Review of the International Maritime Organization's Technical Cooperation Programme

In 2020 OpenCities Ltd was awarded the contract to evaluate the IMO’s Integrated Technical Cooperation Programme (ITCP) 2016-19. This was the 6 th evaluation we have undertaken for the IMO. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is the United Nations Specialized Agency with responsibility for the safety and security of shipping and the prevention of marine and atmospheric pollution by ships. The objective of the ITCP is to assist countries in building up their human and institutional capacities for uniform and effective compliance with the Organization’s regulatory framework, such that the Organization can achieve its mandate of ‘Safer and Secure Shipping and Cleaner Oceans’.

Key components of the evaluation include: detailed analysis of financial and output data and comparison with biennial plans; collecting data and opinion from the IMO Secretariat (regional heads, implementing officers etc.) including through an internal survey; an external survey (in English, French and Spanish) of approximately 1,000 maritime officials, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and other actors located in about 200 countries and territories; six country cases to ask ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions and explore the results of the external survey; focus groups with selected Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States; collation of best practice and what works in capacity building; a review of previous ITCP impact assessment recommendations and action taken; and benchmarking the IMO’s performance and approach against UN comparators (International Civil Aviation Organization, World Meteorological Organization).