Technical assistance to improve the effectiveness of the strategic partnership with civil society organizations and private sector professional organizations in Madagascar
The specific objective of the mission was to improve the effectiveness of the strategic partnership of the Delegation of the European Union, in connection with the Office of support to the National Authorizing Officer (NAO), with civil society organizations and professional organizations in the private sector in Madagascar; by offering specific technical support and helping to strengthen the strategic capacities of these organizations in the relevant governance issues related to the EU programmes in Madagascar.
The results achieved were as follows:
1. Strategic dialogue, participation and the role of CSOs and professional organisations in national and local governance were improved and strengthened in the framework of EU actions in Madagascar, in particular:
1.1.The strategic analyses and contributions to reporting on the proposed themes were produced at the request of the European Union Delegation to Madagascar (EUD Madagascar) and on the basis of exchanges with stakeholders (including questionnaires for evaluating cross-cutting issues);
1.2.Four strategic dialogues between the EUD Madagascar and the civil society (including two deconcentrated) were organised (including preparation, reporting and logistical organisation) in connection with the EU's high-level political dialogue. These dialogues were the subject of preparation and restitution sessions with CSOs;
1.3.The report on the implementation of the roadmap to support the civil society 2014-2017 was produced and this roadmap was updated for the period 2018-2021. The implementation of the updated roadmap was monitored (reporting and consultations) and the meetings of the EUD Madagascar - CSO working group, set up in June 2017, were organised. An update of the database of CSOs supported by the EU and the MS was also carried out in connection with the Common Support Fund for Civil Society in 2018.
1.4.Specific contributions at the request of the EUD Madagascar to the monitoring of the implementation and reporting on the Democracy and Human Rights strategy were provided twice a year.
1.5.Support for the setting up of the consortium of professional employers' organisations from the private sector within the framework of the future PADEIR programme grant, in particular support for: the drafting of the statutes, the definition of governance and management structures, internal regulations, the procedures manual. The elaboration and proposal of a coaching/training programme for the capacity building of the professional employers' organizations members of the consortium, in particular on the management of the subsidies envisaged by the PADEIR. This support was carried out in complementarity and synergy with the actions developed by the PROCOM programme (strengthening of intermediary organisations (IOs) and others, support for IO grants);
1.6.Organisation of two dialogue sessions between private sector employer/professional organisations, the EUD Madagascar, the NAO and other stakeholders whose themes were validated in advance by the European Union Delegation;
1.7.Two thematic dialogue sessions between CSOs, the EUD Madagascar and the NAO/Ministry of Finance and Budget were prepared and organised (including post-session follow-up) during the 2017 and 2018 disbursements of State Building Contract 2 budget support 11th EDF;
1.8.Organisation and facilitation of consultations for the monitoring and improvement of civil society strategies for participation in the electoral process in the framework of EU funded projects.
2. The Steering Committee of the Multi-Donor Common Fund to Support Malagasy Civil Society was supported in its consolidation and strategic orientations.
2.1.The capitalisation by the Steering Committee of the modalities developed on the basis of the recommendations of the final evaluation of the Dinika 10th EDF programme became effective and the monitoring and evaluation system was set up;
2.2.The Steering Committee and the future Advisory Committee of the Common Fund were accompanied and supported in their strategic orientations;
2.3.The capacities of civil society representatives in the various bodies of the Common Fund were strengthened, in particular through a coaching programme and the facilitation of concentration workshops between CSOs (six workshops over a period of two years);
2.4.New donors were identified and ways of moving towards an autonomous national mechanism were proposed;
2.5. The monitoring of complementarity/synergy between Common Fund support and other EU support (EDF/budget lines) was carried out, in particular helping to identify the priorities of the 2018 CSOs-LAs call for proposals guidelines.
3. gender equality and women's empowerment in the 11th EDF programmes are now taken into account more and the draft budget lines have been strengthened, in particular in the implementation of GAP II, more specifically :
3.1.The “gender” analysis of the Action Papers and of other programming documents of the EUD Madagascar (including the guidelines for calls for proposals) was produced and contributed to gender mainstreaming;
3.2.Gender checklists and sex-disaggregated and gender-sensitive indicators were produced to improve the management of EU programmes and projects; in future these indicators will also serve to measure the gender impact of these EU-funded programmes and projects;
3.3.Coaching sessions and/or short training sessions were given on request by the EUD Madagascar;
3.4.The monitoring of the GAP II implementation and reporting was supported, particularly the identification of gender equality results achieved by existing programmes and the selection of targets and indicators for programmes and projects that were not included in the GAP 2016 report;