EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
THIS REPORT PRESENTS THE FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE CORPORATE THEMATIC EVALUATION OF UN WOMEN’S SUPPORT TO WOMEN’S POLITICAL PARTICIPATION, WITH A FOCUS ON INSIGHTS FROM THE COUNTRY LEVEL. THIS EVALUATION WAS CONDUCTED BY UN WOMEN’S INDEPENDENT EVALUATION SERVICE (IES), PART OF THE INDEPENDENT EVALUATION AND AUDIT SERVICES (IEAS), WHICH UNDERTAKES INDEPENDENT CORPORATE EVALUATIONS WITH THE AIM OF ENHANCING ACCOUNTABILITY, INFORMING DECISION-MAKING AND CONTRIBUTING TO LEARNING. THE EVALUATION WAS INITIATED IN MARCH 2023 AND WILL BE PRESENTED TO THE UN WOMEN EXECUTIVE BOARD DURING ITS ANNUAL SESSION IN JUNE 2024.
Purpose and scope
The purpose of this independent corporate evaluation was to contribute to strategic decision-making, learning and accountability. To that effect, the evaluation aimed to examine the impact, effectiveness, relevance, coherence and sustainability of UN Women’s support to women’s political participation at the country level, in line with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development/Development Assistance Committee’s evaluation criteria.
The primary focus of the evaluation was the impact of UN Women’s efforts to support women’s political participation at the national (and subnational) level. Additionally, the evaluation identified lessons learned; examined the contribution of regional and global-level support/guidance; and tracked both positive and negative unintended consequences, including cases of backlash against women’s political participation.
The evaluation time frame spanned from January 2018 to June 2023, and combined a summative assessment of results achieved during the previous UN Women Strategic Plan 2018–2021 period, with an exploration of insights to support implementation of the current UN Women Strategic Plan 2022–2025. The geographic scope covered UN Women’s programming across all six regions through a representative sample of Country Offices. The focus and coverage of the evaluation were informed by extensive internal stakeholder interviews; detailed portfolio reviews of UN Women’s programmes; and desk reviews of relevant evaluations, strategic documents and other key reports.
The evaluation is intended for use primarily by the UN Women Executive Board, senior management, UN Women’s Governance and Participation section, and UN Women Regional and Country Offices designing and implementing women’s political participation programming, in addition to other personnel directly working on or with an interest in women’s political participation.
