United Nations Population Fund

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1 United Nations Population Fund UNFPA Management Response to Evaluation Country, Region or HQ Division/Unit that Commissioned the Evaluation Republic of Yemen-ARAB STATES Evaluation Title UNFPA Yemen Country Programme Action Plan Year of the Evaluation 2011 Type / Focus Area of Evaluation CountryProgEval MR Submission Date December 04, 2012 Approved By Evaluation Manager Kais Al-Abhar,NPO,Republic of Yemen General Management Response N/A Recommendations Recommendation 1 : UNFPA should debate in SC whether national interventions are not more proper for a UN agency than focusing interventions in 6 governorates/12 districts. More in general PCM and main IPs, as well as other donors in RH/PD should be involved at this stage in producing the CPD, identifying priorities, financing modalities etc. as the CPD will need to be endorsed by the UNFPA Board and thus guide the content of the next CPAP.

2 1. Technical meeting with all PCMs and key partners to discuss the CPAP will be arranged as from July 2011 July 31,2011 M&E officer November 29,2011,On Schedule n/a Recommendation 2 : UNFPA should share the findings and recommendations of this evaluation with the SC asap, before the discussion recommended under UNFPA shared the findings with SC March 31,2011 M&E officer November 29,2011,Completed

3 Recommendation 3 : In the next CPAP it should be indicated how planned outputs and results are linked to the updated national strategies for RH, population and women (rather than only to UNDAF outcomes) 1. All Outcomes, outputs are aligned with national strategies. March 31,2011 M&E Officer November 29,2011,Completed Recommendation 4 : Monitoring and Evaluation of the CPAP needs to be strengthened and should focus more on results and outputs than on activities. Indicators should be SMART. Capacity in the CO on M&E needs to be built. 1. Training on RBM and RBM M&E will be carried out for all CO staff December 31,2010 M&E Officer March 15,2012,On Schedule

4 Recommendation 5 : UNFPA together with other donors should put strong pressure on government to make available yearly increasing budgets for their agencies at all levels to conduct activities. Donors should make their support conditional to domestic funds being available for the supported areas, in order to guarantee sustainability and prevent fungibility of funds. 1. UNFPA CO is doing ongoing advocacy for government contribution. December 31,2011 Representative March 15,2012,On Schedule Recommendation 6 : Interventions should be more comprehensive, meaning that a whole package of related interventions should be supported. Management Response : Rejected Recommendation 7 : In order to increase efficiency UNFPA should greatly reduce the number of interventions, while increasing their scope, preferably to cover the whole country. Suggested nationwide interventions for next cycle: a. Commodity security, including procurement and distribution, warehousing, logistic systems, training for all levels etc.

5 b. To counter the problem of midwives being trained, but not employed, UNFPA could scale up the successful private midwifery clinics, as piloted by the YMA under the BHS project, which can then eventually replace expensive mobile clinics. Cooperation with USAID is necessary to prevent geographical overlap. c. Scale up the Community Communicators project, but include performance-based incentives, but make sure that the selection of CC is based on criteria that will ensure their maximum involvement in future work. d. Instead of contracting many different IPs to do small training courses here and there, UNFPA is advised to support one technical training for all relevant HWs or administrative staff per year or per 2 years. e. In cooperation with MoPHP UNFPA could support the development of supervision system/ quality checklists/training etc. for all levels of RH/FP services, on the condition that the MoPHP ensures that government funds are available for GHO and DHO to conduct supervision visits. f. In order to make a real difference in the future UNFPA should focus their youth activities on introducing a curriculum for relational education (including RH/FP, sex, gender etc. ) for 8th and 9th grade, including teacher manual and training (probably a 10-year project). Clinical services specifically for youth are not a priority. g. Capacity building of national level (Population Sector MoPHP and NPC) through intensive provision of hands-on technical assistance, that is doing things together/coaching, preferably provided by highly qualified UNFPA staff or, as the need may be, by short-term experts hired for a specific assignment. h. Capacity building of DHO RH responsible persons and for PD in the PCC at governorate level i. Support the DHS and census, as planned j. Support surveys or other studies necessary to evaluate the UNFPA supported interventions (baseline and result) k. Continue to support VVF/OF Unit in Al-Thawra Hospital and also in Al-Wahda Hospital and possibly later in Taiz and Hodeidah.

6 1. a. UNFPA CO is working on CS. b. UNFPA CO will support private midwifery clinics in cooperation with MoPHP, who have accepted this approach. c.unfpa CO will scale up CC and advocate with donors for the incentives. d. UNFPA CO will develop a training plan for HWs e. UNFPA CO agrees to strengthen the supervision system and will advocate with government to assign a budget for the supervision system. f. A Manual has been produced and is in use. g. UNFPA CO will build good coaching support to CO staff to provide technical support to partners. h. UNFPA CO will provide capacity building to partners i. UNFPA CO is supporting DHS and census (although DHS is delayed due to security situtaiton) j. UNFPA CO will support studies to evaluate UNFPA supported interventions k. UNFPA CO will support a second FC in Aden December 31,2012 All staff March 15,2012,On Schedule This will be planned during development process of next CPAP. Recommendation 8 : When adopting the above recommendations, the number of IPs and the number of AWPs can be greatly reduced to 5-10 per year.

7 1. UNFPA is reducing the number of IP in relation to their technical and financial management capacity. This will be finalized during CPAP development process. December 31,2012 Programme staff March 15,2012,On Schedule Next cycle Recommendation 9 : With less administrative work UNFPA staff can then focus much more on technical support and capacity building at all levels, working together with their national counterparts. They probably should have a desk in each of the PCM offices (not in a separate room, but in the same room as their main counterpart). 1. A plan for technical support and capacity building will be developed during CPAP development process. December 31,2013 Programme staff December 05,2012,On Schedule UNFPA CO conducted an IP assessment excerise for all 12 IPs. Next year, a capacity building plan will be developed and implemented.

8 Recommendation 10 : Number of UNFPA staff can then be reduced to remain with few highly qualified staff and necessary support staff. 1. UNFPA CO has decided to abolish positions that could not be filled in. December 31,2012 Management March 15,2012,On Schedule Recommendation 11 : Because it is difficult at the moment to attract highly qualified international consultants to Yemen in order to provide the necessary technical support to PCMs and IPs, the team recommends to develop an in-house training schedule for top local staff to further improve their technical capacities.

9 1. UNFPA CO will develop a capacity development plan for PCMs based on support of international consultant (distance support) or based locally if security circumstances allow) December 31,2012 Management December 05,2012,Discontinued A new CPAP adopted new mechanism for coordination without PCMs Recommendation 12 : PSUs can be abolished and PCMs have to take more responsibility themselves for coordination, reporting and monitoring. They say they can do it, so let them do it, but monitor closely. 1. UNFPA CO is implementing measures to reduce the presence of PSUs to increase responsibilities of PCMs. December 31,2012 Management December 05,2012,Discontinued In the new CPAP , CO removed PSUs and PCMs. Recommendation 13 : To prevent unnecessary tensions and financial problems, UNFPA should continue to sign contracts with NGOs directly (YMA for CMW project, CSSW and YFCA for IEC and emergency services), but ensure coordination of field work and reporting by the NGOs to relevant GHO/DHO. Management Response : Rejected

10 Recommendation 14 : Overhead costs of the Country Office should be halved (20% max). 1. UNFPA CO aims at keeping the overhead costs to the minimum. December 31,2015 Management December 05,2012,On Schedule This is a continuous process. Recommendation 15 : Strengthen donor coordination on RH/FP and take steps towards sub-swap with Population Sector (target: jointly funding the next RH strategy ). 1. UNFPA CO will advocate with government and other donors to take steps towards sub-swap (If political and security situation allows) December 31,2012 Management December 05,2012,Discontinued Due to the political situation, the government financial and administrative system is not ready for SWAP.

11 Recommendation 16 : Prepare a plan for the establishment of a Demographic Institute (research), possibly building on the existence of the Population Studies and Training Centre at Sana'a University. 1. UNFPA CO will explore this possibility with Sana a University December 31,2015 Programme December 01,2015,Discontinued Due to the prevailing security and political situation in the country, the proposed action became irrelevant and has been suspended. Recommendation 17 : UNFPA should put a moratorium on supporting the development of new policies, plans etc. ; there are enough of those for the coming years. Management Response : Rejected Recommendation 18 : If and when the new UN organisation for Women sets up shop in Yemen, UNFPA can focus on mainstreaming gender in RH and PD and leave all general gender empowerment, studies etc. to UN Women.

12 1. This is a general organizational policy issue (dependant on outcomes of MTR of UNFPA strategy) December 31,2012 Management December 05,2012,On hold Establishing a UN Women office in Yemen is not foreseen in near future. Recommendation 19 : The (mis)understanding of IPs about the process and requirements to clear the funds is in practice encouraging fraud and should be immediately redressed. The evaluation team cannot understand how this practice can have continued without anybody questioning it, as UNFPA is seen by many as encouraging corruption. The scale of this practice is not known to the evaluation team, but whatever the scale, the issue should be addressed as soon as possible. 1. This will be addressed in individual communication with IPs by UNFPA CO operational staff. December 31,2011 Management March 15,2012,On Schedule

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