Governance, Human Rights and Civil Society - PEM Consult

Effective governance policies empower individuals to live in dignity and freedom. Good governance and human rights are mutually reinforcing and based on core principles of participation, accountability, transparency and state responsibility. Enjoyment of human rights by all rights holders requires a conducive and enabling environment. Inclusive societies provide equal access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels (SDG 16). Good governance includes mechanisms for appropriate regulations, institutions and procedures in the way society is governed. While human rights empower people, they cannot be respected and protected in a sustainable manner without good governance. Relevant laws, political, managerial and administrative processes and institutions are needed to respond to the rights and needs of populations.

PEM's work spans governance, human rights, and civil society related issues in diverse settings, including post-conflict to low, middle-income and high-income developing countries. As governance institutions and processes evolve over time, our approach is also dynamic, considering knowledge-sharing, institutional learning, and keeping abreast of ever-shifting local contexts.

Main areas of expertise:

Formulations, appraisals, reviews, and evaluations of governance programmes (e.g., financial, democratic governance, decentralisation, civil society and participation mechanisms)
Organisational and institutional analysis
Development of governance indicators and diagnostics frameworks
Results frameworks and monitoring of governance programmes
Institutional capacity development

Supporting civil society is the key

At the local level, civil society makes key contributions to both good governance and to promotion, protection and advancement of human rights. Human rights frameworks provide performance standards to hold state and other actors accountable, strengthening good governance. Thus civil society functions as human rights in action - as defenders of human rights and bringing critical support to the community and addressing governing deficiencies by advocating for marginalised populations and areas.

Our Work - Examples:

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Independent Evaluation of SDC’s Performance in national policy dialogue 2013 – 2020

Policy dialogue processes can deliver a transformational impact that is bigger than the sum of individual projects and programs. It does not replace projects and programs but builds the basis for mainstreaming proven approaches and scaling up the effect of projects and programs. Through its long-term involvement in projects and programs, SDC is often a very credible partner in PD, with strong operational experience in partner countries. However, there is little knowledge of the effects of policy dialogue, and few studies and evaluations have been performed to analyze this instrument. Therefore, the aim of this evaluation was to provide a better understanding of what constitutes successful national policy dialogue and to contribute to the improvement of national policy dialogue as an instrument for SDC. PEMconsult has been contracted to lead the Evaluation for the project. The evaluation aims at identifying successes, difficulties (including failures) as well as good practices of how policy dialogue is being conducted within SDC and assessed to which extent and how ‘good practices’ could be systematically applied within SDC. A comparison or benchmarking of SDC’s performance compared to international practices was a second, important element of the evaluation. PEM conducted among other things a literature review, an inventory analysis of SDC’s tools, conducted interviews with staff, stakeholders, beneficiaries, and implementation partners, and undertook a field mission which included national-level interviews and focus group discussions. Based on the data collection, PEM carried out several Contribution Analyses. Data Analysis and Synthesis was carried out and a Final Evaluation Report was created presenting the overall conclusions and recommendations for the project.

Sustainable Development Council (SDC) (2021 - 2022), contract value EUR 214,370

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Civil society Programme for Participation, Accountability and Social Change 2019-2022

The Palme Center Programme (OCP) in Albania 2019-2022 aims to strengthen the capacity and legitimacy of civil society organisations and support activities that ensure the participatory nature of political and social processes. The overall objective focusses on two main areas: Citizen participation in decision-making and socio-economic and labour rights. The expected results are (1) the creation of networks for joint actions for partner organizations and the capacity building to monitor the implementation of political decisions, (2) the empowerment, organisation, participation, and influence of citizens and groups in decision making and demand transparency and accountability from duty bearers, and finally, (3) the strengthening of the capacity of employees, trade unions and others working for increased access to decent work and the rights of workers. It is assumed that the empowerment and collective organising will increase the democratization process within society. PEM prepared three documents: An Inception report, a draft evaluation report and a final evaluation report. The evaluation was based on a participatory approach and rights-based principles and gender perspectives were key aspects. The main methods are desk review, key informant interviews with management and staff of OPC, online surveys, focus group discussions, on-site observations during the field mission and triangulation.

Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) (2022), contract value EUR 44,300

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Good Governance and Decentralisation III, Togo

The Republic of Togo continues its process of democratisation and decentralisation. The "Roadmap to Decentralisation and Local Elections" discussed seven strategic axes on how decentralisation in Togo can be achieved on all its political, administrative, and fiscal dimensions. The government thus paved the way for a gradual implementation of decentralisation in Togo, including a reform and free local elections, which were finally held, the first local elections after 32 years in June 2019. However, the locally available knowledge and skills to design, manage and implement the reforms are limited. The module objective is therefore to improve the preconditions for the decentralisation at national and sub-national level. Co-Financing of the European Union is part of the evaluation object. The co-financed part is 16,15mio € in total with a contribution of 14mio € by the European Union. The project follows a multi-level and multi-stakeholder approach and concentrates on four components which target (1) the concretization of the implementation steps and sequences by the Ministry of Decentralisation, (2) the improvement of transparency, efficiency, and citizen orientation in three regional capital cities to improve municipal service delivery, (3) the promotion of conceptual and technical competencies regarding the transfer of resources and accompanying tasks to advise on fiscal decentralisation and municipal financial management, and (4) the creation of preconditions for a valid basis for municipal planning at the use of state services and civil rights to support an efficient civil status system. Central project evaluations are divided into two phases: (1) an inception phase with the preparation of the inception report on the methodological approach and (2) a data collection and evaluation phase with the evaluation mission and the preparation of the evaluation report. The main outputs were an inception report, an executive summary, and a final report.

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) (2021 - 2022), contract value EUR 61,487

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External evaluation of the EU’s Civil society Organisation and Local Authorities Thematic Programme

PEM was contracted to lead an external evaluation of The EU Civil Society and Local Authorities programme (2014-2020). The Programme is being implemented worldwide in 118 countries with at total allocation of Euro 1.9 billion. The programme aims to contribute to i) Strengthen civil society organisations and local authorities, ii) Improved governance and accountability through inclusive policymaking by empowering citizens and populations, to contribute to tackle injustice and inequality and iii) Enhanced livelihood opportunities for populations to participate in and benefit from a just, inclusive, and environmentally sustainable climate resilient low- carbon economic development. The overall purpose of the evaluation (commissioned by the EC evaluation unit) was to provide an independent assessment of the EU’s support to civil society and local authorities through the thematic programme; to identify lessons learnt; and to make recommendations to inform the next programming period 2020-2026 both for the EU and CSOs and partnerships.

The Eropean Commission (2020) contract value EUR 499,436.

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Evaluation of SIDA's results strategy for reform cooperation in Eastern Europe, the Western Balkans and Turkey 2014-2020

PEM consult has recently completed a large evaluation of Sida’s implementation of their results strategy for reform cooperation in Eastern Europe, the Western Balkans and Turkey 2014-2020, covering over 1000 projects and contributions. From inception to data collection, many country visits, leading to the final evaluation and presentation seminar for all Sida staff. The evaluation report will soon be published on Sida’s site and PEM is looking forward to continuing our fruitful cooperation with Sida in the future.

NIRAS for The Sweedish International Development Agency (Sida) (2020) contract value EUR 98,054.

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Evaluation of European Union’s Cooperation with Myanmar (2012-17)

PEM was contracted to lead the Evaluation of European Union’s Cooperation with Myanmar (2012-17). The objective of the 18-month assignment was to provide an overall independent assessment of the EU’s programme and cooperation strategy with Myanmar between 2012 and 2017, its delivery and results achieved. The evaluation covered the EU focal sectors in Myanmar; i) Rural development, agriculture, food, and nutrition security ii) Education; iii) Governance, Rule of law, State capacity building, Democracy; and iv) Peacebuilding. The evaluation focused primarily on i) Strategic relevance and adaptability, ii) Results achieved (effectiveness, outcomes, impact), iii) Sustainability and iv) Crosscutting issues like Human Rights, Conflict sensitivity, Gender sensitivity, Climate change and Environment

The Eropean Commission (2020) contract value EUR 249,892.

Evaluation of the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) (2016 - 2017)
Review of Danish Institute of Human Rights (2013 - 2014)
Baseline Study on Democracy, Justice, Human Rights and Accountability, Uganda (2013)
Mid-Term Review of the Democratic Governance Facility (DGF), Uganda (2013 - 2014)
A performance assessment of the Swedish development cooperation in the MENA region with focus on human rights and democracy/sustainable infrastructure/economic integration (2014)
Value for Money study of the Danish support to the Judicial Services in the period 2013 to September 2015 (2016)