One procedure or one institution
The profile presents the findings for the selected procedure or institution.
Working draft V2 · Internal UNCTAD discussion
Needs
Assessment
A new way for UNCTAD to begin cooperation with governments, starting from their situation, priorities and expressed needs.
Three areas governments can improve
The needs assessment records what each government has and what it wants to improve in these three areas.
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Clarify and simplify procedures
Make procedures clear and transparent, and remove unnecessary steps.
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Digitise services
Provide public services online through procedures that have first been clarified and simplified.
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Improve regulations
Write clear regulations that reflect how the improved procedures should work.
A needs assessment as the starting point for cooperation
To start working with a government on one or more of these areas, UNCTAD creates an online needs assessment for a specific subject.
Interested governments or institutions answer questions that show what they already have, where they currently stand, what they want to improve and what assistance they need.
UNCTAD uses those responses to define the needs clearly and develop a possible assistance package with the government. Once the package is sufficiently defined, it can be presented to donors for financing.
This gives UNCTAD a practical way to open cooperation. The first exchange is structured around the government's own situation and priorities, rather than around a preselected solution or a donor proposal written in advance.
The same approach can be applied to many subjects
UNCTAD can follow the same overall process for different subjects, but the content of each needs assessment must be written for the subject concerned. The questions, evidence and possible assistance will therefore differ.
Free zonesZone services, procedures, digital tools, institutions and rules.
Business registriesRegistration services, legal information, data, systems and institutional capacity.
Certificates of originIssuance, verification, trader experience, interoperability and supporting rules.
ePhyto certificatesNational readiness, inspection workflows, certificate exchange and implementation support.
A free-zones assessment and an ePhyto assessment serve the same purpose, but they do not ask the same questions or lead to the same assistance.
How to define the scope of the questionnaire
Before preparing the questions, UNCTAD and the participating government decide two things: what will be assessed and who should participate.
What will be assessed
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One specific procedure or service
The questionnaire focuses on one procedure or service, such as issuing a certificate of origin or an ePhyto certificate.
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One institution more broadly
The questionnaire covers several or all of the institution’s procedures, capacities, priorities and assistance needs.
Who should participate
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One institution
The assessment remains focused on one institution in one country.
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Several institutions in the same process
Each participating institution completes its own assessment. UNCTAD then combines the findings to understand the complete process, the links between institutions and the coordination needs.
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National context
Other relevant institutions in the same country participate when their responsibilities or experience help place the main institution’s needs in context.
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Regional context
Comparable institutions in other countries participate when regional comparison or joint assistance would add value.
These choices can be combined. UNCTAD might assess one certificate process across several participating institutions, or assess one institution more broadly and compare it with equivalent institutions in the region.
The needs profile: findings of the assessment
The direct result of the assessment is a needs profile. It records the validated findings before UNCTAD recommends a solution or prepares a request for financing.
- What was assessed and who participated.
- What already exists and what is already under way.
- The institution’s or institutions’ priorities and expressed needs.
- The evidence, gaps and open questions.
- What requires more detailed examination.
How the findings reflect the scope
Several institutions in one process
Each institution has its own findings, followed by combined findings showing the complete process, institutional links and coordination needs.
National or regional comparison
Where several comparable institutions participate, the findings may also show shared needs and important differences.
A broad questionnaire identifies possible needs. Detailed assessment and government validation are required before UNCTAD recommends assistance.
What UNCTAD can offer
Once the needs profile has been validated, the government and UNCTAD can identify the most appropriate response. UNCTAD can support clarification and simplification, digital service development and better regulations. The assistance may improve what already exists or use an adaptable starting point.
All three areas will increasingly take the OpenGov specifications into account. This is a progressive direction: UNCTAD’s methods and tools will evolve so that public rules can be understood by people and used by machines, while governments retain responsibility for validation and decisions.
OpenGov
Mission and expectations
Services and procedures
Data and systems
People and organisation
Governance and trust
Appropriate response
OpenGov in brief
Spirit
Governments publish their public rules so that people can understand them and machines can use them. Government retains responsibility for policy, legal validity, validation and decisions. Open standards allow different public institutions, communities and technology providers to build and improve services without giving up public control.
Specifications
The specifications provide a common way to describe procedures, requirements, decision rules, data, evidence, roles and outcomes. This allows the same approved rules to support clear information, digital applications, authorised data reuse, interoperable systems and agentic assistance.
Agentic services can guide users, reuse authorised data and ask for missing information. They may also support officials, but the competent public authority validates and decides.
Clarify and simplify procedures
UNCTAD uses the eRegulations method and tool to document procedures from the user’s point of view and publish requirements clearly. Once a procedure is visible, UNCTAD’s simplification method helps identify unnecessary steps, requirements and interactions, and clarify responsibilities.
Current assistance
- Document an existing procedure or design a new one with the responsible institutions.
- Publish requirements, forms, cost, time, legal basis and responsible authorities clearly through eRegulations.
- Review the documented procedure with the government and prepare proposals for simplification.
Planned OpenGov development
UNCTAD plans to improve eRegulations so that institutions can manage procedures more easily and structure the underlying rules using the OpenGov specifications. Planned functions will help prepare proposals for simplification and later automation, subject to institutional review and approval.
Digitise services
Digitisation follows clarification and practical simplification. UNCTAD can develop new digital services or improve existing ones for the procedures selected by the government.
Tailor-made services and adaptable procedure templates will increasingly use the OpenGov specifications to keep requirements and decision rules reusable and machine-readable.
Improve regulations
UNCTAD can help governments prepare better laws and regulations, whether they are creating new rules or reforming existing ones.
Regulatory guidance, model texts and Better Rules AI will increasingly take the OpenGov specifications into account, including the structured expression of rules for human and machine use.
AI-supported analysis and model texts do not replace national legal judgement, consultation or the country’s adoption process.
Documents for decisions and financing
Once the needs profile is validated and a possible response has been identified, the same findings can be used in documents for government decisions and, where needed, donor financing.
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Internal reform brief
A brief or presentation that explains the findings, the possible response and the decisions required within the institution and government.
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National or regional synthesis
ConditionalPrepared only when several institutions participate. It brings together the validated findings, shared needs, important differences and possible areas for joint action.
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Possible donor submission
A concept note, presentation or project proposal that uses the validated findings and agreed assistance package to request external support.
Needs assessment in two stages
A needs assessment should be progressive. The first questionnaire establishes the broad picture and shows where further investigation is needed. Its results help UNCTAD identify the right questions for a more detailed follow-up.
Initial scoping assessment
A short online questionnaire records what institutions have, where they stand, their priorities and their initial view of the assistance needed.
Detailed assessment
Where further work is justified, UNCTAD uses more specific questions, documents and discussions to validate the needs and obtain enough information to define possible assistance.
The first assessment is not expected to provide every answer. It helps determine what must be examined next.
From interest to possible assistance
The sequence begins with a government or institution and reaches donors only after the need and possible response are clear.
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Configure the assessment
UNCTAD prepares an attractive website or tool with questions, language and possible assistance relevant to one subject.
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Describe the starting point
The government or institution explains what exists, where it stands, what it wants to improve and what support it believes it needs.
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Define the needs
UNCTAD organises and analyses the responses, clarifies gaps and turns the information into a clear statement of needs.
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Develop possible assistance
UNCTAD and the government use the needs definition to shape an assistance package that responds to the subject and local situation.
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Seek financing where needed
The agreed package can then become the basis for a proposal to donors, with the problem and proposed response already clearly defined.