The UNHCR Age, Gender and Diversity Mainstreaming (AGDM) strategy was intended to introduce a new model of development for UNHCR, towards planning and implementation that put the diverse priorities and needs of persons of concern at the heart of what UNHCR does. This paper is an evaluation of its implementation and progress between 2004 and 2009. Its main purpose was to review and assess the design and delivery of the AGDM strategy, and then to identify lessons learned, good practices and constraints.
The evaluation concludes that despite some good progress UNHCR is still a considerable distance from being the organization envisaged in the AGDM strategy, or an organisation where age, gender and diversity have been taken into account at all operational levels and have been adequately mainstreamed.
The evaluation methodology included: establishing a Steering Committee/user group; background document review; regional and country visits to Colombia, Ethiopia and Central Europe, including an in-depth participatory evaluation methodology in Colombia; HQ interviews; an electronic questionnaire; and review of the AGDM Accountability Framework (AF). Triangulation revealed that data sources tended to corroborate each other. Bias and limitations included self -selection of reviewed country operations and questionnaire respondents, and financial decisions made by UNHCR which hindered the evaluation team’s ability to spend an adequate amount of time with persons of concern in country.
Key Findings:
- The implications of the AGDM strategy in terms of changing the way UNHCR does business have not been sufficiently articulated in a manner that all staff and partners can easily understand. The AGDM Strategy does not have the weight of official UNHCR policy, nor has any clear vision been laid out that states what UNHCR will look like and be able to do once AGD mainstreaming is complete.
- In the context of accountability frameworks in the UN system, the AGDM AF, despite some shortcomings, is a cutting edge tool and UNHCR should be commended for its methodical development and implementation. Nevertheless, the Executive Committee in particular has not fully met its responsibilities in ensuring adequate oversight and accountability, and that the AF fulfilled its planned purpose.
- Overall, UNHCR has paid insufficient attention to ensure the sustainability of the mainstreaming aspect of the AGDM strategy, in the sense of building the staffing profile, training, orientation, and performance appraisal systems that will ensure that gains made to date are not lost over time.
- The evaluation has identified numerous excellent examples of senior management leadership on AGDM in country and regional operations. Yet overall, senior management leadership has been variable, and appears to be too dependent on the personal commitment of individual Country Representatives and Deputy Representatives, rather than on a systematic agency-wide approach to mainstreaming.
