Corporate evaluation of UN Women’s contribution to women’s political participation and leadership: Synthesis report

Covering the period 2011–2017, the purpose of the corporate evaluation was to assess UN Women’s cumulative contribution towards the first of six impact areas—women’s ability to “lead and participate in decision-making at all levels”—and to provide evidence from past practice to inform its future strategic planning and implementation in this thematic area. This UN Women Independent Evaluation Service evaluation assessed UN Women’s contribution across its integrated mandate at the global, regional, and country level against four key objectives aligned with the evaluation criteria of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability.

The evaluation objectives were to assess:

1. the strategic relevance and positioning of UN Women’s work on women's political participation (WPP), given the broader development policy context and its role in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs);
2. the effectiveness of UN Women’s work on WPP across its integrated mandate;
3. the efficiency of UN Women’s structures and internal institutional arrangements; and
4. the extent to which UN Women’s position and contribution towards results and momentum on WPP is sustainable for women at individual, collective, and system levels, and in relation to the SDGs.