12 I n t r o d u c t i o n citizens can access and scrutinise information about government and donor projects, acting as online watchdogs) as well as technical assistance to support Seychelles in developing and implementing an egovernance strategy (positioning Seychelles as the number one country in Africa for e-government, according to the UNDP). Accordingly, the Commonwealth will support countries in developing e-governance strategies and policies, and will develop and deepen its strategic partnerships to support member countries in implementing these strategies. How we will deliver Whilst the adoption of the new strategic results framework does entail a scaling down of Secretariat programmes in some areas – in particular those in which it has been harder to show demonstrable impact as well as areas in which other organisations are more active and better resourced – it has nonetheless enabled a redeployment of the organisation’s limited resources to areas in which it enjoys a distinct and demonstrable comparative advantage. This includes a move away from certain modes of delivery – such as one-off or standalone workshops that are not grounded in a wider reform process or part of a larger scale project or intervention. This is in line with the findings of the ‘Evaluation of Commonwealth Secretariat Training Programmes 2003/04 – 2008/09’, which highlighted the lack of impact of such interventions. Similarly, the Secretariat will also scale down its involvement in certain areas in which it has been difficult to clearly demonstrate impact, such as public-private partnerships (in line with the 2012 evaluation of the Commonwealth Secretariat’s public private partnership programme). Commonwealth Governance Handbook 2013/14 The Secretariat will also scale down its involvement in certain other areas – such as local government – given the fact that other Commonwealth organisations are highly active and engaged in them. In this regard, GIDD has been working closely with the Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF) over transition arrangements. Similarly, in light of resource constraints and the requirement to move away from small-scale, one-off interventions, it is clear that the Secretariat will not be able to provide direct assistance to every single member government under the public administration programme. Instead, a more focused approach will be needed, with the Secretariat providing larger scale support to a select group of priority countries, with assistance on public administration provided to the remainder primarily through regional or pan-Commonwealth level programmes. In doing this we believe that we will continue to provide members with high quality assistance that will be of real value and benefit in strengthening their public administration systems. As always, we rely on the engagement and support of our members in this process and look forward to working in partnership to deliver this. Endnote 1 Everest-Phillips, M. (2012) ‘Governance and the impact of the Commonwealth’. Commonwealth Governance Handbook 2012/13. Cambridge, Nexus Strategic Partnerships Tim Newman is acting director, Governance and Institutional Development Division, Commonwealth Secretariat.
CGH13_ebook
To see the actual publication please follow the link above