devinitorg/iati-policy-markers huggingface dataset:
Commonwealth Anti-Corruption Centre and Networks It is quite well known that corruption impoverishes citizens, lowers international investments and national economic growth. Significant number of the world's poor live in Commonwealth countries. Commonwealth developing countries suffer particularly high rates of corruption and more needs to be done to improve the quality of efforts and the fight against corruption in Commonwealth countries for economic growth and political stability.
This four-year project aims to improve the capacity of Anti-Corruption Agencies (ACAs) in Commonwealth developing countries in particular through training, knowledge creation and sharing and exchange of expertise. The purpose of this project is to strengthen Anti-Corruption Agencies of developing member countries in the Commonwealth to effectively deal with corruption. This is being achieved through a clear regional strategy which establishes Anti-Corruption Agencies’ networks or regional community of practice for South-South cooperation and learning to enable corruption control and attainment of development outcomes
This project seeks directly to respond to the fact that the Commonwealth Secretariat needs to capitalise on its convening power and trusted partnership to support member countries to deliver the outcomes of SDG 16. It recognizes that many Commonwealth developing countries whose public institutions are weak and are prone to corruption require support to promote good governance and effective public service delivery by reducing corruption through proper accountability and oversight mechanisms. 
This four-year project aims to improve the capacity of Anti-Corruption Agencies (ACAs) in Commonwealth through training &capacity building; policy and research; and knowledge sharing and exchange of best practices and expertise through regional Anti-Corruption Networks. This is being achieved through a clear regional strategy of which its key components of the project are the enhancement of the effectiveness of the Commonwealth Africa Anti-Corruption Centre, the Associations of Anti-Corruption Agencies in Commonwealth Africa and Caribbean as well as the setting up the similar Associations in the Pacific and Asia regions. 

Thus, the project seeks to achieve a clear result of reducing corruption through an intervention logic of establishing or strengthening regional community of practice, capacity building, and Policy, research and publication of anti-corruption best practices. The project will contribute to Intermediate Outcome: Improved public and administration and elimination of corruption.
There is no gainsaying that more value added can be achieved and impact sustained by working together. The focus of the project is on the low and middle income countries with high levels of poverty and vulnerability.
Establishing and strengthening of National Human Rights Institutions An effective NHRI is a key mechanism of a national human rights protection system, helping to prevent human rights violations; offering redress where they occur; holding the government to account and ensuring that citizens are aware of their rights and national institutions of their obligations. 

Currently, just over half of Commonwealth member countries have NHRIs. Of those that do have NHRIs, a number are not fully compliant with the Paris Principles, the international gold standard of reference for this kind of institution. The Paris Principles establish benchmarks for independence and effectiveness of NHRIs. Pluralism is a key requirement of the Paris Principles, ensuring that equality concerns, including gender equality, are mainstreamed in the establishment, functions and work of NHRIs. 

The presence of a Paris Principle compliant NHRI is one of the indicators for the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 16: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels. The Commonwealth Strategic Plan 2017/2018-2021/2022 identifies Human Rights promoted and protected, and participation in the UN’s UPR process improved as an intermediate outcome under public institutions, including NHRIs as a key mechanism for the promotion and protection of human rights. 

The project aims to: 

1) Advocate with and support member states in the process of establishing an NHRI where one does not exist. This process takes many years (beyond one strategic plan period) so sustained engagement and mobilization of sustained political will, are core requirements;

2) Strengthen NHRIs that are not fully operationalized, fall short of the Paris Principles, or require empowerment in a strategic area of rights protection (For example violence against women and girls or equality and non-discrimination);

3) Facilitate exchanges of best practice and networking among NHRIs through the Commonwealth Forum of National Human Rights Institutions (CFNHRI), including on fulfilling their mandates with specific consideration to issues of gender equality and equality and non-discrimination.
Strengthening evidenced based climate action In 2017, a dedicated Climate Change Team was created at the Commonwealth and over the past months its associated new programme of work has begun to take shape, this Project therefore in addition to the already established climate finance project, will seek to increase resilience to climate change by supporting wider adaptation and mitigation actions and broaden the footprint of the Commonwealth in this space. As it presents a new stream of work for the Secretariat, delivery will be through development of pilot projects, advocacy and internal policy support and coordination to strengthen advocacy of the Secretariat on climate change issues. 

One of the pilot projects is collaborative project on use of satellite technology for improved climate action in Commonwealth Small States known as Commonsensing. This is an innovative 3-year Extra Budgetary Resource (EBR) project that seeks to improve decision making and strengthen climate resilience of 3 Small Island Pacific States and contribute to sustainable development.
Enhancing Local Content Development in Barbados Limited participation by local business and citizen in the energy industry value chain due to the following barriers: (i) inadequate capacity of local suppliers to compete with foreign suppliers; (ii) lack of access by local suppliers to business opportunities available in the energy industry in Barbados; (iii) existing local content policies and regulatory requirements not being capable of effective implementation (by oversight authorities and International Companies); and (iv) the high capital and specialized inputs requirements for participation in the energy industry value chain.

The following intervention pathways are pursued under the project and targeted to reduce these four key barriers, culminating to progressively improving local supply: initiatives to enhance competitiveness and access to opportunities covering seminars for local manufacturers and service providers;  

The intervention pathways to addressing these barriers aim at increasing local supply by at least 11% - 15% of the value of the requirements for goods and services, as well as 50% of human resources requirements for International Companies operating in the energy sector in Barbados, over the first five years of this project implementation. The Commonwealth Secretariat’s technical assistance will lead to improved oversight by authorities and compliance by ICs to local content policies and regulations in Barbados.
Innovation and Partnerships The primary objective of this project is to take forward the cross-cutting Intermediate Outcome: ‘strengthened partnerships and innovations to support member countries and Commonwealth organisations.’

The project aims to foster and champion innovation and partnerships that, in combination, will enable the Commonwealth Secretariat and member states to achieve key objectives enshrined in the Strategic Plan and the Sustainable Development Goals in the most time-sensitive and cost-effective manner possible. This will be done primarily by facilitating connectivity, content aggregation, target audience consolidation and digital delivery of knowledge, information, data and tool kits through the Commonwealth Innovation Hub, and by developing partnerships and collaboration between the Secretariat, member governments, Commonwealth organisations and other partners at the international, regional and national levels. In addition, the innovation agenda for the Commonwealth will be supported through the development of policy-focused thought leadership, the establishment of the Commonwealth Secretary-General’s Awards, the creation of the Commonwealth Innovation Fund with support from partners and through the provision of technical assistance to member governments to help them become more innovative in their operations and service delivery.

A key pillar of this project will be the activation and operationalisation of the recently finalised Partnerships Strategy for the Commonwealth Secretariat. The strategy has five facets and spells out the rationale, key objectives, current levels of engagements and the way forward on strengthening and developing partnerships for the Secretariat with member governments, Commonwealth-accredited organisations, international development organisations, regional development organisations and the private sector or their philanthropic wings.
Convening of Commonwealth Education Ministers and Senior Officials Since 1959, the Commonwealth Secretariat has been convening Conferences of Commonwealth Education Ministers (CCEMs). The  is a high-level meeting of education ministers held on a triennial basis and is the largest ministerial meeting hosted by the Commonwealth Secretariat. 

CCEMs' components include the Partners Forums: Four forums run parallel to the main Ministerial Meeting. These provide opportunities for the wider Commonwealth education community to meet, network, exchange ideas and engage in dialogue, as well as to communicate their priorities to Ministers. This education community includes representatives from national and international agencies, academics, teachers, non-governmental organisations, youth/students and the private sector engaged in education at all levels in the Commonwealth. The four parallel forums are as follows:
Post-secondary and higher education leaders’ forum;
Stakeholder forum (civil society, private sector);
Students’ forum;
Teachers, school principals and parents’ forum.
CCEMs also consist of a Small States Meeting, a Regional ministerial caucus and a Senior Officials' Meeting. 

Related meetings that take stock of progress between CCEMS are the Education Ministers Action Group (EMAG) and the Commonwealth Accelerated Development Mechanism for Education (CADME) Technical Working Group that provide opportunities for member countries to: 

i) engage in open, frank and lively discussions;
ii) share good practices and learn from each other; 
iii)deepen collaboration with a variety of stakeholders including regional and international multilateral government organisations, civil society and higher education leaders and;
iv) achieve consensus on policy positions and collaborative actions.

The periodic meeting of education ministers and other key stakeholders through CCEMs, EMAG and the CADME-TWG is one way of ensuring that key decision makers, policy implementers and advocates maintain the momentum towards the implementation of relevant programmes to meet the targets outlined in SDG4 which in turn will support the improvement of education outcomes across the Commonwealth. 

The convening of CCEMs and meetings of the EMAG and CADME-TWG capitalises on the Secretariat's convening power, advancing an environment of open engagement and collaboration. It therefore supports the enabling outcome i.e. member states achieve consensus and advance key priority issues.
Convening of Commonwealth Health Ministers and Senior Officials The Commonwealth Health Ministers Meetings and the related meetings of the Commonwealth ministerial and senior officials’ meetings provide a unique opportunity for member states to share and learn from each other, forge common goals and work together to achieve consensus on policy positions and collaborative actions. The outcomes of these meetings are ministerial statements on agreements reached and future actions to be taken. The convening of the ministerial meetings and meetings of senior officials (through the Commonwealth Advisory Committee on Health), dissemination of ministerial outcomes and follow up of agreed actions, require Secretariat support and form the core of this project.

Note: The implementation of the Health Ministerial Meetings falls under the Consensus Building project of the delivery plan and Strategic Plan. Pillar 3.3. (Intermediate Outcome) relates to project work requested by Ministers at their annual meetings, ranging from research, proposals for Commonwealth collaborative platforms, to technical support.
They focus on areas identified by member countries and regional bodies as areas of comparative advantage for the Secretariat.
Improved access to climate finance This programme seeks to improve access to climate finance for small and other vulnerable Commonwealth States through a combination of direct long-term technical assistance; evidence based research; and advocacy to influence the international climate finance architecture. This will be delivered through a number of mutually reinforcing activities where the Commonwealth Secretariat can add particular value to national, regional and international initiatives. The programme is expected to improve and strengthen the climate resilience of these countries.

The key delivery mechanisms are as follows: 

  
The Climate Finance Access Hub (CFAH): The CFAH’s innovative approach provides long-term programmatic support, building on-the-ground capacity, as compared to other climate readiness initiatives offering financial and short-term advisory support, and fills a clear niche in a crowded landscape. The strong demand from member states for the CFAH services (20 countries have requested assistance) further emphasises the need for such an initiative. 

The CFAH operates from Mauritius with strategic, technical, operational and oversight support from London.

2.	Research, information gathering and advocacy on climate finance: The programme will also develop and advance its research portfolio on climate finance. With a unique and growing programme, there are opportunities to embed innovative lesson learning mechanisms in the CFAH to advance our research portfolio and address knowledge gaps in the sector. The research topics will include country case studies focussing on the climate finance contexts of small and vulnerable studies, and other pertaining climate finance issues that can advance international climate finance negotiations and bridge knowledge gaps. 

The research will also underpin the Commonwealth’s advocacy strategy on climate finance. 

The successful implementation of the programme will strengthen the institutional capacity of key ministries and agencies mandated to attract and manage climate finance in small and other vulnerable states; support the development of a pipeline of climate change projects in these countries; increase the evidence base on climate finance, with particular focus on small and vulnerable states; and advance the Secretariat’s climate finance advocacy. 

The programme will assist member states to realise the targets set out in the Paris Climate Change Agreement and catalyse the attainment of the 2030 sustainable development goals (SDGs).
Strengthening cooperation among Commonwealth member states to tackle the illicit proliferation of conventional weapons The project, funded by the FCO and implemented in partnership with the FCO and the Small Arms Survey,  is designed to improve national implementation of international conventional arms control obligations. The project aims to strengthen cooperation in tackling the implementation challenges facing Commonwealth member countries, sharing information on resources available within and outside the Commonwealth and providing tools for practical capacity building projects. This will assist Commonwealth member countries in meeting Sustainable Development Goal 16, Target 4, aimed at achieving significant reductions of illicit arms by 2030. 

The project will include the creation of an online platform for Commonwealth member countries to exchange knowledge, experience and expertise; capacity building in order to strengthen counter-proliferation capacity; and encouraging the effective participation of Commonwealth member countries in international decision-making process.
A Resilient Blue Commonwealth: Blue Charter The Commonwealth Blue Charter is an action-oriented implementation vehicle by which Commonwealth countries cooperate towards attainment of the myriad of ocean-related commitments that they face, with particular focus on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially SDG 14 (ocean). 

Priorities and actions will be member-driven, facilitated by the Commonwealth Secretariat, and led by Commonwealth Blue Charter (CBC) Champion countries. 

Commonwealth member countries are invited to (co-) lead a Commonwealth Blue Charter community of practice on a topic of particular interest to them.  These communities of practice, known here as Action Groups, will be the means by which the Commonwealth Blue Charter will be realised. The possible topic areas are open to member country suggestions, so long as they relate to an ocean-related issue with broad potential application in the Commonwealth (and beyond). Ideally, Action Group topics will tie into an SDG, though this is not strictly necessary.  

The Commonwealth Secretariat will assist the Champion countries with:
coordinating membership of the Action Group ;
developing terms of reference, to be reviewed and approved by the Action Group membership;
developing plans of action with the Action Group membership;
making available subject matter experts and practitioners;
co-organising Action Group meetings, at least one per year, to be held in one of the Action Group countries;
reporting on progress (MEL).
Note: The emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic has altered some of the implentation plans described above (especially holding in-person Action Group meetings). All in-person meetings, workshops and capacity building planned for the first half of 2020 had been postponed; including four Action Group meetings as well as the annual ‘All-Champions’ meeting, scheduled for March 2020 in Cyprus. Similarly, the in-person segments of CHOGM, UN Oceans, Our Oceans, UNFCCC COP26 and other international events where Blue Charter side events and meetings were planned have also been postponed. We are currently scheduling various virtual engagements to replace in-person meetings.
Consensus Building This project will support the Secretary-General to build consensus amongst member countries, thereby determining and advancing the strategic objectives of the Commonwealth and promoting its values and principles. It will achieve this primarily through advance preparation for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) and the delivery of  Commonwealth Foreign Affairs Ministers’ Meeting (CFAMM) held in the margins of the UN General Assembly.  This project will also promote Commonwealth interests through its engagement with regional, sub-regional, and other international organisations, primarily the United Nations (UN), African Union (AU), Caribbean Community (CARICOM), European Union (EU) and Pacific Islands Forum (PIF).

This project will enable the Secretary-General to build consensus within the Commonwealth on emerging and contentious issues affecting its members, including territorial disputes (for example, through the Commonwealth Ministerial Group on Guyana and the Commonwealth Ministerial Committee on Belize), and in the consideration of new membership to the Commonwealth (such as Zimbabwe, this includes immediate follow-up engagement post-membership such as The Gambia).
Inclusive Dialogue and Enhanced Women's Political Participation This project is intended to strengthen the capacity of member countries to address major challenges that impede their ability to conduct more credible and inclusive elections.

In reviewing Commonwealth Observer Group (COG) reports since 1991, the Secretariat has identified two persistent themes in observer recommendations: the importance of inclusive and constructive dialogue between national stakeholders (including election management bodies, political leaders and parties, and civil society) to address tensions and potential triggers for election-related conflict; and the need to address chronically low levels of women’s political participation.

This project will pilot an approach to support member countries in addressing these key challenges through two main components: 

Building the capacity of member countries to engage in inclusive and constructive dialogue with national stakeholders, with a view to resolving political impasses, achieving consensus on major issues affecting the credibility of elections, and engaging in conflict prevention throughout the electoral cycle; and

2.	Assisting member countries to develop and implement strategies, through consultation with national stakeholders and drawing on good practice, to address the barriers limiting the participation of women in politics.