Guidance Note for Assessing Rule of Law in Public Administration

Inspired by increased attention to the rule of law as an essential driver for development, the Folke Bernadotte Academy (FBA) in Sweden and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have joined forces to develop – through a series of pilots – a tool that will assist governments and development partners in analysing respect for the principles of the rule of law in the workings of public administration.

Piloting of the tool was conducted in 2011-2013 in three countries: the Philippines, Sierra Leone and Ukraine; all three facing a different set of development challenges.

As a result of three years of intensive work and close interaction with national actors – governments, civil society, academia and development actors – UNDP and the FBA finalised the Users’ Guide for Assessing Rule of Law in Public Administration. This Guidance Note complements the Users’ Guide and provides the reader with a comprehensive overview of how important linking the rule of law and public administration is, highlights the lessons learned from the pilots and proposes a sequencing of actions to be taken when conducting a review/assessment of a specific public administration agency and the role of different actors in that process.