Socio-Economic Governance and Institutions

Transcription

1 RP/INT/ Sub-regional (French Speaking African Countries) Workshop on Public Policies and Policy Process Related to Poverty and MDGs: Review of Options and Strategies, SGMB April 2005 Programme Sector Field of Activity Budget Public Administration Socio-Economic Governance and Institutions A. BACKGROUND The Millennium Declaration has been the culmination of a series of major conferences and resolutions of the 1990s, including WSSD, 1995, which promoted poverty reduction as a key issue in the development agenda, especially in sub-saharan Africa. UNDESA, and in particular the Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM), has been engaged in institutional capacity building for the implementation of MDGs, especially poverty reduction. Poverty and human development issues are critical concerns in Africa, especially in French-speaking African countries. Most of these countries have a very low human development index. Despite progresses made in many areas, French-speaking African countries are ranked among the poorest in the world; most of them belong to the LDC s and continue to face enormous development challenges. According to most recent estimates, more than half the population of the region live on less than $1 a day. Almost half the population lack access to safe water. Only about one in four poor rural girls attends primary school. Health and nutrition indicators are equally disappointing and the progress is slow. Overall gross domestic product growth is barely 3 percent since 1990, same as population growth. Addressing these challenges and meeting the MDGs require not only adequate resources and but most importantly a pro-poor macro-economic framework, an institutional process that helps mainstreaming concerns of the poor into policy dialoguing and a community based monitoring and evaluation system. It is in the backdrop of the above that this regional workshop is being organized to review and assess the relationships between pro-poor objectives and policy initiatives and from the lessons learnt, define future options. 1

2 B. OBJECTIVE The objectives of the workshop are: 1. On a country-by-country basis review the current socio-economic concerns, priorities and strategies, with a special focus on the pro-poor policies (the issue of analysis of the relationship between the macro-economic policy framework and poverty impacts). 2. Review the existing policy formulation process including budgetary process and examine strengths and weaknesses vis-à-vis mainstreaming poverty concerns (the issue of institutional process of policy-making). 3. Review to what extend if any, citizen groups (NGOs, citizen, private sector) are involved in the policy formulation process (the issue of citizen-government dialoguing in policy-making). 4. Review how the public sector programmes and policies, with a special focus on pro-poor policies, are monitored and evaluated, and to what extend, if any, citizens are involved in the process (the issue of monitoring). 5. Develop options for a more engaging pro-poor policy formulation and monitoring process. C. TARGET GROUP The target groups for the workshop are officials, the representatives of NGOs/CSOs and experts of the target countries (Burkina Faso, Benin, Chad, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal). There will be a total of two participants per country, representing their respective institutions (one from Government and one from Civil Society), one UNDESA official, experts from UNDP COs and local representatives of government institutions (acting as observers only). D. JUSTIFICATION OF USE OF SECTION 23 The workshop is designed to provide orientation to and training in poverty reduction strategies and policies and sharing of experience for the participants coming from eight French Speaking African countries and develop options of engaged governance for propoor policies. The workshop will also support (i) the Millennium Development Goals, (ii) the associated resolutions of the Committee of Experts for Public Administration, the World Summit on Social Development regarding capacity building for partnerships, and (iii) the regional project (UNDP Regional bureau for Africa and UNDESA) to support the monitoring of the PRSPs and MDGs (iv) the UNDP/DESA project for pro-poor economic policies in sub-saharan Africa. 2

3 E. OUTPUTS AND ACHIEVEMENTS The workshop is expected to produce the following outputs: 1. Resource papers showing the current relation between macro-policies and poverty initiatives in each of the eight target countries. 2. A regional paper presenting the analytical and operational characteristics of PRSPs and MDGs implementation, monitoring and assessment processes in French speaking Sub-Saharan Africa. 3. An analytical framework and an institutional process for the design, implementation and evaluation of pro-poor policies. 4. A network for exchanging national experiences on poverty reduction, pro-poor policies and sustainable human development. 5. A workshop report, highlighting, among others, the best practices and the capacity building needs for pro-poor initiatives and processes. The expected achievements are as follows: 1. Define an operational framework for pro-poor policy process. 2. Define methodologies and indicators for measuring the impact of public policies related to MDGs, especially poverty reduction. 3. Outline institutional arrangements for information sharing, lessons learning and capacity building among French Speaking countries. F. TIMING AND DURATION The event will last three days, and it will take place in Bamako (Mali), from 19 to 21 April

4 The Division for Public Administration and Development Management recommends approval. Financial clearance: Marie Oveissi, OIC TCMS/DESA Date Approved by Guido Bertucci, Director, DPADM Date Cleared by: M. Sucre-Ciffoni 4

5 Budget: Main cost/input items are: Travel Cost (14 participants from sub-saharan African countries) US $ 14,000 Terminal expenses (14 participants from sub-saharan African countries): $ 120 X 12 US $ 1,680 DSA (14 participants from sub-saharan African countries): 14 X 4 X US $ 9,856 $ 176 Travel Cost (1 Resource Person DESA) US $ 4,000 Terminal expenses (1 Resource Person DESA): $ 160 X 1 US $ 160 DSA (1 Resource Person DESA): 4 X $ 176 US $ 704 Papers commissioned US $ 8,000 Publication US $ 5,000 Miscellaneous US $ 2,100 TOTAL US $ 45,500 5