UN Women Transparency Portal

Region:Asia Pacific Current UN Women Plan Period Afghanisthan:2018-2022

World Bank Income Classification:Low Income

Least Developed Country:Yes

Gender Inequality Index:0.575

Gender Development Index:0.723

Population:209,497,025 Male:19,976,265 (9.5%) Female:189,520,760 (90.5%)

Disclaimer

outcome XM-DAC-41146-BGD_O_1

UN-Women is an accountable and trustworthy development organization that manages its financial and other resources with integrity and in line with its programmatic ambitions and fiduciary obligations

Significant progress has been made on this output to further solidify UN Women’s position as an accountable and trustworthy development organization. Personnel’s capacity to assure compliance with policies and procedures and maintain the highest standards in terms of audit and accountability has been enhanced through the introduction of weekly operations clinic meetings. Satisfactory audits undertaken in 2022 (UN Board of Audit (UN BoA) and partner’s audit) are evidence of the office’s robust processes. The Country Office received only two recommendations from UN BoA, which have since been addressed, and the partner audits received unmodified audit opinions. UN Women’s position as an accountable and trustworthy development partner was also reinforced with key donors, specifically the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), through a satisfactory risk management review. Regarding programmatic ambitions, UN Women successfully achieved its programmatic goals, reaching over 90 per cent delivery at year-end (as of 11 January 2023). New processes were implemented to enable this achievement, such as weekly delivery and utilization status reports and programme meetings, which have further streamlined delivery oversight. The Country Office remains compliant with the Country Office Assessment Tool on the core-to-noncore ratio, management ratio, and operational commitment control (KK) ratio, with only one shortfall in revenue generation, which continues to be a challenge, as reflected in the Risk Register, especially in light of the current context of global conflicts and looming recession. The Country Office continues to maintain good security management, as part of the organization’s corporate business processes. This is evident in the 94 per cent Information Security Training completion rate, full compliance status with ICT standards (see uploaded OneApp screenshot), and 98 per cent compliance with safety and security requirements (the compliance checklist is available on the global SharePoint under the security tab). Leveraging its coordination mandate, UN Women, through the Operations Management Team and Gender Equality Theme Group, enhanced the prioritization of the leave no one behind principle in procurement, through the implementation of gender-responsive procurement, as per the Business Operations Strategy implementation plan. The inter-agency initiative has resulted in the orientation of 150 women-owned or women-led enterprises as potential vendors. Following this, the initiative resulted in 240 new women-owned businesses entering in the UN Global Marketplace (UNGM). Follow-up actions under this initiative will continue in 2023.

outcome XM-DAC-41146-BGD_O_2

UN-Women effectively leverages and expands its partnerships, communications and advocacy capabilities to increase support for and financing of the gender equality agenda, while securing sustainable resourcing for the delivery of its own mandate

There has been substantive progress on this output cluster during the reporting period. In 2022, increased engagements with youth, civil society, donors and media as well as quality communication and knowledge products have opened new avenues for UN Women for financing for the gender equality (GE) agenda. The quality communication and knowledge products including the Photo Essay showcasing stories of resilience to commemorate 50 years of Bangladesh's independence, Gender Equality brief , Joint Inclusion Pledge , video message series with donors and Strategic Note presentations to five development partners (Canada, European Union, Germany, Sweden and the United States) have positioned UN Women to be a key leader on GE. As a result, new discussions with donors for funding opportunity are taking place which will eventually support mobilizing new resources. In addition, UN Women’s leadership in highlighting the gender equality dimensions in emergency response has enabled securing funding from Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to respond to the GE needs during the flash floods of 2022 that severely affected marginalized communities in north-eastern Bangladesh. Visibility has been increased through UN Women’s strategic engagement with the government in campaigning for 16 Days of Activism , engagement with the Speaker of Parliament and parliamentarians , bringing in civil society organizations (CSOs), grassroots voices and reiterating development partner commitments. Additionally, a cohort of national media representatives, including editors and deputy editors, has been formed through strategic engagement with media that is aimed at promoting GE and strengthening reporting against gender-based violence (GBV) through media. GE thematic priorities have been highlighted at a national level through joint op-eds published in the country’s leading English newspaper (on Violence against Women ; on Women’s Unpaid Care Work ). The Youth Mobilization Action Plan was implemented with meaningful engagement of young community leaders , students , and feminists to amplify their voices in advancing GE agenda. UN Women’s advocacy on climate change, and GBV have been strengthened by engaging with inter-generational feminists, climate change activists, CSOs and the government. Young women have now enhanced knowledge on digital safety, digital literacy, social awareness, and appropriate policies through UN Women’s engagement with Brac University and CSO platforms. Key lesson learned include the need to expand and effectively engage wider audience on key GE priorities, which are highlighted, for example, during the 16 Days of Activism commemoration. In 2022, apart from engaging with the government, development partners and other key stakeholders as in previous years during the commemoration, UN Women’s strategic engagement with media also enabled the latter to reflect on the skewed gender parity issues within their own media houses.

outcome XM-DAC-41146-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

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.

outcome XM-DAC-41146-BGD_O_4

With its unique and inclusive culture, UN-Women is an employer of choice with a diverse and highly performing cadre of personnel that embodies UN values

There has been evident progress in this area in 2022. The capacity and confidence of staff across all levels and contract modalities have increased as a result of the Country Office's continued investment in deepening the leadership bench with a feminist excellence approach. Over 30 per cent of all staff meetings have been co-chaired by support staff for the first time. A substantial commitment to staff learning across functions and thematic areas has further strengthened staff capacity on issues such as adaptive leadership, intersectionality, disability and inclusion, reporting, programme management, and resource mobilization. UN Women's initiatives, such as approachable senior management, a culture of recognition, with an emphasis on being self-directed and other-centric, and a participatory approach to decision-making, among others, have created an empowering and enabling environment for all personnel, as noted in the Human Resources Functional Analysis conducted in 2022. These efforts were supplemented by engagement with the regional Office of Ombudsman, under which UN Women is piloting the Respectful Workplace Facilitator (RWF) initiative as informal conflict resolution mechanism in select country offices including Bangladesh. The enhanced leadership and teamwork skills, as demonstrated by personnel's representation in the office-wide task teams and groups, have fostered a culture of personal and collective reflective learning. More than 70 per cent of staff are voluntarily engaged in at least one of the seven task teams, enabling cross-thematic and cross-functional collaboration on key internal and external agendas such as prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA), disability and inclusion, youth engagement, and engaging men and boys. Out of the three task teams with an action plan, two over-achieved on their implementation (Disability and Inclusion, and Youth Task Team) exemplifying UN ideals and creating the space for transformative change. UN Women’s joint leadership with UNFPA to undertake a table-top exercise on PSEA enhanced the UN Country Team (UNCT) members’ capacity to deliberate on and better prepare for PSEA scenarios. A key lesson learned in 2022 is that progress in this regard is not linear. In order to facilitate a cultural shift in thinking and approach, it is essential that personnel and the office collectively reflect and explore our common values and vision, in an open and inclusive manner. To further strengthen the learning culture, the office will establish a learning committee in 2023, in line with recommendations from the Human Resources Functional Analysis.

outcome XM-DAC-41146-BGD_O_5

UN-Women efficiently and effectively discharges of all business processes that advance integrated delivery of its mandate at HQ, Regional and Country levels, including through shared services

UN Women's position as a thought leader on gender equality and women's empowerment was further strengthened due to substantial contribution to the UN Country Team, leveraging the agency's coordination mandate. Commitment to prioritizing gender parity across the UN Country Team has been declared by senior management across agencies in light of the UNCT Gender Parity Strategy and the UNCT Capacity Development Plan that have been developed by the Gender Equality Theme Group, co-chaired by UN Women. Quality knowledge products contributed to the national discourse on gender equality, in particular the Time Use Survey, which provided national data on unpaid care and domestic work for the first time in Bangladesh. The office's internal capacity for efficient and effective programme management was strengthened with the creation of a Planning, Monitoring, and Reporting Analyst position in 2022. Quality evaluation of the country office’s interventions in 2022 has demonstrated the effectiveness of the key interventions. For instance, the evaluation of the UN SDG Joint Programme on social protection of female tea garden workers in Bangladesh, implemented by four UN agencies, including UN Women, revealed that the “gender talk” on social norms and stereotypes that strengthened leadership capacity for women to raise their voice against violence, was one of the most effective initiatives undertaken by the joint programme. This would potentially inform future programme design for tea workers, who remain amongst the most vulnerable populations in the country. The Strategic Note evaluability assessment has provided an overview of the feasibility of the Strategic Note adopted in 2022, in line with the ever-evolving development context in the country. In 2022, the Country Office’s reporting mechanism has been strengthened through the introduction of structured processes, which have allowed for deeper quality assurance by senior management. In 2023, the Country Office will focus on substantive support to all colleagues while developing reporting inputs so that time and effort taken for reviews can be reduced.

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References to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of United Nations Security Council resolution 1244 (1999).

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