2004-2005 Reports and Publications

• Current Reports and Publications

Primer on Fiscal Decentralization

November 2005

This primer provides guidance for UNDP programming and policy advice on ways in which fiscal decentralisation (rather than decentralisation in general) relates to and can affect poverty reduction and the attainment of the MDGs, and how UNDP can (or should) contribute to making fiscal decentralisation work in ways that contribute to attaining the MDGs. It should be read in conjunction with the UNDP Practice Notes on Decentralization, Local Governance and Urban/Rural Development and Public Administration Reform, which provide an overview of the broader issues and UNDP's position on these.

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Survivors of the Tsunami: One Year Later

Snapshot Report on UNDP’s Assistance to Tsunami Recovery and Reconstruction Efforts in 2005.

UNDP has published a report on its assistance to the tsunami recovery and reconstruction efforts for the past year. It is meant to provide examples of how UNDP is helping people who survived the tsunami rebuild their lives now, and for the future.

• UNDP & Tsunami Recovery website
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Institutional Arrangements to Combat Corruption: A Comparative Study

December 2005 - Updated January 2006

UNCAC requires that States designate a body or bodies to coordinate anti-corruption prevention and enforcement measures. This comparative study of institutional arrangements to combat corruption, which covers 14 countries, is aimed at providing an overview of the various options available is this regard, as well as discussing the advantages and disadvantages of these. Thus the study offers a menu of options and solutions for countries in the region and beyond to be adopted to the local political, social and economic situation.

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Trends and Challenges in Public Administration Reform in Asia and the Pacific

December 2005

Public administration reform (PAR) was a development sector in which UNDP enjoyed a privileged position and spend a large percentage of its resources. In the 90’s, under the influence of a new “governance paradigm”, UNDP gradually shifted its focus to other service lines, such as human rights, parliamentary reform and local governance. But recently there has been again an upsurge in the demand for UNDP support in the area of PAR in Asia and the Pacific. This has been the result of a new focus on accountability and transparency in the public sector, and more recently, of the need for better capacity development strategies for achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

This report provides an overview of developments in PAR in most countries in the Asia-Pacific region. It looks at the particular role that UNDP has played in this sector and then draws a series of conclusions on UNDP’s comparative advantage in this service line. The report thus aims to add to a better understanding of UNDP’s contribution to this large sector in particular in light of a renewed attention to the performance of the public administration in pursuing the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

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Access to Justice Practitioner's Guide

2005

This comprehensive programming guide aims to help practitioners design rights based access to justice projects. It introduces a holistic model of access to justice, provides guidance on how to programme and prioritize access to justice strategies, and maps a large number of capacity development strategies of justice system institutions and processes.

Strategies are divided into those

• developing capacity for inclusive legal frameworks;
• developing capacity of institutions to provide services and
• developing capacity of people to seek and obtain remedies for grievances.

The needs of disadvantaged and vulnerable groups are given special emphasis.

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Internet Governance: Asia-Pacific Perspectives

This publication, with a foreword by Nitin Desai, provides an overview of the key debates on Internet governance. It presents the work of the Open Regional Dialogue on Internet Governance, an APDIP initiative that has collected perspectives from regional experts and end users.

• Download Report in PDF format (1.8 MB)

2004 Reports

Energy for Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific Region: Challenges and Lessons for UNDP Project

December 2004

As a follow-up to the 2002 Asia-Pacific Regional Energy and Environment Focal Point meeting in Kuala Lumpur, an Energy Working Group was initiated, with voluntary membership from CO energy focal points, to share experiences and lesson learned. This publication highlights case studies of selected energy projects, offering key lessons for replication and strategic fine-tuning for the development and formulation of energy programmes/projects. Key lessons about participatory approaches, technology choices and policy options are summarised creatively. The role of energy in poverty reduction is a consistent theme through the Report.

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Governance in the Least Developed Countries in Asia and Pacific - An Assessment of the Current Situation

March 2004

The paper assesses the current state of governance in 14 Least Developed Countries (LCDs) in the Asia-Pacific region, analysing the specific political, economic and social challenges currently facing these LDCs. The main conclusion reached in the paper is that, although all the governance indicators analyzed carry an important weight in furthering human development and poverty reduction, the sequencing of governance reforms must take into account the specific country context and conditions. Prioritizing political reforms without first ensuring that the social, economic and political foundations for democratization are in place could compromise the achievement of the poverty reduction goals.

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