UN Delivering as One:Capacity Assessment for Rwanda

UN Country Team Kickoff MeetingDRAFT FOR DISCUSSION

25 March 2008

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PROPOSED AGENDA ITEMS

• Introduce the mission team & team structure

• Confirm a shared understanding of the goals of the engagement

• Review proposed approach and work plan

• Identify key challenges and discuss plans for avoiding / mitigating risks

• Present immediate next steps for the engagement

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Project role Responsibilities

• Provide overall direction for the project

• Provide information and viewpoints to the project team

• Review interim and final outputs

• Discuss findings, develop options and make decisions on actions

• Drive the engagement and carry out the tasks

• Develop and document outputs through interim and final reports to oversight group

• Work with staff liaisons to help gather information and provide guidance on key issues

Reference Groups

• Heads and staff of agencies in Rwanda

• Provide perspectives on future plans and capacity needs

• Provide data and information on current capacities

TEAM STRUCTURE

Global Change Management Support Team / Dalberg Team

• James Mwangi, Project Director

• Edwin Macharia, Project manager

• Rim Abida, Lars Tushuizen, Other TBD

Project Steering Group

• Aurelien Agbenonci; Frederik Matthys; Hillevi Ekberg; Joseph Foumbi; Lamine Diallo

UNCT

• Resident Coordinator

• Representatives from other UNCT agencies

• Day-to-day project coordinator

• Provide direction for the project

• Arrange the involvement of in-country staff in process and provision of documents to the team

• Provide feedback on interim and final outputs

4

PROPOSED AGENDA ITEMS

• Introduce the mission team

• Confirm a shared understanding of the goals of the engagement

• Review proposed approach and work plan

• Identify key challenges and discuss plans for avoiding / mitigating risks

• Present immediate next steps for the engagement

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RWANDA MISSION: OUR APPROACH TO CAPACITY ASSESSMENT TO ADDRESS OBJECTIVES IN TOR

Review agreed One UN objectives and associated activities

Identify roles and competencies required to Deliver as One

Prepare implementation and commu-nication plans

List current roles and competencies

Identify most important capacity gaps

Develop and prioritise options for closing gaps

1 2 3 4 5 6

1. To profile the capacity (person hours) and the competency (skill sets) required to deliver on theOne Programme, as well as back office functions;

2. To assess the capacity of the UN to increase its engagement in policy dialogue processes at the different levels;

3. To develop a view of the balance or imbalance in capacity and competency supply and demand, including identification of: critical capacity gaps, overlaps, synergies and technical requirements

4. To present clear and costed recommendations to the UNCT for actions to address the findings in stage 3

Proposed Objectives for Capacity Mission in TOR

Six step approach to capacity assessment will respond to TOR

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To profile the capacity and the competency required to deliver on the One Programme, as well as back office functions;

To profile the capacity and the competency required to deliver on the One Programme, as well as back office functions;

Objectives

OBJECTIVES OF THE CAPACITY ASSESSMENTKey elements Out of scope

• Identify all ‘Delivering as One’ planned activities, including operations

• Assess and characterize the type, number, and competencies of roles required

• Identify and quantify current roles for all agencies• Identify capacity available through external support

(regional centres, implementation partners, etc)

• Compare available capacities against list of required and quantify capacity differences

• Assess which roles are strategically important to keep in-house vs. other arrangements

• Synthesize set of key capacity gaps to present to UNCT with the quantitative information (including segmentation by agency and based on the division of labour)

• Facilitate discussion of options for bridging gaps, decision on which options to be recommended and outline of high-level implementation plan and communication message

• Develop costed implementation plan identifying specific strategies with associated rationales and responsibilities by UN stakeholders

• Develop recommendations on adjustments to performance review

Assessing the capacity of the UN to increase its engagement in policy dialogue processes at the different levels;

Assessing the capacity of the UN to increase its engagement in policy dialogue processes at the different levels;

To develop a view of the balance or imbalance in capacity and competency supply and demand;

To develop a view of the balance or imbalance in capacity and competency supply and demand;

To present clear and costed recommendations to the UNCT for actions to address the findings in stage 3

To present clear and costed recommendations to the UNCT for actions to address the findings in stage 3

• Will not review individual performance or assess individual competence

• Will not recommend areas of focus or prioritization of roles and competencies

• Will not recommend allocation of capacities or competencies among UNCT agencies

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WAYS THAT UNCT AGENCIES COULD HELP TO FACILITATE PROGRESS OF THE STUDY

• Identify focal points for data needs

To provide specific data from both programme and operations sides of each agency

To provide answers to data specific questions

To direct questions to appropriate individuals within agencies

• Facilitate communications with staff

Ask / raise questions of concerns for team to address

Communicate responses, documents, and progress updates provided by team to staff and staff associations

• Approval of draft staff survey and encourage response

Review of draft staff survey to be sent to determine existing allocation of staff time to various job-related tasks

Encourage widespread staff response to survey in timely manner

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PROPOSED AGENDA ITEMS

• Introduce the mission team

• Confirm a shared understanding of the goals of the engagement

• Review proposed approach and work plan

• Identify key challenges and discuss plans for avoiding / mitigating risks

• Present immediate next steps for the engagement

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CAPACITY ASSESSMENT MISSION TO TAKE PLACE OVER SIX WEEKS

Review agreed One UN objectives and associated activities

Identify roles and competencies required to Deliver as One

Prepare implementation and commu-nication plans

List current roles and competencies

Identify most important capacity gaps

Develop and prioritise options for closing gaps

1 2 3 4 5 6

UNCT update on capacity

assessment mission

Two week country visit: March 24 to April 4

Three weeks out of country: April 6 to April 25

Three day country visit: April 28 to May 3

UNCT 2-day workshop to

develop options for

closing gaps

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To profile the capacity and the competency required to deliver on the One Programme, as well as back office functions;

To profile the capacity and the competency required to deliver on the One Programme, as well as back office functions;

Objectives

DELIVERABLES OF THE CAPACITY ASSESSMENT

Assessing the capacity of the UN to increase its engagement in policy dialogue processes at the different levels;

Assessing the capacity of the UN to increase its engagement in policy dialogue processes at the different levels;

To develop a view of the balance or imbalance in capacity and competency supply and demand;

To develop a view of the balance or imbalance in capacity and competency supply and demand;

To present clear and costed recommendations to the UNCT for actions to address the findings in stage 3

To present clear and costed recommendations to the UNCT for actions to address the findings in stage 3

• Characterization of required capacity for One Programme delivery

• Outline and characterization of existing capacity

• Identification and description of capacity gaps that may impact achievement of delivery objectives

• Presentation to UNCT on key findings about capacity gaps

• Facilitation of UNCT’s development of options to fill the gaps

• Summary of UNCT’s options for addressing gaps for integration into change management strategy (with costed options)

• High-level implementation plan• High-level communication plan (if desired)• Recommended adjustments to performance

reviews

Deliverables

• Identify all ‘Delivering as One’ planned activities• Assess the intervention type and subject matter

expertise required• Characterize a complete set of intervention types

and subject matter expertise required

• Identify and quantify current intervention types, level of seniority, and subject matter expertise for all agencies involved in ‘Delivering as One’

• Compare future vs. current intervention types and subject matter expertise

• Quantify differences in capacity (short term and long term)

• Assess which roles are strategically important to keep in-house

• Synthesize set of key capacity gaps

•Develop and conduct workshop with UNCT to–Communicate findings and information on aggregate current capacity and capacity gaps–Facilitate discussion of options for bridging gaps, aiming at deciding on key steps to take

•Outline high-level implementation plan•Outline high-level communication plan•Outline recommended adjustments to performance reviews

Activities

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Key data needed to effectively complete these stages

Information on Programmes and on "Delivering as One" plans

Individual agency Country Programme Action Plans

Full breakdown of agencies’ (resident and NRA) current capacity, including (a) organigrams (b) staff count (c) job descriptions (d) numbers, sizes & durations, and topics of missions (e) Amount of support from HQ and/or Regional Offices via phone & emails (f) Data on individual team members tenure and level and (g) total budget (Core and Non-Core)

Overview of agencies’ broader organizational structure and resources brought to bear from outside

Interviews with agencies, government, donors and civil society

Key data needed to effectively complete these stages

Information on Programmes and on "Delivering as One" plans

Individual agency Country Programme Action Plans

Full breakdown of agencies’ (resident and NRA) current capacity, including (a) organigrams (b) staff count (c) job descriptions (d) numbers, sizes & durations, and topics of missions (e) Amount of support from HQ and/or Regional Offices via phone & emails (f) Data on individual team members tenure and level and (g) total budget (Core and Non-Core)

Overview of agencies’ broader organizational structure and resources brought to bear from outside

Interviews with agencies, government, donors and civil society

KEY DATA NEEDS FOR CAPACITY ASSESSMENT MISSION

Review agreed One UN objectives and associated activities

Identify roles and competencies required to Deliver as One

Prepare implementation and commu-nication plans

List current roles and competencies

Identify most important capacity gaps

Develop and prioritise options for closing gaps

1 2 3 4 5 6

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STATUS OF DATA REQUEST

  In-country capacity Non-resident capacity Other

  Organigramme JDs Staff lists List of missions Estimate of remote external support

Performance evaluation form

FAO            

IFAD            

ILO            

UN HABITAT            

UNAIDS Yes Partial        

UNCDF            

UNCTAD            

UNDP Yes Partial Yes      

UNECA            

UNEP       Yes Yes  

UNESCO       Yes    

UNFPA   Yes        

UNHCR            

UNICEF            

UNIDO            

UNIFEM            

UNV            

WFP Yes Yes Yes      

WHO Yes   Yes      

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POTENTIAL OUTPUT IS A HIGH-LEVEL MAPPING OF CAPACITY

Assessment of current capacity against need

Advocacy Policy Advice

Direct delivery

Legend

Need

Current

ILLUSTRATIVE

Will present findings by…

• Each of UNDAF Result areas

• Each operational area: Finance, Procurement, HR, and ICT

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PROPOSED AGENDA ITEMS

• Introduce the mission team

• Confirm a shared understanding of the goals of the engagement

• Review proposed approach and work plan

• Identify key challenges and discuss plans for avoiding / mitigating risks

• Present immediate next steps for the engagement

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• Insufficient data is made available to the project relative to needs and/or the data requirements specified by the team do not match the real needs further down the project

• Real current roles are likely to be significantly different from job descriptions for current posts; actual competencies may differ substantially from those listed in job descriptions

• Key decisions may have not yet been discussed or fully agreed (e.g., actual content of One Programme or how far to go towards harmonization on the different parts of One UN)

• Project issues raised are not resolved within an appropriate timescale (particularly with regards to the field visit) and/or data is not provided in good time

• Concerns of agencies cause work or key meetings to be postponed

POTENTIAL PROJECT / METHODOLOGY RISKS (1/2)

• Clarify data expectations on both sides at beginning of the project and identify potential bottlenecks

• Share draft analysis of current capacity based on job descriptions with Heads of Agency (and others as needed) to identify gaps between job descriptions and real roles and competencies

• Consider possibility of a staff survey to identify differences between real and stated roles

• Agree with UNCT from the outset that such issues will have to be raised with them quickly

• Clarify time expectations on both sides at beginning of the project and identify potential bottlenecks

• Plan frequent two-way communications with agencies, including on the methodology and interim findings as well as the final findings; Also seek input on methodology from Inter-Agency Task Team

Potential risks Possible risk mitigation actions

Team unable to identify gaps reliably

Work takes much longer than envisaged

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• Agencies are not be able to agree on a common methodology and toolkit

• Key project stakeholders do not agree that the findings are valid

• Agencies are not be able to agree on a common approach to closing gaps

• There will be insufficient resources to carry out the change management plan, and too much expectations on what agencies’ headquarters can deliver to countries

POTENTIAL PROJECT / METHODOLOGY RISKS (2/2)

• Engage agencies in Rwanda and on Inter-Agency Task Team to get agreement on the methodology

• Get agreement to the methodology up front; Seek feedback on pieces of analysis (e.g., categorisations of jobs for given agency); Plan interim communications where questions about validity of findings can be raised and addressed

• Engage with agencies actively and in a joint setting (workshop) to identify potential solutions, plans and how different activities will be done throughout the process

• Agencies’ headquarters to identify team members to support implementation and country teams to provide resources required to deliver on country-specific plans

Potential risks Possible risk mitigation actions

Findings about gaps are not accepted

Solutions to closing gaps are not developed/ accepted by the UNCT or not implemented

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PROPOSED AGENDA ITEMS

• Introduce the mission team

• Confirm a shared understanding of the goals of the engagement

• Review proposed approach and work plan

• Identify key challenges and discuss plans for avoiding / mitigating risks

• Present immediate next steps for the engagement

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PROPOSED DATES FOR MEETINGS

.

• 25th March

• 3rd April

• Week of 28th April

• 30th April

CMT meeting objectiveSuggested date

• Kick-off discussion of methodolgy and plans for key people to interview

• Progress review on data gathering and analysis

• Presentation of findings and facilitation of workshop to identify ways to address capacity gaps

• Presentation of recommendations and implementation considerations

Meeting with

• CMT

• CMT

• CMT

• Project Steering Group and CMT