the ‘two-thirds gender’ constitutional principle when seeking registration. These demonstrate strong positioning in promoting gender issues, and strong technical expertise on the topic, which is further demonstrated by the UNDP role in the United Nations country team’s Gender Sector Working Group. UNDP projects have overall been gender-targeted, focusing on ensuring equal participation and access for men and women, rather than being gender-transformative. There were a number of positive results, especially in the peace and security programme area, for instance on mitigating the negative impacts of GBV and on the social inclusion of youth groups who face the risk of radicalization. However, gender considerations were mostly lacking in other programme areas, such as the inclusive growth portfolio, where training and business development activities were not informed by gender analysis. This divergence demonstrates the lack of a harmonized approach to mainstreaming gender in projects, and limited awareness and attention by programme managers. Some good gender outputs were identified, such as the enhanced ability of some women to engage in public participation opportunities, but overall gender results would best be described as gender-targeted or -responsive rather than gender-transformative. It was noted that women’s participation in training sessions and workshops was far lower than for men, and that the lack of women in senior positions in county administrations severely limited the impact of gender-focused training. Conclusion 8. UNDP programming has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, but has been able to adapt swiftly to accommodate the changes required and build resilience among its partners. The 2018-22 CPD has been implemented in a difficult environment due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. UNDP has been able to adapt quickly by restructuring programmes and projects to accommodate the reallocation of funds necessary to mitigate COVID-19 challenges. Specifically, projects have contributed to the monitoring of human rights abuses during COVID-19 restrictions, and the development of a policy document on the peacebuilding management in the new environment. UNDP has also been able to raise funds to support the Government of Kenya through the Ministry of Health, to cater for priority needs to reduce the impact of the spread of COVID-19 in Kenya.
3.2 Recommendations and management response RECOMMENDATION 1. The UNDP devolution programme will remain relevant and should maintain its overall focus, while making adjustments to strengthen the training components for county officials, data collection and analysis capacity, and monitoring and communication of results. In view of the turnover of executive officials in county governments following elections in 2022, UNDP training activities on governance and devolution priorities need to continue, with a greater focus on targeting the permanent staff of county administrations to ensure continuity and limit the loss of institutional memory. Future training activities should also incorporate the lessons from previous training cycles, especially as some of these have resulted in capacity being developed to a level of sustainable self-sufficiency, and others have been perceived as one-off instances with limited impact on improved service delivery.
CHAPTER 3. CONCLUSIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND MANAGEMENT RESPONSE
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