/CMI_ProgramCharter

Marseille Center for Mediterranean Integration Program Charter The Marseille Center for Mediterranean Integration (CMI) is a multi-partner collaborative arrangement to facilitate access to best knowledge, practices, and support among public and independent institutions, in order to improve cooperation, enhance sustainable development, and converge policies towards greater integration in the Mediterranean Region.

The CMI hosts cluster programs that are led by Members and Partners. The Coordination Unit helps to ensure effective delivery of the current programs and works to develop future partnerships and synergies. The Strategic Council guides the orientation of the work, provides a mid-term strategic perspective, enhances the Center’s visibility, and discusses the annual work program. Between Annual Meetings, an Oversight Committee will meet periodically to take decisions on the implementation of the activities and programs.

The CMI is headed by a Director who manages the Center, provides strategic leadership, and ensures quality and consistency in the Center's programs and activities; builds strong partnerships among the Center’s members and beneficiaries; and takes the institutional lead in championing proposals for new approaches and products on policy advice on areas under the Center's mandate.

The aim of the Program Charter is to establish the basic principles for engagement between Members, Partners, and program participants and to facilitate the work between the cluster programs and the Coordination Unit.

An Evaluation Framework has been developed at three levels which would be applied to each program.

The evaluation of the CMI as a whole would result from the information accumulated for each program.

1. Cluster Programs Cluster programs are key in ensuring the value added of the CMI and in meeting their aim of supporting development policies and knowledge sharing in the Mediterranean region. To avoid duplication, programs carried out by the CMI should take into account the various analytical work and technical assistance programs that are being implemented by other centers of excellence in the region. The CMI should serve as an effective “network among networks,” and programs should be oriented towards knowledge and capacity building through joint learning.

In this spirit, programs that are being developed at the CMI should: • Encompass sector-based or regional issues, and be designed in a way so that lessons drawn would also be useful for a wide range of stakeholders in the Mediterranean region.

• Lay the ground for future improvement in public policies in the concerned areas. Activities carried out by each program would vary according to expected needs and scope of the topic, and could span the spectrum from knowledge generation (studies), capacity building and training (knowledge sharing and dissemination), technical assistance, to reforms, networking, and outreach.

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The process of program development at the CMI includes the following: • Programs are designed and implemented under the overall guidance of a Lead organization (Member or Partner), who will seek the participation of interested parties, be it Members and/or Partners of the CMI, or any other interested partners from the region (or beyond), such as centres of excellence or development institutions.

• The Lead organization drafts a concept note for the cluster and the program, shares these with the Coordination Unit as well as other clusters to ensure synergies, vets it with the Strategic Council, brings together the necessary technical resources, and commits to mobilizing adequate financial resources.

• The Lead organization ensures that the concept note is widely circulated and liaises with Mediterranean centers of excellence in the various domains covered by the program.

• The program description would contain (among other specifications): • Work schedule for the two year time frame to be developed in a common program progress template (log frame). This log frame will include information on each program, with description, objective, audience, lead organization and partners, outputs, outcomes, indicators for monitoring and evaluation, and observations. All clusters/programs should use this template to develop their progress frameworks.

• A post appraisal procedure, which will look at how the Evaluation Framework at three levels has been applied to each program (see section 3 below). Post appraisal reports will be disclosed to the public at the due diligence of Coordination Unit.

• The Lead organization ensures that each program manager includes relevant staff from the Coordination Unit in the design and delivery of the programs. The Coordination Unit can, after consulting with the Lead organization and partners, schedule meetings (quarterly or biannually) with the program managers to share progress.

• The Lead organizations commit themselves to the fundamental principle that program managers will facilitate regular information exchange between programs, and between programs and the Coordination Unit, to facilitate the latter’s mission to share knowledge through joint learning, and thus help foster improvements in public policies in the region.

• Partners commit themselves to a program following their respective rules and procedures. Staff assigned by participants to work on the implementation of a program will be governed by the applicable legal and administrative arrangements of their respective employer.

• Intellectual property resulting from the programs is considered to be the common asset of the Parties involved in program implementation and of the CMI. The CMI and the said Parties may disseminate this intellectual property, taking into account the provisions of article 11.2. of the Center’s Founding Agreement.

Inclusion of any new potential CMI programs would be under the overall guidance of the Strategic Council. Any new programs should follow the abovementioned guidelines and should include consultations with all potential stakeholders.

2. Programs and the Coordination Unit The Coordination Unit is responsible for the coherence of the programs with the strategic priorities assessed by the CMI’s Strategic Council. Towards this end, the Coordination Unit: • Ensures that Members, Partners, and program participants comply with the provisions of this Charter.

• Makes substantive contributions to CMI’s priorities and work programs (staff from the Coordination Unit will work closely with the programs that are being developed in the five clusters at the CMI).

• Manages the overall administrative arrangements and provides logistical support, as needed, for effective implementation of the programs, using the Center’s resources in an efficient manner. Partners and Members will benefit from the following facilities: offices and meeting rooms, IT and video conference facilities, office supplies, and CMI stationary.

• Develops annual work programs in consultation with the Lead organizations for each cluster/programs; updates the Program List; develops the Strategic Calendar to include global 2

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events, internal governance events (Annual Meetings, meetings of the Strategic Council and Oversight Committee), program events; and prepares annual budgets.

Reviews program documents, as needed, for consistency with CMI’s mandate as a Center of knowledge and joint learning, serving as a network among networks.

Liaises with Members, Partners, and other stakeholders on the Center’s ongoing and future activities and promotes the Center’s activities and programs.

Establishes regular communication and meetings with Members, Partners and other stakeholders for continuous, open, and transparent communication and collaboration, Fosters effective collaboration with teams, as for example, at the World Bank’s HQ. Provides external communications support for the various programs at the CMI; develops, implements, and monitors a communication strategy and plan; manages the website and populates it with latest information on clusters/programs/activities; reports on CMI’s activities through other communication tools (newsletters and the like); Ensures that the background and historical data related to ongoing or former programs is accessible to existing of future Members and Partners; Ensures that the monitoring indicators are known by all parties and promotes the Evaluation Framework (see below) as a means to assess the Center’s impact.

Finally, all staff employed by Members, Partners or Participant organizations working on the Center’s programs should comply with the administrative and other rules, as established by the Director.

3. Evaluation Framework The Center and its Programs will need to develop an evaluation framework. Since integration is at the core of the Center’s mandate, it will also define the evaluation process. While not finalized yet, an approach at three levels seems useful.

Level 1 (micro): CMI’s Value for the Concerned Communities of Practice Given that the CMI is a collaborative platform for knowledge sharing and aims to be a network among networks to foster greater Mediterranean integration, this level appraises the interest of different communities in potential CMI activities. A range of indicators can be used, including hits on and unique visits to the CMI Web site and on related programs, evaluation questionnaires to gauge the level of satisfaction of the target audience participating in different events, leveraging of resources provided by various partners, and requests for customized policy services.

Level 2 (meso): CMI’s Impact on Joint Learning and Capacity Building The most tangible impact of CMI programs in the short and medium term will be on joint learning, which will take place through networks of people and institutions involved in, and benefiting from, the Center’s activities. Indicators to measure progress in this regard concern knowledge generation and dissemination, in terms of the impact of reports and publications (as for example, through bibliometrics), and the development of communities of practice on certain topics that have been developed at the Center.

Level 3 (macro): CMI’s Contribution to the Convergence Process CMI programs should, in the medium and long term, produce evidence of greater integration of the countries of the Mediterranean region. It will be difficult to make firm attributions about such contributions owing to the presence of many other factors and players. However, programs should, to the extent possible, document their relevance by asking two types of questions. The first concerns policies and reforms being put in place at least partly as a result of the CMI programs, including through international cooperation schemes (as, for example, joint qualifications agreements). The second concerns observed convergence in economic performance, social conditions and environmental sustainability.

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