SUSTAINABILITY AND EXIT STRATEGY OF CDP

Transcription

1 A programme supported by Government of Nepal and the UKaid Community Development Programme () SUSTAINABILITY AND EXIT STRATEGY OF Prepared by: Rural Reconstruction Nepal (RRN) (Lead Organisation of the Consortium) In association with: World Food Programme (WFP) & Oxford Policy Management (OPM) August 2015 Rural Reconstruction Nepal

2 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CAC CBDRMC CBO DBDRMC DDCs, DDMP DDRC DFID DRR HH HR IGA LDRMC LG LSGA MoFALD NGO NPC OPM REFLECT RRN UC UG VDC VDP WCF WFP Citizen Awareness Center Community Based Disaster Risk Management Committee Community Based Organization Community Development Programme District Based Disaster Risk Management Committee District Development Committees District Disaster Management Plan District Disaster Relief Committee Department for International Development Disaster Risk Reduction Households Human Resource Income Generating Activities Local Disaster Risk Management Committee Local Governance and Community Development Programme Local Self Governance Act Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development Non-Governmental Organization National Planning Commission Oxford Policy Management Regenerated Frerian Literacy through Empowering Community Techniques Rural Reconstruction Nepal User Committee User Group Village Development Committee Village Development Periodic Plan Ward Citizen Forum World Food Programme 2

3 TABLE OF CONTENT LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS BACKGROUND RATIONALE OF THE SUSTAINABILITY AND EXIT STRATEGY BJECTIVES METHODOLOGY PHASE-OUT ACTION PLAN COLLABORATION WITH GOVERNMENT COUNTERPARTS COMMUNICATION STRATEGY HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT STRATEGY OFFICE MANAGEMENT STRATEGY ASSET MANAGEMENT STRATEGY SUSTAINABILITY OF PROGRAMME OUTPUTS DOCUMENTATION AND DISSEMINATION OF LEARNING AND BEST PRACTICES

4 1. BACKGROUND The Community Development Programme () is a part of the Non-State Led Service Delivery Component of Local Governance and Community Development Programme (LG) of Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development (MoFALD) and is financially supported by DFID/UKaid. aims to support improving governance and service delivery to deprived communities of 18 districts that includes Saptari, Sunsari, Siraha, Dhanusa, Mahotari, Sarlahi, Rautahat, Bara and Parsa of Eastern and Central regions and Achham, Kalikot, Jajarkot, Jumla, Dolpa, Bajhang, Bajura, Mugu and Humla of Mid- and Far-Western regions. RRN as a lead organization along with the consortium partners of United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and Oxford Policy Management (OPM) has officially commenced the from January 07, The duration of the programme is 34 months (January October 2017). This coincides with the timeframe of the LG programme duration. The overall goal of is to help improve governance and reduce poverty by complementing LG results. has three outputs, which are as follows: Poor and Excluded people empowered to claim their rights and receive economic opportunity Strengthened Local bodies' structure, systems and processes to be inclusive, accountable and transparent Improved service delivery for poor and excluded people including disaster resilient infrastructures 2. RATIONALE OF THE SUSTAINABILITY AND EXIT STRATEGY This document has been developed with the purpose of serving as a guidance note for programme staffs, DFID and NGO facility/mofald to ensure smooth phase-out of the activities and assets. The Sustainability and Exit Strategy will help to think and initiate from the very beginning about the sustained approach of programme activities after completion of the programme. It is very likely that the targeted households (HHs)/communities, Citizen Awareness Centers (CACs), Ward Citizen Forums (WCFs), Village Development Committees (VDCs) and District Development Committees (DDCs) of the programme districts may feel vacuum upon completion of s tenure. This may affect on the continuity of the programme interventions after the withdrawal of the programme. Hence, the Sustainability and Exit Strategy aims to devise ways to minimize this emptiness. This document will also support VDCs, DDCs, stakeholders, line agencies, and beneficiaries to take ownership of the activities and will minimize the probable hassle among these institutions during the phase out process. 3. BJECTIVES The objective of developing s Sustainability and Exit Strategy is to identify and follow a scheduled process that facilitates a gradual and systematic transition or hand-over of programme and its activities to targeted people, users groups, local institutions (VDC and DDC) and line agencies. 4. METHODOLOGY s Sustainability and Exit Strategy has been developed in accordance with the outputs and activities of as indicated in s logframe. 4

5 will also provide support to strengthen the participatory planning process involving CACs, WCFs and user groups. CACs will be encouraged to register with VDCs/DDCs and line agencies. After completion of 52 weeks of REFLECT sessions, CACs performance will be monitored. CAC members will also be provided with livelihood support activities, including appropriate trainings. The livelihoods/income generating groups that will be created in the due course of programme s implementation will also be registered with relevant line agencies. All these capacity building measures provided to CACs, WCFs, IPFCs, VDCs, and DDCs will help to ensure further sustainability of the programme. will train user groups regarding sustainable project management processes. The community will be encouraged to collect user fees and to provide contribution for the maintenance fund that is essential for repair and maintenance of projects such as drinking water; irrigation systems and micro-hydro. Community people/users will be responsible to access the facility with proper care and to maintain the structure even after completion of construction and final public audit of the project. Additionally, sectoral reports of output-wise programme activities will be shared with relevant authorities, which will facilitate to obtain these authorities support throughout the programme and even after its phase out. If required, s Sustainability and Exit Strategy will be amended in consultation with DFID and NGO Facility/MoFALD during the first year of programme implementation. 5. PHASE-OUT ACTION PLAN The proposed sustainability and exit strategy will be thoroughly discussed with programme staffs, local authorities (VDCs and DDCs), line agencies, DFID and NGO Facility/MoFALD from the very beginning of programme implementation. Besides, the strategy will again be discussed and shared with CACs, WCFs, user groups, VDCs, line agencies and DDCs during programme s completion. To ensure the proper dissemination of information, lessons learnt and best practices will be shared at three levels: District (DDCs), Regional and National (NGO Facility/MoFALD along with other line ministries). The detailed Phase out Action Plan is presented in Annex Collaboration with Government Counterparts Since the is a part of LG, the overall management structure and approach is aligned with the local governance framework of MoFALD to strengthen the local governance efforts. s operational modality is based on project cycle management that includes planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation - while at the same time aligning with the planning cycle of local bodies, i.e., 14-steps participatory planning process. The alignment of with 14-steps participatory planning process supports the long-term sustainability of its processes. 5.2 Communication Strategy With the objective of providing policy feedbacks, as envisaged in the s communication plan, will share and disseminate learning, best practices and achievements of the programme activities with key stakeholders including NGO Facility/MoFALD, line ministries and media in district, region and central level during the end of the programme period. Meetings will be organized with all political parties-representatives through DDCs to familiarize them with activities and impacts in order to improve district level planning and to ensure their continuous support in the future. will also share progress reports during the trimester review and planning meetings organized by DDC. To ensure accountability of the programme activities, regular monitoring will be done 5

6 together with the local government including stakeholders and political representatives. Feedbacks received from these monitoring visits and meetings will be incorporated in the programme for future improvement. The communication activities to be carried out during exit process are summarized in Table 1: Table 1: Exit Communication Plan Communities/VDC Level Informing local government, VDCs & Communities about the project duration District Level Regional Level National Level Sharing of phase out strategy with DDCs and line agencies Experience sharing and programme completion workshop Disseminating information on phase out strategy Experience sharing meeting and project completion workshop with programme related line agencies Learning and experiences sharing workshop with NGO facility/mofald including line ministries 5.3 Human Resource Management Strategy All staffs will be recruited on a contractual basis and they will be provided with prior information on programme phase out. Initial phase-out plan for staffs (human resources) will be revised on the basis of programme s progress during third year of implementation and subsequently staffs contract will be extended for the year as per the requirement. However, for special circumstances, some staffs of the programme might continue till the end programme of period. To guide this overall process, RRN s Human Resource Management policy will be followed. 5.4 Office Management Strategy Upon completion of, RRN will stop operating district level offices unless and until required for other projects. The district level offices will close down after completing the asset management procedure during the project period. Following process will be adhered to for this purpose: Pre-inform Users Committee to settle financial transaction Provide financial clearance to suppliers Provide notice to bank for closing bank account Complete financial settlement procedures for staffs Submit financial records and documents Close bank accounts 5.5 Asset Management Strategy All assets of the programme will be timely managed as per the agreement between DFID and RRN. However, DFID s consent should also be obtained for the same. Following procedure will be adhered to while managing the assets: Conduct final verification of inventory/assets list Submit assets list to RRN and DFID if required Dispose/Handover assets as guided by RRN and DFID if required 6

7 5.6 Sustainability of Programme Outputs The capacitated beneficiaries (CACs/Groups) and local bodies (WCFs, IPFCs, VDCs, Ilakas and districts) and coherent planning, implementation and evaluation approaches with the government line agencies and I/NGOs will support in sustainability of the programme outputs. Coherence with line agencies and I/NGOs in planning & working in line with government planning process will lead the government to own the projects which will be sustained by gaining the further care and maintenance from the government. More specifically, it is envisioned that capacity building of local bodies will improve governance which further improves sustainability of infrastructure projects and sustain income of poor communities and will build communities resilient. The projects are launched with demand based procedure and the communities preserve the projects as this will be their basic necessity. The detail activities to be carried out for each output to ensure sustainability are provided below: Output 1: Poor and Excluded people empowered to claim their rights and receive economic opportunity Register CAC/Income Generating Activities (IGA) groups with respective line agencies/ cooperatives/ VDCs/ private sector institutions Establish and develop linkages and networks of IGA group members with private sectors, markets, service providers, agents of savings, micro-finance and credit schemes and financial institutions Formation and strengthening CBDRMC and task force at community level Facilitate CBDRMC and community people to develop preparedness and mitigation plan. Submit and share project reports and lessons learnt with relevant line agencies Output 2: Strengthened Local bodies' structure, systems and processes to be inclusive, accountable and transparent Train and orient WCFs and IPFCs on their roles and planning process Support NGO facility/mofald to organize 's coordination and progress sharing meeting with LG, DFID, NPC, MoFA and MoHA and relevant line ministries at national level. Support DDC and VDC to conduct orientation on 14 step planning process to Line Agencies, I/NGOs and private sector organization at local level for harmonisation of planning process, implementation and monitoring. Support to prepare Village Development periodic Plans (VDP). Support VDC to conduct public audit in their projects. Share project completion reports to VDC/DDC/sector line agencies. Share, document and disseminate examples of best practices of to VDCs/DDCs/sector offices. Conduct joint monitoring visit at all levels. Prepare and endorse LDRMP. Organize programme wrap up meetings at VDC, DDC, regional and national level. Establish complaints mechanisms for community. Output 3: Improved service delivery for poor and excluded people including disaster resilient infrastructures Community based disaster resilient infrastructure demanded by CAC and approved through local level planning process are supported from fund. 7

8 Build capacity of CBOs/UGs to enhance knowledge and skills required for care and maintenance of community assets. Register all infrastructure projects with respective district based concerned offices/line agencies. Relief and rehabilitation support for disaster affected families if required 6. DOCUMENTATION AND DISSEMINATION OF LEARNING AND BEST PRACTICES will focus on documentation of learning and best practices evolved during the execution of the programme such as social mobilization, public auditing, joint monitoring and planning. These published documents will be shared widely with DDCs, other district line agencies, NGO Facility/MoFALD, line ministries and DFID. Annex 1: Phase-out Action Plan Activities Responsibility Timing Remarks 1. Collaboration with government counterparts 1.1 Support DDC to organize trimester planning & DDC Trimester and review meeting 1.2 Support DDC to organize NGO and DDC Trimester coordination committee/ngo desk meeting at district level 1.3 Support DDC to conduct joint monitoring Once in a year visit 1.4 Support DDC to conduct orientation on 14 step planning process to Line Agencies, I/NGOs and private sector organization at district level 1.5 Support DDC to disseminate information to all citizens about starting of local level planning process through the local radio/fm (event) 1.6 Support VDC to conduct public audit in their infrastructure projects 1.7 Support VDC to conduct joint monitoring visit (VDCs level stakeholders) 1.8 Organize NGO Facility/MoFALD, Programme Coordination Committee meeting 1.9 Publish and share case studies, policy learning and good practices 1.10 Organize central level (NGO Facility/MoFALD, NPC, MoF) visit to the programme districts for monitoring 1.11 Handover of responsibilities of project to respective UCs following government s guidelines 8 and VDC 2. Exit Communication Strategy 2.1 Synthesize and produce output wise/sectoral First trimester of first year Once in a year As per need Once in a year Trimester Regular Four reports in a year and NGO Trimester Facility/ MoFALD Regular

9 report and share with respective district line agencies End of the Final Year 2.2 Documentation of s best practices, case studies and publication of reports Occasional 2.3 Prepare programme completion report End of the Final year 2.4 Organize dissemination/sharing workshop at Trimester basis district, regional and national level 2.5 Organize programme wrap-up meeting in each district, regional and national level End of the Final year 3. Human Resource Management 3.1 Develop organizational HR phase out plan As per RRN s HR policy 4. Asset management plan 4.1 Prepare/update list of inventory and assets Regular 4.2 Prepare assets disposal plan and get Regular approval from DFID 4.3 Dispose/handover assets End of the Final year 4.4 Closing accounts and audits End of the Final Year Note: will provide exact date of these activities execution during the beginning of the final year of s implementation depending upon the nature of task/activities. 9