26 April 2012
Organizational Review of the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative
Context
United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI) has emerged as an important partnership to promote the
agenda on girls’ education forward, especially in making the shift in the discourse from gender parity to
gender equality in education. The UNGEI completed 10 years in 2010: the decadal review of the initiative
indicates that UNGEI has emerged as an important platform for the advancement of gender parity and equality
in education. While the partnership has evolved differently across the globe in the past decade, three strategies
remain central to its work, namely: technical support and capacity development, policy dialogue and
advocacy, and co-ordination and alignment with extant aid architecture.
A major recommendation of the 2010 review of the initiative was an external evaluation of the partnership to
assess the “value addition” of UNGEI at the global, regional, and country level. This evaluation has recently
concluded. In addition there has also been an internal push towards strengthening UNGEI’s “knowledge
management” and “advocacy” functions at the global level on one hand; and this has been matched by
acknowledging the need for an enhanced role of Global Advisory Committee (GAC) partners at the country
level. Further, an initial review of member agencies and their degree of participation and the emergence of
new actors in the global arena as interlocutors on girls’ education have further changed the immediate internal
and external context in which UNGEI functions.
Given these developments the UNGEI Secretariat, in dialogue with the Co-Chairs, proposed to bring these
new developments together within a broader framework of an “organizational review” to inform UNGEI’s
vision, strategy, and planning given a variety of changing factors in its operating and wider environment, for
the next five years if not the decade. The GAC approved the concept of the organizational review in its
September 2012 meeting.
Purpose
This organizational review of UNGEI will hold up a mirror to UNGEI and help us to answer the fundamental
questions: How well are we doing? What do we need to do differently to ensure we remain an effective
advocate for girls’ education and gender equality? In concrete terms, the exercise will critically review if
UNGEI continues to have the mandate and support, reputation, organizational capacity and resources needed
to achieve targeted results in girls’ education and gender equality. It is anticipated that the review will inform
how the partnership should take the lessons of the last 12 years forward and adapt the lessons and itself to the
shifting development landscape, particularly in the immediate context of the fast approaching MDG deadline
and beyond.
Framework
The organization review, as indicated above, is not a “new” exercise; it is primarily a process to bring together
on-going developments and initiatives under UNGEI within a broader framework. These include: a) UNGEI
evaluation; b) Development of knowledge management and advocacy strategies; c) GPE – UNGEI Priority
Countries initiative; d) GAC membership review; & e) Global mapping of stakeholders. In addition, the
organizational review will feature an overall “technical-political analysis” which will include a SWOT; and
will bring together all the above source/initiatives to inform next steps, including reorganization and
repositioning of UNGEI.
The review will work within and through existing organizational governance processes and will accommodate
maximum and realistic members’ participation and engagement.
The framework is captured visually as follows:
26 April 2012
UNGEI: ORGANIZATIONAL REVIEW FRAMEWORK
Technical-political analysis of
UNGEI (Internal and External)
Mapping Exercise
What are UNGEI's strength and
weakness; and what are our
opportunities and threats ?
What is the way forward to 2015?
Who are the key players/actors
in girls' education? Are they part
of UNGEI? If not how do we
engage with them?
Knowledge Management/
Policy Advocacy Strategies
How can UNGEI lead on
delivering evidence-based
policies and practices in girls'
education?
UNGEI Organizational Review
Global Advisory Committee
Membership Review
Do we have the right mix and
quorum of members? Do we
need to expand private sector
membership? How do we
restructure UNGEI
governance?
How well are we doing and what
do we need to do differently
(including reorganization and
repositioning) to ensure we remain
an effective advocate for girls’
education and gender equality
UNGEI Evaluation
What is the "value" addition of
UNGEI at the global, regional, and
national level? What is the vision
for 2015?
UNGEI-GPE Priority Countries
How doe we work with GPE to
leverage results on tthe
ground? What is the role of
the GAC in the partnership at
the country/global level?
What is the role of national
UNGEI partnerships?