By Lorina Sthapit, Bashu Aryal, Yvonne Diethelm,
IFAD Nepal Country Programme Workshop Day 2
24 August 2013
On the second day of the event, the participants worked in thematically composed groups to find self-identified and self-monitored solutions for the project implementation issues identified together on the first day
-The planning and monitoring officers worked on sustainability and monitoring and evaluation related issues;
-The implementers worked on Institutional Development and Scaling Up (Policy and Dialogue) related issues;
-The project managers worked on staffing and fiduciary issues and
-The technical staffs worked on issues related to business Inclusion and implementation modality.
The group works were conducted through the world café method where the group members had to change tables on rotation basis and exchange ideas. The solutions envisaged by the working groups were presented on flipcharts and metacards, which will be incorporated in the Country Programme Road Map and translated into policy dialogue agenda for country portfolio.
In the afternoon session, SNV’s Senior Technical Advisor Mr. Piet Visser made a presentation on Partnerships elaborating the following points:
- Building examples of Agro-Enterprise Centers (AEC)
- How SNV partnership works
- Components of SNV: Value chain Development (SNV/AEC), Inclusion and Support for Value Chain Initiatives (GoN/SNV) and Project Management
- Role of business linkages
- Capacity strengthening of value chain actors
Mr. Visser also talked about their efforts in mentoring the Agro-Enterprise centers from Federation of Chamber of Commerce so that they (AEC) can take over SNV role after three years.
Likewise, Benoit Thierry (CPM) addressed the Governance aspects of the IFAD funded projects in Nepal highlighting the significance of effective project design, project implementation and completion evaluation for the success of the project.
The following aspects were discussed under the three components:
Design | Implementation | Completion Evaluation | ||
IFAD | GoN | IFAD | GoN | |
Concept | Project Design Report (PDR = Main report + Working Papers) | Implementation Support | ||
Formulation | PIM - Manual admin procedures - Manual of Monitoring and Evaluation - Implementing guidelines | Supervision Mission/Joint review mission (IFAD+GoN) | ||
Appraisal/Final Design (PDR) | Annual Workplan and Budget (AWPB) | Mid Term Review Mission Evaluation Missions | ||
Financing Agreement Letter to the borrower | Fiduciary management Withdrawal applications Register of staff, contracts, procurement… | Completion Mission | ||
Mr. Thierry also underlined the role of various documents such as the Letter to the borrower which contains the project financial management aspects and the Project Implementation Manual/ Manual of Operation, which contains Admin and financial procedures, Implementation modalities and M& E system. Similarly, he also highlighted the fiduciary aspects: Financial software, Procurement, Register of assets, Registry of staffs, Registry of contracts and Withdrawal Application.
Towards the end of the day’s agenda, Bashu Aryal (CPO) discussed about the initiation of the Country Programme Implementation Support Unit (CPISU). The unit will be called ‘SahaYatri’ which means ‘companion’ in Nepali or “walking together with a same goal”.SahaYatri will bring together experts from each project to support problem projects and develop synergies. Mr. Aryal, commenting on the issues and solutions identified by the working groups, suggested to build close connection among the projects, IFAD and the Government through CPISU as this could solve the correspondence issues raised.
In the evening a Marketshare fair was organized by Procasur where all the five projects presented their evidence-based best practices and innovations, scaling up approaches and tools, multiple stakeholder approaches and new KM and communication strategies. Marketplaceisa public space where people supplying and demanding knowledge meet to "negotiate" the exchange of ideas and innovative practices, as well as tools and approaches with high potential for up scaling.
HVAP’s innovations on multi-stakeholder platform, ‘respiration check’, data management framework and value chain analysis bagged 26 votes in a total of 50 and became the winner of the Marketshare. The leader of the team will receive a full schalorship to attend the Learning Route in Thailand in October.