Programme and Project ManagementIntroduction on Programme & Project ManagementRelated Sub ProcessesDescriptionThis section of the Policies and Procedures should be read in conjunction with Section 1: Results Management and Accountability and the revised RBM toolkit (link). Together these sections provide comprehensive guidance and useful tips on formulating good quality programmes and projects. The Results Management and Accountability section and the revised RBM toolkit provide more detailed information on the results hierarchy and how to formulate proper outcomes, outputs, activities, and performance indicators. The focus of this section is on the required minimum programming procedures for effective planning, execution, monitoring and evaluation of UNDP development programmes and projects. The section describes the essential requirements to ensure that Country, Regional and Global programmes and projects are properly managed and contribute effectively to national development goals. The processes described are fully aligned with UN Development Group Common Country Programming Processes. Programming at the country level is undertaken by the UN System in partnership with the Government and other key development partners. This section of the Policies and Procedures describes the minimum requirements and processes used by UNDP as a member of the UN Country Team (UNCT) to produce development results, by applying accepted international standards for the management of projects and programmes. UNDP uses projects to produce outputs in order to contribute to results approved in Country Programmes (CPs), Regional Programmes (RPs) and the Global Programme (GP) to operationalise UNDP’s vision, directions and strategies as established in the Strategic Plan. In other words, all projects must fall under CP, RP, or GP unless under emergency situations. Within this framework, UNDP s Associated Funds and Programmes, namely the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the United Nations Volunteers Programme (UNV), and the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) contribute directly to UNDP s Programme results. This Programme and Project Management Overview include the following sub-sections:
Relevant PoliciesThis section outlines general and overarching policies that apply across all UNDP development programmes and projects, and thus apply to all sub-sections of this Results Management section. The strategic plan is UNDP’s comprehensive corporate planning instrument which outlines the vision and mission of the organization, as well as the concrete goals and objectives to be pursued over the four year cycle to support programme countries in achieving national development objectives. The plan defines the areas in which UNDP will work (development focus areas) and the types of outcomes it will support (corporate outcomes) based on its mandate and comparative advantage. Additionally, the plan sets out the major institutional priorities and the management outputs that will be produced to achieve them. These include outputs related to UNDP’s support to the resident coordinator system, performance indicators and targets are set for all institutional results. 2.2 National Ownership As outlined in the Strategic Plan, national ownership is one of the most important principles and approaches in UNDP’s work. UNDP activities are based on the premise that governments have the primary responsibility for the development of their countries and for establishing and leading the national development agenda, including its respective policies and plans in that country. National ownership is also fully embedded in the harmonized United Nations programming process. In line with this, UNDP operations must therefore be firmly anchored in the needs and priorities of programme countries. Development solutions must always reflect local circumstances and aspirations and draw upon national actors and capabilities. Programme country leadership and ownership of development cooperation is also essential for sustainability. Fostering national ownership requires the full participation of different parts of government and civil society organisations so that society can identify with the final choices that are made based on a range of credible alternatives. If national ownership best reflects what governs the selection and design of UNDP programmes, then capacity development, simply stated, is how we do it. Capacity development is clearly identified in the Strategic Plan as UNDP’s overarching contribution to development. This is also in keeping with General Assembly resolution 59/250 calling for more effective United Nations support in this area. Capacity development cuts across each of UNDP’s core focus areas and over the past few years it has become evident that a more rigorous and systematic approach to supporting capacity development is called for to enhance UNDP assistance to the efforts of programme countries to achieve the MDGs and support human development.. This includes taking concrete steps to mainstream capacity diagnostics throughout UNDP and UN system operations and into national processes. Similarly, the articulation and implementation of capacity development strategies have to become more evidence-based and systematic in application, and measurable in terms of progress and impact achieved. UNDP has developed a number of capacity development strategies that may be applied to address capacity development needs in a variety of sectors that speak to integrated approaches to development. Please see the Supporting Capacity Development - The UNDP Approach for further detail on the tfollowing capacity development strategies and application areas.
Any one or a combination of these capacity development strategies should be implemented in the context of UNDP programmes in all practice areas. They should be implemented as part of an overall capacity development process that includes the following steps: 1) Engage partners and build consensus; 2) Assess capacity assets and needs; 3) Define CD strategies; 4) Implement CD strategies; 5) Monitor and evaluate CD strategies. 2.4 Gender equality and the empowerment of women Empowering women and making gender equality a reality is a core commitment of UNDP. As the ‘integrating dimension’ of UNDP’s work, gender must be addressed in everything the organization does. UNDP can make an impact on gender equality in four ways: through the integration of gender into the focus areas (i.e. democratic governance, poverty reduction, crisis prevention and recovery; and energy and environment, information, and HIV/AIDS); through its work as scorekeeper and champion for the Millennium Development Goals; through its stewardship of the resident co-ordinator system; and through the organisation’s effective advocacy tool, namely the Human Development Report and the National Human Development Reports. UNDP’s agenda for gender equality follows a twothree-pronged approach: a) Integrating a gender perspective into all policies and programmes across each core priority of UNDP to ensure that men and women fully participate in and benefit from development outcomes: b) Investing dedicated resources in specific interventions that empower women, reduce their vulnerability, build their leadership, provide them with access to resources, and protect their human rights
For more information, please refer to the UNDP Practice Note on Gender Equality 2.5 Aid Effectiveness As articulated in the Strategic Plan, UNDP is
committed to supporting programme countries to enhance effective aid management, in line with broadly accepted good practices
and in keeping with General Assembly resolution 59/250 which calls on United Nations organizations to further strengthen the
capacity of developing countries to better utilize the various aid modalities. The commitment to align and link ODA firmly
to national development plans and MDG based poverty reduction strategies, opens a host of new opportunities. To achieve the
MDGs donors need to ensure more policy coherence for development effectiveness and provide additional support through untying
aid, steeper debt relief, opening markets and transfer of technology, as outlined in MDG 8. In sum, MDGs are political, accountability
and advocacy instruments designed to promote development in the new Millennium. They strongly hinge on global partnership
and ownership. 2.6 South-South Cooperation 2.7 Results Orientation As described in the Results Management and Accountability
section of the Policies
and Procedures (link), defining clear, meaningful and measurable development outcomes to which UNDP can contribute is central
to the results-based approach of UNDP. A key element of the definition of results is that they are material to actual development
as seen by developing countries themselves, and by the development community at large. A strong results orientation must be
seen as a critical element of all UNDP operations, particularly its development programming. (See Results-Based Management
(RBM) in UNDP: Technical Note.) Results orientation implies that the processes of planning, implementing, monitoring, and
evaluating the organisation s work is structured around achieving real and meaningful results. For UNDP, this is reflected
in a chain of results that starts with MDGs and national development priorities, addressed through UNDAF/ Country Programme/CPAP,
which in turn are achieved through outputs which are realised through projects, as mapped in Figure 1. Figure 1: Hierarchy of project-level inputs leading to programme-level outcomes National development priorities are medium to long-term development goals that a programme country has chosen to pursue. They often reflect the MDGs and other international development targets, and are usually found within national planning frameworks or strategies. Outcomes describe the intended changes in development conditions resulting from inter alia, UN cooperation. UNDAF outcomes are the strategic, high level results expected from the UN Country Team (UNCT) in collaboration with government and other partners, including civil society. They are produced by the combined effects of the lower level agency outcomes as defined in Country Programmes. While national development outcomes may require a medium to long-term time horizon (perhaps 5-15 years), UNDAF outcomes speak of specific results to be achieved within the UN programming cycle (which is aligned with the national planning cycle). In the UNDP programming context, a project document specifies how outputs are generated, with what partners, carrying out what activities, utilising what resources. There is causality between these levels. . For more information, see the Result Management and Accountability section. 2.7 Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) Uncertainty is inherent in many of UNDP s activities. The very nature of UNDP as a large organization with a presence in 166 countries, working on global and national development challenges, exposes it to risks that range widely and include environmental, financial, programmatic, operational, organizational, political, regulatory and strategic risks. In response, UNDP has developed a corporate Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) framework that builds upon the organization s growing body of knowledge on risk by consolidating UNDP s existing risk management procedures and tools. It includes processes to implement ERM into UNDP s planning, operational and management practices. All UNDP programmes and projects should systematically and proactively identify, monitor and manage all of its high impact / high probability risks to ensure effective planning and decision making. The ERM section of the Policies and Proceduresfacilitates this process by providing guidelines and tools and defining the roles, responsibilities and accountability levels needed to ensure proper risk management. A major area of risk management that all programmes and projects need to implement is Security Risk Management (SRM). The UNDP Security Policy requires that security be mainstreamed to fully integrate security in programming and that a sound risk management methodology be applied. Risk management should be addressed at all three levels of programming at country level as an integral part of the programme/project cycle. The purpose of Security Risk Management (SRM) is to enable operational capabilities and mission accomplishment, with minimal or no loss of life, assets and mission scope. SRM comprises two main phases: threat and risk assessment and effective implementation of risk mitigation measures. A country security risk assessment should be conducted to complement the CCA. SRM must be factored into the definition, budgeting, initiating, running, through to monitoring and evaluating of all programmes/projects. The only way to ensure dedicated security support to UNDP programmes/projects is to include the requirements and costs in the programme planning and budgeting process. That represents the only sustainable manner to fund security needs as inputs to the project/programme, like any other input required for the effective delivery of a project. By influencing designs, such as addressing causes in projects focusing on conflict prevention and reduction, rule of law, governance and similar themes can, on the other hand, contribute to the mitigation of security risk against UN personnel, assets and activities. Security Advisors/Officers are a resource for managers during the programme and project management cycles and should be involved from the outset throughout the programming cycle. |
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