EVALUATION OF REGIONAL COOPERATION - …web.undp.org/execbrd/pdf/Evaluation_RCF_Arab_States.pdf · REGIONAL COOPERATION ... (RCF) for the Arab States 2006-2009 presents the findings

REGIONALCOOPERATION

THE THIRD REGIONAL COOPERATION FRAMEWORKFOR THE ARAB STATES (2006–2009)

EVALUATION OF

United Nations Development Programme

Evaluation Office,May 2009United Nations Development Programme

REGIONALCOOPERATION

THE REGIONAL COOPERATION FRAMEWORKFOR THE ARAB REGION (2006–2009)

EVALUATION OF

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Team Leader Fuat Andic

Team Specialist Mouna Hashem

Task Manager Juha Uitto

Researcher Valeria Carou Jones

EVALUATION TEAM

EVALUATION OF THE THIRD REGIONAL COOPERATION FRAMEWORK FOR THE ARAB STATES (2006–2009)

F O R E W O R D i

This report on the Evaluation of the RegionalCooperation Framework (RCF) for the ArabStates 2006-2009 presents the findings of anindependent evaluation carried out by the UnitedNations Development Programme (UNDP)Evaluation Office.The evaluation assesses UNDPperformance, achievements and results, and itsstrategic positioning in the region. The aim of theevaluation is to provide accountability for theachievement of results and resources used, identifysuccessful approaches and challenges, and learnlessons from implementation in a regional setting.The evaluation is intended to feed into thedevelopment of the new RCF for the Arab States.

The RCF was developed within the frameworkof the UNDP Second Multi-year FundingFramework 2004-2007 and its strategic goals andpriority areas, taking into account perceivedUNDP comparative advantages. The regionalprogramme built upon the strategic approach ofthe UNDP global programme. It set out to dothis in the context of the overall Arab commitmentto ‘development and modernization’ as articulatedby Arab Summit declarations and the globalmandate of the Millennium Development Goals(MDGs). The programme was developed tooperationalize regional analysis, dialogue andpartnership development into policy advice,capacity development and pilot programmes atthe country level.

The programme framework was consolidatedunder three pillars and a cross-cutting theme.The MDG achievement pillar was designed tobring together strategic topics related to genderequality and women’s empowerment, HIV/AIDSand water resources management that reflectpriorities tied to human development in theregion. The democratic governance pillar wouldfocus on programmes and activities targeting ruleof law, transparency and accountability, enhancedparticipation and institution building. The pillaron building a knowledge society was designed toaddress the critical regional knowledge deficitthrough programmes targeting education and

information and communications technologiesfor development. The cross-cutting themeaddressed by the RCF was youth. The objectivewas to ensure the mainstreaming of young peopleas beneficiaries and catalysts for the socio-economic advances targeted by the RCF and theregional programmes. Given the youthful agestructure, combined with high unemploymentlevels amongst young people, the inclusion ofyouth as a cross-cutting theme was seen as crucial.

The evaluation examined the UNDP regionalprogramme and its contributions to regionaldevelopment in terms of its relevance, outcomes,effectiveness and sustainability. It combined ameta-evaluation approach with an in-depthinvestigation of the programme. A comprehen-sive outcome evaluation that covered in detail allof the established programmes and projectsunder the RCF had been commissioned by theRegional Bureau for Arab States in 2008. Theevaluation team had access to this evaluationearly on, thus allowing for the current evaluationto build upon its findings. The evaluation teamconducted detailed analyses of documentationrelated to the RCF and its constituent programmesand examined the variety of outputs of theprogramme.The team undertook visits to a sampleof four countries in the region, with emphasis onthe countries where the regional programmes arebased. Interviews were conducted with staff atpartner agencies, regional institutions, regionalprogramme offices, UNDP country offices, theSub-regional Resource Facility and the RegionalService Centre. The evaluation team conductedalmost 100 interviews in New York and in thecountries and carried out detailed reviews of theprogramme—triangulating evidence frominformation based on perception, validation anddocumentation.

The evaluation found that the thrust of the RCFhas been mostly relevant to the needs and priori-ties of the Arab region. The programme hasfocused on critical issues where the regionalapproach has been beneficial in advancing the

FOREWORD

F O R E W O R Di i

achievement of MDGs. Several sensitive topicsrelated to democratic governance, transparency,accountability, gender equality and HIV/AIDSthat would have been hard to address through theUNDP country programmes have featuredprominently in the regional programme. TheArab Human Development Report has been atthe forefront of advocacy—generating knowledgeand providing a regional platform for discussingpriority topics, including the role of women andthe education and knowledge gaps pervasive inthe region. The evaluation concluded that theprogrammes under the RCF have been mosteffective in advocacy and promoting policy dialogueon such priority issues. They have also developedthe capacities of government institutions, non-governmental and governmental organizations,and religious leaders. The partnerships createdwith the Arab governments, regional institutions,civil society and academia have been fruitful inengaging society at large in debating and testingnew approaches to achieving the MDGs. Theevaluation also concluded that more could bedone to translate the good quality policy-leveland capacity-development work into concreteprogrammes and projects at the country level.However, the RCF does not have the resources todo so at the country level. Consequently, closercooperation with the UNDP country officeswould be required to achieve such country-levelresults. This would require regular communica-tions and cooperation between the UNDPregional and country teams from the programmedesign stage onwards.

The evaluation recommendations highlight aneed for a sharper strategic thrust for the RCFwith clearly defined outcomes aligned with theUNDP strategic plan. South-South cooperationmodalities for transferring knowledge andexperiences from country to country shouldcontinue as a basis for the RCF. There would besignificant scope for increased use of sub-regionalapproaches that recognize country-specificpriorities. The valuable knowledge generation,advocacy and capacity development work shouldbe increasingly supplemented by specificprogrammes for concrete follow-up. Given theparticular demographic situation in the region,youth should continue to be a cross-cutting issuein the RCF. Similarly, gender mainstreaming and

women’s empowerment remain crucial issues forthe regional programme.

A number of people contributed to this evalua-tion, particularly the evaluation team composedof Fuat Andic as Team Leader, Mouna Hashemas Team Specialist, Juha Uitto as not only a TeamMember but also Task Manager, and ValeriaCarou-Jones as Researcher. External reviewer NadiaHijab and internal reviewer Michael Reynoldssignificantly improved the quality of the evalua-tion. We also thank Kutisha Ebron and AnishPradhan who provided excellent administrativeand technical support at the Evaluation Office.

The research and conduct of the evaluation werecompleted thanks to the excellent collaborationof the Regional Bureau for Arab States under theleadership of the Regional Director Amat AlAlim Alsoswa. Particular thanks go to AdelAbdellatif and his regional programme team inthe Bureau in New York, and Mona Hammam,Director of the newly established RegionalService Centre in Cairo. Thanks are due to allprogramme managers and advisers in theRegional Bureau, the Bureau for DevelopmentPolicy, the Sub-regional Resource Facility inBeirut, country offices and programme offices,who shared their insights with the evaluationteam. We would especially like to thank theUNDP resident representatives and countrydirectors who shared their valuable time with theevaluation team: James Rawley (Egypt), SeifeldinAbarro (Lebanon), Juliette Hage (Tunisia),Khaled Alloush (United Arab Emirates) andSelva Ramachandran (Yemen). The evaluationhas greatly benefited from the interest andsupport of government representatives in theregion, regional partners, representatives of civilsociety, religious leaders and academia.

I hope that the findings and recommendations ofthis evaluation will assist UNDP in furtherresponding to the challenges of this highlydynamic region and provide broader lessons thatmay be of relevance to UNDP and its partnersregionally and beyond.

Saraswathi MenonDirector, Evaluation Office

C O N T E N T S i i i

Acronyms and abbreviations v

Executive summary vii

1. Introduction 1

1.1 Rationale and purpose of the evaluation 11.2 Scope and methodology of the evaluation 1

2. Regional context and the regional cooperation framework 5

2.1 Characteristics of the region 52.2 Regional cooperation framework 72.3 The regional programmes 92.4 Regional programme document, outcomes and indicators 112.5 Programme financial structure and resource mobilization 11

3. Findings 17

3.1 Programme outcomes 173.2 Relevance of the regional cooperation framework 213.3 Effectiveness 213.4 Sustainability 233.5 Challenges 23

4. Conclusions 25

4.1 Need for a results framework 254.2 Coordination with country programmes 254.3 Need for focus 254.4 Sub-regional focus 25

5. Recommendations 27

Annexes

Annex I. Terms of reference 29Annex II. People consulted 33Annex III. Document consulted 37Annex IV. Survey for evaluation of Arab States Regional Cooperation Framework 39Annex V. Selected development indicators 43Annex VI. Country studies 45

Figures and tables

Figure 1. Structure of the RCF, 2006-2009 8Figure 2. Programmatic structure of the RCF 11Table 1. Relative development in the region 6Table 2. Expected outcomes and outcome indicators 12Table 3. RCF budget 2006-2008 13Table 4. Projects by total budget RCF 2006-2008 13Table 5. Donor contributions to RCF, 2006-2009 15

CONTENTS

A C R O N Y M S A N D A B B R E V I A T I O N S v

AHDR Arab Human Development Report

AKR Arab Knowledge Report

AKRP Arab Knowledge Report Project

ATDP Arab Trade and Development Programme

CAWTAR Centre for Arab Women Training and Research

CSO Civil Society Organization

GDP Gross Domestic Product

HARPAS HIV/AIDS Regional Programme in the Arab States

HDI Human Development Index

ICT Information and Communications Technology

ICTDAR Information and Communications Technology for Development in the Arab Region

MBRF Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum Foundation

MDG Millennium Development Goal

NCC Net Contributor Country

NGO Non-governmental Organization

PLWH People Living with HIV/AIDS

POGAR Programme on Governance in the Arab Region

RBAS Regional Bureau for Arab States

RCF Regional Cooperation Framework

RPD Regional Programme Document

SURF Sub-regional Resource Facility

UAE United Arab Emirates

UNAIDS Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS

UNDAF United Nations Development Assistance Framework

UNDP United Nations Development Programme

UNOPS United Nations Office of Project Services

USD United States Dollars

WGP-AS Water Governance Programme for the Arab States

WRACTI Women and Children’s Rights through Access to Information

WTO World Trade Organization

ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS

E X E C U T I V E S U M M A R Y v i i

This report summarizes the findings of theevaluation of the Third Regional CooperationFramework (RCF) for the Arab States 2006-2009, which the Evaluation Office carried outbetween August 2008 and January 2009.

The evaluation was designed to assess the overallprogramme performance and outcomes of thethird RCF in the Arab States and to evaluatecontributions of the United Nations DevelopmentProgramme (UNDP) through the RCF todevelopment results in the region. In assessingthe relevance and development effectiveness ofthe RCF, the evaluation covered the followingareas: performance of the RCF programmeportfolio and the results achieved, including theachievement of the immediate objectives of theconstituent programmes; strategic positioningand focus of the RCF and its relevance to thecountry and regional priorities; value addition ofthe regional programme in the context of theArab States vis-à-vis global and countryprogrammes; organizational strategy, modalitiesand mechanisms, including linkages to UNDPstrategies and frameworks; synergic relationshipsbetween various components of the RCF; andsustainability of RCF interventions and ownershipby regional and national stakeholders after theintervention is completed.

The evaluation findings and recommendationsare intended to contribute to the formulation ofthe next regional programme and its alignmentwith the UNDP Strategic Plan 2008-2011.

This evaluation builds on outcome evaluationscommissioned by the Regional Bureau for ArabStates (RBAS) in 2008. Those outcome evalua-tions aimed to assess the contribution of sixregional projects to the fulfilment of the threestrategic pillars of the 2006-2009 regionalprogramme. This evaluation attempted to takethe outcome evaluation findings, conclusions andrecommendations to a higher level by emphasiz-

ing assessment of the RCF ‘added value’ in aregional context and determining the role of theprogramme in strategically positioning UNDPrelative to regional development priorities and itsstrategy. The methodology included a compre-hensive desk review and analysis of outcome andprogramme and project evaluations, monitoringreports, and other self-assessment reports. Thiswas supplemented with visits to four countries inthe region—Egypt, Lebanon,Tunisia and UnitedArab Emirates (UAE)—and consultations withkey partners in the region as well as specialists atUNDP Headquarters. Country visits allowed theevaluation team to validate findings of the deskreviews, identify good practices and lessons forthe future at the country and regional level, andobtain on-site knowledge of how the RCF linksto country-level priorities and vertical integration.

MAIN FINDINGS

REGIONAL COOPERATION FRAMEWORKAND PROGRAMMES

The RCF is organized into three pillars:Millennium Development Goal (MDG)achievement, democratic governance, and buildinga knowledge society. This is supplemented with‘youth’ as a cross-cutting issue. Several programmesfall under multiple pillars as well as the cross-cutting issue. The Arab Human DevelopmentReport (AHDR), a regional flagship programmethat provides analyses of development issuesrelevant to the region, contributes to each pillar andplays an important advocacy and awareness role.

Programmes contributing to the democraticgovernance and knowledge pillars—Governancein the Arab Region, Good Governance forDevelopment, Parliamentary Strengthening andProsecutors’ Programme—cover issues such asrule of law, human rights, e-government,administrative simplification, judiciary reform,participation in elections, and enhancement of

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

E X E C U T I V E S U M M A R Yv i i i

good governance through transparency andaccountability. The Information andCommunications Technology for DevelopmentProject in the Arab Region (ICTDAR) supportsuse of information and communications technol-ogy (ICT) for human development and fallsunder the pillars of democratic governance andknowledge building and the cross-cutting area ofyouth. The HIV/AIDS Regional Programmeraises awareness of, and builds commitment andleadership towards fighting, HIV/AIDS andcontributes to the MDG achievement pillar.

Three projects specifically support the knowledgepillar and cut across the youth issue: Trends inInternational Mathematics and Science Study,which promotes quality reform in educationalpolicies for teaching mathematics and scienceusing accurate data and analysis of factors thataffect the learning process; Quality Assuranceand Institutional Planning in Arab Universities,which promotes a system of education evaluationfor quality assurance of academic programmes inArab universities and introduces institutionalplanning based on analysis of relevant statisticaldata; and the Arab Knowledge Report, which is anew initiative that builds upon the 2003 AHDRand contributes to ‘building a knowledge society’.

The Centre for Arab Women Training andResearch (CAWTAR), which became anindependent institution in 2006, strives toenhance the capacity of Arab institutions toempower women to exercise their rights andachieve equality. Two new initiatives—the ArabTrade and Development Programme (ATDP),which started in 2007, and theWater GovernanceProgramme for the Arab States (WGP-AS),which started in 2009—contribute to the MDGachievement and democratic governance pillarsas well as youth. The ATDP aims to enhance thecapacities of Arab countries to use economicgovernance as a tool for safeguarding and acceler-ating human development in the context ofglobalized trade. The goal of the WGP-AS is toimprove the use and management of scarce waterresources (on both the supply and demand sides),improve water supply and sanitation, and promote anintegrated approach to water resources management.

PROGRAMME FINANCIAL STRUCTUREAND RESOURCE MOBILIZATION

The total budget for the first three years of theRCF (2006-2008) amounted to USD 30,244,658.Core resources totalled USD 9,510,933 and otherresources totalled USD 20,733,725. The largestallocation of funds was for the democraticgovernance pillar.The cost-sharing approach usedby the regional programme generated interest amongdonors, including private foundations and businesses.

A large spectrum of donors contributed toregional programmes. Contributions have beenreceived from bilateral donors, the EuropeanUnion, participating countries in the region,foundations and the private sector. In addition,there has been parallel financing to a number ofprojects. The evaluation revealed a markedabsence of Arab State donors, with the exceptionof Tunisia and Algeria, especially in view of theprevalence of wealthy net contributor countries(NCCs). Bilateral donors constitute the bulkamong donors.

RELEVANCE OF THE REGIONALCOOPERATION FRAMEWORK

The RCF 2006-2009 has been generally relevantto the priorities and the needs of the Arab region.In most cases, the RCF has been positioned toaddress issues at the regional level that could nothave been adequately addressed within thecountry programmes. The issues have includedsensitive areas related to democratic governance,transparency, accountability, gender equality andHIV/AIDS. The RCF brought these issues tothe forefront of the discussion in the region. Thearticulation of these issues was a major contribu-tion of the framework, as was raising conscious-ness for seeking remedies. The AHDRs, inparticular, generated knowledge and provided aregional platform for discussing priority topics,including the role of women and the educationand knowledge gaps pervasive in the region.

The work of the regional programme onHIV/AIDS has been particularly relevant to theregion, where the epidemic is not openly discussed.The programme has brought HIV/AIDS intothe open through regional dialogue.

E X E C U T I V E S U M M A R Y i x

Education-related projects under the knowledgesociety pillar addressed the knowledge deficit inthe region by assisting Arab universities inpromoting a culture of evaluation, improving andreforming education, and focusing oneducational policies for teaching mathematicsand science.

Under the democratic governance pillar,programmessuch as the Programme on Governance in the ArabRegion (POGAR) addressed key issues pertain-ing to good governance and judicial reformthrough advocacy, policy dialogue and training.Similarly, ICT has been promoted as a way fordemocratization.

Trade and job creation are significant endeav-ours, irrespective of whether the country is an oilexporter or middle-income or low-incomecountry. The recent work initiated by UNDP inthis area responds to a priority need.

Cross-thematic strategic partnerships wereestablished with the objective of capitalizing onthe efforts and resources that UNDP and otherorganizations could bring to bear on regionaldevelopment problems. The three programmaticpillars that support the RCF are mutuallyreinforcing and the accomplishments of onepillar have spill-over effects on the others. Thesynergy among the three pillars is clear andmeaningful. By and large, the programmes thatcontribute to the realization of the pillars tacklethe problems that are common to the membercountries of the region.

Efforts to secure equality and social inclusionconsisted of special emphasis on gender equalityand the empowerment and participation ofwomen. The special attention paid to youth-related issues as a cross-cutting theme in a regionwhere the young population has a preponderancein the age pyramid was an added factor in therelevance of the RCF.

The RCF has succeeded in tackling some vitalproblems in the region. Nevertheless, it is clearthat the RCF activities have concentrated sub-regionally and the agenda has tended to be driven

by the policy issues facing middle-incomecountries. In particular, the RCF has only hadlimited reach to NCCs and least developedcountries (with the possible exception of Yemen).Because of its built-in flexibility, the RCFsucceeded in addressing the diverse needs of thecountries with different intensity in differentcountries.There is significant scope in all existingprogrammes to enhance sub-regional approachesbased on characteristics of the country groupings.

EFFECTIVENESS

The programmes under the RCF have been mosteffective in advocacy and policy dialogue oncommon priority issues in the region. Theprogrammes have also developed the capacities ofgovernment institutions, non-governmental andgovernmental organizations, and religious leadersby encouraging policy dialogue and building anddisseminating knowledge on issues that arepertinent to the region. The programmes createdpartnerships with a host of Arab governments,civil society and non-governmental organiza-tions, and academic and policy institutions.

The outcomes of the programmes havecontributed, in different degrees, to the realiza-tion of the expected results of the three pillars.The greatest value added has been in advocacyinterventions, through which policy makers andcivil society actors have become familiar withsome of the pressing issues of the region, such asgovernance, rule of law, corruption and participa-tion in the political process. The success of theRCF in raising awareness and debate on sensitiveissues has enhanced its effectiveness. In particu-lar, the AHDRs have encouraged region-widediscussion on development issues.

Important initiatives in the area of genderinclude the publication of the 2005 AHDR‘Towards the Rise of Women in the Arab World’and the 2007 study on the Regional GenderEquality and Women EmpowermentProgramme for Arab States, which willcontribute to mainstreaming gender in the nextRCF and country programmes.

E X E C U T I V E S U M M A R Yx

A concrete outcome emanating from the secondAHDR is the new Arab Knowledge ReportProject (AKRP), which has led to a uniquepartnership with the Mohammed Bin Rashid AlMaktoum Foundation (MBRF). This partner-ship has institutionalized the follow up to one ofthe key issues identified in the AHDRs—building a knowledge society. The AHDRs alsoseemed to have influenced policies of otherdevelopment organizations, including some bilateraldonors active in the region, and have found theirway to university curricula in the region.

The projects in education added significant valueto the youth dimension in the Arab region andcontributed to the realization of the knowledgepillar of the RCF. The projects responded to aregional need for improvements in educationalquality, achieving results in the areas of educationreform and policies, evaluation culture andcreation of knowledge products.

The programmes under the governance clusterhave allocated a significant amount of resourcesto building and disseminating knowledge. Thecluster’s dual focus has been on rule of law andparticipation, with four distinct, interdependentareas: judicial reform, criminal justice policies andsystems, anti-corruption measures, and enhancingthe quality of legislation and regulations. Humanrights, gender, youth and environment aremainstreamed into these four areas of work incoordination with the concerned United Nationsorganizations. The programme has provided aone-stop online window to a wide selection ofparliamentary development resources andknowledge products, encouraging the use of ICTin accessing information to support parliamen-tary work in the region. It has conducted researchon the representative function of the parliamentand the role of the parliament in promotingdecentralization and fighting corruption. Thecreation of websites on democratic governance—which also touch upon human rights, genderand human development—has contributed toknowledge production, accumulation anddissemination. The websites have also served asreference instruments for Arab countries anddialogue platforms.

The programme on ICT has targeted differentsectors of society to provide knowledge forawareness raising and capacity development. Atthe same time, it has produced poverty reductioninitiatives focusing on youth, medium and smallenterprises, and people with disabilities. Itintroduced ICT as a tool for easy access toinformation and social services, for acquisition ofskills, and to build awareness of human rights.

The HIV/AIDS Programme at the regional andcountry level has raised awareness of policymakers, religious leaders, civil society organiza-tions (CSOs) and the public on the disease andits carriers. It has successfully instituted aRegional Advocacy Programme that will pavethe way for future actions to include mainstream-ing HIV/AIDS strategies in national policies.

Since most of the activities on trade and develop-ment are new, it is premature to assess theireffectiveness or results.

SUSTAINABILITY

The sustainability of the RCF results dependsupon two conditions: whether the results of manyupstream projects—such as advocacy, policyadvice and capacity development—can beconverted into downstream projects; and whethera firm linkage can be achieved between the RCFand UNDP country programmes. The results ofthe regional programmes will be sustainableprovided that advocacy and policy advicegenerated within the projects is internalized bythe national governments and used for futurepolicy decisions. Partnership with the countryoffices is essential for regional programmesustainability because the regional initiativesneed to be followed up at the country level. TheRCF does not have the resources or the reach atthe country level to provide continued support tobuild upon regional efforts.

Each regional programme has internal dynamicsthat determine its sustainability. The degree ofacceptance by the governments and the skills thathave been developed in the public sector suggestgood prospects for sustainability of the results

E X E C U T I V E S U M M A R Y x i

achieved under the democratic governance pillar.The sustainability of the activities enhancingwomen’s rights will depend upon the extent towhich CSOs are strengthened and governmentsadopt the policy advice. Under the poverty pillar,the results of the trade and developmentprogramme need to be institutionalized innational policies. However, it is too early to assesswhether this is happening. Similarly, combatingHIV/AIDS requires specific actions in particularcountries and the sustainability of the results ofthe regional programme will depend upon theextent to which country offices, together withother United Nations organizations and thegovernments, can internalize results achieved sofar and design national programmes. Theknowledge society pillar is achieving sustainabil-ity partly through the institutionalization of thework initiated under the AHDR within thescope of the new AKRP, which responds to aneed in the region and has attracted significantexternal funding. The results achieved under theeducation sector programme need to be sustainedwhile UNDP is seeking an exit strategy from thearea, which does not fall within its corporatecomparative advantage.

CHALLENGES

The RCF had several shortcomings, most ofwhich stemmed from how it was designed. TheRegional Programme Document (RPD) did notdefine the expected outcomes or the correspon-ding indicators that would allow for measuringresults in a meaningful manner. In some cases,indicators were defined in such a way as to bedevoid of operational value. In others, the indica-tors were pedestrian and linked only to activitiesand outputs.

In addition, coordination between the RCF andthe country programmes in the region was weakat best, and in many cases non-existent. Therewas an absence of concrete projects at theoperational level with sustainable results thatemanated from the advocacy efforts. To achievethis would require more operational linkages tocountry programmes, which would have to beforged early at the design stage.

Funding for the RCF from UNDP core resourceswas limited, which had implications on the scopeand reach of the programme. While the overallthrust of the RCF was appropriate, several of theprogrammes were spread too thinly, as they weredirected by resource mobilization opportunities.The resource mobilization efforts, with someexceptions, did not adequately tap regionalsources, including governments.

The United Nations Office for Project Services(UNOPS) is the primary executing partner forRCF programmes. For some projects, thisarrangement was not satisfactory due to lack ofsubstantive backstopping and delays in adminis-trative support.

CONCLUSIONS

The Arab States RCF 2006-2009 has addressedcentral development issues in the region. It hasdrawn attention to needs that are difficult toresolve because of their sensitivity and because ofdifficulties surrounding advocacy originatingfrom individual UNDP country programmes.There are a number of broad areas that will needattention in the future.

NEED FOR A RESULTS FRAMEWORK

The weak results framework with inadequatedefinition of outcomes has hampered the focus ofthe RCF as well as the ability to evaluate theeffectiveness of its results. A fundamental lessonfrom the RCF is that a solidly designedprogramme is necessary in order to assess resultsand outcomes. This entails defining theoutcomes at the outset and including clearbaselines and indicators for their achievement. Alogical model that explains how the activities andoutputs are intended to lead to the outcomeswould be very helpful.

COORDINATION WITHCOUNTRY PROGRAMMES

The effectiveness and sustainability of theregional programme is largely dependent on itsrelevance and linkages to UNDP work at thecountry level. While the purpose of the RCF is

E X E C U T I V E S U M M A R Yx i i

not to directly serve country offices, both areguided by UNDP priorities and its strategic plan.Activities at the regional level—especiallyknowledge creation and advocacy—often requirefollow-up at the country level in order to reachobjectives and sustainability. Therefore, countryoffice ownership of issues tackled by the regionalprogramme will be beneficial. Generatingownership should start at the formulation stageand should continue throughout the programme.This will require close communication betweenthe regional programme and country offices. It isimportant to select the country offices participat-ing in regional activities based on their interestand commitment. In that regard, the new RCFprovides an excellent opportunity to improvecommunications and coordination.

NEED FOR FOCUS

Resource limitations of the RCF underline theimportance of having a highly focusedprogramme. Unless there are significant externalfunding sources, it would be better to limit thenumber of activities in order to enhance the reachand depth of the programme. There are signifi-cant opportunities for fund-raising from nationalsources, donor organizations and the privatesector at the country level for specificprogrammes and activities. However, it isimportant that any fund-raising efforts adhere toan overall strategy that guarantees the coherenceof the programme.

SUB-REGIONAL FOCUS

The RCF agenda has been largely defined bymiddle-income countries, which have benefitedthe most from advocacy, policy dialogue andcapacity development. Most of the leastdeveloped countries in the region have been leftout. Similarly, RCF participation by NCCs hasbeen very limited. Nevertheless, there would besignificant scope for involving both groups,especially regarding knowledge and advocacy onpriority issues pertaining to their developmentchallenges. NCCs would also be in an advanta-geous position to continue with regional initiativesat the national level using their own resources.

This would provide an opportunity for UNDPto promote human development approaches inthe region.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Recommendation 1. The overall objectives ofthe RCF should be reviewed with a view toconcentrating on fewer areas with clearly definedoutcomes and strategic thrust. The RCF shouldbe aligned with the directions and principles ofthe UNDP strategic plan, recognizing country-specific circumstances. Programmes should bebrought in line with programmatic priorities ofthe RCF focus areas. A knowledge-basedapproach to South-South cooperation, whereexperiences are transferred or exchanged betweencountries in the region, should continue to be amain modality of the RCF.

Recommendation 2. The RCF should exploreenhancing sub-regional approaches based ondistinctions between the developmental levels ofcountries in the region and correspondingdevelopment policies. There are marked socio-economic differences among countries in theregion (least developed countries, NCCs andmiddle-income countries), which render a one-size-fits-all approach difficult. Taking note ofcontextual differences in the region complieswith the emphasis of the UNDP strategic planon greater country specificity.

Recommendation 3. A better balance must bestruck between knowledge generation andcapacity development, as well as the transforma-tion of policy advice into specific projects.Concrete efforts should be made as a follow-upto regional advocacy and policy dialogue initia-tives. In many cases, such efforts would fallbeyond the scope of the regional programme andwould require follow-up at the country level byUNDP country programmes and nationalpartners. Country office management should beinvolved at all stages of the planning andimplementation of the RCF in order to ensurealignment with country programmes.

E X E C U T I V E S U M M A R Y x i i i

Recommendation 4.Gender mainstreaming andyouth should remain cross-cutting issues. Inparticular, the development of productive sectors,employment and trade policies are central from agender and youth perspective. Developing adedicated project designed specifically to meetyouth issues would be appropriate, since it wouldproperly focus attention exclusively on youth andbe more conducive to monitoring and evaluatingsuccesses in the area.

Recommendation 5. Poverty reduction anddemocratic governance should continue to be thefocus of the programme. Environment andsustainable development, as a new component ofthe regional programme, is fully aligned with thestrategic plan and the regional priorities. Theprogrammatic activities developed under itshould be closely aligned with the governanceand poverty reduction focus areas of the RCF.Given the serious resource constraints of theregional programme, and the existence of a

dedicated bureau in UNDP, the RCF should refrainfrom addressing crisis prevention and recovery.

Recommendation 6. The AHDR should beseparated from the regional programme andbecome independent. A separate fund should beset up with, inter alia, private-sector contribu-tions from the region. The AHDR shouldremain under the purview of UNDP in order tomaintain its neutrality and high quality, butremoving it from the regional programme wouldsecure continuity, ownership and sustainability.

Recommendation 7. Resource mobilizationefforts should tap into the financial resources ofthe region, including NCCs as well as public andprivate sources. Individual programmes should beencouraged to mobilize additional resources andfacilitate the application of these funds, providingguidance with regard to alignment with theregional programme focus and corporate resourcemobilization strategies.

C H A P T E R 1 . I N T R O D U C T I O N 1

1.1 RATIONALE AND PURPOSEOF THE EVALUATION

As mandated by its Executive Board, the UNDPEvaluation Office undertook an independent,forward-looking evaluation to assess the overallprogramme performance and outcomes of theThird RCF for the Arab States, 2006-2009, andits contributions to development results in theregion. This evaluation is based on the evidencefrom the completed individual programmeoutcome evaluations. It validates the progress ofthe RCF and complements the knowledge obtainedfrom a previous evaluation with information frominterviews, selected country visits, and follow-upsurveys sent out to all countries not visited by theevaluation team in the region.

This evaluation builds on outcome evaluationscommissioned by the RBAS in 2008. Thoseoutcome evaluations aimed to assess the contri-bution of six regional projects to the fulfilment ofthe three strategic pillars of the 2006-2009regional programme. The current evaluationattempts to take the outcome evaluation findings,conclusions, and recommendations to a higherlevel by emphasizing assessment of the RCF ‘addedvalue’ in a regional context, as well as determiningthe role of the programme in strategicallypositioning UNDP relative to regional develop-ment priorities and UNDP strategy.1The RCFwasapproved by the Executive Board in September2005. The evaluation findings and recommenda-tions are intended to contribute to the formulationof the next regional programme and its alignmentwith the UNDP Strategic Plan 2008-2011.

1.2 SCOPE AND METHODOLOGYOF THE EVALUATION

This evaluation was designed to assess the overallprogramme performance and outcomes of theThird RCF in the Arab States, as well as toevaluate contributions of UNDP through theRCF to development results in the region. Inassessing the relevance and developmenteffectiveness of the RCF, the evaluation coveredthe following areas: performance of the RCFprogramme portfolio and the results achieved,including the achievement of the immediateobjectives of the constituent programmes;strategic positioning and focus of the RCF andits relevance to the country and regional priori-ties; value addition of the regional programme inthe context of Arab States vis-à-vis global andcountry programmes; organizational strategy,modalities and mechanisms, including linkagesto UNDP strategies and frameworks; synergicrelationships between various components of theRCF; and sustainability of RCF interventionsand ownership by regional and nationalstakeholders after the intervention is completed.

This report is based on an extensive review ofdocuments related to the RCF and itsprogrammes and projects, as well as interviewswith a large number of stakeholders in UNDPHeadquarters in New York, regional and countryoffices, programmes, partner organizations andelsewhere.2 The evaluation also benefited from arecent comprehensive outcome evaluation of theRCF commissioned by the RBAS.3 The teamalso visited the capitals of four countries in theregion: Egypt, Lebanon, Tunisia and UAE. The

Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

1. The terms of reference are given in Annex 1.2. See Annex 2.3. UNDP, ‘Outcome Evaluation of Regional Projects’, Regional Bureau Arab States, August 2008.

C H A P T E R 1 . I N T R O D U C T I O N2

choice of these countries stemmed from the factthat Cairo, Beirut andTunis are the hosts of mostof the projects under the RCF. Because UAE isan NCC, activities were examined there in hopesof shedding further light on RCF activities. Thevisits enabled the team not only to gather first-hand information about the projects, but also toinvestigate the relationship between RCF andcountry programmes in these countries. Inaddition to the programme and projectpersonnel, the team interviewed UNDP countryoffices and regional staff in the countries visited,government offices, CSOs, partners and donors.

Based on the observations in the countries, theteam prepared a short questionnaire and distrib-uted it to countries not visited.The purpose was toobtain further information that would complementand supplement the information obtained by thecountry visits.4 Out of 14 country offices consulted,4 country offices responded (anonymously) to thequestionnaire. Given the low response rate, thisreport will not include a specific section on thesurvey results, but the answers received from thecountry offices are woven into the findings andconclusions of the report.

Since the RCF was recently subjected to anoutcome evaluation, this current evaluationessentially validates the findings of that outcomeevaluation. However, it goes several steps beyondit—in addition to scrutinizing the effectiveness,sustainability and efficiency of the projects, it alsodelves into several other aspects of theframework. It assesses the projects’ contributionsto the three pillars and strategic positions of theRCF vis-à-vis regional priorities and countryprogrammes and the synergies between thepillars. Keeping in mind that the current evalua-tion has a mandate of being forward-looking, itaims to contribute to the design of the next RCFwithin the overall context of the UNDP StrategicPlan 2008-2011.5

The methodology followed is outlined in theterms of reference (Annex 1). Accordingly,

� The evaluation used a combination of meta-evaluation and direct assessment techniques.The meta-evaluation reviewed findings ofthe comprehensive outcome evaluationcommissioned by RBAS in 2008 and otherprogramme and project evaluations. Thisincluded comprehensive desk review andanalysis of outcome and programme andproject evaluations, monitoring reports, andother self-assessment reports. This was donein order to have a clear idea of the strategicposition of the framework within thenational and regional context.

� The meta-evaluation was supplemented withselective visits to countries where the RCF isactive (Egypt, Lebanon, Tunisia and UAE)and consultations with the Sub-regionalResource Facility (SURF) in Beirut. Theteam visited four country offices in theregion and held in-depth interviews withproject management and staff, UNDPcountry office staff, SURF staff, governmentcounterparts, project partners, civil societyand beneficiaries. It also reviewed projectsappropriate to each pillar. Although theearlier outcome evaluation had alsocompleted this exercise, it was imperativethat its findings be validated. The evaluationteam consulted with specialists based atHeadquarters and key partners in the regionin order to obtain a broad range of views. Aquestionnaire was used to provide informa-tion on the programme.

� Triangulation of information and datasources constituted the primary assessmentmethod. The concept of triangulation refersto empirical evidence gathered through threemajor sources of information: perception,validation and documentation. Validation of

4. See Annex 4 for the questionnaire.5. UNDP, ‘UNDP Strategic Plan 2008-2011’.

C H A P T E R 1 . I N T R O D U C T I O N 3

There was also the conceptual limitation ofestablishing direct links between RCF objectivesand the outcomes of certain programmes. Thiswas especially acute where advocacy and policyadvice could not be linked directly to the RCFdue to difficulty in measuring changes in attitudeand the direction of policy measures, since suchchanges were not only the function of projectoutcomes but also of a host of other social andpolitical circumstances. The judgment of thecontributions of the RCF to such changes wasbased on establishing logical linkages betweenthe programme activities and the observedoutcomes based on best available evidence.

the information and findings was achievedthrough cross-referencing of sources.6

� The findings related to projects were thebasis of the assessment of the three pillarsand of the cross-cutting issue.

The methodology had one operational limita-tion: only four countries were visited—threemiddle-income countries and one NCC.No leastdeveloped country was visited.7 To overcome thislimitation, a survey was sent to UNDP countryoffices in all the countries in the region that werenot visited (14 in total). However, only fourcountry offices responded. Nevertheless thelimitation did not hamper the evaluation process.

6. These sources included, but were not limited to, managers of country offices, project personnel, NGOs, high level gov-ernment officials and partners (see Annex 2).

7. The original design of the evaluation included Yemen, a country that had benefited from the RCF. However, due tounforeseen security circumstances, the visit could not take place. Telephone interviews with Yemen country office staffwere carried out instead.

C H A P T E R 2 . R E G I O N A L C O N T E X T A N D T H E R C F 5

2.1 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE REGION

The grouping of the Arab states is based not onlyon geographic considerations and administrativeexpediency of UNDP and RBAS, but also on theview that the states have certain common charac-teristics.8 The homogeneity stems from the factthat most citizens of the countries considerthemselves to be Arabs or akin to Arabs.9 Arabicis the national language. With minor exceptions,the predominant religion is Islam. Despite thesimilarities, the countries exhibit a broad range oftraits, which make for a heterogeneity that maybe more important than the similarities. Thecauses of this heterogeneity are many. Some Arabstates are rich in mineral resources, while othersare predominantly agricultural. Others haveachieved a diversified economy with orientationtowards exports. Some have reached per capitagross domestic product (GDP) levels that areequivalent to those in industrialized countries,while others remain critically poor. In somecountries, a large portion of the population isrural, while in others urban dwellers dominate.All of these factors create great variance inthe levels of development as measured by percapita income and the human developmentindex (HDI) (see Table 1). These appreciabledifferences condition the mind set in thecountries. Historical circumstances also impactthese countries differently.10 In their entirety,

they create a host of conditions that affect theactivities undertaken to accomplish the pillars onwhich RCF rests.

The Arab region has made substantial advancesin human development terms during the lastthree decades. Despite the gains, overall progressfaltered in the 1990s. The assessment of theprogress towards the achievement of the MDGsconcluded that countries with lower levels ofhuman development had made the leastadvances.11 This indicates that the region ischaracterized by wide economic and socialdisparities and inequalities. Perhaps only one-third of Arab countries may be able to meet thevarious 2015 target goals they set for themselves

Economic growth in the region has also beenskewed by internal conflicts, political instabilityand rapid population growth, which havecontributed to variations among and within theArab countries. Despite continued institutionaland trade policy reform, collaborative regionaleconomic measures and trade policies tostimulate and promote region-wide growthremain underutilised, with intra-regional exportsaccounting for only approximately 8 percent ofthe total during the past several years.12 Someof the most significant economic features ofthe region include overall unemployment ratesbetween 15 percent and 26 percent. That rate is

Chapter 2

REGIONAL CONTEXT AND THE REGIONALCOOPERATION FRAMEWORK

8. UNDP has country offices in 17 countries and an additional office located in the occupied Palestinian territory.9. The region is not fully homogenous ethnically. There are Kurds mostly in Iraq, Armenians in Lebanon and Syria, and

Berber minorities in North Africa. The population of Somalia and Djibouti are not Arabs.10. Many of these countries have had a colonial experience, imposed by the Ottoman Empire, France and Great Britain, that

has left different legacies in many spheres, especially in public administration systems. Source: UNDP, ‘HumanDevelopment Report, 2007-2008’, New York, NY, 2007.

11. United Nations, ‘The Millennium Development Goals in Arab Countries: Toward 2015’.12. UNDP, ‘Human Development Report, 2007-2008’, New York, NY, 2007.

C H A P T E R 2 . R E G I O N A L C O N T E X T A N D T H E R C F6

significantly higher for women. As noted inTable 1, GDP per capita shows great divergenceamong countries. High population growth ratesalso resulted in a rapidly growing labour force,averaging approximately 4.5 percent per annumfor the region. Young people represent more than20 percent of the population of the region.Compounded by an educational system that isincompatible with labour market needs, youthunemployment is as high as 30 percent in somecountries of the region.14

Issues of water quantity and quality, if notaddressed, are likely to constrain development.

Concerted action remains a key requirement toensure that the available water resources in theregion are improved, developed and allocated in asustainable fashion.

The region also has to cope with one of theworld’s greatest health and developmentalchallenges: stemming the spread of HIV/AIDS.Estimates indicate that prevalence rates are stillamong the lowest in the world, but there aresigns that the situation is changing fast withcountries such as Sudan and Djibouti facingrising epidemics. Changing demographics,increasing mobility, changing behaviours and

13. UNDP, ‘Human Development Report, 2007-2008’, New York, NY, 2007.14. All figures are from the UNDP Human Development Report (various issues).

Country HDI GDP per capita (USD)

Algeria 0.733 7,062

Bahrain 0.876 21,482

Djibouti 0.516 2,178

Egypt 0.708 4,337

Iraq n.a. n.a.

Jordan 0.773 5,530

Kuwait 0.891 26,321

Lebanon 0.772 5,584

Libya 0.818 6,621

Morocco 0.645 4,555

Palestinian Territories 0.731 n.a.

Saudi Arabia 0.812 15,711

Somalia n.a. n.a.

Sudan 0.521 2,083

Syria 0.724 3,808

Tunisia 0.766 8,371

United Arab Emirates 0.868 25,514

Yemen 0.508 930

Table 1. Relative development in the region13

Notes: n.a. indicates not available. All data is from 2005, the latest available year.

C H A P T E R 2 . R E G I O N A L C O N T E X T A N D T H E R C F 7

new social and personal practices are creatingfertile ground for the spread of the disease with92,000 new cases in 2004—one of the highestrates of increase in the world. The region has adistinct window of opportunity to act early tostem the further spread of the disease.

On the knowledge front, pervasive illiteracy andan inability to harness technology remain seriousimpediments to the advancement of Arab humandevelopment. There have been significant break-throughs in the gender area.The number of appointedsenior women executives has increased rapidly.Women’s participation in legislative assemblies asboth voters and candidates broadened and theymadesignificant legal achievements in personal statusand citizenship laws. However, they still carry adisproportionate burden of illiteracy, joblessnessand lack of representation.

Overall, social, political and economic develop-ment is severely hampered by internal conflicts.Sporadic civil strife and an increasing incidenceof terrorism all cause profound instability in theregion. Arab leaders have taken the initiative andannounced their commitment towards progres-sive change in the ‘Declaration on the Process ofDevelopment and Modernization’ that wasissued by the 16th Arab Summit in Tunis in 2004.The Algiers Summit of 2005 reiterated that setof commitments and included detailed nationalupdates on progress. Civil society voices werearticulated through such fora as the Conferenceon Arab Reform, which produced the AlexandriaDeclaration in 2004, and several governmentsexpanded the public sphere and targeted theinclusion of opposition forces in governanceprocesses and structures.

A more systematic review of the state offreedoms in the Arab world reveals entrenchedobstacles to democratization in the lack ofindependent judiciaries, transparent and account-able administrations, separation of the legislativefrom the executive, freedoms of association andexpression, right to form political parties, and freeand fair elections. Participation remains elusive tothe majority of Arab populations, and without

fundamental reforms to the governance structuresat all levels, it is improbable that the region will beable to transcend from its present state.

2.2 REGIONAL COOPERATIONFRAMEWORK

The RCF is organized into three pillars: MDGachievement, democratic governance, and buildinga knowledge society. This is supplemented withyouth as a cross-cutting issue (see Figure 1). Thefollowing description of the pillars is based onthe RPD and thus reflects what was plannedwhen the RCF was designed.

The MDG achievement pillar was designedto comprise strategic issues related to genderequality and women’s empowerment, povertyreduction, HIV/AIDS, environmental sustain-ability and water resources management that aretied to the quality of human development in theregion as targeted in MDGs 1, 3, 6 and 7. Thepoverty reduction outcomes are now, according tothe RPD, formalized with the inclusion of pro-poor policies based on the rights-based approachto development and a greater use of corporatepolicy and programming tools and modalities.

Four distinct areas constituted the focus. ThePoverty Reduction Programme includes activitiesin pilot countries to achieve poverty reductiontargets, where MDG costing and needs assess-ment exercises at the national level are linked tofiscal policies and macro-economic strategies ofthe requisite MDG monitoring systems andtools. Case studies investigating pro-poor policiesand delivery systems support the establishmentof poverty information systems, drawing povertymaps and profiles at both the national andregional levels to link with the impact on humandevelopment outcomes.

Promoting Gender Equality was a critical consid-eration for the design of the regional programme.The gender needs analysis through the AHDRwas seen as an entry point to mainstreaminggender throughout the programme.The RegionalPoverty Programme would emphasize the gender

C H A P T E R 2 . R E G I O N A L C O N T E X T A N D T H E R C F8

dimensions of poverty and use gender-disaggregated data to advocate for nationalgender sensitive policies.

Scaling up the response to HIV/AIDS took apre-emptive approach to the potentially devastat-ing effects of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Theregional programme was designed to work withthe Joint United Nations Programme onHIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and its co-sponsors withcore policy and financial support from theUNDP Bureau for Development Policy. It wasdesigned to use the stakeholder networksestablished in the earlier RCF phase for partici-patory awareness-raising. Intended resultsincluded formation of funded national strategicplans and deeper involvement of existing as wellas new stakeholders, such as the private sector.

Environmental Sustainability andWater ResourcesManagement was designed to contribute to theachievement of other MDGs by integratingenergy and environment priorities into other RBAS

regional programmes such as trade, povertyreduction strategies and development plans.

The democratic governance pillar targets theprotection of human rights, improved socialcohesion and more effective institutions thatenhance the trust between governments andcitizens. Regional priorities are targeted byfocusing on the rule of law, transparency andaccountability, and participation. Support toinstitution building is one of the features of thispillar. This includes collaboration with existingregional institutions, such as the ArabParliamentary Union and the Federation of ArabJournalists, and extension of the collaboration tonew ones, such as the UNDP-supported ArabCentre for the Rule of Law and Integrity and theproposed Regional Institute for Criminal Justice.

The building a knowledge society pillar wasintended to focus on education issues, such asassessing the quality of university programmes toenhance responsiveness to the changing needs of

Figure 1. Structure of the RCF, 2006-2009

Pillar 1 Pillar 2 Pillar 3

MDG Achievement Democratic Governance Building Knowledge Society

Programme Component

1.1 AHDR prepared addressingregional priority issues

2.1 Justice and human rights 3.1 Acquisition, production andevaluation of knowledge

1.2 MDG regional implementa-tion and monitoring

2.2 E-governance and access toinformation

3.2 ICT for development

1.3 Globalization benefitingthe poor

2.3 Public administration reformand anti-corruption

1.4 Gender mainstreaming 2.4 Policy support fordemocratic governance

1.5 Creating an enabling humanrights environment

1.6 HIV/AIDS governance anddevelopment

1.7 Effective water governance

Cross-Cutting Issues

Youth

C H A P T E R 2 . R E G I O N A L C O N T E X T A N D T H E R C F 9

economic development, labour markets and thechallenges of globalization. Integral to the pillaris ICT for development interventions throughtangible outputs at the national level and civilsociety, and building on the advocacy andnetworking of the last RCF. Partnership initia-tives focus on institutionalizing centres ofexcellence, fostering social inclusion andpromoting integrated economic growth.

The RCF also recognized youth as a cross-cutting issue. Concern about youth as a vitalconstituency in the region has led to the prolifer-ation of youth initiatives by all developmentactors. Notably, the League of Arab Stateslaunched mobilization efforts to endorse an ArabYouth Strategy. The objective was to ensure thatthis constituency is mainstreamed as a benefici-ary of and catalyst for the targeted socio-economic advances. Activities include addressingyouth as a focus group in post-conflict peacebuilding, as a target group in HIV/AIDSawareness raising, as a constituency in MDGsocietal engagement and as an enabling force insocietal modernization via accelerated ICT use.

2.3 THE REGIONAL PROGRAMMES

The framework is operationalized through anumber of programmes and projects, most ofwhich are managed from Cairo, Beirut, DubaiandTunis.These programmes cut across the threepillars and are intended to contribute towards therealization of the outcomes of each pillar.

The third RCF strives to consolidate regionalanalysis, dialogue and partnerships, policy advice,capacity development and pilot programmes forthe development of the countries in the region.The RCF is committed to development andmodernization as articulated by the ArabSummit Declarations and in accordance with themandate of the MDGs.

The AHDR is one of the flagship activitieswithin the regional programme. It is essentiallydirected to the analysis of the issues surroundingthe region. At the same time, it is also anadvocacy instrument. It supports broad develop-ment policy dialogue in the region and strength-ens the capacity of Arab institutions to providepolicy makers with analysis of priority develop-ment challenges, using the human developmentconcept, methodology and tools. Four reportshave been published to date in 2002, 2003, 2004and 2005. It cuts across all the pillars of the RCFand is managed from UNDP Headquarters.

Contributing to the democratic governancepillar, POGAR covers a variety of issues, such asrule of law, human rights, e-governmentadministrative simplification, judiciary reform,participation in elections, and enhancement ofgood governance through transparency andaccountability. Other projects contributing to thegovernance pillar include Good Governance forDevelopment, Parliamentary Strengthening andthe Prosecutors Programme. POGAR engages inpublications, seminars and workshops andmaintains a website for advocacy and trainingpurposes. POGAR and the other governanceprojects also contribute to the two other pillars.Administered from Beirut, POGAR is active inseven countries.15

ICTDAR supports use of ICT for humandevelopment and falls under the pillars ofdemocratic governance and knowledge buildingand the cross-cutting area of youth. It aims tohelp reduce human poverty by fostering a morecapable information-enabled society.The programmeapplies a coordinated strategy that leverageseducation, knowledge exchanges and ICTapplications, targeting poor people to acceleratepoverty reduction through equitable growth andemployment generation, as well as informationcreation, distribution and usage. It is active in11 countries and territories16 and administeredfrom Cairo.

15. Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco and Yemen.16. Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia, Yemen, Palestinian Territories, Jordan, Somalia, Bahrain, Sudan and UAE.

C H A P T E R 2 . R E G I O N A L C O N T E X T A N D T H E R C F1 0

The HIV/AIDS Regional Programme in theArab States (HARPAS) raises awareness of, andbuilds commitment and leadership towardsfighting, HIV/AIDS and contributes to theMDG achievement pillar. Due to the socialsensitivity of the issue of HIV/AIDS and thereluctance of policy makers to discuss it nation-ally, the HARPAS strategy has focused onengaging representatives from the public andprivate sectors and civil society to confer at theregional level. It is based in Cairo and its activi-ties extend to 17 countries in the region. 17

One of the principal thrusts of HARPAS isadvocacy.The strategy aims to implement a seriesof catalytic regional interventions that pave theway to country-level follow-up. Efforts haveincluded awareness raising and capacity develop-ment for Arab parliamentarians, women’s rightsgroups, non-governmental organizations(NGOs), religious leaders, CSOs, the privatesector, the media and arts sector, people livingwith HIV/AIDS (PLWH) and youth.

Three projects specifically support the knowledgepillar and cut across the youth issue:

� Trends in International Mathematics andScience Study, which promotes qualityreform in educational policies for teachingmathematics and science using accurate dataand analysis of factors that affect the learningprocess. This project was initiated inresponse to the first AHDR, which urged theevaluation of education attainment as acornerstone in educational improvement inan age of accelerating technological changeand globalization.

� Quality Assurance and Institutional Planningin Arab Universities, which promotes asystem of education evaluation for qualityassurance of academic programmes in Arab

universities and introduces institutionalplanning based on analysis of relevant statis-tical data. The project began in 2002 andcontinued during the third RCF.

� The Arab Knowledge Report, which is a newinitiative that builds upon the 2003 AHDR,and contributes to ‘building a knowledgesociety’. It is implemented jointly with theMBRF. The initiative builds upon the 2003AHDR ‘Building a Knowledge Society’.Thisinitiative started in 2008.

The CAWTAR, which became an independentinstitution in 2006, strives to enhance the capacityof Arab institutions to empower women toexercise their rights and achieve equality. Its mainprogrammes include: research, training, network-ing and partnerships, media and communication,documentation and databases. It is administeredfrom Tunis. Its Board of Trustees is presided byHis Excellency Prince Talal Bin Abdel Aziz, andUNDP is a member of its Board.18

Two new initiatives—the ATDP, which startedin 2007 and the WGP-AS, which started in2009—contribute to the MDG achievement anddemocratic governance pillars, as well as youth.The ATDP aims to enhance the capacities of Arabcountries to use economic governance as a tool forsafeguarding and accelerating human develop-ment in the context of globalized trade throughthe following objectives: better understandingamong policy makers and civil society of WorldTrade Organization (WTO) and regional tradeagreements, processes and rules, as well as theirpolicy implications; enhanced policy making inArab countries based on informed public choiceand stronger national capacities in trade researchand policy analysis from a human developmentperspective; strengthened common perspectivesand positions among Arab governments in regionaland global trade and economic governance fora

17. Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia,Syria, Tunisia, UAE and Yemen.

18. Other Board members include the League of Arab States, Government of Tunisia, World Bank, United NationsDevelopment Fund forWomen, United Nations Population Fund and International Planned Parenthood Federation. Fordetails see, ‘Draft Report: Outcome Evaluation of Regional Project’, 10 August 2008, pp. 61-66.

and institutions; and enhanced trade negotiationcapabilities. It is currently active in five countries.19

The goal of WGP-AS is to improve the use andmanagement of scarce water resources (on boththe supply and demand sides) to improve watersupply and sanitation, and promote an integratedapproach to water resources management.Themodeof operation of the programme will be throughthe provision of technical and policy support,capacity building and seed funding for activities.The programme started in 2009 with a prepara-tory assistance phase carried out before that.

Figure 2 summarizes how the programmes relateto the RCF and its three pillars.

2.4 REGIONAL PROGRAMMEDOCUMENT, OUTCOMESAND INDICATORS

The evaluation took the RPD and its outcomesand indicators as its starting point in assessing

the achievement of results and outcomes of theRCF (see Table 2). However, deficiencies in theprogramme design reflected in the RPD limitedthe feasibility of this approach. In a large numberof cases, outcomes and indicators referred tooutputs or were not expressed in a quantifiablemanner containing precise targets. For example,“number of AHDR published” or “number ofmeetings held” were distinctly outputs ratherthan outcomes and were not precise enough toallow passing of any judgment.

2.5 PROGRAMME FINANCIALSTRUCTURE AND RESOURCEMOBILIZATION

The total budget for the first three years of theRCF (2006-2008) amounted to USD 30,244,658,with core resources totalling USD 9,510,933 andother resources totalling USD 20,733,725. Thelargest allocation of funds was for the democraticgovernance pillar (see Table 3).

C H A P T E R 2 . R E G I O N A L C O N T E X T A N D T H E R C F 1 1

19. Djibouti, Morocco, Yemen, Jordan and Egypt.

Figure 2. Programmatic structure of the RCF

MDGsCAWTARATDPPOGARHARPASWGP-AS

DemocraticGovernance

AHDRATDPPOGARICTDAR

BuildingKnowledgePOGARICTDARTIMMSHEAKR

YOUTH

Note: TIMMS indicates Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study; HE indicates Enhancement of Quality Assurance andInstitutional Planning in Arab Universities.

C H A P T E R 2 . R E G I O N A L C O N T E X T A N D T H E R C F1 2

Table 2. Expected outcomes and outcome indicators

Pillars Expected outcomes Outcome indicators

MDG � Advocacy, policy dialogue and debate around AHDRpriority themes generated in the region

� Policies and programmes formulated, adopted andimplemented at regional and country levels that aimat MDG achievement and poverty alleviation

� Enhanced capacities of Arab countries to promotetheir development concerns in ongoing multilateraland regional trade negotiations

� Pro-poor and pro-women growth policies adoptedand enriched national/regional dialogue on genderrelated policy choices

� Multi-stakeholder leadership capacity developedat individual, institutional and societal levels togenerate human-rights based breakthroughresponses for reversing the course of the epidemicof HIV/AIDS

� Broad-based,multi-sectoral and multi-levelresponse generated, integrating HIV/AIDS intonational development plans and mainstreamingHIV/AIDS into key sectors and ministries

� Water governance considerations incorporatedinto national sustainable development frameworks,and efficient and equitable water resourcesmanagement and water supply and sanitationservice delivery increased

� Number of AHDRs produced

� Degree of work for MDG achieve-ment and monitoring

� Number of briefing notes onWTO andregional trade agreements; numberof workshops organized; number ofadvisory and advocacymissions carriedout; participation of civil society intrade policy making bodies; produc-tion and availability of trainingmanuals in English and Arabic;number of regional consultativemeetings initiated by Arab countries

� Extent to which gender dimensionsare mainstreamed in all ongoing aswell as planned regional interventions

� Number of laws and policies

� Percentage of regional resourcesallocated to national strategic plandevelopment efforts

� Efficient and effective ArabWaterCouncil able to deliver on itsmandate as assessed by FoundingCommittee of ArabWater Council

Democraticgovernance

� Poor and disadvantaged groups empowered toseek remedies for injustices, and justice institutionsenabled to be responsive to claims consistent withinternational human rights norms

� Citizens' participation, especially of vulnerablegroups, in policy dialogue increased throughenhanced access to information

� Public administration reform for efficient, effective,responsive, and pro-poor public services promoted;institution/legal/policy frameworks established topromote and enforce accountability, transparencyand integrity in public service

� Regional/national dialogue on responsivegovernance and democratization established inpost-crisis and transitional countries

� Number of training coursesconducted

� Legal databases produced andpublished in Arabic

� Number of Working Group meetings

� Development of Code of Ethicsfor the media

Building aknowledge society

� Strengthen capacities in the region for theacquisition, production and evaluation ofknowledge to enhance responsiveness to thechanging needs for economic development,labour markets and globalization

� E-strategies to facilitate increased access and fosteruse of ICT to achieve development goalsformulated/implemented

� Number of countries anduniversities that underwentquality assessment

� E-government institute created

Youth See above

C H A P T E R 2 . R E G I O N A L C O N T E X T A N D T H E R C F 1 3

Comprehensive financial figures for 2006 to 2008 for all projects under RCF are provided in Table 4.

Table 3. RCF budget 2006-2008 (USD)

Source of funds 2006 2007 2008 Total

Core 3,252,311 1,851,623 4,406,999 9,510,933

Non-core 4,679,073 7,621,214 8,433,438 20,733,725

Total 7,931,384 9,472,837 12,840,437 30,244,658

Projects/Programmes Budget 2006 Budget 2007 Budget 2008

Arab Human Development Report (AHDR) 526,129 645,425 1,570,687

Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 647,727 450,117 574,800

Enhancement of Quality Assurance and InstitutionalPlanning in Arab Universities (HE)

1,105,573 1,108,588 1,263,186

Information and Communications Technology forDevelopment in the Arab Region (ICTDAR)

860,981 1,046,271 919,447

HIV/AIDS Regional Programme in the Arab States (HARPAS) 285,794 368,933 640,384

Arab Initiative on Trade, Human Development andEconomic Governance (ATHDEG)

0 0 558,683

Regional Programme onWater Governance 11,707 214,722 52,186

Arab Knowledge Report (AKR) 0 0 1,116,575

Arab Development Portal (ADP) 0 0 72,673

Programme on Governance in the Arab Region (POGAR) 1,769,473 1,161,759 437,614

Good Governance for Development POGAR (GfD) 0 379,503 1,126,700

Participation - Parliamentary Strengthening POGAR 0 0 448,497

Prosecutors Total POGAR 1,364,934 3,147,622 3,294,983

Rule of Law POGAR 945,473 612,258

Centre for ArabWomen Training (CAWTAR) 392,747 288,649 16,549

E-Governance 0 0 2,302

Water Governance Programme for Arab States (WGP-AS) 0 0 13,794

HARPAS OPEC Fund for International Development 0 0 548,872

Enhancing Societal Engagement in MDG Achievement (ASAP) 0 0 0

Assessing Development Strategies for MDGs (RAMP) 4,130 39,473 91,813

Policy Analysis in Macroeconomic Policies for MDGs(Policy Analysis)

16,716 9,517 90,602

Total 7,931,384 9,472,837 12,840,347

Table 4. Projects by total budget RCF 2006-2008 (USD)

Source: Regional Bureau for Arab States.

C H A P T E R 2 . R E G I O N A L C O N T E X T A N D T H E R C F1 4

The cost-sharing approach used by the regionalprogramme generated interest among donors,including private foundations and businesses. Alarge spectrum of donors contributed to a varietyof regional programmes. Contributions havebeen received from bilateral donors, theEuropean Union, participating countries in theregion, foundations and the private sector. Inaddition, there has been parallel financing to anumber of projects. There was a marked absenceof Arab State donors, with the exception ofTunisia and Algeria, especially in view of theprevalence of wealthy NCCs. Bilateral donorsconstitute the bulk among donors. Table 5summarizes the main donor contributions thatwere directly provided to the RCF. In addition,there has been parallel financing to a numberof projects.

Four observations were made with respect to costsharing. First, there was a marked absence ofArab state donors, with the exception of Tunisiaand Algeria, especially in view of the prevalenceof wealthy NCCs. Second, bilateral donorsconstituted the bulk among donors.20 Third,contributions were not to the RCF but to thespecific programmes. However, the regionalprogramme succeeded in obtaining only 38.5percent of the total external resources from Arabstates and Arab funds. Fourth, several processeshindered resource mobilization. While projectmanagers for ATDP, ICTDAR and HARPASwere able to mobilize resources from public andprivate donors successfully, RBAS at Headquarters

has discouraged these efforts because theyconsider it to be a central function, requiringaccountability and legal Memorandums ofUnderstanding with donors, and a duplication ofresource mobilization efforts.

At the time of the evaluation, strategies andprocedures for resource mobilization were underrevision at Headquarters. The RBAS ResourceMobilization Office considers resource mobiliza-tion a joint effort with project managers thatinvolves building partnerships with donors. Yetresource mobilization has been a source offrustration for project managers because of thelack of outcome and thus hindrance to projects.Project managers were unaware that resourcemobilization was considered a joint effort, asthey had been told not to concern themselveswith resource mobilization. Consequently, theyhave had to turn down donors interestedin contributing to their projects. In addition,Headquarters’ approach to resource mobilizationincludes establishing partnerships, which cantake two to three years. Obviously, this is not apragmatic approach when these projects areconfined to the RCF time-frame. Another factordeterring donors is the application process, whichincludes complicated and drawn out legalrequirements that cause some donors towithdraw their offer. Consequently, projects haveconstrained resources not because of the lack ofresources but because of prolonged processesthat are counter-productive.

20. It is also interesting to note that the United States, which usually shies from cost-sharing and prefers to execute its ownprogrammes, appears among the bilateral donors.

C H A P T E R 2 . R E G I O N A L C O N T E X T A N D T H E R C F 1 5

Donor Amount (USD) Project/Programme

Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation (MBRF) 6,657,031 Arab Knowledge Report (AKR)

Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFSED) 552,386 AHDR

Arab Gulf Fund (AGF) 300,000 AHDR

OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) 50,000 Arab Development Portal (ADP)

Belgium 1,358,762 Prosecutors

Denmark 677,015 Prosecutors

Netherlands 1,500,000 Prosecutors

Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) 4,159,054 Prosecutors

France 125,056 Prosecutors

United Nations Foundation (UNF) 500,000 Prosecutors

Tunisia 57,252 CAWTAR

AG Fund 300,000 CAWTAR

Ford Foundation 150,000 ICTDAR

Spain/Agencia Espanola de Cooperacion Internacional (AECI) 1,172,185 ICTDAR

Microsoft 50,000 ICTDAR

Cisco 557,485 ICTDAR

Algeria 73,735 Trends in International Mathematicsand Science Study (TIMSS)

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) 246,397 POGAR

United States 700,000 POGAR

Italy 1,400,000 POGAR

Japan 250,000 HARPAS

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) 100,000 HARPAS

Office of the High Commission for Human Rights (UNHCR) 20,000 HARPAS

World Health Organization (WHO) 20,000 HARPAS

OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) 3,500,000 HARPAS OFID

Finland 1,405,215 Enhancement of QualityAssurance and InstitutionalPlanning in Arab Universities (HE)

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit(GTZ)

1,208,824 Enhancement of QualityAssurance and InstitutionalPlanning in Arab Universities (HE)

France 352,244 Good Governance forDevelopment POGAR (GfD)

United States 695,000 Good Governance forDevelopment POGAR (GfD)

United States 1,562,452 Rule of Law

Total 29,700,093

Table 5. Donor contributions to RCF, 2006-2009 (USD)

Source: Regional Bureau for Arab States

C H A P T E R 3 . F I N D I N G S 1 7

3.1 PROGRAMME OUTCOMES

Three AHDRs were published during the secondRCF and one during the third.21 The fifthAHDR is in the preparation stage. It will addressthe issue of human security in the region. Allreports published generated active debate in theregion highlighting important and sometimescontroversial topics. An achievement of theAHDRs is that they are drafted by Arab scholarsfrom the different parts of the region. Someuniversities have included the reports in theireducation programmes, such as the UniversitéMohamed V in Morocco. There is also evidencethat the AHDR has influenced strategy develop-ment by other agencies working in the Arab region.

Work on the three pillars of POGAR—Strengthening the Rule of Law in the ArabStates, Modernization of Public ProsecutionOffices and the Good Governance forDevelopment Initiative; Participation and theStrengthening of Arab Parliaments; andKnowledge Management—have put UNDP in astrong strategic position in the area of democraticgovernance. POGAR activities have alsocontributed to MDG achievement, building aknowledge society, gender and youth.

The Rule of Law Project carried out activitiesaimed at training new judges and prosecutors, aninitiative presently being implemented in Iraq.Under this initiative, important work has beendone in the area of legislation related to corrup-tion crimes. The project collaborates withgovernments in assessing laws related to theprevention of corruption.Under theModernizationof Public Prosecution Offices, activities have

focused on working with regional and interna-tional networks of public prosecution offices toreform legislation on criminal procedures in eachparticipating country, providing staff training atthe senior level, helping countries conduct selfanalyses, and engaging civil society in thepreparation of reform plans. The Participationand the Strengthening of Arab ParliamentsInitiative focused on strengthening the role ofcivil society, parliaments and the media inpromoting democratic governance; encouragingcitizens’ participation in public sector reform; andaddressing gender issues and the politicalempowerment of women. Important work wascarried out on best practices in parliaments andelectoral processes and elections—two verysensitive issues for the region.

Under the knowledge creation area, POGAR hascreated and disseminated current, authoritativeand accurate information on 22 Arab countriesrelevant to the issues of governance and humandevelopment. Numerous information tools weredeveloped, updated and validated by professionalresearchers. Specifically, POGAR’s websites havecontributed to building knowledge on the variouspillars of governance: civil society, elections,gender, legislature, constitution, judiciary, humanrights, financial transparency and combatingcorruption. These websites have served as bothreferences and dialogue platforms.

Youth issues were also addressed by thegovernance projects. In partnership with regionalparliamentary organizations working on youth-sensitive issues, comparative research in youth-related legislation at both the regional and interna-tional level has been supported. The recently

21. The AHDRs included ‘Creating Opportunities for Future Generations’, 2002; ‘Building a Knowledge Society’, 2003;‘Freedom and Good Governance’, 2004; and ‘Empowerment of Arab Women’, 2005.

Chapter 3

FINDINGS

C H A P T E R 3 . F I N D I N G S1 8

completed publication, ‘Arab ParliamentariansGuide on Empowering Youth’, includes guidelinesto legislators as well as a model law that Arabparliamentarians can refer to when draftinglegislation aimed at promoting participation andaddressing the challenges faced by Arab youth.

Amongst the activities carried out under theICTDAR Programme, several achievements canbe highlighted especially in the areas of povertyreduction, promoting gender equality, youth andknowledge creation. Four initiatives aimed atpoverty reduction, gender mainstreaming andyouth stand out as successes: AjialCom, Mediumand Small Houses Reinforced by Access toTechnology and Information, ICT in the ArabRegion for the Blind, andWomen and Children’sRights through Access to Information (WRACTI).

AjialCom targeted youth of both genders toimprove employment opportunities through theacquisition of ICT skills. The activity began inEgypt, Morocco and Yemen and was replicatedin Algeria, Djibouti, Sudan, Syria and Iraq.Thereare now more than 500 centres in 58 communi-ties. Medium and Small Houses Reinforced byAccess to Technology and Information targetedmicro and young business owners, men andwomen, to encourage them to use ICT toaccelerate growth, increase productivity andpenetrate the market. Important partnershipswith central and local government, NGOs andcompanies were achieved when establishing thespecialized centres for training. ICT in the ArabRegion for the Blind addressed needs of thevisually impaired to assist them in openingopportunities and gaining employment by usingICT to obtain graduate degrees and access thejob market. WRACTI contributed to genderequality and women’s empowerment by usingICT to provide legal information for women.Hundreds of community and women centres inrural and urban areas have been established forwomen to access legal information, advice andtraining; domestic court payment systems havebeen computerized; and thousands of socialworkers have been trained to advise women ontheir rights. The initiative has fostered dialogue

on gender equality and has been adopted by somegovernments that translated its activities intonational policies.

HARPAS has successfully established a regionalplatform promoting awareness, advocacy andpolicy dialogue regarding prevention ofHIV/AIDS and protection of the rights ofPLWH. The project’s approach has beencomprehensive in targeting the participation of awide array of actors including the Arab League atthe regional level; parliamentarians, legislatures,the media and the private sector at the countrylevel; NGOs, CSOs, religious leaders andwomen’s groups at the community level; andcelebrities, youth and PLWH at the individuallevel. Key tools of HARPAS include raisingawareness, advocacy, strengthening leadershipcapacity, generating knowledge, and fosteringpolicy reform, new legislation, cooperation andpartnerships. The project’s outputs have made asignificant impact in transferring informationand skills to the participating countries as well asprotecting the rights of PLWH. HARPAS hasnot only broken the silence surroundingHIV/AIDS in the region but also strategicallypositioned UNDP to address HIV/AIDS as anMDG and mobilize national initiatives. HARPAShas achieved important results in the areas ofpoverty reduction, scaling up the response toHIV/AIDS, gender, youth, governance andknowledge creation.

Through the Regional Arab Network againstAIDS, HARPAS contributed to povertyreduction by establishing a network of CSOs thataim to protect the rights of PLWH and provideaccess to employment and micro-credit, health-care and training. The Business Coalition in theArab Region, created under the project, workedtowards mobilizing financial resources forpreventive measures against the spread ofHIV/AIDS in the labour force and institutingsustainable strategies towards investing in thelivelihoods of PLWH and eliminating employ-ment discrimination. HARPAS has alsoorganized workshops to reach women’s organiza-tions to heighten their awareness with respect to

C H A P T E R 3 . F I N D I N G S 1 9

HIV/AIDS and build capacity to campaignagainst harmful sex practices and unsafetraditional practices. Furthermore, HARPAS hascontributed to knowledge creation by dissemi-nating information on HIV/AIDS by means ofliterature, film and guidebook kits. Youth havebeen targeted by the project by training youngreligious leaders and utilizing ICT tools.

HARPAS has also contributed to democraticgovernance by advocating for legislation toprotect the rights of PLWH and to create asupportive environment for PLWH. This hasbeen implemented by carrying out regional andsub-regional workshops to assemble Arab parlia-mentarians, magistrates, legal experts and humanrights groups to discuss the legal implications ofHIV/AIDS.These workshops provided epidemi-ological information about HIV/AIDS, raisedthe awareness of legislators, reviewed existinglegislation relating to the protection of PLWHfundamental to human rights at the countrylevel, and advocated the harmonization ofnational legislation with international instru-ments on human rights and the United NationsGeneral Assembly’s Special Session onHIV/AIDS ‘Declaration of Commitment’.HARPAS has been successful in paving the wayfor future actions to mainstream HIV/AIDSstrategies into national policies.

Although CAWTAR is no longer a UNDPregional project (in 2006 it became an independ-ent centre), several achievements werehighlighted. CAWTAR concentrated on genderequality and women’s empowerment usingtraining and capacity development, research andoutreach activities, knowledge development andadvocacy. It contributed to poverty reduction andgovernance through its work on policy researchon poverty with a specific focus on women andadolescent girls, the establishment of gender-based statistics for effective water use, gendereconomic research, and research on informalsector development and women entrepreneur-ship. The flagship report of CAWTAR was itsArab Women Development Report, an activitythat linked research, training, networking and

advocacy. A forthcoming report dealing with‘Arab Women and Decision Making’ will shedlight on women’s participation in social andpolitical decision-making.

Although the outcomes produced under theHigher Education Project were different thanthose expected, several important achievementswere noted. Activities under the HigherEducation project benefited 38 universities andstaff in 17 Arab countries, increasing theknowledge and awareness of these universitiesand building their capacity for quality assurance,academic reviews and student testing forcomparisons with international benchmarks.Training received in the methods and efficientperformance of tasks required to conductacademic programme reviews concentrated onfour fields of study: Computer Science, BusinessAdministration, Education Science andEngineering. This training resulted in 190certified faculty members in the area of QualityAssurance, Peer Reviews and Advanced QualityAssurance for Training of Trainers. This groupconstituted a critical mass in Arab universitiesthat could conduct self-assessment exercises andprogramme reviews in their field. Furthermore,academic programmes in Computer Science,Business Administration, Education Science andEngineering were jointly reviewed in 38 Arabuniversities by independent reviewers fromEurope and 101 Arab professors who werecertified reviewers. On the basis of such reviews,some universities have modified their curriculaand teaching methods. Another achievement ofthis project is the innovative testing administeredto senior students by the Educational TestingService of Princeton, United States, in 14 partic-ipating universities. Results have increaseduniversities’ awareness of existing deficits andmay lead to changes in programme design,teaching and testing methods, as well as teachingmaterials. This international test has not beenadministered in the Arab region. Reports andpublications produced under the project haveprovided readers with new material not availablein the Arabic scientific literature before.

C H A P T E R 3 . F I N D I N G S2 0

Trends in International Mathematics andScience Study achievements has focused oninstitutional capacity building, developingknowledge about evaluation techniques foreducational authorities and creating knowledgeproducts such as national databases and testingmaterials in Arabic. Capacity developmentworkshops were organized in Egypt, Djibouti,Jordan, Oman, Tunisia and Yemen and trainingwas also organized in Germany, Latvia andBotswana to give Arab participants the opportu-nity to meet counterparts from other parts of theworld for joint learning and experience exchange.Important partnerships were achieved betweenthe project, the UNDP country office and partic-ipating ministries. As a result of the project,several countries implemented educationalreforms, developed new policies, and set upteacher training programmes.

The new AKRP intends to engage institutionsand citizens in global issues and concerns relatedto building knowledge societies for humandevelopment.22 The first report is being editedand will be launched in 2009, thus there are thusno concrete results yet.

ATDP is characterized by a multi-prongedapproach. It assists those countries that are notyet WTO members23 in acquiring negotiationcapacity so that they can enter into themainstream of globalization in an advantageousmanner. It also proposes to assist the GreaterArab Free Trade Area in clarifying the rules oforigin. In addition, it provides technical supportto Jordan, Morocco and Yemen on issues relatedto trade and industrial policies and economicgovernance. ATDP is also in the process offinalizing a study on the textile sector, which is ofgreat importance in providing jobs to women andyouth in the region. 24 Given the early stages ofATDP, it is too early to assess its results.

The Government of Japan funded through theSouth-South Cooperation Unit the preparatoryassistance phase of WGP-AS. The projectdocument was finalized in February 2008 and sixcountries in the region endorsed theprogramme.25 The strategy addresses bothregional and national needs. National needs, inparticular, are addressed through technicalassistance to UNDP country offices in localmanagement of water and sanitation. WGP-ASis intended to align with country programmesand work closely with country offices in theparticipating countries. At the regional level,there is a strong emphasis on South-Southtransfer of expertise and capacity development.

There was some synergy between regionalprojects, for example between HARPAS andPOGAR, HARPAS and CAWTAR, andCAWTAR and ICTDAR. However, collabora-tions could have been more significant and effectivewith more efforts and intensive cooperation.Regional projects would benefit from increasedsynergy of human and financial resources.Resource utilization and project activities wouldbe more efficient if projects worked together.

Two examples of collaboration between regionalprojects can be highlighted. ICTDAR andCAWTAR collaborated in Tunisia (led by theMinistry ofWomen, Children and Family) underthe ICTDAR activity WRACTI. This activityprovided women, children and social workers withknowledge and access to information about theirrights through ICT. The Arab Gulf Programmefor United Nations Development Organizationswill provide supporting funds to CAWTAR toreplicate this experience in other countries.Another example of collaboration was foursub-regional workshops on Development ofLegislations Protecting and Promoting Rights of

22. UNDP, ‘The Arab Knowledge Report (AKR): Background Document’.23. The following countries and territories are not yet WTOmembers: Algeria, Iraq, Libya, Lebanon, Somalia, Syria, Yemen

and the Palestinian Territories.24. The project captured the attention of one of the bilateral donors—the International Development Research Centre,

which financed the textile study.25. Including Djibouti, Jordan, Libya, Palestine, Qatar, Tunisia and Yemen.

C H A P T E R 3 . F I N D I N G S 2 1

PLWH organized by HARPAS in partnershipwith POGAR and the International LabourOrganization and with the auspices of theArab League.

3.2 RELEVANCE OF THE REGIONALCOOPERATION FRAMEWORK

The RCF 2006-2009 has generally been relevantto the priorities and the needs of the Arab region.The RCF has been positioned to address manyissues at the regional level that could not havebeen adequately addressed within the countryprogrammes.These issues have included sensitiveareas related to democratic governance,transparency, accountability and social issues,such as gender equality and HIV/AIDS. TheRCF brought these issues to the forefront, andtheir articulation was a major contribution of theframework, as was raising consciousness forseeking remedies. The AHDRs, in particular,generated knowledge and provided a regionalplatform for discussing priority topics, includingthe role of women and the education andknowledge gaps pervasive in the region.

The work of the regional programme onHIV/AIDS has been particularly relevant to theregion, where the epidemic is not openlydiscussed.The programme has brought HIV/AIDSinto the open through regional dialogue.

Education-related projects under the knowledgesociety pillar addressed the knowledge deficit inthe region by providing assistance to Arabuniversities to promote a culture of evaluation,educational quality improvement and reform,focusing on educational policies for teachingmathematics and science.

Under the democratic governance pillar,programmes such as POGAR addressed keyissues pertaining to good governance and judicialreform through advocacy, policy dialogue andtraining. Similarly, ICT has been promoted as away for democratization.

The recent work initiated by UNDP in the areaof trade and job creation responds to a priorityneed in all countries—whether oil exporters,middle-income or low-income.

Cross-thematic strategic partnerships wereestablished to capitalize on the efforts andresources that UNDP and other organizationscan bring to bear on regional developmentproblems. The three programmatic pillars thatsupport the RCF are mutually reinforcing andthe accomplishments of one pillar have spill-overeffects on the others. The synergy among thethree pillars is clear and meaningful. Theprogrammes that contribute to the realization ofthe pillars tackle problems that are common tocountries in the region.

Efforts to secure equality and social inclusionconsisted of special emphasis on gender equalityand the empowerment and participation of women.Special attention was paid to youth-related issuesas a cross-cutting theme. This is an added pointin the relevance of the RCF, as youth have apreponderance in the age pyramid in the region.

The RCF has succeeded in tackling some vitalproblems in the region. Nevertheless, it is clearthat RCF activities have concentrated sub-regionally and the agenda has tended to be drivenby the policy issues facing middle-incomecountries. In particular, the RCF has only hadlimited reach to NCCs and to least developedcountries (with the exception of Yemen). Becauseof its built-in flexibility, the RCF succeeded inaddressing the diverse needs of the countries withdifferent intensity in different countries. There issignificant scope in all existing programmes toenhance sub-regional approaches based oncharacteristics of the country groupings.

3.3 EFFECTIVENESS

The RCF programmes have been most effectivein advocacy and policy dialogue on commonpriority issues in the region. The programmeshave also developed the capacities of governmentinstitutions, NGOs, and religious leaders with

C H A P T E R 3 . F I N D I N G S2 2

which they worked by encouraging policydialogue and building and disseminatingknowledge on issues that are pertinent to theregion. The programmes created partnershipswith a host of Arab governments, CSOs, NGOsand academic and policy institutions.

The outcomes of the programmes havecontributed, in different degrees, to the realiza-tion of the expected results of the three pillars.The greatest value added has been in advocacyinterventions by which policy makers and civilsociety actors have become familiar with pressingissues in the region, such as governance, rule oflaw, corruption and participation in the politicalprocess.The success of the RCF in raising awarenessand debate on sensitive issues has enhanced itseffectiveness. In particular, the AHDRs haveencouraged region-wide discussion on develop-ment issues.

Important initiatives in the area of genderincluded the publication of the 2005 AHDR‘Towards the Rise of Women in the Arab World’and the 2007 study on Regional Gender EqualityandWomen Empowerment Programme for ArabStates, which will contribute to mainstreaminggender in the next RCF and country programmes.

A concrete outcome emanating from the secondAHDR is the new AKRP, which has led to aunique partnership with the MBRF. Thispartnership has institutionalized the follow-up toone of the key issues identified in the AHDRs—building a knowledge society. The AHDRs alsoappear to have influenced policies of otherdevelopment organizations, including somebilateral donors active in the region, and foundtheir way to university curricula in the region.

The projects in education added significant valueto the youth dimension in the Arab region andcontributed to the realization of the knowledgepillar of the RCF. The projects responded to aregional need for improvement in educationquality, achieving results in the areas of educationreform and policies, evaluation culture andcreation of knowledge products.

The programmes under the governance clusterhave allocated a significant amount of resourcesto building and disseminating knowledge. Theirfocus has been on rule of law and participation,with four distinct, interdependent areas: judicialreform, criminal justice policies and systems,anti-corruption measures, and enhancing thequality of legislation and regulations. Humanrights, gender, youth and environment aremainstreamed into these four areas of work incoordination with the concerned United Nationsorganizations. POGAR has provided an onlinewindow to parliamentary development resourcesand knowledge products, thereby encouragingthe use of ICT in accessing information tosupport parliamentary work in the region. It hasalso conducted research on the representativefunction of the parliament and the role of theparliament in promoting decentralization and infighting corruption. The creation of websites fordemocratic governance that also address issues ofhuman rights, gender, and human development, hascontributed to knowledge production, accumula-tion and dissemination.The websites serve as notonly references but also dialogue platforms.

The programme on ICT has targeted differentsectors of society to provide knowledge forawareness raising and capacity development. Atthe same time, it has produced initiatives aimedat poverty reduction focusing on youth, mediumand small enterprises, and people with disabili-ties. It introduced ICT as a tool for easy access toinformation and social services, for acquisition ofskills, and to raise awareness of human rights.

The HIV/AIDS programme at the regional andcountry level has contributed to raising awarenessof policy makers, religious leaders, CSOs and theArab public on the disease and its carriers. It hassuccessfully instituted a regional advocacyprogramme that will pave the way for futureactions to include mainstreaming HIV/AIDSstrategies in national policies.

Since most of the activities on trade and develop-ment are still new, it is premature to assess theireffectiveness or results.

C H A P T E R 3 . F I N D I N G S 2 3

3.4 SUSTAINABILITY

The sustainability of the RCF results dependsupon two conditions: whether the results of manyupstream projects—such as advocacy, policyadvice and capacity development—can beconverted into downstream projects; and whethera firm linkage can be achieved between the RCFand the UNDP country programmes.The resultsof the regional programmes will be sustainableprovided that advocacy and policy advicegenerated within the projects are internalized bythe national governments and further policydecisions are built on them. Partnership with thecountry offices is essential for regionalprogramme sustainability because follow-up atthe country level to the regional initiatives isnecessary. The RCF does not have the resourcesor the reach at the country level to providecontinued support to build upon regional efforts.

Each regional programme has internal dynamicsthat determine its sustainability. The degree ofacceptance by the governments and the skills thathave been developed in the public sector suggestgood prospects for sustainability for the resultsachieved under the democratic governance pillar.The sustainability of the activities enhancingwomen’s rights will depend upon the extent towhich CSOs are strengthened and governmentsadopt the policy advice.

Under the poverty pillar, the results of the tradeand development programme need to be institu-tionalized in national policies. However, it is tooearly to assess whether this is happening.Similarly, combating HIV/AIDS requiresspecific actions in particular countries and thesustainability of results of the regionalprogramme will depend upon the extent to whichcountry offices, other United Nations organiza-tions, and the governments can internalize resultsachieved so far and design national programmes.

There is evidence that the knowledge societypillar is achieving sustainability partly throughthe institutionalization of the work initiated

under the AHDR within the scope of the newAKRP, which responds to a need in the regionand has attracted significant external funding.The results achieved under the educationprogramme need to be sustained while UNDP isseeking an exit strategy from the area, which doesnot fall within its comparative advantage.

3.5 CHALLENGES

The RCF was faced with several shortcomings,most of which stemmed from how it wasdesigned. The RPD did not define the expectedoutcomes or the corresponding indicators thatwould allow for measuring results in a meaning-ful manner. In some cases, indicators weredefined in such a way as to be devoid ofoperational value. In others, the indicators werepedestrian and linked only to activities andoutputs.

Coordination between the RCF and the countryprogrammes in the region is weak or, in manycases, non-existent. There is a marked absence ofconcrete projects at the operational level withsustainable results that emanate from theadvocacy efforts. To achieve this would requiremore operational linkages to countryprogrammes, which would have to be forgedearly at the design stage.

Funding for the RCF from UNDP core resourceshas been limited. This has implications on thescope and reach of the programme. While theoverall thrust of the RCF has been appropriate,several of the programmes have been spread toothinly, as they have been directed by resourcemobilization opportunities. Resource mobilizationefforts, with some exceptions, have not adequatelytapped regional sources, including governments.

UNOPS is the primary executing partner for RCFprogrammes. For some projects, this arrangementhas not been satisfactory due to lack of substantivebackstopping and delays in administrative support.

C H A P T E R 4 . C O N C L U S I O N S 2 5

The Arab States RCF 2006-2009 has addressedcentral development issues in the region. It hasdrawn attention to needs that are difficult toresolve because of their sensitivity and because ofdifficulties surrounding advocacy originatingfrom individual UNDP country programmes.There are a number of broad areas that will needattention in the future.

4.1 NEED FORA RESULTS FRAMEWORK

The weak results framework with inadequatedefinition of outcomes has hampered the focus ofthe RCF as well as the ability to evaluate theeffectiveness of its results. A fundamental lessonfrom the RCF is that a solidly designedprogramme is necessary in order to assess resultsand outcomes. This entails defining theoutcomes at the outset and including clearbaselines and indicators for their achievement. Alogical model that explains how the activities andoutputs are intended to lead to the outcomeswould be very helpful.

4.2 COORDINATION WITHCOUNTRY PROGRAMMES

The effectiveness and sustainability of theregional programme is largely dependent on itsrelevance and linkages to UNDP work at thecountry level. While the purpose of the RCF isnot to directly serve country offices, both areguided by UNDP priorities and its strategic plan.Activities at the regional level—especiallyknowledge creation and advocacy—often requirefollow-up at the country level in order to reachobjectives and sustainability. Therefore, countryoffice ownership of issues tackled by the regionalprogramme will be beneficial. Generatingownership should start at the formulation stageand should continue throughout the programme.This will require close communication between

the regional programme and country offices. It isimportant to select the country offices participat-ing in regional activities based on their interestand commitment. In that regard, the new RCFprovides an excellent opportunity to improvecommunications and coordination.

4.3 NEED FOR FOCUS

Resource limitations of the RCF underline theimportance of having a highly focusedprogramme. Unless there are significant externalfunding sources, it would be better to limit thenumber of activities in order to enhance the reachand depth of the programme. There are signifi-cant opportunities for fund-raising from nationalsources, donor organizations and the privatesector at the country level for specific programmesand activities. However, it is important that anyfund-raising efforts adhere to an overall strategythat guarantees the coherence of the programme.

4.4 SUB-REGIONAL FOCUS

The RCF agenda has been largely defined bymiddle-income countries, which have benefitedthe most from advocacy, policy dialogue andcapacity development. Most of the leastdeveloped countries in the region have been leftout. Similarly, RCF participation by NCCs hasbeen very limited. Nevertheless, there would besignificant scope for involving both leastdeveloped countries and NCCs, especiallyregarding knowledge and advocacy on priorityissues pertaining to their developmentchallenges. NCCs would also be in an advanta-geous position to continue with regional initia-tives at the national level using their ownresources. This would provide an opportunity forUNDP to promote human developmentapproaches in the region.

Chapter 4

CONCLUSIONS

C H A P T E R 5 . R E C O M M E N D A T I O N S 2 7

Recommendation 1. The overall objectives ofthe RCF should be reviewed with a view toconcentrating on fewer areas with clearly definedoutcomes and strategic thrust. The RCF shouldbe aligned with the directions and principles ofthe UNDP strategic plan, recognizing country-specific circumstances. Programmes should bebrought in line with programmatic priorities ofthe RCF focus areas. A knowledge-basedapproach to South-South cooperation, whereexperiences are transferred or exchanged betweencountries in the region, should continue to be amain modality of the RCF.

Recommendation 2. The RCF should exploreenhancing sub-regional approaches based ondistinctions between the developmental levels ofcountries in the region and correspondingdevelopment policies. There are marked socio-economic differences among countries in theregion (least developed countries, NCCs andmiddle-income countries), which render a one-size-fits-all approach difficult. Taking note ofcontextual differences in the region complieswith the emphasis of the UNDP strategic planon greater country specificity.

Recommendation 3. A better balance must bestruck between knowledge generation andcapacity development, as well as the transforma-tion of policy advice into specific projects.Concrete efforts should be made as a follow-upto regional advocacy and policy dialogue initia-tives. In many cases, such efforts would fallbeyond the scope of the regional programme andwould require follow-up at the country level byUNDP country programmes and nationalpartners. Country office management should beinvolved at all stages of the planning andimplementation of the RCF in order to ensurealignment with country programmes.

Recommendation 4. Gender mainstreamingand youth should remain cross-cutting issues. Inparticular, the development of productive sectors,employment and trade policies are central from agender and youth perspective. Developing adedicated project designed specifically to meetyouth issues would be appropriate, since it wouldproperly focus attention exclusively on youth andbe more conducive to monitoring and evaluatingsuccesses in the area.

Recommendation 5. Poverty reduction anddemocratic governance should continue to be thefocus of the programme. Environment andsustainable development, as a new component ofthe regional programme, is fully aligned with thestrategic plan and the regional priorities. Theprogrammatic activities developed under it shouldbe closely aligned with the governance andpoverty reduction focus areas of the RCF. Giventhe serious resource constraints of the regionalprogramme, and the existence of a dedicatedbureau in UNDP, the RCF should refrain fromaddressing crisis prevention and recovery.

Recommendation 6. The AHDR should beseparated from the regional programme andbecome independent. A separate fund should beset up with, inter alia, private-sector contribu-tions from the region. The AHDR shouldremain under the purview of UNDP in order tomaintain its neutrality and high quality, butremoving it from the regional programme wouldsecure continuity, ownership and sustainability.

Recommendation 7. Resource mobilizationefforts should tap into the financial resources ofthe region, including NCCs as well as public andprivate sources. Individual programmes should beencouraged to mobilize additional resources andfacilitate the application procedures of thesefunds, providing guidance with regard toalignment with the regional programme focusand corporate resource mobilization strategies.

Chapter 5

RECOMMENDATIONS

A N N E X I . T E R M S O F R E F E R E N C E 2 9

SCOPE OF THE EVALUATION

The evaluation will cover the ongoing RCF2006-2009. The evaluation will draw from theconclusions of outcome evaluations undertakenduring the RCF period and secondary informa-tion sources pertaining to the regionalprogramme. Individual outcome evaluations inthree areas have been commissioned by RBASand will be completed by early August 2008. Theevaluation will assess the contributions of UNDPthrough the RCF to development results in theregion. This is expected to strengthen theformulation of the next regional programme. Inassessing strategic importance, relevance, anddevelopment effectiveness of the RCF, theevaluation will cover the following key areas:

� Performance of the RCF programme portfolioand development results achieved, includingthe achievement of the immediate objectives.

� Strategic positioning and focus of the RCFand its relevance to country and regionalpriorities, including relevance to the MDGs.

� Value addition of the regional programme inthe context of Arab States vis-à-vis globaland country programmes. Organizationalstrategy, modalities and mechanisms,including linkages to UNDP strategies andframeworks.

� Synergic relationships between variouscomponents of the RCF.

� Synergies and alignment of the RCF supportwith other initiatives and partnerships, aswell as cross-cutting priorities.

� Effectiveness of institutional and manage-ment arrangements of RBAS, and its

relationships with the SURF in Beirut, theBureau for Development Policy and otherrelevant UNDP units, for programming,managing, monitoring and evaluating theregional programme.

� Sustainability of RCF interventions andownership by regional and national stakeholdersafter the intervention is completed.

The evaluation will feed into the formulation of thenext regional programme and make recommenda-tions to RBAS related to aligning the RCF withthe UNDP Strategic Plan 2008-2011.

METHODOLOGY

The evaluation will use a combination of meta-evaluation and direct assessment techniques. Themeta-evaluation will review findings of thecomprehensive outcome evaluation commis-sioned by RBAS in 2008 and other programmeand project evaluations. This includes compre-hensive desk review and analysis of outcome andprogramme and project evaluations, monitoringreports, and other self assessment reports.

The meta-evaluation will be supplemented withselective country project visits (visits to four tofive countries) and consultations with the SURFin Beirut, country offices that will be visited, anda variety of RCF stakeholders in the region. In-depth interviews or focus group discussions witha variety of stakeholders will be organized. Theevaluation team will consult with specialistsbased at Headquarters and key partners in theregion in order to obtain a broad range of views.If necessary, a rapid questionnaire or informal snapsurvey may be used to provide quick informationon the programme.

Annex I

TERMS OF REFERENCE

A N N E X I . T E R M S O F R E F E R E N C E3 0

Triangulation of information and data sourceswill constitute the primary method for the assess-ment. The concept of triangulation refers toempirical evidence gathered through three majorsources of information: perception, validationand documentation. Validation of the informa-tion and findings will be achieved through cross-referencing of sources.

WORK PLAN

A detailed evaluation methodology, approachand programme of work will be agreed uponbetween the Evaluation Office and the evalua-tion Team Leader before the start of the evalua-tion. The evaluation team will meet in New Yorkin August 2008 for orientation, briefing andinitial interviews with RBAS, Bureau forDevelopment Policy and other relevant actors.An inception report will be prepared by the TeamLeader outlining the evaluation framework andimplementation arrangements.

DESK REVIEW

The evaluation team will review the RCF, itsconstituent projects and other related initiativesand key documents to extract information,identify key trends and issues, develop keyquestions and criteria for analysis, and compilerelevant data during the preparatory phase of theevaluation. The team will also analyse alloutcome and programme and project evaluationsundertaken by UNDP during the RCF periodbefore country visits, and undertake additionaldesk reviews based on interactions with RBAS,country offices, SURF, and other focal points forRCF activities during and after country visits.

ANALYSIS OF SURVEY DATA

The evaluation team will review and analyse datacollected by the ongoing corporate and partner-ship surveys carried out by UNDP to ascertainthe effectiveness of RCF work, particularly inrelation to policy advice, knowledge manage-ment, networking, and integration into UNDPwork, as well as to obtain the perception of keypartners and clients on the outcomes andeffectiveness of this approach.

VISITS TO SAMPLE OF COUNTRIES

A sample of four to five representative countriesand partner institutions in each of these countrieswill be visited by the evaluation team to validatethe findings coming out of the desk reviews,analysis of the outcome evaluations, andinterviews at Headquarters and the SURF.Country visits will also be used to identify goodpractices and lessons for the future at both thecountry and corporate levels. The EvaluationOffice will, in consultation with RBAS, select thesample countries. The criteria used for theselection of the sample countries include the sizeand composition of the programme and projectportfolio, geographical locations of projects, andpotential for lessons. The coverage ofprogrammes in the outcome evaluation will alsobe taken into account.

The evaluation team members will each spend atotal of three to five days per country and may besupported by a locally recruited consultant, ifnecessary. The main purpose of the field visitswill be to obtain on-site knowledge of how RCFwork links to country-level priorities and verticalintegration; obtain the views of the governmentand national stakeholders and the UnitedNations country team; bring some level ofspecificity and context to the assessment; andcome up with contextual findings andrecommendations that can complement thedesk-based analyses.

FINALIZATION OF REPORT

The last stage of the assessment will be devotedto report writing and further triangulation ofcountry-specific data and findings withHeadquarters sources. Since an outcome evalua-tion has already been completed, the mainemphasis of the report will be on the three pillarsand cross-cutting theme of the framework. Thedraft final report will be made available to theEvaluation Office by the second week ofNovember 2008 at the latest and will also besubmitted to RBAS for review. The evaluationTeam Leader will travel to New York to presentthe final draft evaluation report. The TeamLeader will finalize the report after the

A N N E X I . T E R M S O F R E F E R E N C E 3 1

Headquarters consultation and validation processand will make it available to the EvaluationOffice by end of December 2008.

EVALUATION TEAM COMPOSITION

An international team of two consultantsselected by the Evaluation Office will be engagedto undertake the evaluation. National consultantsmay be engaged in the case-study countries asrequired. The team will also include a designatedTask Manager from the Evaluation Office towork with the team at Headquarters and duringcountry visits, and to provide overall guidanceand quality assurance to the evaluation. Aresearch assistant will be engaged to provideresearch support at the Evaluation Office.

The composition of the evaluation team willinclude expertise in the substantive thematicareas covered by the RCF, as well as evaluationapproaches and methodologies.TheTeam Leadermust have a demonstrated capacity in strategicthinking and policy advice and in the evaluationand management of complex programmes. Theteam members must have in-depth knowledge ofand experience in the development situation inArab States. In general, the team members mustpossess educational qualifications in the socialsciences or related disciplines. The team shouldalso be familiar with UNDP modus operandi andhave extensive knowledge in organizational andinstitutional changes, and in management andmodalities of impacting changes throughadvisory services and advocacy.

MANAGEMENT ARRANGEMENTS

The Evaluation Office will manage the evalua-tion process, provide backstopping support andensure the coordination and liaison withconcerned agencies. The Evaluation Office TaskManager will work as a member of the evaluationteam providing overall guidance and qualityassurance, as well as undertaking specific evalua-tive tasks as agreed with the Team Leader. TheEvaluation Office will be responsible for theproduction of the Evaluation Report and presen-tation to the Executive Board.

TIMELINE FOR THE EVALUATION OFRCF FOR ARAB STATES

The time-frame for the delivery of evaluationoutputs is as follows:

Activity Estimated date

Desk review and analysis ofdocumentation

August 2008

Briefing mission to UNDPHeadquarters in New York

August 2008

Main mission to sampleof countries

September 2008 -October 2008

Submission of first draft reportand Evaluation Office review

Mid November2008

Review and comments byRBAS and other stakeholders

End November2008

Submission of revised finalreport to Evaluation Office

December 2008

Presentation of the evaluationto Executive Board

June 2009

A N N E X I I . P E O P L E C O N S U L T E D 3 3

NEW YORK, UNITED STATES

UNDP REGIONAL BUREAU FOR ARAB STATES

Mr. Adel Abdellatif, Chief, RegionalProgramme Division

Ms. Dima Al-Khatib, Programme Adviser,Regional Programme Division

Ms. Kunzang Chungyalpa, Chief, CountryProgramme Division

Ms. Dania Marzouki, Regional ProgrammeSpecialist, Regional Programme Division

Mr. Theodore Murphy, Programme Analyst,Regional Programme Division

Ms. Alexandra Regner, Programme Consultant,Regional Programme Division

Ms. Susanne K. Siao, Resource MobilizationAdviser, Regional Programme Division

UNDP BUREAU FORDEVELOPMENT POLICY

Ms. Randi Davis, Gender Practice Manager

Mr. Kamal Malhotra, Senior Adviser onInclusive Globalization

Mr. Jeff O’Malley, Director, HIV/AIDS Group

Mr. Raul Zambrano, Information Adviser,Institutional Development Group

CAIRO, EGYPT

UNDP COUNTRY OFFICE

Ms. Najla Arafa, Programme Analyst

Mr. Mohamed Bayoumi, ProgrammeOfficer, Environment

Ms. Khadija Musa, Deputy Country Director

Mr. James Rawley, UN Resident Coordinatorand UNDP Resident Representative

Ms. Nahed Salama, Executive Associate tothe UN Resident Coordinator

Mr. Mounir Tabet, Country Director

UNDP REGIONAL SERVICE CENTREIN CAIRO

Ms. Mona Hammam, Regional Director forRegional Cooperation Services

INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONTECHNOLOGIES FOR DEVELOPMENTIN ARAB REGION (ICTDAR)

Mr. Hesham Al Naggar, Programme Associate

Ms. Amira El Serafy, Programme Officer

Mr. Ziad Haddara, Regional Project Manager

Ms. Shaymaa Mansour, Administrative Assistant

Ms. Yasmine Soliman, Administrative Officer

HIV/AIDS REGIONAL PROGRAMME INTHE ARAB STATES (HARPAS)

Mr. Ihab El-Kharrat, Technical Adviser

Ms. Khadija Moalla, UNDP Regional PracticeLeader and Programme Coordinator

Mr. Pierre-Etienne Vannier, Programme Adviser

ARAB TRADE AND DEVELOPMENTPROGRAMME (ATDP)

Mr. Luis Abugattas, Senior Adviser

Mr. Andrea Accorigi, Research Associate

Mr. Ahmed Moustafa, Project Manager

Ms. Dalia Zaki, Junior Economist andProject Assistant

WATER GOVERNANCE PROGRAMME INTHE ARAB REGION (WGP-AR)

Mr. Sameh M. Afifi, Project Manager

Annex II

PEOPLE CONSULTED

A N N E X I I . P E O P L E C O N S U L T E D3 4

NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Amb. Mokhless Kotb, Secretary-General

Mr. Islam Helmy Rihan, Researcher

EGYPTIAN ORGANIZATIONFOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Mr. Hafez Abu Seada, Lawyer, Secretary-General and Member of the EgyptianNational Council for Human Rights(by telephone)

Mr. Ahmed El Shafei, InternationalRelations Unit

Mr. Tarik Zagloul, Manager of Field Unit

ARAB ORGANIZATION FORHUMAN RIGHTS

Mr. Mohsen Awad, Secretary-General

Mr. Alaa Shalaby, Senior Researcher

CENTRE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS STUDIES

Mr. Issam al-Din Hassan, Researcher

NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR WOMEN

Ms. Omneya Helmy, Director General,External Relations & InternationalCooperation Department

Ms. Hana Roufat, Manager Directorof Governorates

MINISTRY OF INFORMATION

Mr. Mohammad Abdel Salam Nasef,Director of Media

AL-NOUR ISLAMIC CENTRE

Shaykh Ahmad Turky, Imam of Al-NourIslamic Centre

LEAGUE OF ARAB STATES

Mr. I.G. Elsouri, Director of Development andSocial Policies Department

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENTRESEARCH CENTRE (IDRC) OF CANADA

Ms. Susan Joekes, Senior Programme Specialist—Economics, Programme and PartnershipBranch, Middle East and Africa

GERMAN TECHNICAL COOPERATION (GTZ)

Mr. Roland F. Steurer, Country Director

BEIRUT, LEBANON

UNDP COUNTRY OFFICE

Mr. Seifeldin Abarro, Country Director

Mr. Nick Hartmann, Deputy Country Director

Mr. Elie Khoury, Manager, Governance Project

Mr. Hassan Krayem, Policy Specialist

UNDP SUB-REGIONAL RESOURCEFACILITY (SURF)

Mr. Khalid Abu-Ismail, Regional PolicyAdviser, Poverty and Macroeconomics

Mr. Ars Toson, Regional Policy Adviser,Governance

PROGRAMME ON GOVERNANCE INTHE ARAB REGION (POGAR)

Mr. Zaid Al Ali, Legal Adviser andProject Specialist

Mr. Tony Atallah, Consultant

Ms. Nour Bejjani, Programme Associate

Ms. Karima El Korri, Manager, Participation

Ms. Joyce Hakmeh, Administrative Assistant

Mr. Wassim Harb, Senior Adviser, Rule of Law

Mr. Ndelly Rihan, Project Specialist

Ms. Sara Salman, Research Associate

Mr. Arkan El Seblani, Legal Specialist

Ms. Mona Sukkarieh, Programme Analyst

PARLIAMENT OF LEBANON

Mr. Farid El Khazen, Member of Parliament

PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE

Mr.George Awad,Director, Anti-corruption Unit

MINISTRY OF JUSTICE

Mr. Ibrahim Najjar, Minister of Justice

A N N E X I I . P E O P L E C O N S U L T E D 3 5

PUBLIC PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE

Mr. Roukoz Rizk, Director General

INSTITUTE OF JUDICIAL STUDIES

Mr. Sami Mansur, President

UNIVERSITY OF ST. JOSEPH

Ms. Fadia Kiwan, Director, PoliticalScience Institute

TUNIS, TUNISIA

UNDP COUNTRY OFFICE

Mr. Samir Bouzekri, Programme Analyst

Ms. Rossana Dudziak, Deputy ResidentRepresentative

Ms. Juliette Hage, UN Resident Coordinatorand UNDP Resident Representative

Mr. Youssef Landolsi, Charge des Operations

Ms. Khedija Mahfoudh, Administrative Officer

Ms. Noreddine Nasr, Programme Officer,Gender and Environment

Ms. Aida Robanna, Coordinator Adviser

Ms. Jihene Touil, Programme Associate,Environment

CENTRE FOR ARAB WOMEN TRAININGAND RESEARCH (CAWTAR)

Mr. Yusef Hatira, Project Coordinator

Ms. Atidel Mejbri, Information andCommunication Officer

MINISTRY OF JUSTICE ANDHUMAN RIGHTS

Mr. Zouheir Iskander, Director General,Centre for Legal and Judicial Studies

L’ASSOCIATION RAHMA (NGO)

Mr. Hamda Baklouii, Co-founder deL’Association RAHMA

Ms. Ferdaous Siaraf, President de L’AssociationRAHMA & President de la sous regionNord Africaine

RELIGIOUS LEADERS

Mr. Brahim Chaibi, Preacher

Mr. Abdel Katir Nafati, Religious Leader andProfessor at the University of Ezzitoun

Ms. Mongia Souayhi, Religious Leader

ABU DHABI & DUBAI,UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

UNDP COUNTRY OFFICE

Mr. Khaled Alloush, UN Resident Coordinatorand UNDP Resident Representative

Ms. Naoual Driouich, Deputy ResidentRepresentative

ARAB KNOWLEDGE REPORTPROGRAMME (AKRP)

Mr. Ghaith H. Fariz, Programme Director

MOHAMMED BIN RASHID AL MAKTOUMFOUNDATION (MBRF)

Ms. Janine Rentz Eltal, Director, Knowledgeand Education Sector

SANA’A, YEMEN

UNDP COUNTRY OFFICE

Mr.Walid Baharoon, Programme Specialist,Governance (by telephone)

Mr. Selva Ramachandran, Country Director(by telephone)

A N N E X I I I . D O C U M E N T S C O N S U L T E D 3 7

Arab Human Development Report (AHDR),‘Creating Opportunities for FutureGenerations’, UNDP, 2002.

AHDR, ‘Building a Knowledge Society’,UNDP, 2003.

AHDR, ‘Towards Freedom in the Arab World’,UNDP, 2004.

AHDR, ‘Towards the Rise of Women in theArab World’, UNDP, 2005.

Egyptian Organization for Human Rights,‘Annual Report 2003: The Situation ofHuman Rights in Egypt’, 2003.

National Council for Human Rights, ‘AnnualReport, 2004/2005: Arab Republic ofEgypt’, Cairo, Egypt, 2005.

National Council for Human Rights, ‘ThirdAnnual Report: Human Rights Situation inEgypt 2006/2007’, Arab Republic of Egypt,2007.

United Nations, ‘The Millennium DevelopmentGoals in the Arab Region 2005’, Summary, 2005.

United Nations, ‘The Millennium DevelopmentGoals Report’, 2006.

United Nations, ‘Common CountryAssessment’, Draft, Tunisia, January 2006.

United Nations, ‘MDGs in the Arab Region2007: Progress and Challenges’, TarikAlami, Economic Analysis Division of theEconomic and Social Commission forWestern Asia (UNESCWA), 2007.

United Nations, ‘The Millennium DevelopmentGoals in Arab Countries, Towards 2015:Achievements and Aspirations’, No date.

United Nations & League of Arab States(LAS), ‘Millennium Development Goals inthe Arab Region 2007: A Youth Lens’,United Nations System and the League ofArab States (LAS) coordinated by theEconomic and Social Commission forWestern Asia (UNESCWA), 2007.

UNDP, ‘Regional Programme on Governance inthe Arab States’, RAB/99/005, RegionalBureau for Arab States, 1999.

UNDP, ‘Quality Assessment of HigherEducation’, RAB/01/002, Regional Bureaufor Arab States, 2001.

UNDP, ‘Regional Cooperation Framework forthe Arab States (2002-2005)’, 2002.

UNDP, ‘Information CommunicationTechnologies for Development in ArabStates’, Project Document, Regional Bureaufor Arab States, May 2002.

UNDP, ‘HIV/AIDS Regional Programme’,Regional Bureau for Arab States, 2002.

UNDP, ‘Information, CommunicationTechnologies for Development’,RAB/02/003, Regional Bureau for ArabStates, 2002.

UNDP, ‘Making Global Trade Work forPeople’, Earthscan Publishing, 2003.

UNDP, ‘The UNDP Role in PublicAdministration Reforms in the ArabRegion’, Prepared for the ExpertConsultative Meeting on PublicAdministration and Public AccountingDevelopment, with Stress on ElectronicTools, Elissar Sarrouh, GovernanceInstitutions Reform Specialist, Sub-regionalResource Facility for Arab States (SURF-AS), Beirut, Lebanon, June 2003.

UNDP, ‘Strengthening the Rule of Law—Modernization of Prosecutor’s Offices’,Regional Bureau for Arab States, 2004.

UNDP, ‘Evaluation of UNDP’s RegionalCooperation Framework for the Arab States(2002-2005)’, Evaluation Office, 2005.

UNDP, ‘Good Governance for Development inthe Arab States’, Regional Bureau for ArabStates, 2005.

Annex III

DOCUMENTS CONSULTED

A N N E X I I I . D O C U M E N T S C O N S U L T E D3 8

UNDP, ‘Draft Regional Programme Document(2006-2009)’, Regional Bureau for ArabStates, 2005.

UNDP, ‘Beyond Scarcity: Power, Poverty andthe Global Water Crisis’, HumanDevelopment Report, 2006.

UNDP, ‘Preparatory Assistance for IntegratedWater Resources Management’, RegionalBureau for Arab States, 2006.

UNDP, ‘POGARWork Plan’, Regional Bureaufor Arab States, 2006.

UNDP, ‘HIV/AIDS Regional Programme inthe Arab States, Saving Lives… SavingMoney: The Private Sector’s Response toHIV/AIDS in the Arab Region’, 2006.

UNDP, ‘Evaluation of UNDP’s Assistance toConflict-Affected Areas’, 2006.

UNDP, ‘Concept Note: Regional Workshop andCoP Meeting on: Poverty Reduction,Capacity Development and LocalGovernance’, Sub-regional Resource Facilityfor Arab States (SURF-AS), Sharm elSheikh, 3-6 September 2007.

UNDP, ‘Regional Gender Equality and WomenEmpowerment Programme for Arab States’,Bureau for Development Policy andRegional Bureau for Arab States,December 2007.

UNDP, ‘Arab Trade and DevelopmentProgramme’, Regional Bureau for ArabStates, 2007.

UNDP, ‘Country Programme Action PlanBetween the Tunisian Government and theUNDP, 2007-2011’, 2007.

UNDP, ‘Fighting Climate Change: HumanSolidarity in a Divided World, HumanDevelopment Report, 2007/2008’.

UNDP, ‘Concept Note: Trade for the People’,Regional Bureau for Arab States,8 May 2008.

UNDP, ‘Outcome Evaluation of RegionalProjects’, Regional Bureau for Arab States,August 2008.

UNDP, ‘UNDP Strategic Plan: AcceleratingGlobal Progress on Human Development,2008-2011’, May 2008.

UNDP, ‘Programme on Governance in the ArabRegion’, Regional Bureau for Arab States,No date.

UNDP, ‘The Arab Development Portal:Implementation Plan’, Regional Bureau forArab States, No date.

UNDP, ‘Background Document Project Title:The Arab Knowledge Report (AKR)’,No date.

UNDP/HARPAS, ‘Regional Report 2005/2006,Taking Action in the Arab Region’, 2005.

UNDP/ICTDAR, ‘RespAct (Responsible ArabCitizen)’, CD:ROM, 2008.

UNDP/ICTDAR, ‘Access to Knowledge’,DVD, No date.

UNDP/ICTDAR, ‘Access to Knowledge(WRCATI)—Lebanon, Egypt, Tunis’,DVD, No date.

UNDP and LAS, ‘Development in ArabCountries: Growth, Poverty and Inequality’,Vol 1, August 2008.

UNDP and LAS, ‘Development in ArabCountries: Food Security and Agriculture’,Vol 2, August 2008.

UNDP and OECD, ‘Regional Working Groupon Citizens, Civil Society and Public SectorReform’, Second Meeting, 2-3 May 2006.

UNDP/POGAR, ‘Building Capacities ofParliamentary Institutions (Lebanon-Iraq-Jordan)’, Evaluation report by RagaaMakharita, June 2008.

UNDP/POGAR, ‘Participation Pillar-Publications 2006-2008’, July 2008.

UNDP/POGAR, ‘Rule of Law Cluster:Achievements and Lessons Learned (2006-2009)’, Draft Report, October 2008.

World Bank, ‘Middle East and North Africa(MENA) Region Annual Report’, 2007.

World Bank, ‘MENA Regional Fact Sheet’,No date.

World Bank, ‘MENA Regional Brief ’, No date.

World Bank, ‘MENA Economic DevelopmentProspects’, No date.

A N N E X I V . S U R V E Y F O R E V A L U A T I O N O F A R A B S T A T E S R C F 3 9

1. How do you rate the effectiveness of the Regional Cooperation Framework in helping positionUNDP strategically in your country?

Not effective at all 0 0%

0 0%

2 50%

1 25%

1 25%

0 0%

Extremely effective 0 0%

Total 4 100%

2. Please rate the degree of effectiveness of RCF in promoting better interaction in the following areas:

Top number is the count of Not 2 3 4 5 6 Extremely Notrespondents selecting the option. effective effective applicableBottom % is percent of the total at allrespondents selecting the option.

Between your office and other 0 0 2 1 1 0 0 0offices in the region 0% 0% 50% 25% 25% 0% 0% 0%

Between your office and the 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0policy makers in the government 0% 0% 50% 50% 0% 0% 0% 0%

Between the government and 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 1civil society organizations 25% 0% 0% 50% 0% 0% 0% 25%

Annex IV

SURVEY FOR EVALUATIONOF ARAB STATES REGIONALCOOPERATION FRAMEWORK

A N N E X I V . S U R V E Y F O R E V A L U A T I O N O F A R A B S T A T E S R C F4 0

3. The Arab Human Development Report is one of the important outputs of RCF.What is the perception of AHDR in your country?

Strongly negative 0 0%

0 0%

1 25%

Neutral—neither positive nor negative 0 0%

3 75%

0 0%

Strongly positive 0 0%

Don’t know 0 0%

Total 4 100%

4. Please rate the degree of effectiveness of AHDRs in the areas noted below:

Top number is the count of Strongly 2 3 4 5 6 Extremely Notrespondents selecting the option. negative positive applicableBottom % is percent of the totalrespondents selecting the option.

Providing input for the preparation 0 0 0 2 1 1 0 0of CPAP/CCA 0% 0% 0% 50% 25% 25% 0% 0%

Influencing policies 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 0at the government level 0% 25% 25% 25% 0% 25% 0% 0%

5. How do you rate the value added by RCF to the Country Programme?

Strongly negative 0 0%

0 0%

0 0%

2 50%

2 50%

0 0%

Strongly positive 0 0%

Total 4 100%

A N N E X I V . S U R V E Y F O R E V A L U A T I O N O F A R A B S T A T E S R C F 4 1

6. How would you rate the change brought about by RCF and its programmes (POGAR, ICTDAR,HARPAS, and ATDP) in your country programme?

Strong negative change 0 0%

0 0%

0 0%

No change 1 25%

3 75%

0 0%

Strong positive change 0 0%

Total 4 100%

7. Given the circumstances in your country, please rate the sustainable effects of each of theproject clusters:

Top number is the count of Not 2 3 4 5 6 Extremelyrespondents selecting the option. sustainable sustainableBottom % is percent of the total at allrespondents selecting the option.

POGAR 0 1 0 1 0 2 00% 25% 0% 25% 0% 50% 0%

ICTDAR 0 1 1 0 2 0 00% 25% 25% 0% 50% 0% 0%

HARPAS 0 1 0 0 2 1 00% 25% 0% 0% 50% 25% 0%

ATDP 1 0 0 1 1 0 033% 0% 0% 33% 33% 0% 0%

8. Please note the project areas where RCF has brought about a change.3 Responses

9. How has RCF affected capacity development in your country?

Not useful at all 0 0%

0 0%

0 0%

3 75%

1 25%

0 0%

Extremely useful 0 0%

Total 4 100%

A N N E X I V . S U R V E Y F O R E V A L U A T I O N O F A R A B S T A T E S R C F4 2

10. To what degree do projects within RCF create a sense of ownership in your country?

No sense of ownership 0 0%

0 0%

1 25%

3 75%

0 0%

0 0%

Strong sense of ownership 0 0%

Total 4 100%

11. Please rate the monitoring of RCF in your country.

Very lax monitoring 0 0%

1 25%

0 0%

Neither lax nor strong 3 75%

0 0%

0 0%

Very strong monitoring 0 0%

Total 4 100%

12. Going forward, please select in which pillar areas do you think RCF should be more active in

order to respond to the needs of your country?

MDGD 2 50%

Democratic governance 2 50%

Building a knowledge society 2 50%

13. What role do you see for the Regional Service Centre to be established in Cairo vis-a-vis the

regional programme?

4 Responses emphasizing policy advice, capacity development, training for COs.

14. Please give us any other comments you may have pertaining to the RCF and its utility to and

relationship with the country programme.

2 Responses emphasizing more coordination between RCF and COs.

A N N E X V . S E L E C T E D D E V E L O P M E N T I N D I C A T O R S 4 3

Note: Ranking in each group is according to the corruption index (10.0 least corrupt; 0.0 most corrupt).For HDI see, UNDP Human Development Reports 2003 and 2008. For percentage of female representativesin parliament, see http://wikipedia.org/corruption_perceptions_index. For the corruption index, seewww.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi.

Annex V

SELECTED DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS

HDI 2005 HDI 2001 CorruptionIndex 2007

CorruptionIndex 2001

Women inParliament1990 (%)

Women inParliament2007 (%)

Gulf countries

UAE 0.868 0.816 5.7 5.2 0 22.5

Bahrain 0.876 0.839 5 6.1 0 2.5

Kuwait 0.891 0.82 4.3 5.3 0 3.1

Saudi Arabia 0.812 0.769 3.4 4.5 0 0

Middle income countries

Jordan 0.773 0.753 4.7 4.5 0 5.5

Tunisia 0.776 0.74 4.2 4.6 4.3 22.8

Morocco 0.645 0.646 3.5 3.4 0 18

Algeria 0.733 0.704 3 2.6 2.4 7.2

Lebanon 0.772 0.752 3 3 0 4.7

Egypt 0.708 0.648 2.9 3.4 3.9 2

Syria 0.724 0.685 2.9 3.4 9.2 12

Libya 0.818 0.783 2.5 2.1 0 7.7

Iraq n.a. n.a. 1.5 2.2 n.a. n.a.

PalestinianTerritories

0.731 0.731 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

Less developed countries

Djibouti 0.516 0.462 2.9 n.a. 0 10.8

Yemen 0.508 0.47 2.5 2.4 4.1 0.3

Sudan 0.521 0.503 1.8 2.3 0 17.8

Somalia n.a. n.a. 1.4 2.1 4 8.2

A N N E X V I . C O U N T R Y S T U D I E S 4 5

EGYPT

BACKGROUND

In order to evaluate the activities of RCF, theteam visited Egypt from 3 October 2008 to 10October 2008. The visit had three purposes:finalize the evaluation methodology by jointfieldwork; obtain detailed information and holddiscussions with the personnel of the programmesof ICTDAR, ATDP, and HARPAS, all of whichare headquartered in Cairo; and liaise with themanagement of the UNDP country office.

Egypt is a middle-income country in the ArabRegion. Its per capita income is USD 4,337 andits HDI is 0.708. Based on the last HumanDevelopment Report of Egypt (2005), theprevalence of poverty is 34 percent. For the past50 years, large sectors of the country’s society,which basically comprises of informal economicsectors and those living below the poverty line inrural areas, have depended on the state welfaresystem for delivery of basic public goods andservices. This system has become too costlyand unsustainable. In addition, the system hascreated a sense of dependence. It has maskedunemployment and allowed room for corruption.The government is now cognizant that a radicalredefinition of the relationship between thecitizens and the state is called for. It alsorecognizes that its future development is closelylinked to strengthening the human capability ofits citizens.

Large regional disparities along urban-rural lines,as well as pockets of urban poverty, oblige thegovernment to make major development efforts,public investments and pursue pro-poor policies.Economic growth, as a major vehicle for develop-ment, is one of the main concerns of the govern-ment. Reforms implemented since 2004 havegiven a boost to economic growth, but they needto be sustained. The economy is beset by chronic

unemployment. More than 10 percent of thelabour force is unemployed.That number reachesas high as 24 percent among women. Publicinvestments are not enough to alleviateunemployment. It requires creating jobs andbetter education and training.

The fast increasing population in Egypt also createsmajor environmental dilemmas. Moreover, thecountry is faced with various forms desertifica-tion and an ever-growing gap between limitedresources and escalating demand.

Egypt is in the process of political transitiontowards a more developed democratic systemthat came with the constitutional amendmentthat allowed for direct election among multiplecandidates for the presidency. The governmentis also in the process of undertaking additionalconstitutional reforms that reinforce the separa-tion of powers, strengthen the parliament, andsecure human and social rights for all citizens.

In designing its 2007-2011 country programme,UNDP has taken into consideration these pressingproblems and also adjusted its programming to therealization of MDGs. The Country ProgrammeAction Plan lists the priority areas as follows:

Reinforcing state capacity—In this sphere,UNDP projects cooperate and collaborate withthe government to reinvigorate the legitimacy ofthe welfare state through provisions of qualitypublic goods and services that are better targetedfor equality and efficiency, promoting economicgrowth, and reducing poverty for the achieve-ment of MDGs. These efforts are expected toyield the following outcomes:

� Improved national capacity to design, applyand monitor pro-poor policies while address-ing geographical disparities.

Annex VI

COUNTRY STUDIES

A N N E X V I . C O U N T R Y S T U D I E S4 6

� National strategies to facilitate increased accessto information and foster the use of ICT inorder to achieve the development goals.

� Integrated programmes designed at nationaland local levels for conflict prevention andpeace building.

� Formulation and implementation ofdecentralization policies and improving thecapacity of institutions at the local level inparticipatory planning, resource managementand service delivery.

� Incorporating sustainable management ofenvironment and natural resources intopoverty reduction strategies.

� Empowering the local governments andcommunities for better managed biodiversityand ecosystem.

� Supporting the government to empowerwomen in their contribution to political,economic and social change and development.

Enabling links of democratic governance—Inorder to strengthen democratic institutions andpractices and expand a culture of human rightsthrough active citizenship, UNDP proposesthe following:

� Continue to advocate the culture ofhuman rights.

� Assist and strengthen national efforts fordemocratic reform, increase political partici-pation by the public at large, and supportgovernment reform policies by strengtheningthe Assembly’s oversight functions within theframework ofWTOand other trade agreements.

The budget of the United Nations in Egypt isquite large. The figure for the United NationsDevelopment Assistance Framework (UNDAF)for the period in question is less than USD 187million. Approximately 180 million of thisamount is expected to be mobilized throughcost-sharing funds. The rest will come fromTRAC funds. Due to a variety of reasons, practi-cally all multilateral and bilateral donors collabo-rate with UNDP, as well as with other UnitedNations organizations.

THE REGIONAL PROGRAMMEIN THE COUNTRY

A quick comparison between government priori-ties with UNDP intervention areas and RCFproject activities reveals remarkable parallels. Yet,the UNDP country programme and RCFfunction are completely independent from oneanother. As one upper manager of the countryprogramme put it, “We only provide services toRCF. RCF carries out its own projects as they seefit.” Yet POGAR is active in Egypt by conductingstudies and providing workshops that aim tostrengthen the rule of law and participation ofcitizens in the political process, as well as assistingseveral NGOs that are active in human rights.

ICTDAR is also active in Egypt, workingespecially with marginalized populations andyouth and developing ICT with the aim ofenhancing knowledge. It has three major projects:

� AjialCom is a youth empowerment initiative.Its objective is to build capacity of youth byexpanding their knowledge base throughICT to acquire better opportunities foremployment. It also established informationtechnology hubs in five governorates, whichwere equipped with computer equipmentand peripherals and provided training incomputers, internet use, web developmentand management skills.

� An initiative for the visually impaired wasimplemented with the NGO, Risala. Theproject provided four centres with a Brailleand audio library and training in informationtechnology to approximately 500 visuallyimpaired people. The aim is to enable thevisually impaired to gain employment andintegrate into mainstream society.

� WRACTI is an initiative conducted with theNational Council for Women. Its objective isto empower women by providing them withlegal knowledge on family rights and entitle-ments to social services. Family Code Lawswere prepared on CD-ROMS in simplifiedand understandable language. These CDswere disseminated to ministries, the media,

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NGOs, community centres and religiousleaders to inform them on women’s rights.These CDs were also used to train 15,000social workers around the country to betteradvise and guide women on their legal rights.The media also played an important role inraising awareness of women and children’slegal rights and how to attain legal adviceand social services and access the CDs. Thisinitiative was adopted by the National Councilfor Women as a national programme.

ADTP, which aims to enhance the negotiationcapabilities of the countries within the region,will soon be active in Egypt. The study of thesectors, one of which is the textile sector, doesinclude Egypt.The study of the textile industry isof particular importance to Egypt, not onlybecause it is an important sector, but also becauseit is likely to contribute to the abatement ofunemployment among women.

HARPAS regional and sub-regional activities areconducted out of Cairo. The programme isimplemented in a comprehensive approachencompassing a wide of array of partners thathave been trained in awareness raising, advocacyand capacity building: parliamentarians havebeen participating in ongoing workshops todiscuss legislature to protect PLWH; religiousleaders from different faiths have becomedynamic partners in awareness raising, dissemi-nating information on HIV/AIDS, and reachingout to PLWH and providing them withassistance; NGOs and CSOs have been partici-pating in awareness raising on HIV/AIDS andproviding PLWH with social services; the mediahas been disseminating information onHIV/AIDS and PLWH human rights; andPLWH have also been active in participating inworkshops and giving testimonials. HARPAShas also assisted PLWH with access to micro-credit for small to medium-sized enterprises.

The WGP-AS recently completed its prepara-tory assistance phase and the project documentwas finalized in February 2008. A small projectmanagement office has been established in Cairo

and the project manager is in place. Once thenew Regional Service Centre is established,WGP-AS will be co-located with it. The projecthas four main components: integrated waterresources management; local management ofwater resources, water supply and sanitationimplementation; capacity building and institu-tional strengthening; and production of theWater Report for the Arab Region. There arefour cross-cutting dimensions: adaptation toclimate change, transboundary water manage-ment, gender mainstreaming, and awarenessraising. The WPG-AS is aligned with theUNDPWater Governance Strategy and containsa strong South-South cooperation element, withtransfer of expertise within the region planned.Furthermore, the project is expected to providetechnical assistance to the UNDP countryoffices, especially with regard to the secondcomponent on local water and sanitationmanagement. At this stage, these are mostly plansand it remains to be seen how well the WGP-ASwill be aligned with the country programme.Egypt has not yet endorsed the project, but thecountry programme contains a significant focus onwater, including a series of Global EnvironmentFacility funded projects. In general, there is a lackof a systematic way for the country office to dealwith the regional programme.

The AHDR has contributed by creating a livelydiscussion in the country and raising conscious-ness of the problems of development, both withinthe region and in Egypt. It is almost impossibleto create a direct link between the priorities ofthe government and UNDP intervention areas,but the fact that the AHDR is a valuable instru-ment for stimulating constructive discussions hasbeen noted repeatedly. Some influential circleshave criticized the AHDR for not beingprescriptive enough. The planned issue of theAHDR, which will be published soon, aims totake this criticism into consideration and, inaddition to diagnosing the problems that besetthe region, will also advance policy suggestions.The extent of its influence on the next cycle ofthe UNDP programme remains to be seen.

A N N E X V I . C O U N T R Y S T U D I E S4 8

FINDINGS

The RCF is relevant to Egypt and the UNDPcountry programme in Egypt. Nevertheless, thisrelevance has not yet been integrated intothe programme.

The effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability ofthe RCF in Egypt cannot be separated from theRCF’s overall effectiveness, efficiency andsustainability. The main report has elucidatedthese points sufficiently.

CONCLUSIONS

The RCF and the country programme overlap ina number of areas, but their independence fromeach other is disconcerting. There is a growinginterest and conviction within the upper manage-ment of the UNDP Country Team that a closerrelationship must be sought with the RCF andways must be found to achieve coordination andcomplementarities.

LEBANON

BACKGROUND

To evaluate the activities of the RCF, the TeamLeader visited Beirut, Lebanon, from 11 October2008 through 16 October 2008.The purpose wasto carry out research related to POGAR andAHDR activities and to liaise with the manage-ment of the UNDP country office. The TeamLeader was briefed by Wassim Harb and KarimaEl-Koori, Managers of the Rule of Law andParticipation Clusters of POGAR. Subsequentlyhe met with the project staff, beneficiaries of theRCF and the country office management.

Lebanon is a middle-income country in the ArabRegion. In 2005, its per capita income was USD5,584 and the HDI was 0.772. Prior to the civilwar, which began in 1975 and lasted almost 17years, it was a relatively advanced country. Thecivil war left the country with a destroyedinfrastructure and economy and shook thefoundations of its institutions. The consequencesinterrupted economic growth, causing stagnationand recession. As a result, Lebanon entered thetwenty-first century with a myriad of social, political

and economic problems. During the last decade,the major challenges were to establish politicalstability, redress the lost business confidence andput the country back on the path of sustainableeconomic growth and development.

The government adopted a Five-year FiscalAdjustment Plan (1999-2003) to address themacroeconomic challenges, achieve stability andassure the recovery of investors’ confidence.Nevertheless, the economic crisis took a severetoll. There has been an out-migration, particu-larly of the young generation, which createdscarcity of capacity. The economic crisis alsoworsened the poverty conditions in the alreadydepressed regions of the country, such as the BekaaValley in the north. Unemployment persists today,hovering at approximately 12 percent.

Faced with the fragility of the economic andsocial conditions, the government began to takedrastic measures in 2002. It implementedimportant reforms and made adjustments tocreate a favourable environment for investmentand economic growth.These included drafting ofa privatization legislation and considerablereduction of the customs duties. A nationalstrategy was also designed for administrativereform in order to streamline the public sectorand to raise the competence of civil servants.

As of 2005, Lebanon’s population was 4 million.The crude death rate and infant mortality havebeen falling and life expectancy is more than 70years. Lebanon has always had a high literacy rateand the gender gap in education is not apprecia-ble. The country has a respectable human rightsrecord, a vibrant civil society sector, and activeNGOs, such as professional associations, labourunions and other civil groups.

The Second Country Cooperation Frameworkfor Lebanon was initiated in 2002. It wasexpected to end in 2006. However, the circum-stances of the country forced UNDP to extendthe programmes until 2009.The aim was to assistthe government in the realization of nationaldevelopment objectives, since the governmentwas involved in efforts to overcome the post-conflict situation and was finding it difficult to

A N N E X V I . C O U N T R Y S T U D I E S 4 9

design a programme with clear objectives for theUnited Nations interventions. The political andeconomic conditions of the country continue tobe rather fluid.

The United Nations programme can be groupedunder three pillars:

Institution building support to policy anddecision making

The principal aim in this sphere is to advance theadvisory governance programme to enhancecapacities for strategic planning and decisionmaking—strengthening the rule of law throughlegislative empowerment and increasing account-ability and transparency. This is one of the threemain pillars and includes the following:

� Enhancing national strategic planning.The aim is to provide advice and capacitybuilding support to theMinistries of Finance,Economy and Trade, Social Affairs andEnvironment. In addition, the projects aim atstrengthening the institutional foundationsof the Ministries of Energy and Water andPublic Works, as well as of the Council forDevelopment and Reconstruction, and theMinistry of Foreign Affairs. The main thrustis to provide greater access to data andinformation for policy making, moderniza-tion of structures and enhancement of skills.

� Support to the developmental and enablingenvironment, initiated to enhance thegovernance. The programmes and projectsin this sphere have three components:mainstreaming legislative reform andsupporting the parliament; capacity buildingsupport for implementation of rule of lawin the judicial and penal system; andenhancing capacities of CSOs and NGOs asactors for catalyzing wider engagement forgood governance.

Empowerment at the local level

The main objective of this second pillar is topromote equality, with a special focus on poverty,reduction of inequalities between regions andgroups, and access to employment. This objectiveis carried out on three fronts:

� Promotion of integrated regional develop-ment as ameans of poverty alleviation.Thisessentially deals with socially and economi-cally marginalized areas and poorest regionsof the country.

� Support to post-conflict reconstructionand development. The projects in this areadeal with the displacement of people insouthern Lebanon. They also support small-scale income generation activities and replic-able ICT initiatives.

� Strengthening of municipalities and localgovernance structures. The main objectiveis to enhance the capacities of municipalitiesand assist in creating strong localgovernment.

Cross-cutting themes

This third pillar has four cross-cutting themesthat require attention:

� Promotion of a national developmentdialogue. Interventions in this area supportthe articulation of national priorities in aclear strategy with dedicated developmentcommitments.

� Gender. The objectives of the interventionsare to ensure women’s access to the benefitsof development and strengthen their accessto decision making, both at the local andnational levels.

� Youth. Despite the high level of out-migration, the youth in Lebanon constituteone-fifth of the population. Youth andemployment have multi-dimensionalproblems. ICT possibilities, creation of smalland medium-sized enterprises, and supportto entrepreneurial formation among youthare the main thrusts of the designed projects.

� Environmental and natural resourcemanagement. The thrust of the projects inthis area is to mainstream environmentallysound strategies at the national level beyondsectoral interventions.

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Not all of the country programme interventionsmay be completed, due to political instabilities inLebanon. Nevertheless, most projects areexpected to be completed by 2009. What isstriking is that the thrust of many projects—suchas rule of law, participation, women in develop-ment, and issues related to youth—is practicallyidentical to the issues tackled by the RCF.

The country office is preparing a new countryprogramme based on the following nationalpriorities: developing institutional capacity toimplement reforms and increase participationaccountability; employment creation andreduction of regional inequalities; ensuringenvironmental sustainability; and improvingnational reconciliation. These priorities arestrikingly similar to the national priorities thathave shaped the interventions of the presentcycle. The new cycle’s budget is expected to beapproximately USD 40 million, USD 6 millionof which will be TRAC funds. The rest isexpected to come from cost sharing and govern-ment contributions.

THE REGIONAL PROGRAMMEIN THE COUNTRY

The similarity between the present and theplanned country programme of UNDP and theactivities of RCF is striking. Yet both functionindependently from each other. This isunderstandable to an extent. The UNDP countryoffice has its hands full striving to complete itsprogramme as successfully as possible andassisting a country that has all the ramificationsof the post-conflict situation. Conversely, thesimilar activities of RCF are equally relevant tothe national priorities.

Two programmes of POGAR, namely the Ruleof Law and Participation, have contributedgreatly to legal reforms in Lebanon, especially inthe areas of strengthening the judiciary and thegovernment’s efforts against corruption.

ICTDAR is also active in Lebanon. TheICTDAR initiative on empowering women,WRACTI, was a challenging undertaking in

Lebanon due to the complexity in family lawembedded in 19 religious sects. An advisoryboard of representatives from various faiths wascreated, which developed into a unique platformfor dialogue. The project also included a pilotthat established an automated tracking andmonitoring system for alimony payments in oneof the courts.

HARPAS activities in Lebanon are quitecomprehensive. They include not only advocacyand capacity building, but also raising awarenessand developing a network of partnerships,especially with NGOs and CSOs. HARPAS hasalso succeeded in bringing together religiousleaders from different faiths to discuss, openlyand without any prejudice, issues related toHIV/AIDS. It also has been successful in attract-ing legislators to participate in a number ofworkshops to discuss various legal means toprotect PLWH. Moreover, HARPAS hasenlisted the cooperation of the media throughwhich information on HIV/AIDS is widelydisseminated. A significant feature of HARPASactivities has been to keep the human rightsconcern in the forefront.

ATDP has not yet tackled any of the trade anddevelopment issues in Lebanon, but it is expectedto do so.

The AHDR, as in Egypt, has contributed todiscussions by raising consciousness of develop-ment issues within the regional context. As wasexpressed by an academic, AHDR is almostobligatory reading for many university students.A member of parliament also noted that it is auseful guide.

FINDINGS

The RCF is very relevant to Lebanon. Withinthe RCF, POGAR in particular is of greatimportance to the executive and legislativebranches, since the country is undertaking severalreforms in the public sector.

The effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability ofthe RCF in Lebanon cannot be separated from

A N N E X V I . C O U N T R Y S T U D I E S 5 1

the RCF’s overall effectiveness, efficiency andsustainability. But certain critical elements, suchas political stability and reconciliation, which arevery sui generis to Lebanon, will to some extentdetermine the degree of the effectiveness andsustainability of the regional programme.

CONCLUSIONS

The UNDP country programme and a numberof RCF projects are equally relevant to develop-mental issues in Lebanon. Yet both the RCF andthe country programme function independentlyfrom each other. It is understood that the RCF isnot expected to interfere with the countryprogramme, but a degree of coordinationbetween the two is indispensable. The UNDPcountry office sees this need and has expressedthe desire for closer coordination. Such coordina-tion is likely to enhance the effectiveness of bothprogrammes.

TUNISIA

BACKGROUND

Tunisia is a middle-income country with approx-imately 9.9 million inhabitants. Its averagegrowth rate is 5 percent. Human developmentindices show that the poverty level was at 3.9percent in 2005, a decrease from 6.7 percent in1990, and is expected to decrease to 2.0 percentby 2015.26 National aggregates indicate thatTunisia should achieve its MDGs by 2015, withthe ‘primary education for all’ goal almost withinreach. The one exception is maternal mortality,which has a projected 70 percent level ofachievement.

Despite these achievements, several factors arelimiting the country in becoming a competitivemember in the international arena. Itsdemographic attributes—with the 15 to 59 agegroup representing 64 percent of the populationin 2004 compared to 57 percent in 1994—intensify demands for employment in a country

that already has an unemployment rate of 14percent.27 There are also geographic disparitiesin basic infrastructure, social services, illiteracyrates and unemployment between regions in thecentre west and south of the country. As of 2004,the illiteracy rate was 46.4 percent in rural areascompared to 22.6 percent in urban areas. Thereare also gender disparities in illiteracy rates.Illiteracy among women is 31 percent comparedto 17 percent among men. A similar trend is seenin the unemployment rates, with 16.7 percent ofwomen out of work compared to 12.9 percent ofmen. Furthermore, a World Bank study showedthat increased efficiency and more transparencyin the public institutions would lead to animproved growth rate of more than 1 percentannually. These constraints are hinderingequitable growth and sustainable development inthe country.

National programmes and strategies have beenformulated to respond to these challenges andaim to achieve the following:

� Increasing the average growth rate to 6.1percent during 2007-2011

� Accelerating job creation and promotingself-employment

� Strengthening roles and responsibilities ofthe regions in consolidating the participativeprocess on a local level

� Preserving natural resources and promotingenergy efficiency

� Bringing government and citizens closertogether while improving quality of services

� Strengthening social cohesion with particularattention to vulnerable groups in addition tomainstreaming women’s involvement inpolitical and social life

UNDP supports Tunisia in providing assistancein priority domains that have been identified in

26. UNDP, ‘Human Development Report’, 2006.27. Unemployment figure from 2004.

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partnership with national and internationalexpertise. The UNDP country programme(2007-2011) highlights four key areas: strength-ening the equality and quality of services toreduce vulnerabilities; increasing integration andparticipation of adolescents and youth in thedevelopment process; promoting employment;and managing Tunisia’s integration into theworld economy.28

The UNDP programme is contributing to threeout of these four UNDAF impacts: disparities,equality and quality of life; employment; andglobalization.

Disparities, equality and quality of life—Thesegoals require policies and programmes for theprevention and reduction of vulnerabilitiesincluding: statistical capacity building in supportof strategic planning and decision making inareas such as gender specific and geographicalidentification of poor and vulnerable groups;disaggregated monitoring and analysis for theMDGs based on gender equality and strengthen-ing of analysis and monitoring capacity inrelation to the different incidences of vulnerabil-ity; promotion of sustainable human develop-ment strategies, programmes and mechanisms ona national and regional level to mainstreamenvironmental issues; incorporating the genderdimension to better identify vulnerable groups inrural areas; and the prevention of HIV/AIDSand awareness raising and training to combatdiscrimination against PLWH.

Employment—Labour market institutions areto be enhanced by: attaining disaggregated dataand analysis for identifying and monitoring theunemployed and populations at risk of notreaching sustainable employment such as youth andwomen; and strengthening management capacitiesof employment issues by implementing differentprogrammes at the local level and connectingthem to the regional and national levels.

Globalization—Integrating Tunisia into theworld economy by interventions that include

strengthening the capacity of strategic planning,monitoring and evaluation, and enhancing qualityassurance of the administration in particular.

Youth is a cross-cutting dimension in allprogrammes, making youth priority beneficiariesof programmes, especially those pertaining toemployment and participation.

THE REGIONAL PROGRAMMEIN THE COUNTRY

Implementation of the RCF in Tunisia isdemonstrated in three projects: HARPAS,ICTDAR and POGAR. These projects arerelevant to the UNDP country programme asthey contribute to its priority domains. For example:

� HARPAS concurs with the UNDAFpromotion of sustainable human develop-ment strategies. This includes prevention ofHIV/AIDS, awareness raising and trainingto stop discrimination against PLWH. TheRCF is most active in this project. TheUNDP country office recently appointed afocal point to coordinate activities withHARPAS, which gives the programme morevisibility and credibility. The focal point’sresponsibilities include linking the countryoffice work plan with HAPRAS so that thereis no duplication in action plans and ensuringthat the activities are complementary.HARPAS activities include awarenessraising, advocacy and capacity developmentof NGOs, CSOs, religious leaders, parlia-mentarians and PLWH.

� ICTDAR and POGAR have collaboratedwith the country office in assisting the PrimeMinister’s E-Government Unit in establishingan e-government, which is a component of theNational Development Action Plan. ICTDARprovided a strategy for implementing anddesigning a National Portal andWhite-book.

� The ICTDAR initiative Resp-Act, whichincludes promoting the concept of citizen-

28. ‘Country Programme Action Plan Between the Tunisian Government and the UNDP 2007-2011’.

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ship among the youth, is also in accord withthe country office’s cross-cutting theme ofyouth and the national strategies that aim tobring government and citizens together.Both share the same focus of establishing acitizen-centred government.

� Officials from governmental and judicialbodies have participated in POGAR regionalmeetings for anti-corruption and judicialtraining. These activities contribute to thedomains of strategic planning, monitoringand evaluation, and the quality assurance ofthe administration in particular.

FINDINGS

No in-depth assessments have been conducted tomake any conclusive inferences in regard to theeffectiveness, efficiency and sustainability of theRCF in Tunisia. Nonetheless, the evaluationfound that these projects have had some impact,particularly HARPAS. However, POGAR andICTDAR activities have been intermittent,which has inhibited their impact. For example,they both assisted the Prime Minister inestablishing an e-government at the national levelin 2005, expecting the Prime Minister to extendthe e-government on its own to the regionallevel. Yet, the Prime Minister’s Office has notbeen able to do so. The country office assistancehas also not stepped in to complete this task. Asa result, e-government in Tunisia is at a standstill.

In regards to sustainability of the RCF,HARPAS activities show signs of sustainabilityat the national level, yet their support continuesto be needed at the regional and local level. It istoo early to assess the sustainability of theICTDAR initiative, Resp-Act.

CONCLUSIONS

The RCF contribution to the country programmeis limited because there are few ongoing activities.At the time of the evaluation, HARPAS wassupporting national initiatives being implementedby their partners—religious leaders and theNGO, RAHMA—while ICTDAR had justbegun the Resp-Act initiative. There were nosubstantial activities pertaining to POGAR.

Overall, the present RCF is limited in its activi-ties and therefore its collaboration with thecountry programme. The fourth RCF couldinclude assuming a bigger role in Tunisia as thiswould catalyse its ability to achieve nationaldevelopment priorities.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

BACKGROUND

United Arab Emirates (UAE) consist of sevenemirates, of which Abu Dhabi and Dubai are thelargest. The country ranks 39 in the HumanDevelopment Index, thus belonging to the samegroup as several Latin American and formerSoviet block countries in Eastern and CentralEurope. At USD 25,514 in 2005, the GDP percapita is higher than many other countrieswith similar levels of human development.Approximately 80 percent of the 4.5 millionpeople in UAE are foreign nationals workingmainly in construction and service industries.The adult literacy rate in UAE was 88.7 percentin the 1995-2005 period. The gender gap inliteracy is small, with female and male literacyrates being 87.8 percent and 89.0 percent respec-tively. The overall trend in HDI has beenconstantly improving since 1975.

As an NCC, UAE does not receive core UNDPfunds through normal distribution channels. TheGovernment of UAE is the largest fund providerof the programme. During the 2002-2006Country Cooperation Framework, the UNDPprogramme implemented USD 14 million inprojects.The projected delivery under the currentcycle of 2007-2011 is estimated to reachUSD 15 million. The country programme isagreed upon and implemented by UNDPtogether with either the federal or emirate levelnational authorities. The current programmefocuses on the following areas:

� Gender, social and economic develop-ment—A National UAE MDG Report waspublished in 2007. UNDP partnered withthe General Women’s Union in an outreachprogramme aimed to engage the public andprivate sectors in gender mainstreaming.The

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project centres on capacity building of themain women’s organizations. The NationalGender Mainstreaming Initiative providestraining to governmental and non-governmental entities in the incorporation ofgender-sensitive dimensions into policiesand plans. It works to reinforce awareness ofthe National Strategy for the Advancementof Women in the UAE and the Conventionon the Elimination of all Forms ofDiscrimination Against Women.

� Democratic governance—This area isdivided under two main targets: parliamen-tary development and public administrationreform. In the area of parliamentary develop-ment, UNDP has since 2005 worked tostrengthen the Federal National Council.The first partial Federal National Councilelections were held in December 2006. Thepublic administration reform work issupporting the UAE Ministry of Financeand Industry in an ambitious reform ofpublic resources management at the federallevel. The programme focuses on strategicbudgeting processes, including performance-based budgeting and financial management.In another initiative, UNDP has supportedthe Government of Dubai in the develop-ment of an economic data set and modellingtools for staff training in economic analysisand forecasting. UNDP is also consideringsupport to the establishment of a DubaiStatistics Centre.

� Environment and energy—UNDP assistanceat both federal and emirate levels has focusedon several projects: Date Palm Research andDevelopment Project, jointly with the UAEUniversity, which addresses the importanceof the date palm for environmental protec-tion and curbing desertification; a project toassist the Meteorological Section inestablishing a Numerical Weather Predictionfacility; and establishment of a hydro-meteorological database.

� HIV/AIDS—UNDP works together withthe UAE Ministry of Health and the Red

Crescent to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS,especially amongst students in governmenthigh schools and universities. UNDP is alsopart of the United Nations Theme Group onHIV/AIDS that provides capacity develop-ment to the National AIDS Programme.While UAE has a low-prevalence rate, suchpreventive work is important, especiallygiven the large immigrant population andincreasing tourism in the country.

THE REGIONAL PROGRAMMEIN THE COUNTRY

Some of the components of the RCF have hadactivities in UAE, but the country has not beenan active participant in the regional programme:

� POGAR was involved marginally inproviding policy advice to the country officein designing activities in the framework ofthe Parliamentary Strengthening Projectimplemented at the national level.

� HARPAS developed the project documentfor the National HIV/AIDS Programmejointly with national authorities and countryoffices in UAE and Qatar. Workshops wereorganized in the country. The nationalprogramme benefited from the experiencesgained from other countries throughHARPAS.

� ICTDAR provided technical advice to thecountry office in 2006-2007, includingdeveloping the UNDP UAE website. Therewas no attempt to develop a project in UAEaround ICTDAR.

AKRP is a major new initiative based on aninnovative partnership with the MBRF. AKRPbuilds upon the work of the AHDRs, in particu-lar the first report ‘Creating Opportunities forFuture Generations’ in 2002 and second report‘Building a Knowledge Society’ in 2003. TheseAHDRs concluded that promoting humandevelopment in the Arab world rests on liberatingthe capabilities of Arab people by advancingknowledge, freedom and women’s empowerment.The AHDR working definition of a knowledge-

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based society is “one where knowledge diffusion,production and application become the organiz-ing principle in all aspects of human activity:culture, society, the economy, politics and privatelife.” Following from this, the objective of theAKR series is to engage institutions and citizensin the Arab countries in global issues andconcerns related to building knowledge societiesfor human development, and to enhance theunderstanding around regional and nationalpriorities, identifying current practices,challenges, policies, strategies and opportunitiesfor investment in the future.29

The project is still new and it is too early to judgeits success. MBRF and UNDP signed amemorandum of understanding and cost-sharingagreement in November 2007 for cooperation onthe AKRP. Under the agreement,MBRF providesUSD 14 million over five years to produce fiveannual reports. The AKRP team has beenestablished in Dubai with a project director, leadauthor, lead statistician and a core team responsi-ble for drafting a chapter and advising the leadauthor.The project is executed through UNOPS,and according to project staff, it receives goodsupport from them. Whether this structure issustainable in the long term must be assessedonce more experiences have been gathered.

The first report is currently under production.The report will take stock of what has happenedsince the production of the 2002 AHDR and willmap the way forward.The focus of the report willbe beyond education, to include knowledge in abroader sense, such as transfer of technology,cultural aspects, and literature. AKR will be aregional report covering all 22 Arab countries.The report will be launched during the first halfof 2009.

FINDINGS

The RCF has not been significantly incorporatedin UAE. Some of the projects, as mentioned

earlier, have provided some services to thecountry office in Abu Dhabi. However, with thepossible exception of HARPAS, their substantiveprogrammatic work in the country has beenminimal.

The reasons for this have been both the type andthe size of the regional programme and thevarious activities. The RCF is modest in scopeand funding. The needs of the NCCs aredifferent from those of other countries in theregion. The regional programme has not beendesigned specifically to respond to the challengesfaced by the NCCs. The AHDR was considereda major achievement in UAE, as it was elsewherein the region. Most of the other regional projectshave been too small and fragmented to make animpact in the country.

For instance, given the high level of private-sector presence in ICT in UAE, UNDP’s role inthe sector may not be significant. Projects such asICTDAR are not seen as being competitive withthe much larger private initiatives.

Similarly, in the area of water, UAE has alreadysigned agreements on water management withprivate companies.The Gulf Cooperation Councilarea is most advanced in desalinization technolo-gies. Consequently, there has been little interestin the country to participate in WGP-AS.30

The AKRP has the potential to become a high-profile initiative using the same model as theAHDR (while not duplicating the effort).However, it is too early to tell if this will occur.One consequence of the AKRP being located inDubai together with MBRF and executedthrough UNOPS is that the project has thus farbeen de-linked from the UNDP country office inAbu Dhabi. In fact, the country office manage-ment was unaware of the status of and plans forthe project. In the future, these linkages shouldbe strengthened. There is scope to involve theUAE country office, as well as other countryoffices, in the planned Arab Knowledge Forums.

29. UNDP, ‘The Arab Knowledge Report (AKR): Background Document’.30. It is worth noting that Qatar has agreed to participate in WGP-AS.

A N N E X V I . C O U N T R Y S T U D I E S5 6

CONCLUSIONS

The Arab region is highly varied and there issignificant scope to diversify the regionalprogramme along sub-regional priorities andnational needs. The NCCs in the Gulf regionhave specific characteristics and needs thatcannot be dealt with in the same way as leastdeveloped countries and other countries in theArab region. A recent evaluation31 concludedthat UNDP needs to change the way it doesbusiness if it is to meet the expectations of theNCC partners in the Arab region. It furtherconcluded that UNDP has not sufficientlyexploited the potential for developing partner-ships in the NCCs. The RCF could provide animportant avenue for aligning UNDP global andregional strategies with those of the countryoffices and country programmes, such as regionaldialogue in areas such as democratic governance,knowledge societies, HIV/AIDS and gender.

There are also opportunities in more technicalareas, including water resources, where the NCCspossess specific knowledge and technologies thatcould be transferred to other countries in theregion through the RCF. Achieving this willrequire strategic thinking on behalf of RBAS andthe forthcoming Regional Service Centre in Cairo.

There are also opportunities to establish linkagesbetween the AKRP and other regional projects.The subsequent AKRs will most likely focus onspecific topics, which could be partly linked toareas of concern covered by other projects. Forinstance, in issues related to trade, unemploy-ment and youth, there would be scope forlinkages with projects such as ATDP andICTDAR. There may also be possibilities oflinking with the higher education projectsthrough MBRF that are currently being phasedout of the RCF.

31. UNDP, ‘Evaluation of the Role of UNDP in the Net Contributor Countries of the Arab Region’, UNDP EvaluationOffice, New York, NY, 2008.