Formulation of phase 2 of the UN JPLG

1. Purpose of the JPLG2 Formulation

 1.1       The purpose of this consultancy will be to design with all stakeholders the next five year phase of the JPLG2 which will commence in January 2013 and end December 2017. The JPLG for Somalia is currently designed as a five year joint UN program of ILO, UNCDF, UNDP, UN-Habitat and UNICEF which commenced in April 2008 and is scheduled to end 31 December 2012 in its current form.

 1.2       The JPLG mid-term review of 2011 recommended that: “It would be a great loss if the programme was left to terminate at the end of 2012, just when it has started to make an impact and demonstrate the potential of the “Local development through local Government” approach, and could be rather dramatically scaled up.  The MTR therefore recommends that a second phase of the JPLG be formulated. The aims should be:

 To extend the programme for a next 5-year phase beyond 2012.

• To expand the geographic coverage of the programme in all three zones of Somalia in accordance with clear rules of engagement and
• To resource the programme accordingly”.

 Background

 2.1       The JPLG responds to the decentralization priorities in the Somalia Reconstruction and Development Programme 2008 – 2012 (RDP), contributed to meeting the United Nations Transition Plan 2008 -2010 (UNTP) outcome 2: Local governance contributes to peace and equitable priority service delivery in selected locations as well as the United Nations Somali Assistance Strategy 2011 – 2015 (UNSAS) sub outcome 1.3: “Somali people have equitable access to basic services because local authorities have the capacity to operationalize local development plans and ensure the provision of services following the principles of accountability, non-discrimination and participation”.

 2.2       The JPLG is implemented in partnership with the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), the Governments of Somaliland and of Puntland. The overall objective of the JPLG is: Local governance contributes to peace and equitable priority service delivery in selected locations.

 Within this overall objective, two specific objectives have been identified, namely:

 (i)     Communities have equitable access to basic services through local government, and

 (ii)   Local governments are accountable and transparent.

 The JPLG objectives fall within the following policy frameworks:

 The Somali Reconstruction and Development Programme 2008 – 12 priority/goals of deepening peace, improving security and establishing good governance and investing in people through improved social services.

• Outcome 2 of the United Nations Transition Plan 2008-2010 (UNTP): “Local governance contributes to peace and equitable priority service delivery in selected locations”.
• The United Nations Somali Assistance Strategy (UNSAS) outcome one – Somalia people have access to basic services.
• The Millennium Development Goals: 2 (achieve universal primary education), 3 (promote gender equality and empower women), 4 (reduce child mortality), 5 (improve maternal health) and 7 (ensure environmental sustainability).

 2.3       The JPLG supports the establishment of district-level autonomous and accountable local governments (LG) and the development of effective linkages with constituent communities and private sector. It empowers LG with systems, knowledge and resources to deliver services, improve security, manage conflicts and build peace, and in the process strengthen their legitimacy and contribute to state building.

 The programme aims at producing outputs in three main categories:

 (i)                 policy outputs, for example the development of a conducive decentralization policy and legal frameworks,

 (ii)               institutional and capacity development outputs, for example organizations and procedures for improving local governance, at state, district and community levels,

 (iii)             service delivery outputs, such as local-level economic, social infrastructure and service delivery.  Special emphasis is made on the rights of women and children and on addressing gender issues in local government.

 2.4       The Joint Programme Document for the JPLG which was signed by all participating UN Agencies in April 2008 states that: ‘in 2009, at the end of Phase I of the Programme, an independent comprehensive mid-term review of the whole Joint Programme will be undertaken. It will focus on assessing programme relevance, effectiveness and efficiency of management and implementation, programme effectiveness and the sustainability of results and recommend action to be taken in response to the findings’. The JPLG was slower than expected to start up and comprehensive activities did not really take place until early 2009. Even though the bulk of the time in 2008 was spent on developing capacity development materials the main challenges were absence of donor financial commitments to the JPLG and some evidence of scant cohesion amongst the participating UN agencies. By early 2009 there was agreement amongst the five participating UN partners and with government entities to commence with a small number of districts (2 in both Somaliland and Puntland) to focus on quality of public expenditure management (PEM) processes for basic service delivery. As of the end of 2011 the JPLG has fourteen target districts combined in Puntland and Somaliland (7 each) one, Adado in central regions and working in all sixteen districts in Mogadishu. with a total of thirty one. The mid-term review was undertaken in mid 2011 and the team recommended the formulation of another five year or JPLG2 programme being ready to commence in January 2013.

 2.5       While officially recognised as one single country, since the unilateral declaration of the Somali National Movement in 1991, Somalia in reality comprises three different zones: south-central Somalia, Somaliland, and Puntland. All three zones have separate constitutions or charters and local government acts. However these are closely aligned and highly complementary, which enables viable support to a decentralisation process with only limited variation between the three zones.

 2.6       Decentralization in Somalia is a response to the wide spread rejection of the centralized system of Somalia’s last central governments of 1961 – 1969 and 1969 -1991. Since the early nineties the establishment of local governance structures has proceeded at different paces and depth across the country. Today’s vision of local governance is the establishment in all Somalia of effective local governance systems and the support to existing systems that are participatory, that facilitate the delivery of good quality, reliable, affordable and sustainable services to Somali people with special emphasis on vulnerable groups - and that locally elected bodies at the district level are accountable and transparent to the people.