What can we learn from evaluations of projects funded by the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women?

In 2020, the UN Trust Fund engaged an independent, external evaluation team to produce a meta-analysis based on 30 high-quality external evaluations commissioned by its grantees in 26 countries[1] covering projects implemented between 2015-2019. The meta-analysis has generated recommendations in three critical areas: effectiveness, impact and sustainability. Key recommendations include:

• Time, skills and intensive community engagement are essential to change social norms in relation to violence against women and girls.
• Methods of data collection and measuring impacts need to be adapted when implementing short-term projects with limited resources.
• Institutionalizing project results, investing in networks and ecosystem building are different forms of sustainability over and beyond the scale-up of the project.

The findings of the meta-analysis will deepen the UN Trust Fund’s understanding of the projects it funds, enabling it to better support the management of projects and the crucial work of civil society and women’s rights organizations.

[1] Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Chile, Cambodia, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Jordan, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Malawi, Nigeria, Serbia, South Africa, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, Republic of Tanzania, Tunisia, Viet Nam, Zambia.