7 Chapter ADVOCACY AND PARTNERSHIP 7.1 CREATING PARTNERSHIPS WITH MINORITY CSOs: Minority CSOs can be strategic partners in the achievement of development results to accelerate progress towards the fulfillment of the MDGs and other development priorities. There is immense capacity among minority communities to support UNDP in achieving its goals. Many minority CSOs are already engaged in working towards these goals and strategic partnerships can be forged with these and other actors (in cross-sectoral partnerships) for greater impact. The UN Charter, the UN Millennium Declaration (2000) and the UN World Summit (2005) provide a clear mandate for UNDP to work with civil society organizations (CSOs). The UNDP Strategic Plan 2008-2011 provides that UNDP: …will seek to build more extensive partnerships to scale up the scope and impact of its work in all areas. In addition to core partnerships with other United Nations organizations and governments, UNDP will pursue innovative and strategic partnerships with civil society organizations […] volunteerism and civic engagement are also important partnership modalities with significant potential. Planning strategic partnerships: Advanced planning of strategic partnerships with minorities and minority organizations is to be encouraged. Strategic partnerships may be identified, aligned and integrated in UNDP-supported development plans and documents such as the CCA/UNDAFs, Country Programme Documents and project documents at the country level and regional cooperation frameworks at the regional level. It will be useful first to identify the partners and spell out their responsibilities in the respective columns of the results frameworks. In this regard, UNDP could carry out mapping and scoping exercises as well as capacity assessment of CSOs and develop a partnership strategy that will be part of the Country Action Plan (CPAP). UNDP could engage with minority organizations in various manners, ranging from development policy to operational engagement. Partnership principles: Partnership activities need to be clearly articulated and jointly developed based on:40      equity, integrity, and dedication to agreed outcomes; realistic expectations, underlying institutional interests and organizational values; a medium- to long-term perspective; a relationship positioned at the centre of organizational priorities and processes; and mutual accountability and mutual benefit. The aspect of equity is particularly important in the case of minorities and minorities’ organizations, since they often have unequal bargaining power and a different set of capacity assets that need to be recognized but also supported. Depending on the nature of the partner organization (civil society, private sector, UN agency etc.) and the type of partnership, additional specific principles can apply that are enshrined in existing UNDP policies. 40 Chapter 7: Advocacy and Partnership 101