Evaluation Series No. 75 
        January 2005 
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
                      Commonwealth Secretariat 
            Development Assistance to Member States in 
                  the area of Corporate Governance 
         
         
                                    Liz Lange 
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
        Commonwealth Secretariat 
        Strategic Planning and Evaluation Division 
        Commonwealth Secretariat 
        Marlborough House 
        London SW1Y 5HX 
        United Kingdom 
         
       
      © Commonwealth Secretariat 2005 
       
       
      Printed  and  published  by  the  Commonwealth  Secretariat,  Marlborough  House,  Pall  Mall, 
      London SW1Y 5HX, UK 
       
      All views expressed in this document are those of the Consultant, and not necessarily those 
      of the Commonwealth Secretariat 
       
      Commonwealth  Secretariat  evaluation  studies  are  confidential  to  Commonwealth 
      governments. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, 
      except by Commonwealth governments for internal distribution.  
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
                  Contents  
                   
                   
                                                                                                                                                       Page 
                           Acronyms and Abbreviations                                                                                                        iii 
                           Glossary of Corporate Terms                                                                                                       iv 
                           Acknowledgements                                                                                                                  v 
                                                                                                                                                      
                  Executive summary                                                                                                                         vii 
                  Chapter One: Introduction                                                                                                           
                           1.     Background to the study                                                                                                     1 
                           2.     Objectives of the evaluation                                                                                                2 
                           3.     Evaluation methodology                                                                                                      3 
                           4.     Outline of the Report                                                                                                       4 
                  Chapter Two: Corporate governance and corporate social responsibility 
                           1.     Corporate governance                                                                                                        7 
                           2.     Corporate social responsibility                                                                                           11 
                           3.     Corporate governance and CSR as development instruments                                                                   15 
                           4.     International context of corporate governance and CSR to date                                                             19 
                  Chapter Three: Planning and implementation of the Programme  
                           1.     Conceptualisation of the corporate governance strategy                                                                    21 
                           2.     Planning of the Secretariat’s work in corporate governance                                                                26 
                           3.     The Secretariat’s institutional approach                                                                                  28 
                           4.     Issues arising from work conducted with CACG                                                                              29 
                           5.     Co-operation with other divisions and organisations                                                                       32 
                           6.     Issues arising from the way the programme was managed                                                                     33 
                  Chapter Four: Assessing programme elements                                                                                       
                           1.      Influence, advocacy and principle setting                                                                                37 
                           2.     Policy workshops and forums                                                                                               38  
                           3.     Country task forces                                                                                                       38  
                           4.     National strategies for promotion of corporate governance                                                                 40  
                           5.     Establishment of national professional institutes                                                                         41  
                           6.     Capacity building with CSAP volunteers                                                                                    41 
                           7.     Mass training programme and course for directors                                                                          41 
                           8.     Train-the-trainer                                                                                                         44 
                           9.     Dedicated sector initiatives (finance and parliamentarians)                                                               45  
                           10.    Sustainability of the corporate governance work                                                                           46 
                           11.    Gender issues                                                                                                             47  
                           12.    The needs of small states                                                                                                 47 
                           13.    Small and medium enterprises                                                                                              48 
                           14.    The development needs of governments and the MDGs                                                                         50  
                  Chapter Five: Recommendations                                                                                                    
                           1.     Summary of findings                                                                                                       53 
                           2.     Strategic recommendations                                                                                                 55 
                           3.     Operational recommendations                                                                                               56 
                      Appendices                                                                                                                                                         
                      1.                   Corporate governance projects                                                                                                                    59 
                      2.                   Corporate governance case studies                                                                                                                61 
                      3.                   Trainee questionnaire data                                                                                                                       81 
                      4.                   Corporate governance expert questionnaire data                                                                                                   87 
                      5.                   Country Task Force Member questionnaire data                                                                                                     91 
                      6.                   People consulted for the study                                                                                                                   95 
                      7.                   Terms of Reference for the evaluation                                                                                                            97 
                      8.                   Commonwealth Principles for Corporate Governance                                                                                                 99 
                      9.                   Bibliography of sources and referenced materials                                                                                               101 
                      Tables                                                                                                                                                                     
                      1.                   Key national and international codes of corporate governance                                                                                       9  
                      2.                   Key codes of corporate social responsibility                                                                                                     13 
                      3.                   Sectoral CSR risks in Commonwealth countries                                                                                                     18 
                      4.                   Business sector and main CSR risks in the Commonwealth                                                                                           18 
                      5.                   Main organisations and initiatives in corporate governance and CSR                                                                               19 
                      6.                   Corporate governance in the Secretariat’s Strategic Plans                                                                                        25 
                      Boxes                                                                                                                                                                      
                      1.                   Factors that put corporate governance and CSR on the development agenda                                                                            8 
                      2.                   CSR: Major Commonwealth cases                                                                                                                    12 
                      3.                   Problems with corporate governance and CSR as development instruments                                                                            17 
                      4.                   Secretariat’s perception of its comparative advantages                                                                                           23 
                      5.                   Trainees’ comments on five–day director-training course                                                                                          43 
                      6.                   Special Commonwealth priorities: small states                                                                                                    48 
                      7.                   Special Commonwealth priorities: small and medium enterprises                                                                                    49 
                      8.                   The Millennium Development Goals                                                                                                                 47 
                      Map                                                                                                                                                                  
                      1.                   Map of Secretariat corporate governance activities                                                                                                 6 
                       
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