Introduction to the UNDP Capacity Assessment Methodology Joe Hooper

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Introduction to the UNDP Capacity Assessment
Methodology Joe Hooper

• Slovakia, February 2008

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UNDP Definition of Capacity Assessment
Capacity Assessment An analysis of current
capacities against desired future capacities
this assessment generates an understanding of
capacity assets and needs which in turn leads to
the formulation of capacity development
strategies
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Why Undertake a Capacity Assessment ?

• Brings rigor and a systematic method for
  assessing capacity
• needs, establishing priorities and sequencing
  of interventions (as
• opposed to wishful shopping lists).
• Identifies the more profound systemic challenges,
  shifting the
• capacity development question from one of
  technical cooperation
• to a more holistic framework.
• Makes sense of complex development situations,
  when it is not
• always obvious where best to intervene to
  promote capacity
• development.
• Can help confirm priorities and build consensus ?
  moving forward off of a common platform.

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The Capacity Development Process
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Key Questions for a Capacity Assessment

• Capacity for Whom?
• Capacity for What?
• Capacity for Why?

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Elements of the Capacity Assessment Framework
1. Points of Entry
2. Functional Capacities (within a Sector/Theme
Context) Technical Capacities
3. Core Issues
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Capacity Assessment Points of Entry

• Enabling Environment provides the enabling
  environment, e.g., ethos, incentives/constraints,
  policy frameworks, interaction of groups/
  networks/organizations, by which individuals and
  organizations are able to function, e.g.,
  legal/judicial environment, financial management
  environment.
• 2. Organizational provides framework for
  individuals to connect and achieve goals beyond
  individual capacities collective manifestation
  of individual capacities, e.g., Ministries,
  Departments, Districts, NGOs. Typically the most
  frequent EP.
• 3. Individual repository of knowledge and
  skills the building blocks of organizations the
  target of individual performance assessments, the
  responsibility of organizations.
• Remember though one entry point is never enough.
  Zoom in/out

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Some examples
Turkey Entry Point Organizational
level Department of Revenues Policy within the
Ministry of Finance
Kazakhstan Entry point Organizational
level Department of Social Protection at the
Regional level, plus the lower level rayon
municipal departments.
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Technical and Functional Capacities

• Technical Capacities Associated with particular
  areas of professional expertise or knowledge
  (e.g., agricultural extension, health,
  education). UN specialized agencies areas.
• Functional Capacities Activities associated
  with the formulation, implementation and
  evaluation of policy, programmes and projects
  relevant in all situations irrespective of
  sector/organization
• Engage with Stakeholders
• Assess a Situation and Define a Vision and
  Mandate
• Formulate Policies and Strategies
• Budget, Manage and Implement
• Monitor and Evaluate

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Core Issues
Institutional Development ensuring effectively
functioning national/local institutions for
societal, economic, and human development (e.g.,
mission and strategy, business processes, human
resources, physical resources). Frequently a
requested core issue in the Europe and CIS
Region. Leadership fostering good leadership
maximizes capacity investments Knowledge CD is
underpinned by knowledge or what people
know Mutual Accountability efficient,
responsive, transparent and accountable public
administration key to sustainable development.
Another frequently requested issue.
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Some examples
Serbia Core Issue Institutional
Development Specific Focus Human Resources and
Business Processes (planning, internal
communications and knowledge management)
Georgia Core Issue Mutual Accountability Specific
Focus Internal accountability within the local
government structures, and the mechanisms of how
citizens held accountable their local government
representatives.
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Assess Capacity Assets and Needs Key Issues

• Broken into 3 Steps
• Mobilize and Design
• Conducting the Assessment
• Summarizing and Interpreting the Results

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Mobilize and Design

• 1. Clarify objectives and expectations with
  primary clients,
• e.g., In-depth analytical analysis of functional
  capacities, often used to define training
  requirements, or
• Catalytic exercise to build consensus and move to
  action
• 2. Identify and engage national/local
  stakeholders throughout the process to ensure
  ongoing success
• National and municipal stakeholders
• Links between national and local levels
• 3. Adapt capacity assessment framework to local
  needs
• Define the scale and scope of the capacity
  assessment by selecting point of entry, core
  issue(s) and functional capacity(ies). Are other
  capacities also to be examined (technical ones
  for example)?
• Review existing sources and knowledge

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Mobilize and Design continued

• 4. Determine how the assessment will be
  conducted
• Self-assessment vs. interviews
• Number of municipalities, number of ministries
• Level within municipalities
• Pilot exercises
• Team
• Location
• 5. Cost the capacity assessment exercise, based
  on
• Team composition
• Duration
• Depth of analysis

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An exampleTurkey Access to Justice

• 2 day meeting with Turkish Judges from the
  Ministry of Justice to mobilize and design the
  CA
• Provided a training on CA/CD to enhance their
  knowledge

• Defined key stakeholders (MoJ, High Courts,
  Lower Court
• Justices) and their inter-relationships
• Selected MoJ as the organizational entry point,
  with further
• Departments defined as specific targets of
  the assessment
• Team composition decided with a mix of national
  experts, MoJ
• officials, UNDP-BRC staff
• Rough timeline and phased approach decided
  upon
• Kick off conference organized to further
  mobilize stakeholders
• that may be resistant to change.

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Mobilize and Design Some Considerations

• Once a point of entry has been determined, use
  either a core issue(s) or a cross-cutting
  functional capacity (ies) as the primary driver
  of the assessment
• Select from one intersection to all 100
  combinations of the 3 elements it is not
  necessarily suggested that the entire framework
  is used in any given assessment
• Go into more depth on any given intersection,
  e.g., split Budget, Manage Implement into
  three sub-capacities
• Customize according to how much time is allotted
  for a given project one week assessment or a
  three-month assessment. Kazakhstan was 12 days,
  Turkey will be 3 phases over 6 months, Georgia
  was 2 days.

It is incumbent upon a capacity assessment team
to design the framework to suit local needs.
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Assess Capacity Assets and Needs Key Issues

• Broken into 3 Steps
• Mobilize and Design
• Conducting the Assessment
• Summarizing and Interpreting the Results

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Conducting the Assessment Info Sources

• Some information you can generate yourself, other
  information
• exists and can be drawn upon. Dont reinvent the
  wheel!
• Self-assessment
• Other previous reviews, functional analysis etc.
• Interviews with stakeholders
• Government partners
• Beneficiaries
• CSOs
• Donors
• Triangulate results in consensus-building sessions

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Conducting the Assessment Data Types
Quantitative Data
Qualitative Information

• Advantages
• May be seen as more legitimate than the
  qualitative element
• Easier to compare capacity levels across
  different core issues and functional capacities
• Disadvantages
• May be used for comparison purposes that are not
  valid

• Advantages
• Provides context for qualitative element
• Creates repository of institutional memory
• Disadvantages
• More difficult to compare capacity levels across
  core issues and cross-cutting capacities

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Conducting the Assessment Sample Worksheet

1. Capacity to engage with stakeholders

Evidence
Ranking 1No evidence of relevant
capacity 5Fully developed capacity
Assessment Questions
Replace this text with details.
Do authorities have the capacity to engage with
donors (e.g., respond to issues raised by them)
5
4
3
2
1
5
4
3
2
1
Replace this text with details.
Do authorities have comprehensive knowledge of
individual donors funding priorities and
policies?
5
4
3
2
1
5
4
3
2
1
Replace this text with details.
Do authorities have the ability to negotiate with
donors about increasing transparency and
predictability and reducing volatility?
5
4
3
2
1
5
4
3
2
1
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Conducting the Assessment Sample Questions
Functional Capacity Budget, Manage, Implement Budget, Manage, Implement Budget, Manage, Implement Budget, Manage, Implement Budget, Manage, Implement Budget, Manage, Implement
Core Issue Who to meet Who to meet Who to meet Who to meet Who to meet Who to meet
Core Issue Head of Municipal Admin. Dept General Admin Dept. Finance Dept of Economy Dept of Public Utility Representatives of Dept Meeting
Institutional Dvlpt. Human Resources - Do you have a HRM system (hiring, firing, incentives, training, etc)? - Who is responsible for HRM? - Do your staff have clear job descriptions? - Do the qualifications of your staff match their job descriptions? - Do the job descriptions match the functions needed for effective functioning of municipality? - How does the municipality identify training needs of staff? - What are the criteria used for selecting who will be trained? - How do they evaluate the application of the knowledge gained? - How is this performance acknowledged? - How many projects has the municipality started in the past two years? - How many of these projects have been completed as planned? If not, why? - Was staff from your Departments involved in any these projects? - Have any of your staff received project management training? - How many staff are experts in procurement? - Do you have budget allocation for training? - Do your staff have clear job descriptions? - Do the qualifications of your staff match their job descriptions? - Do the job descriptions match the functions needed for effective functioning of municipality? - How does the municipality identify training needs of staff? - What are the criteria used for selecting who will be trained? - How do they evaluate the application of the knowledge gained? - How is this performance acknowledged? - How many projects has the municipality started in the past two years? - How many of these projects have been completed as planned? If not, why? - Was staff from your Departments involved in any these projects? - Have any of your staff received project management training? - How many staff are experts in procurement? - Do you have budget allocation for training? - Do your staff have clear job descriptions? - Do the qualifications of your staff match their job descriptions? - Do the job descriptions match the functions needed for effective functioning of municipality? - How does the municipality identify training needs of staff? - What are the criteria used for selecting who will be trained? - How do they evaluate the application of the knowledge gained? - How is this performance acknowledged? - How many projects has the municipality started in the past two years? - How many of these projects have been completed as planned? If not, why? - Was staff from your Departments involved in any these projects? - Have any of your staff received project management training? - How many staff are experts in procurement? - Do you have budget allocation for training? - Do your staff have clear job descriptions? - Do the qualifications of your staff match their job descriptions? - Do the job descriptions match the functions needed for effective functioning of municipality? - How does the municipality identify training needs of staff? - What are the criteria used for selecting who will be trained? - How do they evaluate the application of the knowledge gained? - How is this performance acknowledged? - How many projects has the municipality started in the past two years? - How many of these projects have been completed as planned? If not, why? - Was staff from your Departments involved in any these projects? - Have any of your staff received project management training? - How many staff are experts in procurement? - Do you have budget allocation for training? - Do you feel there is adequate room for career development? - Does the organization foster learning (eg devotes worktime to staff to pursue education opportunities, hosts trainings demanded by staff etc.)?
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Assess Capacity Assets and Needs Key Issues

• Broken into 3 Steps
• Mobilize and Design
• Conducting the Assessment
• Summarizing and Interpreting the Results

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Summarizing and Interpreting the Results
Identify the gap between future capacities and
existing capacities
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Key Considerations for an Assessment

• Assessment fatigue

• Skepticism about value and validity of results
  emerging from a capacity assessment

• Suspicion that capacity assessments are being
  used by senior management for re-profiling or
  retrenchment

• Disconnect between capacity assessment and
  formulation of capacity development strategies
  basing strategy formulation on guesstimates of
  capacity gaps

• Facilitation level too much may lead to
  coached outcomes too little may result in a
  wish list of capacity development strategies

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Some Lessons Learned

• Adapt to the context leverage the capacity
  assessment framework as a point of departure for
  a capacity assessment it is flexible and needs
  to be adapted by the assessment team to suit its
  specific needs/context
• Ensure appropriate team composition (team leader
  mix of content, process, cross-cutting thematic
  experts national and international consultants)
• Build enough time into the work plan for
  identifying stakeholders, designing approach,
  building consensus, translating materials, etc.
• Simultaneously manage the political/strategic
  level and the tactical level
• Understand that capacity assessment is a set of
  activities, not a solution
• Leave prioritization of investment until after
  the assessment of capacities has been completed
• Consider capacity assessment as a dynamic,
  ongoing process not a one-time event

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Resources and Information
Capacity Assessment Users Guide
A step-by-step guide to conducting a capacity
assessment Includes instructions for conducting a
capacity assessment and specifically for using
the supporting tool Includes illustrative
questions and indicators for each cross-section
of the framework (cross section of point of
entry, core issue and functional capacity)

• Contents
• Overview and Key Operational Considerations
• Assess Capacity Assets and Needs
• Define Capacity Development Strategies and
  Actions
• Questions and Indicators by Core Issue
• Annexes

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And Some More Information
www.capacity.undp.org
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EndThank you for your attention!Questions?
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Working Groups
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Undertaking a Capacity Assessment

• Split into working groups
• Nominate a rapporteur and a presenter
• Based on the case study, work through the
  questions in the handout
• Remember to record your answers so you can
  present to the plenary
• If you have a question, ask one of us as we are
  here to help.