Formative Evaluation of UNGEI
Findings and Selected Recommendations
Presentation to UNGEI GAC
14 February 2012
Objectives of the Evaluation
• Establish a base line for UNGEI to measure
future results
• Establish to what extent UNGEI partnerships
are achieving their intended outcomes in:
– Policy and advocacy for girls’ education and
gender equality
– Good practice identification and dissemination
– Building strong partnerships at country level
Overall conclusions
• UNGEI has established itself as a recognized
partnership, globally, and in selected regions
and countries
• It has made important progress towards
achieving its intended outcomes, with various
degrees of success across outcome areas and
regions
Overall conclusions (cont.)
• The goals for which UNGEI was established
continue to be valid and important, but
remaining challenges are more complex and
will require a targeted and strategic advocacy
agenda
• UNGEI has areas of strengths and added
value which should allow it to continue to
influence the girls’ education and gender
equality agenda in the coming years
At country level
• UNGEI is unique in that it has left a footprint at
country level – something which is often a considerable
challenge for global partnerships
• At country level UNGEI partnerships with varying
characteristics have been established in 33 countries
• The country partnerships have goals which mirror those
of the global partnership, underscoring the relevance of
UNGEI’s agenda
• Less than half of the 33 countries have an UNGEI
partnership in place that meets the three criteria for
determining if a partnership has been formalized
At country level (cont.)
• The degree of success in the three outcome
areas of UNGEI varies across country
partnerships. UNGEI could be more effective
in strengthening:
– Partnership management
– Building capacity
– Monitoring and evaluation
Regional level
• The regional UNGEI focal points have provided a
valuable link between the different levels of UNGEI
• In the EAPR UNGEI has:
– Strengthened coordination of regional partners
– Produced high quality products
– But it is not clear what influence this has had on
countries in the region
• In the other regions UNGEI has not been successful
in establishing regional partnerships
• In these regions UNGEI has played a very modest
role in regional policy and advocacy, and efforts
have been more focused on the country level
Global level
• UNGEI has played a prominent advocacy role for
girls’ education and gender equality in selected
fora. However, it should sharpen its agenda to be
more effective
• UNGEI has also constituted a valuable
mechanism for coordination among its
members, but needs to attract other
constituencies/organizations
• UNGEI has produced selected recognized
resources but stakeholders would like to see
UNGEI play a more cutting edge/reference role
Global level (cont.)
• Areas highlighted for attention include:
– Developing a sharper advocacy agenda of UNGEI
– Clarifying operational decision-making between
the GAC and the Secretariat
– Strengthening the technical capacity of UNGEI
– Reinforcing the GAC’s understanding of the
country level
– Reviewing the membership of the partnership and
strengthening institutional commitment by
partners
Recommendations
Outcome 1 – At global level
At global level:
• Make policy advocacy the main priority for
UNGEI future endeavors at global level
• Adopt a focused agenda of policy advocacy
priorities
• Commission an evidence-based external study of
key priorities in policy advocacy for girls’
education and gender equality
• Establish an advisory/guidance panel on policy
advocacy as part of its organizational structure
Outcome 1 – At regional and country
level
At regional level:
• Continue the focus on advocacy in the UNGEI-EAP
region in accordance with the revised priority agenda
for UNGEI at global level
• Develop structures and outreach to influence policy
dialogue and decision-making at country level
At country level:
• Focus on capacity building and partnership
strengthening
Outcome 2 – At global level
• Develop a plan of priority activities and
publications around good practice that is aligned
with the proposed medium term agenda for
UNGEI
• Review and strengthen strategies for engaging
with the academic community to develop a
tighter view of good practice and allow this to
inform UNGEI’s priority setting and quality
assurance function
• Systematically define targets and track impact of
a sample of UNGEI’s publications/collaborative
work
Outcome 2 – At regional and country
levels
In the EAP region:
• Envision a much wider and more aggressive
distribution/outreach in order to have an impact
• Target the products of these studies at higher level policy
events for more effective influencing
• Develop a strategy to more effectively use partner
structures and outreach for policy dialogue at country level
At the country level:
• Share the findings from the lesson learning in good
practices by developing a practical guideline for country
partnerships and actors to identifying, synthesizing and
disseminating good practice
Outcome 3 – At global level
• Expand the capacity of the Secretariat with an
additional full time staff member
• Review the membership of GAC and deliberately
recruit a small number of country level members
• Put in place clear institutional directives for
institutions to be involved in the GAC
• Review the TOR for UNGEI structures (GAC, Co-Chairs,
Secretariat)
• Review with UNICEF whether there are mechanisms
which would make it possible for the GAC to have
better insight into the annual budget and expenditure
for UNGEI as an input into decision-making
Outcome 3 – At regional level
• Negotiate with UNICEF that RFPs should devote a
substantial portion of their time to the RFP role
(> 50%)
• Develop multi-year strategic plans for the
regions
• Prioritize a focus on the country level, and in
particular on strengthening country partnerships
• Put in place mechanisms for knowledge sharing
and dissemination between RFPs and country
FPs
Outcome 3 – At country level
• Undertake a study to identify strategies and mechanisms
for strengthening the existing partnerships
• Develop a prioritized capacity building plan for partnerships
and members at country level
• Identify specific strategies for advocating and securing
stronger national involvement and leadership in UNGEI
• Conduct selected country situation analyses of the factors
determining the disparities among girls and boys
• Conduct a further analysis of the funding situation and
options for funding country level partnerships
• Prioritize continued work on strengthening the monitoring
and evaluation of UNGEI’s operations
What do you think?
• How well does this evaluation capture your
experience of the partnership?
• What surprised or concerned you about the
image the evaluation presents of UNGEI?
• What do you think are the most important
messages coming from the evaluation?
• Do you agree with the overall conclusions?
• How do you think we should introduce this to
the wider community?
Thank you!