Transcript Slide 1

Towards a better understanding of
civil society: Building support for
civil society-led assessments
United Nations Development Programme
Partnership Bureau, Civil Society Division
Beniam Gebrezghi, Programme Specialist
Emerging global UNDP
initiatives supporting nationally
owned assessments
1. CIVICUS/ national stakeholders and UNDP: Civil Society
Index (27 countries incl. Jordan, Bahrain, Morocco and
Lebanon)
2. UNDP and national stakeholders: Country-led
Governance Assessments ( 20 countries incl. Egypt and
Morocco)
3. CIVICUS-led Consortium to scale up existing initiatives
and bridge gaps in follow-up . ‘Breaking the Silos’!
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The Paris Declaration on
Aid Effectiveness
and the Accra Agenda for Action
A shift in thinking from:
• External
local national assessments
• Less reliance on international experts
national institutions and local expertise
• Purely technical approach
integration of
political and managerial issues.
Assessments
• The CIVICUS CSI is a participatory needs
assessment and action planning too, with the
ultimate aim of creating a knowledge base and
momentum for cs strengthening initiatives.
• The principle of country-led governance
assessment entails a country undertaking a
reflective and systematic evaluation of its own
national governance processes.
Key principles underlie the two assessments
• National ownership and capacity building!
• Accountability: Country-led assessments act as a critical
accountability mechanism for local stakeholders
• Participation: A broad and representative range of national actors
have opportunities to provide input to key stages of the assessment
process.
• Transparency: National actors have unbiased access to
information on the assessment process, and the results of the
assessment are made available to the public as a public good.
• Legitimacy: National actors agree that the assessment process and
its results are legitimate.
Growing demand from Civil Society
and UNDP COs 2008-10
Africa: Botswana, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea,
Kenya, Liberia, Mozambique, Madagascar, Rwanda, Nigeria,
Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia
Europe and CIS: Albania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Macedonia, and
Kosovo
Arab States: Bahrain, Jordan, Morocco and Lebanon
Asia-Pacific: Philippines and Samoa
Latin America and the Caribbean: Uruguay
Signs of impact
• Fiji - the CSI initiative contributed to the establishment of the ‘Social
Leadership Training Institute’ by bringing civil society stakeholders
together to find solutions to address the leadership gap in Fijian civil
society.
• Macedonia - the Government adopted the ‘Strategy for Cooperation
with the Civil Society Sector’ in January 2007 based on CSI findings
and diligent work of CSOs involved in the CSI project.
• Uganda – from the CSI consultative process and findings, civil society
stakeholders in Uganda mobilized and developed proposals in affecting
change to government and Legitimacy, Transparency, and
Accountability (LTA) policy.
Main benefits of UNDP’s
involvement
• Generated valuable new information
• Increased UNDP’s dialogue with a wider constituency through a
participatory and inclusive process.
• Positive trends in improved cooperation with CSOs
• Opened space for civil society engagement in policy processes
• UNDP country offices have used CSI findings to inform strategic
directions in their Civil Society engagement and strengthening
initiatives
Ways forward 2010
Knowledge products:
• A User’s Guide to ‘Measuring Civil Society’ (What)
• A UNDP Guidance Note on Civil Society Assessments (How)
Knowledge sharing:
• International CSI workshop in Montreal (August)
• Ongoing regional workshops on CSI findings in 2011
CIVICUS/UNDP-led Consortium:
• A pilot ‘Global CSI Programme’ towards end of 2010
• A CIVICUS-led Consortium and UNDP Trust Fund
The CIVICUS-led Consortium will..
• a) serve as a network of mutual learning and
discussion based on the findings of the CIVICUS
CSI project;
• b) support national ownership and capacity
development of national partners to be able to
undertake and use cs assessments to enhance
democratic governance, and;
• c) contribute financially to the pooled funding
earmarked primarily for CSI implementation at
the country level.
Ways forward 2010
Knowledge products:
• A User’s Guide to ‘Measuring Civil Society’ (What)
• A UNDP Guidance Note on Civil Society Assessments (How)
Knowledge sharing:
• International CSI workshop in Montreal (August)
• Ongoing regional workshops on CSI findings in 2011
CIVICUS/UNDP-led Consortium:
• A pilot ‘Global CSI Programme’ towards end of 2010
• A CIVICUS-led Consortium and UNDP Trust Fund
A NEW UNDP CIVIL SOCIETY STRATEGY
Voice and Accountability for Human Development (2009)
Invest in civil
society and civic
engagement
Citizen action
for democracy
and development
Enabling environment
Voice
Support/partner
for policy impact
Accountability
Revitalize
UN(DP) environment
Unleash the power of
local actors
Strengthen civic
engagement for
multilateralism
New multilateralism
Re-visioning of Human
Development
Breaking the Silos
Flagship 1: CIVICUS Civil Society
Index (CSI)
Participatory action research of and by civil society;
reports assess civil society strengths and weaknesses
Country studies are structured on:
•
Civic Engagement
•
Level of organisation
•
Practicing of values
•
Perceived impact
•
External environment
50 CSI reports published so far: www.civicus.org
Currently discussing a consortium to enable more
countries to engage in CSI (Today 27 COs)
Flagship 2: UN Global Indigenous
Peoples’ Partnership (UNIPP)
 Focusing on the implementation of the UN Declaration

on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Partnership with ILO and OHCHR
Flagship 3: Platform Human
Development 2010
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Milestones: 20th anniversary of the Human Development Report
Mobilization: Multiple levels and areas for debate and action
Dialog: Advancing inclusive multilateralism
Revitalization: Civic engagement and human development
A Mandate for Engagement with Civil
Society
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
UNDP and Civil Society Organizations – A policy
of engagement (2001)
UNDP and Indigenous Peoples – A policy of
engagement (2001)
The Cardoso Panel Report (2004)
The UNDP Strategic Plan (2008-2011)
Voice and Accountability for Human Development –
A UNDP Global Strategy to Strengthen Civil Society
and Civic Engagement (2008-2011)
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