILS project. Moreover, the Fiji MCO's engagement in cross-regional and intra-regional knowledge exchanges further strengthens its capacity for innovation and adaptation. These exchanges serve to drives meaningful change and foster a culture of innovation, effectiveness, and collaboration amongst UN Women staff by leveraging diverse perspectives, best practices, collaborative problem-solving, and strategic partnerships.