Frequently Asked Questions

All UNDP Country Offices are eligible for support from the ‘country window’ of the global programme. Countries that meet one or more of the following criteria will be prioritised:

1. Countries that have Least Developed Country (LDC) status, especially those from the Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia-Pacific regions.
2. Countries in which UNDP is already supporting governance assessment initiatives in the country i.e. through an existing UNDP supported governance programme or through a project supported by the UNDP Democratic Governance Thematic Trust Fund (DGTTF).
3. Countries in which governance assessment is a priority concern for national partners especially government counterparts and there is a clear interest and willingness on the part of key stakeholders to actively engage in an inclusive and participatory governance assessment initiative. Financial or human contributions (cost-sharing) from national counterparts will be seen as highly beneficial.
4. Projects that have a strong focus on capacity development and in strengthening partnerships between state and non-state actors.
5. Projects that support innovative sectoral (e.g. education, health etc.) or thematic approaches to governance assessments.
6. It should be noted that interested countries which are not selected for support from the ‘country window’ of the global programme are still eligible to be supported indirectly through the regional and global windows.

The programme has two funding streams for UNDP Country Offices:

• It provides up to $400 000 to any UNDP Country Office. This is the absolute maximum and is to support a governance assessment project over a 3 year period (2009-2011). It is expected that projects seeking funds from this stream reflect a comprehensive governance assessment project that typically would respond to more than one of the aforementioned priority activity areas.

• There is also provision in the global programme to support smaller innovative initiatives not exceeding $40,000 that must be completed within the project year that can be focused on one or more of the activity areas.

Proposals are invited from UNDP Country Offices for support to projects that focus on strengthening national capacities across four main activity areas (please see a detailed explanation of the activity areas on page 6).

1. Mapping existing governance indicators
2. Developing governance assessment frameworks
3. Data collection
4. Governance databases
5. Use of governance evidence for policy-making

In addition, it is expected that projects will incorporate gender and poverty sensitivity in its approach. Poverty and gender sensitive governance assessments are a priority concern for UNDP. Data disaggregation is just one means of highlighting the situation of special groups in governance assessments. The assessment itself can also be made poverty and gender sensitive through the integration of participatory techniques including surveys and focus groups that provide an opportunity for the poor or for women to have a voice on issues of concern.

Country-led governance assessments differ from external assessments in that they are initiated, implemented and sustained by national actors. National stakeholders lead the work on the assessment, believe in its legitimacy and hold it to be relevant. No single actor can be said to represent 'the country' which means that country-led assessments must have the active participation of state and non-state actors including Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and should progressively involve and have the support of an increasing and 'representative' number of national actors.

In country-led assessments, the processes involved in assessing democratic governance are equally important as the outcome of the governance assessment. If governance assessment results are not locally owned and embedded in ongoing national development processes they will likely be shelved and will not feed into policy-making processes. Therefore, a central feature of country-led processes for assessing and monitoring democratic governance is that local and national stakeholders actively participate in key steps of the assessment process including what is to be assessed, how to assess it and how the assessment is to be used. Local engagement in all stages of an assessment is critical for linking the assessment results and the corrective actions needed and for safeguarding the transparency and policy relevance of the assessment process.

The global programme reflects UNDP’s distinct approach to democratic governance assessments that emphasizes:

1. National ownership – governance assessments and the development of governance indicators need to be nationally owned which is achieved through an inclusive and consultative process involving government, civil society, elected representatives, and other key stakeholders about what should be assessed and how.
2. Capacity development – governance assessments are a critical entry point and opportunity for developing the capacities of national stakeholders (including statistical offices, government and civil society) in the production and application of governance related data. This entails support to national and local participative processes of assessing and monitoring governance with a focus on building national and local capacities to collect, analyze, and share governance data.
3. Harmonisation – country driven governance assessments and monitoring systems, as well as sector specific plans, must be harmonised and aligned with national development plans and related instruments where relevant such as the PRSPs, MDG progress reports, local development plans etc.

The Global Programme is operationalised through three windows:

1. Country level window which includes financing for four activities within 10 target countries (i) mapping existing governance indicators (ii) developing governance assessment frameworks (iii) collecting data and (iv) developing governance databases and using governance indicators.

2. Regional level window which includes financing for three activities: (i) regional based training; (ii) developing regional specific knowledge products; (iii) regional conferences.

3. Global level window which includes financing for three activities: (i) knowledge services; (ii) capacity development; and (iii) policy development and advocacy.

UNDP has prioritized governance assessments and measurement in the organisation’s strategic plan for 2008-2011 which is a flagship support area for the UNDP Democratic Governance Group and its Oslo Governance Centre (Bureau for Development Policy) The UNDP Oslo Governance Centre has been supporting national initiatives for monitoring and measuring governance focused on the development of national governance indicators since 2003. The global programme builds on this experience and responds to an increased demand from national partners for support in this area.

The principal aim of the Global Programme on Capacity Development for Governance Assessments and Measurement is to strengthen national and local capacities for democratic governance, building upon the principles of the Millennium Declaration and the World Summit Outcome.

Read more on the page UNDP Global Programme.