MEMORANDUM

To:		All Resident Representatives

Date: 26 June 1997

From:	James Gustave Speth 					

Subject: 	Direct Line 14 - Advocating and Promoting "Governance and UNDP"

	Our Mission Statement states that, "UNDP, at the request of governments and in support of its areas of focus, assists in building capacity for good governance, popular participation, private and public sector development and growth with equity, stressing that national plans and priorities constitute the only viable frame of reference for the national programming of operational activities for development within the United Nations system".

	Governance is UNDP's most rapidly growing area of work. It is an essential dimension of sustainable human development and poverty eradication. You should have recently received the UNDP policy document Governance for Sustainable Human Development. This important document provides an excellent opportunity to enhance UNDP's identification with technical cooperation programmes in this area.

	There are five priority focus areas for UNDP in governance:

	The analysis of recent Advisory Notes and 5 regional programmes indicates that almost all of them will be addressing one or more aspects of governance. Particularly notable is that over 60% of the programme countries are planning programmatic activities for governing institutions, civil society, decentralization, public sector management, economic and financial management, and aid coordination.

	Some programme countries are addressing one or more of the above areas in an holistic and systematic manner. Others are incorporating governance into their work in various areas including poverty eradication, gender mainstreaming, environment and area development schemes.

	While much is being done and UNDP has developed significant experience in one or more areas of governance in each region, UNDP at a corporate level is still not well associated with the area of governance. A multi-dimensional strategy has been developed to change this, commencing with the approval of the policy document on "Governance for SHD". Other initiatives include the First Annual Africa Governance Forum in early July and an international conference on governance to be held 28-30 July 1997 in New York; an international media campaign to raise awareness; a series of technical and "best practise" publications for external and development audiences; and, research activities in a number of priority governance areas which will be linked to advocacy and policy dialogue. UNDP also chairs an UN inter-agency task force on governance which is identifying opportunities for coordinated initiatives, as part of the follow-up to the Social Summit.

	At the programme country level, it is also important that UNDP better communicates its global and country-based work in the area of governance. For those who have not done so already, I invite you to plan for activities that could create a dialogue or promote the concepts in this policy document and help identify UNDP with governance programmes, particularly as they relate to other areas of UNDP focus. You are encouraged to involve all relevant agencies of the UN system in these efforts.

	Care is required to ensure that the initiative is appropriate to the country context that you serve.

	Some of the ideas could include:

1.	Holding a special event or press conference where the document can be "released" and discussed. Preparing country-specific press releases and stories for the media that can put the document into context.

2.	Linking governance advocacy and dialogue activities to planned CCF programme development processes in the area of governance.

3.	Building into existing governance-related projects and programmes, seminars, workshops or training events where the document can be discussed and conclusions drawn.

4.	Organizing research and statistical gathering activities that are in the area of governance, for example in the framework of national human development reports, national long-term perspective studies, etc. Holding national seminars and initiating advocacy efforts to discuss the outcome of the research.

5.	Organizing seminars or workshop involving government, civil society actors and private sector, focusing on issues discussed in the document, leading to conclusions, follow-up recommendations and programmes for donor finance. Themes could include: the role of information and media, role of democracy and participation in development in collaboration with the host government, government accountability and transparency, and integrity and ethics in society. The policy document could serve as a resource.

6.	Through existing projects, identify one or more national institutions or organizations that can help improve or build national networks in the areas covered by governance (e.g. networks involved in judicial, democratic, human rights, and local government areas or professional groups such as lawyers, political scientists, journalists, auditors/accountants, etc.). Support the networks to discuss, research or support programmes in governance. If you are supporting such networks, please let your Regional Bureau and MDGD know so that they can be linked to regional and global networks.

7.	Organizing poster or essay competition in schools and clubs around themes such as what does good governance (or democracy, freedom of speech, human rights, etc.) mean to you? Finalists could receive a small plaque or award and get media coverage.

	The design of the initiative is left to you. You should tap into existing sources of funds for your activities. Please keep the Director of the Management Development and Governance Division, BPPS, Mr. G. Shabbir Cheema (telephone (212) 906-5054; fax (212) 906-6471), informed of your initiatives, copying to your Regional Bureau and DPA (particularly for UNDP FLASH). It is important that we capture best examples of our innovative work in this area. Please let me know of other ideas you may have on how we can promote UNDP in the area of governance.

	For your information, the following key documents are also available from MDGD:

	Public Sector Management, Governance and SHD. A Discussion Paper, UNDP 1996

	Reconceptualizing Governance. Discussion Paper 2, UNDP, 1997

	Those with Internet connections are invited to visit UNDP's Management and Governance Network (MAGNET) that can be accessed through UNDP's home page. MAGNET can provide you with a wide range of documents on governance, including the MDGD newsletter. For countries without internet access, documents, best practises and methodologies are available through MDGD.

	Thank you for your support and cooperation.