- Training in Project Cycle Management (PCM) and Logical Frame Approach (LFA);
- Roll out of FAO’s global RBM culture change initiative;
- Facilitation of Office/Departmental Workplanning;
- Ad hoc requests for facilitation of strategic planning and LogFrame workshops and;
- Advisory services in results frameworks, workplanning, and M&E.
For almost two decades, FAO has been contracting CIDT to provide training, facilitation and advisory services in various aspects of Managing for Development Results (MfDR).
Research and Policy Advice in Aid Effectiveness and Harmonisation: 1997 – 2007
This long-term partnership started in 1997, with FAO commissioning CIDT for research and policy advice in aid effectiveness and harmonisation with UN and other development partners. CIDT developed a training programme and materials on RBM and aid effectiveness, inputting to FAO’s Unified Project Document initiated in March 2007.
Global roll-out of Results-Based Management (RBM) corporate initiative: 2005 – 2012
From 2005, FAO contracted CIDT to design and deliver various series of trainings, refresher courses and managers’ briefings on RBM. While the terminology evolved over time – from RBM to Managing for Results (MfR) to Managing for Development Results (MfDR) – the concepts and materials essentially remained the same.
Initially, the focus was on reinforcing FAO’s project staff in decentralized offices worldwide to design and use Logical Frameworks in their project proposals as well as for results-oriented project planning, management and monitoring. In this regard, CIDT was responsible for tailor-made training of FAO technical staff in Project and Programme Cycle Management (PPCM), LFA and related FAO project procedures. From 2007-2010, we also led quarterly 4-day trainings on RBM and the Logical Framework Approach (LFA) for FAO staff at Rome headquarters (HQ) and in the regional offices (ROs) of Cairo, Accra and Budapest. Upon demand, CIDT also provided advisory services to several country offices seeking technical input on project LogFrames.
Later, when FAO underwent some major reforms involving a new Strategic Framework and a renewed commitment to managing for results, FAO called upon CIDT to help them roll-out a corporate-wide RBM initiative, which required organisational culture change and the introduction of new procedures and tools. CIDT undertook the massive assignment of conducting an organization-wide Training Needs Assessment (TNA), then orienting all HQ staff on the basic concepts of RBM through a series of workshops in Rome, and deploying training teams to concurrently train key staff at ROs and sub-regional offices in Latin America (in Spanish), in Africa (in English and French), and in Asia (in English).
Once FAO’s new mid-term plan and revised workplanning guidelines had been developed, the staff worldwide needed to become familiar with the new templates and procedures. This eventually led to CIDT facilitating the development FAO’s bi-annual workplans at departmental and regional levels. Advisory services were also provided to several Country Offices on the workplanning process.
Under this agreement, CIDT trained approximately 750 staff in RBM, Workplanning and the LFA. Over 60 training and advisory inputs were delivered to FAO Headquarters (Rome) and Regional Offices across four continents, over the period of 8 years. Countries supported included: Barbados, Cambodia, Central African Republic, Egypt, Gabon, Ghana, India, Italy, Kenya, Mozambique, South Sudan, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, and Zimbabwe.
Capacity Development in developing, revising and executing Country Programming Frameworks (CPFs): 2011- 2013
While the RBM/LFA/Workplanning assignment was on-going, FAO awarded CIDT another contract to provide technical assistance in:
- facilitating the preparation of Country Programming Framework (CPF) guidelines;
- rolling them out to 15 pilot countries in 2012, and
- developing FAO staff’s capacity in the execution of the CPFs.
This involved: conducting Training of Trainers (TOT) for selected FAO staff; developing an effective step-down CPF training programme; and designing and delivering the initial trainings. CIDT also offered technical assistance to a few FAO Country Offices – both Anglophone and Francophone – to review and revise their CFPs in alignment with the latest corporate results framework and mid-term plan.
Training and facilitation in ‘Project and Programme Thinking Tools’: since 2012
Since the corporate-level RBM roll-out ended, CIDT’s work with FAO has mostly been in response to requests from specific departments or decentralized offices (DOs). In response, CIDT has adapted its generic RBM training programme – the ‘Project and Programme Thinking Tools’ course – to each particular assignment. A few examples of these include:
- Facilitation of LogFrame revision exercises for two EU-funded FAO programmes to support Institutional Capacity for Food Security Information in South Sudan and North Sudan (SIFSIA). Included extensive stakeholder consultation and development of accompanying Monitoring and Evaluation plans (2008).
- Design and Facilitation of the ‘FAO Corporate One Health’ Workshop with participation of representatives from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Animal Health Organization (OIE) in Rome (Italy, 2011).
- Facilitation of a series of RBM and Logical Framework courses in Rome (Italy, 2012).
- Design and delivery of a virtual course (using Adobe Connect) on the development of Terms of Reference for Senior FAO staff in Rome (Italy, 2012).
- Facilitation of the development of a strategic Logical Framework for the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR) in Rome (Italy, 2012).
- Facilitation of an advanced MfDR course called, ‘Project and Programme Thinking Tools’ for senior staff of the FAO Sub Regional office for Central Asia (Turkey, 2013).
- Design and Delivery of an RBM Training course for the Ministry of Food Production. (Trinidad and Tobago, 2014).
- Facilitation of a tailor-made Programme and Project Thinking Skills course for the Food Security Programme with participants from Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkey. (Turkey, 2015).
- Facilitation of a series of tailor made Programme and Project Thinking Skills course for the Ministry of Forestry and Water Resources. (Turkey, 2015).
- Design and Delivery of a Training of Trainers (TOT) in Strategic Planning using SWOT analysis and the LFA, for master facilitators of the Phytosanitary Capacity Evaluation (PCE) tool, for the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) hosted by FAO (Italy, 2016).
Advisory services on the Results Framework and M&E Plan of the EPT-2 Programme
In addition, between 2015 and 2016, CIDT’s Kimberly Ross has been providing senior-level advisory services to formulate the Results Chain, articulate the Theory of Change, and develop the M&E framework of the four year USAID-funded, FAO-led second phase of the Emerging Pandemic Threats programme (EPT-2), which encompasses over 20 global sub-programmes/projects run by the World Health Organization (WHO), FAO, DAI, and more. The M&E work involves proposing key performance indicators (KPIs), identifying means of verification (MoVs), creating and piloting data collection and reporting tools, and orienting FAO staff and partners in the use of these tools.
