DocuSign Envelope ID: 07FE3A49-65E6-4022-9348-E4996C85B1C3 Strengthening civil society’s commitment in terms of public Accountability in Tunisia - Partnership with civil society Final Report 2016-2020 With the support of : Table of Content ACRONYMS ......................................................................................................................... 2 1. PROJECT SUMMARY ...................................................................................................... 2 2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................. 3 2.1 Background (context of the Project) ................................................................................ 3 2.2 Operational Overview (implementation structure) ............................................................ 3 2.3 Logical Framework of the Project .................................................................................... 5 3. PERFORMANCE REVIEW ............................................................................................... 9 3.1 Progress Review ............................................................................................................. 9 3.2 IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY REVIEW ................................................................... 14 3.3 MANAGEMENT EFFECTIVENESS REVIEW ....................................................... 18 4. LESSONS LEARNED ..................................................................................................... 22 5. SIGNATURE ................................................................................................................... 23 Annex ................................................................................................................................. 23 1 DocuSign Envelope ID: 07FE3A49-65E6-4022-9348-E4996C85B1C3 ACRONYMS CPD Country Programme Documents CPAP Country Program Action Plan CS Civil Society CSO(s) Civil Society Organization(s) DAO Tender document INLUCC National Anti-Corruption Authority KOICA Korean International Cooperation Agency MLAE Ministry of Local Affairs and the Environment NGO Non-Governmental Organization SDG Sustainable Development Goals UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNDAF United Nations Development Assistance Framework 1. PROJECT SUMMARY The project is aligned with Tunisia’s post-revolution commitment to strengthen integrity, transparency, public accountability and to pursue the fight against corruption. However, the country faces many challenges mostly related to a strong resistance to change within various State organs, administrations, and society. For three years, the project had to address these challenges and built its goals around them. The democratic transition emerged the need to enhance public accountability and promote change. As the transition continues, the priority was also to ensure that the government was fully investing in the country’s development along a more responsible and active civil society. To achieve these goals, UNDP has been building a strong partnership with civil society. It helped highlighting the need to focus on several areas/problematics such as elections, transitional justice, the fight against violence, youth-inclusive reforms, women’s representativity within public space and conflict management. While focusing on the need to bolster public accountability, UNDP – through this project – strengthened its long-lasting partnership with civil society. Therefore, the project focused on supporting CSOs in their quest to play a significant role in the promotion of governance and public accountability within the country’s high- priority geographical areas and sectors. 2 DocuSign Envelope ID: 07FE3A49-65E6-4022-9348-E4996C85B1C3 2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2.1 BACKGROUND (CONTEXT OF THE PROJECT) Tunisia showcased resilience to the instability risks through the actors’ growing willingness to engage in dialogue as well as the emergence of an active civil society. Despite the progress made since 2011, the democratic transition has been fragile. The difficult economic and security context are the main reasons for the lost of citizens’ trust in the State. Such a phenomenon manifested itself through sporadic crises which have been threatening the fragile equilibriums built since 2011. Additionally, popular uprisings have had a positive impact on citizenship within the Arab region. They have helped making accountability a key element of the relationship between society and the State. Nevertheless, urban elites with high instruction levels and socio-economic status are often more concerned by public affairs and public accountability than disadvantaged populations. In fact, various studies highlighted youth’s disaffection from politics through traditional channels (parties, associations, elections). These studies also showed that citizens from high priority regions felt abandoned and excluded, nurturing mistrust towards institutions as well as recurring social frustrations. Fueled by weak formal and informal channels of communication with governments, their distrust grew into a general disillusion towards public affairs and State institutions. As a result, the youth would often turn towards protests, or fall back on violence to be heard. The distrust towards the State is especially present within sectors historically marked by corruption scandals such as the police, health services, municipal authorities, and custom administrations. As a matter of fact, Transparency International showed that 64% of Tunisians believed that corruption has been worsening since 2011. The study asserts that the fight against corruption is one of the main challenges currently faced by the Arab region. Transparency International stresses that this fight could not be won without the implementation and protection of freedom of speech and of association. If CSOs are supported by governments and given the necessary tools, they could be central to the fight against corruption. Nevertheless, Tunisian CSOs have been lacking capacity and support to raise themselves as key actors of the State reform for a better governance, enhanced integrity and transparency. The project challenged these deficiencies by assisting the government in building an environment conducive to the professionalization and empowerment of civil society. By doing so, CSOs were given the possibility to fully contribute to reforms enhancing public accountability and fighting corruption. 2.2 OPERATIONAL OVERVIEW (IMPLEMENTATION STRUCTURE) (i) Operational Overview The project strengthened the capacities of CSOs to promote governance, public 3 DocuSign Envelope ID: 07FE3A49-65E6-4022-9348-E4996C85B1C3 accountability and support the involvement of civil society in the creation of local islands of integrity. To achieve this result, the project focused on 4 outputs: 1. The role of CSOs in contributing to strengthening governance at the legal and institutional levels is supported. 2. The role of civil society in creating islands of integrity is strengthened. 3. CSO initiatives to promote islands of integrity at the local level are strengthened. 4. CSO initiatives to promote islands of integrity at the sectoral level are strengthened. The above outputs were formulated in response to the need for change in sectors or areas - not only on the institutional or legal level but also in terms of accompanying CSOs to enable them to play their critical role in the area of social accountability. The implementation of the project began with the identification of national, local and sectoral CSOs, followed by an assessment of their capacity-building needs, in order to develop and implement a capacity building plan that could address corruption risks. The project also provided technical support and capacity building for CSOs through sharing of comparative experiences to better understand the challenges related to integrity issues and the fight against corruption. The objective is to endow them with the necessary skills for their active participation in the field of integrity and the fight against corruption, through the development of proposals and suggestions to finalize a legal framework and to support the creation of ''islands of integrity'' at the local or sectorial level. (ii) Implementation structure The project Project board is composed of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ensuring national coordination, as well as the donor (KOICA) and the project’s institutional partner, the National Anticorruption Authority (INLUCC). As the decision-making organ, the Project board’s duties included the approval of annual work plans and budgets as well as the review of progress reports. The Project board also provided strategic recommendations and guidance so that the project could achieve its expected results. The below organization chart reflects the implementation structure of the project: 4 DocuSign Envelope ID: 07FE3A49-65E6-4022-9348-E4996C85B1C3 Project Organization Chart Project board (Governance mechanism) Main beneficiary Executive Main providers [CS – INLUCC] [RR UNDP] [KOICA, UNDP] Projet Assurance Management Unit [Governance Team Chief Technical Adviser (CTA) Leader ] Work group A Work group B Work Group C UNDP worked in close collaboration with involved partners and actors to ensure the implementation of the various project components and the achievement of the expected results. The main beneficiaries of the project were the CSOs. The Resident Representative held an executive role and the main providers are