Theme III Introducing Greater Impact Orientation at the Institutional Level Group 6

Group Expectations Included: Learning from experience of others Ways to operationalize flexibility Enhance commonality of approaches Institutionalize participatory M & E Learn more about results-based management Help IFAD develop a greater impact orientation Identify ways to monitor capacity building and strengthen institutional analysis Operational recommendations should emanate from the workshop Have fun

Definition of Impact Super Goal Level relates to achievement of the DAC development targets Goal Level relates to improvements in well being Purpose Level relates to sustainable changes in behaviour Related Issues include: –Enabling governments and other local institutions to focus more on impact –Major gaps between institutional and global DAC targets and need to bridge them (but some debate about operational relevance) –Who do we work with at each level? –Purpose level impact related to capacity strengthening needs greater attention

Focus on Local Institutions (Including Grassroots Organizations) Need to focus on assisting local institutions (including grassroots organizations) to collect information, manage projects/programmes to ensure local ownership towards impact achievement –Investing in creating capacity and empowerment –Accountability and transparency (including mechanisms for beneficiaries to hold service providers accountable) –Subsidiarity (decisions taken at appropriate level) –Accent on development of sustainable institutions –Improve physical and managerial working conditions –Introduction of more “user-friendly” procedures and processes

Key Areas for Enhancing Partnership Working together to strengthen planning and management processes at all levels (sectoral, regional, district, village, etc.) Joint multi-donor/national partner strategic/policy approaches, diagnostic studies, and evaluations (upstream collaboration essential) Common parameters and indicators or impact measurement at country level Agreement on common approaches and management/communication tools to make the work of local stakeholders (and donors?) easier Need to encourage institutional cultures towards reflection, openness, and risk-taking Share learning about partnering

Facilitating Learning for Impact Achievement Projects as learning processes for a variety of stakeholders and the need to systematize learning (as opposed to “accidental” learning) Need for different learning strategies and tools or different categories of stakeholders Need to capture project-level learning for purposes of replicability of successes and avoiding mistakes BUT need to understand the context of lessons learned and adapt appropriately to other contexts Need to recognize/respect the value of local knowledge and build upon it As a central way for individual donor agencies to contribute to attainment of the Year 2015 international development targets Need for imaginative ways to capture knowledge and use tools

Examples of Success Stories (in countries) Morrocco (with GTZ assistance) Participatory planning and management in a national park project –Improvement of local managerial conditions of project staff and beneficiaries –Empowerment for decision-making (led to strong local ownership) “Samasari” in Bangladesh (OXFAM) –Imaginative use of monitoring tools and processes –Development of user-friendly processes –Good-natured competition between communities for impact monitoring Micro-finance in Bangladesh for “asset-less” people –Empowerment of small groups through decentralized decision-making –Institutionalization of sustainable practices Nigeria Agricultural Ministry Coordination Unit –Efforts being made to coordinate donor investment approaches –Facilitating partnership efforts

Success Stories (in donor agencies) DFID top management publishes draft documents on intra-net on organizational changes –Promotion of transparency and openness –A donor agency “practicing what it preaches” IFAD attitude survey –Intended to improve upward accountability and staff working conditions –Stimulation of institutional reflection IADB rewards or country portfolio improvement –Performance-based rewards and recognition –Quick, timely incentives to those actually responsible or the improvements

Organizations Need to Change to Enhance Impact Achievement In order to change, they will need different incentive systems All agency processes and procedures need to be reviewed (streamlined) in light of their contribution to impact enhancement Need for impact-oriented tools and approaches Look beyond project level to higher levels and adjust incentives accordingly Need for incentives to promote partnership Need for more downward and upward accountability Need to encourage institutional cultures towards reflection, openness, and risk-taking Organizations and individuals need to focus on results