Overview of UNDG Toolkit

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The UNDG Toolkit was created for improved functioning of the UN development system at the country level. It provides a comprehensive structure to support countries in planning and implementing the change effort required to improve development impact and increase efficiency of the UN development system. It is a repository of the guidance, lessons learned and tools deriving from the experiences of the eight “Delivering as One” pilot countries, and from the experiences of UN Country Teams (UNCTs) that have pursued efforts to become more coherent.

The Toolkit also contains the existing UNDG guidance on programmes (such as the revised UNDAF Guidelines) and operations (such as those related to Common Services). It should serve as a comprehensive resource to support countries in their efforts towards an integrated programme and operations approach in the development of the UNDAF and UNDAF Action plan towards greater coherence of the UN development system at the country level.

The Toolkit aims to:

Provide a framework (building on existing tools and approaches) to help countries develop a comprehensive change effort for their programmes and operations;
Make tools available — including guidance notes, activity plans and descriptions, templates, sample documents — to be used by UN Country Teams on an à la carte basis;
Be user-friendly and non-prescriptive. The Toolkit directs users to those activities most relevant to their needs. Note: most of the tools provided are suggestions and not requirements. The UNDAF remains the recommended common programming tool for the UN development system as a whole and is mandatory for all organizations guided by the TCPR resolutions

Background

Significant agreements have been reached in recent years on improving the amount, quality and focus of Official Development Assistance (ODA), starting with the Millennium Declaration (2000) — which forged a global consensus around key development priorities (Millennium Development Goals) — and the Monterrey Declaration on Development Financing. These high level UN agreements have been followed by important technical commitments on improving the quality and predictability of aid (Rome and Paris declarations), the main principles of which are captured in the 2004 and 2007 General Assembly resolutions on operational activities for development, as well concrete engagements to increase ODA to the poorest countries.

While reaffirming the centrality of the UN system in the global development architecture, the World Summit 2005 highlighted needed improvements in order for the UN system to deliver on the high level commitments that had been agreed upon in the Millennium Declaration and subsequent engagements. A High-Level Panel on System-Wide Coherence produced a report in November 2006 entitled “Delivering as One,” in which they recommended that the UN at country level should pursue greater coordination through having One Programme, One Budgetary Framework, One Office and One Leader. These recommendations are being implemented to differing degrees in eight pilot countries, based on local conditions and perceived priorities: Albania, Cape Verde, Mozambique, Pakistan, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uruguay, and Viet Nam. Debate on the Report continues in the General Assembly.

In its Triennial Comprehensive Policy Reviews of 2004 and 2007, the General Assembly called for the UN system to become more coherent, efficient and effective, and achieve greater impact, in the countries in which it operates. The major elements in which the UN needs to become more coherent are programming (through improved UNDAFs and their implementation plans) and common services and harmonized business practices in order to improve the effectiveness and relevance of operational activities in responding to national development priorities.

The UNDG Toolkit for improved functioning of the UN development system at the country provides a comprehensive structure to support countries in planning and implementing the change effort required to improve development impact and increase efficiency of the UN development system. It is a repository of the guidance, lessons learned and tools deriving from the experiences of the eight “Delivering as One” pilot countries, and from the experiences of UN Country Teams (UNCTs) that have pursued efforts to become more coherent, effective and relevant. The Toolkit also contains the existing UNDG guidance on programmes (such as the revised UNDAF Guidelines) and operations (such as thse related to Common Services). It should serve as a comprehensive resource to support countries in their efforts towards an integrated programme and operations approach in the development of the UNDAF and its implementation plan towards greater coherence, effectiveness, and relevance of the UN development system at the country level. The Toolkit aims to:

Provide a framework (building on existing tools and approaches) to help countries develop a comprehensive change effort for their programmes and operations;
Make tools available — including guidance notes, activity plans and descriptions, templates, sample documents — to be used by UN Country Teams on an à la carte basis;
Be user-friendly and non-prescriptive. The Toolkit directs users to those activities most relevant to their needs. Note: most of the tools provided are suggestions and not requirements. The UNDAF remains the recommended common programming tool for the UN development system as a whole and is mandatory for all organizations guided by the TCPR resolutions.

Workstream

The Toolkit provides a comprehensive set of tools that build on available sources (UNDAF guidance and other guidance provided by UNDG) to support countries conducting new initiatives, including Common Premises (where feasible), Joint communications, etc.

The Toolkit is built around a framework that recognizes the major elements of a more coherent, effective and relevant UN system and corresponds to workstreams in the change management process. All of these workstreams do not need to be implemented to enhance the effectiveness of the UN system; they are dependent on the country situation. For example, common premises (where feasible) may not be interesting given the country’s security situation.

Workstream A: UNDAF or Common Programming Tool

This workstream refers to integrated planning and implementation of all UN development assistance at the country level through the development of common country programming processes and tools. These processes and tools may already have been adopted by UNCTs globally as part of the UNDAF process.

Workstream B: Common Services and Harmonized Business Practices

Common Services refers to the cost-reducing/service-quality-improving experiences of UNCTs in the areas of common facilities and services such as security, ICT, banking and travel services. Under Business Practices come the administrative efficiencies gained through the reorganization of UN administrative and operational functions such as HR and procurement.

Workstream C: Joint Communications

This workstream focuses on strengthening the overall impact of the process to enhance coherence, effectiveness and relevance of the UN system through coordinated and integrated communication.

Workstream D: Common Premises (where feasible)

The development of a common premises can allow for greater gains from common services than would be feasible if agencies were separately located. Under the CER process, the ‘where feasible’ is regularly added in parenthesis to emphasize that a common premises may not be interesting or feasible in all situations.

Workstream E: Joint Resource Mobilization

This workstream relates to the coordination of, and in some circumstances direct and joint mobilization of, resources by agencies at the country level. The variance of these activities will depend upon the level and nature of joint programming by the UNCT at the country level.

Workstream F: Common Budgetary Framework

This workstream relates to the development of mechanisms that allow for the joint management of financial resources by the UNCT at the country level. This includes various fund management arrangements including the experiences of DaO Pilots Countries with ‘One Funds’ at the country level. It also covers the development of financial monitoring and reporting tools for greater transparency and accountability of UN resources at the country level.

Workstream G: Organizational Change

This workstream covers how the CER process should be led and managed at the country level. This includes the specific responsibilities that arise from the application of the Framework and UNDG toolkit.

Tools and explanations of processes are available to help UNCTs improve their coordination in many of the above areas. This Toolkit builds on existing tools where relevant and combines them with new ones—often developed by the “Delivering as One” pilot countries—to provide comprehensive support to spur a thorough change process.

Step by Step

The Framework organizes the change process into nine steps. Six of the steps proceed sequentially, while three are cross-cutting. The workstreams cut across the sequential steps as is shown in the exhibit below.

The six sequential steps are described below:

Step 1: Initiate and Mobilize
This step aims to prepare and mobilize the UNCT, UN staff and other key stakeholders to improve the efficiency and development impact of UN system activities at the country-level. Consultation, participation, mobilization, ownership, and alignment of goals and expectations are key components of this step that set this effort off to a good start.

Step 2: Prioritize and Set Outcomes
This step aims to identify and assess current UN system capacities (programmatic and non-programmatic), key needs in the country, and where the UN system can achieve the most impact. These analyses help the UNCT to articulate the high-level outcomes needed for a more strategic, efficient and effective UN system at the country level.

Step 3: Determine Strategy
In this step you will determine the strategy for the UN system in country, guided by the vision and mission articulated in Step 2. The integrated programme and operations strategy in the country brings together programmatic and non-programmatic outcomes to create a comprehensive plan.

Step 4: Plan Organizational Changes
In this step you will identify the changes needed to the organizational structure, processes and capacities to implement the UN system strategy in the country. This entails further analysis and discussion around the key dimensions (structure, processes and capacity) of the UN organization.

Step 5: Develop Implementation Plan
In this step you will translate the required changes identified in the previous steps in to a comprehensive, prioritized, time- and resource-bound implementation plan.

Step 6: Implement
In this step you will execute the implementation plan in a coordinated and structured way, and manage the different risks that are associated with and emerge during the implementation.

Below are three additional cross-cutting steps to help bolster Steps 1-6:

Step 7: Monitor and Evaluate
This step aims to determine the UNCT actions needed to prepare for and monitor progress made in achieving the outcomes, as well as to evaluate if/when the expected results are realized.

Step 8: Communicate about Change
This step aims to provide clear, consistent communication to key stakeholders—internal and external—to guarantee broad commitment and generate support for the change process.

Step 9: Coordinate Change and Ongoing Implementation
This step aims to put the project management process in place to manage it and ensure its overall coordination and successful implementation.

The illustration below shows the nine steps coming together in an alternative view of the overall Framework for UN Coherence, Effectiveness and Relevance which leaves out the workstream dimension.

Toolkit Checklist

The Toolkit Checklist takes a holistic approach to the UNDG Toolkit and enables the user to understand the readiness of the UNCT to embark on the change management process. Whether the UNCT has already developed a road map in line with the development of a new UNDAF or not is irrelevant. This quick survey allows the UNCT to understand the principles and implications of voluntarily adopting DaO?.

As the user goes through the questions, they will be guided to the relevant sections of the Toolkit to help them think through, evaluate or further define their state of readiness.

The Management and Accountability System of the UN Development and RC System

To advance the implementation of the TCPR and further strengthen the Resident Coordinator system, the UNDG, and the Chief Executives Board subsequently, agreed on the “Management and Accountability System of the UN Development and RC System, including the “functional firewall” for the RC System” (M&A System) in 2008.

The M&A System provides a clear framework in which both accountability and management can be exercised effectively. It consists of a long-term vision statement for the Resident Coordinator System and set of agreements which clarifies the management of the RC System, as well as the accountability framework of the UN development system at the global, regional and country level, aligning authority with accountability. These agreements further outlines the concept of a “functional firewall” that provides the distinctive internal arrangements that are essential to ensuring clarity between UNDP’s programmatic function relating to the organization’s programmatic and operational development partner role, and UNDP’s coordinating functions performed on behalf of, and in support of, the UN development system.

To ensure that the M&A System is translated into actual changes, a detailed Implementation Plan has been developed and approved, which gives guidance on how tasks and responsibilities should be divided between UNDG at the global level, the Regional UNDG Teams, UNDG Working Groups and Networks, individual UNDG organizations and UNDOCO, giving clear accountability and linkages.

At the global level, the M&A System established an Advisory Group at Principals and ASG level to provide advice to the UNDG Chair and facilitate inter-agency agreements on key issues relating to operational activities of the UN development system. The M&A System also set up the architecture for oversight of multi-donor trust funds, and called for the re-profiling of DOCO.

At the regional level, the M&A System set up the key strategic and leadership function of the Regional UNDG Teams: i) technical support to RCs and UNCTs; ii) quality support and advice on UNDAFs; iii) performance management of RCs and UNCTs; and, iv) trouble shooting. The M&A System also called for a capacity assessment of the regional UNDG Teams and called on the Regional UNDG Teams to expand their membership to be representative of organizations working at the country level to the extent possible.

The Resident Coordinator and the UN Country Team:

At the country level, the agreed long-term vision is that the Resident Coordinator will have an equal relationship with, and responsibility to, all UNCT member agencies. The RC will support the entire UN family and coordinate its partnership with the Government in meeting its national development priorities and strategies.

At the same time, the RC will be empowered by clear recognition by each organization of his/her role in strategically positioning the UN in the country and will have access to agencies' technical resources as agreed with the agencies Representatives balancing available resources with tasks to be performed.
On funding all Specialized Agencies, Funds and Programmes, as well as DOCO, should take responsibility for seeking to provide flexible financing for startup/preparatory activities for the UNCT.

At the heart of the M&A System is the concept of mutual accountability of the Resident Coordinators and the UN Country Team. All UNCT members are accountable for results where they have agreed to lead the team. Representatives in the Country Team will report to the RC on matters related to the working of the UNCT and the programme implementation of any UNDAF/One Programme elements led by the agency, and that the RC will provide an assessment of that performance as formal input to agency performance appraisals. The agreed long-term vision for the empowerment of the RC and the UNCT is embedded in the RC Job Description, the Guidance Note on RC and UNCT Working Relations and the Dispute Resolution Mechanism for the UNCTs.

On the issue of resource allocation, the RC job description outlines the leadership role that the RC plays in the UNCT in the strategic development of the UNDAF and specifically takes the final decision on strategic focus and allocation of UNDAF (or "One Fund") resources against that focus, if consensus cannot be reached.

Post Crisis Transition

‘Transition’ refers to the period of transformation when a country emerging from crisis undertakes a recovery process. Post-crisis transition here refers to transition following both natural disasters and conflict, or political crisis, recognizing the inherent differences in the context. Following conflict or political crisis, transition normally takes place in a highly complex environment characterized by a weak or weakened institutional and governance setting; threats to peace and stability; co-existing humanitarian and long term needs; and the presence of a wide range of international and national actors working in a challenging coordination environment. In this complex setting, the UN can play a critical role in promoting commonality of vision and action. In contrast, for natural disasters the transition period is usually characterized by strong intact governments which may experience short-lived capacity deficiencies in their local governance structures within the disaster impact areas. The post disaster transition situation may therefore represent an environment where national actors are more quickly able to assume a leadership role in the recovery process.

For the UN, transition implies a shift away from a strictly humanitarian response to an approach now led by national actors that includes planning and implementation of recovery initiatives, reconciliation and peace consolidation. During transition, the aim of the UN System should therefore be to assist national authorities to initiate immediate, priority crisis resolution and recovery actions, and to lay the groundwork, including the capacity, systems and relationships needed to embark on a longer-term development path.

Early recovery is an essential component in the process of the transition period from relief to development, when a country and communities re-establish themselves after a crisis. The UN and other actors’ contribution to early recovery begin while humanitarian activities are ongoing. In this context, early recovery is designed to help create a life-sustaining environment and to lay essential foundations for full recovery and a return to longer-term development.

Several tools and guidance on transition have been developed, based on lessons learned and practical experience at country level, for the development and funding of transition strategies in post-crisis situations. This section acknowledges the special circumstances of UN Country Teams in this situation that would like to integrate elements of change management and ‘Delivering as One’ in their strategies. To facilitate navigation you will find where applicable at the end of most of the worksreams documents specific for countries in a transition context. The document title begins with the label CPC (for Crisis and Post Crisis).

For further information please refer to UNDG-ECHA Working Group on Transition section of the UNDG website for related documents such as the Transition Toolkit. There you also will find links to guidance prepared by the UNDG/ECHA Working Group on Transitions and the IASC Early Recovery Cluster Working Group (CWGER). These groups aim at improving the UN’s effectiveness and impact in post-crisis settings. The UNDG/ECHA WG supports the UN system’s work through the entire process of transition; while the IASC CWGER focuses specifically on the identification and the implementation of initial early recovery activities at the onset of transition process.

Related Links:

UN/WB agreements

Crisis and Post Conflict Team

Support

There is a dedicated team of trained resource persons, including staff from almost all of the UNDG member agencies, who have been trained specifically to support UN Country Teams wishing to pursue the ‘Delivering as One’ agenda at the country level.

If you have questions on the toolkit, and how to use it in practice you can:

• Send an email to the focal point for the UNDG Toolkit at UN DOCO using the Contact Us page;

• Ask the Resident Coordinator's Office in your country to contact UN DOCO;

• Contact your Regional UNDG Team using the Contact Us page;

• Consult the UNDG expert rosters to request advice and technical support;

• Post a question to the Coordination Practice Network (CPN)