Virtual Resource Centre - Ex-ante Policy Impact Assessment

UNDP regional project on Ex-ante Policy Impact Assessment

What is the rationale behind the regional project on Policy Impact Assessment?

The roots of Regulatory Impact Assessment are present in most of the countries of Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States.  Against this background, UNDP recognizes the niche for capacity-building in this area and to support UNDP Country Offices to address weak analytical capacity of regulations. This regional project – Improving policy development in Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States through strengthening capacities for ex-ante impact assessment – led by UNDP Bratislava Regional Centre has a unique structure, as it links country-level interventions to the core aim of the regional project. It tries to ensure that two-way cooperation, based on demands from the countries themselves, will achieve real progress in institutionalizing ex-ante impact assessment, with particular focus on poverty reduction and on ensuring equal opportunities for the vulnerable and marginalized groups.

For whom will it make a difference?

The primary beneficiaries of this regional project are policy-makers and expert staff in parliaments and policy analysis/coordination units at the center of government (e.g. cabinet office, prime minister’s office, general secretariat of the government). Policy development and strategic planning units in key ministries such as Finance, Labour, Social Protection, Public Administration, Public Works, Health and Education will also benefit, which is important for encouraging strong cross-sectoral links. Ultimately however, the project will benefit the poor and vulnerable groups, as it will enable better-targeted and more effective public policies; civil society actors, who will have new opportunities to engage in national policy dialogue and influence the public policy agenda; and society at large, through ensuring a sounder, evidence-based policy process.

Mapping of tools and experiences
As a theoretical baseline, a collection of regional experiences and best practices from Europe – ‘Mapping of ex-ante Impact Assessment Tools and Experiences in Europe’ – has been prepared. This publication contains ex-ante IA methodologies and practical experiences, with particular focus on poverty reduction and on ensuring equal opportunities for vulnerable and marginalized groups.

The mapping builds on regional experiences of ex-ante Impact Assessment and Training Needs Assessment conducted in 4 countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Moldova and Serbia), containing:

• Institutional and legal / procedural frameworks for ex-ante Impact Assessment;
• Documented practices, case studies, experiences and lessons learned;
• Effective approaches to, and methodologies for ex-ante Impact Assessment utilized in the region, covering good practices from Western European, from Central-European and from EU accession countries;
• Inventory of tools and capacities for ex-ante Impact Assessment available in target countries.

as well as on lessons derived from the experience gained at the country-level in implementing IA-related projects.

The aim of the publication is to provide practitioners with available and usable methodologies and best practices for conducting ex-ante Impact Assessment in the region of Europe and CIS and so to contribute to proper policy making that would be beneficial for the poor and vulnerable. The publication aims to support capacity building re EU standards.

Country support
The four participating UNDP Country Offices benefit from seed funding and expert advice in national activities to establish legal and procedural frameworks and institutional capacities for PIA, including public participation in policy-making. Based on a Training Needs Assessment in the four participating countries, specialized training programmes are being organized.

Regional trainings
Regional trainings, with particular focus on poverty reduction and on ensuring equal opportunities for the vulnerable and marginalized groups, are being organized for key public officials who are to be involved in policy impact assessment as part of their regular work.

A Virtual Resource Centre on ex-ante IA methodologies and practical experiences is being maintained in order to offer a compilation of best practices, existing information, relevant documents and guidelines regarding the topic. This Virtual Resource Centre will also offer networking possibilities to those engaged in the project at national level.

Who is funding the project?

This project has been developed by UNDP in close cooperation with Open Society Institute Budapest (OSI). An OSI partner organization, Foundation Open Society Institute (FOSI) seated in Zug, Switzerland, also provides a share of the funding.