Strengthening the way DFID designs and delivers #globaldev programmes

In October 2013, Tom Wingfield and I blogged on the need for international development organisations to be more adaptive and flexible if they were to be able to deliver the post-2015 development priorities. We followed-up with a guest post on Duncan Green’s blog last year.

These set out the findings of an internal review we did of the Department for International Development’s programme processes, skills and leadership incentives, concluding that DFID needed:

• To focus our energy on high quality delivery of international development programmes, shifting incentives away from programme design and promoting a more iterative delivery model.
• To use context and judgement to inform politically smart and flexible programmes that can respond to — and influence — changing political and operational dynamics on the ground.

We set out a reform agenda to achieve these objectives by:

• Re-balancing the programme cycle and building stronger organisational capability to design and deliver flexible and adaptive programmes.
• Significantly streamlining and simplifying programme processes, supported by a revised set of programme rules.
• Strengthening accountability, pushing responsibility for the leadership of delivery to those closest to the information, with the best understanding of the local context.
• Investing in delivery improvements by sharing knowledge and experience and building a culture of learning.
• Introducing new governance structures to ensure we take real-world practicalities into account when making any changes to our programme management cycle.

In all of this, we made it clear that getting organisational behaviours and incentives right would be more important than the fine print of the rules. This has been our central ‘theory of change’ throughout.

So, as we approach the 3rd anniversary of the review, where have we got to?

1. Improving programme processes. In June 2014, we published a new operating framework, the Smart Rules. The Smart Rules replace the previous system of rules and compliance tasks with 10 high-level principles, 37 mandatory rules and a range of technical and operational standards, leaving significant space for discretion and adaptation to local contexts. The Smart Rules have helped to streamline processes, increase confidence and encourage staff to use judgement. This is freeing-up time to focus on delivery, context and external engagement without compromising rigour and value for money.
2. Clarifying accountability. We have introduced a Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) for every programme to strengthen responsibility and accountability for the design, delivery and closure of every project. This ensures that everyone is clear on who is able to decide the most appropriate approach. Over the past 18 months, over 450 SROs (responsible for over 70% of DFID’s portfolio) have participated in 3-day learning events that offer protected space to challenge, interrogate and inform these reforms and build their leadership capability.
3. Capability Improvements. We have scaled-up the wider capability offer in technical project management skills (programme cycle, financial, commercial and risk management etc) and have a growing package of formal and informal learning opportunities.
4. Transforming our use of data. We are developing a bespoke IT package (the Aid Management Platform) to strengthen the use and quality of management information, giving staff at all levels access to clear, user-friendly information.
5. Strengthening leadership at all levels. A central theme throughout has been focusing on strengthening leadership at all levels of the organisation, using the UK Civil Service Leadership Statement as the framework, helping to strengthen trust and collaboration, underpinned by a risk-aware learning culture.

There is more to do to sustain the progress made so far. However, from internal and external feedback it is clear that we have made huge progress. DFID staff and our partners greatly value the clarity, improved capability and stronger incentives to focus on implementation, using judgement and local contexts to deliver better programmes.

When the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) last looked at this in detail in 2014 they were supportive, urging us to go further still:

Continue to refine the Smart Rules to facilitate ease of use by teams in the field, with a particular focus on clearer principles, focused technical guidance and examples of where discretion can be applied.

Maintain the momentum of the change programme ….. and continue to engage all departments in a dynamic transformation focused on improving the impact of UK aid on the poor.

ICAI’s new briefing paper, ‘UK aid in a changing world: implications for ICAI’ reiterated this and a continuing interest in how we deliver more adaptive programmes and a more strategic approach to risk management.

Over the coming years, we will continue to drive these reforms, sustaining the focus on leadership and organisational behaviour, sharing experience and innovative and adaptive approaches. We will need to continue to challenge ourselves and our partners to use context to shape delivery and test new approaches to continual improvement.

These will be core capabilities that will — in my view – be central to delivering the UK Aid Strategy objectives and our contribution to the Global Goals. More on that to come…