United Nations Department of Safety and Security

Evaluation Function

The evaluation function in the Department of Safety and Security is centralized in the Compliance, Evaluation and Monitoring Section (CEMS). The evaluation function was established as a result of the recommendations proposed by the Department’s internal strategic review

Located within the Policy, Compliance and Coordination Service, CEMS conducts evaluations aimed at assessing the relevance and effectiveness of the security programme at Designated Areas including the security culture. These evaluations can be either programmatic or thematic and are aimed at ensuring that outcomes are in line with objectives set by the Department and the Inter-Agency Security Management Network.

The Section’s other responsibilities including developing a Lessons Learned and Best Practices component and overseeing the implementation of the Compliance Function.

While the UNDSS overarching evaluation policy is a work in progress, the framework for the Evaluation of the Security Programme at Designated Areas, based on UNEG Norms and Standards, was approved by UNDSS- USG in August 2015 and is in the process of being fully implemented.

Snapshot

Unit

• Compliance Evaluation and Monitoring Section

Priorities 2016 – 2017:

• Conduct high-quality evaluations that are useful and credible

• Strengthen the evaluation capacity

• Increase the use of evaluation findings

Human Resources (as of July 2016):

• Unit Head - OIC: 1 P4 (M)

• Evaluators: 1 P4 (M) (Compliance Management System);1 P3 (F) (Evaluation); 1 P3 (F) (Lessons Learned)

• Support Staff: 1G5 (under recruitment)

Evaluation expenditures in 2015, excluding staff costs:

• 20,000 USD

Evaluations conducted or commissioned in 2015: 

• Evaluation of the Security Programme at El Salvador

• Evaluation of the Evacuation of UN Personnel from Yemen (Lessons learned Case Study)

Evaluations planned for 2016 – 6

Evaluation Policy: “Framework for Conducting Evaluations of the Security Programme at Designated Areas” - Not currently available to the public.

Independence

The Compliance, Evaluation and Monitoring Section, which carries out the central evaluation function for UNDSS, reports to the Assistant- Secretary- General through the  Chief Policy, Compliance and Coordination Service. It ensures independence and credibility for its evaluation function, by operating independently from other operational or managerial support functions within UNDSS.

The Compliance, Evaluation and Monitoring Section’s budget is handled at the level of the Office of the USG. The Section does not have full control over evaluation expenditure.

Agenda Setting & Evaluation Planning

The Compliance, Evaluation and Monitoring Section prepares an annual work plan based on requests for evaluations from the Division of Regional Operations or  senior management in UNDSS. The work-plan ensures the provision of resources and the timeliness of evaluations and is submitted to the Chief, Policy, Compliance and Coordination Service for approval.

Stakeholders are involved in the conduct of the evaluation and engaged during the design phase of the evaluation.

Quality Assurance

UNDSS evaluations are conducted according to UNEG’s norms and standards. The framework covers the totality of the evaluation process - planning and design phase; stakeholder engagement; implementation of the evaluation itself; and data and methodological approaches. Likewise, the framework covers all evaluation deliverables, including the terms of reference, inception, and final reports. Peers reviews or reference groups composed of external stakeholders are also used in the evaluation process.

Use of Evaluation

Evaluation results are discussed and disseminated to ensure that senior management and key stakeholders are informed of the findings and recommendations. All primary stakeholders are requested to make timely inputs into the initial report and provide management responses on each recommendation of the draft report, followed by an action plan.

Final evaluation reports are disseminated to senior management, primary stakeholders and are placed on the Department’s information network.

Joint Evaluation

The Compliance, Evaluation and Monitoring Section enjoys observer status within the United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG). Due to the nature of the work conducted within the Department of Safety and Security, CEMS does not currently engage in joint evaluations with other UNEG members.