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Evaluation of the Regional Programme for Arab States (2010-2013) EVALUATION OF THE REGIONAL PROGRAMME FOR ARAB STATES (2010-2013) United Nations Development Programme EVALUATION OF THE REGIONAL PROGRAMME FOR ARAB STATES (2010-2013) Copyright © UNDP 2013, all rights reserved. Manufactured in the United States of America. Printed on recycled paper. The analysis and recommendations of this report do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations Development Programme, its Executive Board or the United Nations Member States. This is an independent publication by the UNDP Evaluation Office. Editor: Sanjay Upadhya Design/Production: Green Communication Design inc Printing: Consolidated Graphics Inc. EVALUATION OF THE REGIONAL PROGRAMME FOR ARAB STATES (2010-2013) May 2013 United Nations Development Programme ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This evaluation was conducted by the Evaluation States (RBAS) both in New York and in the Arab Office of UNDP. Olivier Cossée, evaluation region, especially Sunil Saigal, Adel Abdellatif, manager, planned and managed the evaluation Dania Marzouki, and the colleagues in UNDP process and joined the evaluation mission to country offices visited by the evaluation team review the environmental portfolio. The mis- (Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia). sion was conducted by a team of independent They supported the logistics of the evaluation consultants led by Souad Dajani, and included mission and provided the team with much of Ahmed Jazouli, Soumaya Ibrahim, and Leila the data, information, analysis and feedback Hassanin. Elizabeth de Leon Jones and Michelle presented in the present report. Current and Sy provided research and operational support to past regional project managers, as well as staff the team respectively. in the Regional Centre in Cairo, were also very supportive. Last but not least, the contribu- The evaluation could not have been completed tion of regional and national institutions, civil without the generous participation of a wide society organizations and programme donors range of stakeholders who provided information must be warmly acknowledged, as they provided through interviews and surveys. The Evaluation an irreplaceable external outlook on the relevance Office would like to express its gratitude to the and usefulness of the Regional Programme for staff of the UNDP Regional Bureau for Arab Arab States. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii FOREWORD The United Nations Development Programme creating a ‘moving target’ in terms of relevance: (UNDP), in addition to supporting the devel- interventions that were deemed irrelevant or opment of 177 countries and territories through unpalatable by regional governments before the its country and multi-country programmes, runs uprisings came to be perceived as very relevant global and regional programmes to address issues after 2011. This pertains in particular to demo- of global and regional nature, provide coherence cratic governance projects and the Arab Human to its technical support and facilitate exchange of Development Reports. knowledge and experience across the countries it serves. The evaluation concluded that the division of labour between the regional programme (man- During 2012, the Evaluation Office conducted a aged from New York) and the advisory services to series of evaluations of these global and regional country offices (provided by the Regional Centre programmes. The present evaluation covered the in Cairo) is currently too strict. While these Regional Programme for Arab States 2010-2013, lines of work probably need to retain a degree of implemented by the UNDP Regional Bureau for autonomy, the lack of coordination and collabor- Arab States through its Regional Programme ation between the two regional entities generates Division in New York. confusion and neglects potential synergies. The evaluation found that in spite of wide To meet the challenges of the emerging era disparities in social and economic standards, the – particularly the rising expectations of the Arab States’ common development challenges women, men and youth of the Arab world and cultural heritage created a ‘space’ condu- for employment, representation, freedom, dig- cive to regional programming. The Regional nity and security – UNDP will need to pull its Programme for Arab States has used this regional strengths together, reach out to the Arab civil space to promote debate around key development society, and translate the progressive language issues that may be sensitive and controversial to it uses in its reports and conferences into actual address at country level, for instance, through changes in people’s lives. the Arab Human Development Reports, which prompted much debate but reached an excep- As UNDP develops its new Strategic Plan, I tionally wide audience and are now credited with hope this series of evaluations will shed light foretelling the Arab uprisings of 2011. Support on how UNDP can further enhance the value to the fight against corruption and efforts to of its services by utilizing these global and address HIV/AIDS also exploited the same regional programme instruments more effectively niche and proceeded from the same logic, the and efficiently. regional programme attempting in both cases to contextualize international norms in order to promote their implementation in the region. The Arab uprisings created a peculiar context for the evaluation, preventing some travel and Indran A. Naidoo meetings but also, and more fundamentally, Director, Evaluation Office iv FOREWORD CONTENTS Acronyms and Abbreviations vii Executive Summary ix Chapter 1. Introduction 1 1.1 Purpose of the Evaluation 1 1.2 Scope of the Evaluation 1 1.3 Approach and Methodology 2 1.4 Structure of the Report 5 Chapter 2. The Regional Context and UNDP Response 7 2.1 The Regional Context and Development Challenges 7 2.2 UNDP in the Region 12 2.3 The UNDP Regional Programme 13 2.4 Overview of Regional Projects 15 2.5 Mobilization of Resources 19 2.6 Programme Management and Oversight Arrangements 21 Chapter 3. Contribution of the UNDP Regional Programme to Development Results 23 3.1. Poverty Reduction and Achievement of the MDGs 23 3.2. Democratic Governance 28 3.3 Environment and Sustainable Development 34 3.4 Promotion of Knowledge for Human Development 37 3.5 Gender Equality, Empowerment of Women and Youth 45 3.6 Efficiency 49 3.7 Sustainability 52 Chapter 4. Strategic Positioning of the Regional Programme 55 4.1 Strategic Positioning within UNDP 55 4.2 Partnerships and Resource Mobilization 61 4.3 Response to Emerging Issues - the Arab Uprisings 63 Chapter 5. Conclusions and Recommendations 69 5.1 Conclusions 69 5.2 Recommendations 71 CONTENTS v Annexes Annex 1. Terms of Reference 75 Annex 2. People Consulted 87 Annex 3. Documents Consulted 93 Annex 4. Results from the Country Office Survey 97 Annex 5. Management Response 111 Boxes Box 1. A Few Ideas from Tahrir Square Youth on How the UN Can Support Change in the Region 66 Figures Figure 1. Selected Development Indicators 10 Figure 2. Resources Received from Donors Since 2006 21 Figure 3. AHDR Contributors by Nationality and Gender 39 Figure 4. Estimated Website Quotes of HDRs Versus Other Knowledge Products 42 Figure 5. Country Office Survey, Question 4 57 Figure 6. Correlation Between CO Satisfaction with the Global and Regional Programmes 58 Figure 7. Expenditures of RBAS Regional Governance Projects Since 2005 65 Tables Table 1. Selected Development Indicators 11 Table 2. Overview of the Focus Areas in the Regional Programme Document 14 Table 3. Estimated Financial Resources Required for the RPD 2010-2013 19 Table 4. Projects Operationalizing the RBAS Regional Programme 2010-2013 20 Table 5. Identified Internet Links to RBAS Regional Programme Knowledge Products 41 Table 6. Examples of Media Outlets that Covered the AHDRs 43 Table 7. Regional Functional Overlaps in the Arab States Region 61 vi CONTENTS ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ADR Assessment of Development Results AGORA Portal for Parliamentary Development AHDRs Arab Human Development Reports AIDS Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome ACIAC Anti-Corruption and Integrity in the Arab Countries ACINET Arab Countries - Arab Anti-Corruption & Integrity Network ACRI Arab Climate Resilience Initiative AKR Arab Knowledge Reports ANND Arab NGO Network for Development ARPAC Arab Region Parliamentarians Against Corruption ATL Association Tunisienne de Lutte contre les Maladies Sexuellement Transmissible et le Sida (Tunisia) BDP Bureau for Development Policy (UNDP) BCPR Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery (UNDP) CAWTAR Centre of Arab Women for Training and Research CCE Community Capacity Enhancement CCF Country Cooperation Framework CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women CO Country Office CPAP Country Programme Action Plan CSO Civil Society Organization DDC Dryland Development Centre (UNDP unit) DGTTF Democratic Governance Thematic Trust Fund DPA Division of Political Affairs (UN) EO Evaluation Office (UNDP) FSW Female Sex Workers GfD Good Governance for Development Initiative GIZ Deutsche Gesellschaftfür Internationale Zusammenarbeit (German cooperation agency) GPPS Global Programme for Parliamentary Strengthening HARPAS HIV/AIDS Regional Programme for the Arab States HIV Human Immunodeficiency Virus HOA Horn of Africa HDRO Human Development Report Office IDUs Injecting Drug Users ILO International Labour Organization IPU Inter-Parliamentary Union ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS vii IRMS Integrated Resource Mobilization Strategy KSA Kingdom of Saudi Arabia LAS League of Arab States LDP Leadership Development
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