Midterm Review of

1

• Midterm Review of
• Governance
• Sector
• 22 23 June 2009, Baghdad

2

Partnerships and Coordination

• UN Agencies
• UNDP, UNOPS, UNICEF, UNIFEM, UNESCO, UN-HABITAT,
  UNFPA, ESCWA, UNDP POGAR, WHO, FAO, WFP, ILO,
  UNIDO, UNAMI/EAT, UNAMI/HRO, IOM
• NGOs (National/ International)
• NCCI, Aswat Al-Iraq, International Foundation for
  Electoral Systems, Amman Centre for Human Rights
  Studies, CIDA, Juvenile Justice Coordination
  Committee, JICA, Save the Children UK, IMC,
  Norwegian Church Aid, Norwegian Peoples Aid,
  Child Rights Network, People in Need, Arab
  Institute for Human Rights Tunisia.
• Chaired by
• UNDP
• Iraqi Counterparts
• Ministry of Planning and Development Cooperation,
  Ministry of Municipalities and Public Work,
  Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Defence, Board
  of Supreme Audit, Commission of Integrity,
  Independent High Electoral Commission ,
  Communications and Media Commission, Ministry of
  Justice, Ministry of Human Rights, State Ministry
  of Womens Affairs, State Ministry of Civil
  Society, Ministry of Council of Representatives
  Affairs, and the Council of Representatives, High
  Judicial Council of Iraq, Ministry of Labour and
  Social Affairs the Iraq Bar Association

3
UN Assistance Strategy

• To contribute to the achievement of the goals
  defined in the National Development Strategy
  (NDS), International Compact with Iraq (ICI)
  benchmarks, and Millennium Development Goals
  (MDGs)
• Governance Sector

• National priority or goals (NDS 2007- 2010)
• Strengthen good governance and improve security
• ICI Targets
• 3.1.1 National dialogue and reconciliation
• 3.1.2 Implementation of political / legislative
  timetable (constitutional review)
• 3.1.3 Regional and international cooperation and
  integration regional support for reconciliation
• 3.3.1 Establish a comprehensive human rights
  regime country wide role of civil society and
  human rights

4
UN Assistance Strategy (cont.)

• ICI Targets (cont.)
• 3.3.2 Establish and implement effective rule of
  law institution and policy
• 3.3.3 Establish effective transitional justice
  mechanisms
• 4.1.2. By end of 2008, capture in budget all
  significant revenues and expenditures, including
  all subsidies and donor funds
• 4.1.2 Develop framework for intergovernmental
  fiscal relations to ensure efficiency,
  transparency and equity while maintaining
  national fiscal integrity
• 4.2.1 Engaging with Civil Society Policy
  framework for civil society, freedom of
  information protect rights of media
• 4.2.2. Good Governance and Anti Corruption
  Strengthen rule of law for anti corruption
• 4.2.3 Adopt and implement policies, regulations,
  procedures, and build institutions of public
  service management

5
UN Assistance Strategy (cont.)

• ICI Targets (cont.)
• 4.3.2 Private Sector development and investment
  promotion rule of law and judicial system in
  commercial and financial activities
• 4.4.1 Delivering Basic services toward MDGs
  reduced gender discrimination and increase woman
  participation in governance
• 6.4 Improved national planning standardize data
  collection and processing functions in
  Ministries, regions and provinces
• 6.5 Improved donor coordination and
  implementation
• Millennium Development Goals
• Goal 8 Develop a global partnership for
  development

6
Sectoral Achievements Contributions

• Elections
• Provincial elections (January 2009) were
  milestone evidencing the effects of capacity
  development of the IHEC, civic participation with
  a high turnout, election of 25 women to
  Provincial Councils and a remarkable level of
  citizen security before, during and after
  balloting
• 260,000 IHEC staff trained in different
  competencies
• Massive mobilization of 20,000 observers and 500
  electoral media monitors to facilitate Voter
  Registration process and 45,000 national
  observers to cover the pre-balloting, Election
  Day and post-balloting processes.

• Over 264,000 Iraqi men and women in 19 electoral
  governorates mobilized through NGOs to actively
  engage in the election process.
• Concrete steps as training and publications for
  free and fair based media coverage and
  countrywide communication networks using IT and
  conventional means with public feedback on the
  election process.

7
Sectoral Achievements Contributions (cont.)

• 2. National Dialogue and Human Rights
  Progressive civil society engagement in national
  dialogue process for reconciliation and national
  unity
• Four roundtable discussions on national dialogue
  and reconciliation took place in Baghdad with an
  array of representatives from Parliament,
  Constitutional Review Committee, GoI, KRG,
  Kurdistan National Assembly, experts, and the UN
• Improved knowledge building, awareness, public
  dialogue and informed decision making at
  implementation and policy levels
• Nationwide situation analysis on the impact of
  violence on children by UN-supported Iraq Child
  Rights Network
• Countrywide network of 80 NGOs and 250 members
  capacitated to work towards conflict management
  and peace building through the Right to Live in
  Safety Campaign.

8
Sectoral Achievements Contributions (cont.)

• Comprehensive study on the legal and regulatory
  framework for press freedom in support of the
  independence of Commission on Media and
  Communication
• Preparatory work undertaken for a National
  Strategy for the Advancement of Iraqi Women
• Situational analysis on the status of Iraqi women
  for the development and adoption of gender
  sensitive legislation and to understand the
  effects of conflict on womens lives, their
  coping mechanisms, and required social services
• Launching of the Code of Professional Conduct
  for Iraqi Journalists and successful measurement
  of media progress through Media Sustainability
  Index for Iraq
• Grant for humanitarian assistance to provide
  Iftar meals was transformed into civic engagement
  activity covering 18,000 war widows and
  vulnerable families who express their needs and
  concerns regarding participation in civic and
  electoral processes.

9
Sectoral Achievements Contributions (cont.)

• 3. Rule of Law and Human Rights
• Virtual, online Iraqi Legal Database (ILD), with
  training on its use, was launched making the
  entire corpus of Iraqi law, published from 1917
  to 2008 available on the internet at
  www.iraq-ild.org
• A review and tracking exercise which examined the
  content of speeches and public statements made by
  COR members was completed with specific tracking
  to issues related to integrity, inclusive
  governance, gender and human rights content being
  and was used to design capacity building
  activities.
• Strategic action plan developed for the Ministry
  of Human Rights
• Enhanced capacities (80 staff trained) of
  ministries of Defence and Interior ministries on
  mainstreaming human rights
• A training Course for 15 members of Iraqi
  diplomatic corps was conducted to undertake
  regional diplomacy in compliance with established
  rules and international conventions

10
Sectoral Achievements Contributions (cont.)

• Review of the Juvenile Care Law completed under
  the leadership of the Ministry of Labor and
  Social Affairs
• Partnership with 12 local NGOs to raise awareness
  of public, government and NGOs on human rights
  through publicity campaigns marking the 60th
  anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human
  Rights
• Contributed to evidence based, gender sensitive
  National Strategy on Iraqi women with two pieces
  of comprehensive research for broad national
  level consultation
• situation of women in minority communities in
  Iraq,
• honor related crimes in Kurdistan.

11
Sectoral Achievements Contributions (cont.)

• 4. Institutional and Regulatory Framework
  Strengthening
• Leading the development of a multi-sectoral,
  multi-agency public sector reform and
  modernization programme, in support of the
  Governments envisioned comprehensive civil
  service reform, improvement and standardization
  of policy, planning and general management
  functions of government, and their automation as
  a precursor to e-governance.
• Joint programme on Anti-corruption launched to
  facilitate GoIs efforts to comply with the UN
  Convention Against Corruption comprehensive
  study of the legal framework and GAP analysis for
  compliance with UN-CAC will contribute to GoI
  efforts towards compliance
• Board of Supreme Audit introduced performance
  audit for the first time in its 81 year history
  with capacity development support from UN

12
Sectoral Achievements Contributions (cont.)

• Central and regional component of Donor
  Assistance Databases developed in Baghdad and KRG
  respectively for improved aid effectiveness and
  management
• Local Area Development Plan Programme (LADP) has
  facilitated the prioritization of priority
  projects for socio-economic development at
  district level over next 5 years. (visit
  www.ladp-iraq.org to keep track of project
  submissions)
• Under the title of Capacity Development on
  Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Monitoring,
  Reporting, and Planning at the National and Local
  Level in Iraq, the Iraq Info database
  (www.iraqinfo-online.org) to guide Iraq as well
  as UN towards MDGs.

13
Key Lessons Learned

• Closer linkage of programme to emerging and
  dynamic Government objectives and Iraqi
  priorities.
• Formulation of comprehensive capacity and
  institutional development programmes aligned to
  the Governments own development plans and
  budgets have replaced ad-hoc training activities.
• Need for continuous planning, contingency
  planning and reassessment of needs during
  implementation to effectively address actual
  emerging needs of counterparts and deal with
  contingencies.
• Ways to better monitor and evaluate in a remote
  management environment, through developing more
  simplified, standardized tools for communication
  and reporting.
• Anticipate the need for future fund-raising to
  fill the funding gap as the ITF draws to a close.
• Maintaining sustainability of development
  interventions through a concerted and explicit
  level of effort.

14
Key Lessons Learned (cont.)

• Risks and Challenges
• Limited numbers of UN staff and consultants are
  allowed inside Iraq at any one time, for security
  reasons and due to limited slots.
• Security risk affects all four outcomes but would
  most impact area-based activities and
  availability of implementing partners.
• Frequent turnover of counterpart officials and
  staff remains a challenge.
• Monitoring and evaluation of all project
  activities is still done indirectly, and issues
  of implementing partners accountability remains
  a challenge.
• Iraqi staff saturation and absorptive capacity of
  GOI counterpart institutions is a risk.
• Lack of donor and partner coordination may create
  overlaps in programming.
• Institutional and legal constraints persist for
  freedom of the press and full independence of
  non-governmental organizations.

15
Key Recommendations

• Inter-institutional, thematic teams and task
  forces in areas such as elections, human rights,
  Rule of Law, anti-corruption, and gender provide
  optimum opportunities for integrating
  programming.
• Improved coordination with counterparts and
  increased leadership of the Iraqi counterparts.
• Co-funding with the Government of Iraq.
• Joint assessment and evaluation of project
  activities with counterparts ensures maximal
  contribution to achieving project objectives.

16
Key Recommendations

• Increased partnerships and networking between
  Iraqi counterparts and regional institutions.
• More women in elected offices may provide more
  advocates for gender and womens perspectives.
• The UN is seen by counterparts as being neutral
  and capable of providing objective advice without
  political interference.
• The Government Status of Human Development in
  Iraq provides evidence based responses using
  Iraqi generated data.