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NGLS
HANDBOOK UNDP UNITED
NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME
ORIGINS AND BACKGROUND The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the worlds largest--and most broadly based--multilateral organization for grant-based technical cooperation. It works to build developing countries capacities for sustainable human development by promoting and supporting efforts to alleviate poverty, manage natural resources to benefit both people and the environment, improve governance and create opportunities for people to improve their lives. It is also the chief coordinator of technical cooperation for development provided by the entire UN system. UNDP works with people and governments in over 170 developing countries through a worldwide network of more than 130 offices; over 85% of its approximately 8,000 staff members serve in developing countries. To carry out the programmes it supports, UNDP draws extensively upon the national technical capacities of the developing countries themselves, the expertise of UN specialist agencies and other organizations, research institutes in every field, national and international agencies and individual specialists around the world. The organization is working to build partnerships for sustainable human development with governments, civil society organizations (CSOs), grassroots organizations and private sector institutions. UNDP was established by the UN General Assembly in November 1965 through the merger of two predecessor programmes: the United Nations Special Fund and the expanded Programme for Technical Assistance. The latter was set up by the General Assembly in 1949, giving UNDP over 43 years of technical cooperation experience. UNDPs central resources, averaging US$1.3 billion a year, are derived entirely from the voluntary contributions of members of the United Nations or its agencies--virtually every nation on earth. Developing countries themselves also provide 50% or more of the total costs of most projects and programmes, paying for local personnel, facilities, equipment and supplies. The activities UNDP supports stimulate another US$9 billion a year in collaborative funding from public and private sources. Fifty-eight percent of all UNDP resources are allocated for the countries designated as least developed by the UN General Assembly. Eighty-seven percent of UNDPs country programme funds go to countries with a per capita income of US$750 a year or less.
Putting People First Since 1990, UNDP has stimulated a debate about how to put people at the centre of development efforts through its Human Development Report (HDR), written by a team of independent specialists and published by Oxford University Press. The report shows that people are relatively better off in countries that have invested heavily in social sectors, and that human development can be improved if national budgets are redirected from military spending and prestige projects into areas such as basic health and universal primary education. Since its inception ten years ago, the HDR has developed the Human Development Index (HDI), which rates countries--rich and poor--in terms of life expectancy, education and income. Further refinements and new indices have since been developed. The 1997 HDR introduced a human poverty index (HPI) in an attempt to bring together--in a composite index--the different features of deprivation in the quality of life to arrive at an aggregate judgement on the extent of poverty in a community. The HPI focuses on a broader and more representative set of variables and is composed from three basic indicators: a short life, lack of basic education and lack of access to public and private resources. The HPI concentrates on deprivation in the three essential elements of human life already reflected in the HDI: longevity, knowledge and a decent living standard. Similarly, the 1995 HDR introduced two new gender-specific indices. The first--the Gender-related Development Index (GDI)--measures achievement in the same basic capabilities as the HDI does, but takes note of inequality in achievement between women and men. The Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) evaluates progress in advancing women at the political and economic level. It examines whether women and men are able to actively participate in economic and political life and take part in decision making. While the GDI focuses on expansion of capabilities, the GEM is concerned with the use of those capabilities to take advantage of the opportunities of life. In the 1997 HDR, the GDI and GEM methodologies are applied at the global level to rank 146 countries according to the GDI and 94 according to the GEM. The global acceptance of these indices and the need to concentrate on human development as well as income has been increasing steadily. More than 100 countries have published National Human Development Reports (NHDR) with UNDP support. These reports are prepared by national teams through a process of consultation with the government, CSOs and its development partners. The reports bring national human development concerns to the limelight, advocating a more people-centred approach to policy making. By providing comprehensive human development indicators and indices, the reports help to monitor progress and setbacks in human development and poverty at the national level.
Coordinating Technical Assistance UNDP serves as the central planning, funding and coordinating agency for technical cooperation by the entire United Nations system. With 135 offices located in developing countries it has the greatest field representation of any development assistance organization. Each of these offices is headed by a Resident Representative who is normally also the Resident Coordinator of the United Nations operational activities for development. These officials serve as the representatives of many UN bodies and frequently act as directors of the United Nations Information Centres. When emergencies occur, they play an important role in coordinating relief efforts, in cooperation with the office of the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator and Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs.
UNDP ACTIVITIES Since 1990, UNDP has been working to harmonize two central themes--sustainable development and human development--under the heading sustainable human development (SHD). UNDP see this as development that: -- not only generates growth but distributes growths benefits equitably; -- empowers people rather than marginalizing them; -- enlarges peoples choices and opportunities; -- regenerates the environment rather than destroying it; and -- enhances citizens participation in decisions affecting their lives. This model of development depends to a large extent on the quality and sustainability of the interaction between the three spheres and types of stakeholders that make up society: the state, civil society and the market. As the role of civil society in promoting people-centred sustainable development becomes more significant, UNDP is actively promoting effective participation among all stakeholders. Civil society is an integral part of, and a major actor in, the new governance that UNDP seeks to promote. These efforts received a significant impetus from the 1995 Word Summit for Social Development (WSSD), held in Copenhagen (Denmark), which marked an important point in the evolution of UNDPs work and mandate. The world conferences have painted a much clearer picture that unites the social, economic, environmental and political dimensions of poverty. And in doing so, they have established the four key principles that form the basis of SHD: sustainability, empowerment, participation and equality. This change has lead to a far greater role for national institutions and especially the greater involvement of local communities and civil society organizations.
Poverty Eradication and CSO Empowerment Traditionally UNDPs main partner in development has been national governments; this continues to be central to the organizations mandate. However, building on the momentum of WSSD, which for the first time saw the emergence of a global civil society movement that worked alongside institutions of the state and market, has greatly expanded the range of partners for UNDP. In order to fight poverty at its source, UNDP is now actively working with and promoting partnerships between governments and civil society that involve people in planning, implementing and sustaining activities to improve their lives. Since WSSD, UNDP has renewed and strengthened its commitment to working with and involving CSOs in all aspects of UNDPs work. The new paradigm has placed peoples well-being at the centre of development concerns. Good governance, decentralized democratic processes that enable the strengthening of human capacities, and a reduction of their vulnerabilities have been acknowledged as peoples entitlements. Within the United Nations, the global conferences have given increased impetus to the social policy agenda, partly through broad-based participation of the civil society groups encouraged during preparations for the conferences. Peoples power is now recognized as a vital driving force in development efforts. It is from this commitment that UNDP derives its mandate to work with civil society. The UNDP programme of collaboration with civil society pursues three principal objectives: -- promote and foster enabling environments for CSOs to contribute effectively towards SHD by encouraging policy dialogues between governments, CSOs and donors; -- support the capacity-building needs of CSOs by providing them access to accurate information and appropriate skills; and -- enhance the capacity of UNDP field offices and headquarters to enable closer cooperation and partnership with CSOs in the pursuit of SHD.
Governance UNDP supports a variety of programmes to improve capacities for both private and public sector management. Programmes and projects involving CSOs aim to improve dialogue between government and CSOs, strengthen capacities of CSOs, promote networking and in-country dialogue among CSOs and support participatory, community-based development. UNDP has increasingly supported the participation of CSOs in donor-government roundtables discussing issues including resource mobilization and priority policy and programme foci, Human Development Reports and other policy documents, human rights and accountability issues. UNDP has also worked to strengthen capacities of governments to work with CSOs and has facilitated national debates and actions related to legal and regulatory frameworks for CSOs to operate independently and transparently. All through the 1990s, there has been a growing focus on strengthening the institutions of governance as a necessary step toward achieving sustainable human development. In doing so, the challenge to donor agencies has been to move away from a strict focus on strengthening the capacity of government, to look at a broader conception of governance--one that understands and embraces the participation of both civil society and the private sector. This is grounded in principles of pluralism, participation and human rights. At both the national and global levels, CSOs have begun to advocate for a different, people-centred approach to development. The UN conferences of the 1990s saw the first significant mobilization of global civil society to articulate an alternate view to that of government and the private sector, and there has been significant convergence between the work of UNDP and CSOs as a result. At the global level, CSOs have used their experience and expertise to challenge the terms of new global compacts such as the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) and the World Trade Organization (WTO), and to highlight the negative impact of the debt crisis on the poor. In fact, the most credible opposition to the new global architecture being negotiated has come from the world of civil society. Organizations such as Oxfam and Third World Network have developed far more sophisticated positions on trade agreements than many developing country governments. Furthermore, CSOs have also been the source of the most powerful critique of the private sector, and in particular the growing power and influence of multinational corporations. At a time when competition between developing countries for foreign direct investment has intensified, CSOs have begun to play an important and effective watchdog function, drawing attention to the environmental impacts of extractive companies and the failure by multinational corporations to safeguard basic workers rights, among other things. At the national level, CSOs have begun to look beyond a simple focus on service delivery to embrace a broader definition and mandate that involves working as advocates for the poor and safe-guarding the fundamental rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). This has taken numerous forms--putting forward an agenda of and for the poor in policy-making forums, advising line ministries on both policy and practice, helping indigenous peoples groups fight for land rights, mediating conflicts and so on. In short, there is an increasingly sophisticated engagement between CSOs and governments at both national and international levels. This poses both an opportunity and challenge for UNDP to use its relationships with government to aggressively support these initiatives and to help facilitate the participation of CSOs in our work. At the country level there are several areas where UNDP is moving forward to strengthen the role of CSOs: in production of the National Human Development Reports; on country reports submitted to the UN General Assembly around the commitments made at UN conferences, and in the preparation of Country Cooperation Framework agreements.
Gender in Development The mobilization of women worldwide for equality with men and an equitable share of the planets resources constitutes the greatest mobilization for democracy ever known. Affluence does not guarantee human rights within either families or states--nor does it ensure balance of decision making and authority between women and men at the household or at the national level. On the other hand, keeping women poor and powerless costs billions daily. Increasingly, especially as men migrate in search of paid work, women are becoming heads of households. Yet they lack the legal rights and social recognition they need to fulfil their practical responsibilities. For example, women constitute a large proportion of the farmers of developing nations in managing water and fuel resources in most rural areas. Where and when they are allowed to control assets, they tend to invest their profits in their homes, enterprises, and in the health and education of their children. Yet they are denied inheritance rights, especially to land; schooling, training and employment opportunities; access to credit and markets; and perhaps above all, information--often the very basis of decision making. The contributions of women to human well-being are innumerable. Just a glance at todays trouble spots reveal the leadership assumed by women in emergency situations--war, civil strife, natural disasters or the turmoil of economic transitions everywhere. Neither countries nor the international community can afford to go on ignoring or crushing the initiatives of women in their efforts to solve current dilemmas. UNDP is committed to enhancing womens ability to realize their full potential and take their rightful place in society. Its programmes endeavour to take womens needs into account, and many are designed specifically to empower women and support their productive activities. Working with and through CSOs, particularly womens organizations and networks, is key to achieving this goal. CSOs have undertaken gender-related research in documenting womens unpaid work and have advocated and lobbied for gender equality. Because of the disproportionate burden felt by women as a result of the impact of adjustment on social service programmes, womens groups have worked with governments to ensure that macro-economic policies are gender sensitive and that an (en)gendered analysis of poverty is undertaken.
Environment and National Resource Management UNDP has been promoting and supporting participation by NGOs and CSOs (including community-based organizations) in efforts to conserve the environment and natural resources since the 1980s--well before the Earth Summit. This work has focused on two main areas: -- encouraging and supporting the UNDP Country Offices to involve and collaborate with international and national environmental NGOs; and -- sponsoring small-grants programmes, beginning with the Partners in Development Programme (PDP). The first major UNDP small grants programme devoted to conserving the environment and promoting sustainable development was the Africa 2000 Network, which started in 1989 and is focused on 12 African countries. Grants of up to US$50,000 each are used to support community-based demonstration projects that promote sustainable development and assure sustainable livelihoods; grants are also used to strengthen local capacities and build awareness of environmental issues. It is administered in a very decentralized way through a national coordinator and National Selection Committee. Funding has been provided over the years by the governments of Canada, Denmark, France, Japan, and most recently the European Commission and the Netherlands. UNDP also played a significant role in bringing NGO views to the Earth Summit in 1992 by providing grant support for NGO participation in country-level preparations for the summit, often relating to national policies and programmes, and NGO activities at the NGO forum which ran parallel to it. Since the Earth Summit, UNDP has vigorously pursued the full participation of NGOs and CSOs in all aspects of the work of the Global Environment Facility (GEF). This has involved: -- encouraging NGO participation in GEF, especially at global and project levels; and -- at the global level NGOs now participate in meetings of the GEF Council (and Participants Assembly) as observers with speaking privileges, enabling them to comment freely on all agenda and policy issues before the council. Accredited NGOs are also largely responsible for organizing a one-day GEF-NGO Consultation prior to each council meeting involving government delegations to the council, NGOs, representatives from the three GEF Implementing Agencies (UNDP, the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Bank), and staff from the GEF secretariat. UNDP was also instrumental in introducing GEF practices much sought by NGOs--a policy of full information disclosure relating to UNDP/GEF projects. NGOs participated in 73% of UNDPs Full Projects, providing services valued at over US$82 million. Most projects involving NGOs are in bio-diversity but many climate change projects also involve NGOs. UNDP has also made special efforts to encourage and support NGO participation in GEF Medium-Sized Projects (up to US$1 million each). About half the Medium-Sized Project concept papers and project briefs submitted by UNDP to the GEF secretariat came from NGOs. The GEF Small Grants Programme (SGP) This programme has been a significant and well received component of the GEF portfolio, mainly because it emphasizes links between conservation of the global environment and livelihood concerns at the community level, and creates public awareness and understanding of global environment issues. Like the Africa 2000 Network, it provides grants of up to US$50,000 for demonstration activities, capacity building, education and other community-based activities. It is currently offered in 46 countries. More than 1,200 projects have been funded by SGP to date. Promoting and Supporting Environmental Funds (EFs) Environmental funds are innovative financing mechanisms to cover the recurrent costs of parks and protected areas, support the overall goal of conserving biological diversity and promote sustainable development. They can take different forms, e.g. a trust fund, and/or receive support from different sources. Most environmental funds have mixed boards, i.e. they include representatives of NGOs on their boards as well as representatives from government and donor agencies. The Interagency Planning Group on Environmental Funds (IPG), an informal interagency body formed and led by UNDP, had identified 102 EFs globally including 46 operating EFs, 11 in the process of establishment and 45 possible new EFs. UNDP has provided technical support and financial assistance, with grants from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the C.S. Mott Foundation and The Summit Foundation, for many IPG-sponsored activities. These include the First Global Forum on Environmental Funds, held in May-June 1994 in Bolivia, a briefing for OECD/DAC in April 1995, a regional consultation of funds in Latin America and the Caribbean in Colombia in June 1996, the First Asia-Pacific Forum on Environmental Funds held in the Philippines in February 1997, a regional workshop on strengthening the capacities of environmental funds in Latin America and the Caribbean in Merida (Mexico) in December 1997, and two regional workshops in Antigua (Guatemala) in October 1999 on strengthening the capacities of funds grantees and monitoring and evaluation (M&E). UNDP is currently promoting and may provide financial assistance to the new capacity-building network of Latin American environmental funds (REDLAC). IPG activities currently include assessments of the capacity-strengthening needs of environmental funds in Africa and in Asia and the Pacific, and development of a handbook/resource book on how to establish and operate an environmental fund.
Transfer and Adaptation of Technology Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are not only a significant factor in the performance and growth of economies--the importance of which is continuously growing--but they also represent a novel and effective tool to help advance sustainable human development. UNDPs work in this area has been steadily increasing over the last five years. The Bureau for Development Policy (BDP) seeks to capture the potential of these technologies for SHD and the fight against poverty. ICTs allow faster delivery and a more adapted content of technical assistance in a variety of sectors--ranging from long-distance education, telemedicine and environmental management to strengthening of participatory approaches and the creation of new livelihoods. ICTs can involve more people, hitherto unreached or underserviced, and accomplish a deeper geographic penetration, especially to rural areas, than is the case with traditional means and modalities. ICTs allow access to information sources worldwide, promote networking transcending borders, languages and cultures, foster empowerment of communities, women, youth and socially disadvantaged groups, and help spread knowledge about best practices and experience. ICTs are indispensable to realize the global information society and the global knowledge society. In its efforts, UNDP seeks to pursue the following objectives: -- raise awareness, build vision and advise on policies to capture information and knowledge for development; -- promote and build connectivity and necessary infrastructure for access to information and development; -- build required human and social capacities and institutions and provide training and education to impart requisite skills; -- empower communities and disadvantaged groups, reinforce participatory approaches and good governance and foster networking; -- help create new livelihood and employment opportunities; -- conduct pilot projects to demonstrate the feasibility, suitability and impact of ICTs for SHD through electronic community centres; and -- promote partnerships between the public sector, the private sector and civil society. UNDP also runs a series of regional based information technology (IT) initiatives. -- APDIP, the Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme, is an initiative developed and funded by UNDP covering 42 countries in the region through 24 UNDP country offices. The programme has several inter-related objectives including: training and informing government officials, NGOs and regional counterparts on the benefits of IT and policy and legislation relative to the development of sound IT infrastructures in developing countries; backstopping and support of IT initiatives in participating countries; and assistance in the assessment, design and implementation of IT systems at regional level. -- the Small Island Developing States Network was initiated as a follow-up to the Barbados Programme of Action from 1994. It was recognized that all islands share common issues, and SIDSnet was initiated with UNDP/SDNP and the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS). Technical Cooperation Among Developing Countries Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries (TCDC) is the execution and management of developmental activities and projects by institutions of developing countries in which they share one anothers experience and technical capacities and utilize, whenever necessary, advice and financial support from external sources including organizations of the United Nations development system. TCDC should be seen as an integral part of country, regional and inter-regional programming and as a cost effective modality for South-South technical cooperation. The TCDC modality was developed, both as a concept and in terms of agreed operational principles, at a high-level conference organized with the help of the United Nations in Buenos Aires (Argentina) in 1978. This conference adopted the Buenos Aires Plan of Action for Promoting and Implementing Cooperation Among Developing Countries. The Plan of Action establishes a cooperative partnership among developing and developed countries, the organizations of the United Nations development system, and other inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations. The Buenos Aires Plan of Action has been endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly, and this was re-affirmed in full in 1989.
Public Information Activities The United Nations Development Programme public information and documentation disclosure policy is intended to ensure that information concerning UNDP operational activities will be made available to the public in the absence of a compelling reason for confidentiality. The principal element of the UNDP approach to transparency and information disclosure is the identification of a standard package of documents that tracks programming and projects. To the extent that much of this documentation is already available to the public as matter of practice, the following policy codifies such practice. Previously issued guidelines are already being complied with, including for the preparation of Advisory Notes and country cooperation frameworks (CCFs), both of which require consultative and public participation processes.
NGO RELATIONS UNDPs policy of working with agencies other than government dates back some 20 years. This policy gained impetus in the mid-1980s when a specialist unit was established to interface with NGOs. Since then, UNDPs collaboration with civil society organizations (CSOs) has expanded and diversified significantly, particularly within the framework of SHD. Over the years, UNDP has gradually strengthened its staff capacity to work with CSOs. It has simplified rules and procedures, in addition to developing policies and strategies to facilitate UNDP-CSO collaboration. The strategy paper entitled UNDP and Organizations of Civil Society: Building Sustainable Partnerships, approved in 1993, provided the framework for UNDPs cooperation with CSOs. Based on the lessons learned in the process of its implementation, UNDP has adopted a number of measures aimed to improve the way in which UNDP works with CSOs. Briefly, they include the following. -- A policy statement on strengthening partnerships between UNDP and CSOs reiterates the importance that UNDP places on people-centred and participatory processes and provides a framework for collaboration with CSOs. -- A new policy on Information Disclosure was approved in 1997. All relevant documents pertaining to UNDPs programming cycle are now available to the broader public upon request, thus improving UNDPs transparency and accountability to its partners, especially within civil society. Work is ongoing to assess our capacity to implement this policy systematically and cost-effectively. -- Procedures for NGO Execution have been prepared, which will guide UNDP country offices and other concerned parties in how to select and apply the NGO Execution modality to UNDP-supported projects. These procedures have been reviewed by the UN Office of Legal Affairs. -- UNDPs Policy Document on Governance re-asserts UNDPs responsiveness and accountability toward the public and private sectors as well as the significance of fostering peoples participation. A CSO dialogue was conducted as part of UNDPs recent International Conference on Governance at the UN in New York with 200 CSO representatives, along with fora for ministers, parliamentarians and mayors. In February 1997, UNDP held a global roundtable in Warsaw (Poland), which looked at emerging opportunities for, and constraints to, UNDP/ government/civil society partnerships. Representatives of CSOs, programme country governments, bilateral and multilateral agencies and UNDP participated in developing: a cross-thematic framework for an innovative UNDP global programme related to CSOs; building on best practices within and outside UNDP; and a resource mobilization strategy that reviews ways to access core and non-core funds for UNDP/government/civil society collaboration. UNDP offices in Brussels, Geneva and Washington DC, along with New York headquarters, have organized issue-based meetings with key CSO partners as part of the overall communication and constituency-building strategy. For example in December 1996 the UNDP European Office co-sponsored with the International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA) and Eurostep a meeting with leading European NGOs to discuss strategies to strengthen the case for development aid as well as identify concrete activities to promote poverty reduction programmes. A UNDP-wide task force on NGOs has been established. Its main function are to promote intra-UNDP coordination and more active cooperation with CSOs. While the focus will be on improved external relations, attention will also be given to strengthening in-house capacity to work effectively and assume leadership among the international community in promoting civil society activities. UNDP, in partnership with UNICEF and UNFPA, is developing a joint civil society classification system and database that country offices can use, as part of the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF). At the country level, collaboration with CSOs is taking place through programme implementation as well as policy analysis and advocacy. For example, UNDP offices in Bolivia, Bulgaria, Laos, Malawi and South Africa, to mention a few, have taken a leading role in facilitating an enabling environment for civil society activities through dialogue with government and CSOs. CSOs have been involved in the preparation of Advisory Notes, CCFs and project documents.
Civil Society Organizations and Participation Programme (CSOPP) The Civil Society Organizations and Participation Programme (CSOPP) is the focal point in UNDP headquarters for working with CSOs and is part of the Social Development and Poverty Elimination Division within the Bureau for Development Policy. CSOPP responds primarily to two constituencies: internal, i.e. UNDP country offices primarily and UNDP in general, and external, i.e. CSOs, both national and international, and other donors and agencies as well as national governments working with CSOs. The CSOPP presently focuses its efforts in the following areas: -- promote and foster enabling environments for CSOs to contribute effectively toward SHD by encouraging policy dialogues between governments, CSOs and donors; -- support the capacity-building needs of CSOs by providing them access to accurate information and appropriate skills; -- improving UNDPs operational framework and institutional capacity for collaboration with CSOs; and -- improving UNDPs knowledge and practice of supporting participatory development. Working through a network of Poverty and CSO Focal Points in the different regional bureaux, the programme is responsible for advising and assisting different parts of UNDP to work more closely with CSOs. A large measure of this involves providing programme support and guidance to country offices to strengthen their capacity to work with CSOs. CSOPP currently manages, in close consultation with UNDPs regional bureaux, four operational inter-regional programmes. -- The Partners in Development Programme (PDP II): Its main objectives, with very modest resources, are to make a positive impact beyond its financial inputs with regard to internal benefits, i.e. capacity building of UNDP vis-ΰ-vis collaboration with CSOs; and external achievements vis-ΰ-vis strengthening the capacities of CSOs including community groups and promoting UNDP, government and CSO collaboration. PDP II provides valuable lessons in consensus-building and promoting participatory decision making, cross fertilization of experiences among countries and between regions, and CSO capacity building. -- World Summit for Social Development (WSSD): Contributions of CSOs whose main objective is to support an active and increased participation of CSOs in the elaboration, implementation and follow up of the major decisions taken by the WSSD. Many initiatives of CSOs at the national level to address in concrete terms the issues related to reducing poverty, expanding employment and sustainable livelihoods and enhancing social integration have been supported. Special attention has been given to ensuring that the programme complements other UNDP initiatives that aim to support government responses to WSSD. -- Indigenous Knowledge Programme (IKP): This programme, of which UNDP is a founding member, is in the process of establishing two separate small-grant facilities that will fund proposals originating from indigenous peoples nations and communities in the areas of research on preserving indigenous knowledge and traditional resource rights, and indigenous peoples community development. -- The Learning Group on Empowerment and Participation (LEAP): This group, currently in a preparatory assistance phase, has recently been developed. LEAP promotes learning and best practices in participation and empowerment programmes. LEAP is open to all country offices as well as interested institutions and actors outside UNDP. To facilitate communication and information sharing, an electronic network will be established. Case studies and documents are available from the above programmes and other activities of CSOs and government supported by UNDP in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America, the Arab states and Eastern Europe and CIS countries. Furthermore, the CSO and Participation Programme provides advice and recommends consultants and/or networks/institutions with expertise in the areas noted, namely: enhancing policy dialogue among various stakeholders, legal and regulatory frameworks governing not-for-profit organizations, capacity building of CSOs, UNDPs operational tools, and participatory methodologies. An equally important role involves advocating for greater CSO participation and involvement in UNDPs own policy making and development at headquarters. This has taken on added importance following the mandate given to UNDP following the UN conferences of the 1990s. Numerous programmes and projects involving CSOs, predominantly NGOs, have been supported, including the range of small-grants programmes. These programmes and projects have focused on a number of themes: women, rural and urban livelihoods, environmental recovery and sustainable land use, indigenous people, governance, etc. In addition, UNDP has also supported the participation of CSOs in donor-government roundtables discussing issues including resource mobilization and priority policy and programme foci, Human Development Reports and other policy documents, human rights and accountability issues. The scope, level and quality of UNDPs partnership with CSOs vary considerably between countries and regions. The experiences vary for many reasons, including national circumstances and capacities of local organizations as well as UNDP country offices. Feedback from numerous evaluations undertaken of ongoing programmes and from UNDP staff and CSOs cautions against assuming that the desired changes in UNDP-civil society relations are systematically taking place within UNDP. The successes related to this partnership are fragile and uneven in quality and significance. While mainstreaming is the goal, civil society matters are and will remain a challenging area for UNDP--an intergovernmental body--and will require special attention. Issues that need to be addressed are: moving from an instrumentalist view of CSOs to partnership cooperation with CSOs, and involving CSOs as policy-formulation allies, in addition to assisting with UNDP project implementation. Some of the more structural obstacles to working well and openly with civil society continue to endure, especially organizational culture, including UNDPs lack of systems for measuring how well or poorly its policies are being implemented, and identifying the right challenges for the future with regard to civil society organizations.
Support to CSOs and CSO Capacity Building UNDP has promoted global small-grants programmes both to catalyze dialogue between CSOs, government and UNDP as well as to build the capacity of community-based initiatives to reduce poverty. The Partners in Development Programme, Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme, Local Facility for Urban Environment (LIFE), Africa 2000 and Asia-Pacific 2000 are all examples of this approach. Each programme works through a National Steering Committee (NSC) comprised of representatives of CSOs, including small community-based organizations, government, UNDP and other donor agencies that have responsibility for overseeing the programmes, selecting specific projects for funding, as well as for monitoring and evaluating the activities. UNDP has also sponsored the participation of Southern CSOs in the preparation and attendance of global, regional and national fora in order to influence discussions aimed at devising anti-poverty platforms. Most notable among these efforts was UNDPs global programme, CSO/NGO Contributions to the World Summit for Social Development. The objective of this programme was to ensure that civil society viewpoints, especially those of Southern populations, would be adequately represented in the preparation, implementation and follow-up of WSSD decisions. The programme supported regional and national colloquia on WSSD poverty-related topics that were organized by CSO networks prior to official conference meetings. In turn, position statements were developed that influenced national governments WSSD agendas. Regional meetings were held in Bangladesh, Lebanon, Cuba, Tunisia and Zimbabwe, while national meetings were convened in Bulgaria, Egypt, South Korea and Madagascar. Numerous follow-up activities have continued to support dialogue and subsequent action between CSOs and national governments. Two other regionally-based programmes that support the capacity building needs of civil society organizations specifically for poverty reduction are Civil Society Empowerment for Poverty Reduction in Sub-Saharan Africa and the South Asia Poverty Alleviation Programme. Both employ participatory approaches to identifying the needs of the poor and then work with organizations of civil society to build upon existing capacities in order to overcome various forms of deprivation. The former, a three-year programme active in 12 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, proposes to strengthen over 100 grassroots organizations with an explicit focus on poverty reduction and engage 1,350 decision makers from governments, media, development agencies and civil society in policy dialogue designed to develop proposals for poverty eradication. The latter focuses on the capacity building and grassroots institutional development of thousands of CBOs and village organizations in South Asia, with an emphasis on micro-financing and skills and leadership training. The programme received core funding of US$8 million, of which approximately 80% was for social mobilization purposes in order to establish village organizations (VOS) for credit and income-generation schemes. Facilitating CSO participation to reduce poverty and promote sustainable livelihoods will inevitably pivot around these and other issues related to promoting social capital, solidarity and integration among communities to allow people to contribute to, participate in and enjoy economic, social, cultural and political development. At local levels, facilitation must be able to reconcile and manage tensions between existing and potential winners and losers of economic growth and technology transfer. At the macro-level government, the private sector and CSOs must support the right policy mix of pro-poor growth and market competition, and citizen commitment for social action and publicly administered benefits through dialogue, mediation and action. UNDP will, and must, continue to support an environment where all actors of civil society [can] positively contribute their own share of efforts and resources in order to reduce inequalities among people as adopted by the Copenhagen Declaration (1995).
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