1. The Case for Indicators of Context, Trade Mainstreaming and Donors ’ response Symposium on Monitoring and Evaluation: Identifying Indicators for Monitoring Aid for Trade Geneva, 15-16 September 2008 David Luke Senior Adviser and Coordinator, Trade and Human Development Unit UNDP Geneva Office

2. Outline Guidelines for identifying indicators Case for context indicators Case for mainstreaming indicators and donors’ response Regional applications

3. Guidelines for Identifying AfT Indicators Provide factual information about implementation and progress Not try to point to possible causation between different variables Universal coverage or as near universal coverage as possible with consensus on validity Story emerging should be recognizable and conducive to a constructive dialogue focused on where further improvements are required.

4. The final product should not aim at researchers and analysts, or becoming a diagnostic or evaluation tool for programming. It should not aim to be comprehensive. The indicators should remain a political tool for assessing overall trends and progress. Presentation should be based as much as possible on benchmarking and cross-country comparisons. Final product is easily readable, non-judgmental and accessible. Guidelines for Identifying AfT Indicators

5. Indicators of context Human Development Indexes Initial or prevailing economic conditions: Sectoral Composition of GDP Human Development IndexAgriculture value added as % of GDP Human Poverty Index for Developing CountriesIndustry value added as % of GDP Gender-related Development IndexServices value added as % of GDP Indicators of Mainstreaming and Donors’ response Indicators of MainstreamingIndicators of Donors’ response Existence of an identifiable section relating to trade in the national development strategy/PRSP The volume of Aid for Trade resources that are transferred through common implementation arrangements Explicit discussion of trade policy options in relation to poverty reduction in the national development strategy/PRSP The volume of Aid for Trade resources that are transferred through programme-based approaches (i.e. integrated into Sector Wide Approaches (SWAps), basket funding or pooling of technical assistance or similar approaches, excluding budget support) Extent to which joint field missions are undertaken Extent to which analytical work, including joint diagnostic studies are utilized

6. Context Indicators Readily available Contextualize other indicators Benchmark progress to acheiving internationally-agreed goals

7. Mainstreaming and donors’ response indicators Task Force definition of AFT Mainstreaming reflects political commitment to integrate trade in development strategies –Identification of clear priorities as basis for engaging partners Donors’ response to partner countries’ efforts on mainstreaming equally important and central to Paris Declaration principles AfT should be seen within the larger context of the WTO coherence mandate

8. Regional applications Context, mainstreaming, and donor response indicators also apply regionally Examples

9. Thank you David.luke@undp.org