Evaluation
Note: UNIFEM has been dissolved and incorporated into the newly established UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women). (The following information is for historical reference.)
UNIFEM (part of UN Women) has defined evaluation as a cornerstone in the development of the organization’s capacity to assess its work and enhance its effectiveness. Evaluations serve to document catalytic and scalable initiatives, to integrate and disseminate lessons learned, and to improve the ability to respond effectively to the needs of the regions, countries and people who are stakeholders in the organization’s work. To this end, UNIFEM has established an Evaluation Unit that oversees the evaluation function across the organization.
As a member of the United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG), UNIFEM follows its norms and standards. UNIFEM evaluations are gender equality and rights responsive. This implies that they assess the impact of interventions on gender equality, women’s empowerment and women’s human rights.
The role of the Evaluation Unit is to implement independent and strategic evaluations of corporate significance. This is achieved through the provision of support and technical assistance to UNIFEM headquarters, field office staff and external partners for planning and managing evaluations from a gender equality and human rights perspective.
Annually, UNIFEM carries out a certain number of evaluations in the thematic areas outlined in its Strategic Plan and produces reports with their findings. The Evaluation Unit also develops guidelines and methodologies to mainstream gender equality and human rights perspectives and approaches in the evaluation practice.
Latest Evaluation Reports
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Evaluation Report: UNIFEM’s Work on Gender-Responsive Budgeting (2010). The evaluation, split into three sets of reports, provides critical lessons on what conditions and mechanisms enable or hinder UNIFEM’s work in increasing gender equality in budget processes and practices. It also analyses UNIFEM’s overall approach to gender-responsive budget programming. read more
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Evaluation Report: United Nations Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence against Women (2010). This evaluation looks into the implementation and overall effectivness of the 2005-2008 United Nations Trust Fund Strategy in advancing the fund’s work on ending violence against women at country levels. read more
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Evaluation Report: UNIFEM’s Partnerships with Regional Organizations to Advance Gender Equality (2010). This report assesses UNIFEM’s partnerships with regional organizations in order to affect progress towards gender equality at regional and national levels. It reviews existing partnerships and discusses areas for development, and includes profiles of six partners and the work undertaken by the organizations to promote and enchance gender equality. read more
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Evaluation Report of the UNIFEM Programme Facilitating CEDAW Implementation in Southeast Asia (CEDAW SEAP) (2009). The evaluation of the programme “Facilitating the Implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in Southeast Asia” represents the first corporate evaluation completed by UNIFEM within the framework of the organization’s Strategic Plan 2008–2011. It assesses the effectiveness, relevance and sustainability of the programme, and provides recommendations on how it can be further implemented to effectively build on partnerships, experiences and achievements, provide support for ongoing learning and enhance the use of results-based management. read more
All UN Women evaluation reports are archived in the Evaluation Resource Centre (ERC).
Featured Resources
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A Manager’s Guide to Gender Equality– and Human Rights–Responsive Evaluation
This practical, online guide aims to help those initiating, managing and/or using gender equality (GE)– and human rights (HR)–responsive evaluations. It provides direction, advice and tools for every step in the evaluation process — from getting started, to preparation, conduct and evaluation use and follow-up. It contains tools to aid in the process and references to provide a greater depth of information on specific topics and issues. read more
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UNIFEM Evaluation Policy
This policy is developed in response to commitments in UNIFEM’s Strategic Plan (2008-2013) to strengthen its evaluation function and to ensure its utility, credibility, independence and alignment with the United Nations Evaluation Group’s Norms and Standards. read more
