This report sets out the findings and recommendations of the evaluation of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) contribution to South-South cooperation. This evaluation focused on: the assessment of the Third Cooperation Framework for South-South Cooperation, managed by the Special Unit for South-South Cooperation; UNDP efforts in promoting and supporting South-South cooperations; and the effectiveness of the collaboration between UNDP and the Special Unit. The analysis is based on case studies in seven countries - Barbados, Brazil, China, Guatemala, Mali, South Africa and Thailand.
In an increasing inter-connected and inter-dependent world. Regional cooperation has immense potential Countries are collaborating to address challenges that cannot be addressed individually and on regional public goods. New forms of cooperation are taking place with the emergence of new regional and subregional groupings. UNDP, since its inception, has supported regional cooperation through its regional programmes and engagement with regional bodies. UNDP itself is structured along regional lines with five regional bureaux and has also established a presence in all five regions through regional service centres that support country and regional programmes. The evaluation concluded that UNDP regional programmes have made significant and long-standing development contributions. They promoted cooperation among countries in building regional and national institutions as well as addressing cross-border and common challenges. The regional service centres have provided useful and much-appreciated technical support to country offices. However, in all regions, the contribution to results has been affected by fragmentation of regional programmes, insufficient linkages with national programmes, and time-frames that have not taken into account the need for long-term capacity development. UNDP has yet to develop an explicit, holistic and strategic business model that addresses critical capacity in country offices, the provision of supplementary technical support to country offices, management of the regional programme, support to UN coordination at the regional level, and the grounding of corporate positioning in regional knowledge. As a result, the core recommendation of the evaluation is that the organization should develop a strategic corporate business model that covers headquarters/global, regional and country levels -- Publisher's website.
The report discusses the linkages between energy and economic, social, environmental, and security issues, and analyses the contradictions between current patterns of use and objectives in these areas. The WEA also reviews energy resources and technology options from the point of view of sustainability including better end-use efficiency, greater reliance on renewable sources of energy, and next-generation nuclear and fossil-fuel technologies. Further, the report examines plausible scenarios for combining various options to achieve a sustainable and relatively prosperous future. The report concludes by examining policy options for producing and using energy in ways that are compatible with sustainable development.
This evaluation examines UNDP role and contribution to the attainment of electoral results. It seeks to determine the quality and added value of UNDP performance in strengthening electoral systems and processes. It also assesses how well UNDP positioned itself to address growing and changing demands for electoral support, and to address the challenges and opportunities to enhance the goals of democratic governance via strengthening electoral processes. The evaluation covers UNDP work on electoral assistance between 1990 and 2011 with a main focus on the past ten years when UNDP provided electoral assistance in 83 countries with a budget of approximately USD 2.9 billion. It concludes with a set of policy-relevant and forward-looking recommendations. The evaluation will support UNDP's future work by contributing to an understanding of how UNDP can provide assistance in a more effective and sustainable manner.
As countries take ownership of the development agenda, enhancing sustained abilities for countries to do things for themselves takes centre stage as a critical element of development effectiveness. UNDP's support to this nationally-driven process plays a critical role in enhancing its leadership role in capacity development. For UNDP, capacity development is the "how" of what it does and UNDP has put in extraordinary resources in its conceptualization and activities. UNDP has received international recognition for its lead role in the area. The model applied by UNDP is, however, largely a supply-driven model which is not bolstered by adequate organizational learning and incentive systems. The evaluation recommends that UNDP continue to enhance its lead role at the international level while developing and applying a model which is nationally driven, and seek to develop increased conceptual and managerial integration within the organization consistent with the objectives of the strategic plan. Of particular importance is rigor in engaging governments in all contexts in addressing the longer term requirements of capacity development -- Publisher's website.
Disasters have been on the rise over the last decade. Their increasing frequency and scale pose mounting economic and humanitarian challenges and necessitate effective management of disaster risk as an integral part of development planning. UNDP has a significant role in disaster management, helping to formulate and implement disaster reduction policies, and support recovery activities in more than 50 countries. Recent efforts to more closely link climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction are highlighted. The evaluation notes uneven progress amongst the UNDP country offices in integrating disaster risk reduction with other UNDP priorities such as poverty reduction, governance and environmental protection. The report emphasizes that addressing social and economic vulnerability requires a comprehensive programming approach, and UNDP's most important role is to assist countries in the development dimensions of the issue, especially risk reduction and vulnerability. The evaluation recommends that UNDP disaster risk reduction strategy should be revised to more directly address adaptation to climate change; and that UNDP administrative procedures should be improved so that they no longer constrain effective programming in natural disasters -- Publisher's website.
Designed to strengthen and deepen implementation of the Paris Declaration, the Accra Agenda for Action (AAA) takes stock of progress and sets the agenda for accelerated advancement towards improving the quality and impact of aid.
This report presents the findings, conclusions and recommendations of the evaluation of the third Global Cooperation Framework (also referred to as the GCF-III or the "global program"). Covering the period 2005-2007, the main purpose of the evaluation was to assess the performance of the GCF-III, to capture lessons learned from this experience and to make concrete recommendations for the future. The evaluation collected evidence from case studies in fourteen program countries, five regional service centers, two subregional resource facilities, three thematic centers, and through interviews in New York.--Publisher's description.
This blind peer reviewed book systematically records, analyses and assesses for the first time in a single volume the implications of the global development and management of professional evaluation for the African continent.The book deals with the most strategic contemporary evaluation themes. Each of these themes contains discussions of theoretical issues illustrated with one or more short case studies, while selected longer case studies and other relevant documentation are also taken up in annexures at the end of the book. The book therefore comprises a guide to best M&E practices for purposes of systematic policy, programme and project evaluations. It is suitable for both professional M&E institutionalisation and capacity-building projects as well as for evaluation information dissemination and education at different levels in the public, private and voluntary sectors in society, especially in a developmental context.
