Reports - United Nations Development Programme

4. HUMAN DEVELOPMENT RESULTS AND UNDP’S CONTRIBUTION
proposal for a USD 2 million programme of advisory
work following in essence the outline provided by the
May 2002 mission. Discussions with SPO about the
programme were initiated in late 2003. When the ADR
mission visited in January 2004 it was informed by the
Resident Representative that the proposal was to be
dropped, since the need for the advisory work was no
longer apparent. With the financial crisis having largely
passed, with much of the proposed work having already
been accomplished and with other partners better
qualified to provide this assistance in any case, scarce
UNDP resources would better be used elsewhere. The
ADR Evaluation Team whole-heartedly agreed with this
conclusion and only wondered whether it should not have
been reached earlier and whether this was an area that the
UNDP should have embarked on in the first place.
CAPACITY BUILDING FOR TECHNICAL COOPERATION
AMONG DEVELOPING COUNTRIES (TCDC)
The first phase of the UNDP’s programme to assist
Turkey in developing its technical cooperation with other
developing countries was initiated in 1988. Turkey had
been identified as a “TCDC pivotal country” by a report
endorsed by the UN General Assembly resolution 50/119
because of its special potential for supporting South-
South cooperation at the regional and interregional level.
TCDC activities supported by the UNDP in Turkey
have involved exchange of consultants, arrangement of
study tours on a reciprocal basis, improvement of
Turkish development assistance capacity and design
and implementation of development assistance projects.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as the Turkish
International Cooperation Agency (TICA) were
responsible for the implementation of the first phase of
this programme. 40 In 1998 a second phase was initiated
with the Turkish SPO in charge. After revisions of the
programme agreed to in 2000, a total of USD 1 million
was expected to be spent by 2004, of which half was to
be provided by the Government in the form of cost
sharing. The CCF 2001-2005 also contained a reference
to this programme, but it did not provide a very clear
description of activities to be supported or motivation for
its continuation. 41
————————————————————————————————————
40. TICA was founded in 1992. Prior to this date the Turkish Agency for Cooperation
(TAC) carried out this responsibility.
41. However, the SRFs 2001 and 2002 and the most recent list of ongoing projects
dropped all reference to TCDC goals and activities. At the same time, the Ledger
of Approved Project Budget for the month of January 2004 still contains a
sizeable allocation for the continuation of this programme through 2004. This is
just one example of the confusing nature of the management information that
the ADR Evaluation Team encountered in trying to assemble a definitive picture
of UNDP’s Turkey programme.
By the end of 2003, the total to be spent under the
second phase of the programme had increased to USD 1.1
million, but only USD 407,000 had actually been spent.
Much of this has apparently been spent to support the
setting up the Human Development Centre in I˚stanbul.
The link between the Centre and the TCDC agenda is
unclear, since the principal purpose of the Centre is to
support the preparation of the NHDRs and MDGRs for
Turkey. Beyond this, the results achieved through the
TCDC programme are uncertain. By all accounts TICA
needs considerable strengthening as a development
cooperation agency and the ADR Evaluation Team came
across no record or evaluation of outcomes from the other
TCDC activities. Nonetheless, and even though the
SPO appears to have paid little attention to the
implementation of this programme in the past, SPO
officials informed the ADR Evaluation Team that they
remain strongly committed to a continuation of these
activities. According to Country Office staff, a new work
plan is under preparation and a new project director is
being recruited. So it would appear that the programme
is poised to continue. In view of the unclear rationale
for it and its uncertain outcomes to date, the ADR
Evaluation Team recommends that a careful evaluation
of past results, as well as a review of planned
outcomes/outputs be urgently carried out before
substantial new resources are devoted to this programme.
SUPPORTING THE PRIVATE SECTOR
Although the Turkey CCF (2001-2005) contains no
specific reference to UNDP support for private sector
development, the recent Vision Statement for UNDP
Turkey includes this among the priorities listed. This is a
new priority, and it has emerged partly based on UNDP
Headquarter-led initiatives. The UNDP Turkey website
also refers to private sector development. 42 There are three
dimensions to the UNDP’s support of the private sector:
1) The UNDP Country Office promotes the
application of the Global Compact 43 principles in
Turkey. It does this by organising conferences to
promote the understanding of the principles and by
establishing coalitions of companies and other
————————————————————————————————————
42. www.undp.org.tr/gc.asp. But note that there is no reference to this focal area in
any of the SRFs/ROARs or in any of the budget documents seen by the ADR
team. According to information provided by the Country Office subsequent to
the main ADR mission, the Partnership with the Private Sector initiative is
funded by a number of sources, including the Global Compact Secretariat, ILO,
KOSGEB and TI˚SK and through the GI˚DEM project.
43. The strategic goal of the Global Compact is to encourage the alignment of
corporate policies and practices with internationally accepted values and
objectives. The core values of the Global Compact have been distilled into nine
principles in the areas of human rights, labour standards and the environment.
These principles are drawn from three internationally recognised declarations.
39