Increased efficiency, effective- effective-ness, transparency, and accountability of the

public administration at both central and local levels

This outcome is being pursued through an inter-related set of projects that go under the generic name of Governance and Public Administration Reforms (GPAR), with both central- and provin-cial-level components.

Table 3. Budget (Regular Resources Allocated and Other Resources Expected) (USD thousand, percentage)

Regular resources Other resources Total resources Outcome 1 2,500 25% 17,000 38% 19,500 36%

Outcome 2 2,000 20% 1,000 2% 3,000 5%

Outcome 3 1,500 15% 5,000 11% 6,500 12%

Outcome 4 300 3% 1,000 2% 1,300 2%

Outcome 5 200 2% 1,000 2% 1,200 2%

Outcome 6 752 7% 3,000 7% 3,752 7%

Outcome 7 1,000 10% 7,000 16% 8,000 15%

Outcome 8 950 9% 5,500 12% 6,450 12%

Outcome 9 950 9% 4,000 9% 4,950 9%

Total 10,152 100% 44,500 100% 54,652 100%

Source: UNDP, Country Programme Document for the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (2007-2011)

C H A P T E R 3 . U N D P ’ S R E S P O N S E A N D S T R A T E G I E S 1 7 expenditure is probably because these projects

were still at an early stage of development and were purely of a pilot nature during this period.

Some general remarks can be made on these analyses. First, in general, UNDP has been able to attract more funding when it is working in the areas widely recognized as under its mandate and where it has comparative strength. In areas often perceived as other agencies’ specialities, it may be able to attract funding more effectively if it pursues joint programmes and projects (including joint fund mobilization), as it intends to do in the area of gender empowerment. Second, larger and more visible programmes tend to attract more funding than smaller and focused initiatives where UNDP’s contribution to overall development results is not as visible. This points to the need to constantly review the usefulness of some of UNDP’s small activities against their effectiveness in attracting funding. Third, in Lao PDR, UNDP has been playing a key role in supporting the government on aid coordination. An important objective of this is to promote coordinated support to national priori-ties and development programmes. In this context, nature of activities either in the area of work

(e.g. HIV/AIDS) or to capacity development of central institutions that would not require as large resources as those involving field operations.

Actual expenditures in the first three years of the CPAP (2007-2009) are shown in Figure 1.

Compared to UNDP expectations at the outset (Table 3), the programme seemed to have attracted much greater external funds for outcomes 2 and 8.

These outcome areas cover activities related to aid coordination, national planning, disaster manage-ment as well as governance and public adminis-tration reforms. These can be considered signature areas for UNDP, where the organization is known for its strength and expertise. On the other hand, outcomes 4, 5 and 6 have not fared as well in raising external funds. For the first two outcomes covering gender empowerment and HIV/AIDS, this may be due to a perception that other agencies have a comparative advantage in the areas, even if UNDP could complement their efforts by focusing on institutional and governance aspects. Although outcome 6 includes important field projects to develop community radio, the smallness of the

Figure 1. Actual Expenditure by CPAP Outcomes: 2007-2009 (percentage)

Source: UNDP Outcome 1: 41%

Outcome 2: 16%

Outcome 3: 4%

Outcome 4: 1%

Outcome 5: 1%

Outcome 6: 2%

Outcome 7: 8%

Outcome 8: 23%

Outcome 9: 4%

C H A P T E R 3 . U N D P ’ S R E S P O N S E A N D S T R A T E G I E S 1 8

UNDP should avoid embarking on initiatives that lack at least some degree of consensus among development partners, including on funding issues. While solid consensus on every priority and initiative may be impossible to achieve, a conscious effort should be made to avoid cases in which UNDP embarks on an ambitious project of its own, only to scale back or fail to scale up because of fund-raising difficulties.

UNDP Lao PDR organizes its activities under four clusters: (1) poverty reduction, (2) crisis prevention and recovery, (3) environment and energy, and (4) democratic governance. These clusters do not correspond with CPAP outcomes in a straightforward way. CPAP outcome 1, for example, relates to activities organized under both the crisis prevention and recovery, and the environment and energy clusters, without any integrated approach between the two sets of activities in practice. Outcome 2 relates to projects on the planning process, aid coordination and disaster management, composed of activities from two different clusters. The poverty cluster, on the other hand, contains gender-related activi-ties, which relates to outcome 4, but without the disaster management component of outcome 2.

The poverty reduction cluster, moreover, contains quite heterogeneous sets of activities that relate to more cross-cutting than poverty issues, such as aid coordination and gender.

Instead of strictly following the cluster or outcome structure , the ADR team has organized its sectoral analysis in Chapter 5 according to themes. First, the report defines the poverty theme with activities directly related to poverty reduction, pro-poor planning and UXO projects (outcomes 1, 2 and 3; clusters 1 and 2). The UXO projects are discussed under this rubric because one of their chief objectives is to reduce poverty and vulnerability by increasing people’s access to land. Under the environment and sustainable development theme, activities related to environ-mental treaties, as well as protection of natural resources and sustainable livelihood are discussed (outcomes 1, 2 and 9; cluster 3). The governance theme addresses issues related to administrative reform for better service delivery, access to justice and rule of law, and public participation in the policy- and decision-making processes (outcomes 6, 7, 8 and 9; cluster 4). Activities related to aid coordination, gender empowerment and human rights are discussed in the context of strategic positioning in Chapter 4, because of their strong cross-cutting or normative nature (outcomes 2, 4 and 9; clusters 1 and 4). This leaves outcome 5 on HIV/AIDS, which this report does not directly address. This is partly because HIV/AIDS is still only a minor problem in Lao PDR (although the threat of a bigger problem exists) and partly because UNDP had only a small project on HIV/

AIDS, which has already ended.

C H A P T E R 4 . C O N T R I B U T I O N T O D E V E L O P M E N T R E S U L T S 1 9 taking an active role in informal donor meetings,

and by being deeply involved in the SWGs.

There are some challenges to be met with the aid coordination process in Lao PDR, as will be discussed in the next section on forging strategic partnerships. Still, UNDP must have been doing the basics right in Lao PDR to earn such a level of trust.

The RTP is not simply a mechanism for coordi-nating the use of foreign aid but is also a high-level forum for exchanging views between the government and development partners on major policy issues on development. In recent years, the RTM and RTIM have facilitated policy dialogue at the highest level through open and participatory discussion of critical and sensitive development issues. These include the social impact of the global financial crisis; the MDGs and the need for improved investments in the social sectors; natural resource management with a focus on the need for improved governance in mining, land allocation and forestry; creation of a more enabling environment for private-sector development combined with trade liberalization as engines of pro-poor growth; and an effective role and legal framework for civil society in the fight against poverty at the local level. As the lead development partner responsible for organizing these policy dialogues, UNDP has the opportu-nity to be the catalyst for policy reforms of far-reaching consequences, even in areas where it may not have direct programmatic involvement.

The high level of strategic relevance that UNDP has assumed in Lao PDR is also evident from various other activities, both at the level of programmes and otherwise. Discussions held by the ADR team with various stakeholders revealed that they thought highly of the strategic relevance of UNDP’s involvement in a range of activities 4.1 STRATEGIC RELEVANCE AND

RESPONSIVENESS

4.1.1 STRATEGIC RELEVANCE TO NATIONAL STRATEGIES AND CHALLENGES

UNDP has an exceptionally high-profile presence in Lao PDR, far disproportionate to its direct financial contribution. This is also true for the UNCT in general and the UN Resident Coordi-nator in particular. From meetings with govern-ment officials, developgovern-ment partners, and civil society organizations, it was evident to the evalua-tion team that UNDP is highly valued and trusted by the Government of Lao PDR – perhaps more so than any other development partner. UNDP’s pre-eminence among Lao PDR’s development partners is a testament to its success in making itself strategically highly relevant to the govern-ment through various programmes and other activities.

This success, in other words, stems from UNDP’s readiness to lend a helping hand whenever the government wanted assistance and advice, even if it sometimes meant taking on a greater burden than it could realistically bear. Among the many activities that have served to enhance UNDP’s strategic relevance in Lao PDR, the most important is its role in aid coordination. Consid-ering that over 80 percent of public investment in the country is financed by ODA (not counting a growing amount of aid that remains off budget), coordination of foreign aid amounts in practice to coordination of most development activi-ties. Therefore, UNDP, which has historically assumed the leading role in assisting the govern-ment in the aid-coordination process, ipso facto takes the centre stage in the development process itself. UNDP has made itself indispensable to the Government of Lao PDR, by managing RTP, by

Chapter 4