Welcoming remarks by
Mr. Luc Stevens
UNDP Resident Representative
Country Programme Action Plan Regional Workshop
Monday, 10 September 2007 at 9:00 am
Dear Colleagues, Guests and Counter Parts,
On behalf of UNDP Jordan Office and the Regional Bureau for Arab States, it gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to this training event.
You must all know by now that the Country Programme Action Plan (CPAP) aims to furthering the mutual agreement with the countries we work for and our cooperation with them for the realization of the Millennium Development Goals and UN Conventions and Summits.
In order for us to fulfill our responsibilities, all CCAs, UNDAFs and CPDs in the region are to have been MDG based, therefore, it is important that this focus comes out clearly in the CPAPs as well. UNDP’s Strategic Plan for the period 2008-2011 focus on poverty reduction and the achievement of the MDGs as a key priority. Other key priorities relating to democratic governance, crisis prevention and recovery as well environment and sustainable development will also contribute to MDG achievement.
But putting down an action plan is not enough. We need to measure our achievements and progresses. UNDP is seeking to reinforce its Results Based Management system which it introduced sometime back. UNDP’s new Strategic Plan for the period 2008 – 2011 currently being considered by the Executive Boards, for the first time, aligns UNDP’s strategic goals and targets, results management including accountability framework and resources management, and monitoring and evaluation. This should help UNDP to better manage for and report on results.
It is therefore important that the tools and instruments being developed at the country level such as the CPAP maintain its strategic focus and articulate clear results that can be monitored and reported upon. The institution of capacities and systems within Country Offices for monitoring, evaluation and reporting is of crucial importance. Some of the Country Offices in the region are moving towards it and others are encouraged to do so as well.
Of course, managing for results does not stop in UNDP offices. Results are delivered at the project level and it is important that systems are in place to monitor results at the project level. Similarly, building of capacities within our counterpart government agencies for monitoring and management of results is of crucial importance. We are very glad that counterpart government agencies could participate in this workshop.
Recognizing the importance of results management, UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Arab States has recruited a Regional Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist, Mohammad Usman Akarm, who will help Country Offices with their Monitoring & Evaluation capacity building efforts. We are very glad that he is with us today in this workshop although his official start date is mid-October. This is a great opportunity for him to contribute to the workshop and to also learn from you. (Mohammad will be based in the region – initially in the UNDP Cairo Office).
We should also thank UNDP’s Bureau for Development Policy and especially Asoka Kasturiachi for being with us at the workshop. He is our corporate “guru” on CCA, UNDAF and CPAP and has extensive experience globally. So, we are fortunate to have him!
From the Bureau point of view, we are specially looking to learn from this workshop about key requirements for strengthening our results based management system in the region so that we are able to deliver and report on clear results that contribute to the region’s development agenda.
I am confident that we will all benefit from this training to fulfill our mission, I wish you every possible success and a pleasant stay in Amman.
Thank you.