Independent Assessment Mission of the UNDP Human Development Initiative (HDI) in Myanmar

UNDP operates a major rural focused programme ‘Human Development Initiative’ (HDI) reaching some 6,500 villages with an annual budget of 10.5 million USD. The UNDP Executive Board has issued specific guidelines for UNDP operations in Myanmar. In essence these guidelines prohibit UNDP to channel assistance through government institutions and engage institutions and staff in ways that would strengthen the capacity of government. The Board has further prescribed that an independent internationally recruited team annually should assess UNDP-Myanmar compliance with the guidelines. In addition the team carrying out the assignment in 2009 was requested to assess performance of the HDI itself.

Together with UNDP, Sida, DfID and AusAid are co-funders of the HDI. In the last three years the bilateral donors have funded a member of the mission team. The assignment described here is that bilateral contribution to the assessment of HDI.

In addition to the tasks as defined in the ToR for the Independent Mission, the consultant was charged with the task to gather information and reflect on the potential for future development assistance in the field of sustainable natural resource use and management in the country.