Newly elected senators and ministers in the Marshall Islands are attending an induction seminar for senators of the new Nitijela (Parliament) of the Marshall Islands, following national elections in November last year. The seminar covers technical procedural issues such as the law-making process, committee oversight, question time and moving motions. Participants also learn about a range of key issues, including climate change, human rights, youth and HIV/infectious diseases. The workshop was organized by the Nitijela Secretariat, with support from the UNDP Pacific Centre. Senator Kalani English, from the State of Hawaii, and Ms Charmaine Rodrigues, Pacific Regional Governance Advisor for UNDP, are facilitating the induction seminar. See Press Release.With thanks to Charmaine Rodrigues and Shobhna Decloitre.
Judicial Integrity Workshop Kicks Off Today
More than 200 delegates from 16 countries, including Chief Justices, Justices, academics and legal practitioners, gathered this morning in Jakarta, Indonesia, for a Regional Workshop on Judicial Integrity in Southeast Asia convened by the Supreme Court and the Judicial Commission of Indonesia and organized with support from UNODC, UNDP APRC and BMZ (the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development). Sharing experience and getting to better know the current status of integrity-based judicial reforms in Southeast Asia is a main goal of the workshop. The judicial systems in all countries are challenged to uphold integrity and ethics in their work. What does judicial integrity mean? Hon. Michael Kirby, Justice at the High Court of Australia and Rapporteur of the Judicial Integrity Group answered this question: “It’s a mix of interrelated concepts: independence both from the parties in dispute and the government, impartiality by weighing the balance equally, integrity by governing conduct to rules and not outside power, propriety by conducting one’s life, respect for everyone, keeping up to date with the law. Judicial integrity makes sense for economic purposes and for social protection. Poverty is a human rights issue. Justice is a human virtue”. Hon. Chief Justice Dr. Harifin A. Tumpa, Supreme Court of Republic of Indonesia, stressed that many countries in Southeast Asia are in transition politically and economically, and people expect governing institutions to live up to higher standards. This needs to push the judiciary to make reform. After the review of country experience from Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand, the participants are discussing how different countries apply in practice the ‘Bangalore Principle of Judicial Conduct’, what are the Southeast Asian best practices in internal and external oversight in judiciary. The Chief Justices from Afghanistan and Bangladesh and the President of the Court of Appeal from Timor-Leste are attending this event with support from UNDP.Contributed by Samuel de Jaegere
Rethinking Social Protection
Two of the latest APRC publications examine various aspects of social protection. Local Government and Social Protection conceptualizes social protection as part and parcel of overall public service delivery, and looks at the role of local governments in implementing social protection-related policies. Published jointly with UNCDF, the discussion paper answers important questions that have not been addressed in existing literature. What added value can local government bring to safety net programmes? Does 'going local' improve or strengthen the effectiveness of social safety net initiatives? Download the publication here. The summary of the recent e-discussion on social protection is a useful source to visit. Nearly 50 contributions were shared by UNDP colleagues and development practitioners from all over the world during the exchange. This summary offers insights and key characteristics of many well-known social protection programmes from the region and beyond. Download Ensuring Inclusion: E-Discussion on Social Protection here.
Shared by Ryce Chanchai
Charting the 2012 Support to Country Offices
Nine discussions have taken place so far as part of the preparation of engagement plans that will outline the support to Country Offices from APRC and RBAP HQ in 2012. By focusing on how to better align the ongoing country-level activities and programmes with UNDP's global and regional priorities, the discussions also help to better map the increasingly integrated, cross-practice support that APRC is providing – through missions, desk work and other means - to the Country offices. The list of nine APRC/RBAP/Country Office sessions conducted already comprises: Bangladesh, China, Myanmar, Cambodia, Viet Nam, Timor-Leste, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. An early estimation ranks the following themes as most frequently recurring during the discussions (hence requests for support most needed): Rio+20 and related post-2015 development agenda, response to the challenges of climate change; local governance issues and decentralization. Eight discussions are scheduled for the next week with the Country offices in Mongolia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Bhutan, India, Papua New Guinea, Lao PDR and Fiji.
Shared by MSU@APRC
Upcoming Events
N-PEACE Training Event gathers Members of the Network in Bangkok
Next week, twenty two women peace advocates from Nepal, Timor-Leste, Sri Lanka and Indonesia will participate in the first N-Peace Network Training of Trainers Programme. The training is aimed at building a community of women who are knowledgable and capable of advocating peace and security in their countries and the region. This pool of trainers will continue to localize and adapt the training themes for the needs of their countries, while continuing to serve as a resource that can be tapped by other network members. The trainers were selected through a competitive application, review and interview process. To find out more who they are, click hereShared by Radhika Behuria
The Gender Asset and Wealth Gap (Seminar)
Dr. Caren Grown, American University, Washington D.C. will be the key speaker at the Gender Asset and Wealth Gap seminar co-organized by UNDP APRC and Gender and Development Studies at the Asian Institute of Technology on January 30th. Dr. Grown is a co-principal investigator of a three-year project to collect and analyse individual-level physical and financial asset data from three countries in Latin America and Asia. This will enable large-scale sex-disaggregated asset data collection in national and international surveys. Preliminary findings of the project suggest specific ways to improve national statistics from a gender perspective so as to understand people’s daily needs and long-term security.
Shared by Yumiko Yamamoto
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