Good Governance Gender & MDG Need Assessment and Costing Bhutanese Experience by Toshihiro Tanaka

Development Context  Bhutan’s transition to parliamentary democracy under constitutional monarchy in 2008  New 10 th Five Year Plan ( ) under preparation  Focuses on poverty reduction and MDGs  Further decentralization (financial and administrative)  Introduction of Multi-year Rolling Budget  Moving towards results based management  ODA dependency (50% of 9 th Plan outlay of US$1.6 billion)  HDI ranking 135 in 2006  31.7% of population under national poverty line

MDG Needs Assessment and Costing Exercise  MDG NA and Costing exercise started June 2006 linked to planning cycle – coming 10th Plan ( )  MDG NA initiative owned by the government (Planning Commission as the focal point)  MDG NA and Costing undertaken by government staffs  Adopted UN Millennium Project interventions-based approach but also covered non-MDG sectors  4 Thematic Task Forces (TTFs) constituted by themes: 1.Agriculture, rural development and farm roads, macroeconomics, and infrastructure (transport, energy and ICT) 2.Education 3.Health 4.Environment, good governance/capacity development and Gender

MDG Needs Assessment and Costing Exercise  Inter-TTF consultative process built in to address cross sectoral issues, gaps and overlap  Representation from Planning Commission & Bureau of Statistics  UNDP RCC/RCB (Gender, HIV/AIDS, Energy and Environment, Trade, and Governance), UNICEF, UNFPA, and WHO instrumental in identification of interventions, getting base line information, setting targets, and costing  Millennium Project costing tools customized to capture special intervention needs (like rural development, special education, ICT, capacity development, etc)

Graph 1a: Trend of Total MDG Investment Requirement Year Million Nu Total MDG Recurrent Capital

Annual MDG Investment Requirement ( in million US $) Sectors Health Education Agriculture Energy Road WSS Others Total

Sectoral Shares in MDG Investments (in % shares) Health Education Agriculture Water S. & Sanitation Energy Environment Roads Capacity Dev Gender Grand Total 100.0

Sectoral Shares in MDG Investments Education 24.4% Agri 16.6 % Road 16.9 % Energy 9.6 % WS & S 6.5 % Health 21.9%

Good Governance and Capacity Development  NA and Costing for capacity development of seven institutions that have a bearing on good governance and democracy. 1.Royal Civil Service Commission 2.Anti-Corruption Commission 3.Election Commission 4.Office of the Attorney General 5.Local Development Division, Planning Commission 6.Cabinet Secretariat 7.Royal Institute of Management -Royal Audit Authority (not included as it is already well established) -Pay Commission (not yet established)

Good governance and capacity development  Nu. 2,816 million ( ) = 2.5% of total MDG NA  Major interventions -Recurrent costs (55.2%) -HRD: Upgrading qualifications/skill level of staff -Equipment (computers, copy machines, Printers, digital cameras, LCD projectors, etc.) -Manuals, handbooks -Networking -Publications, documentations -Facilties

Gender Equity and Women’s Empowerment  Nu. 1,344 million ( ) = 1.2% of total MDGs NA  Major Interventions –Helping transition of girls to work/employment Female enrolment in vocational training institutes National graduates’ orientation programmes –Encouraging political participation and representation of women Mass media campaign, Support to women’s candidates, Training for female parliamentarians –Ending violence against women Prevention through awareness campaign, protection through police and court services and shelters –Systemic issues NCWC capacity building, sensitization of judges, polices, bureaucrats.. –Research on gender

Next Steps 1.Developing MDG consistent macroeconomic framework – particularly projecting GDP, inflation, revenue, and external sector indicators; and formulating MDG consistent macro policies. (Introduction and capacity building of Simplified Macroeconomic Framework with RCC ) 2.Developing MDG financing strategy – household, domestic revenue, and external aid; estimating financing gap and analyzing fiscal space for scaling up MDG investment. 3.Institutionalizing the MDGs NA and Costing into national process 4.MDG NA report to be used for resource mobilization for the achievement of MDG in Bhutan (Circulation at the Round Table Meeting in early 2008)

Lessons Learned o Strong commitment, ownership and leadership of the government/Planning Commission o Consensus building for inclusion of cross cutting sectors (gender, governance, environment) o Importance of timing to link with national development processes and ensure effective utilization of the results  Credible knowledge/expertise/regional experiences Needs for a clear coordination mechanism at the national and regional levels Lack of standard methodologies in some areas Lack of indicators on non-MDG areas How to address the financing=>challenge to UNDP

Gross National Happiness (GNH) Indicators => Bhutan Development Index (BDI) 1.Time Use and Balance 2.Psychological wellbeing 3.Community vitality and resilience 4.Eco-system diversity and resilience 5.Cultural resilience and capacity 6.Health 7.Education 8.Good Governance 9.Living standards

Sub Domains of Good Governance 1.Participation 2.Effective Government 3.Fair and Equal Law 4.Freedom and Quality of Media 5.Transparency, Accountability and Honesty

TASHI DELEK! Thank You !