Good governance is one of the five thematic areas of the UNDAF. Similar to the other UNDAF programmes, good governance is also based on the county’s priorities as outlined in the PASDEP and primarily focuses in supporting the national effort to realize the establishment of an open, transparent and democratic system that respects the rights of all of citizens as enshrined in the Constitution.
The UNDAF Good Governance thematic working group (UGGTWG) is the main joint mechanism established to facilitate successful realization of the UNDAF good governance outcome which states that ‘By 2011, contribute to the achievement of Millennium Declaration principles through enhanced democratic empowerment and participation at the grassroots level through justice sector reform, civil service and civil society capacity building and promotion of decentralization at all levels, including upholding of human rights principles, transparency and accountability’
No less than ten UN agencies (OHCHR, UNESCO, UNDP, ILO, UNFPA, UNICEF, IOM, UN-Habitat, UNESCO, and UNCDF) contribute to the good governance programme. The programme includes six outcomes and several outputs of which three areas are identified and agreed for joint programming. These are:
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Improving professional capacity of law enforcement agencies and social services (IOM, UNICEF, UNDP, OHCHR, UNFPA) Lead agency: UNDP
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Increased understanding and awareness of governmental, non-governmental bodies, the judiciary, communities, law enforcement agents, Parliament, grassroots organizations on Human rights (UNDP, UNESCO, OHCHR, UNICEF, IOM, ILO) Lead agency: UNDP
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Enhancing civil society involvement in good governance activities (UNDP, UNICEF, WFP, UNFPA, ILO) Lead agency: UNICEF
Following the launch of the UNDAF in 2007, the UGGTWG was established under the coordination of UNDP. Of the three sub groups (on human rights, decentralization, and advocacy for MDGs) agreed to be formed under the governance TWG, so far the Human Rights Task Team has become operational. The main focus of this team is, among other things, to enhance the capacity of UN agencies in human rights based approach to programming and supporting national capacity building for the respect of human rights.
The TWG closely works with the Governance sub group of the Development Assistance Group which brings together all the bilateral and multilateral donors engaged in supporting the human rights and democratization process of the country. The cooperation and close working relationship of the UGGTWG will be expanded to include other sub groups of the DAG governance group upon the establishment of the task teams for human rights, decentralization, and advocacy for MDGs.