As part of the OECD's co-ordinated effort to support the reconstruction of Haiti after the 12 January earthquake, the PDG is proposing Service Delivery Guidance to assist Haitian authorities and the donor community in the recovery and reconstruction of the urban and rural areas of Haiti. The Guidance is intended to support decision-makers and practitioners to make informed, fast and efficient choices about outsourcing and contracting basic services for the people of Haiti.

The Service Delivery Guidance and all related documents can be downloaded in English, French and Haitian Creole (soon in Spanish) here. For more information, please contact the PDG Advisory Unit.

The Secretariat of the Partnership for Democratic Governance extends its profound condolences to the family and friends of Philippe DEWEZ, counsellor to the President of Haiti and former IDB Representative to Haiti. The PDG had the privilege of working with Philippe over the past two years and was with him in Haiti just this past November, where once again he freely offered his help. His kindness and generosity will be missed, and the PDG Secretariat hopes to continue his life’s mission by advancing the Partnership's work to improve the quality of life of the Haitian people.

A Policy Note on Contracting Out Government Functions and Services in Post-Conflict and Fragile Situations has been published by the Secretariat. The Note, which draws its conclusions and recommendations from the forthcoming PDG Handbook on Contracting Out, is available for download from the OECD website.

The Secretariat has also finalised the second draft of the Handbook, which was commented and improved through the Partnership's web platform, PDG Online. This second draft will be submitted to the Steering Group for comment in early March. The final Handbook is scheduled to be prepared by June and will be published and disseminated during the fourth quarter of 2010. Additional information on this publication will be provided by the Secretariat over the coming months.

From 25-28 January, the Secretariat undertook a mission to Tbilisi to discuss with the Ministry of Finance and donors the upcoming implementation of the PDG project to support donor co-ordination and enhance aid effectiveness in Georgia. The Secretariat also met with representatives of the NGO community. The project will be executed via UNDP Tbilisi. The recruitment process has already begun, and the implementation is planned to commence in early April 2010.

After discussions with Grenadian authorities on their policy priorities and choices, the final drafts of the new Public Procurement Act and Public Procurement Regulations were submitted to the Ministry of Finance at the end of February. From 8-12 March, the PDG's Lead Procurement Consultant will hold meetings with a broad range of Grenadian officials in order to prepare a Strategy Paper and Roadmap for the implementation of the new procurement system.   

Based on the Terms of Reference agreed upon between the PDG Advisory Unit and the Government of Guatemala, the recruitment process for experts is well underway for the PDG project to support municipal governance in the country. The Government of Guatemala interviewed short-listed candidates in February, and the project is on-track to begin implementation in early April 2010.

Furthermore, a Letter of Co-operation between the PDG and the Instituto Nacional de Administración Pública (INAP), a Mexican non-governmental organisation, has been signed by the President of INAP, M. José R. CASTELAZO. The Letter forms the basis of collaboration between INAP and PDG to share their specialised expertise to assist the public authorities of PDG partner countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, including Guatemala.

The Advisory Unit was on mission in Monrovia early in February to finalise the PDG’s field project there. They met with Minister of Justice Dr. Christiana TAH, the Inspector General of Police Marc AMBLARD, the Deputy SRSG of the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) and UN Police Commissioner, among others, to co-ordinate the activities of the project that is slated to begin in Spring 2010. At a critical time, when Liberia is transitioning from the post-conflict to the state-building and reconstruction phase — and as the UNMIL mandate may not be renewed after the presidential elections slated for next year — greater emphasis will be placed on the capacity of the Government of Liberia to stabilize and ensure the security of its own population, including to rebuild trust in its institutions.

In Liberia, the issue of donor support and training was in the past directed mostly at one part of the Liberian National Police — namely the Women and Children’s Protection Section (WCPS). This created an imbalance whereby the needs of the wider police force were not being addressed. By advising the Police Academy to help develop its own trainings and assisting the Liberian National Police (LNP) to standardise, develop, train and co-ordinate funding, the PDG hopes to support the capacity of a critical and under-funded justice and security sector as part of the wider stabilization efforts in Liberia.

During their meeting on 21 January 2010, the OECD Council received the 2009 Annual Review of Partnership for Democratic Governance activities. The Council — the OECD's decision-making body — approved the report and expects to receive, in 2010, a report on the possible extension of the PDG mandate past its initial three-year term.

The Advisory Unit continues to extend its invitation to all interested parties to join our community of practice by creating a PDG Online account today. PDG Online is a unique, custom-built web platform where users can comment on and participate in an ongoing intellectual debate, learn more about the latest work of the Partnership and more. The website is also being enriched with a new series of discussion papers from a number of development experts on issues ranging from contracting out to the role of non-traditional donors and South-South co-operation. Users are also invited to post comments on this content in order to further the ongoing debate.