Evaluation on the contribution of UN Women to prevent violence against women and expand access to services

During 2012–2013, UN Women’s Independent Evaluation Office undertook a corporate thematic evaluation of the UN Women contribution to preventing violence against women (VAW) and expanding access to related services. The evaluation objectives were to capture key results and lessons learned from the contributions of UN Women’s four predecessor entities that could inform UN Women’s current and future work, and to analyse the extent that UN Women strategically positioned itself to implement its mandate of normative, operational and coordination work in the area of VAW. The scope of this evaluation covered all dimensions of UN Women’s work addressing VAW from 2008 to 2013. The evaluation makes six strategic recommendations to UN Women aimed at strengthening its work in this thematic area.

The findings of the evaluation point to numerous achievements in the normative, operational and coordination areas. As a young entity which is in the process of implementing its consolidated mandate and functions, UN Women is facing challenges that are pertinent to new organizations such as clarifying procedures and operationalizing goals. Key challenges identified are: the lack of clarity on the entity’s larger mandate for convening of partners and for coordinating and promoting accountability of the United Nations system; the continued fragmentation of work in ending VAW in terms of structure, division of labour, communications, and strategy; and the results-based management practices and systems of the entity that did not support the entity’s ability to track progress or internally share and learn from good practices. It is a key time for the international community to build on momentum of the CSW57 and the Post-2015 agenda by stepping up its efforts to end VAW and ensure commitment and adequate resources for strengthening the response to violence.