SOUTHERN THAILAND EMPOWERMENT & PARTICIPATION PROJECT REVIEW & FOLLOW-UP FORMULATION REPORT SEPTEMBER 2013 Table of Contents Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................. 1 Development and Peacebuilding Response ........................................................................................... 1 Review of the STEP Project .................................................................................................................... 2 Potential Strategic Intervention Points ................................................................................................. 3 Sustaining the Peace Dialogue and Broadening Participation in the Process ...................................... 3 Access to Information .......................................................................................................................... 3 Access to Justice .................................................................................................................................. 3 Participatory Planning and Sustainable Livelihoods ............................................................................ 3 Local Governance Reform .................................................................................................................... 3 Women’s Empowerment ..................................................................................................................... 4 Proposed Program Outline ..................................................................................................................... 4 Priority Area 1A: Strengthened Capacity to Facilitate Participation in the Peace Process .................. 4 Priority Area 1B: Access to Information ............................................................................................... 4 Priority Area 2: Access to Justice ......................................................................................................... 4 Priority Area 3: Participatory Planning, Livelihoods, and Women’s Empowerment ........................... 4 1. The Context ......................................................................................................................................... 5 SBPAC – Towards a Civilian Policy Framework ..................................................................................... 5 The Dialogue Process ........................................................................................................................... 6 2. Current Development Responses ...................................................................................................... 7 The Government ..................................................................................................................................... 7 International Donors ............................................................................................................................... 8 The World Bank .................................................................................................................................... 8 The European Union ............................................................................................................................. 9 USAID .................................................................................................................................................. 10 Civil Society ............................................................................................................................................. 11 Pat(t) ani Peace Process ...................................................................................................................... 11 Civil Society Council of Southernmost Thailand .................................................................................. 11 Women’s Civil Society Organizations .................................................................................................. 11 3. Assessment of the STEP Project ....................................................................................................... 13 3.1 Review of the Outputs and Activities .............................................................................................. 13 Output 1: Strengthened institutional capacity of community-based organizations and media in promoting social cohesion .................................................................................................................. 13 Output 2: Improved income generation and employment opportunities of communities ................ 14 Output 3: Enhanced legal awareness of local communities and strengthened capacity of legal aid organizations to facilitate public local access to effective legal service ............................................. 15 Output 4: Strengthened capacity of local administration in participatory planning and budgeting . 16 Output 5: Strengthened local level natural resources and natural disaster management ................. 17 Output 6: Increased knowledge of and exposure to various governance models and practices among key government officials ........................................................................................................ 18 Output 7: Enhanced knowledge and capacities of government officials at the provincial level to provide effective dispute resolution mechanism ............................................................................... 19 4. Analysis of the Findings .................................................................................................................... 21 Summary of the Project Achievements ................................................................................................ 21 ii Shortcomings in the Project Design ...................................................................................................... 21 Scope vs. Impact ................................................................................................................................. 21 Project Strategy .................................................................................................................................. 22 Research-Implementation Imbalance ................................................................................................. 22 Changes during Implementation ......................................................................................................... 23 Monitoring .......................................................................................................................................... 23 5. Potential StrateGic Intervention Points .......................................................................................... 24 5.1 Sustaining the Peace Dialogue and Broadening Participation in the Process ............................... 24 5.2 Access to Information .................................................................................................................... 25 5.3 Access to Justice ........................................................................................................................... 26 5.4 Participatory Planning and Sustainable Livelihoods .................................................................... 28 5.5 Local Governance Reform ............................................................................................................. 29 5.6 Strengthening Women’s Role in Responding to the Conflict ........................................................ 31 6. Draft UNDP Program Outline .......................................................................................................... 33 6.1 Strategies for the overall UNDP programme response ................................................................. 33 6. 2 Priority Programming Areas .......................................................................................................... 33 Priority Area 1.A: Strengthened Capacity to Facilitate Local Participation in the Peace Dialogue Process .................................................................................................................................................. 34 Priority Area 1.B: Increased knowledge of and informed debate about the peace dialogue process and the dynamics of the conflict in Southern Thailand ....................................................................... 35 Priority Area 2: Access to Justice for Conflict-Vulnerable Communities ............................................ 36 Priority Area 3: Participatory Planning and Sustainable Livelihoods and Women’s Empowerment 37 6.3 Lessons from the formulation, approval, and implementation of STEP ...................................... 38 Formulation ....................................................................................................................................... 38 Implementation Modality .................................................................................................................. 38 Office Location ................................................................................................................................... 38 6.4 Contribution to National Policy ...................................................................................................... 38 Annexes ................................................................................................................................................