The evaluation aims to demonstrate accountability for the performance of the eighth-country programme of UNFPA Rwanda. It focuses on three programmatic areas of sexual and reproductive health and rights, adolescents and youth, and population dynamics to inform evidence-based decisions towards the development of the next country programme. 

The evaluation aims to demonstrate accountability for the performance of the fifth-country programme of UNFPA Kazakhstan. It also aims to support evidence-based decision-making to inform the development of the next country programme. The evaluation focused on UNFPA contribution to changing discriminatory social norms in Kazakhstan to accelerate the reduction in the unmet need for family planning and the reduction of gender-based violence.

This evaluation provides an independent assessment of the 9th programme cycle of UNFPA Ethiopia. The evaluation assesses the geographic and demographic coverage of UNFPA humanitarian assistance and draws key conclusions from past and current cooperation to provide a set of clear, forward-looking and actionable recommendations for the next programme cycle.

The United Nations Sustainable Development Group System-Wide Evaluation Office (SWEO), in collaboration with the Independent Evaluation Offices of IFAD, UNFPA, UNHCR, UNDP, UNICEF and WFP has produced evaluation evidence summaries and maps to inform the upcoming 2024 Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review (QCPR). This review, conducted every four years, allows Member States to assess the effectiveness, efficiency and coherence of United Nations development activities.

In 2024, the SWEO launched a cross-system initiative to gather and analyze evidence from nearly 1000 United Nations evaluations conducted between 2021 and 2024. This has resulted in interactive digital maps and five evidence summaries linking to the priorities of 2020 QCPR, such as building a whole of system response to complex settings; the independent resident coordinator system; United Nations development system reform at the regional level; quality funding; and sustainable food systems.

The summaries offer evidence and lessons learned for Member States involved in the 2024 QCPR negotiations. The initiative also aims to optimize the use of evaluation evidence in the United Nations and identify evidence gaps. 

The UNFPA Independent Evaluation Office actively supported and contributed to this initiative alongside the evaluation offices of UNDP and the World Food Programme, participating in the management group and peer review teams. UNFPA evaluations analyzed include the formative evaluation of the organizational resilience of UNFPA in light of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic (2024), the formative evaluation of the UNFPA engagement in the reform of the United Nations development system (2023), and the joint evaluation of the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme on the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation: Accelerating Change, Phase II (2021).

These evidence summaries, along with accompanying briefs and evidence gap maps, are essential resources for stakeholders striving to strengthen United Nations development work and advance progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. 

Evaluation map by: 
Coverage of 2020 QCPR priorities (detailed evidence map)
Coverage of SDGs
Coverage of country/territory and region (forthcoming) 
 

The Global Programme to End Child Marriage is jointly managed and implemented by UNICEF and UNFPA. The elimination of child marriage and other harmful practices is a Sustainable Development Goal target 5.3, and also a strategic priority of both organizations. The programme is concluding its phase II and planning to commence phase III. 

In 2023, the evaluation offices of UNICEF and UNFPA commissioned an independent joint evaluation of phase II (2020–2023) of the Global Programme. The joint evaluation aims to assess the Global Programme’s contribution at global, regional and country levels to ending child marriage. The evaluation also seeks to identify good practices and lessons learned from the implementation of phase II in order to inform the development of phase III, as well as efforts to end child marriage globally. 

Building upon the findings, the evaluation offers a series of recommendations related to programme design, contexualization and adaptability; strengthening coordination and programme convergence; deepening and further embedding the gender transformative approach; generation and use of evidence; and improving sustainability. It examines the integration of the gender transformative approach, analyses progress in relation to the “leave no one behind” principle, and explores the catalytic effect of the Global Programme within and beyond the 12 programme countries (Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, India,  Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Yemen and Zambia). Other focus areas include the added value of joint programming and coordination by the two agencies and how the Programme has adapted to crises.