Supporting the Development of Civil Society in Tunisia
The 14th of January 2012 marks one year since Tunisia ousted its former President Ben Ali and the subsequent Arab spring became a reality. In less than a year, peacefully and without political interference from the military, Tunisia has succeeded in making key changes which can lead to a democratic society. Early on, it was decided that Tunisia would not hold presidential elections, but rather choose a constituent assembly with the responsibility to write a new constitution and form a government. This is very important in a country and a region where the legislature has traditionally been weak. The Islamic party Ennahda won the election and has been praised by some international media for their moderate party programme. Despite scepticism among more secular parties, Ennahda has so far...
Making Progress in Indonesia
Ambitions for Indonesian forest conservation in 2012 are high. The Participatory Governance Assessment (PGA) pilot in Indonesia is the first of its kind within the UN-REDD Programme[1], and aims by close of the year to complete customized data collection, to provide policy recommendations, and to ensure that the Presidential REDD+ Task Force endorses and actively uses the PGA as a monitoring and evaluation instrument. The development of the Indonesian PGA pilot has been a widely inclusive and instructive process. Both national and sub-national level actors (including “provincial working groups” in Aceh, Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra, West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, Central Sulawesi, Papua and West Papua) have contributed to identifying the following priority issues:...
Tajikistan: Integrating Integrity and Evidence for a Better Water Policy
Tajikistan is one of the most water-wealthy states in the world, yet only 59% of its population has access to safe drinking water (15% in rural areas). While infrastructural and institutional capacities play a significant role in this dynamic,[1] governance in the water sector is also in need of significant improvement. Poor quality of strategic planning, lack of an agency responsible for implementing unified policy, as well as shortcomings and in the decentralization of water supply services and facilities, have all further stressed the country’s water vulnerability. One of the most worrisome concerns in this area is corruption, which is driven by distorted institutional incentives, lack of accountability mechanisms and inadequate public information and transparency. With assistance from...
Kazak Government Building Bridges towards a Stronger State
The Government of Kazakhstan has initiated a participatory working group to facilitate civil society contributions to a national assessment on public administration and civil service. This initiative builds on expert support, civil society recommendations and a recent government study visit to Canada, which together highlighted the benefits of strengthening the assessment`s transparency and opportunities for civil society engagement. Over the last 20 years Kazakhstan has significantly improved its human development record: with increases in expected years of schooling by almost 3 years, GNI per capita by 33 per cent, and life expectancy at birth by 1.8 years (since 2000). This progress has led to strong demand for an efficient and modern civil service, an optimized management structure...
Book: Making the State Responsive
Launched at the Oslo Governance Forum in October 2011, Making the State Responsive is a collection of 9 case studies and for conceptual essays to take stock of what has happened to governance and governance assessments over the past two decades. There have been significant changes in both theory and practice. At the theoretical level, the most notable shift has been toward treating governance as regime management. This has meant a greater emphasis on the ‘rules of the game’ and on the political dynamics surrounding their implementation. At the level of practice, there has been a growing recognition of the role that citizens play.
Civil Society Users Guide in French, Russian & Ukranian
First released in early 2011, the Users’ Guide to Civil Society Assessments, has now been translated to French, Russian and Ukrainian. The Users’ Guide provides extensive guidance for users of civil society assessments, illustrated with specific examples. It includes a source guide of currently available civil society assessment methods, including, for each of them, a snapshot of its methodology, some details of its content, the implications for its use and an outline of its strengths and weaknesses.
New Resources on Conflict and Fragility
The Oslo Governance Centre (OGC) is working with the UNDP Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery and Democratic Governance Group to achieve a better understanding of how governance is working in fragile or post-conflict situations and in particular how a country –led approach to governance assessments can be applied in such situations. This work is part of an on-going process of collaboration across UNDP, building on the UNDP Guidance Note on Governance and Conflict Prevention and Recovery (2009) and the Users’ Guide on Measuring Fragility (German Development Institute and UNDP) 2010. As part of this process OGC has now prepared the following two documents: Issue brief on Governance Assessments in Conflict and Fragile Environments Challenges and...
Rapid Civil Society Assessments
UNDP and Civicus have partnered to pilot a new round of civil society assessments using a rapid assessment tool developed by Civicus. Building on the track record of the Civil Society Index, this new tool offers a new methodology to help civil society better assess its own strengths, challenges, potentials and needs in a range of different situations and contexts. The tool is particularly aimed at those contexts where it is neither possible nor desirable, whether that be due to reasons of resources, time, conflict and dramatic political change or a wish to take a focussed rather than a comprehensive perspective, to implement a full version of the more comprehensive CIVICUS Civil Society Index (CSI). The tool was first piloted in Tunisa, as part of UNDP’s effort to support the development...
Full Speed Ahead for REDD+ PGA Pilots
REDD+ is an effort to create a financial value for the carbon stored in forests, offering incentives for developing countries to reduce emissions from forested lands and invest in low-carbon paths to sustainable development. REDD+ goes beyond deforestation and forest degradation, and includes the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks (Read more here). Payments under a REDD+ mechanism for forest-based emissions reductions can translate into incentives for sustainable land use and better stewardship of forest resources. This can only be achieved, however, if the socio-economic drivers of deforestation and forest degradation are addressed, and current forest resource users have sufficient confidence in the REDD+ mechanism to change...
Oslo Governance Forum
The Oslo Governance Forum, organized by UNDP together with UNDEF, ActionAid, ActAlliance, PRIA, the World Bank Institute and NORAD, gathered 270 policy makers, experts and practitioners from over 75 countries. It provided a space for discussions on the Arab Spring, anti-corruption, improving public service, REDD, post-crisis recovery and other relevant subjects. The promotional video below presents the Forum and some of the themes that were raised. Highlights are available at the GAPortal event page. Full video of selected sessions, background papers and other information are all available at the Forum website.
Gothenburg Training: Towards Local Democracy and Local Development through Local Government
Gothenburg, September 2011 The rolling International Training Programme (ITP) “Towards Local Democracy and Local Development through Local Government” is a joint venture between the UN Capacity Development Fund (UNCDF) and Swedish international Centre for Local Democracy (ICLD), and draws from the experiences of Sweden, and the participating regions and countries. It aims to facilitate a collaborative learning process using the International Training Programme (ITP) methodology. The ITP methodology is designed to facilitate capacity development for middle or senior level managers as change agents that drive institutional and policy reform processes, and are used as one of the tools in Swedish global development policy to alleviate poverty. In the long-term, International Training...
Serbia: UNDP International Experts Train Serbia’s Anti-Corruption Agency in the Development of National Indicators
Originally posted at http://www.undp.org.rs/index.cfm?event=public.newsDetails&revid=2F394489-F637-59E8-67350AA5E8BAEED1, Belgrade, 16 March 2011. A two-day training for the Serbian Anti-Corruption Agency entitled “National Tools for Anti-Corruption Measurement” has been organized by UNDP Serbia, with the assistance of the Bratislava Regional Centre and the Oslo Governance Centre. Experts Sarah Repucci and Ingvild Oia working with the Oslo Governance Centre and Francesco Checchi from the Bratislava Regional Centre presented a range of practical tools which can help improve the manner in which the Agency performs monitoring of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy and Action Plan. Ultimately, this training can help the Anti-Corruption Agency and the Serbian Government in general...
El Salvador and Mexico: South-South solidarity to assess and combat corruption
For the first time in the history of El Salvador, the government embarks on a high-level project to systematically measure corruption and transparency, through a country-specific indicators framework. With UNDP support[1], the Sub-Secretary of the President on Transparency and Anti-Corruption (SSTA) is championing an unprecedented process to design a comprehensive anti-corruption indicators system in collaboration and agreement with a broad range of public and private national actors, including several NGOs and think tanks from different sides of the political spectrum. In this effort, the SSTA as well as the CSOs involved in transparency & anti-corruption advocacy face a series of challenges. Some of these are technical, as it is the first time an initiative intends to go beyond the...
New Director for the Oslo Governance Centre
In March 2012, Heba El-Kholy joined UNDP’s Democratic Governance Group in the Bureau of Development Policy as the Director of the Oslo Governance Centre. Heba El-Kholy has over 20 years of international development experience, including in post conflict and transition countries. She has served as the head of UN Women in Albania (2010-2011), UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Tunisia (2006-2008), UNDP Country Director in the Sudan (2003-2006), and UNDP Senior Policy Advisor in New York with the Regional Bureau for Arab States and the South-South Cooperation Unit (1998-2002). She also led and participated in a number of strategic assessments and reviews, including in Lebanon, Yemen, the occupied Palestinian territories, and most recently in Afghanistan...
Regional Specialists based in Bangkok, Bratislava, Cairo and Dakar
As part of its effort to provide high quality and timely support to countries conducting governance assessments, the UNDP Global Programme has established regional posts in Bangkok, Bratislava, Cairo and Dakar. The below focal points are the Global Programmes first point of contact and support for country-led governance assessments in their respective regions. Asia and the Pacific Ms Sujala Pant, Programme Specialist, Asia-Pacific Regional Centre, Bangkok (Thailand) Sujala Pant is responsible for developing and implementing the regional initiative on governance measurements and democratic space, including the work on media and access to information with key regional and national partners. She joined UNDP in 2008 through the LEAD...
The Oslo Principles on Democratic Governance Assessments
In early October 2011, the Oslo Governance Forum gathered 270 policy makers, experts and practitioners from 75 countries to engage in a rigorous investigation of the principles and pragmatics underpinning democratic governance assessments. The Forum was convened by UNDP’s Democratic Governance Group in partnership with a broad coalition of stakeholders, including UNDEF, ActionAid, Act Alliance, PRIA, the World Bank Institute and NORAD. Together, this rich mix of participants enabled a thoughtful and challenging discussion on the role of measurement, data and participatory processes in strengthening social accountability mechanisms. Through the course of the Forum’s three days, these dynamic discussions were geared towards the development and adoption of a set of principles to guide and...
Governance Assessments Programme: Midterm Review
A mid-term review of the Global Programme on Governance Assessments 2008-2012 was conducted in 2011. The review is primarily a strategic, forward looking assessment to document lessons and provide recommendations based on experience so far. The review will inform the continuing development of UNDP’s conceptual as well as operational approach to governance assessments, taking account of the changing nature of competitive advantages and demand from UNDP country offices and national counterparts since the programme began. The review will contribute to improving the management of the global programme by assessing management capabilities, including the capability for strategic action, delivering on outcomes, and of demonstrating leadership in the area of governance assessments. The Mid-term...