United Nations Office of Funds and Programmes Cape

United Nations Office of Funds and Programmes Cape Verde

The 1 st Joint Office – Cape Verde Formally launched on 1 January 2006 The Cape Verde Joint Office has ONE: ▪ Common Country Programme for the 4 Ex. Com agencies ▪ Common operations service for the 4 Ex. Com agencies ▪ ▪ Budget Representative for the 4 Ex. Com agencies – also the RC

The 1 st Joint Office – Cape Verde ▪ It is located in the UN House with other UN Agencies ▪ Cape Verde was also the first country to apply HACT

Necessary conditions include • Strong Government leadership in UN reform • Donors’ openness to UN reform • Agencies (and their staff) commitment to UN reform

Common Country Programme • Derived from UNDAF and harmonised programme cycles • Focus on Cape Verde’s priorities e. g. Graduation from LDC status • Country Programme designed through participatory approach • Linked to MDGs, PRSP

Common Country Programme Key pillars: • Human capital development and reform of the social sector • Managing the environment and natural disasters • Promoting economic growth and opportunities for the most vulnerable groups • Strengthening democratic governance

Challenges • How to balance ‘One UN’ while retaining Agency identities, brands and fund-raising capacities • What happens to savings from reduced transaction costs? • Reporting requirements

Achievements to date • Costs of running the Office in 2006 were 75% of what it cost in 2005 when the 4 Agencies were functioning separately, without cutting jobs • Delivery of the programme was over 80% and the visibility of the mandate, mission and results of each of the 4 Agencies was maintained • Funds mobilised from donors e. g. $3. 5 mn from Luxemburg in January 2007 • Learning opportunities and career development for staff now from 4 Agencies and staff welfare and moral top priority

Lessons learned to date • Support of the host Government for UN reform is critical to success • Regional Directors’ teams involvement and support vital in guiding UN country teams in designing such reforms • Country Office staff should be part of the process from the outset and their concerns addressed with regular feedback.

Issues to be addressed Annual report - a challenge • The annual reports of each agency are based on the nature of programme and operations and accounting systems • Each agency has different reporting requirements and formats • Each agency has different donor requirements

Issues to be addressed (continued) • Implementation of a Monitoring and Evaluation system involving all the stakeholders (methodology, tools) • Establishment and collection of information on baseline for the programme evaluation and identification of key inidcators • Strengthening field monitoring visits and M&E culture among programme staff

Next steps…. • Moving towards “Delivering as One UN” • Tools and guidance for managing transition to One UN • Clarity in roles of ROs and HQs in process of One UN • Office plan to support One UN office transition processes GOAL 8 Offices selected as pilot for One UN and Delivery as One in 2007 including Cape Verde

• Critical message to governments: UN reform does not imply a reduction in UN programme Challenge One Programme including CPAP and common programme of non-JO Agencies

Thank You !