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Final Report: Review of the APF

John Dwyer

September 16 2014

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Table of ContentsExecutive Summary.........................................................................................................1

Findings and conclusions (recommendations made in the 2010 Review)....................1Findings and Conclusions (OECD Guidelines).............................................................2

Relevance.................................................................................................................2Capacity....................................................................................................................2Efficiency...................................................................................................................2Sustainability.............................................................................................................3

Findings and Conclusions (effectiveness and impact of Program Implementation).....3Objective 1: Capacity Development..............................................................................3

Training.....................................................................................................................3Capacity Assessments..............................................................................................3Specialised Programs (High Level Dialogues)..........................................................4Supporting the Advisory Council of Jurists................................................................4

Objective 2: Networking and Communication...............................................................4Core Networking.......................................................................................................4Core Communications..............................................................................................5

Objective 3: Compliance with the Paris Principles........................................................5ICC Accreditation......................................................................................................5Advice to Members...................................................................................................5Advice to Stakeholders.............................................................................................6

Objective 4: International and Regional Engagement..................................................6Engagement with UN Bodies....................................................................................6Engagement with the ICC.........................................................................................6Engagement with Regional Mechanisms..................................................................7

Introduction......................................................................................................................9This Review..................................................................................................................9Methodology.................................................................................................................9Overview of the APF...................................................................................................10Structure of the Review Report...................................................................................13

Evaluation Findings and Conclusions: Recommendations of the 2010 Review.............14Focus on bringing non-compliant members into compliance......................................14

Findings..................................................................................................................14Conclusion & Recommendations............................................................................14

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Renew efforts of expand revenue sources.................................................................14Findings..................................................................................................................14Conclusion & Recommendations............................................................................15

Use NHRI staff in APF programming..........................................................................15Findings..................................................................................................................15Conclusion & Recommendations............................................................................15

Focus on impacts in reporting....................................................................................16Findings..................................................................................................................16Conclusion & Recommendations............................................................................18

Implement the Sidoti recommendations on training....................................................20Findings..................................................................................................................21Conclusion & Recommendations............................................................................22

Highlight Efforts to Provide a Gender Perspective in APF programming....................22Findings..................................................................................................................22Conclusions & Recommendations..........................................................................23

Develop capacity development programmes on gender mainstreaming....................24Findings..................................................................................................................24Conclusion & Recommendations............................................................................25

Coordinate input to UN CSW......................................................................................25Findings..................................................................................................................25Conclusion & Recommendations............................................................................25

Findings and Conclusions: Evaluation Questions and Criteria.......................................26Relevance...................................................................................................................26

Strategic Objectives................................................................................................26Programme activities..............................................................................................26

Capacity......................................................................................................................27Secretariat capacity to fund-raise............................................................................27Secretariat/Management capacity to manage programmes....................................27Secretariat capacity to meet training needs of Members........................................28Capacity of Secretariat to address gender issues...................................................28Capacity of Member NHRIs to Apply a Gender Perspective...................................29Capacity to Apply a Theory of Change...................................................................31

Efficiency....................................................................................................................32Efficient use of funds/value for money....................................................................32

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Management & governance structure conducive to efficiency................................36Sustainability..............................................................................................................37

General Sustainability.............................................................................................37Sustainability - Partnership with the RWI................................................................39

Findings and Conclusions: Effectiveness & Impact in delivering strategic goals...........42Strategic Objective 1: Capacity Development............................................................42

Training...................................................................................................................42Capacity Assessments............................................................................................47Specialised Programs - HLDs.................................................................................51Supporting the ACJ.................................................................................................51

Strategic Objective 2: Networking & Communications...............................................54Core Networking.....................................................................................................54Core Communications............................................................................................57

Strategic Objective 3: Compliance with Paris Principles............................................59ICC Accreditation....................................................................................................59Advice to Members.................................................................................................60Advice to Other Stakeholders.................................................................................62

Strategic Objective 4: Regional & International Engagement.....................................64Engagement with UN Bodies..................................................................................64Engagement with ICC.............................................................................................67Engagement with regional mechanisms.................................................................68

Lessons Learned............................................................................................................72Link Between Strategic Planning and Program Review.............................................72Supplementing and Validating Survey Results...........................................................73

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List of Annexes

Annex 1 TORs for the ReviewAnnex 2 Inception Plan for ReviewAnnex 3 APF Self Review ReportAnnex 4a Master Copy of Review Survey (Members)Annex 4b Compilation of Review Survey ResultsAnnex 5 Gender Mainstreaming: operational review of the APF SecretariatAnnex 6 List of IntervieweesAnnex 7 Financial Breakdown of direct expenditure on gender programsAnnex 8 Compilation of Narrative Responses to Review SurveyAnnex 9 Compilation of Member Interviews on ImpactsAnnex 10 Compilation of Review Recommendations organised thematically

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List of Acronyms

ACJ Advisory Council of JuristsAGM Annual General MeetingAPF Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights InstitutionsAPT Association for the Prevention of TortureASEAN Association of Southeast Asian NationsCA Capacity AssessmentCSW Commission on the Status of WomenCESR Centre for Economic and Social RightsESR Economic and Social RightsFC Forum CouncilHLD High Level DialogueNHRI National Human Rights InstitutionsHR Human RightsHRC Human Rights CouncilICC International Coordinating Committee of National Institutions for the Promotion

and Protection of Human RightsICC SCA ICC Sub-Committee on AccreditationOECD Organisation for Economic Cooperation and DevelopmentOHCHR United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human RightsPIF Pacific Islands ForumPP Paris Principles RWI Raoul Wallenberg InstituteSAARC South Asian Association for Regional CooperationSEO Senior Executive OfficersSOGI Sexual Orientation and Gender IdentityUN United NationsUNDP United National Development ProgramUNFPA United Nations Population Fund

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Executive Summary

This review of the Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions (APF) Program examines the degree to which the APF has implemented key recommendations of a previous review, as well as the impact of so doing, and the degree to which the APF Program satisfied key Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) guidelines on relevance, capacity, efficiency, sustainability, effectiveness and impacts.

The review was carried out in a consultative manner.

Findings and conclusions (recommendations made in the 2010 Review)

The APF has fully implemented all recommendations of the previous review with the exception of the recommendations on gender equality. With regard to this latter, documentation and interviews show that the APF has carefully developed the internal capacity to act, inter alia, by developing and acting on a Gender Policy, by establishing a Focal Point for gender, by better documenting its efforts to promote gender equality and by developing a training manual and course on the subject. These initiatives, and others, are documented in an operational review on gender equality that the APF commissioned and that was undertaken parallel to this review.

The review notes the impacts of implementing the above-mentioned recommendations, where this is possible. Results impacts for recommendations related to gender equality are not available at this time, since the implementation of the recommendations has just been finalised. That said, the approach taken to date by the APF have been sound and based on the best available models and expert advice.

While the recommendation on reporting on impacts was implemented, the results have not been fully successful. The monitoring matrix developed with an external consultant is deficient in that:

it does not identify certain key output activities and therefore does not identify output and outcome indicators for them

it does not identify higher level outcome results indicators and therefore there is no way to monitor and report on impacts

it does not consider improvements to the human rights situation as an expected result and therefore the output and outcome indicators are not human rights-based

indicators for monitoring gender-based results are not yet developed.

In addition, conceptual difficulties with the design of the monitoring system mean that certain activities may be reported under more than one objective.

The APF is aware of these lacunae and is working to resolve them.

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Findings and Conclusions (OECD Guidelines)

Relevance

All APF strategic objectives and most program initiatives are, and remain, highly relevant to Member NHRIs. (The only exception regards the Advisory Council of Jurists, although it too is considered relevant.) Partners shared this view but pointed out that tweaking of some programs might be needed – Capacity Assessments have been conducted on virtually all Members and so a different follow-up approach might be needed now; training on the prevention in torture may have reached a saturation point and more focused training might now be required.

Capacity

All stakeholders feel that the APF has the capacity to manage the Program and the results of this review support this, although there are weaknesses as noted above, in monitoring and evaluation. An operational review on gender mainstreaming concluded that APF staff has the capacity to apply a gender focus in its work; survey results support this but also suggest that there is room for improvements. The Master`s Training Program has the potential to ensure that the APF`s internal capacity to provide training to members is secured. The APF Secretariat has the capacity to fund-raise and has embarked on an ambitious new strategy to do so.

Member NHRIs have internal structures, policies and or practices in place to facilitate and support a gender perspective. All NHRIs indicated that they had the capacity to program in the area and had achieved results. The operational review on gender mainstreaming reported that APF programming had improved Members’ capacity to apply a gender perspective. While this evidence is not conclusive, it does suggest that APF Members have capacity in this area.

There is a need to develop and codify a theory of change to ensure that the APF’s planning skills are institutionalised and made apparent.

Efficiency

The APF is implemented in an efficient manner and cost comparisons show that program costs are in line with other actors. Partners agree that the APF is efficiently implemented.

There are suggestions that some training might have reached a saturation point. Where this is the case, a hiatus might be considered.

The APF has carried a heavy load in its support for the International Coordinating Committee of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights (ICC) over the period under review. Others should begin to shoulder more of the load.

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While Members remain largely satisfied with the current management structure, the growth of Membership will lead to inefficiencies given the sheer size of the decision-making body. The Forum Councillors Working Group recently decided to examine the governance structure.

Sustainability

APF Members and Partners uniformly believe that the APF program is sustainable. Several factors are cited as the reason for this: the professionalism and stability of the APF Secretariat staff; APF`s commitment to strategic planning; the APF Secretariat staff`s deep understanding of the regional and country-specific contexts that the APF operates in; and the APF approach to programming.

That said certain prerequisites remain, including the development and implementation of an effective monitoring and evaluation system and the diversification of funding sources.

Findings and Conclusions (effectiveness and impact of Program Implementation)

Objective 1: Capacity Development

Training

The APF training program responds to Member needs. All data sources suggest that the training is useful and is applied. There are weaker indications that learning is transferred to the Institution.

Action plans developed in training and applied after the fact are important tools to ensure knowledge acquisition and transfer, and a potential vehicle through which impacts of APF programming can be documented. There are ways in which the approach taken can be strengthened, including by ensuring that plans take a gender focus. Lessons learned from the training provided on Economic and Social Rights (ESR) may be instructive.

There are no defined impact indicators for training, but there is evidence that training on National Inquiries has had impacts, as reported by Institutions and corroborated by experts. Efforts should be taken to identify appropriate indicators and track impacts for this activity.

Language issues are a continuing difficulty. There are limits to how much can be accomplished to deal with these, but efforts should be taken to improve language capacities in Arabic given the relatively large number of institutions that might benefit from this.

Capacity Assessments

Members greatly value the Capacity Assessment program, and those that have undergone it report that the results have been highly positive. Some suggest that the approach is perhaps too complex and intrusive, but this is not universally held. Consultants who undertake the Assessment report that gender is always a factor considered in the Assessments.

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Difficulties in securing funding at the UNDP global level provide both a challenge and opportunity. Recent funding has come from UNDP country-programs and is therefore not predictable; at the same time, engagement at the country level has ensured follow-on support for the Member Institution by supportive UNDP country offices, at least in some circumstances.

Impact results of Capacity Assessments are not tracked, although revised processes, including the requirement of Member Institutions to report on its progress on implementing recommendations, will facilitate this in the future.

Specialised Programs (High Level Dialogues)

High Level Dialogues (HLD) are meant to provide a Member Institution’s most senior personnel (mainly Commissioners) confidential advice on matters that are of particular concern to them from seasoned, senior practitioners. Consultants who conduct the activity advise that gender is always a consideration in the Dialogues.

While the confidential nature of the process precludes much reporting, including on impacts, those that have undergone the process believe that it has been helpful. Consultants engaged to participate in the dialogues agree.

Supporting the Advisory Council of Jurists

The Advisory Council of Jurists (ACJ) provides legal opinions on issues referred to it by the APF. Its reports are intended to facilitate NHRIs’ understanding of key human rights issues at the domestic level and enhance their ability to advocate for appropriate change. Its last opinion, released in 2010, was on the issue of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI).

APF Members display ambivalence about the effectiveness of the ACJ, and there are concerns about governance since the body is large (given that each member nominate one member) and the nomination process is not transparent.

The results achieved are muted. Members report only limited success of the latest ACJ report with respect to influencing action, public opinion or change on the ground. Given the sensitive nature of the issue in many of the countries of the region, even muted success is progress.

Objective 2: Networking and Communication

Core Networking

There are three major avenues for networking opportunities: the Annual General Meeting (AGM); Biennial Meeting and the Senior Executive Officers (SEO) roundtable.

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All data sources available show that Members believe that these core networking opportunities are important to them and support improved performance. While still very high, Members rated the impact of networking on gender equality slightly lower than networking generally.

In interviews, Members identified specific activities that they undertook as a result of networking. This suggests that networking has produced program impacts.

Core Communications

The APF has designed three main vehicles through which it shares information and communicates with its Members and to a wider audience: the website; the E-bulletin and the E-broadcast.

All data sources indicate that these communications tools are valued by Members, although their availability in English only limits this.

There are no data sources for measuring results for this program beyond Member satisfaction.

Objective 3: Compliance with the Paris Principles

ICC Accreditation

The APF plays two roles within the ICC’s Sub-Committee on Accreditation (ICC SCA)1: it sits as an ex-officio member; and it supports the Member on the Sub-Committee drawn from the region.

There is internal disagreement as to how to measure results of this engagement: the Results Matrix identifies ‘granting of A-Status Accreditation’2 as a result; others believe that the measure should simply be that the accreditation process is rigorous but fair.

External experts (the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, OHCHR) and a fellow member of the Committee) indicate that the APF’s role with the ICC SCA is valuable.

Advice to Members

The major issue on which APF members seek advice is accreditation by the ICC, although advice may be sought following a Capacity Assessment or HLD.

Members rate the advice provided by the APF very highly – in fact it is rated the highest of all APF programming.

1 The ICC is the international coordinating body of NHRIs; its members are elected by members from the four regions that the ICC has identified: Africa, the Americas, Asia Pacific and Europe. 2 A-Status accreditation by the ICC means that the NHRI is fully in compliance with the Paris Principles. The Paris Principles are the internationally recognised standards for NHRIs.

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There are no direct measures of results for the advice-giving function developed, except for Member satisfaction and, with regard to advice on accreditation, the number of Members who attain A-Status. There are examples of advice leading to impacts as with support to the NHRI of Myanmar on appropriate legislation which led to legislative action.

Advice to Stakeholders

The APF is mandated to support the establishment of NHRIs in the region. Much of the activity reported on this function relates to supporting the establishment of NHRIs in the Pacific sub-region. Indeed, the best example of this engagement involves Samoa, where the APF worked with stakeholders in the drafting of legislation as the island’s Ombuds office was transformed into a NHRI.

There are no separate measures of results established for this function. In particular cases it may be possible to show impact, as with Samoa.

Objective 4: International and Regional Engagement

Engagement with UN Bodies

APF engagement centres on engagement with the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) and the various Expert Bodies that have been established.

During the period of this review, APF engagement has centred on leading the ICC effort to have NHRIs recognised officially by the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). The APF has also engaged with the UN Working Group on Ageing as it begins the process of developing an International Treaty on the Rights of Older Persons.

Data sources show that APF Members are engaged with the UN mechanisms, including by assuring that recommendations coming from them are considered and applied at home. Survey results show that Members find international engagement useful and helpful in their domestic work, although this is slightly less so for issues involving gender equality.

The OHCHR indicates that APF and NHRI engagement in these bodies is both important and useful.

The engagement with the CSW was successful in that NHRIs were recognised formally by the Commission for the first time.

Engagement with the ICC

The ICC supports NHRIs internationally and is comprised of four regional groups, of which the APF is one. The APF has played a very active role within the ICC.

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During the period under review, the ICC International Conference was held in an APF Member Institution’s country and the APF played a strong role in developing the theme of that Conference – “Women and Human Rights” – and the Declaration and Program of Action that came out of it. Survey results show that APF Members have implemented the Action Plan on Women’s Rights that was developed.

Members strongly support engagement with the ICC and hold that the networking opportunities it affords are useful to their work. There are no formal measures of impacts.

Engagement with Regional Mechanisms

The APF has developed, and maintains on-going cooperative relations with four regional mechanisms: South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the League of Arab States. APF engagement with PIF has been the most consistent and productive regional activity over the years under review. It has entered into a tri-partite MOU with that regional body and the OHCHR, meant to ensure cooperation and information-sharing in activities supporting the establishment of NHRIs in the Pacific. The MOU also ensures that gender is considered in this.

The APF does not capture results data on its regional engagement, however one sub-regional partner (PIP) asserts that APF engagement has been instrumental in promoting human rights dialogue. As discussed earlier, efforts have had some success in that one new NHRI has been established (in Samoa); in addition considerable movement towards doing so has been reported in Vanuatu and Palau.

Table 1: Results measurement by objective/activity.Objective/Activity Results measured (comment)

Strategic Objective 1: Capacity EnhancementTraining Knowledge & Skill Acquisition (not disaggregated by gender)

Knowledge TransferImpact (anecdotal and not systematised; possibility of using action plans to track impacts if design and follow-up is appropriate; there is a need to ensure gender perspective is made an integral requirement of action planning process)

Capacity Assessment Member Rating of UsefulnessImplementation of Recommendations through Member Reports (new)Results Tracked by UNDP Program resulting from Assessment (not done, but possible in certain situations)Impact of implementation (not done, but possible if CA program made recurrent)

Specialised Programs (HLD) Member Rating of UsefulnessImpact (None; not likely possible due to nature of process)

Support ACJ Member Rating of UsefulnessImpact (anecdotal and not systematised)

Strategic Objective 2: Networking and CommunicationsCore Networking Member Usefulness ratings

Count of Networking Contacts (SEO only; no longer used)Impacts (none)

Core Communications Member Rating of Satisfaction/Relevance (no gender measures)

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Subscription Rate (E-Bulletin)Impact (none)

Strategic Objective 3: Compliance with PPICC Accreditation Accreditation Level Granted (not seen as valid indicator)Advice to Members Member Rating of Usefulness

Impact (Granting of A-Status is current measure; this is seen as questionable)Advice to Stakeholders Request and Response Counts

Impacts (not systematic; possible to gather on individualised basis for significant interventions)

Strategic Objective 4: International and Regional EngagementEngagement with UN Bodies Rate of Member Engagement (by Body/by engagement type)

Impact (possible to gather for specific programmed interventions; possible to collect from anecdotal accounts)

Engagement with ICC Member Rating of UsefulnessImpact (not likely possible except by tracking Action Plans adopted at ICC Conferences)

Engagement with Regional Bodies

Member Rating of Importance (periodic; attached to Strategic Planning process)Impact (possible to gather for specific programmed interventions; possible to collect from anecdotal accounts)

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Introduction

This Review

The Terms of Reference (TORs), attached as annex 1, set the broad parameters for the Review. These are, grosso motto, to determine whether the APF has fully implemented key recommendations of an earlier review conducted in 2010, and to document the impacts of this, and to measure the degree to which the APF had met the objectives set out in its 2011-2015 Strategic Plan (including on gender equality), which is the APF Program funded by donors. It was to do this by applying the OECD guidelines for program evaluation, in particular, the criteria of relevance, effectiveness, capacity, efficiency, impact and sustainability. Gender equality was to be a consideration in all aspects of the Review.

The Inception Plan, developed within the context of the Review and subsequently approved by stakeholders, attached as annex 2, refined these somewhat to specify, inter alia, that the Review would examine results at the outcome and impact levels only, and not examine management of financial issues except as set out within the review criteria put forward in the TORs.

The Review will be used by all stakeholders to evaluate the APF’s performance, by sponsoring Donors to determine potential future levels of funding, by SIDA to meet its accountability requirements, and by the APF to inform the development of its forthcoming five year Strategic Plan (2015-2020).3

Methodology

The consultant used a variety of methodologies in conducting the Review:

Desk review of APF material and data collections Validation of APF results reporting through random sample Structured interviews both face-to-face and by telephone Survey administration to collect additional data and information, with follow-up

telephone and/or face-to-face interviews as necessary Literary and internet research Comparative analysis

Findings are largely drawn from the following sources: the results of APF internal monitoring and evaluation exercises as documented in the APF Self-Review of performance, attached as annex 3; the results of the survey developed to gather additional data required attached as annex 4b (the Survey itself is attached as annex 4a); the Operational Review of Gender

3 See “Scope of Evaluation” in the APF Review TORs.

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Mainstreaming in the APF (June 2014) attached as annex 5; interviews with select SEOs and Commissioners representing Member Institutions; and interviews with Partners and Regional Experts. (List of interviewees attached as annex 6).

Overview of the APF

The Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions (APF) is a regional organisation that supports the establishment and strengthening of national human rights institutions (NHRIs) in the Asia Pacific. It provides practical assistance and support to its individual member institutions to enable them to more effectively undertake their own human rights protection, monitoring, promotion and advocacy. The objective of the APF is to protect and promote the human rights of the people of the Asia Pacific region.4

The APF was established in 1996 by the NHRIs of Australia, India, Indonesia and New Zealand. It now boasts a membership of 215 with 15 full members - NHRIs that are considered to fully satisfy the Principles Relating to the Status of National Institutions (the Paris Principles)6 and that have full voting rights within the organisation - and 6 associate members - members that are not considered to have fully satisfied the Paris Principles or that have yet to be assessed against this criteria and who therefore do not have voting rights within the organisation.7

The APF is governed by the Forum Council, comprised of a designated representative of each full Member Institution. The APF Secretariat is the delivery arm of the organisation and has a staff of six, two of whom are part-time.

The objectives of the APF, according to its founding Declaration are:

to provide support to governments in the region to establish and develop national human rights institutions, and

to expand mutual support, cooperation and joint activity among member institutions.

The APF is registered in Australia as an independent non-profit organization.

The APF develops Strategic Plans in order to define how it intends to meet its objectives. For purposes of this review, the Strategic Plan and the APF Program supported by donors are one and the same.

4 APF 2012-2013 Annual Report, page 35 As at the date of writing.6 The Principles Relating to the Status of National Institutions (Paris Principles on NHRIs) are the standards accepted by the United Nations (GA resolution 48/134 of December 1993) and used by the International Coordinating Committee (ICC) of National Institution to ‘accredit’ applicant NHRIs. Only those NHRIs that comply fully with the Paris Principles on NHRIs are recognised as full members of the ICC; only full members of the ICC are recognised as having the authority to participate in their own right in the work of the Human Rights Council. Note that in the NHRI world, the Paris Principles on NHRIs are referred to simple as the “Paris Principles”. 7 Information on the APF and its individual members is available at www.asiapacificforum.net /members .

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http://www.asiapacificforum.net/

The Strategic Plan and APF Program are consistent with the rationale on which the organisation was originally based.

The APF program8 seeks to achieve these aims through a variety of activities and outputs as follows:

Strategic Objective Main Activities Main Outputs9

1. Enhance Capacity of APF Members

Plan, deliver and evaluate training for Members

Training manuals

Training programs

On-line training courses

Training SessionsPlan, deliver and evaluate capacity assessments of Members

Capacity Assessment Reports

Agreed Plans of ActionSupport the Advisory Council of Jurists (ACJ)

Background Papers

ACJ Reports, including recommendations geared towards NHRIs

Specialised capacity enhancement programs for Members

Workshops, training courses, and other ‘specialised’ projects (e.g., development of strategic plans.10

High Level Dialogues (HLD)

2. Communications and Engagement

Plan, hold and evaluate Annual General Meetings (AGM) and Biennial Meetings

Agenda and background papers

Annual Reports

Meeting Reports/conclusions

8 The Review Report notes that the presentation and description of activities and outputs set out in the APF Annual Reports at times contained duplications, perhaps as a result of a lack of clarity in the template used. (This is discussed later under “Findings: recommendations of the 2010 Review Recommendations”.) The schema set out above is consistent with, but not identical to, the format used in other APF reports. As agreed in the Inception Plan, the Strategic Objective on Management is not considered in this review.9 These are mine and not what are set out in the APF monitoring matrix.10 It is not possible to be determinative as to outputs since this will demand on the nature of the request made. This list reflects the major outputs noted for the period in review.

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Conference Declarations/Plans of Action

Plan, hold and evaluate Senior Executive Officers (SEO) Meetings

Agenda and background papers

Meeting MinutesUpdate, deliver and evaluate core communications activities(APF website; e-bulletins; e-broadcasts)

Up-to-date website

10 E-bulletins/year

10 E-broadcasts/year3. Compliance with the Paris Principles (PP)

Support the ICC Sub-Committee on Accreditation (ICC SCA)

Advice (to APF Chair/Member)

Reports to Members

General ObservationsPrepare, deliver and follow-up on advice to Members on accreditation and other issues

Advisory Notes

Comments on proposalsPrepare and deliver advice to other stakeholders on issues relating to the Paris Principles

Advisory notes

Comments on proposal/legislation

4. Engagement with International and Regional Mechanisms

Plan, coordinate and implement activities with international human rights mechanisms

Plans of engagement and/or advocacy

Position Papers

Presentations to/engagements with mechanisms

Summary ReportsPlan, coordinate and implement activities with the ICC

Advice (to APF Chair/Member)

Position Papers

Presentations

Summary reportsPlan, coordinate and implement Plans of engagement and/or

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activities with regional human rights mechanisms

advocacy

Position Papers

Presentations to/engagements with mechanisms

MOUs

Summary Reports

In addition to the above activities two cross-cutting themes form part of the APF program: gender equality (expressly) and networking (implicitly).

The Gender Policy approved by the Forum Council (FC) at AGM 16 in 2011 requires that gender be a consideration in the implementation and monitoring of all objectives.

The APF position is that all activities in which more than one Member is engaged offers the opportunity for networking, formal and informal, and that networking is an important way to share and deepen knowledge and promote cooperation and sharing.

Structure of the Review Report

The Review report is structured as follows:

Section 1 (Findings and Conclusions: recommendations of the 2010 review) documents the review findings and conclusions, and consequential recommendations, regarding to the recommendations made in the earlier review;

Section 2 (Findings and Conclusions: Evaluation Questions and Criteria) sets out the findings and conclusions, and consequential recommendations, relating to the questions and criteria (except for Effectiveness and Impact) that are set out in the TORs;

Section 3 (Findings and Conclusions: Effectiveness and Impact in delivering strategic goals) describes the findings and conclusions, and consequential recommendations, relating to the effectiveness and impact of the APF program.

Section 3 (Lessons Learned) sets out the lessons learned conducting the review that might have applicability for subsequent reviews of a similar nature.

A series of Annexes are appended to the report. Of particular interest is the last: a compendium of the recommendations, grouped thematically.

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Evaluation Findings and Conclusions: Recommendations of the 2010 Review

Focus on bringing non-compliant members into compliance

Given the raison d`etre of the APF, it was recommended that a strategic focus should be placed on bringing non-compliant members into compliance.

Findings

As documented in the body of this report, considerable efforts are expended to support newer Members. A case in point was Myanmar, where the expectation is that an A-Status will be given following the intervention of the APF. (See “Objective 3: Compliance with the Paris Principles/Advice to members” in the section “Findings and Conclusions: Effectiveness and Impact of Implementing the Program”.) The APF has had significant engagement with the four B-Status Institutions11 – Bangladesh, Maldives, Oman and Sri Lanka – during the period: Capacity Assessments have been carried out on three of these NHRIs; High Level Dialogues (HLDs) have been carried out with two; and, advice on accreditation provided to one.

Conclusion & Recommendations

The APF has focused on non-compliant members. This has not yet resulted in definable impacts in that the Institutions with which the APF has engaged remain accredited as B-Status. (The impacts more generally of Capacity Assessment and HLD is discussed later in the appropriate sub-sections of the section “Findings and Conclusions: Effectiveness and Impact of implementing the Program”.)

Renew efforts of expand revenue sources

The APF is highly dependent on a few donors. In addition, APF membership is expanding, as are the needs of Members. To meet these challenges it was recommended that the APF renew its efforts to expand revenue sources.

Findings

Engaging new donors is an on-going managerial imperative for the APF secretariat, and of Member Institutions. The APF has recently developed a fund-raising strategy that targets private philanthropic and corporate contributions (if these are considered suitable and there are no risks of conflict of interest with Members). A case for investment has been developed and a list of highly influential pool of prospective donors and partners has been developed.

11 B-Status Institutions are NHRIs that are not considered to fully comply with the Paris Principles by the ICC SCA.

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They have conducted a first round of interviews in North America and Europe, which seemed positive. 12

They will require the active engagement of Members inter alia to introduce or facilitate introductions to some potential funders/partners.

The strategy and report on feedback from consultations held in North America and Europe were presented and discussed at the AGM in September 2014.


Until recently, funding for the APF program remains highly reliant on two major donors – those donors sponsoring this Review. The APF was successful in securing significant funding from the European Union (EU) for a three year period commencing in November 2013. For the current and following financial year, it is forecasted that EU funding will comprise approximately 27% of the APF’s total income, at a par with the two Donors mentioned. Its new funding strategy may bring greater diversification.

Use NHRI staff in APF programming

It was recommended that the APF expand the use of NHRI Member staff in the delivery of APF programs as a way to enhance learning, encourage ownership and assure sustainability.

Findings

APF has used NHRI and ex-NHRI staff in their training courses.

The APF has also introduced a ‘Master’s Accreditation’ process for human rights trainers into its program. The direct aim here is to expand the network of trained and competent human rights trainers, who are also practitioners and staff of APF Member Institutions. As a side benefit, the program ensures that APF Member Institutions involved develops the internal capacity to develop, provide and evaluate staff development programs.

The APF has compiled information that demonstrates that the Training-Of-Trainers (TOT) and Master Trainer approach has benefited NHRIs.

Representatives of APF Members in the Review indicated full support for the initiative and expressed the view that the process had increased their internal capacities.


The APF has responded fully to this objective.

12 Briefing: Current funding and fundraising strategy, internal APF document presented to the Forum Councillors Working Group on Strategic Planning (2015-2020) (FCWG) in June 2014.

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Focus on impacts in reporting

The need to develop better measures of impact was a concern of Donors going into the 2010 review. That review noted that reporting on impacts would require active participation of Members since they are the organisations with the mandate to deliver programs on the ground. The Report recommended that reporting focus on impacts and suggested that this should, in addition, help structure the AGM.

Findings

Reporting to donors is now done through the Annual Report that the APF secretariat prepares for its Members and presents at the AGM. The APF Annual Report focuses on ‘output’ achievement and does not fully address ‘impacts’. Follow-on reporting to Sida does provide detail on the institutional activity that APF programming has resulted in, but has not gone further to look at what the results of these have been.

The APF has spent considerable time developing a management and reporting matrix for its operations with the assistance and guidance of an external consultant. The matrix13 includes a definition of output and outcome indicators and metrics (measurement that will be used to determine if the output or outcome is achieved).

The output indicators defined for each strategic objective, other that strategic management, are as follows:

Strategic Objective Output Indicator Outcome Indicator

Enhance members’ institutional capacity to promote and protect human rights

Training

Capacity AssessmentImproved capacity

Enhance Members’ communication, cooperation and engagement

Communication

CooperationEngagement

Promote compliance with the Paris Principles Advice Accreditation

Engage with regional and international human rights mechanisms

Participation

AdvocacyInfluencing

13 A copy of the matrix is provided in the Self Review Report annexed to this report, at page 6.

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What does this mean? It means that when the APF monitors and evaluates its performance against the defined strategic objectives, (1), it promises to achieve certain outputs (products) and ,(2), it promises it will identify and measure certain outcomes (results).

The matrix has a number of potential problems:

Outputs (products) as set out in the Strategic Plan have been conflated. For example, activities carried out under objective 1 move from “conduct training”, ”support ACJ”, ”conduct Capacity Assessments”; and ”undertake specialised programs” to “Conduct Training” and “Conduct Capacity Assessments” for measurement purposes. This means that the matrix will not allow reporting on all APF programming. (E.g., since the ACJ is not identified as an output there are no output or outcome indicators for it.)

Outcome indicators have not been further quantified as to their level. 14 This means that the matrix will not facilitate the collection of data showing higher level outcomes. (E.g., results of APF training could stay at the organisational level – documentation of ‘improved capacity’ and not get into what the Member has been able to accomplish with that improved capacity.)

The output and outcome indicators lack any reference to human rights. Given that the overarching rationale for the APF is to support the strengthening of NHRIs so that they can better fulfill their mandate to promote and protect human rights, it would seem to follow that a longer term results indicator would look at whether or not the APF program has helped NHRIs do this. It would also seem to follow that the proof of this would come through documenting the ways in which the human rights situation has improved as a result.

The problems noted in the Matrix are compounded by lack of sufficient clarity in the APF’s overall reporting framework. This results from a variety of factors: there is a fluidity in certain engagements so that an activity can pass through various phases, each of which might best be described under different defined objectives (e.g., advice-giving may transform into specialised programming); the growth of activities has meant that some have had to be ‘slotted in’ where they best fit; there has been no time set aside to re-examine the model to ensure internal coherence. Whatever the causes, the result leads to repetition and duplication in reporting, which can lead to confusion.15

14 While there is no agreed standard on how to define these, there is general agreement that outcomes must be defined as “immediate/short” and “medium/long” as a minimum. For human rights training projects, while the terminology will differ, it is not uncommon to look for and measure outcomes at the following levels: increased knowledge/capacity (immediate); action (short to medium); change (long term).The template for the review set out in the Inception Plan identified the following results levels: on the individual; on the institution; on the human rights situation. These are similar to ‘capacity’; ‘action’ and ‘change’. 15 There are a variety of examples of this. Engagement with regional organisations, where the objective is to promote the establishment of NHRIs, may be reported under objective 4 (`Regional and International engagement`) where that engagement is considered as advocacy or influencing. At some point in time that engagement may shift to ‘advice-giving’ and be reported under Objective 3 (“Compliance with the Paris Principles/Advice to Stakeholders”. Similarly, training on ESR is reported on under the activity “Capacity Enhancement/Specialised Programs”. There does not appear to be any over-arching logic as to why it is there,

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If this were simply a matter of misclassification, perhaps there would be no problem. However, there is internal confusion as to exactly where to ‘place’ an activity for reporting purposes, and cost attributions, which are made on the level of activity and rolled up to Strategic Objective, will be incorrect.16 Finally, those reading the reports in a more-than-just-casual manner – like donors or external reviewers – will likely want to track activity over time. This is harder to do if there are inconsistencies as to where they are reported or if they are reported more than once.

With specific reference to tracking results from a gender perspective (while this was not included in the 2010 Review recommendation), it should be noted that the Gender Focal Point in the APF (see “Recommendation: Highlight Efforts to Provide a Gender Perspective in APF programming” later in this section) has sought expert advice on how this might be best accomplished. A report commissioned by her now under consideration recommended that expert assistance be sought “to advise the APF in developing appropriate gender-based performance and impact indicators, as well as for annual reporting”. 17


The APF has responded to the recommendation but more work is required. In the immediate, the APF should better document and report on the institutional follow-up that APF programming has sparked. This will require the engagement of APF Members since they are the implementation agents for much of the program. Adding this detail in the Annual Report might spur Members to better report on successes and ease the burden of obtaining examples of impacts.

The Annual Report is already long by any standard, and adding information on impact will make it longer. There are duplications in reporting that can be eliminated to accommodate these additional inputs, however. Some detail on activities that are undertaken but that are not a significant part of the program or a significant cost item could also be easily trimmed.

Recommendation: The APF should consider reviewing its Annual Report compilation process to ensure that it captures the institutional application of APF programming. It should seek to rationalise its reporting framework to remove duplication and repetition and concentrate on important initiatives only.

The current Matrix developed for monitoring and reporting requires a re-think, in particular to define outputs for each defined activity and to identify what the APF is trying to achieve from a human rights perspective for each broader-activity noted in the Strategic Plan.18 This should include defining outcome results that measure impact, including results related to gender

rather than under ‘Training’, where it would seem to fit more logically. 16 The differences are not likely to be significant, but they will exist.17 Mainstreaming Women’s Rights: operational review of the APF Secretariat, Recommendation 11, page 15.18 As noted earlier, the re-think should also apply a ‘theory of change’ analysis.

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equality. Once this is done, the APF will be in a position to make an informed strategic decision as to what it can and cannot monitor. It might be sensible to include donors in this reflection since they will need to understand the costs and constraints involved, especially for tracking results at the impact level.19

There has, I hope, been enough written on the need for caution when tracking impacts in the human rights field. With regard to monitoring, it goes without saying that bench-line studies and longitudinal measures are a good way to track changes. It is equally evident that these require considerable resources.20 A trade-off must be made as between scientific purity and practicality. Similarly, one cannot get overly obsessed with the attribution of results. There are typically so many players in the game that it is nearly always impossible to draw a causal link between an action and a result in the human rights world. Again, some water must be mixed in the wine is defining what can reasonably be inferred, and usually the best that can be said is that an action likely ‘contributed’ to a given change.

With these caveats in mind, it seems to me that decisions made on measuring results can be selective, that is, it is not necessary to measure everything – clear measures of impact might come through if the APF only documents the results of National Inquiries conducted post training, or the implementation of action plans developed during training on gender equality, for example. Nor is it necessary that that measurement be universal – a sampling of either would be informative and much less costly to undertake. In sum, the APF should choose to measure what it can reasonably hope to measure.21

The Monitoring and reporting framework should specifically and clearly incorporate gender-based reporting for all activities.

Recommendation: The APF should reflect on its monitoring Matrix, possibly involving donors, to ensure it captures the entire work of the APF and identifies results at the correct levels and

19 As an example, training results now measure the degree to which participants believe the experience has benefited their work and, to a lesser extent, the degree to which the skills and capacities learned has been transferred to the institution. What is missing are measures of how the institution actually applied those skills and capacities and to what effect. A review of the matrix might determine a goal of ‘foundation’ training is to ensure that NHRIs have the capacity to monitor the human rights situation in the country for the purpose of influencing positive change when lacunae are identified. Middle level outcomes might be evidence that the NHRI has conducted monitoring activity on key human rights areas and made recommendations for change to the government. (The institution has applied the training in the manner intended.) Longer-term outcomes might be evidence that the government has responded to the recommendations positively. Impacts might be that those responses have resulted in a positive change to the situation. 20 That said, Equitas – an international human rights training organisation based in Montreal Canada – has recently conducted a base-line study using a random sample of past ‘graduates’. It might be worthwhile to contact them to see whether something similar is feasible for the APF. 21 There are evident difficulties in defining results indicators, especially given the very mixed level of development that exists in the region. These issues will surface and have to be resolved in the proposed review of the matrix. This mixed-bag problem is one that leads me to suggest the measurement of action plan implementation since these should, by definition, define measurement results within the context of the individual country and therefore avoid the problem of sub-regional variations in data availability.

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identifies suitable and appropriate gender-related results outcomes. They might be assisted in this by someone with experience in doing this within a NHRI and with experience in developing gender-specific results. In program areas where activities are carried out in partnership, the involvement of the partners in this reflection will also likely be necessary.

Recommendation: To the extent possible, the APF should track results for certain activities at the impact level. How much can be done will depend on the costs involved, the significance of the activity and how well the activity lends itself to such monitoring, as well as the availability of appropriate indicators. Notwithstanding this, the results measurements must capture this detail sufficiently to show that programming is achieving impacts, including in the area of gender equality. This may require the development of additional monitoring surveys that capture data over a longer time-line.22 Again, when activities are carried out in partnership, monitoring tools and approaches should be developed conjointly and roles and responsibilities clearly defined.

Recommendation: The donors must be prepared to either allocate more funds for these efforts or to accept a lower level of programming in recognition of the increased efforts made to monitor and report at the impact level.

For a variety of reasons noted above, APF reporting is also hampered by a lack of internal clarity and cohesion within the monitoring and reporting framework.

Recommendation: The APF should review its monitoring and reporting framework and come to a clear and transparent decision about where activities are to reside for reporting and costing purposes. Without prejudging the results of this review, it would seem sensible to consider activity as being on a continuum that stays the same from beginning to end, so that, for example, reporting and costing Capacity Assessments includes advice given to a Member that flows directly from an Assessment.

Implement the Sidoti recommendations on training

Co-incidental with the 2010 APF Program review, a review of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute (RWI) and APF training program in Asia (the Sidoti report) made a series of important recommendations on how to improve that training programme, including by adding a Training of the Trainer (TOT) component to it, conducting pre-training on-line, requiring the development and implementation of a plan as a component of the training, and facilitating networking and mentoring. The 2010 review supported these recommendations.

Findings

22 Again by way of example, Equitas collects data immediately after a course, as well as 6-months and 24-months later, with each questionnaire designed to collect different levels of data. They also have initiated a monitoring questionnaire specifically to collect data on impacts. As with the note on base-line studies, it might be worthwhile to liaise with that organisation to see whether some of their approaches are transferable.

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Many of the Sidoti Report recommendations have been acted on.23 Blended training is now a feature of all ‘standard’ training courses run by the APF. On-

line training involves a variety of techniques including written assignments, quizzes and discussion groups (facilitated by experts). Failure to engage in these activities to the standard required leads to rejection of a candidate for face-to-face training.24 Discussion groups are monitored and ‘agitators’ encourage participation and substantive experts offer views on participants’ posts.

Developing action plans as part of the training experience is almost always a standard training feature.

The impacts of these changes have been significant. With regard to on-line training, in the view of the APF manager responsible, participants are better equipped to attend face-to-face training by having gained theoretic and substantive knowledge before-hand. In addition, the training course can be more participatory and hands-on since the theoretical concepts have already been mastered. Finally, since potential participants who are not fully committed to the training are more likely to not fulfill their on-line training obligations, there is less ‘deadwood’ at the face-to-face training courses offered. On-line training therefore makes for more effective training experience and deepens the level of training that can be offered.

Requiring the development of an action plan, has increased the effectiveness of training since developing plans reinforces the practical application of skills and abilities being taught and enhances the prospect of transference of those skills and abilities to the Member NHRI.

A fundamental precept of the APF and its Members is that training for NHRIs is best delivered by practitioners rather than theoreticians. The Sidoti Report proposed the use of TOT programs to expand the impact of training beyond those touched directly. He also proposed that the APF increasingly use staff of Member NHRIs to deliver training on its behalf. The APF has met both challenges through the adoption of a TOT program coupled with an accreditation process that it hopes will lead to an expanded cadre of trainers and, in addition, enhance the training capacities of Member institutions. Individuals taking the TOT program (after completing an on-line training phase), may ‘volunteer’ to become accredited trainers for APF. To do so they must demonstrate by their domestic activity25 that they have the capacity to do so and be certified by the Chair of the Institution as having this. Once this is done, they will be invited to assist seasoned facilitators at an APF training session to demonstrate that they have the capacity to take on greater responsibilities. The manager of the training program believes, by and large, that the individuals that have been accredited have the capacities to take on greater responsibilities.

23 When interviewed, the author of the report indicated that he is totally satisfied that his recommendations have been acted on.24 So far, the rejection rate stands at about 12.5%. (2-3 candidates rejected for every 20 that participate in the on-line training.)25 Specifically they must develop a full training manual, run a training program and evaluate the results of that training program.

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Member Institutions are asked to free up ‘accredited trainers’ for only two weeks during the year, thus the impact on Member activities should not be significant. Accredited trainers do not receive remuneration for their APF work, beyond the salary paid by the Member Institution.


The recommendations on training contained in the Sidoti report have been implemented and have had positive impacts on capacity development. Recommendations made in the section on Training in the section “Findings and Conclusions: effectiveness and impacts of implementing the program” apply here as well.

Highlight Efforts to Provide a Gender Perspective in APF programming

The last review noted that, while the APF applied a gender perspective to its work, this was not always visible and recommended that the APF ensure that it be made more apparent.

Findings

The APF have taken a number of positive steps since the 2010 review. In 2011, they developed and had approved a Gender Policy26 that made gender a cross-cutting issue for all its work under the Strategic Plan. They also named a Gender Focal point and engaged in a variety of activities meant to promote and protect the rights of women and girls. These are documented in the section of the report dealing with the implementation of the program, including:

its lead role in setting the agenda for the 2012 ICC meeting In Amman which led to the Amman Declaration and Programme of Action on the Human Rights of Women and Girls: Promoting Gender Equality, and the commitment of the ICC to hold a standing session on the rights of women and girls at its annual meeting; and

its role in spearheading ICC action to obtain recognition for NHRIs before the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).

In partnership with United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the APF commissioned a study involving 15 APF members on Reproductive Rights in the work of NHRIs of the Asia Pacific Region. The subsequent report (published April 2011) examined how NHRIs in the Asia Pacific region have addressed the issue to date; what obstacles they have encountered; and how reproductive rights can be more effectively integrated into their work. The study provided a platform for a regional conference held in Malaysia in 2012 where APF members identified ways in which they could better promote and protect reproductive rights in their work.

On program delivery there is evidence that the recommendation has had some effect. The Capacity Assessment manual was, for example, revised to high-light gender issues, and the two consultants that carry out the Assessments report that “gender equality issues are embedded’ in the process.27 The APF’s partner in this program has also noted that, more recently, 26 This was in part based on the findings of a report on ‘best practices on gender mainstreaming’ it commissioned as a lead-in to the policy development. 27 Gender Mainstreaming: operational review of the APF Secretariat, June 2014, page 9, paragraph 4.24

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participants are paying more attention to gender equality issues when carrying out the assessments. The operational review on gender mainstreaming indicates that APF Secretariat staff and consultants do “currently conduct appropriate gender analysis in planning and programming across the breadth of Secretariat activities including strategic planning, capacity building and scoping missions to identify gaps in gender equality” before adding that “this is not documented systematically”.28 The operational review identifies a number of ways to strengthen this, as well as ways to improve APF collection of gender-specific results.29

Member surveys for this Review also suggest that the APF’s efforts in this area are still not yet entirely visible. Members’ ratings on the APF capacity to apply a gender focus in program planning, organising, monitoring, evaluation and reporting are lower, albeit only slightly, than the rating to carry out those functions generally. More importantly perhaps, is that several Members chose not to answer the question. Follow up interviews with some of these revealed that they had not answered the question because they could not “see” a gender focus in their interaction with the APF, and therefore could not comment one way or another.30

The APF does not have financial data that ‘costs’ the gender component of all its activities, but does have some financial data on on specific programs on gender mainstreaming, and women and girls. For the period April 2011 to April 2014, the APF has spent just over $400,000 dollars, approximately 6.2% of its total budget over the period on direct gender programming. 31 A breakdown of this expenditure is given in annex 7. The operational review of gender mainstreaming recommended “that consideration be given to how to calculate the percentage of APF overall budget expenditure which is spent on women and girls human rights as well as gender mainstreaming.”32

Conclusions & Recommendations

The APF has not finalised implementation of this recommendation, but has used a ‘stepping stone’ approach and is on the verge of unrolling its activities.

There remain signs that the APF’s application of a gender perspective is still not visible enough, and this is an overall conclusion of this review. The operational review on gender mainstreaming addresses this issue more directly and makes a series of recommendations.

28 Op cit, Finding 5, at page 1229 Op cit, Findings 9 & 10, at page 13.30 The question asked whether a gender focus had been taken in APF planning, organising, monitoring, evaluation and reporting. Some Members who did not answer the question said that they simple did not know if a gender focus was taken, which implies that if one were, as was presumably the case given other evidence, it was not visible enough. 31 To be clear: this is direct expenditure on gender related activities only. Obviously, other APF programs will have a gender component – training courses for example virtually all include a gender element – and this is not included in this calculation.32 Gender Mainstreaming Report, Recommendation 4 at page 14

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Recommendation: The recommendations made in the operational review of gender mainstreaming should be considered and implemented, as appropriate and possible, with the greatest possible speed.

Develop capacity development programmes on gender mainstreaming

Findings

The APF has recently developed a training course and manual on women’s rights for Members. The manual includes a chapter on integrating gender and human rights of women and girls that provides a “reference tool for NHRIs that are looking to incorporate gender and the human rights of women more consistently and effectively into all aspects of their work.”33

The course has not yet been delivered so there are no impacts to report. That said, it is clear that considerable work has gone into the development of the Training Manual and Course, and that expert opinion has been sought to ensure that the initiative will be first-rate. The principal author of the Manual was Doctor Anne Gallagher OA, an independent and award-winning scholar, who has written many books, journal articles, handbooks and manuals on women’s rights, human trafficking, migrant smuggling and the rule of law. There has been wide consultation in its development with recognised experts in the area, both from APF Members34 and wider civil society.35 While the operational review on gender mainstreaming does not expressly comment on the quality of the Manual and Course, the report implicitly suggests that it will be useful.36

The current plan is that the training program will be rolled out early in 2015, with on-line training being conducted in January and February and face-to-face workshop in April. The participants will come from the APF South Asian members (Afghanistan, Nepal, India, Maldives, Sri Lanka). The key trainer will be gender and NHRI expert, Ms Alison Aggarwal, of the Australian Human Rights Commission.


33 Promoting and Protecting the Human Rights of Women and Girls: a Manual for National Human Rights Institutions at page 171 - http://www.asiapacificforum.net/carousel/news/apf-toolkit-on-promoting-gender-equality34 Ahmed Tholal (Human Rights Commission of the Maldives), Dr. Ali Al-Dabbas (Jordan National Centre for Human Rights), Alison Aggarwal and Simone Cusack (Australian Human Rights Commission), Bed Bhattarai (Nepal Human Rights Commission), Liezl Parajas (Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines, Md. Tajul Islam Chowdhury (Bangladesh National Human Rights Commission), Dr. Savita Bhakhry (National Human Rights Commission of India), Sue O’Shea (New Zealand Human Rights Commission, and Yen Sin Chua (Human Rights Commission of Malaysia). 35 Andrew Brynes (UNSW – Professor of International HR law and expert on CEDAW), Antje Kraft (UNDP Asia-Pacific Regional Centre), Barbara Nazareth Oliveira (UNDP Timor Leste), Michael Chan (Hong Kong Equal Opportunities Commission), and gender experts Ms Lucinda O’Hanlon and Ms Pia Oberoi (OHCHR).36 Gender Mainstreaming, Finding 8 at page 12.

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The APF is on the cusp of implementing this recommendation. Recommendations made in the section of the report dealing with Training (“Findings and Conclusions: effectiveness and impact in implementing the program”), especially around the issue of action planning within the training experience, apply here.

Coordinate input to UN CSW

Findings

The APF led the ICC campaign to engage with the CSW. The long-term goal was to ensure that the distinct status enjoyed by NHRIs before the HRC (that fully accredited NHRIs had authority to speak, independently from their governments, at meetings) should extent to the CSW. While considerable progress has been made, as documented below, that long-term goal remains.

The APF asserts that the coordinated advocacy campaign has resulted in: “significantly greater understanding of the role and functions of NHRIs among the

government delegations that make up the CSW the vital role of NHRIs being recognised by the CSW on each occasion it has adopted

Agreed Conclusions at the end of its annual session … the Human Rights Council adopting a resolution in 2012 that recognised the

contribution of NHRIs at the CSW and encouraged their ongoing advocacy for independent participation

the rights of women and girls gaining greater prominence within NHRIs around the globe, including through the decision of the ICC to dedicate its biennial conference in 2012 to the issue … [and that] … women and girls’ human rights will be a standing annual agenda item at ICC general meetings.”37


There is no reasonable way to independently verify the first claim; however, clearly the last three have been achieved. With regard recognition in the Agreed Conclusions, the documents are a matter of record and while there is no direct causal link established it is noteworthy that 2009 was the first time NHRIs had been recognised in the CSW Agreed Conclusions. The HRC resolution is also a matter of public record. The ex-Chair of the ICC and OHCHR have independently confirmed the vital role that APF played in the ICC Conference and resultant Declaration.

37 www.asiapacificforum.net The theme of the conference and the Declaration that came out of it were influenced greatly by the APF according to the representative of the Jordan Commission and a member of the ICC spoken to. Since the Declaration requires the ICC to include a thematic issue on women and girls in its annual meeting, it follows that the APF influenced this result.

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http://www.asiapacificforum.net/

Findings and Conclusions: Evaluation Questions and Criteria

Relevance

Strategic Objectives

Findings

The results of the APF Situational Analysis: Looking Towards 2020 showed that Members strongly hold that the existing strategic objectives, including gender equality as a cross-cutting theme, remain relevant.38

The few regional Experts interviewed also supported this.


The APF’s strategic objectives remain relevant.

Programme activities

Findings

Members responding to the Review Survey indicated that all APF programming was highly important to their work. Only three activities received rating, on average, under ‘5’ on a 6-point scale: Supporting the ACJ (4.1%); Regional Engagement (4.5%); and Networking other than at the AGM, Biennial Conference and SEO roundtables (4.7%).

Partners, not surprisingly, noted that the programs engaged in jointly were relevant to the human rights situation in the region. One noted that almost all Member NHRIs had already undergone an assessment and barring changes to the concept - there has been internal discussion about doing follow-up assessments periodically to determine the degree that change has been effected – there would soon come a point when Capacity Assessments might not serve their original purpose. Another noted that the current training on torture prevention may have to be modified in the medium term and that a stronger focus on training Member designated National Preventive Mechanisms (NPMs) within the meaning of the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT) might be considered.

Conclusion & Recommendations:

By and large, the Strategic Objectives and programming undertaken by the APF program are relevant to Members. There are certain programs which might require tweaking in the future to ensure continued relevance.38 APF Situational Analysis All Members, page 17

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Capacity

Secretariat capacity to fund-raise

Findings

The Senior Managers of the APF Secretariat are human rights practitioners, not fund-raisers. Nonetheless, they have been successful in engaging with existing and potential funders to ensure the continuity and stability of APF programing. They have also had some success in engaging their Members to support them in these efforts. Currently four Members provide funding support to the APF program either through a transfer from funds it receives from governments for this purpose or through direct transfers from their governments to the APF.

A new fund-raising campaign was discussed within the context of 2015-2020 strategic planning and this charts a way forward which includes engaging with at least 30 prospective donors using a ‘test’ case for investment that has been developed and piloted. The strategy was approved by the Forum Council Working Group on Strategic Planning 2015-2020 (FCWG).


The secretariat has developed the capacity to fund raise and has been successful in this. Members are increasingly engaged in this as well – as witnessed by the increasing number of Members who have successfully lobbied their governments for contributions and their commitment to the new campaign.

Secretariat/Management capacity to manage programmes

Findings

Members completing the Review survey indicated that the APF Secretariat had a very strong capacity to plan, organise, monitor, evaluate and report on programming. All were rated in the 5.4% range on a 6-point scale, except for monitoring and evaluation which had a 4.9% rating. Members were also asked to describe how monitoring could be improved. A variety of recommendations emerged, including that the process should involve or include some sort of dialogue, and not simply be a questionnaire.39

AGM Partners uniformly held that the APF had strong capacity to plan, organise and report on their initiatives; most felt unable to comment on the APF capacity to monitor and evaluate.

Members, Partners and Experts alike commented on the quality and quantity of work achieved given the staff levels within the Secretariat and lauded their dedication and competence.


39 See annex 8: Compilation of Survey Narrative Responses

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The APF Secretariat generally has a strong capacity to manage programs. As noted above, and elsewhere in this report, it needs to put additional effort on monitoring results at the impact level. This weakness relates more to staffing levels than internal capacity. (See also earlier discussion on monitoring and the recommendations made in the section dealing with “Findings and Conclusions: recommendations of the 2010 review’)

Secretariat capacity to meet training needs of Members

Findings

The training and capacity development focus of the APF has always been built on two principles: that engagement with NHRIs should feature practitioners rather than theoreticians; and, that insofar as possible, capacity should be drawn and reside in the region so that APF programming supports the development and maintenance of a strong cadre of regional expertise.

The APF secretariat, of course, is too small to conduct substantive training itself. That is why it uses contractors for certain training initiatives and partners with experts in others.

The Master-trainer accreditation program (see discussion under ‘Sustainability’ later in this section) offers the possibility of vastly expanding the network of professional trainers that are available for APF training programs. Substantive experts on thematic areas will still be needed both to facilitate on-line training courses and to support trainers in program delivery.


The APF strategy of developing internal expertise in training is ensuring capacity development in training in the medium-term.

Its engagement with partners means that substantive experts are available as needed.

There is a suggestion that RWI – using visiting professorships – could be a source of substantive training expertise. This is a possibility, but only to the extent that those visiting experts meet the standard set – that they are practitioners and that they, preferably, be from the region. They should also work with the APF’s accredited Master Trainers so as to ensure that that initiative is reinforced.

Capacity of Secretariat to address gender issues

Findings

The staff members of the APF secretariat are all seasoned human rights workers with a deep understanding of human rights concepts, including gender equality. The staff member named

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the Focal Point on Gender is fully qualified in the area, as should be clear from her lead role in the ICC CSW campaign, and has a deep personal commitment to it.

As noted earlier, the Review Survey suggested that the APF capacity in this was slightly lower than for programming generally, or at least was not ‘visible’.

Partners were asked to assess the APF Secretariat management capacity specifically with regard to applying a gender perspective. One partner, while he or she felt unable to respond to the numerical rating requested, noted that things are moving forward and that there were clear signs that a gender perspective was increasingly being applied. Another also felt he or she could not respond to the request for a numerical rating but, when asked, did say that issues around gender had never been raised by the APF with him or her regarding program design, delivery or monitoring.

The operational review conducted on mainstreaming gender equality within the APF notes that the “APF secretariat staff and consultants displayed a spectrum of understanding of the concepts of gender and gender mainstreaming from sound and considered through to sophisticated and comprehensive”.40 That said, the Gender Focal point indicates that staff are not ‘experts’ on gender and suggest that they all could benefit from specialised training and the operational review recommended that “staff be given access to professional development training in relation to gender equality as well as gender mainstreaming, program development, evaluation and reporting.”41


Internal staff capacity on this issue is evident, as described above. However, the recommendations coming out of the operational review should be acted on.

Capacity of Member NHRIs to Apply a Gender Perspective

Findings

It is less clear what the capacity of Member institutions is with regard to gender. Some – the Australian Human Rights Commission comes to mind – have proven track records on the issue. The Survey used in this review asked Member Institutions to self-rate their NHRI’s engagement with gender equality as a consistent feature of programming and to indicate how gender equality had been integrated into programming. A later question, added to validate these findings, asked the Member to self-rate its capacity to implement, measure the results of, and report on gender equality programs, along a 6-point scale. Some Members were then asked to describe these results in interviews.

40 Gender Mainstreaming: Operational Review of the APF Secretariat, page 5 paragraph 4.241 Op cit, Recommendation 2, page 14.

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The results show that Members believe they have the capacity to, and do take, a gender perspective in their work with an average rating of 5 on a 6-point scale. They also indicated (except for 1) that they had taken some institutional action to ensure that gender equality in programming: 14 through their strategic plans; 11 through their annual plan and 8 by way of a written policy.42 A subsequent question on their ability to implement, evaluate and report on programs on gender equality provided average self-ratings on a 6-point scale of: 5 (implement); 4.9 (evaluate); 4.9 (report). In interviews, Members were capable of articulating programs on gender equality that they had implemented and the results achieved. Some examples include:

A data bank was developed by one NHRI to track cases of violence against women. This allows the NHRI, inter alia, to track the number of cases reported and the number of cases going to court. It also allows tracking all cases of deaths of women due to unknown causes; this allows the NHRI to ensure that all potential cases of ‘honour’ killings are investigated.

A NHRI visited a women’s refugee camp to assess access to health and education. Recommendations resulted in change to practice and local authorities now respect rights of refugees.

One NHRI organised a seminar with government and civil society on women’s issues which led to recommendations to change the law. This was done and now voyeurism and stalking is illegal, as is throwing acid at women.43

Members interviewed, by and large, also maintained that their staffs routinely applied a gender focus in their day-to-day work.44

The operational review of gender mainstreaming found that “there is considerable evidence that the APF has contributed significantly to APF members’ ability and effectiveness to address gender equality issues since the appointment of the Gender Focal Point, the development of an explicit gender policy and the adoption of the Plan of Action to close gender equality gaps”.45


APF Members believe that they have the capacity to apply a gender focus in their work and that this capacity exists throughout the Institution. As they could provide evidence on programming to support the view46 and as this view is supported by the operational review of gender mainstreaming, it can be concluded that this self-assessment is not incorrect. At the same time, the examples provided relate uniquely to women’s rights and do not demonstrate a gender perspective as such. The APF training should address this, and greater detail on Member capacities should become evident as that training is rolled out. (See earlier discussion

42 Note that Institutions could have multiple methods for doing this – most did – so the figures should not be seen as referring to different Institutions. It is notable that all but 1 used some method to apply a gender focus to their work. 43 See further examples in annex Compilation of Survey Narrative Responses and Commissioner/SEO Interviews.44 There is no reasonable way to confirm this within the context of this review.45 Gender Mainstreaming: operational review of the APF Secretariat, Finding 2, page 11.46 See annex 9, Compilation of Member Interviews which provide more examples.

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on this in the section dealing with “Findings and Conclusions: recommendations of the 2010 Review.”)

Capacity to Apply a Theory of Change

Findings47

The APF has not yet articulated a theory of change either overall or for its various program components. That said, the underlying assumption that governs the APF’s overall work is as follows:

National mechanisms with the appropriate attributes and authorities help ensure that human rights law, standards and principles are understood and acted on at the national and local levels.

Ensuring that such mechanisms exist, that they meet the best existing international standards and that they have the skills and abilities to carry out their work will lead to improvements in the human rights situation. This is because such mechanisms will, inter alia, have the authorities and appropriate funding to raise human rights awareness, monitor and report publicly on the domestic human rights situation, advise governments on changes – including legislative - needed to effect human rights improvements and handle complaints of human rights abuse.

APF programs are all designed to either strengthen existing NHRIs or ensure that effective new NHRIs are established therefore to ensure that they can act as effective agents of change.

Conclusions and Recommendations

Many organisations operating in the development sector develop a theory of change as a way of critically thinking about what they are doing and how, and how this is expected to lead to a desired end. At its most basic, a theory of change describes the sequence of events that, it is hoped, will lead to a desired outcome. An organisation that adopts a theory of change is forced to make its underlying assumptions explicit and therefore subject to internal and external debate and scrutiny.

The personnel within the APF Secretariat are all seasoned professionals in the human rights and NHRI world and intuitive undertake the analysis described above. That said, as described elsewhere, it cannot be expected that the Secretariat staff will remain stable forever. Organisationally there may be a need for the APF to articulate, within the strategic planning process, how it expects to achieve change using a theory of change approach. This need may

47 Ideas contained in this section come from a variety of sources, most notably: “Review of the use of Theory of Change in international development”, Isobel Vogel, for the UK Department of International Development, April 2012; “Citizen Voices and state accountability”, Fletcher Tembo, ODI, Working Paper 343, January 2012; “Understanding Theory of Change in International Development”, Danielle Stein and Craif Valters, JSRP Paper 1, August 2012.

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also allow others to better understand what it is the APF is doing and why, and what the consequences of doing so are supposed to be.

Recommendation: The APF should, during the review of its strategic plan and monitoring and reporting matrix, articulate both an over-arching theory of change and how that theory of change applies to all program activities. This would include: considering, in the context in which it operates, how change occurs and how it can best influence that change; defining the long-term change it is seeking; charting the process and sequence of activities that will lead to that change; defining the assumptions about how this change will happen.

Efficiency

Efficient use of funds/value for money

Findings

As a generality, the delivery of APF programs is done in a cost-efficient manner.

If one looks globally at the money spent and the diversity and quality of the outputs delivered, it is easy to assert that the program represents value for money.

If one were to cost the delivery of the component part of the program individually and attempted to deliver them in an alternative fashion it is difficult to see how costs would not escalate. There simply is no other regional mechanism through which capacity development projects might be delivered, and so what is left is either a series of individual initiatives or, perhaps, sub-regional programming through relatively untried mechanisms.

Rather than look at each component of the program, this review will look at the following major activities in an attempt to measure efficiency: Training; Capacity Assessments; International Engagement.

Training

In terms of dollars and emphasis, training is the major activity of the APF. The cost-efficiency with which this portion of the program is delivered was documented in the 2010 Review. Costs associated with the program have remained largely stable over the period even though there has been more engagement on-line and greater emphasis on developing training manuals.

The recent changes to the training process are expected to produce efficiencies generally if not cost-savings. On-line pre-training: weeds out certain participants who otherwise have attended a training course to no purpose; ensures that participants begin training from a relatively more equal starting point so that the training experience does not have to be tailored to the weakest participant; allows greater use of participatory techniques since the theoretic

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and pure knowledge component of the training experience would be covered off already; frees up the time necessary to allow the facilitators and participants to develop and assess action plans. Each of these advantages enhances effectiveness of the training experience but also speaks to efficiency.

The TOT training also is efficient in that it achieves two divergent objectives at the same time: it leads toward the establishment of a network of strong trainers that will help APF deliver programs in the future; it co-incidentally ensures that strong internal training capacities are developed within APF Members so that internal staff training programs are developed and can be put into effect.

There is a potential concern that recurrent training might reach a saturation point. This is offset by the fact that the staff component of any Member institution will always change. That said, sub-regional training on the National Inquiries function may be suspect in that the ‘take-up’ rate (the number of Member institutions which actually undertake Inquiries following sub-regional training) has been relatively low. At the same time it cannot be ignored that the results of the Inquiries that have been undertaken are impressive and that those Institutions who have done so have indicated in interviews that it was precisely the training that allowed this success.

More recently, individual NHRIs that are already planning to conduct a National Inquiry are requesting training on that function, which includes the development of an action plan for that Inquiry. Some of these institutions had already received sub-regional training and so it can be surmised that the earlier training fed the spark that led it to seek individual training.

It may be argued that offering on-line training on National Inquiries might be sufficient to spark that interest and that face-to-face training should be reserved for those already committed to undertake an Inquiry. This approach would be clearly more efficient. The problem is that experience thus far is that offering on-line courses without the promise of a follow-on face-to-face training experience has not been successful as the drop-out rate of participants is quite high.48

Partners consulted regard the training undertaken as efficient. Some comparative analysis is possible:

The Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT) runs OPCAT programming with the Network of NHRIs in Africa, except that in that context they control the budget rather that the Network. The APT indicates that the relative cost of training in the two regions is comparable.

The RWI indicates that programming undertaken with APF is not more expensive than programming it runs itself.

Some training carried out under the APF program is financially controlled totally by the APF (e.g. Torture Prevention); other training programs are essentially controlled by a

48 The APF ran 2 standalone online courses in 2009 and 2010 in partnership with HREA. The drop-out rates were over 70% on both occasions.

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partner institution (e.g., Foundation Course by RWI). There is no difference in costs for holding these courses, indicating that APF cost effectiveness is as good as its partners.


Members interviewed have mixed feelings about the efficiency of the Capacity Assessment process. All felt that it is extremely helpful; some felt, however, that the process was too technical and detailed and therefore might have been implemented in a more stream-lined manner. Engagement with all staff, including their language abilities, was raised in this context with the suggestion that this was not worthwhile. However, the process was streamlined following a program review conducted in 2012 and the comments noted above come from those who undertook an assessment prior to this. Moreover, some of the criticism may reflect an Institution’s own hierarchic culture.49 The results, which are disaggregated by level, do not support the notion that the vantage point of some staff makes it impossible for them to express a valid opinion, since their views tend to ‘match’ those at other levels. In fact, if there is disparity, it is that the highest level has a too rosy picture of the internal situation.50

It also merits mentioning that the APF does not solely ‘own’ the Capacity Assessment process – both the OHCHR and the UNDP have a stake in it. Fundamental changes cannot be made unilaterally without risking that partnership, and there already is disagreement, at the international level, between the APF and those partners whose view appears to be that the process used in the Asia Pacific should be the same as is used elsewhere in the world.

The APF’s partner in this program, the UNDP, cannot comment on financial efficiency but did indicate that in all other respects – methods of implementation and response times etc. – the APF rated very highly.

While theoretically it might be possible to compare the APF/UNDP CA program with other CA initiatives taken, often through the OHCHR, elsewhere, I know from experience that those processes are very different and so the comparisons would not be apt.

International Engagement

It is hard to assess anything but cost-efficiencies in much of the international and regional engagement work carried out by the APF. Engagement, especially internationally, requires making contacts, building coalitions and persistence. The process, by necessity, will take a long time to produce results, and those results are often but stepping stones towards an objective.

Similarly, it is difficult to do a cost-benefit analysis. What is the quantifiable value of recognition of the independent speaking right of NHRIs by the CSW, for example?

49 The expert who conducts the CA noted that staff engagement in a CA has been the sole occasion when this kind of feedback has been sought of staff in the NHRI.50 This is as reported by an expert often contracted to do CAs.

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Clearly the APF is mindful of cost as, whenever possible, engagement activities are linked to other activities so that the travel costs are not unnecessarily duplicated.

The level of APF engagement with the ICC far surpasses the engagement offered by other regional networks. Clearly this is representative of the value the APF brings to the table, as has been confirmed by representatives of the ICC and the OHCHR.

As a member regional body the APF ‘owes’ something to the ICC. The issue arises however: when is the APF doing too much for the ICC given its other obligations and the expectation that other regional associations and individual Members should also chip in?51

As noted earlier, the APF’s role in assisting in the development and drafting of General Observations may have served a purpose, and may still do so. However, with time and with the development of capacities and infrastructure within the ICC, it becomes increasingly less easy to be convinced that assisting the ICC SCA in this way is a necessary use of the APF budget.

Conclusion and Recommendations:

Training programs are delivered in an effective and cost-effective manner, but there is a need to continually address whether some recurrent programs are necessary.

Training of the National Inquiry function sub-regionally is not as efficient or effective as training at the national level when an Institution has committed to act.

Recommendation: the APF and its partners, as is the case, should take stock of the need to offer ‘recurrent’ regional or sub-regional training in any one year keeping in mind the degree to which all Member Institutions have already received the training. In some cases it may be opportune to suspend such training for a short period and attend to other training needs.

Recommendation: The APF and RWI should give a preference to national training on the National Inquiry function as this is a more efficient and effective way to proceed.

The Capacity Assessment program is likely carried out efficiently and in a cost-effective manner, however, the new process should be reviewed to see whether it can be further streamlined.

Recommendations: The APF and its Partners should seek feed-back on the new CA process after sufficient time has elapsed to determine if further efficiencies can be brought to it.

APF’s engagement internationally is cost-efficient. There are possibilities to re-consider some engagement with the ICC where the APF has been carrying a big load. In particular, support to the ICC SCA may no longer be necessary, although this will require a more intensive internal discussion.51 There are individual examples of this. The Danish Human Rights Institute was the flag carrier for the ICC on Human Rights and Business, for example. But it is the APF that has consistently been at the fore.

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Recommendation: the APF should review the work it does to support writing General Observations as this may no longer be necessary given the maturity of the process and the ICC; in any case, it may be time for others to fill the slack, if it does exist.

Management & governance structure conducive to efficiency

Findings

The APF is a Member driven organisation that operates as a legal not-for-profit entity. While the secretariat runs the day-to-day business, real management rests with the Forum Council. Each full (A-Status) Member nominates a voting Councillor, in other words there are as many Forum Councillors as there are A-Status Members – 16 at present52. The Forum Council in turn elects a Chairperson and two Deputy Chairpersons53. In addition, the Forum Council may establish committees. A Management Committee comprising the Australian Senior Executive Officer (non-voting Forum Councillor), the Chair of the Forum Council and its two Deputy Chairpersons have been struck to oversee the operations of the APF. The Management Committee basically looks after administrative matters; substantive decision-making resides absolutely with the Forum Council, although they have delegated responsibility to the Chairperson to act in extremis.

While most members seem to be comfortable with the current management structure,54 clearly there will be difficulties as the membership continues to grow. At the time the APF Constitution was approved there were 8 full Members. That has now doubled, and there are prospects that an additional 3 full members will soon join the club. The working draft of the 2015-2020 APF strategic plan projects membership to stand at 30 by 2020.

The APF Constitution prescribes that the Forum must have a minimum of 3 members, but otherwise does not require that each full Member be represented. Obviously there are some advantages to this approach including fostering the sense of collegiality and belonging that is so important to the Network.

Partner organisations uniformly felt unable to comment on the APF’s governance and management structure beyond saying that they did not note any inefficiencies and/or lack of effectiveness in program delivery.

52 For legal reasons related to the charitable status granted to the APF (being registered in Australia), there is a requirement for two Australian ‘directors’. Therefore, the Australian Human Rights Commission nominates two councillors, but has only one vote.53 By consensus, the tradition is that the Chairperson is the Forum Councillor of the NHRI that hosts the Biennial Meeting and the two Deputies are the former Chairperson and the prospective Chairperson.54 The Review survey did find that 33% of respondents felt that the management and governance structure was not effective or efficient; follow-up interviews did not bear this out. I believe that problems with the question are the cause of this result. That said, those interviews did reveal that NHRIs understood the difficulty inherent in such a large management grouping.

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Clearly the management and governance structure could be made more efficient; however, there would be risks in doing so.

The APF FCWG has recently recommended to the Forum Council that it review the question of governance, and issues described above will be examined in that context. As such no recommendation is made.

Sustainability

General Sustainability55

Findings

Review Surveys indicate that most Members (90%) see APF programming as highly sustainable, at least insofar as stable, adequate funding levels are maintained. Members felt that they could continue to apply knowledge and skills learned through APF activities to some degree and 63% of those members self-rated as being entirely or almost entirely capable of doing so. When asked what activities would have to be discontinued, Members indicated that these related to networking at the regional and international levels, as well as capacity assessments.

Partners agreed with this. One partner noted that the stability of personnel within the APF makes the partnership more sustainable since partnerships are built on trust over time and based very much on personal interaction. This was echoed by some Members. This is evidently true, but so is its corollary: the APF secretariat staff complement will not remain stable forever, and succession planning is necessary.

Both the Members and Partner comments must be analysed knowing that the APF monitoring and evaluation system is not yet fully satisfactory and that impact results remain largely at the anecdotal level. Clearly, the lacunae noted in this report with regard to monitoring and evaluation limit the confidence with which claims of sustainability can be made.

Given the needs of APF Members, it is clear that resolving all capacity issues is beyond the delivery capacity of the APF secretariat. (The training needs of APF Members, as described in the recent Situational Analysis, provide a case in point.) The APF understands this limitation and confronts it directly by forcing the Members, though it Strategic Planning processes, to make choices in line with internal capacity.

It has been suggested that the training capacity of APF staff may impact on sustainability. The development of the Masters Training Accreditation Program is meant to resolve this.

55 The OEDC Guidelines define sustainability as the degree to which programs and their benefits can continue after funding stops. This is the focus applied, unless otherwise clear from the context, here.

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For regional engagement to be successful, it is important that the APF understand the context and culture of its potential partners. It is also important, in promoting a dialogue on human rights, to be respectful and not antagonistic. Experts and partners consulted indicate that both these requirements are a strong point within the APF and attribute their successes and their continuing involvement with State Parties to the fact that the APF fully understands the context and culture regionally, sub-regionally and nationally and offers a helpful hand rather than criticism. This approach supports sustainable programming.

With specific regard to the PIF, the APF decision to push for a Human Rights Focal Point and to fund that position initially, as well as its on-going support to that individual means that there is on-the-ground capacity to move the agenda forward when APF is absent from the field. While clearly, on-going engagement by both the APF and the OHCHR will be crucial to the establishment of new NHRIs, the sub-region, through the HR and Gender Focal Points, have the capacity to move things forward.

As discussed elsewhere in this report, there are issues around sustainability with regard to dependency on a few donors. The APF has broadened its donor-base and embarked on a fund-raising strategy to diversify even further.


In a general sense it can be stated that the APF program is sustainable. This general finding must be qualified with reference to the need to develop and implement a fully satisfactory monitoring and evaluation system. In addition, the sustainability of certain individual initiatives may be questioned:

CAs are done in partnership with the UNDP and with the OHCHR. These are now done in a one-off manner since the pool from which the UNDP regional office drew monies from for the initiative has dried up and all activity must be funded by UNDP country offices. This obviously negatively affects the sustainability of the program.

The APT notes that the sub-regional training program on torture prevention may soon be redundant, since the field would have been covered. Other types of programming – perhaps refresher courses, or in-depth courses on specific problematic areas - might be needed. They also are open to engagement with NHRIs named NPMs providing that they are seen as high-potential candidates. Finally, they noted that lessons learned from the Maldives experience include the fact that strengthening one side of the NHRI organisation might lead to problems with the credibility of an NHRI.56 Future programs might therefore have to be more holistic so that the entire needs of the NHRI are taken into account.

Sustainability - Partnership with the RWI

Findings

56 Citizens of the Maldives criticised the NHRI there for being only interested in protecting criminals since they had an NPM Unit that was more active and engaged than other parts of the organisation.

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The APF and the NHRI unit of the RWI have a partnership arrangement governed by an MOU developed following the 2010 Review. The MOU essentially requires the two organisations to meet annually to coordinate their activities surrounding NHRIs in the Asia Pacific. In addition, the two organisations speak regularly at the official and staff levels. The collaboration, while close and valued by both partners, does not transform itself into coordinated work plans with clearly delineated areas of responsibility.

The RWI and APF collaborate in regional, sub-regional and, at times, national training geared directly and exclusively towards NHRIs. The level and nature of that collaboration varies. This is in part due to the nature of the organisations and their funding mechanisms. RWI is project-driven and so develops training programs that are time-constrained, with learning objectives that correspond to these time-lines. The APF receives core-funding and can take a longer perspective. RWI is attached to an academic institute which provides it with opportunities that do not present themselves to the APF. The APF is member-driven and will have a closer and more intimate understanding of the needs of its members, and how to respond to them.The greatest level of collaboration between the two relates to the National Inquiries blended training. The APF carries out most of the logistics for the on-line component and the RWI carries out most of the logistics for the face-to-face training. Both organisations provide an expert for the face-to-face training program.57 The APF developed the training methodology (including the manual and the on-line training course) in collaboration with the RWI and based on the methodology already being used by the RWI lead-trainer.

This approach does not apply across the board. The Foundation Course58 is essentially an RWI regional training vehicle. The APF’s main role is to fund the participation of member NHRIs that are not covered by RWI funding and provide an additional resource person for a part of the face-to-face training.59 The same also applies to the Library and Information Management course which again is essentially an RWI training vehicle. The training methodology for both courses were designed and implemented by the RWI without APF involvement.

Since 2010, the RWI has run a training course on women’s rights for NHRIs and academics in Southeast Asia. More recently, the APF, following the wishes of its members, has developed its own blended learning program on the rights of women and girls which will be programmed in a sub-regional manner commencing next year. The RWI course will have finished its program cycle next year, and there will be a summative examination of successes and lacunae at that time. It is not likely that the course will continue in the same manner once that evaluation is completed. The lessons learned should be of considerable interest to the APF, however. The RWI also undertakes multi-year bilateral training and support for specific NHRIs. This is currently the case with the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission. These are exclusively RWI managed programs. The RWI does seek to consult with the APF, however, to

57 In one year, the APF also provided a NHRI staff member ‘accredited trainer’ for the on-line portion. This could become an on-going feature.58 The RWI refers to this course training simply as its ‘Regional Training Program’.59 The role of the APF resource person is to introduce participants to the APF, its mandate, role and functions.

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promote a common view and avoid duplication. This was the case, for example, with the development of the founding legislation for the Myanmar Commission. The APF and RWI consulted closely on this exercise and both assisted in the development of the legislation.

As mentioned earlier, each organisation has differing approaches based on their own unique characteristics and funding arrangements. For example, in response to the Sidoti Report recommendation to fill the training-expertise gap in the region, the APF developed a ‘masters training program’, whereas the RWI developed a ‘fellowship program’. In the view of both partners, greater coordination between the two approaches is possible.


The partnership between the APF and RWI is most closely integrated with regards to the National Inquiry blended training program where both partners have largely equal roles. The partnership is more limited with regards to both the Foundation and Library and Information Management courses. These are essentially RWI courses where the RWI is the major partner and the APF provides supplementary support. There has been no collaboration between the two in the RWI training course on women or in the design of the APF course on the rights of women and girls.60 Finally the RWI and APF collaborate on bilateral support with a specific NHRI on a case by case basis.

Going forward, any future APF-RWI collaborations should explore the merits and disadvantages of the existing partnership and the differing approaches to the development of training methodologies and materials. It is evident that a weakening of the partnership can lead to unhelpful results – including potential duplication of effort.

Recommendation: Sida, which funds both organisations, should request a high-level consultation between the two organisations to discuss their collaboration and training methodologies, explore ways in which the ‘value-added’ of each organisation can be best exploited and ensure that partnership roles, responsibilities and reporting are transparent and clear. Even if expanded cooperation is not possible, efforts should be taken to ensure that courses being offered by the two organisations take into account the work being done, or that has been done, by the other and that the differing approaches to enhancing training capacities of NHRIs in the regions connect to one another.

60 This appears to be due to miscommunication and misunderstandings rather than any more fundamental disagreement.

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Findings and Conclusions: Effectiveness & Impact in delivering strategic goals

Strategic Objective 1: Capacity Development

Training

Description

The APF conducts, often in partnership, a variety of training to support Member Institutions. Most of this is ‘recurrent’ in that it is repeated on a cyclic basis; some is one-off, usually when the training is sponsored through another organisation.

The APF conducts a training needs analysis on a cyclic basis and the results of this analysis directly inform the training program. It can be concluded therefore that the training program responds to the needs of Members.

All planned ‘recurrent’ training initiatives currently are now ‘blended’, that is they feature both an on-line component and a face-to-face training experience. The on-line component is a requirement for further training opportunities and is geared to ensure participants have a grasp of the core knowledge needed to proceed with face-to-face training. Face-to-face training is fully participatory and is designed to ensure that participants develop requisite skills and abilities. The training features the development of an action plan for implementing those skills and abilities, which reinforces the learning objectives and improves the probability that those skills and abilities will be transferred to the Member Institution.

In addition to recurrent training, a variety of other training may be provided as opportunities arise. These tend to be piloted with select Members, ones who express a need, and may become on-going training.61

Findings (Effectiveness)

61 For example, training on Economic and Social Rights (ESR), offered in partnership with the Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR), was offered as a as a pilot to three NHRIs. However, if funding can be organised, it will be continued. This particular course is highlighted in that it used an innovative approach that might be considered for wider application. Briefly put, Member NHRIs were asked, if interested, to submit a proposal on a study on ESR that they would like to carry out. A selection process involving both the APF secretariat and the CESR was carried out and three members were invited to receive training on the framework and on-going technical assistance from the Center while implementing their study. This part of the process was funded through the APF. The cost of the studies themselves, except for the costs to the Center for their on-going assistance, were borne by the Member institution. The program resulted in the publication and presentation of the studies, with findings, conclusions and recommendation to the respective governments of the Member NHRI involved.

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APF internal monitoring and the Review survey show that Members believe that training is highly useful.62 The Situational Analysis shows that Members find the training manuals highly useful.63

APF monitoring shows that skills and learning is integrated into the work of the institutions. The Situational Analysis supports this, but the manner of transference must be considered weak: the most common method of doing so is through reporting to the direct manager; the actual conduct of follow-on training for other staff is still relatively rare.64

As documented in the section on recommendations of the 2010 review, the APF training program has been substantially overhauled since 2010 with on-line training and action planning becoming an integral part of the training experience.

Certain problems persist. There are occasions when, despite the best efforts of the secretariat, individuals attending the training course do not fit the required profile.65 On other occasions, certain Member institutions may nominate the same candidates for a variety of training courses so that the same individual benefits.66

Action plans67 are a positive addition but there are no guarantees going into a given training session (except for certain national programs, i.e., training on National Inquiries to an institution actually planning to carry one out) that individual participant plans will be implemented. There is evidence that many are not.68

Course facilitators coach and support participants in developing action plans. ‘Validation’ of the plans occurs at the end of a session when they are presented to the whole group and other participants and facilitators provide comments and guidance. The SMART (Specific; 62 See Annual report 2012-13 at pages 11 & 12 and results of Survey Review in annex.63 Page 2364 Situational Analysis at page 2765 A profile is developed for each training course defining expectations of the job duties of staff who will participate in training. For example, training on investigation should be attended only by those with responsibility for complaint investigation in the Member Institution. Managers must certify that candidates meet this profile. Subsequently, at the registration process it comes to light that an individual does not meet the profile, for example, the registration will show that the individual is a communications officer whereas the course is for investigators. 66 There may be nothing nefarious about this as it could be that a given Institution has only a limited number of staff with the linguistic abilities to attend courses and they feel that it is better that those individuals benefit and pass on their new skills to others than to decline an offer to participate.67 Differentiation must be made as between action plans developed at regional training, and action plans developed at sub-regional training. The former tend to reflect the views of a single individual and so tend to be of a personal nature – a plan to transfer knowledge to others in the institution, say. Where it is more individually focussed, the likelihood of it being implemented is correspondingly low. Action plans developed at the sub-regional level are developed by four or five individuals from the same Institution so these tend to be more institutionally-based. One would hope that they would be more likely to be put into effect, but there is no factual evidence on this. (The 2014 Survey of APF Members will be able to extract this information as a specific question has been added as to whether action plans developed have been implemented.)68 The Situation Analysis implies at page 27 that only 50% of action plans are incorporated into the NHRIs plans.

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Measureable; Attainable; Realistic; Time Bound) methodology is used in this process. The Manager of the training programming advises that the plans rarely have a specific gender focus, perhaps because this is not a specific demand made by facilitators and is not a requirement of the SMART methodology.

The APF secretariat when organising courses stresses the need for gender balance in participants. However, the final decision as to who attends rests with the Member institution. The APF has data on the gender balance of participants in training courses. These show rough balance over-all but there are pockets where this is less true. Institutions from Southeast Asia tend to nominate more women than men. (This may be an artefact of the distribution of women within the Member institutions in that sub-region.) In South Asia and West Asia the opposite is true and training participants are predominantly male.

Language capacity or lack thereof, within the APF, especially with regard to Arabic, continues to be an issue.69 (English is as close to a common language as exists in the region and, with the exception of Arabic, no other common language is used by a significant sub-set of Members, although Bahasa is understood by Malaysians, Indonesians and the Timorese.)

Findings (impacts):

The APF does not currently directly track impacts of its training initiatives.

The Annual Member Survey does track information on whether there has been a transfer of knowledge and skills from the individual trained to the Institution by asking whether (Yes or No) those knowledge and skills have been disseminated to others70 and asking for a narrative description of the project/activities that have benefited from the knowledge and skills learned.71

There is anecdotal information from Members interviewed about the impacts obtained upon the conduct of training on that function. Some examples include:

An NHRI National Inquiry developed after training focused on ‘honour’ killings. The Inquiry examined and contrasted the number of cases reported to media, police, NHRI and cases that went to trial. A report with recommendations was made. While there still is a vacuum in law, judges are more likely now to apply provisions on ‘murder’ rather than the less severe criminal code article dealing with killing by relatives.

69 This comes out quite clearly in the Situational Analysis at page 25 as nearly half of respondents indicated language prevents its representatives from attending training courses.70 Question 1.2.1 of the Survey (pre-2014). The question appears to have been dropped from the 2014 Survey71 Question 1.2.2 of the Survey (pre 2014). The same question asks what project/activities have benefited from the implementation of an action plan. The 2014 Survey drops this question but adds a much more detailed question related to action plans which will enable tracking of the implementation of action plans and their usefulness to the Institution.

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Action plans developed in ESR training by an NHRI led to monitoring of the rights to work, health, education and social security (with gender as a cross-cutting theme). A report on this should be out at the end of this year.

A NHRI’s National Inquiry on the state of persons with disabilities led to a report with recommendations, which was followed by lobbying. One impact was that ‘set-asides’ in employment were altered so that ‘real’ jobs were created for this group. In addition, by-laws were enacted to make the program more effective by providing for penalties for non-compliance.72

The APT reports seeing a vast difference in capacity and action at the NHRI level over the 5 years of their engagement in training and also indicates that NHRIs have contacted them in the implementation of their action plans on torture prevention, indicating that training is being internalised and action plans are being implemented. Additionally, the OHCHR , following a visit to the Maldives, noted that there had been a reduction in the instance of torture and attributed this directly to the work of the HRC of the Maldives , with whom the APF and APT worked closely.73

The APF Training Manager informally follows-up as much as possible with training participants to see how things are going and may find out what has happened with plans and so also has anecdotal evidence of success. There is no formal follow-up process, however, to determine if implemented plans have achieved any notable result.

RWI has a 6-month follow-up questionnaire for course participants meant to track, inter alia, individual capacity change, including attitudinal change, and transference of skills to the Institution. The survey also requests the participant to describe results achieved through the application of the training by the Institution, “success stories”. The results of these surveys have not yet been shared with the APF.


The training program is effective in allowing participants to develop skills and abilities. There is some evidence of transfer of these skills and abilities to the Institutions. The monitoring of impacts is not yet fully developed.

Recommendation: RWI and APF should coordinate longer-term follow-up surveys and ensure that results are shared. Similar follow-up surveys should be considered for other training programs as a way to capture longer-term results.

Action planning as a core part of training is an important innovation to the training program. They might also be useful measures of transference and impact. This requires that they actually be implemented and that the results be tracked.

72 For additional examples see annex on Compilation of Member Interviews. Note that these examples have not been independently validated.73 This is as reported by the APT program manager.

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While there are conceptual difficulties in getting prior commitment from the Member to implement action plans across-the-board, for Sub-Regional and national training there should be more efforts made in this direction.

Recommendation: The APF secretariat should explore how to better assure that action plans are actually implemented, at least those developed during sub-regional training. Some possible avenues include: getting ‘sign-off in principle’ including a budgetary commitment from the Institution for the plan theme or outline now developed as part of the on-line training experience; getting assurance from the Member Institution pre-training that there will be a formal review and decision on the action plan made shortly after training and that the decision made will be communicated to the APF.

The ESR training was unique in that the pilots had built into them a process that assured the implementation of the action plan.

Recommendation: The APF should consider if the process used in the ESR pilot training can be replicated once the training is made a recurrent part of the training program. If this is seen as too cumbersome, then the recommendation on monitoring action plans should be applied to this training. This is because the implementation of those action plans might provide strong measures of impact.

There is a need to examine how the implementation of action plans can be better assured and if and when to track their implementation. Action plans can be a solid way in which to track results that are attributable directly to the APF program and so efforts should be made to ensure that this is done, at least for key or significant issues. This would require that the plans define: expected results (at the appropriate levels); the indicators that will be used to measure results; the data sources that will be used to obtain the data by which to measure results; and the method/techniques that will be used to do this. It would also require that plans apply a gender perspective.

Recommendation: a) The review of the monitoring system recommended earlier should lead to follow-up measures to ensure that the results and impacts of the delivery of action plans can be tracked, as these can be traced directly back to the APF program. This need not be done ‘across-the-board’ but could be targeted for plans and programs that are more substantive, those coming from sub-regional training courses, or even a random sample of these. But sufficient information should be gathered to provide detail on results achieved.

b) Plans developed at national programs to conduct National Inquiries should always be tracked to measure both results, and the degree to which training program actually supported the process in practice. This would provide a valuable learning lesson for the APF, the Institution and other Members alike. This applies equally to action plans developed at ESR training.

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c) Plans developed at women’s rights training courses should be tracked to ensure that data on results related to gender equality are gathered. (If the recommendation regarding ensuring a gender focus is applied to all action planning is acted on, it may be that this recommendation becomes redundant).

The facilitation of the development of action plans and the methodology used to ‘validate’ them at training lacks a gender focus.

Recommendation: The APF should re-examine their facilitation of action plans to ensure that participants apply a gender perspective at all stages of plan development. Participants must be informed that the action plan developed has to contain an analysis of how the plan will impact on men, women and/or girls, how the plan will be implemented to ensure that those impacts are ensured and how those impacts will be measured. Course facilitators must be instructed on how to coach participants to achieve these ends. The facilitator should also ensure that the validation exercise specifically addresses these issues. Tracking of results achieved, as described above, should apply a corresponding gender focus.

It is not realistic to expect that the APF program could offer services in all languages used in the region. Increasing its capacity in Arabic would ameliorate some problems as they relate to a significant sub-section of Members. There are costs associated with this of course – it is estimated that simply translation of documents into Arabic increased training program costs by close to 70%.

Recommendation: The APF, if it increases its staffing levels, should attempt to engage someone with the ability to communicate well in Arabic.

Recommendation: The donor community, if it wishes to support better service to the West Asia sub-region, should consider providing increased funding for purposes of translating documents and running courses in Arabic. Members from West Asia should also assist APF in finding donors who might wish to support this need.


Description

Capacity Assessments are ‘facilitated self-reviews’74 of the capacity of a given NHRI.75 The Assessment results in ‘capacity development strategies’ or proposals for meeting the capacity 74 A Capacity Assessment Manual has been developed which describes the process and the Matrix that governs it. Assessments are undertaken on the following areas: internal policies, procedures and practices; leadership; human resources and knowledge; financial resources; and, accountability. Each of these areas are, in turn, assessed vis a vis an NHRI’s ability to: assess the situation and define a vision and mission; formulate strategies and policies; budget, manage and implement; investigate; conduct analysis and research; advocate and raise awareness; engage and partner with stakeholders; monitor and report.

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challenges noted during the assessment. CAs are voluntary, confidential and non-binding. Where an NHRI agrees with the strategies proposed, or part thereof, they may lead to action plans for responding to the challenges.

The CAs are carried out in partnership with the UNDP, and the OHCHR is also invited to participate.76

In the period under review, CAs were undertaken with twelve NHRIs.77

An independent review of the CA program was undertaken in 2012 and led to a series of recommendations addressed to the Partners. These have led to structural changes in the CA process – shortening the questionnaire/worksheet used to collect qualitative data, for example. The review also made a series of recommendations aimed at improving the follow-up to recommendations made in a CA and to monitoring and documenting results. Finally, the review made recommendations on developing a broader tri-partite partnership between the APF, UNDP and OHCHR.78

Findings (general)

APF internal monitoring records the high degree of importance that Members attach to CAs; the Review survey79 matched these findings, as did the Situational analysis.80 These high ratings were validated in face-to-face meetings with a number of SEOs and Chairpersons of Member Institutions who had undertaken the process. Some Members indicated that the process may be unnecessarily technical and labour intensive.

APF has accepted the recommendation made in the 2012 Review to pay particular attention to documenting the results achieved by the assessment process and begun to act on it. The establishment of an MOU with NHRIs undergoing a CA to report on implementation progress is the corner stone of this. The UNDP (regional) has included the conduct of a mapping and assessment of impact study in its annual plan, but candidly admits that it is unlikely to take

75 Capacity assessments were introduced into the program before the period covered by this review. The assessments were originally designed by the UNDP, but substantively modified following piloting by the APF. The current assessment process can be considered to be ‘made in Asia-Pacific’ and differ from the assessments done elsewhere.76 From a purely technical point of view, assessments could be administered by the APF itself. However, the addition of experts from UNDP and the OHCHR enhance the process including by giving the results a certain cache since they bear the seal of these international organisations. Since certain assessment recommendations may require legislative action – if for example the legislation is found wanting – the imprimatur of the international agencies may also mean that recommendations are likely to receive a closer review by governments.77 These were: Palestine (2011), Afghanistan (2011), Mongolia (2011), Sri Lanka (2012), Australia (2012), the Philippines (2012), New Zealand (2012), Nepal (2013), Bangladesh (2013), Oman (2014), Samoa (2014) and Indonesia (2014). If we include NHRIs who have undergone a CA in the period prior to this review virtually all Members, including those that are non-compliant with the Paris Principles have undergone a CA.78 A list of recommendations and action to date is found in the APF Self-Review at annex 3 starting at page 2279 74% of respondents indicated that Capacity Assessments were a very important APF program function.80 Situational Analysis at page 32.

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place, especially given that regional UNDP funding for the initiative has dried up. The OHCHR indicates that it supports the need to document results inter alia by requiring a reporting mechanism to document the recommendations that have been implemented, but it too has no financing available to take this on.

Recommendations relating to the roles played by the partners, including the selection of participants are accepted by the APF but not all have been accepted by the UNDP or OHCHR. For example, the OHCHR rejects the recommendation that its team member not come from the country in which the NHRI being assessed is located.81 The notion of a tri-partite arrangement has not worked since, according to the APF Self Review, the OHCHR does not live up to its responsibilities.82 The OHCHR, for its part, sees the APF as unwilling to share information with it.83

The operational review on gender mainstreaming notes that the consultants undertaking the Assessments state that gender considerations always form part of the Assessment.84

The APF has identified the implementation of CA action plans as the lone metric for its “Capacity Enhancement” Strategic Objective. This could only prove useful if CAs were a recurrent program so that Members can regular assess their performance and determine the degree to which previous recommendations have been met and the results of having done so.

Findings (Impacts)

There are, currently, at least two ways to track and measure the impact of the CA program.

First, the newly initiated MOU, inter alia, commits the Member to report annually on the implementation of recommendations that it accepts85, may be a vehicle through which the APF can track the impacts, and provide an avenue for further tracking the consequences of the changes made.

Second, in several instances, the CA results and recommendations have been used as a catalyst for UNDP country-level engagement with the NHRI and formed the basis for that engagement.86 This might be seen as an impact in itself, and tracking the results of that engagement might also demonstrate impact.

Conclusions and Recommendations:

81 See Self Review Report at page 2782 See Self Review Report at page 28.83 Telephone interview with OHCHR84 Mainstreaming Gender: operational review of the APF Secretariat, page 10, at paragraph 4,2585 The recently updated CA manual includes a template for the annual reporting required by the MOU. This is quite straight-forward and asks for the Member to identify who is responsible for each element that is being implemented, the implementation schedule and the implementation progress. 86 This was the case, for example, with the NHRI from Mongolia, which was able to use the results of the Assessment to institute a 3rd stage to its capacity development project with the UNDP.

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The CA program offers an important tool for improving the capacity of NHRIs. As discussed in the section on sustainability, however, the portal for funding at a regional level has closed and it is unclear if and when it will be re-opened.

Recommendation: The APF and Members should engage with the UNDP at the country-level, in addition to the regional level, to seek assistance in undertaking CAs or follow-up CAs as appropriate and to secure follow-up funding as needed to implement the recommendations of the assessment.

CAs could provide an important indicator of success in enhancing the capacities of NHRIs over time. However, there remains uncertainty that the program can be actively programed in a way that would enable it to be used to measure progress. Moreover, having the process as the sole measurement for this Strategic Objectives risks putting all one’s eggs in a single basket.

Recommendation: The APF should use other measures to track results as described above under “training” even if the Capacity Assessment program is restructured as a ‘recurrent activity’ and funding is secured. These would, in addition, offer closer causal connections to the advances noted.

The assessment process is lengthy and technical and involves considerable staff time. It is also not inexpensive, especially as it involves experts from three partners.

Recommendation: If the APF determines to make the capacity assessment a recurrent process, efforts should be made to make if both a less intrusive and lengthy process and more of a self-assessment.

It is too soon to measure the success of the CA process as it has changed since the independent review recommendations were implemented.

It is unlikely given the current positions and attitudes that a successful tri-partite partnership arrangement could be concluded. The APF is satisfied that relationships with UNDP (Regional) are strong and productive and this view is shared by that organisation.

Specialised Programs - HLDs

Description

HLDs were established in response to the Training Needs Assessment conducted in 2010, which noted that there was a training gap at the Commissioner and senior executive level. HLDs are conducted upon request and are led by one or two individuals with significant experience as a Commissioner and with a track record of proven expertise. They tend to be geared towards newly appointed Commissioners and occasionally senior staff, although the Dialogue could originate upon a Member request for other reasons, including findings of a Capacity

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Assessment. The APF has developed a generic guide for potential topics for the HLD; it is the requesting Member, however, who determines which themes will be examined within the dialogue. The operational review of gender mainstreaming report reveals that the consultants who conduct HLDs explicitly raise gender in the process and provide examples of this.87

In the period under review, the HLDs were conducted with APF members in Palestine, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

Findings

There are no identified or measurable impacts, nor are these likely given the nature of the engagement, and those that may only occur will only do so over the long-term and would be difficult to attribute to the APF.88

The Situational Analysis rates the need for HLD relatively low if for purposes of ‘examining governance’ and rather high if for purposes of ‘engaging in thematic discussion’.89 The APF consultant often hired to conduct HLDs reports the process works and the very few Members interviewed who had undergone the process also assert that the process was beneficial.90

Given the absence of data, there are no conclusions or recommendations.

Supporting the ACJ

Description:

The Advisory Council of Jurists is a Committee established by the Forum Council pursuant to article 16 of the APF Constitution. APF full Members nominate a distinguished jurist from their country to sit on the Council.

The ACJ examines issues referred to it by the Forum Council and forms conclusions based on International Law and jurisprudence, and the state of the law regionally, sub-regionally and nationally. Its reports are intended to facilitate NHRIs understanding of key human rights issues at the domestic level and enhance their ability to advocate for appropriate change.

87 Gender Mainstreaming: operational review of the APF Secretariat, at page 10, paragraph 4.2688 This view is attributed to the consultants and the APF Director in the operational review of gender mainstreaming. See page 10and 11 of that report, at paragraph 4.26.89 The Situational Analysis at page 32. The low rated need for HDL on governance is not surprising given that that would be an admission of problems. 90 For example, a representative of a NHRI that had undergone a HLD indicated the dialogue included discussion on the recent accession to Treaties by the State and what this meant for NHRIs. This led to review of internal structure and changes to assure that the NHRI in question could respond to demand.

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The last referral made to the ACJ was in 2009 on the issue of “Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity” (SOGI) and its report on the matter was considered by the APF at its AGM in 2010.

Findings (general):

There is ambivalence in Member support for the ACJ. The ratings given as to its importance to the work of Members, while still reasonably high (60% give a rating that is 4 or higher on a 6-point scale), is the lowest given for any APF program activity. Moreover, only 3 Members rated it a ‘6’, far below the mean. This ambivalence was reflected in interviews with SEOs and Commissioners.91 The Situational Analysis, however, shows that Members unanimously support the continued existence of the ACJ or its equivalent.92

There were concerns expressed about ACJ governance. Since the ACJ governance structure mimics that of the APF, the advisory panel of jurists is large and composed of jurists who are nominated to the Panel by Member Institutions who may or may not have a good sense of what is needed. The nomination process is not transparent. Finally, it was also suggested that a permanent standing body, while it has certain attractions, may not be supple enough since Panelists looking at a particular issue might better be drawn from a regional pool of experts on that issue itself.

Findings (Impacts)

The Review survey measured the possible impact of the ACJ report on the following metrics: “opening space for public dialogue”, “programming on the SOGI issue by Member NHRIs” and “improvements in the situation for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans/transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community.” Ratings on each metric hovered just below ‘3’ on the 6-point scale. (A few members noted that their relatively low scores here reflected difficulties within their own countries not problems with the ACJ report.) However, even a low score indicates progress, which was what was being measured.

Interviews with Experts, SEOs and Commissioners tended to acknowledge that there had been some opening of dialogue, some increase in NHRI program and some (usually marginal) improvements in the situation. Few cared to draw a causal link to the ACJ report, but some did. For example, one NHRI raised the issue of SOGI rights in its Annual Report. The inclusion surprised Parliament and sparked internal debate. At a minimum, Parliamentarians are now cognisant of the issue, which was not the case previously. The Advisory Board of another NHRI now includes one member from the LGTBI community. This came as a result of the ACJ report according to the Member.93

91 The subject-matter of the most recent ACJ would likely have had an impact on this.92 Situational Analysis at page 35.93 See annex Compilation of Member Interviews for further examples. Note that these examples have not been independently validated.

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At the same time, it was evident that the ACJ report was not well known even by Members, and two Members indicated that its impact beyond Members was limited given language constraints and a relative lack of visibility of the report. One Expert indicated that the Membership itself did not do a strong enough job in applying the recommendations made and that a stronger system of accountability was necessary.

Conclusions and Recommendations:

There are concerns with the relevance of the ACJ by Members. The nomination process lacks transparency94 and does not guarantee that the ACJ panel is thoroughly competent.95 (The FCWG has recommended to the Forum Council that it should review the management structure of the ACJ and so no recommendations on governance are made.)

It is troublesome that some Members noted that the ACJ report was not widely known even by Members, although there is also evidence that stakeholders are working with APF members on issues coming out of the ACJ recommendation. It was also troublesome that an Expert suggested that the lack of action by Members is in part the reason for a relative lack of impact.

Recommendation: The APF should once again reflect on the purposes that the ACJ is meant to serve and how best to ensure that it meets these. This might include consideration of how Members can support wider consideration of ACJ reports in their own countries. Translation of the reports, or parts thereof, may be necessary to ensure impact.

Even though ratings of impact as noted above were both relatively low and not always attributable to the ACJ, it remains that, in countries where cultural and/or religious constraints are not a barrier, there have been impacts noted. (And even within some of those countries with constraints, some NHRIs are opening up to the issue.) This is not an insignificant result given the issue at play. Even where the impact remained at the level of internal NHRI dialogue, this too must be seen as progress.

Strategic Objective 2: Networking & Communications

Core Networking

Description:

There are three fora which constitute the major avenues for networking opportunities: the AGM; Biennial Meetings and the SEO roundtable.

94 The difference between the selection of FC Members and ACJ members is that, at least ideally and in most circumstances, the selection process for Commissioners or Chairs of APF members has a certain level of transparency, so APF FCs have had some scrutiny as to their nomination as Heads of their respective Commissions. This simply is absent for ACJ panellists. 95 This is, of course, not to suggest that panel experts are not; it is simply to say that the process cannot guarantee this.

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The AGM is the business meeting96 of the APF, a chance for all Members to meet and interact and make the policy and other decisions that are required for the APF to function.97

Biennial Meetings are broader conferences attached to the AGM, obviously held every second year, that typically focus on issues of broad regional importance, and that include the participation of State actors and civil society.98

The SEO Network allows senior executives from Member institutions to share information and expertise, on a peer-to-peer basis, on issues of most concern to them, including organisational policies, management practices and staff development strategies. It ensures a continuity link between APF activity, including internationally and regionally, and the operation arm of Members, and facilitates senior executive involvement in APF management functions, including planning.

Findings

Re AGM & Biennial Meetings

The sole indicator used to measure results for the AGM and Biennial meetings is Member ratings on the usefulness of the networking experience. APF annual reports consistently show that Members believe that such networking opportunities are useful to their work.99 The Situational Analysis also highly rates the AGM and Biennial meetings, and offers closer insight as to why they are considered useful.100

The Review survey showed that nearly 80% of Members felt these areas of APF engagement were important to them generally, while only 56% felt that these engagements were important to their work in gender issues.

Experts interviewed indicated that the Biennial Meetings were an important way to promote dialogue and exchange between NHRIs and governments and civil society. One indicated that

96 AGMs were coupled, at the time immediately prior to the 2010 Review, with a broader conference involving government and civil society. To make the process more manageable, the decision at that time was to hold the conference biennially. Thematic issues were to be a feature of the Biennial conferences so that AGMs could focus on business matters.97 For historic and other reasons, AGM still feature engagement between Members and ANNI - the main regional coalition of NGOs - but this has typically involved information exchange rather than the review of thematic issues, which is left to Biennial meetings.98 The 2011 Biennial meeting held in Thailand focused on the progress and challenges in implementing the right to development and examined NHRI good practice in monitoring the implementation of the Declaration on the Right to Development. The 2013 Biennial meeting held in Qatar looked at the opportunities and challenges involved in charting a peaceful course to democracy. For further detail see http://www.asiapacificforum.net/about/annual-meetings.

99 Self-Review, figure 8 at page 46 shows that the average rating of the importance of networking remains over 4 on a 5-point scale throughout the period considered by this review.100 Situational Analysis at pages 33, 39 & 41.

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http://www.asiapacificforum.net/about/annual-meetings

http://www.asiapacificforum.net/about/annual-meetings

the growing openness and trust between NHRIs and civil society at these meetings was having an impact at the national level, where there was more openness by Member Institutions to engage positively with national NGOs.

The notion that the AGM is to be a ‘business’ meeting has started to erode. This year it was proposed that thematic issues should be part of the agenda. While in the end, the notion was rejected, if the issue re-surfaces and is not defeated, one can foresee that the issues that dogged earlier Annual Meetings would re-surface.

As indicated above, Biennial meetings feature tri-partite discussions on thematic issues. While one would suppose that the issues selected would be of broad regional interest, there is no official policy that this be so. On occasion hosts have asked for the inclusion of thematic issues of concern to them, but that have no substantial interest to the majority of Members. The APF secretariat has no basis on which to object to this possibility.

Findings (Impact)

There are no designated measures used to track impacts for this engagement.

The Review Survey did ask Members to describe an instance when networking had an impact on their programming, and this was repeated in the interviews with Members. Several examples of this happening were cited. For example, one NHRI indicated that networking directly led to the signing of an MOU with a variety of NHRIs in the region to allow NHRIs to refer cases it learns of regarding its national migrant workers to the NHRI in the ‘receiving’ country.101 These cannot be isolated as to where the networking took place, however.


Evidence suggests that the AGM and Biennial Meetings are effective at promoting networking between NHRIs and promoting more openness and dialogue between NHRIs and civil society.

The Forum Council will have to re-affirm that AGMs must be strictly for business or risk sliding back into the ‘full’, participatory meetings that were a feature of the past.

Recommendation: The Forum Council should establish the policy that AGMs be strictly business-related so as to ensure that they remain small, focussed and efficient. They should also formally approve thematic issues to be discussed at Biennial Meetings to ensure that these are issues of wide interest. Consideration should be given to hosting AGMs in a central, neutral location so as to remove the temptation that are inherent in having a Member ‘host’ the event.

Re SEO Meetings

101 See annexes Compilation of Survey Narrative Responses and Compilations of Member interviews for other examples. Note that these examples have not been independently validated.

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Measures around networking as described in the previous section apply here as well. In addition, the APF Annual Member survey asks SEOs to ‘count’ the contacts made between him/her and another SEO. This is seen as a gauge of the strength of the networking being formed. Responses as collated in the APF Self-Review Report demonstrate that SEOs are interacting and that the trend line is, broadly speaking, going up, 102 so much so that the question has been dropped from the APF Annual Member Survey.

SEOs interviewed for this Review indicated a high degree of satisfaction with SEO meetings and their usefulness to them.

The themes discussed at the roundtable are timely and important and include an examination of regional cooperation.103

There is a suggestion that rotating meetings throughout the regions (currently they are always held in Sydney) might facilitate lesson-sharing and help expose SEOs to the realities experienced in other Institutions. It is likely that this would also bring cost savings to the process given the relative high cost of staying in Sydney.

Findings (Impact)

There are no findings of impact except as noted above re testimonial of the ways in which networking has had a positive impact on domestic programming.


SEOs roundtables are effective in promoting networking.

Core Communications

Description of activity

The APF has three main vehicles through which it shares information and communicates with its Members and to a wider audience: the website; the E-bulletin and the E-broadcast.

102 Self-Review Report figure 9, page 48103 For example, the 2012 SEO roundtable agenda included items on: the role of NHRIs in times of conflict, crisis, emergency and national transition, as well as the difficulties involved in this; the roles NHRIs in the international human rights system, including the perceived costs and benefits; the NHRI accreditation process and the way in which the Paris Principles are being interpreted and applied by the ICC Sub-Committee. The 2014 SEO roundtable included discussion on Business and human Rights, Asylum Seekers and Refugees – NHRI Roles and Regional Cooperation.

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The web-site provides Members and other interested individuals access to a broad range of information and documentation on the work of the APF and its constituent Members, and serves as a portal to the APF’s YouTube site.

The E-bulletin is a monthly (except for December) updated e-publication that gives readers the “latest news, events and activities involving national human rights institutions from across the Asia Pacific region”.104 The APF communications expert gathers information on what Members are doing by trolling through their web-sites, looking at media reports and engaging with contacts within Member Institutions.

The E-broadcast is essentially a group email to keep the APF Membership informed of issues that are time-sensitive – agenda for meetings etc.

All three use a gender focus. The web-site has a page devoted to women’s rights.105 The YouTube site features interviews with APF members and other experts on the role of NHRIs in promoting and protecting women’s human rights. The E-bulletin includes features on work APF Members are doing to promote women and girls human rights.106 The Deputy Director, in her role as Gender Focal Point, uses E-broadcasts to keep Members informed on issues relating to Gender.107

The APF core communications mechanisms serve the following main purposes: Supporting and strengthening the capacities of Members through knowledge and

information sharing; Promoting the establishment and strengthening of NHRIs again through knowledge and

information sharing; and Promoting cooperation and engagement between Members.

Findings (effectiveness)

The APF Self-Review reports that Members are both highly satisfied with the website and that the satisfaction rate is going up.108

The Self-Review also reports that the ‘subscriber’ rate to the e-bulletin is going up, and now stands at over 1,300.109 The APF communications expert estimates 1/3rd of these come from Member Institutions.

104 Description set out at http://www.asiapacificforum.net/news/apfbulletin.105 http://www.asiapacificforum.net/support/issues/womens_rights 106 See, for example, a story on recommendations to the Mongolian Parliament by the Mongolian Commission in relation to domestic violence laws at: http://www.asiapacificforum.net/news/mongolia-reform-domestic-violence-labour-laws 107 For example an E-Broadcast on gender to announce the on-line version of the Women and Girls Rights Training course; to inform them of the APF parliamentary submission on “The Human Rights Issues Confronting Women and Girls in the Indian Ocean-Asia Pacific region” and so on.108 Self-Review Report, figure 11, page 54.109 Self-Review Report at page 55.

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http://www.asiapacificforum.net/news/mongolia-reform-domestic-violence-labour-laws

http://www.asiapacificforum.net/news/mongolia-reform-domestic-violence-labour-laws

http://www.asiapacificforum.net/support/issues/womens_rights

http://www.asiapacificforum.net/news/apfbulletin

APF Annual Members Surveys show that the e-broadcasts are highly relevant.110

The Situational Analysis showed that Members ranked the website, e-bulletin and e-broadcast as the most effective ways to communicate with Members from a list of possibilities proposed.111

None of the above measures distinguishes results along gender lines so no specific conclusions can be drawn as to whether the vehicles are effective in communicating issues related to women.

The Review Survey revealed that 74% of respondents rated the APF communication program as being highly important to their work generally, whereas 58% of respondents felt it was important for their work on gender. (If we consider ratings that are 4 or more on a 6-point scale, the rating of relative importance narrows: 89% of Members rate the program as important overall versus 79% for importance to gender equality programming.)

Language issues reduce the usefulness of the communications mechanisms according to Members interviewed. The APF expert on communications echoes this, and also suggests that the indicators do not capture information on results related to the purposes of the mechanisms.

The APF communications expert has recommended that the APF develop a formal communications strategy that would, inter alia, set forth appropriate results indicators.

Findings (Impact)

There are no findings on impact as there are no measurement indicators in place.

The APF communications expert has raised the possibility of creating ‘communications’ focal points within Member Institutions as a way to collect and document impacts of the APF program through Member activity. He believes that the APF could use ‘digital story telling’ as a way to share ‘good practice’ and feels that these stories could be easily translated (with voice over or sub-titles) to broaden their impact.


To the extent that the program is measured, it can be concluded that the Communication program is effective generally; it is more difficult to show effectiveness in strengthening Member capacity.

110 Self-Review Report at page 55.111 Situational Analysis at page 43.

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The proposals made by the Communications expert are sensible and should be given close consideration. The FCWG has proposed that the Forum Council adopt this strategy and so no recommendations are necessary.

There is a need to determine whether the communications vehicles are effective specifically at communicating gender issues.

Recommendation: The Gender Focal Point, in her review of monitoring results from a gender perspective, should specifically review how gender-specific results of the APF communications program can be tracked.

Strategic Objective 3: Compliance with Paris Principles

ICC Accreditation

Description of Activity:

The APF secretariat currently sits as an ex-officio observer in the International Coordinating Committee’s Sub-Committee on Accreditation (ICC SCA) and assists the ICC SCA draft General Observations (guidance notes on the accreditation process and the interpretation the ICC SCA applies in the assessment process). The secretariat also serves as a support to the APF member sitting on the ICC SCA.112

There is ambivalence as to the defined purpose of this activity: the Monitoring Matrix defines granting of A-Status as the outcome measures; the program manager is more circumspect and asserts that the purposes for the engagement relate to ensuring that the process is both rigorous and fair.


There are no separate measurement indicators developed to assess effectiveness of this APF engagement in the ICC SCA.

The OHCHR has asserted that the APF does play a valuable and effective role within the Sub-Committee and this is confirmed by an Ex-Chair of the Sub-Committee. The role that APF has played was described as “invaluable” and such that it led the members of the ICC SCA to urge the other regional coordinating committees to attend all SCA sessions as their “first-hand impartial knowledge of the NHRI under consideration” is useful to the sub-committee in coming to an accreditation decision.113

112 The ICC Sub-Committee on Accreditation is comprised of 4 NHRIs, each representing the 4 regions of the ICC (Africa, Americas, Asia-Pacific and Europe)113 Extracts from an email received from the Chief Commissioner of the Canadian Human Rights Commission.

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While the APF engagement is clearly seen as both important and effective, there are questions about the degree to which it should be involved. These were discussed in the section of the report dealing with efficiency (“Finding and conclusions: recommendations of the 2010 review”) and so are not repeated here.

Findings (Impact)

The APF matrix identifies the granting of A-Status to Members as a measurement indicator. To the extent that this is a valid indicator, there has been an impact since the number of A-Status Members is increasing.


The use of A-Status accreditations as an indicator is questionable since effective support can be measured in the contrary – ensuring that unwarranted A-Status accreditations are not given. It also may be seen to put pressure on the APF to press for granting A-Status so that it can demonstrate positive results. That said, short of an independent review of the Sub-Committee’s accreditation decisions it is not easy to define how to measure effectiveness for this engagement except through the eyes of Members.

Recommendation: The indicator used to measure results for APF activity related to ICC Accreditation should be reviewed. It may be that a better indicator is the degree to which those who have undergone the process consider it to have been transparent and fair.

Advice to Members


APF, as a service-delivery agent, responds to members requests for advice. Most of these relate to the ICC accreditation or re-accreditation process.114 In the period under review, accreditation advice was offered to ten Member NHRIs. Other requests, which cannot be categorised, may flow from a CA or HLD or a crisis at the country-level.

Interviews with the program manager and document review show that the advice offered by the APF secretariat on accreditation issues is comprehensive.

As noted above, other types of requests cannot be categorised, but most are not significant in terms of the time involved. There are exceptions, however. One example of this is advice offered to the Myanmar NHRI.

114 The ICC, upon application, accredits newly formed NHRIs, or non-compliant NHRI who feel that they have become compliant. It has also introduced a re-accreditation process whereby fully accredited NHRI must, every 5 years, show that it remains in full compliance with the Paris Principles.

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Myanmar was moving from being an NHRI established by Presidential Decree to one that had a legislative base. Broadly speaking, the APF: commented on a draft framework for the Bill; consulted with the Commissioners and prepared a draft table of contents and provided examples of draft legislation; had a second consultation to talk about the table of contents and sample legislations, as well as discuss the requirements of the Paris Principles and how these might be applied in the Myanmar context; prepared a first draft of a comprehensive Bill; considered and commented on the government’s revisions to the first draft; and returned to discuss and comment on the government’s revisions and, with them, worked through the process of developing a final draft Bill that was the strongest possible to ensure an effective NHRI.


The APF’s annual survey asks Members to rate the usefulness of its advisory services, including on accreditation. The rating for this general function is very high.115 The APF Self-Review indicates that most requests for advice are acted on.116 The Situational Analysis shows that members consider advisory services related to accreditation and Paris Principle compliance as very important.117

The results of the Review Survey shows that “advice to members” scores the highest rating of all APF programs (average of 5.52 out of 6, just slightly higher than ‘training’ as to its importance to Members) and also receives the highest number of ‘perfect’ 6 scores (13 out of 18 or 72%).

Members interviewed who had received advice on accreditation unanimously indicated that the quality of the advice, its timeliness and its relevance was beyond reproach.

One Regional Expert indicated that the APF’s efforts in assisting Members on accreditation were misplaced as they may have the effect of letting Members who do not deserve A-Status obtain that status. In his or her view, the accreditation process would be more valid if Members were required to stand or fall on their own.

In the example of other advice presented – the strengthening of the NHRI in Myanmar – the process of engagement was protracted, detailed and evidently useful to the stakeholder.

Findings (Impact)

The current Matrix shows “accreditation as A-Status” as the measure of success of this activity. While clearly the hope is that advice on accreditation will help Member NHRIs identify and act on compliance issues (as well as understand and navigate the ICC accreditation system), this is a

115 See for example the Annual Report 2012-13 Figure 8 at page 37. Note that the figure provides an over-all rating and not on advice on accreditation only.116 At page 58, under 6.1.5 117 Situational Analysis at page 34.

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high bench mark to reach, and does not, of course, depend on success of this activity alone since, first, so many other APF activities also are geared to this end and, second, neither the APF nor the Member is totally in control of attaining this objective.


The APF’s advisory role on accreditation and other issues is highly valued by Members and effective insofar as it achieves a high degree of client satisfaction. If we accept the measure of outcome postulated – attaining A-status, we can say that only one NHRI the APF advised on accreditation in the period of this review (a total of 11) did not attain A-Status.

Similarly, we can conclude that the support given to Myanmar had an impact since new legislation was adopted.

Advice to Other Stakeholders


The APF supports the establishment of NHRIs in the region and therefore may, on request, give advice to a State Party or other credible interlocutor considering establishing a NHRI.

Much of that work done under this activity, as reported in the APF Self- Assessment report, relates directly to support given to States in the Pacific that were considering establishing NHRIs. Most of this is dealt with in the following section under “Regional Engagement” as the work devolved from engagement with PIF.

The example reviewed on this activity involved the on-going advice the APF gave to stakeholders in Samoa as that State was moving towards the establishment of a NHRI.118 The Samoan Attorney-General and the Samoan Ombudsman requested support in amending the existing Ombudsman Act to give the existing Office of the Ombudsman a specific mandate to deal with human rights and ensure that the legislation was consistent with the Paris Principles.

The APF prepared a broad legislative schematic from which provisions were developed. These were then discussed with the Ombudsman, Attorney-General officers and, eventually, a legislative drafting team. There were on-going consultations and comments made to drafts until such time as the draft legislation was submitted to Parliament and passed.


118 The decision to move in this direction came about following extensive regional engagement with the Pacific Island Forum (PIF) and the OHCHR as described under “Regional Engagement” later in this report.

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The Self-Review Report does not provide any detail on the effectiveness of advice to stakeholders although it does suggest that their views are sought as to the quality of that advice.119

The documentation shows that the advice given in the case of Samoa was protracted, detailed and evidently useful to the stakeholders.

Findings (Impact)

The results themselves demonstrate impact: a NHRI was established in Samoa. The expectation is that it will be accredited as an A-Status Institution.


To the extent that extrapolations can be made from one example, the APF program in giving advice to stakeholders is effective. Again in that one example, there have been direct impacts.

APF reporting on this activity often relates to engagement with regional partners, which is a different APF activity. This tends to lead to confusion and repetition in reporting. The distinction being made internally – although this does not seem to be entirely clear to all – is that regional engagement is reported as such insofar as there is no direct request for advice on matters that might lead directly to the establishment of a NHRI. Once such a request is made it is captured under this program function.

A recommendation on clarifying the way in which the monitoring and reporting is understood and/or applied was made earlier and the problems noted here should be part of the review recommended.

Recommendation: In their review of the monitoring and reporting system, the APF should specifically consider how and where to capture and report on information on advice-giving activities to stakeholders that evolve from different APF activities.

Strategic Objective 4: Regional & International Engagement120

Engagement with UN Bodies


119 See page 60 under 6.2.5. From the context it appears that this may apply to advice to members only, although this is not clearly stated.120 Note that the Activities defined under this strategic objective in the Strategic Plan and Annual Operational Plans are separated as between ‘advocacy’ and ‘influencing’. While there is a clear distinction conceptually between the two actions, in practice they are very much interlinked. Reporting has therefore been somewhat fuzzy around them. For purposes of this review, no distinction is made. Where activities are clearly one or the other, however, this is noted.

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APF engagement with international bodies essentially centres on engagement with the United Nations, in particular the Human Rights Council (HRC) and the various Expert Bodies (e.g., the Human Rights Committee, the Committee Against Racial Discrimination, etc.) that have been established.121 NHRIs have been recognised by the Council and some of these Expert Bodies so they can intervene in their working sessions. These are the major international human rights mechanisms and so it is entirely appropriate for the APF and its Members to engage with them. In addition, the Paris Principles require that NHRIs engage with the UN.

APF programming under this activity involves: Encouraging Members to play the role that has been carved out for them at Council and

Expert Body meetings, including and in particular around the UPR process and State Party reporting to the Expert Bodies. This includes not only engagement internationally but also, and perhaps even more importantly, in acting domestically to ensure that the conclusions and recommendations made have a full hearing and are put into effect.

Encouraging members to apply the same principles to the work of specialised international thematic rapporteurs.

Developing regional positions for presentation during the thematic discussions of the HRC.

On occasion, the APF collectively, and individually as Members, may also engage with other international mechanisms. The decisions to make these interventions depend on a variety of factors, including: the opportunity that is present; the importance of the issue to Members; the consistency of the intervention with the APF mandate and strategic focus; the likelihood of success. The engagement is also specifically authorised through the APF Strategic Plan and so represents the considered wishes of Members.

During the period of this review, the APF engaged with the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) and the Open Ended Working Group on Ageing (essentially a UN working group drafting a potential treaty on human rights and ageing).

The APF involvement with the CSW was discussed earlier (see ‘Recommendation: Engagement with CSW’ in ‘Findings and Conclusions: Recommendations of the 2010 Review.) The goal was to obtain recognition for NHRIs, not to directly impact on the situation of women. (Although once such recognition was gained there would be avenues for this.) That said, the APF officer responsible did coordinate with Australian women’s groups throughout the process, including Jera International, and met internationally with rights-based groups such as Amnesty International.

The APF’s main focus with regard to the Working Group has been to ensure the ICC engages on the issue and to develop a regional perspective on the potential International treaty on ageing. To this end, the APF has also organised a series of regional events, of all stakeholders, to come to a regional position on the prospective Treaty.121 The APF may also engage at the General Assembly (GA) level, but this is ad hoc and very dependent on the theme. Attention is given to trying to attain official recognition of NHRIs by the GA and its subsidiaries.

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In Annual APF Member Surveys, through participation statistics, Members indicate that they are consistently engaging in UN Bodies and mechanisms, including the CSW. Most important, from my perspective, they are playing an active role in supporting the UN systems through UPR and Treaty Body shadow reports and by taking action to ensure recommendations made are considered and acted on domestically.122 With regard to this latter, the trend line is increasing.

The Review survey also shows that the APF program in this area is important to them, with an average score of 5.2 on a 6-point scale.

With regard to engagement with the CSW, the results achieved (documented earlier in “Findings and Conclusions: recommendations of the 2010 Review”) should in and of themselves demonstrate effectiveness.

The APF does not track engagement with the Open Ended Working Group either, nor should it given the current level and nature of that engagement.123 APF activity with the Working Group has been incidental to its real emphasis – engagement within the ICC and engagement with regional and various stakeholders to come to a regional position on the prospective Convention.

The OHCHR affirms that NHRIs generally have played a positive role in UN fora, including the CSW. They also affirm that this engagement has been of benefit to the UN Bodies themselves, while noting that not all NHRIs, even those with A-Status, are seen to be giving independent views.124

Findings (Impact)

The Review survey sought information on whether International engagement helped Members apply international standards in their work, both generally and with respect to gender equality. In both instances the responses indicate that they did – however, this was less so for gender equality. (55% of respondents indicated that such engagement was highly helpful to this generally, and 44% said it was highly helpful in ensuring gender equality.)

The survey then asked whether using the international standards domestically had been helpful in achieving positive change, again both generally and with regard to gender equality. Here roughly the same pattern as described above appeared: yes, the use of international standards did help achieve positive change, but this was more so generally than for gender equality.

122 Self-Review Report, Figure 15 at page 63123 The Situational Analysis did rate the activity as having medium to high level importance for Members.124 The OHCHR made the suggestion that this should somehow be factored into the ICC accreditation process. This would, I presume, require some independent assessment of the degree to which NHRI involvement addresses key country-specific issues in a way that does not simply parrot the views of Government.

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In interviews, Members were asked to give an example of such positive change. Some were able to do so.125 One, for example, said that international engagement led it to join forces with civil society to lobby to ensure that recommendations made by International Mechanisms are implemented.126


The APF program of encouraging engagement with the UN is effective in that Members say that it is important for their work and indicate that they are engaging actively both with regard to contributing to the work of those Bodies and in ensuring that recommendations made are implemented. Members also indicate that this engagement helps them achieve results domestically and can document this.

As noted earlier, APF engagement with the CSW was effective in that the role of NHRIs with relation to that Body was specifically noted for the first time. Independent observations support that this engagement was positive.

There is evidence to suggest that the engagement is having impacts.

Engagement with ICC


The International Coordinating Committee (ICC) of NHRIs is the global equivalent of the APF. The APF sits as an ex-officio member within the ICC and, because of its expertise and capacity, is requested to carry out activities on behalf of, or for, the ICC. (This is the case, for example, with drafting General Observations by the SCA discussed previously, or spear-heading the CSW mentioned above.)

When an APF member is the Chair of the ICC the APF may also support that Member both financially and technically. During the period under review, two APF Members have chaired the ICC – New Zealand and Jordan.

The 11th ICC International Conference (2012) was held in Jordan. The APF played a lead role in planning and implementing the conference.127 The theme of the ICC Conference was “Women and Human Rights” and the conference led to a declaration (the Amman Declaration) including concrete actions that NHRIs could take to promote gender equality and reduce the discrimination experienced by women and girls. 125 There are a number of reasons that might have prevented others from providing examples. The most direct is that there were none to be given. In addition, some interviewees had not personally engaged internationally and so could not make the link. Finally, language and insufficient time may have contributed to this.126 See annex Compilation of Member Interviews for other examples. 127 The APF Secretariat developed, in consultation with ICC members, the concept for the conference, as well as the concept note, and was a member of the preparatory and drafting committee, for example.

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Engagement with the ICC is not specifically tracked in the APF Self-Review.

Annual Member Surveys ask whether the networking facilitated by the APF program at ICC is helpful in enhancing their work and the responses are invariably positive.

The Review Survey results show 79% of Members rate ICC engagement as highly important. The Survey also asked whether engagement with the ICC was helpful to their domestic work and the reply was in the affirmative, with 71% rating this as very helpful generally and 53% as very helpful with regard to gender equality. (It is worth noting that Members replies here were higher than for the similar question posed re engagement with UN Bodies. One can surmise that Members see, while both are important, ICC engagement is more useful than UN engagement.)128

The APF Regional Action Plan on the Human Rights of Women and Girls developed at the ICC International Conference in Jordan (relating to gender equality) was effective in that Members report a high level of engagement in the activities that were committed to. The Review Survey results show that all Members who responded had carried out 2 or more of the activities listed in the Plan: 66% through staff training; 78% through awareness campaigns; 72% through monitoring and reporting; 61% through encouraging a national action plan; and, 72% through investigations.

Findings (Impacts)

It is not likely that impact measures can be usefully drawn from this activity generally, although specific engagements, such as the Regional Action Plan, if they are a feature of ICC Conferences, might yield impact results.

Conclusion and Recommendations

The APF program with regard to ICC engagement is effective in that Members believe the engagement is important for their work. Its impact, to the extent it can be measured, has not been a feature of APF monitoring framework. To the extent that the APF feels it worthwhile to develop Regional Action Plans at ICC conferences, it might also be worthwhile to invest the time and effort to track results of those Plans, including at the impact level.

Recommendation: The APF should track impact results of regional engagements taken at ICC Conferences and develop means of doing so at the time the engagements are made.

128 This supposition is supported by the results of the Situational Analysis which did rate Members view of the relative importance of various forms of international engagement and ranked engagement with the ICC as being of the highest importance to Members.

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Engagement with regional mechanisms


Unlike other geographic regions, the Asia Pacific does not have a formal regional human rights mechanism. In lieu of this, the APF has developed and maintains on-going cooperative relations with four sub-regional mechanisms: South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the League of Arab States.

These were identified during the strategic planning process and therefore reflect the view held by Members as to where the APF’s efforts should be directed. The level and intensity of the engagement with any one regional mechanism may fluctuate depending on the opportunities that present themselves. Those opportunities will dictate the specific strategies adopted at any given point in time, but will devolve from the overall mandate of the APF.

APF engagement with PIF has been the most consistent and productive regional activity over the years under review. An APF officer was dedicated to this engagement for the period 2010-2013. PIF, with the initial encouragement and support of the APF, established a dedicated staff position for a human rights officer and has now created a Gender Coordinator position. In 2012, the APF, OHCHR and PIF signed a tri-partite MOU setting out the roles and responsibilities each will bear, which suggests that engagement in the sub-region will continue to be a focus.

Engagement with SAARC essentially involved advocating with government decision-makers in support of the strengthening of existing and establishing of new NHRIs in the sub-region. This was facilitated for the period February 2012 to February 2014 when the Secretary-General of the organisation was the ex-President of the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives.

Engagement with ASEAN is largely a watching brief with the “ASEAN Inter-Governmental Human Rights Commission (AICHR) and its related mechanisms on migrant workers and women on the role that NHRIs may be able to play in these mechanisms.” 129

Engagement with the League of Arab States is focused on developing the rules of procedure of a proposed Arab Regional Court of Human Rights.

The main purpose of regional engagement is to advocate for and support the establishment of NHRIs in compliance with the Paris Principles in each of the sub-regions. This may be done in a building block manner so, for example, the APF lobbied for a human rights officer position within the PIF Secretariat (this happened prior to this review) since a continual presence with that organisation would make it easier to achieve the ultimate objectives.

129 Self-Review Report, page 65

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With ASEAN and the League of Arab States, engagement is aimed at gaining access of NHRIs into the ASEAN and League of Arab States human rights processes.


The APF Annual Member Survey does not capture data on this activity. The Self-Review, except in noting it, also does not track performance measures. The Situational Analysis asked Members to rate the relative importance of engagement against a menu of regional organisations. The findings were that regional engagement was medium to highly important across the board, with a moderate preference for engagement with the AICHR and the UN Economic and Social Council for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).130 Ratings for the importance of engagement with PIF were relatively low compared to others.131

Members indicated in the Review Survey that regional engagement was, on average, important but not highly important. (If one removes from the survey results the 2 responses that were entirely negative – rating the importance at 1 on the 6-point scale – the rating would bump up to the highly important range.)

The operational review of gender mainstreaming indicates that “in scoping missions regarding the establishment of national mechanisms, women’s groups are included in core group and steering committees and there is a focus on the role these institutions can play in promoting the rights of women”. 132 The Scoping Report from Samoa indicated that the mission team spoke with key government agencies “including women, community and social development … and that consultations were held with … “civil society organisations (including those working with women, children and disabled people).”

The tri-partite MOU with the PIF Secretariat and the OHCHR is meant to ensure cooperation and information-sharing in activities supporting the establishment of NHRIs in the Pacific and includes a clause on engaging with women and girls.

Findings (Impacts)

In the view of partners, APF involvement in the sub-region has been critical in achieving a variety of impacts. At the most basic level, APF efforts have helped raise the level of public dialogue on human rights issues and issues related to gender equality. Whereas 10 years ago human rights was never a consideration, today, again according to APF Partners in the sub-region, human rights language is found everywhere in government activities. While clearly, the APF cannot be cited as the cause of this shift, partners do say that their involvement was an instrumental factor in this shift.

130 Situational Analysis at page 45.131 It is entirely possible that the ratings reflect sub-regional bias and the small number of NHRIs in the Pacific sub-region (3); this cannot be deduced from the report however.132 Gender Mainstreaming: operational review of the APF Secretariat, Finding 8, at page 13.

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The APF and partners cite the work done in Samoa as another clear impact: following a series of engagements a NHRI has been established in Samoa and, according to the APF, is likely to attain A-Status upon their submission of credentials to the ICC.133 There are other impacts as well though: scoping missions and subsequent engagements in Vanuatu and Palau have led to high-level commitments to create NHRIs.134 In the case of the former, the Prime Minister’s Office issued a Press Release to this effect and, in the case of the latter, an Executive Order to that same effect has been made.135

The Pacific Islands Leaders recently issued a Declaration on Gender Equality which, inter alia, calls on governments to establish mechanisms to promote and protect human rights. The PIF Secretariat is custodian of that Declaration and will be preparing annual reports on progress made. While the APF cannot be cited as a causal link to this Declaration, the PIF Secretariat was a force behind it and will have on-going engagement with it. The PIF Secretariat Human Rights Officer believes that, indirectly, the APF can be said to have contributed to this impact and will have a role to play in securing successes that emanate as a result of it.

The original round of UPR reporting by Pacific governments has been completed and all recommendations have cited the need to establish NHRIs within the countries in question. The second round of reporting on UPR will come soon and State efforts towards this aim will be charted. The PIF Secretariat is confident that these reports will highlight partnership activities and so document the impact made by APF engagement in the region. They will also widen the opening created by the original UPR recommendations to engage fruitfully with Pacific Island States on this issue.

Conclusion & recommendations:

The APF has and continues to play an effective role in support of the strengthening of human rights dialogue and the establishment of NHRIs at the sub-regional level.

Opportunities exist for it to further advance these aims in the Pacific given the attention being paid to UPR recommendations and the Declaration on Gender Equality. It has been suggested that opportunities to develop a sub-regional human rights mechanism also exist, but that this is dependent on Pacific Island countries first establishing national mechanisms. To the extent that this is true, efforts towards the latter may reap larger benefits.

Recommendation: The APF should consider the advisability of expanding engagement in the Pacific sub-region building on the platform used in Samoa. This may require re-establishing the position of officer for that sub-region.

133 This activity is reported under “Advice to Other Stakeholders” in the Self-Review Report.134 In human rights, it is usually impossible to draw a one-to-one causal connection between an action or series of actions and a result. We cannot therefore say that the results reported here result from APF engagement. We do know that the APF and its partners have undertaken a series of steps to support an action and that action has now been promised. We can, at a minimum, safely say that APF activity contributed to the result. 135 These examples come from the interview with the PIF Secretariat and have not been independently verified.

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Recommendation: If possible, it might be beneficial to invite select countries from the sub-region (those where the APF and PIF believe that there are real opportunities to establish NHRIs) to the AGM and Biennial Meetings as observers as part of the process towards establishing NHRIs there. Such engagement might highlight the advantages of joining the club.

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Lessons Learned

Link Between Strategic Planning and Program Review

A review tends to look backwards to assess what has been accomplished by a given program intervention. Strategic Planning tends to be forward-looking to define, given the current situation and expected internal and external pressures what an organisation should be striving to accomplish. Nonetheless there is a clear link between the two activities. One does not look back merely to know what has happened, but also to determine how to improve for the future; one cannot plan for future activity without assessing past performance.

There is, therefore, a strong link between program review and strategic planning. This was recognised in the TORs for this review (see Scope of the Evaluation). That said, because of delays at the front end, the linkages could not be properly developed. This meant, inter alia, that stakeholders, in particular, APF Member Institutions were unnecessarily subjected to a number of requests that might have been coordinated had there been sufficient time to do so.

It also meant that there was insufficient interchange between the APF Secretariat and the Reviewer in the development of questionnaires so as to avoid duplication and/or extract more nuanced information that would have benefited both initiatives.

The APF Program may be somewhat different than other programs funded by the donors in that it (the Program) is one and the same as the Strategic Plan. However, in cases where this is so, or substantially so, it is important that sufficient lead-time be given so that the two processes can be jointly developed and their activities coordinated as possible. Failing that, it probably makes most sense to conduct a review prior to the on-set of Strategic Planning since the findings of the review should inform the strategic planning process.

This requirement is especially evident when there are well-developed, and firm, milestones in place as was the case in this review (SEO meeting and FCWG on Strategic Planning scheduled to meet at the end of June; APF Members to review both the Strategic Plan and Review at a programmed AGM in Delhi in September 2014).

The actual determination of how much lead-time is needed to allow such coordination will depend on a number of factors, including the complexity of the Program, the number of stakeholders that need to be consulted, reasonable allowances for feedback given the other obligations of those consulted, potential difficulties with language and so on.

In the case of this review, it probably would have required a start-date of the end of April to allow sufficient time for this. This would not have increased the cost of the review as no extra days would be needed to do this, but it would have made the process more coherent, have saved some aggravation for stakeholders and improved both products.

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Supplementing and Validating Survey Results

Electronic survey instruments are often used to compile statistical information on program performance. They are useful in getting a general picture of the situation, and variations can be suggestive. They are most useful when the results can be contrasted with data from other sources: the concept being that if multiple sources provide similar results conclusions that are drawn from them are more reliable.

In the context of this review, where there were many stakeholders, it was hoped that some of the results of the electronic survey could be ameliorated, supplemented and/or validated through face-to-face or telephone interviews with a select but representative group.

Two avenues for this were pin-pointed: interviews with a representative group of Member NHRIs who would be present in Sydney while the reviewer was there; interviews with ‘regional experts’ who could speak about the performance of Member NHRIs.

In both instances, it was anticipated that responses to questions posed on the electronic survey could subsequently be followed up on. Representatives of the Member Institutions could provide ‘colour’ and context to the responses; regional experts could ‘validate’ claims made.

Each of these was predicated on having the results of the general survey before the face-to-face interviews. The opportunity for these face-to-face interviews with Members was limited to the time when SEOs and representatives of the FCWG would be in Sydney. Interviews with regional experts were predicated on the identification of such experts.

Again, the delays in the start-time of the review meant that face-to-face interviews were often conducted before surveys were responded to, or very shortly thereafter. This meant that these interviews (which were time-constrained owing to the obligations of the Members to conduct the business there were in Sydney for) were often used to extract base information rather than get colour and context.

There was also difficulty in identifying legitimate regional experts; most consulted with had limited knowledge of NHRIs except in their own country of operation. This reduced the utility of the process.

Clearly, the difficulties associated with the former might have been alleviated by an earlier start-up time. Considerations of how much more time is necessary are the same as discussed earlier with reference to the linkage between a Review and Strategic Planning. Insofar as consultations with experts, in hind-sight it might have been more useful to have identified individual actors that could speak to the situation of a given institution in order to validate the results of the survey.

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