Make parity a reality: Field-specific enabling environment guidelines

Date: Monday, January 18, 2021

These field-specific enabling environment guidelines provide tailored guidance for personnel in the field, especially in mission settings, to help increase the representation of women and accelerate efforts to reach gender parity in the UN system. The guidelines support the implementation of the UN Secretary-General’s system-wide strategy on gender parity and complement the enabling environment guidelines for the UN system and its supplementary guidance.

Reflect. Realize. Respond. Rising to new challenges: Accelerating gender parity in times of crisis and beyond

Date: Monday, November 30, 2020

UN Women leads and coordinates a United Nations system–wide network of more than 300 gender focal points. The Global Annual Meeting of Gender Focal Points and Focal Points for Women in the United Nations brings the network together in person and supports the gender focal points in their ongoing work to enhance gender parity and an enabling environment in their respective entities. This report provides a summary of the 2020 global annual meeting, key conclusions and best practices from the sessions.

Evaluation policy of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (2020)

Date: Monday, August 10, 2020

This document sets out the evaluation policy of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women). The policy governs the independent evaluation function of UN Women and applies to all initiatives supported and funds administered by the Entity.

Enabling environment in action: Flexible working arrangements and inclusive engagement

Date: Monday, December 2, 2019

This report provides a summary of the 2019 Global Annual Meeting of Gender Focal Points and Focal Points for Women in the United Nations, organized in September 2019. It includes conclusions from the sessions and action points for accelerating gender parity efforts and implementing an enabling environment across the UN system. The report concludes with remarks by the UN Women Executive Director and recognition of good examples of implementing the “Enabling environment guidelines”.

TRANSFORM – The magazine for gender-responsive evaluation – Issue 15, August 2019

Date: Thursday, August 8, 2019

Issue 15 of TRANSFORM focuses on governance and national planning (GNP), an area of work that has contributed to UN Women’s identity and for which it is recognized and valued. The evaluation of UN Women’s GNP portfolio from 2011 to 2017 assessed the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, and extent to which human rights approach and gender equality principles were integrated adequately in UN Women’s approach to GNP.

Improvement in the status of women in the United Nations system: Report of the Secretary-General (2019)

Date: Tuesday, July 23, 2019

In this report, the UN Secretary-General assesses the status of women in the United Nations system for the period from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2017. Since the previous report, the representation of women in the Professional and higher categories in the United Nations system has increased from 42.8 per cent to 44.2 per cent. The largest increases were registered at the highest levels (Under-Secretary-General and Assistant Secretary-General), which is a direct result of the efforts of the Secretary-General in line with his commitment to reach parity at the highest levels by 2021.

Corporate thematic evaluation of UN Women’s contribution to governance and national planning

Date: Thursday, June 6, 2019

Governance and national planning (GNP) is an area of work that has contributed to UN Women’s identity and for which it is recognized and valued. The evaluation of UN Women's GNP portfolio from 2011 to 2017 assessed the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, and extent to which human rights approach and gender equality principles were integrated adequately in UN Women’s approach to GNP.

Empowerment and accountability for gender equality in humanitarian action and crisis response (Humanitarian action and disaster risk reduction annual report 2018)

Date: Saturday, June 1, 2019

The report details key results achieved by UN Women through its role in humanitarian action in collaboration with its partners in 2018. This spans from promoting accountability for gender globally and locally and addressing the immediate needs of crisis-affected women and girls, to strengthening the resilience of the affected populations by empowering women and girls.

Supplementary guidance on the ‘Enabling environment guidelines for the United Nations system’ in support of the ‘Secretary-General’s system-wide strategy on gender parity’

Date: Tuesday, February 12, 2019

The “Enabling environment guidelines for the United Nations system” will support efforts to create a working environment that embraces equality, eradicates bias, and is inclusive of all staff. These guidelines include good practices and recommendations on workplace flexibility, family-friendly policies, and standards of conduct, as well as on recruitment and talent management.

Towards an end to sexual harassment: The urgency and nature of change in the era of #MeToo

Date: Tuesday, November 27, 2018

This publication intends to support policy makers, employers, and activists by sharing UN Women’s work on this topic and offering new guidance on policy and practice on sexual harassment.

Achieving an enabling environment as the norm: Implementing the guidelines

Date: Wednesday, October 31, 2018

This report provides a summary of the Global Annual Meeting of Gender Focal Points and Focal Points for Women in the United Nations, held in October 2018.

Enabling environment: Engage, exchange, equip

Date: Thursday, November 30, 2017

This report provides a summary of the Global Annual Meeting of Gender Focal Points and Focal Points for Women in the UN, organized in November 2017 in Geneva.

Improvement in the status of women in the United Nations system: Report of the Secretary-General (2017)

Date: Wednesday, August 23, 2017

This report (A/72/220) provides information on the status of women in the United Nations system during the reporting period from 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2015, including on progress made and obstacles encountered in achieving gender balance and up-to-date statistics and recommendations for accelerating progress.

TRANSFORM – The magazine for gender-responsive evaluation – Issue 10, May 2017

Date: Saturday, May 20, 2017

Issue no. 10 focuses on the strategic partnerships of UN Women. Partnerships are an essential aspect of our work but are often overlooked when we evaluate the results of our work. The skill set, time and resources necessary for ensuring truly effective strategic partnerships are often underestimated.

Corporate evaluation of UN Women’s strategic partnerships for gender equality and the empowerment of women: Final synthesis report

Date: Saturday, May 20, 2017

In 2015–2016, the UN Women Independent Evaluation Office undertook a corporate evaluation of UN Women’s strategic partnerships for gender equality and women’s empowerment. The evaluation is intended to enhance UN Women’s approach to strategic partnerships with the aim of ensuring that gender equality is reached by 2030. It was also expected to contribute to an understanding of how UN Women’s strategic partnerships can facilitate a strong position for gender equality and women’s empowerment within the current global development context and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Status of women in the United Nations system

Date: Tuesday, December 13, 2016

This publication examines the representation of women in the United Nations system at all levels and locations, by entity, and across various dimensions: representation, staff selection, appointment, career advancement and separation. It provides quantitative and qualitative data analysis on the United Nations’ progress towards gender parity, and includes examples of entity practices in key areas that impact the status of women.

TRANSFORM – The magazine for gender-responsive evaluation – Issue 8, August 2016

Date: Monday, August 22, 2016

Issue no. 8 of TRANSFORM features the third meta-analysis of UN Women–commissioned evaluations since the adoption of the current Strategic Plan (2014–2017) with a focus on accountability. It presents overarching conclusions from aggregated and synthesized information generated from 49 evaluations, and presents the evidence into accessible knowledge to help strengthen programming and organizational effectiveness.

Guidance on country portfolio evaluations in UN Women

Date: Thursday, March 17, 2016

The country portfolio evaluation guidance has been developed to assess UN Women’s contributions to results at country level while shifting the focus from activities and outputs towards medium/long-term results.

Equal representation of women through the lens of leadership and organizational culture - Expert Group Meeting

Date: Thursday, December 3, 2015

Women continue to be underrepresented within UN senior level positions. Enacting an organizational cultural shift that enables the meaningful representation of women is predicated on effective leadership. The Expert Group Meeting (EGM) formulated strategic recommendations on advancing the equal representation of women in the UN system specifically through the lens of leadership and organizational culture.

UN Women Evaluation Handbook: How to manage gender-responsive evaluation

Date: Thursday, April 23, 2015

The “UN Women Evaluation Handbook: How to manage gender-responsive evaluation” is a practical handbook to help those initiating, managing and/or using gender-responsive evaluations. Although specific to UN Women evaluation processes, the Evaluation Handbook may be useful to international development evaluators and professionals, particularly those working on gender equality, women's empowerment and human rights.