Objectives and Context
Macedonia is a lower-middle income developing country marked by the complex transition from socialism and a centrally planned economy, towards the development of a market economy and democratic institutions. The transition has engendered impoverishment and social exclusion for large portions of the population. At the same time, Macedonian civil society has grown disproportionately strong and sophisticated due to sustained targeting by international agencies, compared to the relatively weak local business and governmental sectors. This has resulted in a mismatch between the development demands and capabilities for fulfilling rights and MDG commitments at the local level. Moreover, since most CSOs are active primarily at the national level, disadvantaged social groups are especially underrepresented in local development politics, and a danger was perceived that the localization of MDGs would be non-participatory by default.
By gathering diverse stakeholders from the local and national levels for long-term cooperation and capacity building, UNDP hopes to stimulate sustainable local demand for participation in development processes. It is also hoped that this programme may facilitate similar developments at the national level. In the frame of the new initiative, cooperation has been established also with the Dutch Development Organisation SNV, which will provide advisory services in capacity development activities.
Links, Strategies and Tools
Supporting the elaboration of an MDG-based national Development Programme 2005-2015 for Macedonia is an elaborate and specifically tailored application of global principles to a very specific local context. The programme links human rights to MDGs in programming by providing a human rights based analysis as the foundation upon which MDG localization programming will be implemented. Other UNDP MDG programming is implemented in the same municipalities and through the same community groups, which provides indirect benefits to Supporting the elaboration […]. Long term links between human rights and the MDGs will hopefully be established in social structures through networking and capacity development at the local level.
Key Strategies
Balancing International and Local Expertise:
UNDP Macedonia partnered with a foreign and internationally recognized human rights consultant, the Ludwig Boltzman Institute for Human Rights. The Ludwig Boltzman Institute was responsible for preparing methodologies and instruments, which were to be used to conduct baseline assessments and gather data for the municipal development plan. The Institute then cooperated with local consultants in the actual data gathering, and the drafting of plans was performed solely by local consultants. By balancing international and local expertise in this way, UNDP was able to ensure the integrity of their human rights based methodologies and procedures, while simultaneously promoting local ownership and ensuring that the plans and processes would take account of local problems and power dynamics that might not have been readily perceived by foreign consultants. The Ludwig Boltzman Institute has maintained its involvement with the project, conducting workshops for local leadership groups and opening a local office in Skopje. This cooperation will continue in the framework of a new project, which aims to replicate project activities in four new municipalities.
Fostering Cooperation Between Stakeholders and Across National Levels:
Supporting the elaboration […] establishes an elaborate network of national stakeholders and international actors engaged in local development processes. This network is novel both for its composition and its cooperative aspects. In terms of composition it is worth noting that the network links international aid agencies, communities on the ground, local, national and international CSOs and public sector representatives at the community, local self-government and national levels.
The key bodies in this network are the project board and the local leadership group. The project advisory board consists of representatives from the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Local Self-Governments, OHCHR, Civic Platform and UNDP. The advisory board provides strategic advice on the implementation and coordination of project activities and ensures that programme objectives are met. The project board liaises between national and municipal development actors and initiatives. The project board of the new initiative will also include the representatives from local government, the Ludwig Boltzman Institute for Human Rights, SNV and donors.
The local leadership group is composed of 20-25 representatives from business, civil society and local government sectors, and is intended to ensure the representative participation of community groups. The primary role of the local leadership group is to identify local priorities and ensure that they are incorporated into municipal strategies. Local leadership groups are responsible for communication between communities and the municipal governments that adopt and implement development plans. Local leadership groups are provided with training courses on participatory planning; skills for monitoring and analysis (indicators); methods and techniques for determining the needs in municipalities with a focus on vulnerable groups; and techniques, tools and mechanisms for monitoring national and local programmes based on MDGs; and on advocacy and campaigning. The Ludwig Boltzman Institute for Human Rights conducts additional trainings in human rights based approach to development planning.
A municipal contact person is appointed by municipalities to liaise between these bodies, municipal government, local trainers and UNDP project staff. The contact person is also charged with coordinating programme activities, supporting the activities and establishment of the local leadership group, and acting as facilitator in MDG processes.
UNDP Macedonia notes that networking across local-level development stakeholders has been essential for incorporating the needs of marginalized groups. It is hoped that by conducting planning, implementation and capacity development within the cooperative structures of the local leadership groups, and in connection with regional, national and international actors, the programme may establish sustainable patterns of participation in local development.
Complementary Programming.
The UNDP project MDG Capacity Building, which supports Macedonia’s progress towards EU accession, developed tools and held training courses for the same local leadership groups established by Supporting the elaboration[…]. The programme Building capacities of Local Governments, CSOs and the Domestic Business Sector to participate in the national PRSP and MDG processes in Macedonia is implemented in the same 3 municipalities. These programmes are programmatically distinct and funded by different donors, but often overlap and complement each other substantively. This has proved especially beneficial given the programme's modest budget (Supporting the elaboration[…] operates on 30,000USD annually.)
Community of Practice:
UNDP Macedonia is also a member of a regional community of practice (CoP) on rights based approaches to regional development, administrated by the UNDP Regional Office in Bratislava. The community of practice has met twice to compare experiences and discuss strategies. The programme officer notes that UNDP Macedonia has benefited greatly from the community in applying global policies and strategies to the local context, and has even based some of its tools on the work of RMAP_2006.
Key Tools
How to Make Local Development Work for All –A Human Rights-Based Approach to Local Development PlanningAn elaboration of how the human rights based approach to development should be applied in the Macedonian context, providing a methodology with precise steps and points for quality control.
Macedonian national and international relevant legal Human rights framework: A Reference Guide
Outlines Macedonia’s domestic and international legal human rights framework, describes each MDG in terms of its Macedonian context and relevant human rights. Is intended for reference use in information gathering and reporting by local leadership groups.
A Human Right Based Approach to regional development.
A collection of concrete tools and strategies for human rights based approaches to development used in other country contexts, and explicitly adapted to the Macedonian context.
Questionnaires for conducting baseline HRs surveys at the local level
Questionnaires are designed primarily to identify the poor in Macedonian localities.
UNDP Macedonia has also produced a Case Study summarizing its experiences with tools for human rights and gender in local development.
Process and Status
AProject Board was established for the programme, composed of representatives from the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Local Self-Governments, Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights, National Civic Platform and UNDP. Three pilot municipalities were then selected in cooperation with consultants from the Ludwig Boltzman Institute for Human Rights—based on their size, ethnic composition, and the statistical administrative regions to which they belonged. Local stakeholders were identified and local leadership groups were composed of representatives from business, civil society and local government sectors, responsible for appointing a contact person to liaise between local leadership groups, municipalities and UNDP project staff.
Training courses were held for the local leadership groups on participatory planning, indicators, needs identification, monitoring and advocacy. The Ludwig Boltzman Institute held workshops on human rights based approaches to development for UNDP staff and stakeholders in each of the three municipalities.
The Ludwig Boltzman Institute has developed tools and methodologies for the base-line survey aimed at identifying vulnerable groups and their concerns, and surveys for the national and international legal frameworks. These surveys then feed into the drafting of municipal development plans by local consultants, in cooperation with the Ludwig Boltzman Institute and the local leadership groups. When a municipal development plan is drafted, it is presented to the local leadership groups for comments, and revised. Final development plans must then be adopted by the Municipal Council in each municipality. Once adopted, it is hoped that human rights based municipal plans will facilitate the adoption of a similar national plan.
A new project is initiated to replicate the above mentioned activities in 4 new municipalities. In addition to developing capacities at local level and supporting development strategies, the new project will attempt to strengthen links between local and national policy-making on development, MDGs and human rights. The initiative is at the starting stage, and the Project Board is being now formed, comprised of the representatives of government, civil society, UNDP, the Ludwig Boltzman Institute for Human Rights, SNV and donors.
Impact
The programme appears to have been quite effective at raising awareness of human rights based approaches among specific actors at the local level, and of developing the capacities of local actors. Human rights consultants and local leadership groups generally agree that the programme has produced very high quality development plans. Some express concern, however, that human rights concepts remain unfamiliar and indistinct to administrators at the municipal level, and that the strong development plans will be adopted by Municipal Councils with little understanding of the concepts on which they are constructed. This has raised concern in some quarters about whether the plan’s principles will be observed and their most crucial aspects implemented. However, the new initiative will address this issue through promoting the concept of human rights based approach to development planning, not only among the representatives of the local leadership groups, but also municipal administrators, through capacity development activities and on-job coaching.
Challenges
The primary challenge facing the implementation of this programme has been the insufficient knowledge, capacities, and systems of local governments. Local self-government officials don’t have enough information about the situation of vulnerable groups, which is reflected in the planning and implementation of development strategies. Some municipal officials’ lack of familiarity with participatory mechanisms, moreover, often goes unnoticed at the planning stage, only to create complications at the implementation stage. Local self-governments also tend to lack institutionalized mechanisms key to a human rights based approach, such as regular coordination meetings, monitoring, clear reporting procedures, etc.
Lessons Learned
It is noted that that networking among stakeholders at the local level has been very important for incorporating a human rights based approach and gender perspective in the planning process. The extensive interaction between the representatives of municipal government, civil society organizations (especially those working with vulnerable groups such as handicapped, women, poor people, Roma etc), prominent local individuals, and businessman was essential for incorporating the views of all stakeholders and securing necessary support for the implementation phase.
Belonging to a community of practice has also been especially useful in adapting global strategies and policy to a regional context. One of the questionnaires developed by the Ludwig Boltzman Institute for Human Rights was even based on the tools of RMAP_2006.
Members of local leadership groups have expressed concern that the strategic documents will not be implemented as they should be, however, due to a lack of understanding on the part of government officials. It has been suggested that the strategic plans are in this respect overly ambitious, and should have been more realistic. Though it remains to be seen how the municipal strategies will be implemented, the strategies themselves are important for including the concerns and special needs of vulnerable groups, which is itself an important step forward.
