Capacity development activities with minorities could include a comprehensive assessment of capacity assets and areas for improvement. Monitoring and evaluation of progress is an important component. Forging partnerships with minority CSOs provides a unique opportunity to increase impact. However, identifying partnerships with minority CSOs can be challenging. Constituencies within minority communities may compete for representative authority and individuals can be co-opted by external actors without genuine authority to make decisions on the community’s behalf. Community decisionmaking structures might exclude certain groups. Partnerships could also include organizations that will bring different community perspectives to the table, such as youth groups or women’s organizations. Some specific minority groups might not be considered by CSOs that articulate general minority concerns or the existing CSOs might not be strong. In such cases, specific organizational and managerial capacity support could be provided in community-driven processes and devise mechanisms and processes for engaging communities in decision-making that affects them. 7.2 ADVOCACY: UNDP has an important advocacy role in the promotion of human development and human rights. UNDP publications like the National Human Development Reports (NHDRs) or MDG progress reports can raise awareness of gaps in human development for minorities and highlight good practice. NHDRs that include disaggregated statistics could encourage other actors to collect such data. Minority groups can rely on the data as authoritative for their advocacy. The launch of NHDRs can provide useful occasions for starting dialogue with stakeholders on human development and governance issues of concern to minorities. The Regional Human Development Report on the Roma has been helpful at the national level in advancing dialogue between government and Roma representatives. Producing similar regional HDRs focused on minority groups could be effective in raising relevant minority issues. The quiet ‘development diplomacy’ of senior managers in the field is another means of advocating for minority rights. The gains in sustainable peace and development that stem from attention to minority issues and protection of minority rights could be emphasised. The UN Millennium Campaign is another useful platform for bringing attention to minorities and the MDGs. The Millennium Campaign reaches out to CSOs to engage them in advocacy on such issues. Inviting minorities to participate in UNDP events provides opportunitity for advocacy to minorities. Support to minority campaigns when engaging with government officials may help to raise the profile of such campaigns. 7.3 DIALOGUE: Seeking opportunities for direct dialogue with minority communities is important. In some countries, government and the public service could include individuals from minority groups, which could help to broker dialogue on minority issues. In other cases, an official body dedicated to examining minority issues may be useful for capacity building. In many countries, neither option may exist and finding opportunities for engaging in dialogue, especially with the most marginalised minority groups, will be challenging. Any efforts to engage in dialogue with civil society could include participation by minorities. This is particularly important where such issues may impact directly on minority communities. Such dialogue can be an important source of information for crisis prevention and for the improvement of development strategies that directly impact minorities. The CCA/UNDAF Chapter 7: Advocacy and Partnership 103