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UNDP Nepal has used an approach of combining targeted and inclusive policies. UNDP Nepal has policy frameworks that clearly state that the target group for UNDP is the disadvantaged groups—the poor and the socially excluded like women, Dalits, Janajatis (indigenous peoples), and those living in remote areas. Except for a project entitled “Mainstreaming Gender Equity Programme” that focused primarily on women’s economic, political and social empowerment, UNDP Nepal’s projects are not targeted to specific minority or excluded groups only. However, in order to make sure that issues of disempowerment, lack of voice, social exclusion, and poverty are addressed by projects that are not specifically targeted to the excluded only, there are a number of approaches that have been adopted. These include:
All project documents and concept notes are thoroughly reviewed through the gender and social inclusion lens by the Gender and Social Inclusion Specialist and substantive written feedback is provided to the concerned programme units. In addition, all project formulation teams and evaluations teams have a gender and social inclusion expert.
Staff have undergone sensitization on gender and social inclusion issues including basic concepts, gender analysis, and gender and social inclusion responsive planning. There is still a need for in-house capacity building particularly of programme staff in this area through thematic gender and social inclusion trainings in the practice areas.
UNDP Nepal supported projects, especially those in the area of local governance, livelihoods and energy and environment, are typically based on community mobilization for the purposes of project implementation, sustainability, and local level monitoring. The mobilization process usually involves a formation of community-based organizations (CBOs) consisting of at least one member of every household in the targeted geographic area. The approach adopted is holistic in the sense that it is not targeted to any particular caste or ethnic group or any particular category. However, given that special efforts are needed to empower women, women only CBOs are formed also. When some settlements in the community are ethnically homogenous, CBOs formed there tend to be ethnically homogenous as well, such as CBOs consisting of only Dalits who are a minority and an excluded group in Nepal. CBOs have been successful in promoting saving and credit schemes, developing the capacity of the members in collective decision-making, resource mobilization, and providing support to each other. At this level, women, Dalits or other minority or “left behind” groups are actively involved and have been empowered to some extent.
The second level in the social mobilization process is the formation of a higher-level organization that consists of the chairs or managers of the CBOs. This entity is a mixed group in terms of sex and ethnicity and could be led by local elites. It is through this entity that support to the community flows for village development programmes. The challenge, therefore, lies in making sure that the needs of the excluded groups and women in the community are addressed through this mechanism. When resources are not earmarked for addressing issues of minorities only, the challenge is to ensure that their issues and needs receive the priority they deserve. Also, the local relationships of power and cultural norms and practices may create barriers for the poor, women, and other excluded groups to gain access and control over resources.
According to independent experts of the UN human rights bodies, caste discrimination is any distinction, exclusion, restriction, or preference based on inherited status such as work and descent, commonly originating from a division
of society into castes or social categories. This status is associated with the notion of impurity, pollution and practices of ‘untouchability’. It is estimated to affect 260 million people worldwide, many of which are found in South Asia (where the affected group typically self-identifies as ‘Dalits’) but also reportedly in parts of Africa and among diaspora groups. In 2009, the UN Human Rights Council published a set of Draft UN Principles
and Guidelines for the Effective Elimination of Discrimination based on Work and Descent (this
is UN terminology for caste-based discrimination). It provides a framework of measures for states, international agencies and private sector actors on how to address this form of discrimination. For the full Draft UN Principles and Guidelines please see: UN Doc. A/HRC/11/CRP.3 (18 May 2009). Further information is also available from, for example, the International Dalit Solidarity Network, www.idsn.org. |
This is another approach that UNDP projects have adopted to ensure that resources reach out to the poor, the Dalits, women and Janajatis. Most UNDP projects in Nepal that are funding community development activities through the local government have earmarked a specific proportion of project resources for excluded groups like Dalits and women. For example, in the Decentralized Finance and Development Programme, 30% of project funds are for women and Dalits. The Decentralized Local Governance Support Programme (DLGSP) has a pro-poor policy to promote active participation of women, the poorest of the poor, and the disadvantaged ethnic groups in community organizations and to have 70% of Local Development Fund (supported by DLGSP) to be allocated to disadvantaged groups. The Community Owned Primary Education (COPE) programme (closed in July 2007) had a policy of hiring only female teachers in community schools it supported in rural Nepal. Moreover, Rural Urban Partnership Programme (RUPP) has a special programme called Rural Labour Linkages (RLL), which provides support for persons willing to undertake a traditional enterprise related to their “occupational castes”. Although theoretically this fund is not limited to those from the Dalit community who are engaged in traditional occupations such as tailoring, blacksmithing, shoemaking, hair cutting, and clay pot making, the beneficiaries of RLL have predominantly been from this community as they continue to be engaged in such “occupational caste” activities for livelihood.
When specific communities or households cannot take advantage of provisions made available under a development project, options are provided to them to make sure that they are not excluded from benefitting from the project. For example, when it was realized that Dalit households who could not afford to pay for the electricity provided by a micro-hydro project under the Rural Energy Development Programme would remain excluded, they were provided with the option of having electricity through rechargeable batteries that could be recharged locally.
UNDP Vietnam reports that under the direction of the government’s Committee on Ethnic Minority Areas (CEMA), a high priority has been given to targeted programmes for ethnic minorities to overcome disparities in poverty reduction. The Socio-Economic Development Programme for Ethnic and Mountainous Areas or Programme 135 Phase II (P135II) aims to reduce the poverty rate in ethnic minority and mountainous areas to less than 30%, narrow the development gap between ethnic groups and other regions, promote market-led development and improve socio-cultural livelihoods for ethnic minorities.
- Promoting equality, solidarity, and mutual help among ethnic minorities;
- Creating favourable conditions for ethnic minorities to develop and advance toward mainstream society and the common development of all Vietnam’s ethnic groups;
- Respecting the interests, traditional cultures, languages, customs and beliefs of all ethnic minorities; and
- Matching socio-economic policies with the special characteristics of regions and ethnic minorities.
There are three general areas of policies that relate to the socio-economic development of ethnic minorities. Long term socio-economic development strategies and plans (e.g. the 10 year strategy and 5 year plan) guide the country’s overall socio-economic development and include numerous references to ethnic minorities including development objectives. National poverty-targeted programmes such as Programme 135 and the national targeted programmes on poverty reduction translate general poverty reduction objectives into concrete measures and include ethnic minority groups in their targeting. Finally there are a wide range of specific policies and programmes directly targeting ethnic minorities, including subsidies for teachers working in remote areas; scholarships and free textbooks for ethnic minority students; teaching ethnic minority languages to officials and public servants working in ethnic minority and mountainous areas; reductions and exemptions of hospital fees; forest allocation, land allocation and land reclamation.
UNDP Albania developed targeted approaches (“Empowering the Vulnerable Communities of Albania”). Evidence showed that Roma were falling behind other groups even in projects targeted at the poorest. The Government of Albania has prioritized attention to overcoming Romani exclusion, partly in line with European Union (EU) accession criteria to secure protection of minorities and also in conjunction with a regional programme, the Decade for Roma Inclusion (see section 12.5.5 of this Guide). The targeted project has proven to build good trust with the Romani community and has been a useful means for conducting advocacy around Romani issues.
The project coordinates the activities of agencies working with vulnerable minorities and provides direct assistance to the poorest and most marginalised Romani communities at the local level. At the regional level, the project empowers vulnerable ethnic minorities to partner with relevant organizations and government institutions in facilitating access to social and economic aid programmes with the registration of marginalised communities. Minority communities partner with local government to address urgent development priorities in the poorest areas, supporting Roma to access property rights and receive documentation of land ownership. The minority group members, targeting women and youth of this community, participate in on-the-job training and vocational education. A network of health and police mediators is established to further secure the well-being of the Romani and Egyptian population.
At the central level, the project supports the government’s work on social inclusion and improved governance, placing Romani issues on the national development agenda, and bringing minority rights in line with similar proactive courses of action taken by neighbouring states. The project builds capacities of central and local government, NGOs and media on minority rights and provides them with the proper tools for mainstreaming minority issues in mechanisms of national and regional development planning. A comprehensive public information campaign serves to increase awareness about disadvantaged minorities.
Based on intensive consultations and field visits, the project implements activities based on six key intervention goals:
- Enhance Social Inclusion and Access of Minorities to Social Services;
- Support Community Participation to Address Development Priorities;
- Develop Capacities and Employable Skills;
- Mobilize Community Volunteer Health and Police Mediators;
- Promote Minority Issues and Implement the National Roma Strategy; and
- Advocacy on Minority Issues and Social Inclusion.
UN Volunteers (UNV) interventions at the community level in regions with large minority populations are helping to building bridges between government and minority citizens as well as fostering a constructive dialogue within the communities and with external government and civil society stakeholders. The UNV project also raises awareness about disadvantaged minorities through a comprehensive public information campaign, supporting national media to foster mutual understanding and promote social inclusion. Advocacy activities promoted International Roma Day, celebrated Roma culture by bringing movies to poor communities, and involved the broadcast of a 15-minute documentary. Additional activities including free legal counselling and support, the raising of awareness on the values of registration particularly among young women and expecting mothers, and lobbying with relevant public authorities will be incorporated into the project.
Among the tools created by the project are two manuals that could be adapted for other UNDP COs: a Training of Trainers Manual: Respecting the Rights of Vulnerable Minorities and Promoting Interculturalism in Albania (June 2006); and a manual on surveying, Conducting a Socio-Economic Survey on Roma Community in Albania (October 2007).
UNDP Ukraine has used an area-based approach for its Crimean Integration and Development Programme (CIDP). An ‘area-based approach’ can also complement targeted and inclusive approaches. This can be particularly appropriate when minorities are territorially concentrated. An area-based approach can also stimulate cooperation between minority and majority groups within a region in designing and implementing development interventions, helping to increase social cohesion if managed effectively. An area-based approach can be defined as targeting specific geographical areas in a country, characterized by a particular development problem, in an integrated, inclusive, participatory and flexible manner.32
The CIDP was the main UNDP initiative aimed at promoting peace and stability in the Crimean peninsula where the Crimean Tatar minority is marginalised. The ‘Emergency’ stage (1995-2000) of the programme was designed in order to directly address the needs of formerly deported people. Although such an approach was justified by the extremely poor living conditions in which returnees lived, UNDP support was viewed by the rest of population of Crimea as unnecessarily selective given that many other Crimeans, in particular in the rural areas, were equally struggling to cope. The decision was made to adjust the project strategy in order to address the needs of all communities, paying special attention to the promotion of tolerance and integration.
The CIDP was redesigned to address root causes of the inter-ethnic tensions. The individual interventions were targeted to:
- promote local governance through communal and social development in multi-ethnic communities of Crimea by helping people to organize themselves;
- support self-help initiatives;
- bring community organizations and local authorities closer together in dialogue and decision-making;
- encourage civil society organizations to identify and articulate their own priorities in local development plans and to pool financial and material resources in order to realize these plans.
Community-based organizations have been encouraged to identify and articulate their own priorities in local development plans and to pool financial and material resources in order to realize these plans. In all of its actions, CIDP is applying a bottom-up and participatory approach that maximizes participation of villagers and communities in local planning and decision-making processes in a way that is inclusive of all ethnic groups, transparent and responsive to people’s needs. By facilitating collaboration between people from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds for the improvement of their own living conditions and by bringing local communities, social service providers and their authorities closer together, CIDP promotes the participation of disenfranchised communities of Formerly Deported People (FDPs) in society as full citizens. At the same time these activities are successful in raising understanding and awareness with local authorities and other groups of society about the specific needs of FDPs as well as the opportunities they bring to Crimean society.
Among the main types of projects under CIDP framework are:
- Support to community-led initiatives: Community initiatives include small-scale drinking and irrigation water supply systems, small health posts, community pre-school facilities, community centres, youth clubs, sports facilities, women’s centres, and small community savings funds to finance such activities as school transportation or to establish revolving credit schemes.
- Capacity-building for local authorities: CIDP implements capacity building initiatives to support the local authorities of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (ARC) in the preparation of strategic plans by providing trainings and consultations; and in the preparation and adoption of a comprehensive legal/policy framework institutionalizing the best practices of community initiatives.
- Human Security & Conflict Management Policy: UNDP, in consultation with the government, established a “Human Security and Development Monitoring System”, which contains basic elements of an Early Warning System while providing broader information on many aspects of human security. The system was designed with the participation of government, civil society and representatives of ethnic groups. The tool helps to accurately measure and analyze to what extent policies are effective in improving living conditions in Crimea and if these improvements are matched by people’s
perceptions about their quality of life.
- Tolerance education initiatives: Schools are ethnically mixed and influence how children of different ethnic backgrounds relate to each other. The project supports community projects in schools that involve all communities33 but some components are developed to directly address the needs of minorities. CIDP aims to expand possibilities for education in Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar languages.34 CIDP systematizes and disseminates the experience of existing bi-/tri-lingual schools among school communities, District Departments of Education and the ARC Ministry of Education, which will be supported in the development of a programme of teaching in native languages on the basis of bi-/tri-lingual schools.
- Initiatives to reduce poverty: The establishment of Business Promotion Centres and One-Stop-Shops with the support of CIDP has removed some of the barriers to small and medium enterprise (SME) development. These centres are member-based and maintained through membership contributions and service fees. With the Ministry of Economy, the Coordinating Committees for Entrepreneurship Development were reactivated further enhancing state – citizen dialogue. Agricultural cooperatives’ development is also supported.
Project: “Promotion of inclusive participation and support to public policies for the achievement of the MDGs by Afro-descendants in Ecuador” (December 2008 to November 2010; US$ 475.000 – Spain-UNDP Trust Fund “Towards an integrated and inclusive development in Latin America”).
Background: The high incidence of inequity and exclusion in Ecuador constitutes a barrier to the enjoyment of human rights. The harshest effects of exclusion are felt in the provision of social services. Discriminatory practices against
minority groups are also frequent in daily social interaction. Traditional ethnic-racial prejudices strengthen institutional discrimination. The Afro-descendant population faces a situation of poverty, vulnerability and marginalisation. Their precarious material conditions, and lower levels of educational attainment and literacy, have also become obstacles to their organizational, participatory and self-development efforts. Statistics and social indicators further demonstrate that Afro-descendants are in disadvantage, when compared to the national average and other ethnic groups, in relation to almost all MDGs indicators.
Overall objective: To promote the inclusive participation of all Afro-descendants in Ecuador and to support public policies for the achievement of the MDGs by this population, with a special emphasis on the most vulnerable groups: children, young persons, women and the elderly.
Specific objectives: To initiate public policy actions aimed at overcoming poverty among Afro-descendants, increasing political participation (especially among women), and reducing the impacts of discrimination and exclusion.
Key outputs: (a) Active participation of Afro-descendants strengthened in the design
and implementation of a national public policy for integrated development, aimed at the achievement of the MDGs by Afro-descendants; (b) Knowledge on Afro-descendants’ rights among Afro-descendants’ civil society strengthened; (c) Capacities of national implementing partners to implement policies and plans on
the needs and demands of Afro-descendants strengthened; and (d) International cooperation in support of the development of the Afro-descendant population effectively coordinated.
Key activities: (a) Based on the National Development Plan, build a strategic framework for the implementation of a public policy for the Afro-descendant population, particularly from Guayaquil; (b) Provide technical assistance to incorporate an intercultural and gender-sensitive approach and special attention to the Afro-descendant population into “Plan Ecuador”; (c) Support the evaluation of the 2001 World Conference Against Racism Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (DDPA) and improvements in achieving the MDGs by the Afro-descendants, and promote follow-up actions for the DDPA’s effective implementation; (d) Provide technical legal support for the formulation and approval of a draft bill on racial equality and affirmative action; and (e) Support the establishment of a mechanism for following-up, monitoring and reporting racial discrimination acts and for monitoring and evaluating public policies of social inclusion.
Strategy: The design of the project was
fundamentally guided by existing public policies, updated tools for assessing the situation of the Afro-descendant population, the strategic focus areas of CODAE (Corporación de Desarrollo Afroecuatoriano), and a complementarity with other present and future international cooperation efforts for Afro-descendants. The project encompasses an integrated and inclusive approach to human development, including the formulation and implementation of affirmative action.
The project promotes broad and active participation of Afro-descendant organizations, both national and local, throughout the different phases of the project cycle, and the national coordinating mechanism will work with a wide range of local government authorities, civil society organisations, as well as the Spanish Agency of International Cooperation for Development (AECID).
The project is guided by the fundamental human rights principles enshrined in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms
of Racial Discrimination, ILO Convention 169 Concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action and the Millennium Declaration. Moreover, the implementation of the project will attempt to incorporate the recommendations formulated by the UN Treaty Bodies and the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council, especially those related to the rights of Afro-descendents, racial discrimination and the follow-up to the DDPA. |
UNDP in Vietnam supported a study tour for Vietnamese government officials to Brazil at
the end of 2007 to learn and consider relevant options for innovative and successful social protection and development policies for ethnic minorities in other countries, especially targeting chronic poverty and self-help approaches that support ethnic minorities to manage their own development. The main objectives of the study tour were to help Vietnamese officials responsible for ethnic minorities and social development to:
a) learn from other countries’ experiences:
- what policies have improved living standards for the chronic poor especially among ethnic minorities and enhanced their financial and human capital and overall security;
- how these countries have created an enabling environment for social development that benefits ethnic minorities and
the chronic poor; and
- what are the lessons learned in terms of how social development policies have benefited or not ethnic minorities;
b) apply this knowledge to contribute to
developing appropriate policies in Vietnam for initiatives for the socio-economic development
of ethnic minorities, specifically within the Socio-Economic Development Programme
for Ethnic and Mountainous Areas (P135-II).
The study tour featured meetings with both CSOs and government officials working on issues pertaining to Afro-Brazilians and indigenous peoples of Brazil. The outputs of the study tour included a detailed report and presentation describing what was learned from the study tour and how these lessons can be applied in the Vietnamese context;
and a concept paper analyzing opportunities, constraints and recommendations to apply/pilot in Vietnam selected best practices.
The study tour set out to answer a number of key questions:
- What are the most effective ways to design social policies and programmes and what is the role of facts, research and evidence? If an evidence-based approach to policy making has been applied, how was this developed, encouraged and maintained?
- Is improving human development and/or social protection an explicit policy objective or an indirect objective of a programme focused on reducing hunger and poverty? How are social protection and development objectives integrated, or not? How are the needs and interests of ethnic minorities factored into this?
- What types of financial and non-financial barriers to access need to be addressed, and are there any specific to ethnic minorities?
- What is the role of gender in terms of enhancing effectiveness and impact? Are there differences in how ethnic minorities versus majority groups approach gender and are these considered in policy and programme design?
- How are the poor and ethnic minorities involved in designing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating programmes and policies? Is it important for administrative staff to apply a participatory approach?
- What is the role of culture and how can adapting policies and programmes to the cultural realities of ethnic minorities increase effectiveness?
- What political pressures do governments face when applying conditions and targeting policies and programmes for ethnic minorities and/or the chronic poor?
- What capacity is needed to administer implementation at different levels and how is this addressed? What capacities need to be developed among beneficiaries, and through what mechanisms or channels? Are there specific capacities related to programmes that deal with ethnic minorities?
- How is targeting managed, and what are the trade-offs between accuracy of targeting and the politics and cost of targeting? Are ethnic minorities specifically targeted, and if not how are they included as policy and programme beneficiaries? Are there any measures to ensure that minorities get fair access to benefits in mixed communities?
- Will the benefits of social policies and programmes - in terms of human development outcomes, and also in terms of reducing hunger and income poverty, increasing women’s empowerment, and promoting growth - exceed the costs of administering them? How is this issue relevant for programmes that specifically target ethnic minorities and/or the decisions made whether or not to target minority groups?
- How are programmes and policies monitored and evaluated, and how does the information feed back into the policy formulation process? Is data on ethnic minorities disaggregated?
- How do beneficiaries “graduate” from a programme and what support is there for those who fail to reach the programme objectives?
- How is improved access to education conditioned by available economic opportunities, and are there differences specific to ethnic minorities?
- What role does microfinance play in social development for ethnic minorities and the poorest and can it be part of broader social protection measures?
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