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Evaluation Report 5/2011

Review of UN-Habitat’s
Participation in the
Delivering as One UN Initiative

december 2011
Evaluation Report 5/2011

Review of UN-Habitat’s
Participation in the
Delivering as One UN Initiative

december 2011
ii Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative

Evaluation Report 5/2011


Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative

This report is available from http//www.unhabitat.org/evaluations

First published in Nairobi in December 2011 by UN-Habitat.


Copyright © United Nations Human Settlements Programme 2011

Produced by Monitoring and Evaluation Unit


United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat)
P. O. Box 30030, 00100 Nairobi GPO KENYA
Tel: 254-020-7623120 (Central Office)
www.unhabitat.org

HS Number: HS/060/12E
ISBN Number (Series): 978-92-1-132028-2
ISBN Number (Volume): 978-92-1-132475-4

Disclaimer
The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any
opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country,
territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers of boundaries.

Views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of the United Nations Human Settlements
Programme, the United Nations, or its Member States.

Excerpts may be reproduced without authorization, on condition that the source is indicated.

Acknowledgements
Authors: Mathias Hundsalz
Antonio Yachan
Editor: UNON Conference Services
Design & Layout: Peter Cheseret

Photos: © UN-Habitat & Julius Mwelu/UN-Habitat


Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative iii

Table of Contents

ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS........................................................................................................................ v

Executive summary........................................................................................................................................... 1
I. Introduction.................................................................................................................................... 1
Ii. Methodology.................................................................................................................................. 1
Iii. Key findings.................................................................................................................................... 2
V. Conclusions ..................................................................................................................................... 2
Vi. Lessons learned............................................................................................................................... 4
Vii. Key recommendations.................................................................................................................... 5

1. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND............................................................................................... 6


1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 6
1.2 Background..................................................................................................................................... 6
1.3 Objectives and relevance of DaO for UN-Habitat ........................................................................ 9
1.4 Outline of the report.................................................................................................................... 10

2. REVIEW METHODOLOGY AND SCOPE........................................................................................... 11


2.1 Data collection methods.............................................................................................................. 11
2.2 Data analysis................................................................................................................................. 12
2.3 Scope ............................................................................................................................................ 12
2.4 Management of the review process............................................................................................ 13

3. KEY FINDINGS ON UN-HABITAT PARTICIPATION IN THE DaO PROCESS


IN THE PILOT COUNTRIES............................................................................................................... 14
3.1 Cape Verde.................................................................................................................................... 14
3.2 Mozambique................................................................................................................................. 15
3.3 Pakistan......................................................................................................................................... 16
3.4 Rwanda.......................................................................................................................................... 18
3.5 Tanzania........................................................................................................................................ 19
3.6 Vietnam......................................................................................................................................... 20

4. UN-Habitat PARTICIPATION IN DaO: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES................................ 23


4.1 Introduction.................................................................................................................................. 23
4.2 Challenges and opportunities for country offices...................................................................... 24
4.3 Challenges and opportunities for headquarters and regional offices...................................... 27

5. CONCLUSIONS, LESSONS LEARNED AND RECOMMENDATIONS................................................. 33


5.1 Conclusions.................................................................................................................................... 33
5.2 Lessons learned............................................................................................................................. 36
5.3 Recommendations........................................................................................................................ 37

ANNEX I: Terms of Reference........................................................................................................ 41

ANNEX II: LIST OF PEOPLE INTERVIEWED.......................................................................................... 49

ANNEX III: COUNTRY INFORMATION................................................................................................. 51


iv Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative

LIST OF TABLES

TABLES
Table 4.1: Staffing table of UN-Habitat country teams 25
Table 4.2: Source of funding for UN-Habitat DaO projects 30
Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative v

ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS

ANAMM National Association of Municipalities of Mozambique


AOS Agency Operational Support
CPM Country Programme Manager
DaO Delivering as One
DESA Department for Economic and Social Affairs
DOCO Development Operations Coordination Office
ECHO European Commission—Directorate-General for Humanitarian Aid & Civil Protection
ENOF Enhanced Normative and Operational Framework
ERRA Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (Pakistan)
ExCom Executive Committee Agencies (UNDP, UNICEF and UNFPA)
FAO Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
FIPAG Fund for Investment in Water Infrastructure (Mozambique)
GC Governing Council
GEF Global Environment Facility
GOV Government of Vietnam
HACT Harmonized Approach to Cash Transfer
HCPD Habitat Country Programme Document
HIV Human Immunodeficiency Virus
HPM Habitat Programme Manager
HPPMG Harmonized Programme and Project Management Guidelines
HSO Human Settlements Officer
ILO International Labour Organisation
IMIS Integrated Management Information System
INAM National Institute of Meteorology (Mozambique)
INE National Institute of Statistics (Instituto Nacional de Estadisticas)
INGC National Institute for Disasters Management (Mozambique)
IT Information Technology
JPO Junior Professional Officer
LMDG Like Minded Donor Group
MAE Ministry of State Administration (Mozambique)
MDG Millennium Development Goals
MDTF Multi Donor Trust Fund
ME Ministry of Energy (Mozambique)
MekSan Mekong Sanitation Project
MIC Middle Income Country
MICOA Ministry for Coordination of Environmental Affairs (Mozambique)
MIMAS Ministry of Women and Social Action (Mozambique)
MINAG Ministry of Agriculture (Mozambique)
MINED Ministry of Education (Mozambique)
MININFRA Ministry in charge of Housing and Urban Development (Rwanda)
MISAU Ministry of Health (Mozambique)
MOPH Ministry of Public Works and Housing (Mozambique)
MOU Memorandum of Understanding
MTSIP Medium-Term Strategic and Institutional Plan
vi Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative

NRAs Non Resident Agencies


ODA Official Development Assistance
OPF One Plan Fund
OPFMAC One Plan Fund Mobilization and Allocation Committee
PARP Action Plan for Poverty Reduction
PARPA Action Plan for Acute Poverty Reduction
PRSP Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper
PSD Programme Support Division
PSUP Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme
RO Regional Office
ROAAS Regional Office for Africa and the Arab States
ROAP Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
RTCD Regional and Technical Cooperation Division
SBA Standard Basic Agreements
SEDP Socio-Economic Development Plan
TOR Terms of Reference
UN United Nations
UN-Habitat United Nations Human Settlements Programme
UNCDF United Nations Capital Development Fund
UNCT United Nations Country Team
UNDAF United Nations Development Assistance Framework
UNDAP United Nations Development Assistance Plan (Tanzania)
UNDG United Nations Development Group
UNDP United Nations Development Programme
UNEP United Nations Environment Programme
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
UNFPA United Nations Fund for Population Activities
UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund
UNIDO United Nations Industrial Development Organisation
UNIFEM United Nations Development Fund for Women
UNON United Nations Office at Nairobi
UNV United Nations Volunteer
USD United States Dollar
WAC Water for African Cities
WASH Water, Sanitation and Health Programme
WFP World Food Programme
WHO World Health Organisation
ZAWA Zanzibar Water and Sanitation Authority (Tanzania)
Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative 1

Executive summary

Improved residential housing in Cape Verde © UN-Habitat

i. INTRODUCTION Objectives of the review include:


United Nations bodies working in countries • An evaluation and recommendations on
around the world are expected to ‘deliver as one strategic, planning, managerial, operational
United Nations’ under the terms of the Secretary- and monitoring/reporting processes,
General’s High-Level Panel on UN system- mechanisms and human/financial resources
wide coherence in the areas of development, for more effective and efficient participation
humanitarian assistance and environment. of UN-Habitat at global and national levels;
(November 2006). The recommendations • An assessment of the value added of the
are based on five pillars—One Leader, One One UN process for UN-Habitat in the
Programme, One Budgetary Framework, six participating countries, including the
One Communications Strategy, and where integration of the agency into this process; and
appropriate One Office. This review looks at how • A qualitative assessment of the significance of
UN-Habitat fits in with the One UN process in UN-Habitat’s support to the One UN reform
six countries and how it can make itself more agenda.
effective as part of the One UN team. Requested
by the UN General Assembly at the behest of ii. METHODOLOGY
Member States, this evaluation was conducted
This review used three data collection methods:
March-June 2011 by two independent experts,
Mr. Mathias Hundsalz and Mr. Antonio Yachan. (a)
A review of existing documentation,
including: the report of the High Level Panel
Its aim is to determine the extent of UN-Habitat’s on UN System Wide Coherence; other UN
participation when it comes to delivering as one. DaO evaluations; UN-Habitat strategic and
It also seeks to derive lessons learned, identify and policy documentation such as the UN-Habitat
assess strengths, challenges and opportunities, Medium-Term Strategic Institutional Plan
as well as to offer recommendations for a more (MTSIP), policy and strategy papers covering
effective participation. It also offers a clearer the Enhanced Normative and Operational
understanding of the effects and potential of the Framework (ENOF), country reports such as
‘Delivering as One’ (DaO) idea for UN-Habitat. the Habitat Country Programme Documents
2 Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative

(HCPD); annual reports of Country complete agency country budgets, under a single
Programme Managers; and the September accounting system. This will require revision of
2010 evaluation; UN-Habitat programming to enrich the whole
(b) Field visits to Mozambique, Pakistan, Rwanda, project cycle at country level, by simplifying the
and Vietnam to gather primary information programming, approval and reporting exercise
through interviews and obtain relevant and reducing the number of required documents.
documentation; and
The Governments are requesting the UN system
(c) Interviews at Headquarters and UN-Habitat of agencies to concentrate more on policy,
Regional Offices relevant to the six pilot DaO strategies and capacity building. Further, they
countries. have asked UN agencies for new and innovative
proposals that can add value to development,
iii. KEY FINDINGS even as DaO funds are likely reduce.
UN-Habitat is currently active in six of the eight Field staff, though qualified, have inadequate
pilot DaO countries: Cape Verde, Mozambique, capacity to respond to new requests without the
Pakistan, Rwanda, Tanzania and Vietnam (and support from UN-Habitat Headquarters, which up
has no presence in Albania and Uruguay). Habitat to now has been limited to the former Regional
Country Programme Managers have taken the and Technical Cooperation Division. There are
lead in the time-demanding and complex tasks no significant inputs from the other programme
of DaO planning and implementation. They have divisions.
made commendable efforts. Indeed, they have
demonstrated the competency and comparative The One UN Fund has proved to be an incentive
advantage of UN-Habitat in a highly competitive for UN agencies to work together, in particular the
environment with resident and non-resident UN specialised agencies, encouraging a coherent and
agencies. This has also served to raise the profile holistic approach to planning and programming
of the UN-Habitat mandate, resulting in improved which plays to the strengths of each participating
recognition from United Nations agencies and agency.
Governments. The country programmes, in
Headquarters has not adapted its working
general, have expanded activities and staff
system and structure as One UN-Habitat. The
financed from DaO funds.
Regional Offices are also limited—they lack
The ‘Delivering as One’ approach has changed balanced normative, operational and managerial
the way country offices are representing the tasks. An agency-wide policy, programming and
agency, becoming fully participative in the new implementation modality is required, with a
One UN approach. However, some UN-Habitat common and coherent strategy and programme
staff appear to consider the DaO approach as a focus, common management practices, pooled
modality of implementation applicable to UN- country budgets, unified financial and substantive
Habitat’s Regional and Technical Cooperation reporting, and strengthened human resource
Division only. This misunderstanding of a global support from all programme divisions.
change in the UN system is affecting the agency
as a whole, particularly regarding its future focus v. CONCLUSIONS
on country activities. Country level conclusions
Funding of UN-Habitat country activities from core UN-Habitat activities undertaken and financed in
and DaO sources is currently through divisions DaO countries are important. Staff are committed
and/or projects, diluting the contributions of the and have delivered results recognised by the
agency in the One UN Fund and Government Governments. However, looking at the country
counterparts. UN-Habitat funding would be needs and priorities, and UN-Habitat’s mandate
more useful if it were consolidated to establish from a wider perspective, it is possible that other
Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative 3

interventions at policy and strategy levels could Without common and unified administrative,
have had a greater impact. budgetary, accounting and reporting procedures at
country level, UN-Habitat country programmes will
The main strategy of the One UN Programme
remain fragmented and inadequately recognized
under the reform process is to set up joint
by the DaO reform process. Country Programme
programming of agency inputs (resources and
Managers must work to overcome current
activities) at Headquarters and country-level to
fragmented procedures which negatively affect UN-
achieve stated and agreed upon results. Effective
Habitat participation in the DaO reform process.
participation of UN-Habitat in joint programming
has the potential to enhance its visibility and
Conclusions for Headquarters and
sharpen its comparative advantage.
Regional Offices
The performance of Country Programme Considering increasing competition among
Managers in DaO countries has been satisfactory. United Nations agencies to place their mandate on
To maintain the momentum requires stronger DaO priority interventions and on DaO funds, UN-
participation, streamlined from Headquarters Habitat advocacy to position the urban agenda
providing new and updated know-how on UN- is becoming extremely important. Establishment
Habitat mandated topics and strengthening field of National Urbanisation Committees or National
staff to better respond to the increasing demand. Urban Forums, with membership drawn from the
Country Programme Managers need some Government, civil society groups and the private
degree of delegated authority and seed funds sector is urgent.
from Headquarters core resources to better fill The DaO reform process has created considerable
the current gap in UN-Habitat DaO process for demand on UN-Habitat’s way of doing business as
conducting assessments, studies, workshops, part of the United Nations system. This is especially
advocacy campaigns, media announcements because there is no DaO officer at Headquarters
and other upcoming issues under the UN-Habitat to coordinate and raise awareness, monitor DaO
mandate that can justify being included in the development and provide assistance to DaO
One UN country plan. countries on the wide scope of implications of the
Funding of UN-Habitat country activities from United Nations DaO reform process. This practice
different sources (i.e., Multi-donor Trust Fund, has been adopted by other UN Headquarters, and
Foundation earmarked and non-earmarked, resident agencies at field level have also one staff
global programmes, etc.) need to be consolidated dedicated to DaO coordination and monitoring.
into a complete UN-Habitat country budget, under It is necessary for UN-Habitat to revise the whole
a single accounting system. Effective participation project cycle, simplifying programming, approval
in country level DaO process would require a and reporting exercise, and reducing the number
critical mass of funds and human resources. of required documents. This would improve
There is tendency among donors to shift their interaction between field and Headquarters, and
overseas aid less to the Multi-donor Trust Fund in at Headquarters it will speed up response on
favour of funding global programmes (e.g., the technical and administrative aspects.
Global Environment Facility (GEF) or HIV/AIDS) and Regional Offices should be gradually restructured
back to earmarked agency funding. UN-Habitat and expanded to become fully fledged regional
country programmes therefore need to increase arms of UN-Habitat as a whole, with balanced
efforts in mobilising additional funds, and open normative, operational and managerial tasks.
other funding sources such as Government cost- They should also become capable of providing
sharing (e.g., Vietnam) or corporate sources. If not, programmatic and administrative support to the
the agency’s participation in joint programming scope of operational and normative activities at
under the DaO process will not be sustainable. regional level.
4 Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative

The presence of UN-Habitat Headquarters at field Vi. LESSONS LEARNED


level and other strategic positions is still wanting,
The administration and finance procedures in UN-
being less visible at key United Nations country
Habitat Headquarters have maintained the status
team and Government meetings. The presence of
quo—they have not introduced any specific
Headquarters is also weak in the United Nations
measures in relation to the ‘pilot DaO countries’.
Development Group in New York and other venues
The only difference is the annual finance report,
where key DaO decisions in relation to policies,
which is done on-line using the DaO template
priorities and distribution of funds are taken.
and is similar to the trust fund template.
UN-Habitat Headquarters will need a ‘two-track’
The new requirements of DaO in pilot and
support system to pilot and ‘self-start’ the DaO
‘self-started’ countries justify increased level of
reform process. One track would include countries
decentralisation and delegation of authority to
with well-established UN-Habitat teams, who are
regional and country offices. This implies:
raising the agency’s visibility in the United Nations
Country Team and its working groups, and (a)
Rationalizing roles, responsibilities and
where there is potential for including additional accountabilities between Headquarters,
component in the joint programming and regional and field offices;
obtaining increased allocation of One UN funds. (b) Transferring functions to the regional and
The second track would include countries with country offices;
limited presence of Country Programme Manager (c) Downshifting responsibilities to regional and
or country team, supporting with programmatic country office and create more space for
and timely interventions from Regional Offices national accountability and ownership;
in the UNCT and its working groups, building up (d) Increasing the human resource capacity
the agency intervention in the joint programming to provide required technical, policy and
and in the DaO process. strategic assistance at country level; and
UN-Habitat Headquarters should systematise DaO (e) Simplifying procedures, monitoring and
experience through the HSOs in Regional Offices reporting.
capitalising on information from DaO countries.
In order to minimise the cut off on UN-Habitat
That information should be made available
allocations for DaO components, it would be
to staff in different divisions at Headquarters
important to strategize the use of available
and also among pilot DaO countries and ‘self-
core funding from Headquarters, and to initiate
started’ DaO countries to encourage learning
a fundraising so as to provide seed funds for
for better participation in DaO planning and
UN-Habitat activities in DaO countries, and for
implementation.
building on the leverage of larger amounts of
UN-Habitat Headquarters should streamline its DaO funds.
structure and working modality to become a One
Additional human and financial resources from
UN-Habitat. This would involve complementing
Headquarters would be necessary at least during
the divisions’ tasks in a way that could reach
the pilot phase to promote participation of UN-
the field with improved know-how, building
Habitat in the DaO reform process. However,
the capacity of field staff in a systematic way.
in some countries (e.g., Pakistan), AOS from
The Headquarters, especially the Global Division
post disaster reconstruction programmes can
should through field missions assist DaO planning
be utilized to subsidize the increased workload
and advocating in UN and Government meetings;
of DaO.
presenting strategic and innovative approaches on
UN-Habitat interventions. Headquarters presence Regarding core funding, it would be ideal if a
also reinforces the understanding that behind the forecast could be done for DaO countries in
field team there is a whole agency supporting. order to facilitate planning and negotiation at
Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative 5

field level. It would also be good if core funding • The current fragmented management
allocated to projects could reach the country practices in UN-Habitat should be reviewed to
aligned with the DaO plan but coordinated enable it to ‘deliver as one’ at country level:
from Headquarters with the DaO mechanisms of one budget, one coordinator and one set
implementation. of management practices in line with DaO
guidelines for pilot and ‘self-started’ countries.
ViI. KEY RECOMMENDATIONS This will require unified management and
programme support structure at Headquarters
Country level recommendations
to guide and coordinate the agency’s
• The present status of a UN-Habitat country interventions in the DaO countries, and align
team as a non-resident (or resident agency them with the efforts of the UN system of
depending on the perception of the UN agencies.
Resident Coordinator) should be kept. There
• UN-Habitat Headquarters, through PSD
is no need to ‘upgrade’ the status of the
and UNON should clarify with UNDP how
programme manager to international, except
recruitments and procurements will be
for countries with large development or
improved for projects implemented for UN-
humanitarian programmes.
Habitat at country level, eliminating the
• In countries (e.g., Mozambique, Pakistan, duplication on the steps being followed.
Rwanda and Vietnam) where the range
• Within the One UN country planning
of functions of the programme manager
documents (i.e., United Nations Development
has increased following the DaO reform,
Assistance Framework, UNDAP, etc.) UN-
and where UN-Habitat is implementing a
Habitat should ensure that its component
reasonable portfolio, the field offices should
is coherent, structured and coordinated,
have at least two additional non-project staff
consolidating all agency activities and
with relevant specialisations and in line with
budgets to demonstrate a complete profile
national priorities.
of UN-Habitat competencies and comparative
• UN-Habitat should create National Habitat advantages to the DaO joint programming
Committees or National Habitat Forums for process.
raising and maintaining the level of advocacy
and awareness on its competence and
comparative advantage in the DaO countries.
The objectives of the Participatory Slum
Upgrading Programme (PSUP) fits perfectly
well on this aspect and the project office
should ensure that all pilot, as well as ‘self-
started’ DaO countries are considered in the
programme.

Recommendations for Headquarters and


Regional Offices
• UN-Habitat should sharpen its recently
published policy papers on the MTSIP focus
areas for use by the working UN Country
Teams in joint programming. Further, there
is need to add country-specific strategies for
use by the Country Programme Manager and
teams to sharpen the agency’s competence
profile.
6 Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative

1. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

Urban transport in Vietnam © UN-Habitat

1.1 INTRODUCTION period from March to June 2011 (Annex I: Terms


of Reference).
This is a review of UN-Habitat’s participation in
the ‘Delivering as One’ (DaO) initiative in pilot
1.2 BACKGROUND
countries of Cape Verde, Mozambique, Pakistan,
Rwanda, Tanzania and Vietnam. The DaO is Following the 2005 World Summit, a High-Level
an approach following the recommendations Panel on System-wide Coherence recommended
contained in the Secretary-General’s High- the DaO approach to the Secretary-General,
Level Panel on UN-system-wide coherence when addressing the key UN mandates of
in the areas of development, humanitarian development, humanitarian assistance and
assistance and environment (November 2006). environment (November 2006). In response,
The recommendations build on five pillars: UN Country Teams (UNCT) were established
One Leader, One Programme, One Budgetary between the agencies with the expectation of
Framework, ‘One Communication Strategy’ and a strengthened and aligned UN system which
where appropriate One Office. Under these pillars, would improve collaboration with member states
DaO approach is expected to create system-wide in the joint effort of making real progress towards
capacity to coherently addressing cross-cutting the achievement of the Millennium Development
issues such as sustainable development, poverty Goals (MDGs).
reduction, gender equality and human rights,
Responding to a request by the Secretary-General
inclusively, at country level.
to the General Assembly, in early 2007 a number
The review covers the current opportunities and of Governments volunteered to have the DaO
challenges of UN-Habitat’s participation in the approach tested in their countries: Albania, Cape
DaO, and makes recommendations for a more Verde, Mozambique, Pakistan, Rwanda, Tanzania,
rational, coherent and effective participation. It Uruguay and Vietnam. For this purpose participating
was requested by the UN General Assembly, for pilot countries have carried out the ‘evaluability
consideration by Member States, and conducted study’ (2007-2008), the ‘stocktaking exercise’
by two independent consultants: Mr. Mathias (2007-2008) and the ‘country-led evaluations’
Hundsalz and Mr. Antonio Yachan during the (2009-2010). Pakistan is expected to do that
Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative 7

in 2011. Coordinated by the UN Development • Delegate more authority from agency


Group (UNDG), and with the help of the current Headquarters to UN country offices;
independent evaluation, experiences from these • Harmonize agency budgeting procedures and
pilot countries shall be reviewed at the next UN management practices;
General Assembly, as an input to intergovernmental
• Define common result-oriented indicators for
consultations on the future of DaO.
monitoring and evaluation;
The One UN also built on the Paris Declaration • Enhance the predictability and adequacy of
adopted in September 2005 that called for greater (non-earmarked) contributions to the DaO UN
harmonization and simplification of development Fund from bilateral and multilateral donors;
aid and increased effectiveness. It also recognized • Harmonize accounting and reporting
the need for more national ownership of the procedures; and
development programmes and alignment with
• Look for understanding on expected reduction
national development goals. The Accra Agenda
of overhead costs for use in programming.
for Action reaffirmed these intentions in 2008 by
adopting a declaration intended to: At the tripartite meeting hosted by the
(a)
Strengthen country ownership over Government of Vietnam in June 2010, the
development; emerging findings and conclusions from the
country-led evaluations were discussed amongst
(b)
Building more effective and inclusive
the pilot countries. This was the third meeting
partnerships for development; and
organized by the Governments who had
(c) Delivering and accounting for development
volunteered to develop and implement DaO.
results.
As in earlier meetings (held in Maputo in 2008
UN-Habitat participated actively (through its and in Kigali in 2009), the host Government was
New York Office) in the assessments which were supported by the UN Department for Economic
conducted by the UNDG in 2007 and 2008. This and Social Affairs (DESA) and the Development
assessment focused on: Operations Coordination Office (DOCO).
(a) Design and progress of the DaO process to The experiences and lessons learned from the
improve coherent programming; meetings in Maputo, Kigali and Vietnam include:
(b) Identification of modalities for monitoring • Participants acknowledge that while there
and evaluation, such as indicators, baselines was no blueprint for ‘Delivering as One’ the
and targets for measuring results; and pioneering efforts of the pilot countries have
(c) Involvement of stakeholders, adequate use been crystallized into an approach under the
of resources, national ownership, or forms of principle of ‘No-One-Size-Fits-All’ which has
external aid. resulted in a certain degree of diversity of
experiences and lessons learned, but at the
As a result of the evaluability assessment, a number
same time has shown a number of common
of critical aspects were identified which impact
elements across the countries.
on meeting the above overall DaO expectations.
• Participants stress that the UN organizations
Among these aspects are the needs to:
are called upon to provide support to capacity
• Harmonize strategies in the different countries
development in programme countries, including
to move from United Nations Development
normative and policy advice in achieving poverty
Assistance Framework coordination principles
eradication, sustained economic growth and
to DaO joint programming;
sustainable development.
• Ensure national ownership and participation
• The ‘Delivering as One’ approach has provided
of all partners;
benefits for achieving better development
• Align DaO with other external development results through increased national leadership
partners, such as development banks;
8 Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative

and ownership in the development (b) Small agencies should be strategically


partnership with the UN system. In all pilot consolidated at country level;
countries, the role and contribution of the (c) The UN silos have started to erode and
UN system is better integrated in national new levels of synergies emerged; and
development processes and the UN system
(d) Programme alignment improved and the
has become more responsive to national
UN capacity to address multi-sectoral
needs and priorities.
development programme was tested.
• The contribution of agencies is not
determined by the residency status, but rather It is important to mention, that based on the
by the contribution that they can make to experience of pilot countries, an increasing
the development priorities. Increasingly non- number of ‘self-starters’, although not officially
resident agencies (NRA) have contributed designated as ‘pilot countries’, are in processes
with their specialized expertise in joint of adopting the concept of One UN, or aspects of
programming and policy dialogue which it, through increased efforts of coordinating the
has allowed the UN development system to scope of agency programmes, and strengthening
draw upon the normative strength of the UN their alignment with national development
system. priorities. Among the ‘self-starters’ are Bhutan,
Kiribati, Laos, Maldives, Mongolia, Papua New
• On the country-led evaluations and the results
Guinea and Philippines in Asia and the Pacific
obtained was noted:
Region; and Benin, Botswana, Comoros, Ethiopia,
(a) The quality of the country-led evaluations
Liberia, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia and Zimbabwe
was fairly uneven, with Vietnam being
in the Africa Region. Such efforts are usually
of highest quality in terms of following
built upon experiences with the United Nations
the earlier on agreed Terms of Reference
Development Assistance Framework. UN-Habitat
(TOR), which was partly attributed to the
is currently active in Cape Verde, Mozambique,
tight schedule placed on countries to
Pakistan, Rwanda, Tanzania and Vietnam, with
complete their reports before the Hanoi
projects funded through and implemented under
conference;
the DaO umbrella, as well as projects directly
(b)
The relationship between findings, funded through UN-Habitat core funds.
conclusions and recommendations
remained weak; and So far, the DaO participation of UN-Habitat
in the pilot countries has been ensured by
(c) Not enough attention was given in
Habitat Programme Managers and their teams,
the reports to contributions made
and within the framework of promoting the
to development results at country
implementation of UN-Habitat’s mandate at the
level, including the achievement of
level of interacting with national partners and
internationally agreed development aims
coordinating with UN agencies. Habitat country
under the MDGs.
teams who have been in existence for about
• Participants of the pilot countries noted
10 years, are assigned key roles in preparing
with concern that there are still significant
country plans in the form of Habitat Country
funding gaps in the implementation of One
Programme Documents (HCPDs) on the basis of
UN Programmes and called upon donors
national priorities and UN-Habitat mandate, and
and other countries in a position to provide
align them with UN system wide coordination
additional, predictable and multi-year
processes, such as UNDAF and the DaO process.
contributions.
The HCDPs find their rationale in UN-Habitat’s
• Participants also noted that: Medium-Term Strategic and Institutional Plan
(a) UN agencies should decentralise roles and (MTSIP) 2008-2013, which assigns them (and the
responsibilities to the country office; Country Programme Managers) a strategic role
Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative 9

for ‘preparing and implementing an enhanced UN-Habitat’s support to the One UN reform
normative and operational framework (ENOF) to agenda.
enable UN-Habitat play a leadership and catalytic
According to the UNDG work plan for 2010-
role in promoting sustainable urbanization in at
2011, the following outcomes of the DaO-guided
least 30 countries by 2013’.
reform process have been formulated:
1.3 OBJECTIVES AND RELEVANCE OF • Outcome 1: Accelerated national achievement
DaO FOR UN-Habitat of MDGs/IADGs;
• Outcome 2: Strengthened UN coherence and
The review, subject of this consultancy, will focus
coordination at country level; and
on the current challenges and opportunities of UN-
Habitat’s participation in the DaO. The objective of • Outcome 3: UN Development system more
the review is to determine the extent of UN-Habitat’s effectively deploys knowledge and know-
participation; filter lessons learned; identify and how. It should be recalled here that the
assess strengths, challenges and opportunities; expected administrative and cost benefits for
and make recommendations for a more effective a DaO UN system include:
participation. Among other issues, the review will (a) Synergies of interagency programming
generate better understanding of the effects and and implementation;
potential of the DaO for UN-Habitat. (b) Reduction of overlaps and duplication;
The relevance of UN-Habitat’s participation (c) Achievements of economies of scale; and
in the DaO process is related to the role and (d)
Reduction of transaction costs for
contribution that the agency can provide to the development activities.
UN system’s policy and programme support to
Consequently, the challenges, opportunities and
member states and their national development
prospects of UN-Habitat participating in the DaO
priorities. This is of particular importance due
system-wide initiative will have to be assessed
to the fact that UN-Habitat is a specialized Non-
under those aspects, both at Headquarters and
resident Agency whose urban development
Regional Office levels, as well as at country
mandates are generally recognized among
levels. The scope of this consultancy does
national Governments’ development priorities.
not include a full assessment of these issues
Specifically, this review focuses on the current which are fundamental to the prospects of the
challenges and opportunities of UN-Habitat’s agency’s participation in the DaO reform process
participation in the DaO process, with the at country level, and can only raise them with
objective of providing a detailed information base recommendations for organizational reform. The
on what would be needed to participate more expected DaO results include:
effectively. The review includes: • Reduction of costs by minimizing duplication
• An evaluation and recommendations and overlap of efforts following use of
concerning strategic, planning, managerial, common services for reducing overheads and
operational and monitoring/reporting increasing value for money in service delivery.
processes, mechanisms and human/financial • Better alignment of UN agency competencies
resources for more effective and efficient with national development priorities.
participation of UN-Habitat at both the global • Better use of comparative advantages, based
and national levels. on the diversity of mandates and types of
• An assessment of the value added of the intervention of UN agencies.
One UN process for UN-Habitat in the • Application of a result-oriented approach to
six participating countries, including the joint programming by securing multi-year
integration of the agency into this process. resources from donor trust funds and agency
• A qualitative assessment of the significance of core contributions.
10 Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative

• Reduction of fragmentation and competition methodology and scope. Chapter 3 presents


among UN agencies in fund-raising, thereby the summary on the main findings from each
reducing donor-driven agency programmes. pilot ‘DaO’ country while Chapter 4 presents
challenges and opportunities for UN-Habitat
1.4 OUTLINE OF THE REPORT participation in the DaO process. Chapter 5
consolidates conclusions, lessons learned and
After this introduction and background
recommendations of the review.
(Chapter 1), Chapter 2 describes the evaluation
Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative 11

2. REVIEW METHODOLOGY AND SCOPE

Reconstruction site in Pakistan © UN-Habitat

2.1 DATA COLLECTION METHODS points from participating UN agencies, UN-


Habitat national counterparts; other national
In order to address the purpose and objective
UN-Habitat partners which participated in
of this consultancy, the following methods were
planning and implementing DaO projects;
used:
civil society organizations and resident donors
(a) Literature review—a desk study of that contributed to One UN Fund.
documentation—was conducted of (including,
(c) Distant consultations were used for Cape
but not limited to) DaO documents and
Verde and Pakistan, non-visited pilot DaO
reports; DaO evaluations already undertaken
countries, and done through administration of
(evaluability reports, stocktaking reports,
e-questionnaires and e-mail communication
country-led evaluation reports, progress
with UN-Habitat staff and other country
reports, and others); country UN documents
stakeholders as was found necessary.
such as United Nations Development
Assistance Framework, DaO joint programme, (d) Face-to-face discussions were held using
assessments and strategies; UN-Habitat semi structured questions with staff from the
country documents such as Habitat Country Regional Office for Africa and the Arab States
Programme Document (HCPD), DaO project and the Regional Office for Asia and the
documents, Country Programme Manager Pacific, relevant Divisions at Headquarters for
reports; and UN-Habitat policy documents internal UN-Habitat DaO review. This review
such as MTSIP, ENOF and strategic papers. assessed the level of understanding of the
DaO initiative seeking views and comments
(b) Guided interviews were used during field
for better UN-Habitat DaO involvement. It
missions to collect primary data from UN-
focused on:
Habitat staff in country offices, and national
stakeholders in selected pilot DaO countries • Assessing substantive and global UN-
of Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania and Habitat policies and strategies (i.e, MTSIP),
Vietnam. The interviews involved, among its relation to the DaO initiative and the
others, the Resident Coordinator and ways it related to present practice in pilot
relevant UN country team members; focal countries;
12 Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative

• Assessing the value of interdivisional a desk review.


teamwork (ENOF) and its potential
(b) Data Collection and Analysis Phase (Phase
support to planning and implementation
II): This phase was undertaken through:
of DaO joint programmes;
(a) Field visits to Mozambique, Rwanda,
• Assessing the level of administrative
Tanzania and Vietnam for collecting data
and financial support required from
from primary sources, including UN-
Headquarters to strengthen the delivery
Habitat field staff and stakeholders;
efficiency in DaO projects jointly
implemented with other UN agencies; and (b) Distant consultation to Cape Verde
and Pakistan through e-mails and
• Assessing the role of information,
questionnaires with UN-Habitat field
documentation, monitoring and
offices and DaO stakeholders; and
evaluation at Headquarters and Regional
Offices to support UN-Habitat team in (c) Meetings with UN-Habitat staff in
DaO countries. Regional Offices (ie., ROAAS and ROAP)
and in Headquarters to assess the level
(e) Consultations were held with Regional
of understanding of the DaO initiative,
Offices and the Headquarters staff for
identify aspects which needed to be
feedback based on a presentation on findings
addressed and evaluate the support
and recommendations of the first draft report.
provided by Regional Offices and
The presentation was complemented with
Headquarters to the DaO implementation
consultations via e-mails sent to Country
at country level (Annex II: Interviewed
Programme Managers in pilot DaO country
Persons).
offices seeking for comments on the first draft.
Phase II had the following main activities:
2.2 DATA ANALYSIS • Undertake country visits and conduct
The different data were processed by filtration interviews;
and ordering, and by triangulation and • Arrange and conduct distant country
verification with data from other data sources to consultations; and
arrive at the findings, and draw conclusions and • Carry out internal consultations in Regional
recommendations. Offices and in UN-Habitat Headquarters.

2.3 SCOPE (c) Reporting Phase (Phase III): This phase


included the preparation of a draft report
The methodology was applied to help understand
from the desk review and the data collected
UN-Habitat participation on the DaO, and for
from different sources and, production of
that reason, the study composed of the following
PowerPoint for presentation of the findings,
three phases:
conclusions and recommendations. The draft
(a) Preparatory Phase (Phase I): This phase report was presented in a consultative session
consisted of a desk review of available with ROAAS and Headquarters staff seeking
secondary sources of information including for comments and recommendations. The
DaO documentation and previous DaO draft report was also discussed with UN-
evaluations as well as UN-Habitat reports on Habitat field staff who contributed with
DaO projects and achievements. comments. The final report incorporated
This phase had the following main activities: the recommendations from the consultative
session at the Headquarters, and from UN-
• Understand the evaluation tasks and prepare
Habitat field staff at country level. This phase
the inception report; and
had the following main activities:
• Collect background information and carry out
• Undertake data analysis and prepare first
Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative 13

draft report; The RTCD managed the administrative and


• Prepare PowerPoint presentation; logistical components of the review while the
Monitoring and Evaluation Unit managed the
• Present draft report and arrange internal
quality of the review report, including ensuring
discussion; and
that the terms of reference conform to UN-Habitat
• Incorporate recommended changes into
evaluation requirements, and made comments on
the present (final) report.
the draft and final reports.

2.4 MANAGEMENT OF THE REVIEW


PROCESS
This review was conducted by two independent
consultants, Mr. Mathias Hundsalz and Mr.
Antonio Yachan during the period, March to June
2011, in close consultation with UN-Habitat.
14 Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative

3. KEY FINDINGS ON UN-HABITAT PARTICIPATION


IN THE DaO PROCESS IN THE PILOT COUNTRIES

Maputo Island, Mozambique © UN-Habitat/Alain Grimard

This section is a summary on the findings of DaO • Environment, energy, disasters, prevention
process in pilot countries. Details on findings for and response; and
each of the six countries where UN-Habitat is • Human capital and social protection.
currently active in the DaO process are presented
in Annex III. The gender component is a cross-cutting aspect
mainstreamed in most interventions. The total
estimated budget for the OneUN Programme was
3.1 CAPE VERDE USD 70.3 million; donor contribution reached
The UN-Habitat office in Cape Verde was created USD 40.8 million.
in 2009, after the DaO was initiated, recruiting The entry point of UN-Habitat in Cape Verde was
a country coordinator supported by the Country the Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme
Programme Manager. The country coordinator (PSUP) which is financed by UN-Habitat with
is based in Cape Verde and participates in DaO contribution from the European Commission. This
meetings as well as works together with national entry point allowed UN-Habitat access to the One
partners on the planning and implementation of UN Programme with an urban governance project
the projects. The Country Programme Manager, financed by the DaO. At present, UN-Habitat
who is also the Country Programme Manager for is implementing activities for a total of USD
Senegal, assisted in key meetings in Cape Verde 588,500 including USD 88,500 from the PSUP
providing the necessary support from Dakar. project and USD 500,000 from DaO funds under
In Cape Verde, 20 UN agencies are collaborating the ‘Local Urban Development Programme in the
in the DaO (i.e., six resident and 14 non-resident framework of the One UN in Cape Verde’. This
agencies) and in a participatory way have prepared case is a good example where core funds (from
the OneUN Programme in Cape Verde. The PSUP programme) in a relatively small amount
programme is divided into four thematic areas: enabled UN-Habitat to implement activities under
DaO with considerable larger funds.
• Good governance;
• Promotion of growth and economic The Government of Cape Verde has been working
opportunities; on an integrated urban policy and operational
Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative 15

strategy which will act as a guide for better to maintain the pace of bigger agencies, or it is
living conditions in the cities. Accordingly, the intended to advocate for the agency mandate
Government of Cape Verde in partnership with or negotiate larger funds to increase the volume
UN-Habitat intends to produce this urban policy under implementation.
and the respective strategy in the next cycle of the
The DaO in Mozambique has been operational
UNDAF 2012-2016, where it is already included.
since 2007; its first cycle is finalising in 2011. In
This intervention is in line with the focus that the
planning and implementation DaO involves 24
Government of Cape Verde is intending to give to
UN agencies (nine resident, seven non-resident
the next DaO cycle, requesting less small projects
with office and staff in-country and eight
and more substantive contribution from the UN
covered from abroad). This first cycle has 13 joint
where value could be added to the development
programmes, with UN-Habitat collaborating in
process in the country. For UN-Habitat, with only
three programmes—environment mainstreaming,
one staff member in the field, to deal with policy
decentralisation and disaster risk reduction.
and strategic aspects becomes a great challenge.
The strength of UN-Habitat in DaO is on its
The DaO planning exercise with Government
specific mandate, which is not available in
counterparts and UN agencies facilitated the
other UN agencies. The planning exercise is
dialogue and the recognition of UN-Habitat
very demanding on policy aspects and on
mandate strengthening the working relations
technical knowhow and the Country Programme
with the Resident Coordinator office and sister
Manager in the UNCT and in meetings with the
agencies. Taking advantage of this situation, UN-
Government needs to convince UN agencies
Habitat could draw a plan covering additional
and ministries on the identified priorities and
urban aspects, for what will further advocate the
on innovative and feasible solutions in order
agency mandate and capability.
to be considered as a priority in the DaO plan.
Concerning increasing UN-Habitat capacity in Although the voice of the Country Programme
Cape Verde, it would be important to strengthen Manager in planning and decision taking
the local office investing on its human resources meetings is equally considered, it is less power
by upgrading and enlarging staff. The workload than the voices of resident agencies. Although
on programmatic and substantive aspects, the behind the Country Programme Manager is a full
time spent on meetings and the perspectives on agency with normative and operational divisions,
the new United Nations Development Assistance the required support with updated normative and
Framework cycle justifies this. Improvements on strategic information does not reach the field. It
the procurement and recruitment process are also is only with joint Headquarters, RTCD and field
needed to speed implementation and reduce the office interventions, that the agency will properly
administrative work in the field office. advocate for its mandate in a continuous and
more prominent way in the DaO plan and DaO
3.2 MOZAMBIQUE funding, reinforcing present areas of intervention
and opening new ones within the mandate and
UN-Habitat in Mozambique is implementing
needs in country.
a portfolio of USD 7.3 million within the DaO
approach, with USD 4.1 million coming from DaO The United Nations Development Assistance
funds and USD 3.2 million from bilateral or core Framework 2012-2015 was recently approved
funds from the agency. The field office has ten and is the result of a highly participatory planning
staff, with the Country Programme Manager being process involving the Government of Mozambique
the only one financed from core funds. Although and the UN. The United Nations Development
the number of staff seems large (compared to Assistance Framework was based on the Action
other countries) there are huge limitations on Plan for Poverty Reduction (PARP) for 2011-2014
staff and resources at a time when it is necessary as well as the country-led DaO evaluation done
16 Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative

in 2010. The new United Nations Development UN-Habitat implementation in terms of


Assistance Framework is organized around three disbursement is on track with approximately 80 per
focus areas: cent of the DaO funds committed. However, it is
(a) Economic: aimed at diminishing the economic important to mention that delays on recruitments
disparities, improving productive capacities, and procurements are hampering field work.
and reducing vulnerability to natural disasters; The most important delays are inside of UNDP
office that after receiving the authorisations from
(b) Social: aimed at reducing inequality of access
UNON, the authorisation is put on hold for UNDP
to services for vulnerable groups; and
to re-initiate the full recruitment or procurement
(c) Governance: deepening democracy and
process based on its local system.
improving governance at the local level. For
the Government of Mozambique, the value
3.3 PAKISTAN
of the DaO programme, compared to gains
from other sources of support, is the neutral The One UN Plan for Pakistan is a follow-up to
position of the UN, the value of the technical the experiences with the country’s United Nations
expertise of agencies and the global advice. Development Assistance Framework which
was extended to 2010 in order to align it with
To implement United Nations Development Pakistan’s National Development Plan, in terms of
Assistance Framework 2012-2015, will require timing and matching national priorities with the
a total budget of USD 735 million out of which capacities of the UN system.
20 per cent is expected to be covered from DaO
funds, 25 per cent from regular resources (from Based on its mandate, experience and capacity
UN agencies) and the difference from other to deliver, UN-Habitat participated actively in the
bilateral arrangements. UN-Habitat is included in formulation of four joint programmes, under the
the new United Nations Development Assistance umbrella of the United Nations Country Team:
Framework with a total of USD 10 million from
• Environment, with several outcomes
DaO funds.
addressing human settlement related issues;
Obtaining DaO funds is very competitive. On the • Disaster risk management, with several
one hand are small NRAs that want to initiate outcomes addressing human settlements
or increase their presence in the country. On related issues;
the other hand are the big resident agencies • Health and Population (to a very limited
that have a large number of technical staff and extent, jointly with UNFPA); and
consolidated programmes and do not want to
• Education (to a very limited extent, jointly
lose their predominance. In the first DaO cycle,
with UNESCO).
UN-Habitat was able to leverage a reasonable
proportion of funds from DaO due to: The One UN Plan in Pakistan is funded through
(a) Good performance obtained in-country on a combination of earmarked and non-earmarked
previously implemented projects; funding from donors under the Multi Donor Trust
(b) Considerable number of project staff already Fund (MDTF), as well as from agency core funds
on board; and (except UN-Habitat). Approximately, ten per cent of
the overall One UN budget has funding from MDTF
(c) Ability to contribute non-DaO funds to the
and several agencies kept their own programmes
DaO joint programmes.
rather than integrate them into the One UN Plan.
For the second DaO cycle, where UN-Habitat aims Further, many donors (and agencies) now focus
to considerably increase participation, its presence their funding on post disaster programmes of
in the field and the contribution of core funds will recovery and rehabilitation, rather than contribute
play an important role. to the One UN Fund. There is an overall shortfall of
funding for the current One UN Plan.
Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative 17

Funds available to UN-Habitat under the One UN Coordinator, as well as a UN Humanitarian Country
Plan total USD 3.6 million for the implementation Team, with a UN Humanitarian Coordinator.
of five projects under the overall Joint Programmes:
The presence of UN-Habitat in Pakistan is
• Water and Sanitation improvement in informal
assured through a national team under the
settlements through gender mainstreaming
overall coordination of an international Country
and empowerment of local authority;
Programme Manager. The national team includes
• One UN Disaster Management Programme two national experts who are fully absorbed by
Pakistan; the DaO process at the level of United Nations
• One UN Joint Programme on environment— Country Team; participation at this level is
sustainable urbanization and energy required in a good number of meetings on
conservation; policy, joint programme and administrative
• Geographic Information Systems (GIS)— matters of harmonized management and
Capacity building for national population accounting practices. The mandate, competence
census; and and comparative advantage of UN-Habitat is
well recognized, largely due to its track record
• Improvement of 29 school buildings in Khyber
with post disaster recovery and reconstruction
Pakhtunkhwa.
programmes. Therefore, UN-Habitat works
In addition, UN-Habitat provides own funding closely with the line Ministries of Construction
to project activities from earmarked global and Housing, and the Ministry of Environment,
programmes on water and sanitation, and on as well as with the Earthquake Reconstruction
land and on youth activities, some of which are and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA) of the Prime
contracted to NGOs. These project activities are Minister’s Office, later transformed into the
not coordinated by the Country Programme National Disaster Management Agency.
Manager and are not part of the One UN Plan, but
UN-Habitat’s participation in the Pakistan DaO
are administered directly by respective programme
process is constrained by the limited core funding
Divisions at the Headquarters in Nairobi.
and staff resources, as well as by a fragile security
By far most UN-Habitat’s activities in Pakistan, environment as a result of political instability.
however, are concentrated on recovery and The operational interventions are built around
rehabilitation, following the destruction of rural projects which bring in funds from donor
housing and rural infrastructure as a result of the countries in response to disasters, rather than
earthquake of 2005, the displacement of families resulting from consistent efforts on the basis of
affected by the war on terror, and more recently UN-Habitat’s mandate to strengthen the agency’s
the flooding disasters, funded by the Central competitiveness and profile at the level of United
Emergency Response Fund and direct earmarked Nations Country Team. UN-Habitat in Pakistan,
donor funding outside the Multi Donor Trust Fund as a project office, is faced with institutional and
for development activities. In fact, only four per resource limitations in committing itself to long-
cent of UN-Habitat’s current activities in Pakistan term support and policy advice to Government
are funded through the One UN Plan under Multi and other partners in civil society. Its interventions
Donor Trust Fund. rely on ad hoc and time-bound project delivery
initiatives when addressing key themes of
The United Nations Country Team activities focus urbanization or climate change.
almost exclusively on post-disaster recovery,
reconstruction and rehabilitation through In a way, UN-Habitat’s post disaster recovery
humanitarian assistance funds, while joint and reconstruction programmes subsidize the
programmes under the One UN Plan are receiving participation of the agency’s Country Programme
much less attention. As a result, there is need for Manager Office in the United Nations Country
United Nations Country Team with a UN Resident Team, which is not sustainable in strengthening
18 Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative

the agency’s capacity to participate in coordinated gender as a cross-cutting aspect. The Common
policy support and joint programming along the Operational Document presents key activities by
One UN Plan is the goal. outcome and by agency and its implementation
require a total of USD 487.6 million.
With a situation where donor funds in Pakistan
being overwhelmingly directed towards The Country Programme Manager is responsible
humanitarian and peace-building activities for UN-Habitat’s planning. It is very challenging
of the UN system, the future of One UN Plan and often difficult to meet the requirements due
development activities through pooled and non- to the number of meetings involved or because
earmarked donor contributions remains seriously specific policy or technical knowledge is required
underfunded. This has a direct impact on UN- on matters that fall under the agency’s purview.
Habitat’s participation in the One UN Plan which Advocacy on policy and strategic aspects to
is also in future likely to remain limited in terms of convince Government and other UN agencies on
cost-effectiveness. the importance of the UN-Habitat mandate and
the relevance for the country plays a key role.
For UN-Habitat to play a recognized and effective
If this is not well articulated, it can simply get
role in the new One UN Plan, it needs to focus its
ignored. Current strategic planning left out the
participation in the DaO through:
Country Programme Manager. During the next
(a) More advocacy and policy support and less on planning cycle the Government indicated that UN
single project service delivery; should contribute more to policy and strategic
(b) Capacity development of civil society; aspects and less on project implementation.
(c) Intervention through policy advice at the
Only one Non-Resident Agency (NRA) represents
regional and local levels; and
all the NRAs in planning and fundraising meetings
(d)
Disaster preparedness and humanitarian with donors. These decisions taken by the
response. Resident Coordinator at country level adds layers
of difficulty to the planning and funding limiting
3.4 RWANDA the advocacy on UN-Habitat mandate that can be
UN-Habitat opened its country office in UNDP done by the staff in-country.
compound in July 2004. This office has one Country Approximately one third of the expected
Programme Manager and eight staff, implementing DaO funds in Rwanda have been obtained
in the past four years a portfolio of USD 2.25 million with reluctance from some donors to meet
in the DaO programme in Rwanda. commitment or increase their contribution. This
One UN Programme in Rwanda ‘Common funding situation increases competition among
Operational Document 2008-2012’ was prepared agencies for available funds. Resident agencies
by 20 UN agencies (nine resident and 11 non- with larger amounts of core funds and stronger
resident agencies, including UN-Habitat). This is presence seem to have better opportunity of
the programmatic document specifying how the getting funds than NRAs that lack strong presence
UN in Rwanda will implement the United Nations and have limited core funds.
Development Assistance Framework 2008- UN-Habitat Headquarters promised the
2012. The UNDAF is a response to the national Government of Rwanda core funds for project
needs and priorities outlined in the ‘Rwandan implementation on water and youth. In the case
Government’s Economic Development and of water, a memorandum of understanding was
Poverty Reduction Strategy’ and the ‘Vision 2020’. signed for USD 1.12 million but the Headquarters
The Common Operational Document is divided provided only USD 180,000 in an Agreement
into five sectors: Governance; Health, population, of Cooperation before announcing that no
HIV and nutrition; Education; Environment, and more funds were available. On Youth, it was
Sustainable growth and social protection; with promised USD 200,000 from core funds, which
Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative 19

did not materialise. It is beyond the terms of this core funds and non-core funding mechanisms
consultancy to study why this occurred, but some such as earmarked donor funds and global UN
lessons can be drawn: programmes.
• Core funds exist in reasonable amount to
The One UN Fund contribution to UNDAP 2011-
involve the agency with core funds in the
2015 is financed from pooled contributions of
DaO and qualify for leveraging DaO funds
seven donors (‘friends of the UN’). According
implementing more significant projects, but
to the UNRC office, there is a trend emerging
this was not done.
among donors to revert to higher earmarked
• Trust on the agency is eroded and affect the contributions to specific programme areas and/or
efforts done by field staff with the Government ‘preferred’ agencies.
and inside the One UN by promising funds to
the Government and not materialising it. UN-Habitat participates in the Water, Sanitation
• Better coordination between Headquarters and Health programme (WASH) under Cluster
and Regional Office should be established to 2 of UNDAP, jointly with UNICEF, UNFPA and
work as One UN-Habitat in the field. WHO. WASH is likely to get an allocation of
approximately three per cent of the total One
According to field staff, the main problem with UN Fund for Tanzania, the smallest of the ten
UN-Habitat participation is the time taken for programme areas. The Country Programme
recruitment and procurement in the UNDP office. Manager has been requested to specify the
Delays in implementation affect beneficiaries, inputs of UN-Habitat (actions) to WASH, which
relations with Government and counterparts, will focus on water and sanitation (WatSan) for
reduce the delivery capacity of the agency Zanzibar Water and Sanitation Authority (ZAWA)
and impede obtaining DaO funds due to non- and for the Dar es Salaam Water and Sanitation
utilisation of funds already allocated. Authority. The total budget will be approx. USD
3 million, out of which about USD 0.9 million
3.5 TANZANIA is likely to come from the One UN Fund, the
rest is expected from agency core funds. Actual
In close collaboration with the Government of
allocation will be made on the basis of proposals
Tanzania and the donor countries (and coordinated
for joint programmes with the other agencies.
by a tripartite agreement through the Joint
There is a likelihood of earmarked funding for
Steering Committee), the United Nations Country
the WASH programme area of UNDAP from
Team formulated and adopted the present United
Switzerland and The Netherlands.
Nations Development Assistance Plan (UNDAP
2011-2015) which is composed of three clusters The UNDAP 2011-2015 has no programme area
with ten programme areas: nor specific activities on urbanization, and none of
• Cluster 1: Economic Growth and Poverty the other UN-Habitat operated projects in Tanzania
Reduction (with a budget USD 180 million, feature in the UNDAP 2011-2015. According to
i.e., 23 per cent). the Country Programme Manager and the UNRC
• Cluster 2: Quality of Life and Social Well- Office, the main reason for this ‘omission’ is failure
Being (with a budget USD 323 million, i.e., by the Government of Tanzania to prioritize on
42 per cent). urban issues when requests to the UN system
were made. However, there are a number of UN-
• Cluster 3: Governance, Emergency and
Habitat-supported project initiatives in Tanzania,
Disaster Response; Refugees (with a budget
many of them operated and backstopped by
USD 270 million, i.e., 35 per cent).
different Headquarters divisions under separate
The total budget for this period stands at USD 777
agreements with Tanzanian Government and non-
million, out of which USD 216 (28 per cent) is to
governmental institutions. These initiatives are
be financed by donors through the One UN Fund,
usually part of global Headquarters programmes
leaving the balance to be funded through agency
20 Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative

with normative and operational elements. UN-Habitat, notably UNDP, UNICEF, WHO, ILO
Although some of them are coordinated and and UNFPA. If the participation of UN-Habitat in
supported by the Country Programme Manager the DaO reform programme and its programming
in Tanzania, none have been included in the institutions can be strengthened, on account of
UNDAP. It becomes evident that such an array of its better recognized and understood coherent
fragmented and non-coordinated UN-Habitat- and comparative advantage, it will help to deflect
supported activities (often of very small scale) the danger to marginalize UN-Habitat in the
does little to strengthen UN-Habitat’s competency reform process.
profile, under the Habitat Country Programme
In order to provide professional support to
Document and as inputs to UNDAP.
the programming process, the substantive
Consequently, UN-Habitat’s competence and backstopping from Headquarters (by RTCD and
comparative advantage on urbanization issues like assisted by the water and sanitation programme)
sustainable urbanization, slum upgrading, and cannot be ignored. This should include advice to the
land management are not properly recognized water and sanitation working group on defining
in the current UNDAP. The past positive project the focus of UN-Habitat’s specific action to achieve
results with Sustainable Dar es Salaam and a more comprehensive, interlinked and coherent
slum upgrading have apparently not adequately joint programme with the other participating
influenced the Government of Tanzania to agencies (i.e., UNICEF, UNFPA and WHO). As part
introduce these issues into the consultations with of such programming contributions, there is need
the United Nations Country Team and the Resident to develop a more comprehensive and strategic
Coordinator on priorities for assistance from the definition of a ‘Joint Programme’, including
UN agencies. Considerable effort is needed both operational responsibilities, management practices
at the level of Headquarters and the Country and reporting.
Programme Manager to convince the United
Nations Country Team and the Government 3.6 VIETNAM
of Tanzania of UN-Habitat’s urbanization
The present One UN Plan for Vietnam during
competencies and comparative advantages.
the period 2006-2010 (extended to 2011) is the
Inadequate support from Headquarters and result of tripartite consultations between the
the RTCD to the Country Programme Manager Government of Vietnam, the United Nations
in terms of funding, staffing, and policy/ Country Team (UNCT) and the donor community.
programming expertise is a matter of concern. The Plan is financed from ODA donor grant
The Country Programme Manager is not an allocations to the One UN Plan Fund (OPF) for
expert on human settlement issues, has no Vietnam, under the UN Multi Donor Trust Fund
assistance from a competent team, and no (MDTF), as well as from earmarked and non-
resources to contribute to the United Nations earmarked agency contributions (core funds). For
Country Team and its working groups on action the period 2008-2010, OPF budget is at the level
plans for joint programming. There is urgent need of USD 79 million, representing approximately 30
for Headquarters to review this unsatisfactory per cent of multilateral ODA grants for Vietnam.
situation. UN-Habitat risks being marginalized UN-Habitat’s participation is solely funded
further in the UN reform process in Tanzania. through allocations from the OPF for Vietnam
(USD 0.95 million, representing slightly over one
On the more positive side, the Country per cent of OPF).
Programme Manager participation in the United
Nations Country Team and its working group on As per the OPF allocation criteria, it is hoped that
the WASH component has helped to raise the the next One UN Plan will be better integrated
visibility of the agency, and enhanced the interest among the agencies through procedures of joint
of other agencies to do joint programming with and result-based planning. In the current One
Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative 21

UN Plan, the UN-Habitat issues of urbanization, the One UN Fund, the visibility and perception of
urban development strategies, pro-poor land and the agency’s mandate has remarkably increased. As
housing, improvements of basic infrastructure a result of the cooperation agreements on projects
and services remain somewhat hidden in the total with national partners like the Association of
list of 23 output clusters and 93 expected results. Cities of Vietnam, and agencies under the Ministry
Nevertheless, UN-Habitat is recognized, and the of Construction, DaO has helped to engage the
agency is expected to make contributions under expertise of other UN agencies in national policy
each of the five plan components in line with its advocacy (i.e. UNFPA involvement in housing
mandate and comparative advantage. policy advocacy, UNDP in climate resilient urban
development policy) and local strategic planning
Participation in the One UN Plan in Vietnam
(i.e., Quang Nam Provincial Development Strategy
is under the responsibility of the UN-Habitat
with involvement of UNESCO, ILO and FAO). With
country team, which is composed of one Country
funding provided under the One UN Plan, UN-
Programme Manager and six other nationals (i.e,
Habitat was able to undertake specific projects to
four professionals and two clerical staff). While
demonstrate its competence and value added to
the Country Programme Manager is funded from
its Government counterparts, donors and other
Headquarters resources, the other team members
UN agencies. The Government recognizes UN-
are funded through UNDP administered service
Habitat as its main international partner on issues
contracts, under funds allocated to UN-Habitat
of sustainable urbanization. With its comparative
from the One UN budget. The One UN Fund
advantage in terms of specialized expertise, UN-
allocation is for the purpose of implementing three
Habitat has been taking the lead among UN
projects: the Quang Nam Provincial Development
agencies on DaO initiatives with sustainable
Strategy; the Urban Observatory (urban
urban development, and has made competent
indicators) project; and the pro-poor housing
contributions to United Nations Country Team
project, totalling USD 0.95 million. While most
discussions on climate change.
agencies contribute own resources (core funds) to
the DaO process, in the case of UN-Habitat, this In the next One UN Plan (2012-2016), UN-Habitat
modest amount ensures the implementation of shall focus its intervention more on capacity
three projects, and is the only source of funds for building, policy support, general advocacy, and
all the other functions of the Country Programme research on topical issues emanating from the
Manager and the team, including participation United Nations Country Team. The prospects of
in the DaO programming and implementation funding future UN-Habitat projects through the
process. The limited resources available to OPF are not promising. This is not a reflection
the Country Programme Manager team pose of UN-Habitat’s competence and relevance to
considerable stress and constraints to the team’s the Socio-Economic Development Plan, but the
ability to perform its multitude of functions. result of a likely reduction of the OPF for the
next plan period. The change of Vietnam’s status
Apart from the above DaO projects, UN-Habitat
from a developing to a middle income country
activities in Vietnam are funded by the Water
(MIC) will change the external development
for Asian Cities and Mekong Sanitation Project
assistance architecture, less from ODA, with a
(MekSan), implemented by a national project
shift to (concessional) loans and Government
manager, and coordinated by a regional project
cost-sharing. Agency representatives, as well as
office in Laos, separate from the institutional
donors expect a significant drop in OPF funds
arrangement for DaO in Vietnam, and outside
available for the next One UN Plan. Larger
the scope of responsibilities of the Country
agencies such as UNDP, UNICEF and UNFPA
Programme Manager in Vietnam and of the
are already preparing for a shift in the funding
Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific.
structure. This scenario will affect UN-Habitat’s
With the implementation of projects funded under future operations in Vietnam considerably. With
22 Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative

the absence of own (core) resources, the priorities There is overall recognition of UN-Habitat’s specific
and funding modalities through Government mandate relevant to the country’s development
cost sharing, or direct donor funding for specific priorities, its competence and comparative
project proposals along the agency’s recognized advantage within the United Nations Country Team.
competencies (including climate change or The active participation of the Country Programme
disaster/risk mitigation and adaptation), need to Manager and the team in the DaO process is very
be considered. much appreciated by the office of the Resident
Coordinator. This positive view is shared by the
At the level of the Ministry of Construction,
representatives of other UN agencies, particularly
which is the Ministry responsible for policies
UNDP, UNFPA, FAO and ILO. UN-Habitat’s status
on urbanization and housing, a wide range of
as a NRA does not appear to limit its active role
requests for assistance is directed towards UN-
and competent participation in the deliberations of
Habitat and its country team. The ministry has
the United Nations Country Team and its working
identified the bottlenecks to be at the level of
groups. In the view of the UNDP country office,
infrastructure, institutional development, and
UN-Habitat’s focus on programme delivery, while
capacity building and human resources. The
authorizing UNDP to administer its funds, is a
present support provided by UN-Habitat projects
good model for other UN agencies of similar size
under DaO is highly appreciated; a formal request
to follow. However, and as mentioned above, the
for further assistance will be made to UN-Habitat
effectiveness of the present Country Programme
soon, including a request for further consultations
Manager structure is severely constrained by a lack
on future cooperation.
of human and financial resources.
Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative 23

4. UN-Habitat PARTICIPATION IN DaO:


CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

Women waiting to collect water in Pakistan © UN-Habitat

4.1 INTRODUCTION Programme Managers are fully participating in


the United Nations Country Team and in planning
After analysing the information collected in all
meetings, but they are excluded from strategic
six countries where UN-Habitat is participating in
meetings where main decisions are taken.
the DaO, it is possible to conclude that each field
office presents a particular case adapting the way In all DaO countries advocacy of UN-Habitat mandate
of working for positioning UN-Habitat in the new has increased and recognition from UN agencies
One UN system. and Government has improved. This is not true for
Tanzania, where changes have not been significant;
Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania and Vietnam
and in Pakistan, where the strength of the office
have the Country Programme Manager dealing
is measured on the humanitarian programme. It
with DaO and all additional matters related to
is also a common pattern in DaO countries that
the UN-Habitat office. In Cape Verde there is a
Governments are relegating UN agencies from
national coordinator and the Country Programme
the purely implementation of projects, requesting
Manager from Senegal is supporting the DaO
for more policy, strategic and capacity building
process. Pakistan office has a Country Programme
involvement, and looking for areas where the UN
Manager dealing with humanitarian projects and
can add value and make a difference.
two national professionals dealing with DaO. It is
interesting to note that countries with Country It is interesting to note that although the DaO
Programme Manager (with the exception of changed the way field offices are doing business,
Tanzania) UN-Habitat managed to enlarge its becoming fully participative in the new One UN
country programme and increase its funds. This approach, the working relation with the Regional
was true also for Cape Verde with the Country Office (technical support) and with Headquarters
Programme Manager from Senegal. Except for (normative, finance support) has remained
Tanzania, countries with Country Programme largely unchanged. UN-Habitat’s Regional
Managers, as a consequence of the enlarged Office and Headquarters have not adapted
programme UN-Habitat has built a team of seven their working system and structure as One UN-
to ten staff. In all DaO countries the Country Habitat. This becomes very disruptive with core
24 Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative

projects (financed from earmarked and non- of interdivisional coordination in implementing


earmarked funds) managed from Headquarters’s the ‘Enhanced Normative and Operational
divisions disregarding DaO country programme. Framework’ (ENOF) appears to be impeding
Mozambique and Cape Verde are the exception the projection of a unified and integrated
because core projects form part of the DaO. The strategy in support of UN-Habitat competencies
normative divisions consider DaO applicable to and comparative advantages which would be
Headquarters without realising that it is exactly needed in the DaO reform process at country
the normative inputs that makes the difference level. According to the Peer Review of the
with DaO, placing the agency mandate where Implementation of UN-Habitat’s Medium-
a difference can be made, adding value and Term Strategic and Institutional Plan (2010)
highlighting where UN-Habitat (and not other ‘Coordination between global, regional and
agencies) can contribute in relation to national country activities is often based on informal
priorities. While a number of Country Programme mechanisms without clearly defined roles and
Managers represent UN-Habitat, and its specific formalized systems. With an expanding level
competencies fit well in the (very complex, of activities at the regional and country levels
competitive, top-down and time-consuming) DaO and an increased emphasis on a combined
programming, the required policy, administrative, normative and operational approach, the current
financial and human resources support from situation is unsatisfactory’. There appear to be
Headquarters and Regional Offices remain inconsistencies between the requirements for
inadequate. UN-Habitat participating in joint programming
at country level under the UN reform process,
From the above summary a fairly uneven and
and the agency’s MTSIP strategic approach.
disjointed picture emerges about UN-Habitat
participation in the selected DaO pilot countries: In terms of programme focus, the recently
lack of a common policy platform, a rational formulated (through an interdivisional process)
strategy, and coherent programmatic and policy papers on focus areas for the MTSIP
administrative support from Headquarters. The appear to remain limited in value as reference
reason for this sub-optimal situation is partly the documents for consultations with the Governing
result of specific conditions facing each country, Council and donors, rather than guiding the
which have brought about particular sets of agency strategies in demonstrating comparative
interventions of the agency (and of the UN advantages at country level in joint DaO
development system), broadly guided by national programming processes.
development priorities. A more agency-related
Based on these overall comments on the
fundamental reason for the disjointed approach
fragmented agency presence in DaO (and other)
appears to be linked to inadequacies of UN-
countries, the following sections focus on the
Habitat policies at the Headquarters regarding the
challenges and opportunities for UN-Habitat
projection of a coherent, integrated and unified
participation at country level, as well as at the level
operational strategy. Such an interdivisional and
of Headquarters and Regional Offices, building
coordinated operational strategy of ‘UN-Habitat
on the required support from Headquarters.
Delivering as One’, focusing on a sharpened
profile of competencies for non-global in-
country activities, and matched by standardized 4.2 CHALLENGES AND
management practices would be essential if OPPORTUNITIES FOR COUNTRY
the agency is to play a more visible, specific OFFICES
and effective role in the DaO reform process at Status of UN-Habitat country teams
country level.
UN-Habitat in Cape Verde, Mozambique,
The current MTSIP distinction between Rwanda and Vietnam is considered a Non-
‘normative’ and ‘operational’ activities, and lack Resident Agency (NRA). In these countries
Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative 25

the UN makes a difference between NRAs The status of UN-Habitat as a NRA does not
with presence and NRAs without presence in- appear to constrain the ability of the Country
country. In Tanzania, UN-Habitat is considered Programme Manager to make programmatic
a ‘resident agency’, simply on the account of and coordinated contributions to the DaO
having Country Programme Manager being process in the case of Cape Verde, Mozambique,
resident in the country, regardless of national or Pakistan, Rwanda and Vietnam, largely because
international status. of their demonstrated competence. However,
UN-Habitat’s contribution in Tanzania remains
One of the main benefits of DaO is that it provides
marginal for reasons of inadequate agency
NRAs with the opportunity to participate in equal
presence. UN-Habitat has teams of seven to ten
conditions with resident agencies in the United
staff in Mozambique, Rwanda and Vietnam, but
Nations Country Team providing technical and policy
has only one staff in Cape Verde and Tanzania,
advice to the Government and other UN agencies to
and a team of over 40 staff in Pakistan dedicated
ensure mainstreaming some of their mandates in the
to humanitarian projects with only two working
United Nations Development Assistance Framework
on DaO (Table 4.1). Except Country Programme
(or other One UN country programme documents).
Managers who are financed from Headquarters’s
This opportunity that brings technical capacity,
funds, all others are financed from projects or DaO
providing the relevant normative and strategic
funds. Project financed staff are not considered
inputs adding value to the national programme
‘permanent’ staff and their TORs address project
with actions that are worth to be implemented,
implementation, leaving little or no time for them
providing a short-term solution to one of the
to participate in DaO planning and coordination.
greatest challenges for NRAs when competing with
In the case of Pakistan, project income from the
resident agencies that are institutionalised in the
large volume of humanitarian activities finance
country with larger number of technical staff and
the staff dedicated to DaO. The benefit of Pakistan
a large baggage of implemented projects and links
with a large humanitarian programme subsidising
with national institutions.
DaO staff is not repeated in other countries.

Table 4.1: Staffing table of UN-Habitat country teams


  Cape Verde Mozambique Pakistan Rwanda Tanzania Vietnam
Country Programme Manager 0 1 0 1 1 1
Professional 1 7 2 4 0 4
General Service 0 2 0 3 0 2
Sub-total DaO staff 1 10 2 8 1 7
Non-DaO staff 0 1 (JPO) 40 0 0 0
Total 2 21 44 16 2 14

The Country Programme Managers are responsible and coordinating with UN agencies. However, the
for DaO planning, a time demanding task as well support to Country Programme Manager offices in
as stressful due to the technical requirements the pilot countries is reciprocal—uncoordinated,
in a variety of topics covered by the agency underfinanced and understaffed and remains
mandate. Nonetheless they have ensured UN- administratively fragmented as Headquarters’
Habitat participation in DaO in the pilot countries; programme divisions continue to apply different
thereby, promoting the implementation of UN- management practices.
Habitat’s mandate jointly with national partners
26 Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative

The scope and effectiveness of UN-Habitat’s of the UN agencies’ respective competencies


participation in the One UN reform process and comparative advantages for DaO is still
depends, to a large extent on the professional dominated by the ‘big’ resident UN agencies.
competence of its country team. The profile of DaO country plan priorities and outcomes in the
functions of Country Programme Manager teams result-oriented programming approach within
is considerable in scope: the overall framework of MDGs are led by UNDP,
• Ensure the recognition of UN-Habitat’s UNICEF and UNFPA (i.e., ‘ExCom’ agencies under
competence, competitiveness and the UNDG coordination). It is unlikely that this
comparative advantage at the level of United imbalance will change in the years to come, also
Nations Country Team deliberations, including because the process of agencies applying for
participation in numerous meetings required resources from a common pool of Multi Donor
for OP preparation and coordination; Trust Fund resources is especially competitive,
given the scope of mandate overlaps in the
• Establish partnerships with UN agencies for
UN system. UN-Habitat is therefore faced both
joint programming under DaO;
with opportunities and risks, when enhancing
• Establish partnerships with Government
its competitive profile, while responding to
institutions and local authorities as well as
its specific mandate. The country programme
with the civil society;
management team in Vietnam has so far not
• Set up and coordinate the implementation of experienced a competitive business climate.
technical cooperation projects in the country; This could probably change if the overall ODA
• Carry out advocacy work and public relations, allocations to that country are reduced in the years
including World Habitat Day at country level; to come (as Vietnam change to a Middle Income
• Provide logistic and substantive support to Country). In contrast, the Country Programme
UN-Habitat global programmes, which are Manager in Cape Verde, Mozambique, Rwanda
not funded through DaO or other operational and Tanzania experienced increased competition
budgets; and among the agencies ‘even more so than
expected’.
• Carry out administrative (including financial)
and substantive reporting to United Nations UN-Habitat’s activities with the Government and
Country Team, UNDP, ROAP, former RTCD other UN agencies have been facilitated with
and donors, as required under established a unique platform for planning, coordination
arrangements. and implementation at all levels gaining better
recognition of its mandate. This has helped the
UN-Habitat mandate in DaO countries expansion of the agency’s portfolio. However, in
UN-Habitat activities undertaken and financed the next DaO cycle, the Governments of Cape
in DaO countries are important and there is a Verde, Mozambique, Rwanda and Vietnam
commitment from staff in delivering them in will push for a change requesting UN agencies
the best way possible. The results obtained are to concentrate more on policy and strategic
of good quality and recognised at country level. activities that add value to the development in
However, when looking at the country needs the country. They will make even more difficult
and priorities, and the UN-Habitat mandate from the planning, coordination and prioritization of
a wider perspective, it is possible to notice that the One UN programme at the United Nations
other interventions at policy and strategy levels Country Team and Government level. This new
could have had a greater impact. approach will imply that UN-Habitat will have
to enhance its capabilities and competences
Coordinated by the UN Resident Coordinator in matters related to urbanization and slum
and his/her team, the work of UN Country upgrading strategies, housing and urban
Teams in joint programming and coordination policy, climate change, disaster response and
Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative 27

preparedness, urban transport strategies, urban with other agencies;


land management and so forth. Accordingly, the • Introduce UN-Habitat’s specific mandate to
agency will have to present new and innovative a wider and more receptive international
proposals to convince other UN agencies to development fraternity;
express interest in joint programming and
• Make specific contributions through a
Governments to include UN-Habitat priorities in
harmonized approach of the UN’s work with
the next DaO cycle for its finance.
Government partners at national and local
level with donors and other stakeholders;
4.3 CHALLENGES AND
• Improve long-term and predictable funding
OPPORTUNITIES FOR
sources; and
HEADQUARTERS AND REGIONAL
OFFICES • Contribute to achieve commonly agreed (UN
system wide) programme results.
UN-Habitat is a relatively small agency in the
UN system with a specific mandate. It has to Such opportunities for UN-Habitat’s future role in
overcome a number of structural constraints the DaO process are closely linked to a number of
at Headquarters and Regional Offices. To fully challenges to the organization, such as:
participate in this system-wide initiative UN- • A joint effort by different agencies with
Habitat will need to lay the policy, programme, unique mandates and specific interests tends
legal and administrative foundation to address to slow down the acceptance of radical
various constraints, including: reforms required by the DaO approach;
• Planning and approval processes of work • UN-Habitat currently does not provide
programmes and (project) activities which are adequate policy, programmatic, financial and
currently agency-specific and Headquarters human resource support to the DaO process
focused; in countries;
• Human resource constraints in terms of • Donors are yet to ensure predictable multi-
limited capacity at the country level to year financing of One UN country plans,
effect DaO operations, as well as resource which particularly affects small agencies suc
management, contract modalities etc. which as UN-Habitat;
need to be harmonized with the DaO reform • UN-Habitat has to reconsider its mandate
process; and and programme balance between normative
• Incompatible information technology activities at Headquarters and operational
platforms, making monitoring and reporting intervention at country levels; and
at different levels, a complex and time- • Results-based programming and implementation
consuming exercise. of joint programmes (with other agencies)
There are considerable opportunities for UN- has risks in diluting the specific mandate
Habitat to participate in the DaO/One UN process, and added value of UN-Habitat, and pose
including: particular challenges with regard to reporting
and agency accountability.
• Work as a full member of UN country teams
with a unity of purpose to support agreed
national priorities; a. One UN-Habitat and needed reform

• Achieve improved understanding of UN- In line with the key components of the DaO
Habitat’s comparative advantage and reform process in the UN system, UN-Habitat
competitive capacity at country level and should take appropriate steps to ‘act and Deliver
within the UN system; as One’ coordinating policy/programmes, unifying
• Strengthen UN-Habitat’s capacity and UN-Habitat budget, and directing one set of
comparative advantage in joint programming management practices. If not, there is a great
28 Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative

risk of UN-Habitat remaining marginal to the UN The assessment of the six DaO countries in
DaO reform process, and fail to benefit adequately which UN-Habitat participates indicates that
from its joint programming opportunities with the Headquarters is far from being One UN-Habitat
UN system of agencies, be further alienated from with the Global Division and RTCD pushing for
the donor community (except for humanitarian predominance and justifications for direct field
assistance which follows a different donor intervention to the detriment of the agency. In
approach), and risk a decline of its classic mandate order to join the One UN-Habitat, it should find
and strength on urbanization issues. common grounds of structural and procedural
understanding at the Headquarters other than
At country level, resident UN agencies are taking
personal understanding which seems to be the
advantage of the DaO with their well settled and
working approach. As the DaO reform process is
structured policy advice and technical support.
likely to gain momentum in the UN system, UN-
The DaO opens the possibility for NRAs to
Habitat has no option but to follow suit. Failure
participate in joint activities at country level, but
would lead to marginalization of UN-Habitat in
the agency needs to provide quality messages
the UN system.
highlighting its comparative advantages in line
with its mandate, demonstrating its capacity to The MTSIP distinction between normative
implement improvements in the national context. and operational work at Headquarters is not
UN-Habitat, therefore, needs to have an agency- very meaningful at country level; a successful
wide policy (not limited to RTCD), with common ‘operational’ project on housing policy or
strategy and programme focus, common sustainable urbanization, for example, becomes
management practices, pooled country budgets, ‘normative’ when adopted as a national policy.
unified (financial and substantive) reporting and Normative global programmes at Headquarters
strengthened human resource support from become operational as soon as their ‘norms’ are
existing divisions. The current fragmentation applied at country level through ‘operational’
of division-led management practices and projects. Efforts to make this budgetary and
separate budgets is not sustainable and will human resource distinction more coherent
be counterproductive to the agency’s ability to under the Enhanced Normative and Operational
participate in a coherent manner in the DaO Framework did not fully meet with expected results
reform process. at Headquarters level except for the allocation of
some non-overhead funded posts to the Regional
At UN-Habitat Headquarters, especially the
Offices. This area remains a challenge.
Global Division, the DaO seems to be considered a
particular modality of implementation applicable UN-Habitat support to DaO countries is mainly
only to the RTCD. This misunderstanding of a from the Regional Office for Africa and the Arab
global change in the UN system is affecting the States and the Regional Office for Asia and the
agency as a whole, particularly regarding its Pacific, with very limited or no support from
future focus on country activities. This carries far- normative divisions. At field level there is an
reaching implications for UN-Habitat’s presence increased demand for new and renovated know-
and ability to work in countries, as well as for how to advocate for more participation of the
the future structure of the organization in terms agency in new areas of intervention as well as on
of budgeting, balance between normative and innovative ways to assist the country needs. In line
operational activities, programme management with the thematic focus areas of UN-Habitat under
and human resource allocations at country level, the MTSIP, there is need to sharpen UN-Habitat’s
Headquarters and Regional Offices. Although not profile of competence for in-country activities,
an ‘executing agency’, the level of awareness including an agency profile on its specific and
in UNEP on the implications of the DaO reform comparative advantage on partnership with local
process appears to be considerably higher than at authorities. The main operational tools should be
UN-Habitat Headquarters. policy advice, advocacy and awareness (including
Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative 29

networking and catalytic work with partners) and in the right direction to enable them carry out non-
capacity building, among others, depending on operational mandates under the MTSIP strategy.
local realities. The DaO reform process at country level requires
more substantive policy and programme support
Within the advocacy role, UN-Habitat should focus
from Regional Offices to the country teams, in
on raising public awareness in DaO countries on
order to assist them participate more competently
the significance of development issues related
in the United Nations Country Team working
to urbanization. It should consider providing
teams on joint programming and implementation.
substantive support to the setting up of political
lobbies promoting its mandate, identifying DaO has to begin within UN-Habitat
substantive priorities of intervention and Headquarters; there is urgency to establish a
providing light on innovative and well-structured common programme management structure for
solutions that convince United Nations Country all divisions to be followed by country activities.
Team members and Government counterparts. The current practice of some divisions setting
In a parallel and equally important initiative, UN- up their own country support lines, like many
Habitat should be doing the same at the level of global programmes, needs to be stopped.
UN in New York and Geneva and in other venues Regional Offices may have to be transformed
during global DaO meetings with sister agencies, from extended arms of former RTCD to proper
positioning UN-Habitat as an agency that is UN-Habitat Regional Offices, with a pool of staff
adding value to the DaO on urban governance, from programme Divisions and a funding drawn
urban management, slum upgrading, land from different UN-Habitat sources.
management and others. These (and other) clear
UN-Habitat actively contributes to and participates in
lines of action will reinforce UN-Habitat’s voice at
the DaO strategy formulation on global and regional
the United Nations Country Team meetings and
priorities in New York and in Bangkok (for the Asia
with counterparts at Government level.
and the Pacific Region). However, the support to
The DaO reform process is not limited to pilot the efforts of Country Programme Managers in
countries. There are a number of countries in the pilot countries is not well coordinated. They
all regions adopting the policies inherent to the are underfinanced and understaffed, and remains
reform process, and want to transform their administratively fragmented, as programme
‘business model’ of multilateral development divisions continue to apply different management
assistance along the principles of One Budget, One practices. The participation of UN-Habitat in the
Programme, One Leader, One set of Management DaO reform process in the pilot countries is affected
Practices (possibly expanded to One Voice and by the UN system’s move towards a harmonized and
One UN house). These ‘self-starters’ in the DaO unified set of agency management practices (i.e.,
jargon include Bhutan, Laos, Maldives, Mongolia, Harmonized Programme and Project Management
Papua New guinea, and the Philippines (in the Asia Guidelines (HPPMG)). Equally, UN-Habitat’s
and the Pacific Region), and Botswana, Comoros, administrative support to DaO operations in the
Ethiopia, Liberia, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, and pilot countries require a review and adjustment
Zimbabwe (in the Africa Region). in response to expected system-wide adoptions
of standard basic country agreements (SBA), of a
b. UN-Habitat reform for DaO Harmonized Approach to Cash Transfers (HACT), or
accomplishment the adoption of common (and country-specific) cost
norms for budget lines such as national staff (and
UN-Habitat Regional Offices have only limited
national consultants), travel, and so on. This process
delegated authority, being more of an extended
is quite advanced in a number of pilot countries.
arm of RTCD, rather than a full Regional Office. The
However, it is beyond the scope of this evaluation
recent allocation of staff resources under regular
to assess the implications of these administrative
budget and MTSIP funds to the Regional Offices is
reforms on UN-Habitat’s DaO participation.
30 Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative

c. The One UN Fund and funds for DaO One UN Fund has effectively fostered a more
implementation transparent approach to programming thereby
The One UN Fund has proved an incentive for enhancing accountability to both Government
UN agencies to work together, in particular and development partners. As per the current
specialised agencies, encouraging a coherent and management and accountability framework, the
holistic approach to programming which plays to Resident Coordinator is responsible for leading
the strengths of each participating agency. effective resource mobilisation at the country level
for the One Programme. However, there is no
The One UN Fund was presented as facilitating mechanism to bind which agencies to adhere to
improved programming and better management this principle.
for results, as well as enhancing the UN’s
compliance with the spirit and principles of mutual DaO budgets to finance One UN Country Plans
accountability established in the Paris Declaration in the pilot countries are usually sourced directly
and Accra Agenda for Action. Different pilot DaO from the Multi Donor Trust Fund (a minor part)
countries have different approaches for the One as well as from agency core funds and country
UN Fund. The first DaO cycle was referred to the allocations from non-core funds. Access to Multi
UN fund resources to be distributed by agencies for Donor Trust Fund under DaO is proving effective
implementing joint programmes. For the next cycle, to support UN-Habitat’s contribution to the reform
starting 2012, this concept has changed. In Cape process in most countries. However, the limited
Verde, Rwanda, Mozambique and Tanzania, the amount of core resources from UN-Habitat’s own
One UN Fund will correspond to a single budget for budget sets limits to the scope and effectiveness
the entire United Nations Country Team Programme, of the agency’s participation in joint programmes
which is divided across three funding sources: agency with other agencies. This is particularly so in the
core resources; agency non-core resources; and One case of Pakistan, Rwanda, Tanzania and Vietnam
UN Fund resources. Consequently, the One UN joint where the country programmes / projects are
programme will include all projects and activities almost exclusively financed through the Multi
implemented at country level independently from Donor Trust Fund pool of funds. The DaO process
the source of finance. brings in only a limited amount of ‘new’ financial
resources through MDTF allocations. Even more
Such eligibility and performance based funding so in future, the DaO reform process will depend
criteria have enabled the United Nations Country on core resources from agencies, earmarked or
Team to sharpen the focus of the One UN non-earmarked, Government cost-sharing, soft
Programme, with a clear division of labour based on loans, and corporate funding sources (Table 4.2).
parameters such as agency capacity, comparative So far, UN-Habitat’s contribution to DaO from its
advantage and mandates. In other words, the own core resources has been quite limited.

Table 4.2: Source of funding for UN-Habitat DaO projects


Cape Mozambique Pakistan Rwanda Tanzania Vietnam
Verde
DaO Contribution (USD) 500,000 4,126,500 3.600,000 2.247,300 0 950,000
UN-Habitat Core funds*(USD) -
88,500 3,148,300 180,000 ? -
Total DaO funds under 588,500 7,274,800 3,600,000 2,427,300 0 950,000
implementation by UN-Habitat (USD)
Percentage of UN-Habitat Core funds (%) 15.0 43.3 0.0 7.4 0.0   0.0
(*) For ‘core funds’ is understood all funds gathered by UN-Habitat used for financing projects and activities at field
level, and independent of Foundation funds, bilateral contributions, AOS, trust funds, earmarked or non-earmarked
funds.
Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative 31

The volume of Multi Donor Trust Fund support a result, the agency’s yearly country activities
to UN-Habitat country activities is quite small (i.e. report does not provide a complete picture of
1.2 per cent from the total MDTF funds in Cape UN-Habitat’s country activities (e.g., Pakistan,
Verde, six per cent in Mozambique; four per cent Tanzania and Vietnam). Efforts by the internal
in Pakistan; 0.5 per cent in Rwanda; and 1.2 per task force on ENOF to make an inventory of all
cent in Vietnam), and is not likely to increase UN-Habitat activities at country level, and their
significantly if the agency follows the same path. total budgets, did not provide useful results. A
Otherwise, it is likely to be reduced even further. good example of integration was in Mozambique
where, following the initiative of the UN-Habitat
DaO funds are limited and generally the One
country staff, all projects financed by UN-
UN plan cannot be fully financed with donor
Habitat were included in the DaO as agency
contribution. Therefore competition among
contribution, and the result is very positive in
agencies increase and the Resident Coordinator
terms of integration with DaO at country level
restrict the allocation of DaO funds to certain
and in leveraging DaO funds.
conditions, for instance, through the contribution
of core funds from the agency. This was the case
DaO project implementation and
of UN-Habitat in Cape Verde where USD 88,500
reporting
allowed access to USD 500,000 and the same in
Mozambique, where the agency contributions In Cape Verde, Mozambique, Rwanda (and other
of all projects not financed by DaO. In Rwanda countries) DaO projects are being implemented at
if the agency does not increase its contribution, a slow pace. This is affecting agency reputation
the possibilities of obtaining DaO funds is very with beneficiaries and partners, and the allocation
limited and projects will remain unfunded. Core of DaO funds. One of the main factors behind
funds and non-core funds should be mobilized to these delays is the procurement and recruitment
upscale UN-Habitat activities at country level. process of the UNDP office. Although an
agreement with UNDP stipulates that UN-Habitat
It is clear that contributing with core funding for will implement projects following its own rules
DaO implementation helps in leveraging larger and regulations for recruitment and procurement,
amounts of DaO funds and it is also clear that UNDP does not act on authorizations from PSD
potential funds from Headquarters are totally and UNON.
unknown in the field; thus, it is impossible to plan
in advance, although every year a certain number UN-Habitat field staff follow UN-Habitat/UNON
of projects are implemented with core funding. procurements and recruitments procedures;
all the documentation goes for approval to
In Tanzania, Vietnam and Pakistan, UN- Headquarters, where it is revised by the Senior
Habitat’s Global Division is implementing HSO, the respective PMO, and then to PSD/
projects financed from UN-Habitat funds. These UNON for final approval. Once the approval
projects are not managed by the Regional Office arrives to UNDP at country level for issuing the
and have not been included in the One UN contract or paying the vendor, the full process
country programme. This situation has several starts again putting on hold the approval received
disadvantages; for instance, it is not following from UNON and repeating the whole process of
the DaO approach in the pilot countries and verification through internal UNDP procurement
raises criticisms on UN-Habitat coordination and and recruitment system (including the Contracts,
non-aligning with the One UN programme. On Assets and Procurement Committee and other
the other hand, UN-Habitat is losing a great internal mechanisms) at a fee. That process is
opportunity of leveraging DaO funds using UN- obviously very slow (i.e., it is not UNDP priority)
Habitat funds as agency contribution. Moreover, remaining pending for weeks and months.
there is no centralized procedure which manages Applying its own system, sometimes UNDP may
and accounts for UN-Habitat contribution. As challenge what is approved by UNON.
32 Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative

Up to now the Country Programme Manager and on One UN Plan implementation to the Resident
the Senior Human Settlements Officer have tried Coordinator and the Monitoring and Evaluation
in different countries to speed the UNDP approval Team represent an additional layer, considering
process without much help. What is required is reports to Regional Office under the MTSIP format
an agency intervention based on agreements and for clearance and transmission to Headquarters
understanding between the two agencies. for inclusion in the former RTCD annual report
on operational activities. In addition, donors
UN-Habitat’s participation in the DaO process have their own reporting format on projects
depends, to a considerable extent, on the implemented through earmarked funding.
support provided by Headquarters in Nairobi
and by the Regional Office, in terms of ensuring In DaO countries, there is joint planning with
compliance with UN-Habitat’s mandate and policy strong participation of UN agencies and less
priorities (focus areas), substantive backstopping strong involvement of Government counterparts,
capacities, and administrative services through however relatively adequate for being driven from
PSD and UNON. There is concern among the the UN side. There is less joint implementation
Country Programme Manager country team that with lapses in coordination, distribution of
requirements of project approval, allocation of funds and recruitment / procurements processes
funds, financial and substantive reporting are where different timings of different agencies
multi-layered, and involve different IT formats affect the joint process. Joint monitoring is
(UNON and UNDP use different formats). drafted and included in the joint programme
As such, they are very time-consuming and document, however there is more monitoring on
not always applicable to UN-Habitat projects expenditures and less on substantive aspects. Up
financed from DaO funds. Requirements, to now joint accountability for results seems to
particularly financial and substantive reporting, be an area where little effort has been dedicated
make considerable demands on working time. and its mechanisms need to be streamlined and
Concerning substantive reporting, regular reports clarified.
Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative 33

5. CONCLUSIONS, LESSONS LEARNED AND


RECOMMENDATIONS

Garbage collection workers cleaning up a site in Kigali, Rwanda © UN-Habitat

5.1 CONCLUSIONS alternatives in United Nations Country Team and


programming activities.
5.1.1 Cross-cutting conclusions
During the pilot DaO process, a vast amount of
There appears to be little option to UN-Habitat’s field experience has been accumulated, but most
continued (and strengthened) participation in of it has not been shared among field offices.
DaO, as the alternative might be to be excluded This experience should be packaged and shared
from the list of participating agencies on account among staff of DaO and ‘self-started’ DaO
of inadequate performance. countries to enhance learning at Headquarters
and Regional Offices.
UN-Habitat’s work with the Governments and
other UN agencies has been facilitated through The One UN trend, in pilot and non-pilot DaO
the DaO, a unique platform for planning, countries, has not reached UN-Habitat Headquarters
coordination and implementation. The agency’s as planning, funding and implementation of field
contributions at all levels have gained better activities continue to be by divisions or project-
recognition in terms of its mandate and expanded based. A One UN-Habitat approach at Headquarters
its portfolio. To maintain and improve UN-Habitat and Regional Offices is likely to improve the
participation in the DaO would need to enlarge perception of the agency by Government and other
the Country Programme Manager team and UN agencies, complementing its mandate within
continue building the capacity of field staff to the country needs.
better respond to the increasing demand. DaO funds at country level are inadequate to
Given that in the next United Nations Development cover all identified activities, and there is a risk in
Assistance Framework cycle, the Governments leaving the agency without financial resources. It
will push for a change requesting UN agencies to is important to strategize the use of available core
concentrate more on substantive activities adding funding from Headquarters, a pre-condition for
value to development in the country, UN-Habitat leveraging DaO funds. It is also important for UN-
Headquarters should provide normative and Habitat to initiate fundraising to obtain additional
strategic support to field teams and also present seed money to enable it access larger amounts
34 Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative

of DaO funds. Field offices are too far from UN- more visible. UN-Habitat also needs to strengthen
Habitat Headquarters’ decision centre and have its presence in UNDG meetings in New York and
limited authority at country level, constraining other venues where the DaO main decisions in
them from taking decisions. Decentralisation and relation to field priorities and distribution of DaO
delegation of authority should materialise closer funds are taken.
to the action, through transfer of responsibilities
Core funding for DaO implementation would
and accountability to Regional Offices and field
leverage larger amounts of DaO funds. However,
offices as emphasized in urban governance
this funding (and its availability) is totally
documents of UN-Habitat.
unknown in the field. Headquarters should be
more transparent on its core funds producing
5.1.2 Country Specific Conclusions
a sort of forecast of funds per country, and
Mozambique facilitating planning and negotiation at field level.
The Country Programme Manager is responsible Headquarters should also align its divisions with
for DaO planning. This is a time demanding and the One UN in the field, allocating core funds to
stressful task, with technical requirements in a projects aligned with the DaO country plan.
variety of topics covered by the agency’s mandate. The HCPD and the planning for DaO were
The field office is delivering over USD 1 million per done more or less in parallel; producing two
year and the possibility for increasing that amount different documents and two different planning
exists. For this reason, it would be necessary to instruments for the same country and same
enlarge the team of permanent staff to be more Government counterpart, both demanding time
competitive with larger agencies where different and effort from the same staff. There is urgent
specialists participate in the planning process need for Headquarters to rationalise planning,
providing technical input and advocating for their reporting, monitoring and other documents that
mandates in the Government and UN meetings. in many cases duplicate in content, but cover
Enlarging permanent staff could also improve different periods or use different formats.
monitoring and assistance to project preparation
and implementation.
Pakistan
The office in Mozambique is supported by ROAAS UN-Habitat’s mandate and comparative advantage
with very limited or no support provided by other in human settlements and urbanization issues are
divisions. At field level there is increasing demand well recognized in the current One UN Plan so is
for new and renovated know-how to advocate for the agency’s participation at the United Nations
more participation of the agency in new areas of Country Team level.
intervention as well as on innovative ways to assist
country needs. Without a continuous improvement UN-Habitat’s programmatic and policy
of normative aspects it would be difficult for UN- coordination at the United Nations Country Team
Habitat to increase its portfolio of implementation. and its working groups is financially not sustainable
and presently require subsidies through AOS
In the new DaO cycle (2012-2015), UN-Habitat sources from the large humanitarian projects on
field staff managed to include interventions for post disaster recovery and reconstruction. UN-
USD 10 million, i.e., 250 per cent more than the Habitat interventions are overwhelmingly oriented
amount leveraged by the agency from DaO funds. towards (and funded through) humanitarian
To include the UN-Habitat component in the United and peacekeeping donor contributions, with
Nations Development Assistance Framework long term development activities through policy
does not mean automatic prioritisation and support and service delivery taking a backseat.
funding. Considering the increasing competition
among UN agencies it is necessary to strengthen In order to increase cost effectiveness, core
Headquarters presence in the field, to become resources may have to be mobilized to set up
Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative 35

a UN-Habitat country team which can ensure the agency) to access them. UN-Habitat core
policy support to Government and United funds are limited; however some are available
Nations Country Team. The team would require and independently of the amount can highly
recruitment of some national professionals reinforce the participation of the agency
to ensure continued and specific thematic locally. Core funds allocated to Rwanda and
contributions to the deliberations of the United later retrieved damaged the agency in front
Nations Country Team. of Government authorities and should not be
repeated. In addition, core funds should be
UN-Habitat’s future participation in the One
better coordinated at Headquarters level and
UN Plan should focus more on advocacy, policy
better managed for obtaining increased DaO
support and advice to Government and partners,
funds.
at the provincial and local government level.
This will raise awareness in the general public Projects are implemented at a slow pace, affecting
and among the agencies on urbanization issues, agency reputation with beneficiaries and partners.
especially with the creation of a National Habitat Delays of six months are common at UNDP
Committee drawn from stakeholders. offices. This constraint falls under PSD and UNON
and should be solved. On a wider perspective,
Rwanda the existence of this problem implies the need
for improved communication and collaboration
Staff and the Government are committed in
mechanisms between RTCD, PSD and UNON to
delivering UN-Habitat activities undertaken and
be worked out at Headquarters.
financed by the DaO in Rwanda. The results
obtained are of good quality and recognised
Tanzania
at country level. However, when looking at
country needs and priorities, and UN-Habitat’s UN-Habitat’s thematic focus areas in the One
mandate from a wider perspective, it is possible UN Plan for Tanzania (UNDAP) are limited to
to identify that other interventions at policy and participation (through joint programming with
strategy levels could have had a greater impact. UNDP, UNICEF and WHO) in the UNDAP WASH
The Headquarters should provide field staff with (Water, Sanitation and Health) focus area. UN-
continuous and systematic know-how applicable Habitat’s participation in WASH is likely to get
to the country, aligned with the Government close to USD 0.9 million from the One UN Fund
request for the next cycle to support its vision for the plan period 2011-2015, representing
2020 with more value added interventions. about 0.4 per cent of the One UN Fund. In order
to access this funding, UN-Habitat has to submit
The DaO planning process is extremely demanding
to the United Nations Country Team working
and has become more of a policy and strategic
group on WASH specific project proposals for
exercise. However, divisions at Headquarters and
joint programming in the next few weeks.
Regional Offices continue working under silos with
interaction based on personal relations and not on None of UN-Habitat’s other thematic focus
a structural set up. Under the present situation, field areas, i.e., urbanization, slum upgrading, land
staff have no necessary normative tools to advocate management, has been programmed under
for the agency’s mandate in critical planning the UNDAP 2011-2015, which is probably an
meetings. The DaO and the new working modality omission on the part of the Government of
in the UN provide opportunity for UN-Habitat to Tanzania as well as on part of ROAAS.
restructure Headquarters and Regional Offices for
Most of UN-Habitat’s initiatives in Tanzania are
joining capabilities and providing the field with the
under a fragmented financing and management
best from normative and operational divisions.
support from different Divisions of UN-Habitat
DaO funds are limited and have some conditions which may have to be reviewed in light of their
(such as the contribution of core funds from exclusion from UNDAP.
36 Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative

UN-Habitat ‘country team’ consists of only arrangements for UN-Habitat’s operations


one person who struggles to address the wide with PSD, UNON, ROAP and the office of the
scope of Country Programme Manager multiple Country Programme Manager, involving such
functions without financial or human resource issues as human resources, delegated authority,
support from Headquarters. If UN-Habitat is procurement, IT, and monitoring and reporting
to better participate in the Tanzania UNDAP, (financial and substantive).
the Country Programme Manager system
needs to be considerably supported in terms of 5.2 LESSONS LEARNED
budgeting, financial resources, participation in
1. The administration and finance procedures in
United Nations Country Team and its working
Headquarters have continued to use the same
groups, joint programming with other agencies,
system as before the DaO without any specific
implementation and coordination of UN-Habitat
measure in relation to the pilot DaO countries.
project inputs to WASH.
The only difference is on the finance report
which is done once a year, on-line and using
Vietnam the DaO template which is similar to the trust
UN-Habitat’s participation in DaO depends fully fund template.
on OPF allocations, the level of which is likely to 2. The new requirements of DaO at country
drop significantly in future, especially because of level in pilot and self-started countries justifies
donor withdrawal of ODA grant contributions. an increased level of decentralisation and
delegation of authority to regional and country
It is expected that OP3 (2012-2016) will identify
offices. Decentralization specifically should:
sustainable urbanization among its development
priorities, and include explicit references to focus (a) Rationalize roles, responsibilities and
areas under UN-Habitat’s competence including accountabilities between Headquarters,
climate change, and disaster preparedness and ROs and field office;
mitigation. (b)
Transfer vertically functions to the
Regional Office and country office;
If UN-Habitat shall in future make competent
(c) Downshift responsibilities to Regional
and recognized contributions to the United
Offices and country offices, and create
Nations Country Team under the DaO process
more space for national accountability
and develop a larger project portfolio, it will need
and ownership;
to strengthen the financial and human resource
situation of the Country Programme Manager’s (d) Increasing the human resource capacity
office. to provide required technical, policy and
strategic assistance at country level; and
Without a stronger financial and human resource (e) Simplifying procedures, monitoring and
base, the significant demands on UN-Habitat reporting.
DaO participation in terms of working hours,
new and bureaucratic procedures, participation 3. Regarding core funding, it would be
in different layers of coordination mechanisms, ideal if a forecast could be made for DaO
monitoring and reporting, are likely to outpace countries in order to facilitate commitment
the potential advantages and gains in terms of in planning and negotiation at field level. It
raising the agency’s visibility. would also be good if core funding allocated
to projects could reach the country aligned
UN-Habitat’s programme in Vietnam should be with the DaO plan and coordinated from
carried under a unified institutional arrangement, Headquarters with the DaO mechanisms of
coordinated by ROAP and the office of the implementation.
Country Programme Manager. This move will 4. There is tendency among donors to shift
require a review and adaptation of existing their ODA less to the Multi Donor Trust Fund
Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative 37

in favour of funding global programmes UN-Habitat mandate in DaO countries


(e.g., the Global Environment Facility (GEF)
3. Set up joint programming of agency inputs
or HIV/AIDS) and back to earmarked agency
(resources and activities) to achieve stated
funding. UN-Habitat country programmes
and agreed upon results for formulating
cannot rely on the allocation of funds from
and implementing One UN programme. UN-
Multi Donor Trust Fund. The agency needs to
Habitat to competently participate in joint
make effort mobilising additional funds, and
programming for enhancing its visibility
open other funding sources like Government
and sharpening its comparative advantage,
cost-sharing (e.g., Vietnam) or corporate
support from Headquarters and Regional
sources. If not, the agency’s participation in
Offices is essential.
joint programming under the DaO process
will not be sustainable. 4. If topics of UN-Habitat’s mandate are to be
included in the national plan and in the One UN
5. In order to minimise the cut on UN-Habitat
plan (United Nations Development Assistance
allocations for DaO components, it would be
Framework is now well coordinated with
important to strategize the use of available core
the national plan) they need to be properly
funding from Headquarters, and to initiate a
exposed from the very beginning with valuable
fundraising exercise that can provide seed
arguments and supporting documents.
funds for UN-Habitat activities in DaO countries
Headquarters and Regional Offices should
leveraging larger amounts of DaO funds.
support Country Programme Managers and
the country office teams on normative and
5.3 RECOMMENDATIONS strategic issues related to national priorities
Status of UN-Habitat country teams to keep high UN-Habitat’s mandate in the
1. The present status of UN-Habitat country preparation of the One UN plan if the agency
team as non-resident (or resident agency is to survive in the increasingly competitive
depending on the UNRC’s perception) should DaO set up.
be kept. It is needless to ‘upgrade’ Country 5. In order to respond more professionally to
Programme Manager status to international, priorities and initiatives identified by the
except in countries with large development or Government, UNRC and United Nations
humanitarian/post disaster programmes. Country Team, UN-Habitat should delegate
2. The achievements of Country Programme authority and seed capital to Country
Managers in DaO countries need to be Programme Managers from Headquarters
maintained and reinforced. This requires core resources to support assessments,
a stronger participation streamlined from studies, workshops, advocacy campaigns,
Headquarters joining the best from normative media announcements and others that
and operational divisions to provide new can justify including in the One UN country
and updated know-how on UN-Habitat’s plan upcoming issues related to UN-Habitat
mandate, strengthening the field staff, mandate.
enabling them to respond in a better way 6. In order to raise and maintain the level of
to the increasing demand. Accordingly, advocacy and awareness on its competence
UN-Habitat Headquarters should build the in the DaO countries, UN-Habitat should
capacity of Country Programme Managers create the National Habitat Committees/
and field staff on normative aspects, certainly National Habitat Fora, preferably managed
lacking. Field enhancement should be by national partner institutions and civil
followed by a continuous technical support society. The objectives of the PSUP project fits
from Headquarters in key United Nations perfectly well on this aspect and RTCD should
Country Team and Government meetings ensure that all pilot, as well as ‘self-started’
advocating for priority interventions. DaO countries are considered in the PSUP.
38 Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative

7. To enhance learning and be better prepared point at Headquarters, with responsibilities


for DaO planning and implementation, UN- to coordinate, raise awareness among the
Habitat Headquarters should systematise divisions, monitor the DaO development
DaO experience through the Human and provide assistance to DaO countries on
Settlements Officers in the different Regional the wide scope of implications of the UN
Offices capitalising on information from DaO DaO reform process. This practice has been
countries. adopted by other UN Headquarters and
resident agencies at field level have also one
One UN-Habitat and needed reforms staff only dedicated to DaO coordination and
monitoring.
8. UN-Habitat Headquarters and Regional
Offices should review its structure and 13.
UN-Habitat Headquarters may consider
working modality to become a One UN- establishing a ‘two-track’ support system to
Habitat, complementing the divisions’ tasks pilot and ‘self-started’ DaO countries which
in a way that could reach the field with shall be supported under the DaO reform
improved know-how, building the capacity process: One track to include countries with
of field staff on a systematic way. A One UN- well-established UN-Habitat teams, who are
Habitat approach will definitely improve the raising the agency’s visibility in the United
perception of the agency by Government Nations Country Team and its working
and UN agencies, supporting UN-Habitat’s groups, and where there is a good potential
mandate within the country needs. for including additional component in the
joint programming and obtaining increased
9.
UN-Habitat should sharpen recently
allocation of One UN funds. The second track
published policy papers on MTSIP focus areas
would include countries with limited presence
and mainstream them into One UN plan (in
of a Country Programme Manager or country
addition to country-specific strategies), so
team, supporting with programmatic and
that country programme management teams
timely interventions from Regional Offices
can make use of them for joint programming
in the United Nations Country Team and its
with other agencies.
working groups, building up the agency
10. Considering the efforts required by the DaO intervention in the joint programming and in
planning and the need to have only one UN- the DaO process.
Habitat planning instrument per country,
it is recommended to merge the HCPDs
UN-Habitat reforms for DaO
with UN-Habitat’s component on DaO. accomplishments
This planning exercise will have to include
global programmes and projects emanated 14.
Restructure Headquarters and expand
from Headquarters, harmonising them with Regional Offices to provide programmatic
country needs. and administrative support to the scope
of operational and normative activities
11. Considering increasing competition among
undergoing in the region and at country level.
UN agencies in placing agencies mandate on
DaO priority interventions and on DaO funds, 15.
UN-Habitat should review how current
UN-Habitat Headquarters and Regional Offices fragmented procedures negatively affect
should support the formation of National its participation in the DaO reform process
Urbanization Committees or National Urban in terms of lack of common and unified
Fora position the urban agenda in DaO. administrative, budgetary, accounting and
reporting procedures for activities at country
12.
The DaO reform process will make
level.
considerable demands on UN-Habitat’s way
of doing business as part of UN system. 16. Using the findings of the review, the agency
The agency should appoint a DaO focal should establish a unified management and
Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative 39

programme support structure at Headquarters DaO project implementation and


to guide and coordinate its interventions in reporting
the DaO countries, aligning them with the 19. UN-Habitat Headquarters, through PSD and
efforts of the UN system of agencies to set UNON should clarify with UNDP recruitment
up the Harmonized Programme and Project and procurement procedures for projects
Management Guidelines (HPPMG), including implemented by UN-Habitat, eliminating
Harmonized Approach to Cash Transfer current duplication of the steps followed.
(HACT), cost norms and Standard Basic
20. UN-Habitat should revise the whole project
Agreements (SBA).
cycle, simplifying the programming, approval
and reporting exercise and reducing the
One UN Fund and funds for DaO
number of required documents. Improved
Implementation
interaction between field and Headquarters
17. UN-Habitat should re-structure its approach to and at Headquarters will speed support to
pilot and ‘self-starter’ DaO countries to move DaO process, especially where technical and
along this new programmatic and funding administrative aspects are required.
trend (the One UN fund) coordinating its core 21. Headquarters should consider programming
funding and DaO funding in line with the One the Integrated Management Information
UN country plan. System (IMIS) to retrieve separately all DaO
18. For competent participation at country level, projects and be able to help monitoring of its
DaO process requires a critical mass of funds implementation.
and human resources. UN-Habitat should
consolidate funding of country activities
from all sources (e.g., MDTF, Foundation
earmarked and non-earmarked, AOS, global
programmes, etc.) in order to establish
complete UN-Habitat country budgets, under
a single accounting system.
40 Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative

Annexes
Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative 41

ANNEX I: Terms of Reference

Consultancy: International consultant 1. Background


(to work in a team of two
The Delivering as One (DaO) approach was
international consultants)
recommended by the Secretary-General’s High-
Implemented by: Regional and Technical level Panel on System-wide Coherence in the
Cooperation Division areas of Development, Humanitarian Assistance
(RTCD) and Monitoring and and Environment on 9 November 2006. As
Evaluation Unit consequence of the 2005 World Summit, the
Countries to be 6 countries, including field Panel suggested the establishment of UN Country
visits to Mozambique, Teams under the format of The Four Ones:
Pakistan, One Leader, One Programme, One Budgetary
Framework, and (where appropriate) One Office.
Reviewed Rwanda and Vietnam This would allow the UN System to strengthen its
Duration: 2 work months (for each of collaboration with Member States with the aim
the two consultants) of obtaining real progress towards the fulfilment
of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
Starting date: 7 March 2011
and creating capacity to coherently address cross-
End date: 6 June 2011 cutting issues, including sustainable development,
gender equality and human rights.

Summary On 3 April 2007, the Secretary-General requested


the General Assembly to test the DaO approach
The objective of this assignment for two
in a number of pilot countries. The Governments
international consultants is to undertake an
of Albania, Cape Verde, Mozambique, Pakistan,
internal review of UN-Habitat’s participation in
Rwanda, Tanzania, Uruguay and Vietnam
the Delivering as One (DaO) initiative. The goal of
volunteered for this purpose and the Secretary-
the DaO approach, under implementation since
General tasked the UN Development Group
2007 in eight pilot countries, is to strengthen the
(UNDG) to move forward with the piloting exercise.
UN system’s collaboration with Member States
Member States agreed that the pilot experience of
in view of real progress towards the fulfilment
the DaO approach should be evaluated to inform
of the MDGs and creating capacity to coherently
future intergovernmental consultations.
address cross-cutting issues, including sustainable
development, gender equality and human rights. Among the expected DaO results are:
The review is expected to determine the extent
• Reduction of costs by minimising overlap
of UN-Habitat’s participation; derive lessons
and duplication of efforts by using common
learned; identify and assess strengths, challenges,
services for reducing overhead costs and
opportunities; and develop recommendations
increasing value for money in delivery;
for a more effective participation. Among
• Alignment of UN activities according to
other issues, the review will generate a better
national strategies and priorities;
understanding of the effects and potential of the
DaO for UN-Habitat in terms of fund-raising and • Focus on comparative advantage, considering
delivery capacity. The review will focus on Cape the diversity of mandates and areas of
Verde, Mozambique, Pakistan, Rwanda, Tanzania intervention of the UN Agencies;
and Vietnam, with missions to Mozambique, • Application of a result-oriented programming
Pakistan, Rwanda and Vietnam. approach by securing more core funding on
42 Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative

a multi-year programming basis; the DaO • Complex or inefficient configuration of the


should allow reducing fragmentation and Resident Coordinator Offices, in particular
competition between UN Agencies, especially without clear separation of roles and
in fund-raising, which often results in donor- responsibilities among the UN Resident
driven programming and earmarked funding, Coordinator and the UNDP resident
hence losing the focus of the UN agenda. representative;
• Lack of simplification and harmonisation of
While the concerned UN Country Teams self-
management and information systems;
organised for undertaking the DaO pilot exercise,
evaluability assessments were conducted by the • Technical weaknesses in defining SMART
United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG) in 2007 (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant
and 2008 focussing on: (a) design and progress and Time-bound) indicators according to
of the new processes to improve the quality of principles of Results-Based Management
planning, (b) define monitoring and evaluation (RBM);
modalities such as indicators, baselines and • Lack of capacity for undertaking effective
targets for measuring the results, (c) involvement monitoring and evaluation from both the
of stakeholders, adequate use of resources, UN system at country level and national
national ownership and leadership, forms of Governments;
external aid, etc. • No adequate and predictable contributions to
the One Fund from multi/bilateral donors;
During the evaluability exercise in which UN-
Habitat was actively involved, the following • Difficulties in determining the ‘right’ UN
underlying critical aspects were identified (some agency for undertaking planned activities in
of which have been improved since): the DaO and ensure inclusiveness;
• Lack of adoption of a harmonised strategy in • Difficulty in reaching consensus for
the different countries for implementing the empowering the Resident Coordinator as the
DaO, in particular how to pass gradually from One Leader;
the UN Development Assessment Framework • Lack of integration of the Harmonised
(United Nations Development Assistance Approach to Cash Transfer (HACT) in the One
Framework) to the One Programme, with Budgetary Programme mechanism, mainly
joint programming often used as intermediate due to divergence of financial rules and
solution; regulations among UN organisations;
• Lack of timeframe alignment between • Lack of clarity as to how overhead and
the One Programme and national Poverty transaction costs related to the delivery of UN
Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP); support can be reduced and how savings on
• Lack of capacity and difficulties in ensuring operational cost can accrue to programme
ownership and full participation of national budgets; and
Governments in the implementation of the • Lack of progress in finding locations that
DaO; would allow all UN agencies working at
• Lack of integration with other development country level to move into common premises
partners, such as the Bretton Woods (i.e., One Office).
institutions;
The evaluability report suggested that country
• Lack of authority delegation of UN agencies’ self-evaluations should be conducted as informal
Headquarters (Headquarters) to country stocktaking reporting exercises to assess progress
offices to participate in, and contribute to, made against the strategic intent of DaO, record
the DaO more effectively; achievements, identify areas for improvement and
• Variations in membership between the remaining challenges and, most importantly, distil
different UN Country Teams; lessons learned. Accordingly, all eight DaO pilot
Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative 43

countries produced stocktaking reports between 2. Opportunities of the


2007 and 2008. Delivering as One UN
From the end of 2009, country-led evaluations • United Nations agencies work with unity of
have started and should be concluded by July purpose to support national priorities (a more
2010. Currently, the seven DaO pilot countries cohesive and strategic UN at country level).
are at different stages in this activity with Vietnam • The entire management structure of the DaO
the most advanced. results in improved understanding of the
comparative advantage and capacity of each
To ensure greater ownership and leadership at
agency.
country level in evaluating of the DaO approach,
collection of relevant information will be required • An inclusive process, striving to include
as evidence for the independent evaluation to be resident and non-resident UN agencies that
conducted starting from 2011. This independent could contribute to national needs within
evaluation will focus on lessons learned from a common planning process, enables the
the DaO in all pilot countries in a comprehensive elaboration of a coherent strategy geared
manner, and will be carried out according to towards wider development results rather
UNEG Norms and Standards. than limited individual agency mandates.
• A more harmonized approach of the UN’s
The need for an independent evaluation is a work with Governments, donors and
specific request of the UN General Assembly, for other stakeholders improves inter-agency
consideration by Member States, and without communication, knowledge of agency
prejudice to future intergovernmental decisions. systems and structures as well as mutual
As indicated in the UNEG evaluability report, such understanding (one voice has more impact).
exercise will face methodological challenges,
• Enhanced role of the Residence Coordinator.
such as:
• Strengthened national leadership and
• The most obvious method would be to
working through common results and
compare the situation before and after
financial frameworks.
adopting the DaO approach in the respective
countries. For this purpose, baseline data
need to be defined and collected, which is 3. Challenges
often not the case; • The One UN reform relies on the joint efforts
• Comparing the situation resulting from of different agencies with unique mandates
the DaO with what might have happened and specific interests. The fact that agencies
without DaO can be perceived as a speculative continue to pursue their own interests and
exercise; priorities has led to slow acceptance of the
• Since each country context is unique, a radical reforms required by the DaO approach.
comparison between countries which have • Modus operandi and added value of different
adopted the DaO approach with countries agencies dependent on UN intergovernmental
which have not is problematic and not always processes and Headquarters often do not
feasible; provide sufficient support to the One UN
• Observing noticeable changes in terms of reform agenda.
effectiveness requires a timeframe of several • Donors are yet to provide multi-year
years; predictable financing to the One UN Country
• There is a need to focus on results-based programme.
indicators, however they were often not well • Constraints on resources, especially for small,
defined and are not SMART. under-funded and technical agencies.
44 Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative

• There is a thin line between focus vs. a number of structural constraints at both
inclusiveness, and maintaining a balance Headquarters and in the country offices. These
between programme coherence and respecting constraints include:
the programmatic diversity of the UN. • Planning and approval processes of work
• Interaction with Headquarters is inadequate. programmes and activities which are currently
Many UN agencies use different systems for agency-specific and Headquarters focused, on
their resources and programme management top of the common UN planning at country
level.
• Human resource constraints in terms of
4. Justification for a review of
limited capacity at the country level to be
UN-HABITAT’s participation in
effective in DaO operations; and resource
the DaO
management, contract modalities etc. which
The aim of the DaO initiative is to make the role are still agency–specific.
and contribution of the UN system at country • IT platforms of various agencies are still
level more relevant, effective and efficient. It is incompatible, which means elaboration of
important to point out that the resolutions of the common monitoring and reporting becomes
General Assembly contained in the 2007 Triennial a difficult and time consuming exercise.
Comprehensive Policy Review (TCPR) emphasise
The constraints have affected participation
that programme countries should have access
of individual agencies in DaO. However, an
to and benefit from the full range of mandates
increasing number of intergovernmental bodies,
and resources of the UN development system.
the governing bodies and donors of various UN
Hence, national Governments should determine
agencies are pushing agencies in the direction of
which Resident and Non-Resident UN Agencies
the reform and are requesting progress reports on
(RAs/NRAs) best would respond to their specific
this on-going initiative.
development needs and priorities.
According to the outcome statement of the
This aspect is particularly relevant for specialised
intergovernmental meeting of the DaO pilot
NRAs such as UN-Habitat whose housing and
countries that took place 19-21 October 2009,
urban development mandates are generally part of
in Kigali, Rwanda, DaO has provided benefits for
national Governments’ main priorities. UN-Habitat
achieving better development results through
is currently active in six countries of Delivering as
increased national leadership and ownership in
One: Cape Verde, Mozambique, Pakistan, Rwanda,
the development partnership with the UN system.
Tanzania, and Vietnam. The core problem is often
Experience thus far has confirmed that DaO
a lack of implementation resources.
is better than a fragmented UN development
According to the assessments carried out so far system that existed at the country level prior to its
(the evaluability study, the stocktaking exercise adoption. In the pilot countries there is no going
and country led evaluations), there has been back to doing business in the manner prior to the
significant progress, but there are areas that still DaO initiative. It was therefore recommended to
need improvement. Various important questions maintain the momentum and take forward the
that are of special interest to individual UN process in a strengthened manner to address the
agencies have not been addressed, e.g., how challenges.
the relationships between their country offices
Other countries have already expressed their
and Headquarters are developing (or are to be
willingness to join the DaO initiative, including Benin,
reshaped) in the light of this new approach.
Bhutan, the Comoros, Kiribati, Malawi, Papua New
For small agencies, like UN-Habitat, in order to Guinea and Uganda. It is likely that more countries
deepen and consolidate the reform process at will introduce the DaO in coming years, showing
country level, it will be important to overcome that the UN system is indeed changing,
Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative 45

Although there are challenges for UN-Habitat • Perceptions and views of national
participating in the DaO, it is becoming Governments, other UN agencies and
increasingly clear that a foundation must be laid development partners concerning UN-
to fully participate in this initiative. This requires Habitat’s role, relevance and performance in
an assessment of UN-Habitat’s participation the DaO analysed;
in the DaO to determine the extent of the • Improved understanding of the value added
involvement; lessons learned; challenges; and of the One UN process for UN-Habitat and of
recommendations for improved participation. the significance of UN-Habitat’s support to
UN-Habitat’s DaO participation needs to be the One UN reform agenda;
reviewed in six of the eight pilot countries,
• Recommendations formulated and a strategic
namely: Cape Verde, Mozambique, Pakistan,
way forward defined for more effective and
Rwanda, Tanzania and Vietnam. In Albania and
efficient participation of UN-Habitat in the DaO.
Uruguay, UN-Habitat has almost no operational
activities and thus does not participate actively
in the DaO. 7. Methodology/activities
Note: The two consultants will agree between
them on their respective roles and exact division
5. Purpose and objectives of of labour to deliver the prescribed outputs.
the review
This review will focus on the current challenges Step 1: Preparatory phase
and opportunities of UN-Habitat’s participation
Desk review of existing documentation, such as:
in the DaO. The intent is to understand what
UN-Habitat should improve or do differently in • Report of the High Level Panel on UN System
order to participate more effectively in the DaO. Wide Coherence;
Specific objectives of the review are: • UN DaO evaluability reports, stocktaking
• Evaluate and make recommendations reports, country led evaluation reports and
concerning strategic, planning, managerial, other relevant documentation;
operational and monitoring/reporting • UN-Habitat strategic and policy documentation
processes, mechanisms and human/financial (MTSIP, ENOF, Policy/strategic papers, etc.) and
resources for more effective and efficient country reports (HCPDs, Country Programme
participation of UN-Habitat in the DaO at Managers annual reports, HCPCs evaluation
both at global and national levels. report September 2010, etc.);
• Assess the value added of One UN process for • UN relevant documentation at country level
UN-Habitat in the six countries, including the (United Nations Development Assistance
integration of the agency’s activities into this Framework, One Programme or Joint
process. Programmes, operational plan, assessments,
• Make a qualitative assessment of the strategies, etc.);
significance of UN-Habitat’s support to the • PRSPs, national development agendas and
One UN reform agenda. (sectoral) strategic plans.
• UN-Habitat will make some of these
documents available. However, the
6. Expected results
documents that UN-Habitat does not have
The following results are expected: will be obtained by the consultants through
• Strengths and weaknesses, benefits and appropriate channels.
constraints, opportunities and threats related • Based on the desk review and in consultation
to UN-Habitat’s participation to the DaO pilot with UN-Habitat Headquarters and concerned
phase determined and assessed; country offices, the consultants will prepare
46 Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative

an inception report to be approved by RTCD/ the consultants will carry out interviews at the
ROAAS. The inception report should include: level of the responsible UN-Habitat Regional
• Clear approach and working methodology; Offices dealing with the six pilot countries under
review, respectively, to, among other aspects:
• Detailed activity plan, including for field
visits; • Assess the level of understanding of the
• Preliminary list of key stakeholders to be DaO initiative, seizing the existing views and
interviewed; opinions of both the substantive (technical)
• Review questions and draft semi- and programme management (administrative/
structured questionnaire; finance) officers;
• Annotated table of contents of the review • Identify aspects which need to be addressed
report. in order to speed up the decision/managerial
flow and related administrative procedures
Step 2: Country visits and improve the agency’s performance at
The consultants will visit the following four of the country level;
selected pilot countries: Mozambique, Pakistan, • Evaluate Headquarters’s support to the
Rwanda, and Vietnam. Each consultant will visit country level.
two countries for 1 week each (2 weeks in- Similarly, the views of different departments and
country work in total for each consultant). The key managers at Headquarters shall be analysed,
purpose of the country missions is to gather especially those dealing with UN-Habitat’s
primary information through interviews and administration, finance, monitoring & evaluation,
collected documentation. and strategic & organisational aspects.

Key stakeholders to be interviewed include,


Step 4: First draft and internal discussion
among others:
• National Government, in particular UN- After analysing, harmonising and packaging all
Habitat counterparts; collected information, the consultants will prepare
a draft report to be circulated and reviewed
• Other UN agencies’ representatives or focal
internally.
points with knowledge of UN-Habitat work at
country level (participation in a United Nations A one-day workshop will be organised in Nairobi,
Country Team and/or UN PMT meeting should UN-Habitat Headquarters, during which the
be considered); report will be presented (in form of a PowerPoint
• UN Resident Coordinator, and other RC Office presentation) and discussed.
staff (such as NRA Coordinator and other key
Comments, views and recommendations resulting
staff dealing with the DaO);
from the discussions will be taken into account
• A wide range of multi/bilateral development
by the consultants and integrated into the final
partners, including those contributing to the
report.
One Fund or knowledgeable of UN-Habitat
work at country level;
Step 5: Final phase
• Representatives of Civil Society Organisations
working with UN-Habitat; The final draft report is prepared and circulated
electronically for a last review by all concerned
• UN-Habitat Programme Managers.
stakeholders.
Step 3: Internal review at Regional Offices
The report is finalised and officially submitted to
and Headquarters levels
UN-Habitat.
After compiling the information collected at
country level, and following a bottom-up logic,
Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative 47

6. Key principles recommendations derived from the review. A


PowerPoint presentation of not more than 25
During the review exercise, the following
slides, well structured, illustrated and animated,
principles should be respected:
is to be submitted together with the draft report
• No duplication of efforts with completed (the UN-Habitat PowerPoint template will be
country-led evaluations and other provided to the consultants).
independent evaluations that are on-going.
The study should take advantage of the
Output 3: Final report
evaluability work, and evaluations already
carried out. The final report should incorporate the review
• Ensure independence and credibility of the comments from key stakeholders, especially the
review exercise by adhering to UNEG Norms one-day workshop in Nairobi, and is expected to:
and Standards. • Analyse strengths and weaknesses, benefits
• Validate and cross-check methods used and and constraints, opportunities and threats
information obtained from different sources. related with UN-Habitat’s participation to the
DaO pilot phase;
• Take into account perceptions and views of
7. Outputs/deliverables national Governments, other UN Agencies
The following outputs are expected from this and development partners concerning UN-
exercise (in chronological order): Habitat’s role in the DaO;
• Provide specific recommendations and
Output 1: Inception report a strategic way forward for undertaking
strategic, managerial and operational
This output is expected to contain:
changes in order to obtain a more effective
• Clearly defined strategy and working and efficient involvement of the agency in
methodology, including a detailed timeline of DaO in the near future.
review activities;
• Preliminary list of key stakeholders to be in-
terviewed; 8. Timeframe
• Questionnaires for interviewing key stake- The review will be carried out during a period of
holders at the country level, at Regional two work months spread out over three months
Offices and at Headquarters; from March to May 2011. The following draft
• Annotated table of contents of the review work plan refers to the estimated time needed by
report. each of the two consultants to carry out the work
for each methodological step/activity:
Output 2: Draft report and PowerPoint
presentation of findings and preliminary
recommendations
The draft report should contain the findings
from desk study, country missions and UN-
Habitat-internal interviews, as well as draft
48 Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative

Step Acvitity Estimated Mar Apr May Jun


duration
(weeks)
1 Preparatory phase 1
2 Country visits 3
3 Internal review at Regional Offices and HQ levels 1
4 First draft and internal discussion 2
5 Final phase 1
TOTAL 8

9. Required qualifications 10. Institutional arrangements


/ supervision / travel
For this review, UN-Habitat seeks to recruit The consultants will report to the Director of
two senior international consultants with the the Regional and Technical Cooperation Division
following qualifications: (RTCD), in close collaboration with the Regional
• Advanced university degree in a discipline Offices for Africa and the Arab States (ROAAS)
related to UN-Habitat’s mandate and Asia and the Pacific (ROAP).
• A minimum of 15 years of experience in One consultant will visit Pakistan and Vietnam,
international development and, if required, the Regional Office for Asia and
• Profound knowledge of the UN system the Pacific in Fukuoka; the other consultant will
• Experience of UN-Habitat’s work, organisa- visit Mozambique, Rwanda and the Regional
tional set-up and mandate Office for Africa and the Arab States in Nairobi.
Each mission will be approximately one week.
• Relevant experience in the countries to be
UN-Habitat will provide air tickets and DSA.
reviewed
• Excellent analytical and communication skills
• Fluency in spoken and written English (for
the consultant visiting Pakistan ad Vietnam)
and English, French and Portuguese (for the
consultant visiting Mozambique and Rwanda)
Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative 49

ANNEX II: LIST OF PEOPLE INTERVIEWED

UN-Habitat Headquarters: • Radford, Chris: Senior Human Settlements


Officer
• Alabaster, Graham: Section Chief, Human
Settlements Finance Division • Rosales, Lowie: Human Settlements Officer
• Badiane, Alioune: Ag, Director, RTCD • Sato, Mariko: Chief, Bangkok Office
• Dzikus, Andre: Section Chief, HS Finance Cape Verde: (contacted by e-mail):
Division
• Silva, Janise: UN-Habitat Coordinator in
• Evans, Neil: Programme Support Division
Cape Verde
• Gebre-Eghziabler, Axumite: Director,
• Tall, Mansour: UN-Habitat Programme
Global Division
Manager in Senegal, covering also Cape
• Hussein, Maharufa: GUO, Monitoring and Verde
Research Division
• López Moreno, Eduardo: Monitoring and Mozambique:
Research Division • Costa, Rui: Chief Executive Officer; Fund for
• Mioch, Jaana: Assistant to the Deputy Housing Foment
Executive Director of UN-Habitat • Dos Santos Teresa Abreu, Casimiro:
• Mutizwa, Naison: Senior Policy Advisor to Deputy General Director; National Institute
the Executive Director for Disaster Management
• Ondari, Felista: Programme Support Division • López, Lola: Non Resident Agencies
Coordination Officer; United Nations
UN-Habitat Regional Office for • Magaia, Silva: UN-Habitat Programme
Africa and the Arab States: Manager; UN-Habitat
• Guiebo, Joseph: Senior Human Settlements • Mason, Jocelyn: Country Director; United
Officer in ROAAS for Cape Verde Nations Development Programme
• Mbye, Doudou: Senior Human Settlements • Matos Benesse, Angelo Augusto: National
Officer in ROAAS for Rwanda Director of Buildings; Ministry of Public Works
and Housing
• Spaliviero, Mathias: Human Settlements
Officer in ROAAS for Mozambique • Nhachungue, Erasmo: Director of Planning
and Studies; Ministry for the Coordination of
• Sulaiman, Jawed: Programme Manager
Environmental Affairs
Officer in ROAAS for Cape Verde,
Mozambique, Rwanda and Tanzania • Rafael, Orlanda: National Director for
Municipality Development; Ministry of State
Administration
UN-Habitat Regional Office for
Asia and the Pacific: • Senda, Ana Isabel: National Director
for Territorial Planning; Ministry for the
• Lankatilleke, Lalith: Senior Human Coordination of Environmental Affairs
Settlements Officer
• Topping, Jennifer: Resident Coordinator;
• Meeuwissen, Jan: Senior Human Settlements United Nations
Officer
• Noda, Toshi: Director ROAP
50 Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative

Pakistan: (contacted by e-mail) • Do Thi Minh Huyen: UN-Habitat


• Moghaddam, Siamak: Country Programme • Do Tu Lan: Deputy Director; Urban
Manager Development Authority
• Francois Reybet-Degat: Head of Resident
Rwanda: Coordinator Office; Senior Sdvisor on UN
• Bigenimana, Emmanuel: National Project reform (UN Resident Coordinator John Hendra
Coordinator; Youth Project; UN-Habitat. was out of the country)
• Fall, Cheikh: Deputy Representative UNFPA; • Le Thi Mai Huong: UN-Habitat Project
Rwanda Manager
• Habimana, Andre: Head of UNIDO • Mags Gaynor: Development Cooperation;
operations; UNIDO Embassy of Ireland
• Lootsma, Auke: Country Director; UNDP • Nguyen Quang: UN-Habitat Programme
• Nsengiyumua, Jacques: National Project Manager
Coordinator; WAC II Project; UN-Habitat • Nguyen Tran Nam: Deputy Minister; Ministry
• Sevumba, Monique: UN-Habitat Programme of Construction
Manager; UN-Habitat • Nguyen Yen Hai: Deputy Director General;
• Uwamahoro, Felix: National Project Ministry of Planning and Investment
Coordinator; Upgrading of Slums Zones of • Nong Thi Hong Hanh: Head of Division;
the cities of the Western Province (AQUPO); Ministry of Planning and Investment
UN-Habitat • Peter d’Huys: Development Cooperation;
• Uwera, Solange: Non Resident Agencies Embassy of Belgium; CoChair of LMDG
Coordination Analyst; Resident Coordinator • Pham Khan Toan: Dir General; Ministry of
Office; UN Construction
• Pham Thi Thu Huong: UN-Habitat Chief
Tanzania:
Technical Advisor; MEK-WATSAN
• Badhari, Ritesh: UNRC Office; DaO focal • Rie Vejs Kjeldgaard: ILO Representative
Point
• Setsuko Yamazaki: UNDP Country Director
• Chamberlain, Louise: Dep. UNDP Director
• Tran Thi Van: UNFPA Assistant Representative
• Gibbons, Helga: UNRC Office; DaO focal
• Tran Xuan Bach  : UN-Habitat Project
point
Manager
• Mutashabirwa, Phillemon: UN-Habitat
• Vu Nguyet Minh : UN-Habitat.
Programme Manager
• Vu Thi Vinh: Vice Secretary General;
Vietnam: Association of Cities of Vietnam
• Alwin Nijholt: UN M+E; RBM advisor • Yuriko Shoji: FAO Representative
• Caroline den Dulk: Communications
Manager; One UN Office
Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative 51

ANNEX III: COUNTRY INFORMATION

1. Delivering as One in Cape (PSUP) which is financed by UN-Habitat with


Verde contribution from the European Commission,
allowing UN-Habitat access to the One UN
1.1 Background Programme with an urban governance project
The Republic of Cape Verde, with Praia as its financed by the DaO.
capital, is a small archipelago of 10 islands located
at 455 km from the West African Coast. It has an 1.2 Delivering as One in Cape Verde
area of 4,033 km² and a population of 492,000 Planning: With the collaboration of 20 UN
inhabitants. Cape Verdean’s has a life expectancy agencies (six resident and 14 non-resident
at birth of 71 years and a literacy rate of 82 per agencies) it was prepared the ‘One Programme
cent. Its economy is essentially tertiary, with trade in Cape Verde’. The programme is divided in four
and services sectors occupying over 70 per cent thematic areas being: (i) Good governance; (ii)
of the domestic production. Promotion of growth and economic opportunities;
From an administrative standpoint, Cape Verde (iii) Environment, energy, disasters, prevention
is divided into 22 municipalities with 24 cities. and response; and (iv) Human capital and social
In urban areas concentrates 62 per cent of the protection. The gender component is a cross-
population with approximately one quarter in cutting aspect that has been mainstreamed in
Praia. At country level, only 46.9 per cent of the most interventions. The total estimated budget for
population has access to public water supply and the One Programme was USD 70.3 millions and
50 per cent has access to an improved sewage donor contribution reached USD 40.8 millions.
disposal system. The majority of municipalities still The UN-Habitat coordinator in Cape Verde,
do not have the instruments and the mechanism with the assistance of the Country Programme
for proper urban management and the country Manager, made great effort advocating for
lacks a proper land registration system. UN-Habitat mandate inside the United Nations
UN-Habitat in Cape Verde: The UN-Habitat Country Team and with Government partners.
office in Cape Verde started in 2009, after Now, the agency is implementing activities for a
the Delivering as One (DaO) was initiated. For total of USD 588,500 including USD 88,500 from
that, a Habitat Programme Manager (Country the PSUP project and USD 500,000 from DaO funds
Programme Manager) was nominated (the implementing the ‘Local Urban Development
Country Programme Manager for Senegal Programme in the framework of the One UN in
was nominated for Cape Verde accumulating Cape Verde’. The UN-Habitat component in the
both countries) and it was recruited a country Medium-Term Strategic and Institutional Plan
coordinator based in Cape Verde. The country (MTSIP) is related to focus area 2: Participatory
coordinator participates in DaO meetings in the Planning Management and Governance. This
United Nations Country Team and others, and intervention was included in the Habitat Country
works together with national partners on the Programme Document (HCPD) for Cape Verde.
planning and implementation of the projects. The The Government of Cape Verde has been working
Country Programme Manager, based in Senegal, on defining an integrated urban policy and
assists at key meetings in Cape Verde and provides operational strategy which will act as a guide for
the necessary support from Dakar. better living conditions in the cities. Accordingly,
The entry point of UN-Habitat in Cape Verde was the Government of Cape Verde in partnership with
the Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme UN-Habitat intends to produce this urban policy
52 Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative

and the respective strategy in the next cycle of the should be considered for enlarging the agency
United Nations Development Assistance Framework portfolio.
(UNDAF) 2012-2016. For the next United Nations
For increasing UN-Habitat capability, it would
Development Assistance Framework, on the
be important to strengthen the local office
‘National Programme on Urban Development and
investing on its human resources by upgrading
Cities Empowerment’ have also been identified
and enlarging the staff. The load of work on
the following priorities: (i) Territorial planning,
programmatic and substantive aspects, the
urban planning and management; (ii) Mapping,
time spent on meetings (30 per cent of the
registration and information technologies; (iii)
coordinator’s time) and the perspectives on the
Housing, rehabilitation and urban sanitation; and
new United Nations Development Assistance
(iv) Urban security.
Framework cycle justifies it.
The DaO planning exercise with Government
Implementation: Coordination of
counterparts and UN agencies facilitated the
implementation with national partners is well
dialogue and the recognition of UN-Habitat
established; however there are improvements
mandate strengthening the working relations
that can be done for a better coordination with
with the Resident Coordinator office and sister
other UN agencies, especially on procurement
agencies. Taking advantage of this situation, UN-
processes and on timing of implementation.
Habitat could draw a plan to further advocate on
Joint planning has not been reflected on a joint
the agency mandate and capability.
implementation. UN-Habitat has spent 80 per
The Government of Cape Verde is complaining cent of the allocated funds what represents
on the large number of small projects included a good delivery. If the agency enlarges its
in the One Programme and is claiming the programme, would be necessary to recruit
need to concentrate in the next United Nations relevant assistance.
Development Assistance Framework cycle on
more substantive aspects which can add value to 1.3 Conclusion and Recommendations
the development process in the country. For UN-
Conclusion 1: With the DaO, the work with the
Habitat, with only one staff in the field, to deal
Government and other UN agencies have been
with more policy and strategic aspects becomes
facilitated with a unique platform for planning,
a great challenge; however it is necessary to
coordination and implementation what facilitates
respond to the country demand.
UN-Habitat works at all levels gaining better
Funding: In total, UN-Habitat requested USD recognition of its mandate and helping the
1.1 million to implement its DaO component expansion of its portfolio.
and from 2009 to 2011 received a total of
Recommendation 1: This good performance
USD 500,000 what can be considered a good
needs to be maintained and reinforced, for what
proportion considering its late integration and
is required to keep pumping from Headquarters
the lack of pre-DaO presence in the country.
new and updated know-how on relevant human
Necessary to mention that with the international
settlement’s topics strengthening the field staff
crisis, donors declined some funds for the DaO
and enabling them to respond in a better way to
programme what increased competition among
the increasing demand.
agencies for the available funds.
Conclusion 2: In the next United Nations
Cape Verde presents a good example where core
Development Assistance Framework cycle, the
funds (from PSUP programme) in relative small
Government will push for a change requesting
amount (USD 88,500) habilitated UN-Habitat
UN agencies to concentrate more on substantive
to implement activities under DaO and leverage
activities adding value to the development in the
funds in the amount of USD 500,000. This
country.
modality of ‘seed’ or ‘in-kind contribution’ funds
Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative 53

Recommendation2: UN-Habitat from its exercise that can provide seed funds for UN-
Headquarters should implement an intense Habitat activities in DaO countries allowing the
capacity building of its field staff on normative leverage of larger amounts of DaO funds. In Cape
aspects. This field enhancement should also be Verde is under preparation a fundraising exercise
followed by a continuous technical support from for the new programme on Urban Development
Headquarters assisting to key United Nations and Cities Empowerment that should be
Country Team and Government meetings. UN supported by Headquarters.
agencies and Government needs to see that behind
the local staff exists a full agency supporting with
relevant normative and operational experiences. 2. Delivering as One in
Mozambique
Conclusion 3: During the DaO period in Cape
2.1 Background
Verde and other pilot countries, a vast amount
of field experiences has been accumulated and it The Republic of Mozambique has an area
has not been shared among field offices. of 799,000 km² and a population of 21.8
million inhabitants with a population growth
Recommendation 3: UN-Habitat Headquarters rate of 1.9 per cent. Mozambicans have a life
should systematise DaO experience through the expectancy at birth of 51.7 years and a literacy
HSOs in the different Regional Offices capitalising rate of 38.7 per cent, and is considered one
information from DaO countries. That information of the sub-Saharan African countries with the
should be made available to staff in different strongest economy presenting an economic
divisions in Headquarters and also among pilot growth averaging 8 per cent in the last ten
DaO countries, self started DaO countries and years; however, it remains among the poorest
others. Such exchange of information could countries in the world with 65 per cent of the
help on learning from each other and be better population living in rural areas and mostly
prepared for DaO planning and implementation. depending on subsistence agriculture.
The DaO modality will definitely be expanded
due to increased interest from Governments. At From an administrative standpoint, Mozambique
Headquarters could also be advisable to have is divided into 11 provinces, of which the capital
a focal point for DaO countries coordinating Maputo is one. Urban areas accommodate 35 per
at Headquarters DaO needs and providing cent of its population. At country level, only 43 per
assistance to respective countries. This practice cent of the population has access to public water
has been adopted by other UN Headquarters and supply and 32 per cent has access to an improved
big agencies at field level have also one staff only sewage disposal system. In total there are 43
dedicated to DaO coordination. municipalities in great need of improving their
institutional capacity. From a housing perspective,
Conclusion 4: DaO funds at country level have Maputo, in 34 years cemented its periphery
not been enough for covering all identified building 200,000 self build new informal houses
projects and activities, and this implied that in cement block and iron sheets substituting the
projects are cut and UN agencies starts arguing old reed wall and thatch roof. The challenge
for a larger portion on the available funds. At now is to formalise the informal settlements and
critical moments, the UN system has favoured provide the necessary infrastructure and services
with DaO funds the UN agencies that contribute in the cities.
with core funding for their DaO activities.
UN-Habitat in Mozambique: UN-Habitat has
Recommendation 4: In order to minimise the cut implemented projects since the eighties; however,
on UN-Habitat allocations for DaO components, only after the year 2000 consolidated an office
it would be important to strategise the use of and had a continuous and sustainable increase
available core funding from Headquarters and of portfolio with projects reaching now USD 7.3
would also be necessary to initiate a fundraising million and a team of ten staff. The total number
54 Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative

of Delivering as One (DaO) financed projects are seven with value of USD 3,148,262. The following
three, with value of USD 4,126,500 and the total table presents the projects, its objective and main
number of core funds DaO financed projects are partners:

Project summary in Mozambique:


Project title Objective Source of Main Partners Budget
finance (USD)
Interventions for reducing Support innovative and sustainable Core UN- EC, ECHO, 502,800
vulnerability to floods and mitigation interventions for reducing Habitat INGoverning
cyclones vulnerability to floods Council, CEDH-
UEM
UN joint programme on Reduce risks associated to climate change DaO Spain, UNDP, 1,180,000
environment mainstreaming as a contribution for poverty reduction funds FAO, UNEP,
and adaptation to climate efforts in vulnerable areas and semi-arid UNIDO, MAE,
change areas of Mozambique MICOA, DNA
Cities and climate change Contribute to the achievement of Core UN- Maputo 260,700
initiative MDG Goal 7, integrating principles of Habitat Municipal
sustainable development into country Council
policies and programmes
UN joint programme Strengthen municipality capacity for DaO Spain, ANAMM, 1,226,500
support to decentralization participatory planning, monitoring and funds UNDP, UNCDF,
and capacity building for evaluation UNIFEM,
participatory planning, UNICEF, City
budgeting and gender Councils
mainstreaming
UN Joint programme on Strengthen national capacities to respond DaO UNICEF, 1,720,000
disaster risk reduction and and to mitigate the humanitarian impact funds UNDP, UNFPA,
emergency preparedness of emergencies on vulnerable populations UNIFEM,
MICOA, MAE
Capacity building of Contribute to the improvement of human Core UN- Spain, UNV, 50,000
Mozambique’s Red Cross on settlements in areas prone to natural Habitat CVM
shelter issues disasters in Mozambique
Participatory slum upgrading Contribute to achieving the Millennium Core UN- EC, MICOA, 140,000
and prevention programme Development Goals and to urban poverty Habitat DINAPOT,
(PSUP) alleviation ANAMM,
CEDH-UEM
Water for African cities II – Improve sustainable access to water and Core UN- Spain, MOPH, 1,500,000
Beira and Dondo sanitation for poor households living in Habitat DNA, CRA,
urban areas, with particular emphasis on FIPAG,
women, children and the elderly Municipalities
of Beira and
Dondo
Supporting local mitigation Identify and test innovative small-scale Core UN- EC, ECHO, 465,900
interventions for reducing mitigation interventions for cyclones Habitat MAE,
vulnerability to cyclones and and earthquakes through participatory INGoverning
earthquakes in Nampula and approach and local capacity building Council, MOPH,
Manica provinces MICOA, NGO
OIKOS
Empowering urban women Improve living conditions of urban women Core UN- Spain, MAE, 228, 862
entrepreneurs through entrepreneurs by supporting housing Habitat MOPH, MIMAS,
housing development and development and ownership of land and Municipality of
access to land rights property Manica
Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative 55

2.2 Delivering as One in Mozambique identified priorities and on innovative and feasible
solutions in order to be considered as a priority in
Planning: The DaO in Mozambique has been
the DaO plan.
operational since 2007 and its first cycle is finalising
in 2011. On its planning and implementation Behind the Country Programme Manager there
collaborates with 24 UN agencies (nine resident, is a full agency with normative and operational
seven non-resident with office and staff in- divisions, however the required support with
country and eight covered from abroad). This first updated normative and strategic information
cycle is divided in 13 joint programmes and UN- does not reach the field or what reaches is
Habitat is collaborating in three of them, being: not necessarily applicable. UN-Habitat from
environment mainstreaming; decentralisation; Headquarters and ROAAS should provide the
and disaster risk reduction. Country Programme Manager with updated
knowhow on permanent basis, and in key
UN-Habitat in Mozambique has limitation of staff
meetings should assist with expert’s presence in
and limitation of resources, and compared to UN
order to cover the demanding planning tasks.
resident agencies, its active participation in all
Only with a joint Headquarters/ROAAS-field
technical and managerial meetings is demanding
intervention, the agency will properly advocate
on human resources and stressful when advocating
in front of other UN agencies and ministries for
for UN-Habitat mandate or negotiating relevant
including the agency mandate in a continuous
funds for programme implementation. The
and more prominent way in the DaO plan.
numbers of planning meetings to be attended on
the UN side are many (United Nations Country The voice of the Country Programme Manager
Team, where decisions are taken; programme in planning, coordination and decision taking
management team, where programmatic meetings, although is equally considered, has
actions are developed; focal groups, where less power than the voices of resident agencies.
different agencies coordinates their activities; Many decisions, especially on priorities and on
retreats, where all agencies coordinate, identifies distribution of funds, are taken off meetings
priorities and decide on inter-sectoral aspects; in the absence of small agencies. DaO has
and others) this, is in addition to the meetings allowed UN-Habitat to be closer to the Resident
with Government. If the agency is not present Coordinator office, but it is not a guarantee of
in the meeting does not have the possibility for being fully considered. It is also a constraint that
submitting and advocating for the proposal, in the steering committee, where final planning
consequently will be left out when the decision is and financial decisions are taken, Non-resident
taken and will remain without the possibility for Agencies (NRAs) are not part of it, reducing
requesting funds. the possibilities of advocacy. What some NRA’s
Headquarters are doing, although could be
The strength of UN-Habitat in DaO is on its specific
questionable, is to lobby from Headquarters in
mandate, which is not available in other UN
order to obtain a more prominent position in
agencies; however, considering that the planning
terms of activities and funding.
exercise falls under the Country Programme
Manager and being the only permanent Building and maintaining good relations with
representative of the agency in-country makes it other UN agencies is fundamental, especially with
difficult if not impossible to qualify in all areas of the Resident coordinator office and other big
the agency mandate. The planning exercise is very resident agencies. Relations in Mozambique have
demanding on policy aspects and on technical been strengthened with technical departments
knowhow and the Country Programme Manager of FAO, UNICEF, WFP, UNIDO and UNDP what
in the UN country team (United Nations Country facilitates the Country Programme Manager
Team) and in meetings with Government needs work.
to convince UN agencies and ministries on the
56 Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative

The joint programming in DaO, in general, has as on the country-led DaO evaluation done in
benefited UN-Habitat providing higher visibility 2010. The new United Nations Development
among UN agencies and enlarging its presence Assistance Framework is organized around three
among national partners strengthening its focus areas: (i) The economic: aiming to diminish
previous achievements. However, it has been the economic disparities, improving productive
difficult to open new areas of intervention within capacities, and reducing vulnerability to natural
the agency mandate. disasters; (ii) The social: aiming reducing inequality
of access to services for vulnerable groups; and
Although the planning exercise is done with
(iii) The governance: deepening democracy and
close participation of the Government, this does
improving governance at the local level.
not mean that all Government departments are
aware of the DaO modality in country, therefore Among the three focus areas, there are eight
there are still departments that approach the UN- outcomes being: (i) Vulnerable groups (with a
Habitat office requesting funds and assistance particular focus on women) demand and ensure
disregarding the DaO approach. During the production and productivity in the primary sector
field mission for the DaO evaluation several in order to increase food security; (ii) Vulnerable
national partners were visited to understand groups access new opportunities for improved
their perception on the DaO and the contribution income and livelihoods; (iii) Sustainable and
received from UN-Habitat. What was found effective management of natural resources
in most of them was limited understanding on and disaster risk reduction benefit all people in
the DaO modality and in most of the cases they Mozambique, particularly the most vulnerable;
requested bilateral assistance as in the ‘old’ times: (iv) equitable provision of quality and essential
the Ministry of State Administration requested social services ensure improved wellbeing for all
technical assistance to build the capacity of their vulnerable groups; (v) Vulnerable groups demand,
ten new municipalities and prepare strategic access and use quality and equitably delivered
plans; the Ministry of Public Works and Housing, social services; (vi) Strengthened democratic
through the Fund for Housing Promotion, governance systems and processes guarantee
requested assistance for setting up the housing equity, rule of law and respect of human rights at
fund strategy; the National Institute for Disaster all levels; (vii) People in Mozambique participate
Management requested assistance in drafting the in shaping and monitoring a transparent and
resettlement strategy; the municipality of Matola equitable national development agenda; and (viii)
also wanted assistance and so forth… what clearly Government and civil society provide coordinated,
indicates that ‘One’ national plan for the UN equitable and integrated services at decentralized
assistance was not interiorised in the Government level.
sphere and it is only known by those that are
For implementing United Nations Development
directly involved in project implementation or
Assistance Framework 2012-2015, it is required
are part of the higher levels at the counterpart
a total budget of USD 735 million out of which
ministry for DaO (Ministry of Foreign Affairs).
20 per cent is expected to be covered from DaO
The new DaO cycle: The United Nations funds, 25 per cent from regular resources (from UN
Development Assistance Framework (United agencies) and the difference from other bilateral
Nations Development Assistance Framework) for arrangements. Within the eight outcomes, UN-
the period 2012-2015 was recently approved and Habitat’s mandate could be easily included and
is the result of a highly participatory planning planned its participation in outcomes 3, 4, 5 and
process with a continuous partnership between 7 expecting a total of ten million dollars from
the Government of Mozambique and the UN. DaO funds.
The United Nations Development Assistance
The Government focus in this new DaO cycle is in
Framework was based on the Action Plan for
obtaining better programmatic coordination and
Poverty Reduction (PARP) for 2011-2014 as well
Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative 57

more effective implementation. For Government, contribute with some funds. When this happens,
the value of the DaO programme, compared to a series of meetings are organised (UNCT to
what they obtain from other sources of support, coordinate, PMT to prepare the plan for the
is the neutral position of the UN, the value of the new available funds, lead agencies to work the
technical expertise of agencies and the global specifics for each joint programme, then back to
advice. the PMT for consolidation of the submissions and
back to the United Nations Country Team and
Funding: The funds for the present UN programme
Government for taking the decision). The whole
in Mozambique has approximately 25 per cent
process can take two to three months and it is a
coming from core funds from UN agencies, 65
very stressful and time-consuming process, which
per cent from agencies’ bilateral arrangements
has to be repeated again when more funds are
and around ten per cent is coming from the DaO
allocated making the management of the agency
trust fund, which is approximately USD 70 million
budget very difficult. Necessary to mention,
distributed in the 13 joint programmes. The trust
that in order to have access to new funds, the
fund has covered almost all joint programmes and
agency have to prove delivery according to what
UN-Habitat received up to now USD 2,750,000
was planned for previous allocations. This is
from DaO, what represents 3.9 per cent from the
challenge by the slow pace that takes approvals
total planned for DaO.
for recruitment and procurements.
UN-Habitat was able to leverage a reasonable
Implementation: Depending on the way the
proportion of funds from DaO due to: (i)
joint programme was designed and the lead
the good performance obtained in-country
agency coordination, there is less or more joint
on previously implemented projects; (ii) the
implementation. In two joint programmes
considerable number of project staff already
where UN-Habitat is participating (disaster risk
recruited (ten staff); and (iii) because was able to
reduction and environmental mainstreaming)
contribute with non-DaO funds to the DaO joint
synergies are high and joint implementation with
programmes. This UN-Habitat contribution was
different agencies contributing in their areas of
possible including in the DaO plan bilateral and
specialisation is undergoing according to what
Headquarters funds allocated to other related
was planned. This is not always the pattern
projects under implementation (financed by EC,
and needs to be recognised, as in many joint
ECHO, Spain and others).
programmes there is joint planning, but individual
Obtaining DaO funds is very competitive, having implementation.
on one side small NRAs that want to initiate or
UN-Habitat implementation in terms of
increase their presence in country and on the
disbursements is on track with approximately
other, the big resident agencies who have large
80 per cent of the DaO funds committed,
number of technical staff and consolidated
however on real field works, the environmental
programmes and do not want to lose their
mainstreaming project in Chicualacuala is delay,
predominance. Within this scenario, large portion
estimating the need for an additional year to
of the DaO funds are generally pre-distributed
finalise implementation. This delay may affect
before arriving to the fund distribution meeting.
UNIDO and FAO with whom UN-Habitat has joint
Although it is early to say, at country level it was
implementation in some activities.
indicated that donors will probable diminish their
contributions to the DaO trust fund during next The most important bottle neck on
years, what will increase the competition among implementation refers to delays on recruitments
UN agencies. and procurements. Field office follows the
procedures as established by UN-Habitat/UNON,
Another problem with the DaO trust fund is
then all the documentation goes for approval to
that generally the disbursements are erratic
Headquarters, where it is revised by the Senior
and depend very much on donors deciding to
58 Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative

HSO, then it goes to the PMO, from there to Conclusion 2: The support provided to DaO in
PSD/UNON for final approval and once the Mozambique is coming from ROAAS with very
approval arrives to UNDP at country level for limited or no support provided by divisions in
issuing the contract or paying the vendor, the Headquarters. At field level there is an increased
full process starts again with UNDP putting on demand on new and renovated knowhow to
hold the authorisation received from UNON advocate for more participation of the agency in
and repeating the whole process of verification new areas of intervention as well as on innovative
through internal UNDP procurement or ways to assist the country needs. Without a
recruitment system, including CAP and other continuous improvement on normative aspects
internal mechanisms. That process is done after it would be difficult to increase the portfolio of
receiving the authorisation from UNON and it is implementation.
obviously very slow (not UNDP priority) remaining
Recommendation 2: UN-Habitat in Headquarters/
pending for weeks and months and applying
RTCD/ROAAS should streamline its structure and
UNDP own system that sometimes challenge
working modality to become a One UN-Habitat,
what is approved by UNON. In addition, UNDP
complementing division’s tasks in a way that could
charges UN-Habitat for repeating the process
reach the field with improved knowhow building
that was already done by UN-Habitat/PSD/
the capacity of field staff on a systematic way.
UNON. The only document that is accepted by
Headquarters, especially global division should
UNDP is the Agreements of Cooperation which
also do field missions to assist DaO planning
is processed without verification or additional
advocating in UN and Government meetings for
approvals in UNDP.
the agency mandate presenting strategic and
innovative approaches that can convince on UN-
2.3 Conclusion and recommendations
Habitat interventions. Headquarters’s presence
Conclusion 1: The load on DaO planning is over also helps in understanding that behind the field
the shoulders of the Country Programme Manager team there is a whole agency support.
and this is a very time demanding task as well as
stressful due to the technical requirements in a Conclusion 3: In the new DaO cycle for the period
variety of topics covered by the agency mandate. 2012-2015, UN-Habitat field staff managed to
include interventions for USD 10 million, what is
Recommendation 1: In the case of Mozambique, 250 per cent more than the DaO funds obtained
where UN-Habitat has been implementing a in the first cycle. Having them included in the
reasonable portfolio of projects delivering over a DaO plan does not mean automatic prioritisation
million USD per year and existing the possibilities and funding.
of increasing that amount, it is recommended
to enlarge the team of permanent staff in the Recommendation 3: Considering the
UN-Habitat Maputo office with two or three potential cutting on DaO funds and the
additional staff in relevant specialisations, this in increasing competition among UN agencies it
addition to the existing project staff. With such is recommended to strengthen the presence of
strengthening of the office, the participation in Headquarters in the field becoming more visible
DaO planning could be improved with stable in UN and Government key meetings at country
and specialised technical staff, similarly to level, as well as strengthening the presence in
what is done by the resident agencies where UNDG in New York and other venues where
different specialists participate in the planning the DaO main decisions are taken in relation
process providing higher technical inputs and to policy, priorities and distribution of DaO
advocating for their mandates in Government funds. Alternative ways of keeping presence
and UN meetings. Enlarging the permanent staff in country and in other forums through letters,
in the office could also improve monitoring and communications, phone calls and others could
assistance to projects during implementation. also be considered.
Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative 59

Conclusion 4: The HCPD and the planning for regulations. Up to now, Country Programme
DaO were done more or less on parallel; however Managers and S/HSO have tried to mediate with
were produced two different documents and UNDP without results. If accountability on project
two different planning instruments for the same implementation is with UN-Habitat, then only the
country and same Government counterpart, both UN-Habitat /UNON procedures should prevail.
demanding time and effort that falls on the same Recommendation: UN-Habitat Headquarters,
staff: the Country Programme Manager. through PSD/UNON should clarify with UNDP how
recruitments and procurements will be processed
Recommendation 4: Considering the efforts
for projects implemented by UN-Habitat eliminating
required by the DaO planning and the need to
the duplication on the steps to be followed.
have only one UN-Habitat planning instrument
per country, in future it is recommended to merge
the HCPD with the UN-Habitat component on 3 Delivering as One in Pakistan
DaO, and make them coincide on the period
that will cover. Doing so, will avoid duplication 3.1 One UN : Overall orientation and
of planning instruments, the DaO and the HCPD relevance to UN-Habitat thematic
cycle will be the same and the coordination focus areas
with Government counterparts will be over one The One UN Plan for Pakistan is based on the
instrument which is already institutionalised at experiences with the country’s United Nations
country level. Rationalisation of documents could Development Assistance Framework which
also apply to reporting, monitoring and others was extended to 2010, in order to align it with
that in many cases duplicates in content, but Pakistan’s National Development Plan, in terms of
covers different periods or use different formats. timing and matching national priorities with the
Conclusion 5: It is clear that contributing with capacities of the UN system. In line with the overall
core funding for DaO implementation helps in objectives of DaO under the UN reform, the One
leveraging larger amounts of DaO funds and UN Plan is expected to be result-oriented, and is
it is also clear that potential core funds from contained in one document, with one work plan
Headquarters are totally unknown in the field, and budget, for implementation through joint
thus it is impossible to plan in advance, although programming. For the preparation of the One
every year a certain number of projects are UN Plan, five thematic working groups of the UN
implemented with core funding. Country Team formulated the following five joint
programmes:
Recommendation 5: Regarding core funding, • Agriculture, Rural Development and Poverty
would be ideally if a forecast could be done for Reduction,
DaO countries in order to facilitate planning
• Disaster Risk Management
and negotiation at field level. It would also be
good if core funding allocated to projects could • Education
reach the country aligned with the DaO plan and • Environment
coordinated from Headquarters with the DaO • Health and Population
mechanisms of implementation.
Based on its mandate, experience and capacity
Conclusion 6: Although agreements with UNDP to deliver, UN-Habitat participated actively in
stipulates that for project implementation UN- the formulation of four joint programmes, in
Habitat will use its own rules and regulations which UN-Habitat actively participates, under the
for recruitment and procurement, at field umbrella of the United Nations Country Team:
level UNDP does not recognize PSD/UNON • Environment
authorizations and put those authorisations on
The following outcomes address human
hold until UNDP repeats the recruitment and
settlement related issues:
procurement process using UNDP rules and
60 Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative

• Environmental policy of five projects under the overall Joint Programmes:


• Sustainable urbanization (with UN-
• Water and Sanitation improvement in informal
Habitat being the convenor of this joint
settlements through gender mainstreaming
programme component)
and empowerment of local authority
• Water and sanitation
• One UN Disaster Management Programme
• Green industries (including solid waste Pakistan
management and energy-efficient
• One UN Joint Programme on environment  :
construction),
sustainable urbanization and energy
• Disaster risk management conservation
The following outcomes addressing human • Geographic Information systems (GIS)  :
settlements related issues: Capacity building for national population
• Disaster risk management policies and census
coordination • Improvement of 29 school buildings in Khyber
• Capacity Building and strengthening Pakhtunkhwa
systems
In addition, UN-Habitat provides own funding
• Strengthening DRM in the education
to project activities from earmarked global
sector
programmes: on water and sanitation, on land
• Local applications and on youth activities, some of which are
• Health and Population (to a very limited contracted to NGOs. These project activities are
extent, jointly with UNFPA) not coordinated by the Country Programme
• Education (to a very limited extent, jointly Manager and are not part of the One UN Plan,
with UNESCO) but are administered directly by resp. programme
divisions in Nairobi.
To quite some degree, the identification and
formulation of the DaO joint programme on By far most of UN-Habitat’s activities in Pakistan,
Disaster Risk Management is based on the UNCT however, are concentrated on recovery and
and Government of Pakistan recognition of UN- rehabilitation, following the destruction of rural
Habitat’s demonstrated capacity when carrying out housing and rural infrastructure as result of the
the post-earthquake reconstruction programme. earthquake of 2005, the displacement of families
affected by the war on terror, and more recently
On the side of the UN, the One UN Plan is the flooding disasters, funded by the Central
funded through a combination of earmarked and Emergency Response Fund and direct earmarked
unearmarked funding from donors under the Multi donor funding outside the Multi Donor Trust Fund
Donor Trust Fund (MDTF), as well as from agency for development activities. In fact, only four per
core funds (except UN-Habitat). Approximately cent of UN-Habitat’s current activities in Pakistan
10 per cent of the overall DaO One UN budget are funded through the One UN Plan under Multi
for Pakistan has funding from MDTF, and several Donor Trust Fund.
agencies kept their own programmes rather than
integrating them into the One UN Plan. Further, Moreover, activities of the United Nations Country
many donors (and agencies) now focus their Team focus presently almost exclusively on post-
funding on post disaster programmes of recovery disaster recovery, reconstruction and rehabilitation
and rehabilitation, rather than contributing to through humanitarian assistance funds, while
the One UN Fund. There is an overall shortfall of joint programmes under the One UN Plan receive
funding for the current One UN Plan. much less attention. There is now a United Nations
Country Team with a UN Resident Coordinator, as
Funds available to UN-Habitat under the One UN well as a UN Humanitarian Country Team, with a
Plan total USD 3.6 million for the implementation UN Humanitarian Coordinator.
Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative 61

3.2 UN-Habitat country team In a way, the UN-Habitat post disaster recovery
participating in the DaO process and reconstruction programmes subsidize the
The presence of UN-Habitat in Pakistan is participation of the agency’s Country Programme
assured through a national team under the Manager Office in the United Nations Country
overall coordination of an international Country Team, which is not sustainable if strengthening
Programme Manager (Country Programme the agency’s capacity to participate in coordinated
Manager). The national team includes one person policy support and joint programming along the
whose working time is fully absorbed by the DaO One UN Plan is the goal.
process at the level of United Nations Country In the present situation of donor funds in
Team which requires participation in a good Pakistan being overwhelmingly directed towards
number of meetings on policy, joint programme humanitarian and peace-building activities
and administrative matters of harmonized of the UN system, the future of One UN Plan
management and accounting practices. The development activities through pooled and non-
mandate, competence and comparative earmarked donor contributions remains seriously
advantage of UN-Habitat is well recognized, underfunded. That scenario has impacts on UN-
largely due to its track record with post disaster Habitat’s participation in the One UN Plan which
recovery and reconstruction programmes. is also in future likely to remain limited in terms of
On the side of the Government of Pakistan, cost-effectiveness.
UN-Habitat cooperates closely with the line The UN-Habitat Country Programme Manager
Ministries of Construction and housing and the participated in the United Nations Country Team
Ministry of Environment, as well as with the retreat in December 2010 on the DaO starting
Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation in 2011, at which occasion a list of priorities in
Authority (ERRA) of the Prime Minister’s Office, the One UN Plan and its five joint programmes
later transformed into the National Disaster was identified, and the need to enhance impact
Management Agency. of the UN programme in Pakistan. Faced with
natural disasters and an unstable security
3.3 Prospects of funding UN-Habitat situation, a key theme for the One UN Plan is the
country activities through the One need to strike a balance between humanitarian
UN Fund and development assistance, rightsizing the
UN-Habitat’s participation in the Pakistan DaO humanitarian appeal, and ensuring partners’
process is constrained by limited core funding ownership and sustainability of UN interventions.
and staff resources, as well as by a fragile security For UN-Habitat to play a recognized and effective
environment as a result of political instability. role in the new One UN Plan, it needs to focus
The operational interventions are built around its participation in the DaO on (a) More advocacy
projects which bring in funds from donor and policy support and less on single project
countries in response to disasters, rather than service delivery, (b) Capacity development of civil
resulting from consistent efforts on the basis of society, (c) Intervention through policy advice
UN-Habitat’s mandate to strengthen the agency’s at the regional and local levels, and (d) Disaster
competitiveness and profile at the level of United preparedness and humanitarian response.
Nations Country Team. Being a project office, UN-
Habitat in Pakistan is faced with institutional and
resource limitations in committing itself to long-
term support and policy advice to Government
and other partners in civil society. Its interventions
rely on adhoc and time-bound project delivery
initiatives when addressing key themes of
urbanization or climate change.
62 Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative

4. Delivering as One in Rwanda hence deliver on Government priorities


aligned with the agency mandate. As a
4.1 Background
result of the opening of UN-Habitat country
The Republic of Rwanda is one of the smallest office, a number of projects have been
and most densely populated countries in Africa, initiated namely: (i) The ‘Kigali Industrial-
it has a population of 11,370,500 inhabitants, Environmental Management Project’
a population growth of 2.8 per cent, a life developed in partnership with UNEP and
expectancy at birth is 58 years and its literacy is UNDP with the overall objective of assessing
70 per cent. Recent studies have shown that the the environmental and socio-economic
majority of the population lives below the poverty situation of the Gikondo valley and provide the
line with one third below the food poverty line. Government with a framework for building
Close to 90 per cent of the population depends consensus and environmental protection in
on subsistence agriculture for survival. Rwanda’s the Gikondo valley since its urban wetlands
long-term development goals are embedded in its are affected and destructed by industry and
‘Vision 2020’ which seeks to transform Rwanda settlements in Kigali. The total budget was
from a low-income agriculture-based economy to USD 150,000 inclusive of USD 50,000 from
a knowledge-based, service-oriented economy by UN-Habitat; and (ii) The support with an
2020. international staff to the Ministry in charge of
Housing and Urban Development (MININFRA)
From an administrative standpoint, Rwanda is
for the formulation of the urban development
divided into four provinces plus the city of Kigali.
policy with a total budget of USD 745,433
In urban areas Rwanda concentrates 19 per cent
sourced from UNDP Rwanda.
of its population. At national level the population
with access to an improved source of water is 74 The country office is running with eight staff
per cent and access to an improved sanitation being: The Country Programme Manager; an
system is 42 per cent. administrative and financial assistant; a national
project coordinator for the water for African cities
Before Delivering as One (DaO) UN-Habitat
projects; a national project coordinator for the slum
provided support to the Government in the
upgrading in Western province (AQUPO Project);
following areas:
a national project coordinator for the youth
• From 1995-2003 focused on: (i) Institutional programme in Kigali; one UNV; a project assistant
support to the Ministry of Rehabilitation and for the slum upgrading project; and a driver.
Social Integration and the Kigali Municipality;
(ii) Rehabilitation of public buildings in Kigali
4.2 Delivering as One in Rwanda
and other urban centres, (iii) Site development
in Kigali and other urban centres for the With the DaO modality, the activities of projects
resettlement of displaced people and mentioned above were enclosed in the common
returnees; and (iv) Repair of war-damaged operational document, which served to mobilise
houses and construction of houses in urban funds under the umbrella of One UN funds. The
areas for displaced people and returnees. table below shows UN-Habitat interventions areas
The programme was completed in 2003 and subsequent budget so far allocated:
with a total budget of USD 10,115,000 and
all achievements were handed-over to the
Government of Rwanda.
• As way forward to these interventions, UN-
Habitat opened in July 2004 its country office
inside UNDP compound with the Habitat
Programme Manager (Country Programme
Manager) to efficiently mobilise resources
Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative 63

Project summary in Rwanda:


Thematic Key activities UN-Habitat DaO funds (USD)
intervention
Total funds Total funds Total funds Total for 4
received for received in received years
2008-2009 2010 for 2011
Governance (i) Advocacy and policy towards 164,859 187,494 153,943 506,296
promoting local economic development
through strategic planning with key
actors in municipalities;
(ii) Capacity building on key competences
for improving local governance;
(iii) Capacity building for urban youth
on leadership competences and roles for
policy development on youth.
Health, (i) Development of governance - 49,396 67,726 117,122
population, HIV, framework and management tools
Nutrition in water and sanitation for poor and
vulnerable groups in Kigali
Environment (i) Capacity building for formulation of 225,000 50,270 187,706 462,976
urban environmental and management
strategies;
(ii) Sustainable urban planning in
secondary cities of Western Province
(Karongi, Rusizi).
Sustainable (i) Capacity building of national and local 208,125 80,268 52,500 340,893
growth & social authorities to ensure sustainability in new
protection settlements of the acquired facilities.
Total funds received from DaO in four years: 597,984 367,428 461,875 1,427,287

In addition to these funds mobilised under DaO, Operational Document is divided in five sectors
UN-Habitat sourced from UNDP the amount of being: (1) Governance; (2) Health, population,
USD 820,000 to support environment project HIV and nutrition; (3) Education; (4) Environment,
activities enclosed in the AQUPO project. This and (5) Sustainable growth and social protection;
brings to a total of USD 2,247,287 mobilised in with gender as a cross-cutting aspect in all five
four years by the Country Programme Manager. sectors. The Common Operational Document
presents key activities by outcome and by agency
Planning: With the collaboration of 20 UN
and for its implementation it is required a total of
agencies (nine resident and 11 non-resident
USD 487.6 million. UN-Habitat activities listed in
agencies) it was prepared the ‘One UN
the above table were selected from the Common
Programme in Rwanda: Common Operational
Operational Document.
Document 2008-2012’ which is a programmatic
document specifying how the UN in Rwanda will For UN-Habitat, the load of the planning exercise
operationalise the United Nations Development falls on the Country Programme Manager who
Assistance Framework 2008-2012 (United has to participate in multiple meetings (UNCT,
Nations Development Assistance Framework). subject groups, programme planning advisory
The United Nations Development Assistance groups, sectoral and other planning meetings and
Framework is a response to the national needs and retreats) where it is discussed and coordinated the
priorities outlined in the ‘Rwandan Government’s preparation of the One UN programme. These
Economic Development and Poverty Reduction meetings are time consuming, some of them more
Strategy’ and the ‘Vision 2020’. The Common technical and others are more strategic meetings
64 Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative

where are discussed the details of the programme from donors to the One UN fund for Rwanda. In
and its funding. For agencies with one person, as Rwanda, resource mobilisation with in-country
it is the case of UN-Habitat in Rwanda, it is very donors falls only under the Resident Coordinator
challenging and in many cases impossible to meet and UN-Habitat is not allowed to participate or
the requirements because meetings run in parallel contact any potential donor for bilateral funding
or because specific policy or technical knowledge or for negotiating specific funds for a UN-Habitat
is required to advocate on the importance of a component in the One UN programme. Therefore
certain topic that falls under the agency mandate. the only way to obtain funds from DaO is preparing
The possibility of integrating the national project consolidated action plan that captures project
coordinators on some meetings could be studied. proposals for activities already agreed and submit
those proposals for approval by the Resident
Advocacy on policy and strategic aspects to
Coordinator. The approval is subject to: priorities
convince Government and other UN agencies
decided on the DaO programme; availability of
on the importance of the UN-Habitat mandate
vertical or core funds from the agency; if previous
and the relevance for the country plays a key role
allocations were properly utilised; and availability
and if not well articulated it is simply ignored. On
in the DaO fund.
this key strategic planning exercise the Country
Programme Manager has been left alone. Up to now in Rwanda, approximately one third
of the expected DaO funds have been obtained
For the next planning cycle it seems that the One UN
with reluctance from some donors to provide or
programme will concentrate on less sectors (from
increase their contribution. This funding situation
five will probable reduce to three) and the intention
increases the competition among agencies for
is to concentrate more on policy and strategic
available funds. Resident agencies with larger
aspects, reducing or eliminating direct interventions.
amounts of vertical funds and stronger presence
Although this is not decided, if implemented, it will
seems to have more chance of getting funds
imply that UN-Habitat will have to radically adapt its
than NRAs without a strong presence and limited
assistance to the new line of intervention, bringing
vertical funds. It is becoming clearer, although it
to the country otherwise unavailable technical
is not a rule, that agencies without contributions
expertise and assisting Government with fewer
with vertical funds will not have access to the
projects and quality know-how. More specifically,
DaO fund.
for UN-Habitat may imply reducing its areas of
intervention and choosing one or two key topics UN-Habitat Headquarters approached the
where the agency can provide technical assistance Government of Rwanda promising vertical funds
adding real value to the programme. for project implementation on water and youth.
In the water case (WAC-II) a Memorandum
In strategic planning meetings with Government,
of Understanding (MoU) was signed for USD
one agency (generally UNESCO) represents all
1,120,000 and Headquarters only provided USD
Non Resident Agencies (NRA) what adds another
180,000 in a cooperation agreement before
layer of difficulty to the planning exercise limiting
announcing that no more funds were available.
the advocacy on UN-Habitat mandate that can be
On Youth, it was promised USD 200,000 from
done by the staff in country.
vertical funds, which were not materialised. The
In Rwanda, the Government manifested that DaO reasons why these two cases occurred were not
is the modality how they want to deal with the studied, however it can be concluded that some
UN and they don’t want to go back to agency funds in reasonable amounts were promised
implementation. from Headquarters and could have been used
to leverage larger DaO funds, and that did not
Funding: Funds for DaO are originated from two occur. Secondly, having promised funds to the
sources: (a) Contributions from the UN Agencies, Government and not materialising it, eroded the
called ‘vertical funds’; and (b) Contributions trust on the agency and affected the efforts done
Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative 65

by field staff with the Government and inside the other interventions at policy and strategy levels
One UN. could have had a greater impact.

In Rwanda, the Government is allocating Recommendation 1: An effort should be done


funds for projects implemented by UN-Habitat from Headquarters providing field staff with
(approximately USD 100,000 for each activity/ continuous and systematic knowhow applicable
project and USD 560,000 to the WAC-II project, to the country, aligning with the Government
amounts that have been fully disbursed). The request for next cycle to support the Government
retrieval of funds by UN-Habitat puts the agency in on its vision 2020 with more value added
a very bad position of trust with the Government interventions.
who is committed with the projects.
Conclusion 2: The DaO planning process is
Implementation: After talking with UN-Habitat extremely demanding and it is becoming more
staff as well as with other UN agencies, the policy and strategic oriented exercise. In Rwanda,
impression is that at the level of implementation, the planning trend is to support the country in
there is no real joint approach with joint teams specific topics what differs from the present
and joint delivery; although for the approval of approach that is covering many small interventions
a project, a minimum of two agencies should without significant impact as a whole. Under
be participating, each agency follows its own this new and most probable planning scenario,
administrative and financial procedures with the UN-Habitat field staff do not have all the
different timing which implies that each agency necessary policy and strategic tools to advocate
at the moment of implementation delivers its for the agency mandate in critical planning
own component. There is much more to be meetings, thus it requires support.
coordinated among agencies to have a joint
Recommendation 2: A stronger participation
implementation reaching target groups and
should be streamlined from Headquarters
beneficiaries with combined assistance.
joining the best from normative and operational
In 2009 no funds were allocated from DaO to UN- divisions in order to substantiate a well-structured
Habitat because it was not able to spend 2008 programme that can reflect Government’s
allocation. In general the agency is delay in all priorities and subsequently be interiorised by the
its activities. According to field staff, the main United Nations Country Team as a priority to be
problem on UN-Habitat implementation is the financed and implemented. In addition, along
time that takes recruitments and procurements the planning process Headquarters’s presence is
(which takes even more than six months). Delays absolutely necessary, especially during relevant
in implementation affect beneficiaries, relations meetings where decisions are taken on agencies
with Government and counterparts, reduce participation and funding (scheduled more or less
the delivery capacity of the agency and impede every quarter).
obtaining DaO funds due to non utilisation of
Conclusion 3: Regarding funding for UN-Habitat
already allocated funds.
interventions, DaO funds are limited and to access
those funds it requires some conditions, and
4.3 Conclusion and recommendations
one of it is the contribution of core funds from
Conclusion 1: The UN-Habitat activities undertaken the agency. UN-Habitat core funds are limited,
and financed by the DaO in Rwanda are important however something exist and independently of
and there is a commitment from the staff in the amount can highly reinforce the participation
delivering them in the best possible way. The results of the agency locally.
obtained are of good quality and recognised at
country level. However, when looking the country Recommendation: Core funds from the agency
needs and priorities, and the UN-Habitat mandate should be better coordinated at Headquarters
from a wider perspective is possible to identify that level and better managed for obtaining increased
66 Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative

DaO funds. Once funds are committed with period stands at USD 777 million, out of which
governmental authorities, they should not be USD 216 (28 per cent) is to be financed by donors
retrieved. through the One UN Fund, leaving the balance to
be funded through agency core funds and non-
Conclusion 4: Projects are implemented at a slow
core fund mechanisms (earmarked donor funds,
pace and it is affecting agency reputation with
global UN programmes, etc).
beneficiaries and partners. Delays of six months
are common inside of UNDP. Cluster 1: Economic Growth and Poverty
Reduction (One UN Fund USD 180 million, i.e. 23
Recommendation: To avoid the delays on
per cent); with programme areas for joint agency
recruitment and procurement, PSD/UNON
programmes on
should take action as soon as possible for an
6. Economic growth (9 per cent of total One UN
understanding with UNDP on the recruitment
Fund),
and procurement process to be followed and
the timing to be taken. From the operational 7. Environment (14 per cent);
side, alternatives should be studied to speed
Cluster 2: Quality of Life and Social Well-Being
implementation, and from the management side,
(One UN Fund USD 323 million, i.e. 42 per
Headquarters should take action decentralising
cent) with programme areas for joint agency
decisions closer to the action.
programmes on
Conclusion 5: The One UN trend in the UN 8. Education (13 per cent),
system, which was initiated in pilot and non- 9. Health (17 per cent),
pilot DaO countries, has not reached UN-Habitat
10. HIV/AIDS (5 per cent)
Headquarters thus, planning, funding and
11. WASH (3 per cent)
implementation of field activities continues to be
segmented by divisions or by project. 12. Social protection (4 per cent)

Recommendation: A One UN-Habitat approach Cluster 3: Governance, Emergency and Disaster


at central level should be established and reflected Response; Refugees (One UN Fund USD 270
at country level. This change of approach will million, i.e. 35 per cent), with programme areas
definitely improve the perception of the agency for joint agency programmes on
by Government and UN agencies, what should 13. Governance (9 per cent)
contribute in supporting UN-Habitat mandate 14. Emergencies (2 per cent)
within the country needs.
15. Refugees (24 per cent)

5. Delivering as One in Tanzania There are a total of 17 resident agencies


participating with their special expertise and
Based to some extent on the lessons learned from
comparative advantage in the United Nations
previous coordination of agencies under United
Country Team and the implementation of the
Nations Development Assistance Framework, the
UNDAP, further supported by three non-resident
UN system embarked on the first One UN Plan
agencies. UN-Habitat is considered by the UNRC
(UN Development Assistance Plan—UNDAP) in
to be a resident agency (on account of being
2007, completed in 2010. In close collaboration
full time present in Tanzania), and its Country
with the Gov. of Tanzania and the donor countries
Programme Manager participates in the working
(and coordinated by a tripartite agreement
group on WASH. The One UN Fund of UNDAP
through the Joint Steering Committee), the
2011-2015 is financed from pooled contributions
United Nations Country Team formulated and
of seven donors (‘friends of the UN’). According
adopted the present UNDAP (2011-2015)
to the UNRC office, there is a trend emerging
which composed around three Clusters with
among the donors to revert to higher earmarked
10 programme areas. The total budget for that
contributions to specific programme areas and/
Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative 67

or ‘preferred’ agencies. Such a trend looks of Lands, Housing and H.S. Development, with
somewhat contradictory to the concept of multi- a request to submit competent requests on
year pooled funding for the UN reform process, assistance for urban issues to the United Nations
and has the risk of creating funding imbalances Country Team and donors when the UNDAP is
in favour of ‘preferred’ agencies and away from reviewed next year.
Government ownership concepts. In the view
Consequently, UN-Habitat’s competence and
of the UNRC office, the success of the One UN
comparative advantage on urbanization issues
Plan as a unified programme of the UN system
like sustainable urbanization, slum upgrading,
of agencies will depend considerably on the
or land management is not properly recognized
availability of multi-year non-earmarked funding
in the current UNDAP. The past positive project
of the UNDAP as a whole.
results with Sustainable Dar es Salaam and slum
UN-Habitat participates in the WASH (Water, upgrading have apparently not influenced the
Sanitation and Health) programme area under Gov. of Tanzania adequately enough to introduce
Cluster no. 2: Quality of Life and Social Well- these issues into the consultations with the
Being, jointly with UNICEF, UNFPA and WHO. United Nations Country Team and UNRC on
WASH is likely to get an allocation of approx. 3 priorities for assistance from the UN agencies.
per cent of the total One UN Fund for Tanzania, Considerable efforts are needed both at the level
the smallest of the 10 programme areas under of Headquarters and the Country Programme
UNDAP. The Country Programme Manager has Manager to convince the United Nations Country
been requested to specify the inputs of UN- Team and the Gov. of Tanzania of the urbanization
Habitat (actions) to WASH, which will focus competencies and comparative advantages of
on Zanzibar (assistance to the Zanzibar Water UN-Habitat in that field.
and Sanitation Authority (ZAWA), and to the
In this context, note should be taken of the very
Dar es Salaam Water and Sanitation Authority.
inadequate support from Headquarters and the
The total budget will be approximately USD 3
RTCD Africa office to the Country Programme
millions, out of which about USD 0.9 millions
Manager, in terms of funding, staffing, and
is likely to come from the One UN Fund, the
policy/programming expertise. The Country
rest is expected from agency core funds. Actual
Programme Manager, not being himself an expert
allocation will be made on the basis proposals
on human settlement issues, has no assistance
for joint programmes with the other agencies.
from a competent team, and no resources to
There is a likelihood of earmarked funding for
input to the United Nations Country Team and
the WASH programme area of UNDAP from
its working groups on action plans for joint
Switzerland and Netherlands.
programme formulation. The multiple functions
The UNDAP 2011-2015 has neither programme of the Country Programme Manager get further
area, nor specific activities on urbanization, and amplified on account of having to attend, as the
non of the other UN-Habitat operated projects only agency representative, an increasing number
in Tanzania figure in the UNDAP 2011-2015. of DaO related meetings in which inter-agency
According to the Country Programme Manager consultations and decisions on joint programme
and the UNRC Office, the main reason for this identification and formulation take place. There is
‘omission’ results from a lack of priorities on an urgent need for Headquarters/RTCD to review
urban issues by the Government of Tanzania this very unsatisfactory situation. UN-Habitat
when requests to the UN system were made. risks to be marginalized further in the UN reform
However, the Government development plans process in Tanzania.
(MUKUTA and MUKUZA) include urbanization
As agency-specific inputs to the WASH programme
among the development priorities of the country.
area UN-Habitat is identifying a list of key actions
This glaring missed opportunity has been brought
under its responsibility for joint programming
to the attention of the line Ministry, the Ministry
68 Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative

with other agencies: Currently, tripartite consultations take place on


• Assistance to ZAWA; the One UN Plan for the period 2012-2016,
coordinated by the One Plan Fund Mobilization
• Demonstration of rain water harvesting in
and Allocation Committee (OPFMAC) under a
primate schools;
tripartite arrangement between the Government,
• Development of S&H policy for Zanzibar;
UN and donors, with the overall supervision of
• Strengthening the ongoing monitoring the UN Resident Coordinator. As per the OPF
system in Zanzibar; allocation criteria, it is hoped that the next One UN
• Community-based WATSAN project Plan will be better integrated among the agencies
implementation; through procedures of joint and result-based
• Development of IWRM action plans and programming/planning, include indicators to
capacity building; measure the achievement of results, and address
the challenges of efficiency, economy of scale, and
• Assistance to Dar es Salaam Water and
potential synergy through reducing overlaps and
Sanitation Authority;
duplication. Overall, the next One UN Plan (OP3)
• Improvement of community sanitation;
shall be less on service delivery projects by single
• Support for establishment of monitoring agencies, but focus on coordinated policy advice
system; and and capacity building aligned with the country’s
• Community-based WATSAN project Socio-Economic Development Plan for 2012-2016.
implementation.
The present One UN Plan for the period 2006-
2010 has 5 programme components/focus areas,
6. Delivering as One in Vietnam each of them composed of several outputs, with
a total of 23 output clusters. Each output lists a
6.1 One UN: Orientation and relevance to number of expected results and assigns several
UN-Habitat mandate and focus areas agencies to contribute to achieving such results
The present One UN Plan for Vietnam for the through joint programming. There are a total of
period 2006-2010 is the result of tripartite 93 expected results under the 23 output clusters.
consultations between the Government of In the current One UN Plan, the UN-Habitat issues
Vietnam, the United Nations Country Team of urbanization, urban development strategies,
(UNCT) and the group of donors represented in pro-poor land and housing, improvements of
that country. The original plan has been revised basic infrastructure and services remain somewhat
in 2008 (OP2) and extended in 2010 by one hidden in the total list of 23 output clusters and
year into 2011. On the side of the UN system, 93 expected results. Nevertheless, the mandate
the One UN Plan is implemented through the and competence of UN-Habitat is recognized,
participation of 14 UN agencies, among them, and the agency is expected to make contributions
UN-Habitat. The Plan is financed from ODA under each of the five plan components, in line
donor grant allocations to the One Plan Fund with its mandate and comparative advantage.
(OPF) for Vietnam, under the UN Multi Donor
Trust Fund (MDTF), as well as from earmarked Overall, the current One UN Plan is still an
and non-earmarked agency contributions (core extension and improved coordination of existing
funds). For the budget period 2008-2010, OPF agency programmes and projects under the new
is at the level of USD 79 million, representing One UN programme structure, broadly aligned to
approximately 30 per cent of multilateral ODA the Government’s Socio-Economic Development
grants for Vietnam. UN-Habitat’s participation Plan 2006-2011. The present UN-Habitat projects
in the OP2 is solely funded through allocations of direct relevance to outcomes and results under
from the OPF for Vietnam (USD 0.950 million, the current plan only started in 2010. It is to be
representing slightly over 1 per cent of OPF). expected that the new One Plan for the period
Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative 69

2011-2016 (OP3), currently under preparation The OP2 has been extended through 2011,
as a tripartite programming exercise between with an allocation of USD 0.4 million planned
the Government, the Like Minded Donor Group for UN-Habitat, awaiting approval by OPFMAC.
(LMDG) and participating UN agencies, under While most agencies contribute own resources
the overall coordination of the UN Resident (core resources) to the DaO process, in the case
Coordinator, will be more of a strategic framework of UN-Habitat, this modest amount ensures the
for joint result-based programming of agencies, implementation of three projects, and is the only
including of UN-Habitat. source of funds for all the other functions of the
Country Programme Manager and the team,
It is to be expected that, in pursuit of this
including participation in the DaO programming
objective of joint programming by the agencies,
and implantation process. There are no other
the various Programme Review Committees set
financial resources from UN-Habitat, neither in
up among the agencies for that purpose will
support of participating in the DaO process, nor
benefit from the analysis of Vietnam’s 2010-2015
for studies on upcoming issues, or advocacy and
Socio-Economic Development Plan, undertaken
public awareness.
by a joint team of GoV, UN consultant and the
LMDG, entitled ‘Joint Country Analysis’ (dated Apart from the above DaO projects, UN-Habitat
July 2010) which includes full chapters on Climate activities in Vietnam are funded by the Water
Change Adaptation and Mitigation, and on for Asian Cities and Mekong Sanitation Project
Urban Management. As the current OP2 has only (MekSan), implemented by a national project
broad references to urban issues under ‘expected manager, and coordinated by a regional project
results’, and almost none at all to issues of climate office in Laos, separate from the institutional
change, neither on affecting national nor coastal arrangement for DaO in Vietnam, and outside
or urban development, it remains to be seen, if the scope of responsibilities of the Country
the OP3 will contain policy and strategic links to Programme Manager in Vietnam and of ROAP. If
these recognized national priorities. such separate arrangement is allowed to continue,
UN-Habitat’s visibility and its contribution to DaO
6.2 UN-Habitat country team (Country under the established United Nations Country
Programme Manager) participating Team scope of activities is likely to be negatively
in the DaO process affected. There is urgent need to review this
separate arrangement, with the objective of
Participation in the One UN Plan in Vietnam
bringing all UN-Habitat activities in Vietnam under
is under the responsibility of the UN-Habitat
a unified institutional set up coordinated by the
country team, which is composed of one Country
Country Programme Manager, and following the
Programme Manager and 7 other nationals (4
objectives of DaO and the One UN Plan. If the
professionals and 3 clerical staff).
system of UN agencies is expected to review their
While the Country Programme Manager is funded management practices arrangment, the question
from RTCD resources, the other team members that should be raised, is why UN-Habitat as a
are funded through UNDP administered service single agency does not deliver as one.
contracts, under funds allocated to UN-Habitat
The limited resources available to the Country
from the One UN budget. The One UN Fund
Programme Manager team pose considerable
allocation is for the purpose of implementing
stress and constraints to the Team’s ability to
three projects:
perform its multitude of functions as a small
a. Quang Nam Provincial Development Strategy;
agency:
b. Urban Observatory (urban indicators) project;
a. Ensure the recognition of UN-Habitat’s
and
competence, competitiveness and
c. Pro-poor housing project totalling USD 0.950 comparative advantage at the level of United
million. Nations Country Team deliberations, incl.
70 Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative

participation in numerous meetings required under the Ministry of Construction. DaO has
for OP preparation and coordination; also helped to engage the expertise of other UN
b. Establish partnerships with UN agencies for agencies in national policy advocacy (e.g., UNFPA
joint programming under DaO; involvement in housing policy advocacy, UNDP in
climate resilient urban development policy) and
c. Establish partnerships with Government
local strategic planning (e.g. the Quang Nam
institutions (mainly Ministry of Construction
Provincial Development Strategy with involvement
and local authorities), as well as with civil
of UNESCO, ILO, FAO).
society;
d. Set up and coordinate the implementation of Visibility improvement was also achieved after
TC projects in the country; 2007, when the country programme manager
e. Carry out advocacy work and public relations, was officially appointed so that UN-Habitat could
incl. World Habitat Day at country level; participate actively in the United Nations Country
Team. With funding provided under the One UN
f. Provide logistic and substantive support to
Plan, UN-Habitat was able to undertake specific
UN-Habitat global programmes in the country,
projects to demonstrate its competence and
which are not funded through OPF; and
value added to its Government counterparts,
g. Carry out administrative (incl. financial) and
donors and other UN agencies. Government
substantive reporting to United Nations
recognizes UN-Habitat as its main international
Country Team, UNDP, ROAP, RTCD and donors,
partner on issues of sustainable urbanization.
as required under established arrangements;
With its comparative advantage in terms of
In order to address this multitude of functions, specialized expertise, UN-Habitat has been taking
the Country Programme Manager estimates that the lead among UN agencies on DaO initiatives
25 per cent of working time is allocated to DaO with sustainable urban development, and makes
meetings and discussions, 50 per cent to technical competent contributions to UNCT discussions on
advisory and programme management, and 25 climate change. There is room for a more pro-
per cent to national delivery and UN-Habitat active intervention by UN-Habitat on climate
representation. change affecting coastal development, urban
governance, pro-poor housing policies, and basic
The country programme manager team is infrastructure improvements.
presently preparing UN-Habitat’s participation
in the next OP for the period 2012-2016 (OP3), In the next One UN Plan (2012-2016), UN-Habitat
following an elaborate set of allocation guidelines shall focus its intervention more on capacity
and criteria, set up and coordinated by OPFMAC. building, policy support, general advocacy,
Apart from direct relevance to the country’s and research on topical issues emanating from
priorities under the 2012-2016 Socio-Economic the United Nations Country Team. Guided by
Development Plan, these criteria include UN- the tripartite partnersip agreements between
Habitat’s track record on cost effectiveness, the Government, UN and donors, future
competence and competitive use of resources by interventions of the UN system shall be more
the agency’ overall programmes outside Vietnam. relevant to Government priorities, and sustainable
urbanization is very relevant.
6.3 UN-Habitat’s visibility
6.4 Funding Prospects
With the implementation of projects funded under
the One UN Fund, the visibility and perception of The prospects of funding future UN-Habitat
the agency’s mandate has remarkably increased, projects through the OPF look not very
also as result of the cooperation agreements promising. This is not a reflection of UN-Habitat’s
on projects with national partners like the competence and relevance to the Socio-Economic
Association of Cities of Vietnam, and agencies Development Plan, but the result of a likely
Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative 71

reduction of the OPF for the next plan period. The (b) institutional development, and (c) capacity
change of Vietnam’s status from a developing to building and human resources. The present
a middle income country will change the external support provided by the UN-Habitat projects
development structure, less for ODA, with a shift under DaO is highly appreciated; a formal request
to (concessional) loans and Government cost- for further assistance will be made to UN-Habitat
sharing. Agency representatives, as well as donors soon, incl. a request for further consultations on
expect a significant drop in OPF funds available future cooperation.
for the next One UN Plan. Larger agencies, like
The Association of Cities in Vietnam is the
UNDP, UNICEF or UNFPA are already preparing for
national institutional umbrella under which
a shift in the funding structure. That scenario will
the collection of 97 indicators for 96 cities and
affect UN-Habitat future operations in Vietnam
towns is presently underway. The results shall be
considerably. With the absence of own (core)
presented to the Government, the United Nations
resources, the priorities and funding modalities
Country Team and selected donors in July, which
through Government cost sharing, or direct
has a good potential of raising awareness on UN-
donor funding for specific project proposals along
Habitat’s competence and thematic relevance in
the agency’s recognized competencies (including
participating in the next One UN Plan.
climate change or disaster (risk) mitigation), will
have to be considered. In terms of future topical issues, matters
concerning the impact of climate change
Several ODA donor countries are likely to move out
on urbanization (particularly for coastal area
of Vietnam, because of its change to a MIC. The
development), disaster preparedness, mitigation
Governments of the United Kingdom, Sweden,
and risk reduction, as well as urban rural linkages
and Denmark have already announced such
are mentioned by United Nations Country
move. The picture of (future) donor contributions
Team members as having the potential for joint
looks very uneven. Some donors (e.g. Norway and
programming under the next One UN Plan.
Finland) channel their ODA exclusively through
the DaO process to the OPF for Vietnam, while
others (e.g., the EU and Japan) continue to fund 6.6 UN-Habitat’s participation in the
UN agencies directly on specific programmes of UN Country Team: benefits and
their interest (earmarked funding). Others again
constraints
(e.g., Belgium) support the DaO process politically, There is overall recognition of UN-Habitat’s specific
but do not provide funds to the OPF directly and mandate relevant to the country’s development
prefer to channel their ODA unearmarked to UN priorities, its competence and comparative
agencies. Apart from this mixed picture as regards advantage within the UN Country Team. The
support to the DaO process and its OPF, donors active participation of the Country Programme
continue bilateral funding of their international Manager and his team in the DaO process is very
development priorities. much appreciated by the Office of the Resident
Coordinator. This positive view is shared by the
6.5 Relevance of UN-Habitat’s thematic representatives of other UN agencies, particularly
focus areas to Vietnam’s national UNDP, UNFPA, FAO or ILO. UN-Habitat’s status as
development priorities and OP3 a Non-resident Agency (NRA) does not appear to
strategies limit its active role and competent participation in
At the level of the Ministry of Construction (line the deliberations of the United Nations Country
Ministry responsible for policies on urbanization Team and its working groups. In the view of
and housing), a wide range of requests for the UNDP country office, UN-Habitat’s focus on
assistance is directed towards UN-Habitat and programme delivery, while authorizing UNDP to
its country team. The Ministry has identified the administer its funds, is a good model to follow for
bottlenecks to be at the level of (a) infrastructure, other UN agencies of similar size.
72 Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative

However, and as mentioned above, the on operational activities. In addition, donors


effectiveness of the present Country Programme have their own reporting format on projects
Manager structure is severely constrained by a implemented through earmarked funding.
lack of human and financial resources. While UN-
As raised already at other occasions, ROAP has
Habitat may never be able to match the strength
only limited delegated authority, being more of
of main UN agencies like UNDP, UNICEF or
an extended arm of former RTCD, rather than a
UNFPA, its recognition in United Nations Country
full Regional Office. At the level of Headquarters,
Team depends also on its ability to provide human
UN-Habitat has enlarged the functions of its PSD,
and financial resources, e.g. for preparing brief
which represents an additional layer for project
strategy papers on upcoming issues related to
approval, financial authorization, and human
the agency’s competence. The question must be
resource management, additional to UNON.
raised here, whether UN-Habitat’s participation
There is need for a unified set of operational
in the DaO process may prove to be a strain on
modalities, or a codified manual for operational
the agency’s resources, outweighing the potential
activities which backstopped through substantive
benefits derived from enhanced recognition and
divisions and administered through PSD and
increased portfolio, if the level of funding through
UNON, regardless of sources of funding. That
the OPF remains low, and agency core funding
need is even more urgent under the overall
and sources for projects under cost sharing or
umbrella of DaO and the overall scope for aligning
earmarked donor contributions remain limited as
UN-Habitat’s diverse operational management
of today.
practices with the Harmonized Programme and
Project Management Guidelines.
6.7 Headquarters and Asia-Pacific
Regional Office support to DaO and As concerns the DaO process in terms of policy
the UN-Habitat country team coordination, UN-Habitat now benefits from
UN-Habitat’s participation in the DaO process having established a liaison office for Asia and
depends, to a considerable extent, on the Pacific in Bangkok, under its own MTSIP, which
support provided by Headquarters in Nairobi and addresses the requirements of regional level
by ROAP, in terms of ensuring compliance with coordination, resulting from participating in
UN-Habitat’s mandate and policy priorities (focus the DaO process. Similarly, there are additional
areas), substantive backstopping capacities, and demands under DaO on UN-Habitat’s participation
administrative services through PSD and UNON. at the level of UNDG.
There is concern among the Country Programme
It is beyond the TOR of this evaluation study to
Manager country team that requirements of
estimate the overall cost and budget implications
project approval, allocation of funds, financial and
for UN-Habitat at the level of Headquarters,
substantive reporting are multi-layered, require
ROAP, the Asia Pacific Liaison Office and New
different IT formats (UNON uses IMIS while UNDP
York Liaison Office of participating in the Dao
uses ATLAS) and are very time-consuming. This
process in Vietnam and the other pilot countries.
is particularly so, if some of these requirements,
particularly financial and substantive reporting, In accordance with the overall UNDG coordinated
make considerable demands on the working strategy for the DaO process, steps have been
time allocated to such matters. For example, as undertaken by the United Nations Country Team,
concerns substantive reporting, regular reports the Resident Coordinator’s office and UNDP to
on One UN Plan implementation to the Resident standardize administrative procedures which
Coordinator and the Monitoring and Evaluation will have significant impact on the management
Team represent an additional layer, apart from practices of participating agencies. The goal
reports to ROAP under the MTSIP format for is to have one set of management practices to
clearance and transmission to Headquarters guide the operations of all agencies. Among
for inclusion in the former RTCD annual report
Review of UN-Habitat’s Participation in the Delivering as One UN Initiative 73

these, the Harmonized Programme and Project As these moves towards one set of management
Management Guidelines, which up to now practices will also significantly affect UN-Habitat’s
have been only applied by the three Executive operations in Vietnam, the existing administrative
Committee Agencies—UNDP, UNICEF and arrangements and procedures of UN-Habitat with
UNFPA—are expected in future to also guide its own PSD and ROAP, as well with UNON may
the other participating agencies. So will the need to be reviewed.
Harmonized Approach to Cash Transfers (HACT)
and the Standard Cost Norms for Vietnam, and
information technology.
United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT)
P. O. Box 30030, 00100 Nairobi GPO KENYA
Tel: 254-020-7623120 (Central Office)
www.unhabitat.org

HS Number: HS/060/12E
ISBN Number (Series): 978-92-1-132028-2
ISBN Number (Volume): 978-92-1-132475-4

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