Framework for National Society Self-Assessment

Transcription

1 Context Strategy 2010 called for mechanisms to be established to enable the International Federation governance to actively review the state of its members, while providing timely support to National Societies towards achieving the Characteristics of a Well-Functioning National Society. To support this priority, in November 2000 the Governing Board adopted National Society Self- Assessment as an institutional tool and process for monitoring National Society performance and integrity. The Secretariat was directed to develop and administer the tool to all the Federation members in a phased manner over a period of 3 years. In their meeting of November 2001, the Board further called upon National Societies to finalize the Self-Assessment process with the preparation of a Plan of Action. The Governing Board requested the of the Federation to provide consistent support to help National Societies implement these plans and to report back on each National Society s progress in this area. Objectives The objectives of the Self-Assessment Program are to: Support the Federation Governance in policy and strategy making by providing the means to annually review the members performance against the Characteristics of a Well-Functioning National Society. Assist individual Societies to identify their strengths and weaknesses and provide input and support towards achieving the Characteristics of a Well-Functioning National Society. Enable member Societies to compare the status of their Society with regard to global trends, be they thematic or geographical. Contribute to organizational learning within the Movement by sharing information on National Societies and examples of best practices. Instrument The core instrument for National Society Self-Assessment is a questionnaire designed, and updated when needed, 1 by the in consultation with Secretariat Departments and s. This core questionnaire ( Well-functioning National Society Self-Assessment ) contains the key indicators to measure progress towards achieving the characteristics of a well-functioning National Society within the framework of Strategy It has undergone an extensive consultation process to ensure its relevance and utility across the spectrum of National Societies Federation-wide. In addition to the above-mentioned core questionnaire, further questionnaire modules containing region/sector specific indicators may be proposed, developed and administered by a Regional Delegation or Secretariat department, in consultation with the. 1 The questionnaire was fine-tuned in 2002 based on lessons and feedback from the 2001 and 2002 phases Self-Assessments.

2 Methodology The following Operational Framework for the administration and follow-up of the National Society Self-Assessment questionnaire builds on experience and feedback from the Self- Assessment processes completed by 102 National Societies in 2000, 2001 and Questionnaire administration and completion 1.1 The list of National Societies to which the Self-Assessment Questionnaire is to be administered each year is agreed upon with the Regional Departments and based on recommendations from the field. 1.2 Administration of the Questionnaire to the 179 recognized National Societies and to Societies pending recognition and admission is phased out in three-year cycle. In the Pilot phase (2000), 15 National Societies volunteered to undergo the Self-Assessment process after which the 1st full cycle was launched ( ): 40 Societies in 2001, 60 Societies in 2002, and 71 Societies on 2003 were invited to participate in the process. 1.3 The Self-Assessment exercise is repeated in three-year cycles. 1.4 The Self-Assessment Questionnaire is sent to the selected National Societies in January by the, together with the present Operational Framework, copied to the corresponding Regional Department,, as well as Country Delegation/Office where applicable. 1.5 Completing the Self-Assessment Questionnaire must be a participatory process: consultations within the Society between the governance, leadership and staff/volunteers on the various areas addressed in the questionnaire should take place to ensure the objectivity and relevance of responses. 1.6 The conducts the follow-up with the National Societies for completion and return of the Self-Assessment questionnaire along with the additional materials. Where applicable, the s and/or s/offices shall provide support. 2. Follow-up to Self-Assessment Questionnaire response 2.1 Self-Assessment Questionnaires are received and acknowledged by the Evaluation Department. 2.2 The prepares Self-Assessment Preliminary Findings for each National Society that has completed the questionnaire. This task may be taken over by Regional/s in some cases. The Findings are based on the Society s questionnaire responses, submitted materials, information included in the Society's web site, and Partnerships in Profile. The Preliminary Findings acknowledge the information provided, request clarifications where needed and, following the valid Federation policies, recommend actions in areas of possible improvement. 2.3 The Preliminary Findings are shared with the Regional Departments for information and input from Regional Officers. The Findings are copied to other relevant Secretariat Departments, e.g. Organizational Development and Legal. 2 This Framework will continue to be updated to reflect lessons/experiences in the field; comments/suggestions are welcome.

3 2.4 The Preliminary Findings are sent to the National Society with a cover letter from the Director, Monitoring and Evaluation Division, either directly or via the Regional/Country Delegation as the case may be. At this stage there may be further inputs from the Delegations. 2.5 National Societies acknowledge Preliminary Findings and produce a Plan of Action on the basis of the Findings. The Plan of Action establishes commitments on a selection of key action points contained in the Findings, also providing time-frames and focal points for the achievement of the actions to be undertaken. The Plan of Action will input both into National Society planning and Federation co-operation strategies, since potential areas for Federation and external support should also be identified. 2.6 The finalized Plan of Action should be sent to the Regional and s. The National Society should report on the progress in implementing the Plan of Action within a reasonable time frame. This report will be submitted by the to the Governing Board along with a report on Federation progress in supporting the Society s Self-Assessment process. 3. Federation and External Support to National Societies 3.1 Consistent support by the Secretariat, peer Societies and external partners are necessary to assist individual Societies in addressing priority areas/actions in capacity building. For the Secretariat, this constitutes part of the larger commitment to assist National Societies towards achieving the characteristics of a well-functioning National Society in the long term, while constantly seeking to refine minimum standards in consultation with Societies. 3.2 To this end, copies of the Self-Assessment Preliminary Findings and Plans of Action prepared by individual Societies will be circulated to Secretariat Departments as one of the inputs to the ongoing processes supporting National Society capacity-building. This includes analytical input into National Society organizational development and statutes revision processes, as well as input for co-operation and co-ordination processes. As stated in the Framework for National Society capacity building 3, the Self-Assessment process provides useful complementary information for National Society organizational development, and in some cases helps trigger a far-reaching organizational development process. 3.3 National Societies, on their side, should integrate the priority areas/actions identified in their Plans of Action following the Self-Assessment into their strategic planning. Where formulation/update of a Society s Development/Strategic Plan is ongoing or envisaged, the priority areas/actions identified by the Society in their Self-Assessment should be included in the new/revised plan with the assistance of the Regional/s. An up-todate and relevant National Society strategic/development plan is one of the prerequisites for starting the CAS 4 (Co-operation Agreement Strategy) process with individual Societies, Self-Assessment process supports the CAS process in this way. 3.4 Regional Departments and Regional/s, on their part, should address the priority areas identified in the Self-Assessment reports in their planning of activities with the National Societies. Agreed priorities should be incorporated into the annual Federation regional and country appeal process. 3 Framework for National Society capacity building, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Organizational Development Department. 4 For more information on the CAS process, visit the CAS website:

4 3.5 The ownership of the finalized Self-Assessment Plan of Action lies ultimately with the National Society, with access retained by Secretariat departments and delegations. While the Societies should be encouraged to share their Plans of Action with peer/participating Societies, the ICRC and partners external to the Movement in order to mobilize technical and financial support, the Society s explicit permission should be sought for circulation outside the Secretariat Data Analysis and Reporting of Trends 4.1 The analyses the National Society responses and prepares a trend analysis on the National Societies for inclusion in its annual report to the Federation Board and the General Assembly 6. This report constructs a profile of National Societies in key areas including governance, legal and resource base, programming and mechanisms for self-monitoring. 4.2 Where sections of the questionnaire responses are incomplete/unclear, the Regional/ will be requested to co-operate with the Evaluation Department to clarify these sections in a timely manner to enable the trend analysis. 4.3 The is further developing its computer database on questionnaire responses to provide for access by Secretariat Departments so as to facilitate knowledge sharing of baseline data and qualitative information from the Self-Assessment. 7 5 External partners interested in accessing the report should contact the Society directly. 6 The most recent report is the Self-Assessment Global Report compiling the analysis of responses from 154 National Societies. 7 A database with search and access functions was tested in April 2002, search only function is not available yet.

5 National Society Self - Assessment Operational Framework - Recap Federation Activities Activity Selection of National Societies Administering the Self-Assessment Questionnaire Questionnaire follow up - ensuring reception of the filled questionnaire Drafting of Preliminary Self-Assessment Findings Review of Preliminary Self-Assessment Findings Distribution of the Preliminary Findings to the National Societies - discussion with the National Societies on recommended action points Development of Plan of Action following the action points recommended in the preliminary findings Contribution and review of the Plan of Action prepared by the National Society Follow up of the Plan of Action with the National Society Preparation of the annual report Presentation of the annual report to the Governing Board including proposal for decisions Reminder on progress report on plan of action adopted by the National Societies Feedback on progress report on plan of action adopted by the National Society Focal Point Regional Department, in contact with Legal and Organizational Developments. Disaster Preparedness Officer, Health Officer, Financial Development Officer to be contacted as required. Regional and s National Society Regional Department Legal Department Organizational Development Department Technical Officers as required Respective technical departments Technical departments to be consulted Director Monitoring and Evaluation Division in co-operation with Regional, Legal and Organizational Developments.

6 National Society Self - Assessment Operational Framework - Recap National Society Activities Activity Completion of the Self-Assessment Questionnaire Sharing of the completed questionnaire with all departments of the Society and the Governing Board Review of comments from the staff finalising the questionnaire and ensuring all questions are answered objectively Transmission of the questionnaire to the Federation Regional/ and in Geneva Review of Preliminary Findings Transmitting comments to Preliminary Findings to the Federation Regional / and Evaluation Department in Geneva Development of the Self-Assessment Plan of Action Sharing the Self-Assessment Plan of Action with the Federation Regional/Country Delegation and in Geneva Revising and incorporating where necessary the key findings and actions into the National Society Development Plan and CAS Implementing the agreed Plan of Action Reporting to the Governing Board on Focal Point tasked by the Governing Board, in consultation with relevant departments Selected/nominated Board members, and Senior Management Governing Board, and Senior Management Governing Board, and Senior Management Governing Board, and Senior Management and Senior Management and Senior Management progress on the Plan of Action Contact Details Please contact Mathew Varghese, Head of (mathew.varghese@ifrc.org), or Julie Kummer, focal point for the National Society Self- Assessment (julie.kummer@ifrc.org), if you have queries, comments, suggestions or requests on this framework.