4.4.1 Preparation of the management response and action plans

The use of evaluations for accountability and organizational learning is facilitated through the development of the management response and follow-up actions. All UN-Habitat evaluations should be followed by a management response and an action plan for implementing accepted recommendations. The action plan specifies what will be done, by whom and by when. If the responsible unit rejects any of the recommendations of the evaluation, or plans to implement certain recommendations in different ways than those proposed by the evaluators, the reasons for such modification should be clearly explained in the management response. The standard format for evaluation management response is found in annex 9.

UN-Habitat management will be responsible for drafting the management response for the evaluated intervention. A focal point to coordinate the preparation of the management response and action plan should be appointed. The Evaluation Unit will monitor the implementation of the action plans and report on progress to management and governing bodies.

(a) The management response

The management response consists of two parts and is inserted at the beginning of the evaluation report:

• The first part provides an overall response from the perspective of UN-Habitat management on the evaluation and its results. This can include comments regarding the relevance and usefulness of the results. It may also highlight any differences of opinion with regard to the evaluation findings.
• The second part provides a response from management to each individual recommendation, resulting in either (partial) acceptance or rejection of the recommendation. Additional comments may relate to broader implications for UN-Habitat, in particular in relation to programme and project planning and implementation.

(b) Follow up action plan

In conjunction with preparing the management response, evaluation follow-up actions are identified for each accepted recommendation. The expected completion dates and responsible unit are stated for each follow-up action.

4.4.2 Dissemination and sharing of evaluation findings

Sharing evaluation results creates the potential for improving development and operational performance, and helps to build shared meaning and understanding, develop programming support and generate widespread learning opportunities. When results are shared openly, the credibility of the agency is increased and greater pressure is generated for recommendations to be implemented. The evaluation manager is responsible for finalizing the evaluation report for publication, including the incorporation of the final management response.

All evaluation reports (including the management response) will be made available internally and external on UN-Habitat intranet and extranet with the aim of enhancing transparency, ownership and internal accountability. The UN-Habitat Evaluation Updates, is a quarterly or six monthly newsletter, addressed to all staff to draw attention to recent evaluation reports and other evaluation matters. It is recommended that staff briefing sessions or ‘Brown Bags’ be organized to share and highlight important evaluation findings and recommendations, particularly where they are of strategic importance.

Evaluation reports will be shared with external stakeholders, and posted on IMDIS and PAAS as evidence of accomplishment accounts. Evaluation reports mandated to be submitted to intergovernmental bodies, e.g. CPR, Governing council must be in the proper format meet editorial standards. The document must include information on how to obtain a copy of the full report of the evaluation.

4.4.3 Follow-up and promotion of learning from evaluations

Follow-up and periodic reporting on the status of implementation of evaluation recommendations can lead to improvements of UN-Habitat’s work, if learning from evaluations is promoted and actions following from the recommendations are implemented.

Since 2013, tracking of implementation of evaluation recommendations (emerging from centralized evaluations) is done through “PAAS”. The Evaluation Unit monitors the implementation of the action plan and reports to management and governing bodies on compliance.