Sub-Regional Resource Facility for Arab States

No - 29 April 2008

RBAS Annual Regional Meeting :"RBAS Alignment with UNDP Strategic Plan 2008-11". Jordan, 25-29 March 2008: Setting up the RBAS Priorities and Action Plan for 2008-2009 – Contribution with thanks by Nicholas Reith RBAS and Elsa Salameh SURF-AS

During the period 25-29 March 2008, RBAS hosted its annual regional meeting at the Dead Sea, Jordan, which brought together Senior Management from Country Offices around the region to collectively forge a new action plan for the coming year.
This year’s theme was “RBAS Regional Alignment with the Strategic Plan 2008-2011,” and in this vein, participants included representatives of key headquarters units, including Directors or Deputy Directors of BDP, the HIV/AIDS Practice, CDG, the Gender Unit, OSG, BOM (ASD, ST, PSO, and OHR), BCPR, BRSP, and the MDTF Office.
In addition, to strengthening UNDP’s role in development coordination, Regional Directors of various UN agencies joined RBAS in this regional meeting, along with Sir David Veness, USG for UN DSS, in order to discuss vital issues of security and enhanced development cooperation.
The meeting opened with an especially salient introductory remarks by Mr. Ad Melkert, UNDP Associate Administrator, Ms. Amat Al Alim Alsoswa, UNDP Regional Director for Arab States; H.E. Ms. Suhair Al-Ali, Jordanian Minister for Planning and International Cooperation; and H.E. Ambassador Moustafa El-Fiqi, Egyptian Member of Parliament (People’s Assembly).
Key sessions were chaired by Deputy Resident Representatives from around the region, which recognized progress made on the 2007-2008 action plan, and made proposals for the way forward toward aligning the regional action plans with the UNDP Strategic Plan 2008-2011 to increase development effectiveness and efficiency.
                                                                                                                         
Key topics discussed include:
-Development Results: MDGs 2nd Half Strategy
-The Accountability Framework, including:
            -Enhanced RBM Platform
            -Risk Management
            -Finance, Audit and Procurement
            -Business Continuity Planning
            -Human Resources Priorities
-UN Coordination
-Global, Regional, and UNDP Perspectives on Safety and Security
-UNDP Corporate and Regional Bureau Support to Alignment with the Strategic Plan
-Capacity Development
-Partnerships and Resources Mobilization
-Crisis Prevention and Recovery

The last day of the regional meeting was dedicated to discuss issues related to the SURF and the Regional Service Center. The SURF AS Board meeting was expanded to include all Resident Representatives from the Arab states. The SURF’s work in general and in 2006/2007 in particular was commended through all of its activities (policy advice, technical backstopping, knowledge management, research support, etc.). The discussions made several recommendations for the way forward. Emerging topics such as climate change need to be addressed with increased efforts and better tailored interventions targeting crisis countries. These interventions will be taken in consideration when establishing the mandate of the Regional Service Center.

The meeting undertook an in-depth discussion of the regionalization process and the new Regional Service Centre, and concluded with the need to hold a Regional Service Center Board meeting in the coming 2 months to discuss priorities for the 2008-2009, resources and Action Plan.

UNDP Libya: Harvesting fruitful knowledge from successful Jordanian Experience – Contribution with thanks by Abdelmenam Mohamed, programme officer UNDP Libya

UNDP Libya CO is implementing a project to support Protected Area Management in Libya, in partnership with the Environmental General Authority (EGA), the government institution responsible for Environment in Libya. Protected Area Management is a specialized field that requires more than layman’s knowledge. Its management requires specific training and expertise to bring forth any dividends. However, that specialized management is not enough on its own. For any form of Protected Area Management to prove successful, there must be a symbiotic relationship with local community in which they both benefit from and give to the area in question. This project hopes to realize these goals by designing a training programme for existing and potential Protected Area Managers in Libya that corresponds and emulates best practices in the field from both regional and global experiences. UNDP Libya and the EGA have been collaborating with the UNDP CO in Jordan, which has successfully implemented a similar strategy in regards to Protected Areas in the country. Recently, a 27 person delegation from Libya visited four protected areas in Jordan in order to see first-hand what was put into practice. The participants represented the managers and decision makers from three governmental authorities in Libya. These three authorities are responsible for managing and monitoring all the protected areas within the country. The principle outcome of this study tour has been the building of a motivated team from different authorities in Libya, passionate about nature and its conservation. This has been clearly shown through the participating authorities’ willingness and desire to organize similar training activities in Libya to the ones found in Jordan. Particular emphasis has been given to the field of eco-tourism that has unparalleled potential in an unspoiled environment like Libya’s.

UNDP Saudi Arabia and UNICEF Hold a Programme for Youth Leadership and Dialogue – Contribution with thanks by Dima Al-Azem KM Associate UNDP Saudi Arabia

UNDP Saudi Arabia and UNICEF Sub-Regional Gulf Office have kick-started a pilot programme that will enhance the leadership skills of young men and women in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The two agencies signed a MoU in December of 2007, to start this comprehensive programme which goes in line with the national planning priorities in the Kingdom. This joint programme consists of several activities. The first one was a "Young Women Leaders" workshop, held in December of 2007 aiming at developing the leadership skills of 150 young women. Similarly, a “Young Men Leaders” (YML) workshop took place in March 2008 to train 50 young Saudi men on enhancing their leadership skills enabling them to establish a community of practice (CoP) on leadership issues. This CoP would facilitate dialogue and exchange of information and best practices on the attainment of Human Development and the MDGs, and the role of youth in their achievement. In this workshop UNDP and UNICEF are partnering with the General Presidency for Youth Welfare. In parallel, two separate “trainings-of-trainers” were held to develop the capacities of 45 Saudi young women and 25 young men to become certified national trainers in leadership. The training material used in these activities has been adopted from LEAD International Institute and Oxford University and tailored to match the national context and local needs. Another activity under this joint programme is “The Youth Dialogue Platform”. This one-day event brought both UNDP and UNICEF to partner again with the General Presidency for Youth Welfare. The dialogue platform highlighted the following topics: youth leadership, youth employment and participation in the labor market, and youth volunteer work. Participants included government officials and academicians dealing with youth issues, young Saudi leaders, experts in youth issues, and representatives from UN agencies and national counterparts. The main objective of the dialogue platform was to generate inter-generation discussion and exchange of knowledge on youth national priorities, challenges, and opportunities. This joint programme for youth empowerment and development aims at strengthening the role of young Saudi males and females in the national development process and the achievement of the MDGs. This objective can be achieved through empowering and developing youth’s capacities in leadership and dialogue so they can adequately participate in the formulation of national strategies, policies, and programs targeting them. Moreover, this successful “youth empowerment program” is considered the first of its kind in the Arab Region and will be replicated in other regions within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Arab world.

UNDP Kuwait: participation and support in the Family Law Awareness Campaign ­ Contribution with thanks by Sahar Shawa programme analyst UNDP Kuwait

UNDP Kuwait provided support to the Women Cultural and Social Society (WCSS) campaign to raise awareness of the Kuwaiti Family Law.  The awareness campaign, in cooperation with UNIFEM, and Freedom House, was under the maxim “Your Law is your Light”, and was launched on March 9th and continued until the end of March 2008.  It consisted of banners, newspaper, buses and street posts advertisements.  It included the message for women that the law is with you; get to know it to protect your life and your legal rights.
It builds on the past successful cooperation between UNDP Kuwait and the WCSS in the political awareness campaign “Exercise Your Rights; Let Your Voice be Heard” in the 2006 elections which played a significant role in encouraging Kuwaiti women to practice their political rights as voters and candidates.
UNDP Kuwait support to WCSS in this legal awareness campaign comes in accordance with the new Country Programme, as part of the Gender and Social Development area and the laws and legislations area.  It is considered as a good start in laying the grounds and preparing the stakeholders and the public in an attempt to sensitize them and raise their awareness of legal rights at the same time.  The cooperation presents UNDP with a good opportunity to beat of the civil society efforts to support Kuwaiti women.

UNDP Yemen: A New Intervention for the Promising Sectors - Contribution with thanks by Yazan Al-Saghiry communication officer UNDP Yemen

UNDP Yemen is starting a new intervention, targeting the promising sectors (agriculture, manufacturing, fisheries, and tourism) for implementation of pro-poor growth economic policies on the sectoral level. UNDP’s entry point for this intervention will focus on the implementation of the 3rd National Socio-Economic Development Plan for Poverty Reduction both at the policy and sectoral levels. At the policy level, focus will be on creating an appropriate enabling environment for business investment and greater private sector involvement and monitoring and evaluation. At the sectoral level, the focus will be on operationalization of sector policies and strategies that will increase job opportunities, including sustainable productivity, quality control and encouragement of labor intensive businesses, giving priority to employment of women and youth. SURF-AS macroeconomic policy advisor Khalid Abu-Ismail Ahmed Moustafa from AITHED&EG came to Yemen on a scoping mission, from (January 6 – 9, 2008), to provide support in drawing an intervention strategy for promising sectors in Yemen. The mission held several meeting with the related parties and organizations in Yemen, and it started to prepare the terms of reference for the intervention areas. Future follow-up missions to start implementing the recommendations of the scoping mission are being prepared for the near future.

UNDP Tunisia: Gender audit in several sectors  - Contribution with thanks by Noureddine Nasr programme officer UNDP Tunisia

A training workshop for five Tunisian ministries on the processes and methodologies to conduct a Gender Mainstreaming audit took place in Tunis, the 4th of March 2008. The participants were representatives from the Ministry for Development and International Cooperation, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry for Women, Family, Children and Elderly Affaires and the Ministry of Public Function, in addition to, other national and international experts. The trainees were given the necessary tools to conduct similar audits in their respective ministries during 2008.
This training took place in the framework of the joint UNDP - UNFPA programme for Gender Mainstreaming which is being implemented by the Ministry for Women, Family, Children and Elderly Affaires and the National Office for the Family and Population (2007-2011).
At the end of this workshop, the trainees are expected to put down action plans and time tables to carry out the gender audit in their ministries and an intersectoral committee will be put in place to support that process.

UNDP Bahrain: UNDP support to Bahrain’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process – Contribution with thanks by Luma Al Jishi programme officer UNDP Bahrain

Being one of the first member states for Universal Periodic Review by the Human Rights Council in April 2007, the Kingdom of Bahrain has taken steps to prepare its UPR paper in a very transparent and participatory manner with technical support from UNDP.  Based on the Government’s request, UNDP is advising the Government on the processes and formulation of an action plan to implement its pledges and commitments.
A draft of the Bahrain Action Plan on the Implementation of UPR Outcomes has been prepared by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with technical support from UNDP. The draft Action Plan has been presented to media, civil society, academics and researchers, as well as governmental ministries for comment.  UNDP is training the Bahrain delegation to the Human Rights Council on human rights issues, the Human Rights Council and the UPR process.  The delegation will also receive a briefing on possible issues that may arise during the Interactive Dialogue and on strategizing about responses.
UNDP Bahrain will continue to support the Government in the UPR process and the implementation of Bahrain’s voluntary commitments over the next four years.

UNDP Sudan: Judges training on Legal Analysis for Effective Dispute Resolution – Contribution with thanks by Dalia Elroubi communication associate UNDP Sudan

End of January, the Sudan Judiciary and UNDP launched a six week judicial training course on “Effective Dispute Resolution: A Course in Legal Analysis for Judges”. With 50 judges participating in the course, this is a key stepping stone in the progress of the Multi Donor Trust Fund Sudan Judicial Capacity Building Project. The Project is designed to enhance the independence of the Sudan judiciary; build the knowledge-base of judges; and empower the judiciary to effectively and fairly apply the law and deliver justice. The initiative is being jointly implemented by the Sudan judiciary and UNDP over a three-year period. Deputy Chief Justice Mohammed Hamid Abusinn said “We have gladly accepted this support in search of knowledge and not because we lack the expertise, but because our Sudanese judges are always seeking to improve their already existing knowledge and capacity. This project is particularly significant as it aims to enhance the judicial system at a time where Sudan is witnessing a democratic transformation era.”
Emphasizing the complexity of the Sudanese legal structures at the formal and informal sectors, UNDP Country Director Jerzy Skuratowicz stressed the importance of understanding the role of traditional laws and formal laws within a culturally diverse country such as Sudan. The Capacity Development of Sudan’s Judiciary project stems from a long-standing collaboration between the Sudan Judiciary and UNDP. It was first conceived during the Joint Assessment Mission (JAM) in 2004, and has since crystallized through extensive consultations, in-depth analysis and consensus building leading to this comprehensive initiative. In addition, the Project aims to establish, construct and fully equip a pilot National Legal Training Resource Center in Wad Madani, and rehabilitate the existing judiciary training facility in Khartoum. Court facilities in Khartoum, Abyei, Blue Nile, Southern Kordofan and Eastern Sudan will also be rehabilitated to improve the delivery of judicial services in different States.

UNDP Sudan: Sudanese artists use their skills to advocate for development – Contribution with thanks by Aicha Elbasri communication officer UNDP Sudan

Goethe Institute in Khartoum in partnership with the German Development Service (DED), and UNDP launched the second phase of the “A picture is worth a thousand words” campaign. The three-week liberal arts for development campaign focuses on development projects implemented by the European Commission funded and UNDP managed Recovery and Rehabilitation Programme (RRP) in Upper Nile, Blue Nile and River Nile States. Three groups, each one comprising five Sudanese artists and a graphic design trainer from Germany will visit one of the three RRP locations for one week. During these field visits, the Sudanese artists will work together with the local communities and NGOs to develop illustrations, posters and artwork highlighting development issues. The artwork created during these training sessions will be displayed at an art exhibition hosted by the Goethe Institute Khartoum starting on 5 April. Drawing Sudanese artists and rural communities closer will allow the delivery of development messages in a visual style that speaks to rural Sudanese subtle beliefs and feelings. The campaign is an advocacy tool that encourages Sudanese artists to use their artistic skills to advocate for development and reinforces other communications tools ranging from circle discussions to radio for development. The first stage of this campaign took place nearly one year ago in cooperation with the German Development Service. The campaign developed the artistic skills of 13 artists from across Sudan to enable them to work with development organizations, including local NGOs, in promoting and advocating for development in Sudan. The second phase of the “A picture is worth a thousand words” campaign focuses on field training. Sudanese artists will visit several RRP projects and interact with local communities in the Upper Nile, Blue Nile and River Nile States. The 54,325 million Euro programme RRP, which is serving 800,000 Sudanese, is the largest recovery initiative across Sudan. A total of 47 national and international NGOs are working together to build schools, healthcare centers, and water networks; improve people’s livelihoods through vocational training, agricultural projects, and peace-building initiatives; and increase capacity through training local government administrations.

UNDP Lebanon: Promotion of dryland eco-tourism – Contribution with thanks by Taija Kontinen

To celebrate International Women’s Day on the 8th of March, the eco-tour operator CYCLAMEN organized a day trip to Bekaa Valley in Lebanon to celebrate the achievements of the Ain Areesh Women Cooperative in the village of Aita Al-Fhoukhar. The trip was organized by the project “Rural Drylands Development through Trade and Market Access”, supported by the Drylands Development Centre (DDC) with funding from the Government of Finland. The project is executed by the Lebanese Ministry of Agriculture within the National Action Programme to Combat Desertification and seeks to introduce agricultural/dryland products into Finnish and EU markets, as well as promote ecotourism in Lebanon. The trip itself started with a visit to the Roman temple of Qasr al-Wali then followed by a homemade lunch of traditional tannour bread, kibbe, zaatar and other local specialties at the local women’s cooperative. Asked about the project’s benefits, the cooperative’s president, Hiam al-Gharib, said it not only offers the women financial independence and better technical know-how but also serves the purpose of sustainable agriculture by offering assistance and support during and after the initiation of the project. “I’m learning a lot and I’m working night and day, “she said.
The project is also being supported in Finland by the Finnish Rural Women’s Advisory Organisation, which facilitates the process of market access into Finland in a parallel process to capacity building at the local level implemented by the MoA and national partners.

ICTDAR: Workshop for the Arab Citizen - Contribution with thanks by Yasmine Soliman programme associate ICTDAR

ICTDAR regional programme hosted a workshop for the Responsible Arab Citizen initiative end of March 2008. 32 youth participants from 11 Arab states participated in this meeting - most of them representing NGOs working in the citizenship and human rights fields. The agenda included reviewing demos, games and management models of the Resp-Act prototype and the participants provided their feedback on management of content and -ideas of collaboration which exceeded our planned expectations for this workshop. Several productive ideas were shared and will be applied on the online version

Higher Education Project:19 Arab universities host external peer review teams to evaluate their engineering programs – Contribution with thanks by Ghia Osseiran research Analyst higher education programme

The UNDP Higher Education Project for the Enhancement of Quality Assurance and Institutional Planning in Arab Universities kicked off in February external peer review missions to engineering programmes in 19 universities from ten Arab countries, which will proceed back-to-back through May 2008.
Each participating university hosts an international team consisting of two project-trained Arab reviewers, at least one professional UK reviewer certified by the Kingdom’s Quality Assurance Agency, and one expert German Engineering accreditation reviewer from ASIIN, the German Accreditation Agency for Degree Programs in Engineering and informatics/computer science. A total of 35 project-trained Arab reviewers are participating in peer review missions to evaluate Engineering programs in other universities, six of which are women.
Feedback from the field confirms that on the whole universities have received the external review missions with serious interest, where the experience of hosting such missions has been the first for almost all universities.  Reactions of the academic staff were mixed and varied between universities. While some “academic staff were really interested in the review from the start and were really cooperative, there were also some ‘elder statesmen’ who are maybe too old and reluctant to accept that improvements can be made to their working practices,” observed John Tinker, reflecting on the external review missions  he coordinated to two  universities  in Jordan.
The external review mission to each university takes place over five consecutive days, three of which constitute onsite visits to the university itself. Reviewers take this on–campus opportunity to meet with the university administration, Engineering Program faculty, students, former students and employers. Reviewers also examine learning resources including staff profiles, textbooks, classroom and office accommodation, libraries, laboratories, and IT facilities while continuing their thorough and evidence–based scrutiny of intended learning outcomes, curricula, teaching and learning methods and student assessment methods.
Reflecting on her experience coordinating an external review mission to her home university, while also participating in an external review mission to a Jordanian University, Sahar El-Marsafy, Professor of Chemical Engineering at Cairo University, commented, “I believe that the added value is basically an increase in awareness about the importance and urgency of establishing effective Quality Assurance (QA) units. I think that the impact has already started to surface; at least a plan for developing sustainable QA procedures is underway.”
Each review mission concludes with an oral and written report delineating clear recommendations and entry points for academic reform. “The recommendations will help universities to improve the quality of the programme and to apply for a bigger budget within the university [for quality assurance and enhancement],” explained Professor Gerrit Höfker, a participating reviewer from ASIIN.

Arab Knowledge Report – AKR - Contribution received with thanks by Mary Jreidini RPD Programme Associate

As part of the partnership with the Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation (MBRF), which includes the launch of the Arab Knowledge Report, the Report team had a good start with a lively Advisory Board meeting held in Dubai on 3 February 2008 where the vision for the first AKR was shared and discussed.  As in the AHDR process, the Report team will incorporate the recommendations for the Board into the substance of the report, which has been debated and refined during the first Core Team meeting, held in Cairo on 14-15 March. The Arabic Version of the Report will be launched, at the cornerstone of the Arab Strategy Forum held in Dubai on 23 - 29 November.

Users’ Guide on Measuring Public Administration Reform (PAR) - Contribution received with thanks by Mary Jreidini RPD Programme Associate

The Regional Programme Division, in cooperation with the Oslo Governance Center, is planning to develop a nationally owned Users’ Guide on Measuring Public Administration Reform (PAR) for the Arab States Region. Measurement initiatives in the area of PAR are in general externally driven and primarily concerned with the generation of data that allows for cross-country comparisons and for the production of “rankings”, mainly to guide donor allocations, or to evaluate the success of a donor-sponsored programme in the area of PAR.
The purpose of the proposed PAR Users’ Guide is to assess the extent to which PAR are pro-poor and gender sensitive; the extent to which PAR advance democratic processes; and the extent to which PAR protect human rights.

Mission to Somalia

As part of the support SURF-AS provides to crisis countries a mission to Somalia was undertaken by Iyad Abumoghli, SURF-AS Environment Policy Advisor and George Akl, SURF-AS Programme Officer. The mission was conducted in response to a request made by UNDP Somalia CO to assist in developing a national sustainable development programme for the Country. With the help of UNDP Somalia, Samuel Gitahi, the mission team visited two regions in Somalia (Somaliland and South Central) and conducted two stakeholders’ focus group meetings in addition to consultation meetings with international donors and partners based in Nairobi and meetings with the Drylands Development Center and Somalia CO. As a follow-up to the mission, SURF-AS will prepare a programme of assistance for the Environmental Management in Somalia by end of April 2008.

Mission to Saudi Arabia

As a follow-up to an earlier mission, Iyad Abumoghli visited the kingdom end of January to hold meetings with the Mayor of the City of Jeddah, Senior Staff and Consultants to review the project document for the Environment Master Plan for Jeddah.  Mayssam Tamim, Assistant Resident Representative in UNDP Saudi Arabia introduced the purpose of UNDP’s support and the overall objectives of the programme. The meeting discussed the main outcomes and expected deliverables of the programme while stressing on the participatory nature of the intervention where the people of Jeddah and other stakeholders are key players in the identification of issues and priorities and proposed interventions.  The UNDP team, with the head of the Jeddah Observatory, discussed Agenda 21 approach to urban environmental planning and the capacity development and sustainability of the project outputs. The Mayor supported the project and invited attendees to share their comments. Comments were related to information collection, data gathering, role of the different partners and coordination mechanisms with other departments. The Mayor suggested looking at Riyadh Environment Master Plan, Invite other cities to learn from the process and contribute to its development, invite speakers presenting successful global experiences and consider involving the World Bank staff as part of the Government agreement with the WB.

Mission to Syria

Early March 2008, SURF-AS governance Advisor Asr Toson undertook a mission to UNDP Syria to provide support to Civil Service Reform Initiative as well as to the disaster management and recovery Project.  After assessing the overall government CPR operational mechanisms, a concept note to establish an effective coordination mechanism for CPR was developed.   Another concept note on civil service reform was also developed and is subject to review by the CO.    He provided technical support for the review of the newly developed automation component and judicial training of Syria justice project and developed a strategy to enhance the MOJ capacity for decision making process.  Asr met the Business development team in order to identify future needs, possible areas for expansion and suitable strategic entry points while ensuring synergy with CO’s governance projects. Finally, a review of the CO’s Governance portfolio was launched and advice to the governance team on possible areas for expansion in line with the government fifth development plan was given

Mission to Tunisia

DDC team leader, Elie Kodsi, undertook a mission to Tunis to attend the official launching of the project “Plan d’action regional de luttte contre la desertification dans le Gouvernorat de Kasserine”. The launching was attended by high government officials including the Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development as well as local communities and NGOs. The second main objective of the missions was to finalize the project’s 2008 action plan making sure to include a gender perspective in the proposed activities at the level of identifying needs, mobilizing local communities, and including indicators for measuring impact.

Mission to Bahrain :Demystifying Gender Indicators – Contribution with thanks by Luma Al Jishi programme officer UNDP Bahrain

Taking the empowerment of women as a top priority, UNDP Bahrain continues to work towards enhancing the capacity of women to exercise their rights and actively participate in Bahrain’s development. In addition to the activities focused on gender mainstreaming and improved access to justice, activities also focus on improving women’s political and economic participation.  UNDP’s key partner in this goal is the Supreme Council for Women, Bahrain’s national entity for the advancement of women.
A roundtable meeting was organized in March 2008 by the Supreme Council for Women and UNDP, in cooperation with the World Economic Forum and the Arab Women Organization to discuss “Gender Empowerment Indicators”.
The two-day meeting began with a theoretical introduction on gender indicators and the concept of human development and gender mainstreaming.  Nuzhat Ahmad, UNDP Poverty Policy Advisor in New York, and Adib Nehmeh of AS-SURF, gave an overview of current indicators and economic empowerment of women.  A comparative study between the actual status of Bahraini women and their status within international reports as well as an overview of the World Economic Forum Gender Gap Report, were presented.
Based on the presentations, discussions among the participants, representatives from the government as well as several NGOs, revolved around the absence of a mechanism that accurately measures the status of Arab women and suggestions for improvement.  As part of the broader partnership, the Supreme Council for Women and UNDP will work on implementing the recommendations of this meeting and mainstreaming gender in development work.

Sub-Regional Support: Two sub-regional gender clinics: Tunis 28-31 January 2008 and UAE 9-14 February 2008

The two sub-regional gender clinics that took place consecutively in Tunis and Abu Dhabi brought together gender focal points from the corresponding sub-region as part to network efforts and discuss participant’s different portfolios (Women Economic Empowerment, Gender and governance, gender and HIV, Gender and trade…). The support was provided by the SURF-AS Policy Advisor on Gender Jocelyne Talbot and Elsa Salameh, SURF-AS KST member.
The regional needs were highlighted including increasing funding for gender-related initiatives faced with a high turnover of Gender focal points.  Support to the UNDP CO gender focal points in their work led to the creation of this new and original concept which targets not only sharing of information and building of capacities but also “prescription” of tools and/or Knowledge products for the expressed needs, shortcomings or concerns by the Gender focal points. Furthermore, Knowledge management and maintaining the institutional memory on gender in terms of recording experiences and lessons learnt as well as providing assistance in networking were important components of the meetings.

What was remarkable from the first clinic in Tunis targeting the 7 MENA countries (PAPP, Lebanon, Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan and Syria) is the number of projects on governance and gender especially those relating to public administration reform and legal aspects of Women’s Empowerment. The focal points also had the chance to discuss and comment on the new Regional Gender Programme.

The second clinic was organized in Abu Dhabi and brought together the NCCs (UAE, KSA, Bahrain, Libya and Kuwait). Jocelyne was able to “prescribe” valuable information and links relating to Gender Based Violence, gender and trade and gender and governance, enriched by previous exchanges on these matters with the MENA countries. However, the biggest highlight of this clinic was the opening speech by Dr. Khaled Alloush RR UAE CO, who suggested the idea of a common regional project lead by the SURF-AS, engaging the entire NCC region.

MDG Regional focal point meeting

Mid February, SURF-AS in collaboration with the regional programme division in RBAS organized a meeting for MDG focal points from Arab States. This meeting was held in Amman, Jordan. It aimed to 1) Present and reviews the position paper “Growth, Inequality and Poverty in Arab Countries”  2) Discuss analytical and technical challenges, data gaps according to experts’ comments and identify tasks to be undertaken by expert group in order to finalize the study , 3) Formulate a Regional Programme Document on poverty reduction in Arab States.  MDG Focal points from Yemen, Tunisia, Syria, and Lebanon participated in this meeting, in addition to the regional coordinator of the regional programme on Trade Dr. Ahmad Mostafa and from SURF-AS Khalid Abu-Ismail macroeconomics advisor and Rabih Fakhri KST research assistant. The main findings of this meeting were i) discussion and steps forwards toward finalization of the position paper, ii) drafting of a regional project document on poverty in Arab States. Based on the situation analysis the drafted project document had as main outcome to arrive at economic growth that directly benefits the poor, while fostering an enabling environment that promotes their employment and real incomes and enhances their basic human capabilities through a new paradigm of regional cooperation in Arab States.

Gender Portal feasibility mission

A five day mission conducted by Neus Bernabeu, coordinator of the regional project América Latina Genera (UNDP, RBLAC), to Beirut for examining the possibilities of a gender portal for the Arab region took place end of January. The mission involved meetings with the different Policy Advisors and the Knowledge Services Team during which, the America Latina Genera experience was presented. An exchange of the knowledge products in the RBAS region, as well as a SWOT analysis of the project for the Arab region was carried out in view of the regionalization process. This mission comes as part of the global corporate tendency to have a gender portal for every region, in addition to making sure all knowledge products are gender-sensitive.
The initiative to develop such a portal is backed up by the SURF-AS gender Policy Advisor, with the support of Knowledge Services Team.  On the long run, this project when executed will provide firm bases for networking in terms of knowledge production and generation between UNDP and other UN agencies such as UNIFEM and UNFPA. The main added value of such a portal is in the institutionalization of all the knowledge and experiences generated by this region through the posting of publications and resources in three languages to facilitate access to information to all.

CDT Regional workshop: “From capacity assessment to capacity development strategies in the Arab States”

Organized by the Capacity Development Team/Arab States, in collaboration with CDG colleagues, RBAS, SURF-AS, and BCPR, a regional workshop on Capacity Assessment and Capacity Development Strategies was held in Damascus (Syria) in early February 2008. Participants of the workshop included approximately 120 development practitioners, encompassing UNDP staff (mostly at DRR level), government counterparts and national consultants from about 20 countries, and staff from the regional service centre. The meeting provided a forum for, amongst other things, familiarization with UNDP’s approach to capacity development. 
The first two days of the workshop included presentations of UNDP’s capacity development principles and policies, UNDP’s capacity assessment framework, methodology and tools, and programming for CD. These presentations were supported by illustrative country case studies.  Key CD and capacity assessment concepts and issues were addressed in a hands-on way through working groups.
Day three of the workshop was dedicated to implications of regional conflict for CD. These sessions highlighted the strong need for capacity assessment and CD particularly in conflict and post-conflict situations while underscoring the need for adapting the materials to the context.
Day four of the workshop focused on CD for aid effectiveness. There was a wide range of types of countries represented (NCC, MIC, LDC, post-crisis). Strong interest was expressed for UNDP support for capacity to manage aid, last but not least in terms of deployment of aid management systems. Support for strengthening institutional capacities identified as key, however the guidance and tools offered need to be flexible and responsive to the context. Crisis/post-crisis countries need special support and regional learning on aid effectiveness needs to be enhanced

Business Continuity Planning meeting

UNDP HQ security Team/Bureau of Management organized a three days training on Business Continuity Planning (BCP) and IT Disaster Recovery in Amman from 16-19 March, 2008. SURF-AS Office Manager Nora Khalaf and SURF-AS IT Assistant Lina Labaki participated in the training that is aimed to help strengthen an organization’s ability to ensure staff safety and security, as well as to maintain continuity of critical functions during a critical incident of any nature. The BCM process integrates: Crisis Management, Business Continuity Planning and IT Disaster Recovery Planning. The purpose of the IT Disaster recovery training is to better understand the ICT challenges in terms of IT contingency plans, risks mitigations and the planning phase.
Nora was requested by the organizers of the training to go back and make a presentation to another regional training based on the excellent presentation prepared on the case of Lebanon.

SURF-AS Annual Retreat 16-18 January 2008

SURF-AS held its three-day retreat on 16-18 January 2008.  This annual event is an occasion that brings SURFers together to reflect on past performance and discuss the way forward amidst many challenges. A total of 24 SURF-AS staff members reviewed substantive and operational accomplishments in 2007 and developed a draft consolidated team work plan for 2008.
Apart from internal discussions on direct management and operations, the team discussed how to support better the Country Offices in achieving the MDGs. The working groups’ recommendations during the last workshop on the attainment of MDGs (Cairo, October 2007) were taken as a principal working document based on which, Policy Advisors prioritized their interventions for 2008.
One of the most important outputs of the workshop is a draft work plan consolidating SURF-AS products and services in 2008 according to practice and cross-practice areas.  The work plan was sent to COs for comments and feedback.

Gender Parity in UNDP Report

The new Gender Parity in UNDP Report offers the latest data on trends in the UNDP workforce and recommends ways to improve the institutional balance between women and men, especially among the managers in the organization.  Since the Beijing Platform for Action in 1995, a number of General Assembly resolutions have called for gender parity within all UN organizations.  The Executive Board urges UNDP to achieve 50/50 gender balance by 2010.  A number of UNDP offices have included gender parity—with specific outputs and targets—in the management work plans (http://home.undp.org/omp) and results-based budget submissions that are currently being prepared and approved. Reporting on the achievement of the results will continue to be reviewed by the Gender Steering and Implementation Committee, the senior management oversight body on gender mainstreaming in UNDP.

Launch of UNDP Programme and Operations Policies and Procedures and Enhanced Results-Based Management Platform

Envisioned as key management outputs in the UNDP strategic plan 2008-2011, two important corporate initiatives have been launched early 2008: the UNDP Programme and Operations Policies and Procedures and the enhanced RBM platform.
The purpose of the programme and operations policies and procedures is to enhance standards for accountability and transparency by providing Country Offices and Headquarters Units with clear and up-to-date programming and operational requirements for the achievement of development and management results. The policies and procedures are mandatory and reflect a thorough process of consultation with all stakeholders to ensure relevance. As for the enhanced RBM platform, it seeks to facilitate the planning, monitoring and reporting of country, regional and global results by serving as a single gateway that can be customized to meet the needs of a wide variety of users.
For questions and feedback please contact: rbm@undp.org

Launch of Gender Equality Strategy 2008-2011 and Gender Equality Workspace

The Gender Equality Strategy (GES) 2008-2011: Empowered and Equal was launched mid March 2008. The GES builds on the results achieved through the Gender Action Plan 2006-2007 and is designed to complement and reinforce UNDP's Strategic Plan 2008-11, by defining in more detail how attention to gender equality and women's empowerment will strengthen action in all four focus areas. To assist with internal and external advocacy the key corporate messages from the GES have been summarized in a brochure.  To help support the implementation of the GES, UNDP colleagues in the field should have access to the resources and knowledge of the global community of practice. The Gender Equality Workspace is also now available on the UNDP Intranet. This virtual space provides tools, publications and comparative experiences accumulated through the knowledge networks, which can be easily found using the new Google-powered search facility.

New Resources on Climate Change, Biodiversity, Water and more...

Highlights from a number of excellent new resources produced in the past month on issues related to UNDP’s Environment and Energy work. The selection includes:- The latest report on climate change, biodiversity loss, water scarcity, and the health impacts of pollution and toxics by OECD- A WWF report discussing the role of the voluntary carbon offset market- Deforestation, degradation and the future for the Amazon- In the Media: World Water Day news from the press.

Ban Saraf joined the CDT as KM and programme specialist. She has an MA form Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service, Center for Contemporary Arab Studies in International Relations focusing on the Middle East. She served as an international development consultant specialized in civil society, governance, elections, advocacy and political mobilization, community outreach, gender, network development, NGO capacity development and web management. She has over 20 years of professional international experience in the Middle East, North and West Africa.

Dania Marzouki joined the RBAS Regional Programme Division as Regional Programme Specialist mainly handling Crisis Prevention and Recovery, and Governance issues. Prior to joining RBAS, Dania worked with UNDP India CO as Programme Analyst in charge of developing the India CPAP 2008-2012. Before that she was in UNDP Cambodia CO for 5 years, first as Programme Officer on Trade and Economics portfolio and then Monitoring and Evaluation Officer. Dania holds a Masters degree in International Administration/International Law, Paris - Sorbonne