UNDP Lithuania

1. The Principles of Partnerships: Contributions to European Integration and Development EffectivenessBelgrade, 7-9 December 2005Promoting CSO engagement in European Integration NGO Capacity Building for Poverty Reduction UNDP Lithuania

2. COs strategic positioning vis-à-vis EU accession process • Only Country Programme (2004-2005), which is explicit in its relationship with the EU accession process; since from 1 May 2004 Lithuania became a full member of the EU *UNDP’s overall strategy: • (a) closing the gaps and refining the integration process in areas where UNDP has a comparative advantage • (b) helping Lithuania in its role as an emerging donor (part of the responsibilities taken on by Lithuania as an EU member)

3. COs strategic positioning vis-à-vis EU accession process (contd.) *However: • inevitable that most, if not all, of the UNDP interventions in Lithuania contributed to the accession process • may reflect the shared values of the UN and the EU • reflects the degree of cooperation between UNDP and its national partners, as well as the degree of national ownership of the UNDP programmes, whereby these programmes helped supporting the overarching national priority of EU accession • there are cases where UNDP may have accelerated the process or at least facilitated governments efforts to comply with EU accession requirements, for example, interventions in the areas of gender, human rights and anti-corruption • there are cases where UNDP has directly supported the early development of EU-type strategies - the best example: preparation of the Action Plan for the Implementation of the Poverty Reduction Strategy for 2002-2004 (PRAP) and preparation of the civil society to take part in the implementation of this strategy.

4. Key Outputs of UNDP Support to Poverty Reduction Planning and Policy • Expanded Household Budget Survey • Labour Survey • Survey of Social Beneficiaries • Poverty Levels in Lithuania: Results of Studies of Household Budgets and Living Conditions • Poverty and Employment Report • Living Conditions of Social Benefit Recipients Survey

5. Key Outputs of UNDP Support to Poverty Reduction Planning and Policy (contd.) • Study on Rural Lining Conditions Standards • National Poverty Reduction Strategy • National Poverty Reduction Action Plan for 2002-2004 • MDG Reports

6. Disaggregated MDG reports *Examples of key issues in Lithuania: • Poverty – Relative poverty: has decreased from 18% to 16.4% in 5 years. But increased in rural areas from 26% to 27.3% • TB mortality up by 20% • Gender & Rural/Urban gap in Life Expectancy. City dwellers have 3 yrs more. • Global Partnership – develop ODA capacity

7. Disaggregated MDG reports (contd.) *Strategy of Lithuania: • Focusing on making progress in qualitative terms against the MDGs • Adapting and interpreting the most appropriate goals and linking them to the EU’s Laeken indicators – the social inclusion indicators in support of the implementation of the EU Lisbon Strategy • Regional workshop on “Aligning the EU Social Inclusion Process and the MDGs”, April 2004

8. National Poverty Reduction Strategy: *Targets: • Relative poverty: from 16% in 1998 to less than 10% in 2005; • Absolute poverty: (0.8% of the pop. in 1998) eliminated by 2005. *High priority policy areas outlined: • Limitations to, and passive nature of poverty reduction measures • High levels of unemployment leading to persistent poverty • Low agricultural productivity • Limited availability of state assistance to rural areas • Growth of social exclusion • Slow pace of implementing poverty preventionmeasures *Red Cross – NGOs representative in the preparation process

9. National Poverty Reduction Action Plan for 2002-2004: early support to EU-type strategy development *The core aims of NPRAP: • strengthen attention of civil society to the problems of poverty • create conditions for public institutions and civil society organisations to communicate and co-operate with reference to the poverty reduction issue thus promoting civil society’s participation in general • transform the aspirations of poverty reduction to the discourse on practical measures • force the participants of this process to assess actual poverty reduction possibilities and estimate the necessary resources as well as look into their potential sources • allow evaluation of other poverty related programmes implemented by the government • revisit the legal acts both in force and under preparation to assess their possible impact on poverty situation

10. “Agreement signed in late 2002 between UNDP, the Ministry of Social Security and Labour and NISC concerning the implementation of project on Strengthening of NGO Abilities in Pursuit of Poverty Reduction in Lithuania are of utmost importance for cooperation between the state and NGOs on the efforts to reduce poverty and social exclusion.” Lithuania National Action Plan on Poverty and Social Exclusion 2004-06

11. Survey: NGOs Willingness, Intentions and Capacities to participate in Poverty Reduction Activities (2002) *62.5% of surveyed NGOs presently contribute to poverty reduction *70.6% would like to contribute to poverty reduction in the future *Number of projects in 2001 • One – 12% • 2 to 5 - 43.3% • 6 to 10 - 7.7% • More than 10 - 24% • Difficult to say – 13%

12. Survey: NGOs Willingness, Intentions and Capacities to participate in Poverty Reduction Activities (2002) – cont.

13. Survey: NGOs Willingness, Intentions and Capacities to participate in Poverty Reduction Activities (2002) – cont.*Resources mobilised domestically prevail

14. UNDP response - NGOs Capacity Building project *Issues addressed by the project: • To strengthen NGOs & CSOs to act as partners in helping communities build their own solutions to poverty/social inclusion challenges • NGOs & CSOs need to be capable to liaise with government on an on-going basis • To improve civil society’s ability to influence policy and carry out monitoring of policy implementation Capacity of civil society for: project design, resource mobilisation, organizing & networking, community mobilisation, poverty monitoring, policy analysis, budget analysis, advocacy, lobbying, etc

15. UNDP response - NGOs Capacity Building project (contd.) • Questions of legitimacy, representation, broad participation – what are the links to poor communities & other civil society actors at the level of national and European networks • Support civil society coalition building and networking activities to promote representation • Feedback mechanisms, so that those who are consulted are informed if their views were taken into account Establishment of the Lithuanian Network of NGOs working in the field of social inclusion and joining the European Anti-Poverty Network

16. UNDP response - NGOs Capacity Building project (contd.) • Capacity of government – understanding of participatory approaches & expertise to use them for policy purposes • Government convinced of value of civic engagement Participatory process of National Poverty Reduction Strategy and Action Plan preparation, training for government officials, NGOs & CBOs activity map at the local level