Founded in 2001, the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) works to redress and prevent the most severe viola­tions of human rights by confronting lega­cies of mass abuse. This work entails informing international policymakers of best practices in transitional justice, strengthening the recognition of transi­tional justice as a crucial feature of post­conflict peacemaking and peace building, and contributing to the development of international norms for accountability and justice. On the occasion of its tenth anniversary, ICTJ charged the Capstone team with investigating the role ICTJ played in the development of two seminal transitional justice framework documents that guide practices within the United Nations: the 2004 Secretary­General's report on rule of law and transitional jus­tice in conflict and post­conflict societies; and the 2005 revised UN Mediator Guidelines. The Capstone team reviewed relevant documents and conducted inter­views with UN officials and former and current ICTJ staff and consultants. By doc­umenting successes and key challenges throughout the organization's work, the Capstone team enhanced ICTJ's understanding of its role in creating these frameworks. The Capstone team provided ICTJ with a set of recommendations that will help the organization create more impactful strategies for future policy advocacy.

The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) requested a Capstone team to assist in improving the way it allocates basket funds for local economic develop­ment projects. The Capstone team trav­eled to Uganda to perform an institutional assessment of public service delivery in the agriculture sector. The main tasks involved conducting a stakeholder analy­sis for the agriculture sector and docu­menting service functions and the flow of resources to local governments from vari­ous actors, including central ministries, donor partners, and NGOs. The informa­tion generated through this research is intended to facilitate dialogue between central ministries, UNCDF, and the Local Government Finance Commission regard­ing the targeting of resources and techni­cal assistance to local governments.

The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) is a special purpose fund for small­scale investment aimed at reduc­ing poverty in the least developed coun­tries affiliated with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). In 2007, UNCDF collaborated with the Government of Nicaragua to initiate the Decentralization and Millennium Development Goals Localization Support Program (PADETOM). PADETOM's main component, the Investment Fund for Local Economic Development (FIDEL), aims to provide financial support to local governments for LED projects with an emphasis on food security, the capitalization of small farm­ers, and rural enterprises. UNCDF request­ed a Capstone team to assess FIDEL's impact on local and national institutions' planning policies, uncover cross­influ­ences between FIDEL and a pre­existing food security initiative, Hambre Cero, and provide a set of recommendations for the global strategy for Local Economic Development Promotion (LEDP). The Capstone team conducted a series of interviews in Nicaragua with a broad spec­trum of stakeholders including local UNCDF personnel, national and local gov­ernment officials, civil society representa­tives, and direct beneficiaries. The information collected was subsequently compiled and analyzed to produce a report on UNCDF's approach to building local partnerships and structuring responsibilities in projects.

Under a public sector decentralization process in the Philippines, Metro Manila's seventeen independent Local Government Units (LGUs) have been mandated with the challenge of addressing the needs of the sizeable slum populations living within their jurisdictions. City officials and local government agencies alike found them­selves with increased financial, technical, and taxation responsibilities, but with insufficient authority to effectively execute their expected duties. While the National Urban Development & Housing Framework (NUDHF) provides an approach to shelter policy based on long­term poverty allevia­tion and economic growth objectives, the severe lack of housing continues to be a problem with few short­term solutions. The Capstone team assisted the World Bank in developing background material for its support of a Metro Manila­wide slum upgrading policy. Using a document review and field interviews, the Capstone team prepared a series of policy memos on institutions and stakeholders, national housing policies, financing schemes, data gathering strategies, and international case studies of slum upgrading.

United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) supports development through microfinance, infrastructure investment, capacity building, and technical advisory skills. Recently, UNCDF and the Royal Government of Cambodia released a national “Local Development Outlook” report that evaluated local development trends (economic, social, demographic, and environmental) countrywide and offered recommendations for policy reform. The Capstone team was asked to build on this effort at the provincial level. The team first conducted a literature review and analysis on local economic development practices and then conduct­ed field research interviewing representa­tives of government, the private sector, and NGOs in Takeo province. The main task was to identify services and indus­tries with the greatest potential to pro­mote economic diversification in the province. As part of this work, the team developed a tool to evaluate services and industries by ranking various criteria according to the type of impact desired. The research will aid UNCDF and the local community in selecting value chains for further investigation and support produc­tion of a provincial development outlook.

The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) is currently creating pro­grams to support local governments in fostering and coordinating economic growth in least developed countries. UNCDF's Local Economic Development Program (LEDP) aims to build local govern­ment capacity to support and promote LED by investing in governance, business­enabling environments, and catalytic inter­ventions. In support of these efforts, the Capstone team created an LED Policy Manual that analyzes the type and scope of LED promotion in selected local authori­ties. The team conducted its analysis using case studies focused on the experi­ences of local governments in select municipalities of South Africa and Sweden. The lessons learned from the experiences promoting LED in advanced and middle­income contexts are intended to provide UNCDF with the tools to devel­op best practices for local governments in developing countries.

After an extended period of internal con­flict in Cambodia, decentralization was introduced as part of a larger wave of pub­lic sector reform to promote democratic development and increase participatory governance. Decentralized planning and financing mechanisms were initially pilot­ed and then institutionalized at a lower level (commune), and similar reforms are now being introduced at higher sub­national levels (district and province). The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and The Asia Foundation engaged the Capstone team to assess the recent decentralization efforts in Cambodia. The Capstone team conducted a document review of the decentralization process as well as field interviews with researchers, local and international development part­ners, and government officials at the national and sub­national levels. As a final deliverable, the Capstone team produced an assessment of the sub­national planning process and guidelines, documentation and assessment of the pilot planning process undertaken in the Takeo province, and recommendations for a future subnational planning system for Cambodia.

The Capstone team assisted the World Bank in the conceptualization and devel­opment of a model slum­resettlement site that promotes the principles of affordabili­ty, livability, and economic and environ­mental sustainability for the urban poor. The model adopts approaches that opti­mize urban space, considers socio­eco­nomic and cultural concerns of potential relocated residents, and incorporates dis­aster resilience. The team used field research in the Philippines, academic liter­ature from other Southeast Asian coun­tries, and global cases to develop a set of recommendations. The Capstone team provided the World Bank with a final report focused on the promotion of medi­um­rise, socialized housing developments and an analysis of the parameters of suc­cess associated with them.