As I mentioned in my previous post it was absolutely revitalizing to visit UNICEF HQ in New York and breath in all the energy, culture and creativity that makes up this amazing city. It was also great to have a bit of space and time to hear about new global UNICEF strategies and programme activities directly from the 'big bosses'. One of the more interesting talk we had was with the deputy director of programme division, Christian Salazar who talked about several key issues for future programming in UNICEF.
I found the discussion to be of particular interest whereas my office in Malawi is undergoing a mid term review which means that we are semi evaluating the whole country programme; redefining outcomes and outputs to better match current situation and global strategies. The key elements that should found the base of every UNICEF programme as highlighted by the the deputy director in NYHQ were actually extremely relevant for the country office of Malawi. Now, more than ever before, UNICEF strives towards programming which is:
- Risk informed with an emphasis on current and somewhat ‘non-conventional’ types of risks such as global warming and climate change as well as economic crises
- Resiliency based. By focusing on resiliency rather than mere response mechanisms communities become better equipped to minimize and/or handle emergency situations by themselves. Resiliency can be reflected in various preparatory ways such as listing supplies, developing preparedness plans at national and community level, putting in place agreements with partners (both government and NGO’s) on roles and responsibilities in case of emergency, raising community awareness and building capacity to respond to and minimize emergencies and risks. The resiliency agenda thus has strong links with greater environmental sustainability.
- Results based and research informed. In recent years UNICEF has been moving steadily towards results based management. At the same time there is also a global move towards focusing more on 'upstream activities' such as capacity building, planning and system building. So how does RMB function in an environment where it is often hard to measure clear results? For it to do so, several factors need to be in place: a) program processes need to be clear, b) program activities need to have a clear sense of purpose, c) there is a sharp problem identification, and d) there are benchmarks and/or indicators that guide the process and results can be reported against.
- ONE UN. It his highly desired by both the UN as well as by member states that UN agencies deliver as one. While acknowledging that fact that joint programming can be difficult at times, considering that agencies have different reporting mechanisms, different budgeting processes and different program priorities, it is never the less an essential part of the ONE UN. The important steps to take in this respect is first and foremost moving towards joint planning and consultation among and between UN agencies. By doing so the UN is able to learn from each other, use each agency expertise and advance and scale up efficiently and effectively.
- District focused. Bearing in mind the process of decentralization it is highly important that programming at the country level takes into consideration contextual issues of each district, region or area focusing on equity. Efforts should be geared towards strengthening structural courses that create or underpin bottlenecks towards achieving results for the most vulnerable communities and children within.
