FANRPAN DUE DILIGENCE
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Transcript of FANRPAN DUE DILIGENCE
FANRPAN DUE DILIGENCE
MAIN FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
23rd February 2010
Introduction
Study Background
SADC initiative to promote food security and poverty reduction by strengthening seed security and disaster preparedness of smallholder farmers
SDC Phase I support to SADC - project facilitated the development of a regional protocol to harmonise seed policies in the region
SDC Planned Phase II support – To promote domestication of the seed protocol through evidence-based policy change and institutional capacity building
FANRPAN proposal submitted to SDC – application for 4 –year grant of USD4.2m to implement Phase II
Study Objectives
Overall objective (2 components) Assess adequacy of FANRPAN organisational
systems and resources to manage the risks associated with large multi-stakeholder project implementation
Assess FANRPAN management’s ability to implement effective due diligence and meet monitoring, and reporting requirements for the USD 4.2 million grant requested
Assessment Criteria
Assessment criteria
Sub-issues to be analyzed
1. Governance BoardConstituencyAccountabilityLegality
2. Organizational development
Expertise for programme implementationAdequacy of staffing capacityRoles and responsibilitiesQuality of M&E SystemsFinancial Management Systems (fiduciary risk)Treatment of cross-cutting themes (gender, HIV and AIDS, environmental sustainability, innovation, etc)
3. Programme and Project Management
Programme reportingInter- institutional links
4. Milestones achieved Most significant developments/stages achieved
5. Struggles Challenges/constraints
Methods
Workplan
Activity Key dates (Year 2009)
Briefing by SDC – Pretoria 31 AugustBriefing by FANRPAN CEO - Maputo 1 SeptemberFANRPAN Regional Secretariat Visit 15 – 18
SeptemberZimbabwe Country Visit 21 – 25
SeptemberZambia Country Visit 27 – 30
SeptemberMalawi Country Visit 30 Sept – 3
OctoberReport writing 6-10 OctoberPresentation of Draft Report 16 OctoberSubmission of Final Report 21 October
Data Collection Literature review Key informant interviews “Walk through” system reviews
Analytical Tools Best practice standards - SDC benchmarks Institutional assessment framework PIVA rating scale
A=Mature/viable B=Consolidating C=Emerging D=Nascent/Start-up
System-wide concept of capacity
UNDP System-wide Concept of Capacity
P
Corporate Governance System
Financial Management
System
Human Resources
Management System
Staff
Bro
ader
Sys
tem
Main Findings
Governance -1-Legality Officially registered as PVO in Zimbabwe in 2003
Signed an Agreement with the Government of South Africa in 2006 and accorded full diplomatic status and privileges
Dual “registration” reduces risk of discontinuity due to political or social disturbances in any one of the two countries of registration
FANRPAN complies with statutory reporting requirements of its registration submits audited statements and annual reports to GoZ through reputable law firm
Governance -2-
Mandate Mandate given in 1994 by FANR Ministers and Heads of
State and Government from the Southern African region
FANRPAN stakeholders keen to get solid evidence to support their policy positions and advocacy work
Farmers, private sector, NGOs, researchers keen to engage government on equal terms through “neutral” platform – and craft constitution (26.11.2002) and amended (7.09.2009).
Governance -3-
Constituency Started as few academicians but now broadened to
include policy makers in government, private sector, civil society, and farmers
Diversity of membership (sectors, skills, countries of origin, interests, etc)
Derives legitimacy from own constitution – though not yet self- financing activities of its Secretariat
Fast-growing membership – Now Network of networks…
Governance -4-
Constituency – 2009 FANRPAN Dialogue Media 19 Government 34 Farmers 16 Researchers 26 CSOs 16 Private sector 29 UN/Other 25 Node Hosts 13 FANRPAN 15
Governance -5-
Leadership and Management Several layers of accountability
FANRPAN AGM FANRPAN Board of Governors AGMs of Node Hosting Institutions Boards of Node Hosting Institutions Annual Node Common Visioning Meetings
Governance -6-
Leadership and Management High profile persons in the boards
Bring expertise Have social capital Strong commitment to success of FANRPAN Link to funding opportunities and advocacy platforms “Able to give strategic direction”
Governance -7-
Governance -8-
Governance -9-
Leadership and Management COMESA and SADC represented as RIOs
– but SADC attendance is irregular Donor representative
Ensures transparency Strengthens donor coordination
Private sector representative More difficult to get, especially if woman
Governance -10-Leadership and Management CEO highly rated by members of the network
Woman visionary, and strong leadership qualities Sacrificed for the network on several occasions The only staff member on long-term contract (5 years) Been with FANRPAN since early days, also ex-Board
Member “Delivers what she promises”, Marko Ngwenya, Director of
World Vision International Swaziland “Is an ambassador for Malawi”, Idrissa Mwale, Chief
Economist, Ministry of Transport, Malawi Conscious of need for succession planning but constrained
by the short tenure of contracts for subordinates
Governance SummaryOverall rating: “A” – Viable/mature
Issues of concern/Recommendations: Secure Board member from private sector Strengthen ownership by SADC
signing of MoU with SADC Strengthen participation and coordination of donor
support sell the corporate results framework, strategy and Business
Plan and resource requirements as package to donors donors to shift from projects joint financing of FANRPAN
Business Plan in line with the 5 Paris Declaration Principles
Organizational Management -1-
Expertise for programme implementation Vast improvement in staffing situation (2008-
9): 7 new staff Key challenge is short-term contracts (one-year) Not able to fill positions of thematic programme
directors – resources for package inadequate Seed expertise (crop science) limited Seed expertise can be drawn from members
Need planning meetings at project start
Organizational Management -2-Staff member Position Academic Qualifications Salary
Scale Date
JoinedCurrent
Contract Technical Staff1. Lindiwe Sibanda Chief Executive Officer PhD Agriculture / Animal Production D2 Gross (4) August-04 Dec.07 - Dec.12
2. Oluwole Olaleye Director of Research Master of Philosophy (Social Science Research Methods)
P2 Gross (12) June-09 Jun.09 - May.10
3. Francis Hale Director of Communication and Advocacy Masters in Business Administration P2 Gross (4) April-09 Apr.09 - Mar.10
4. David Kamchacha Director - Agriculture Inputs and Outputs Markets
PhD Business Administration P2 Gross (1) February-09 Feb.09 - Jan.10
5. Sithembile Ndema Programme Manager - Agriculture Inputs and Output Markets
Bachelor of Social Science (Hons) P1 Gross (1) March-08 Apr.09 - Mar.11
6. Chansa Chisanga Programme Manager - Food Systems Masters – International Relations P1 Gross (1) February-09 Feb.09 - Jul.09Administrative Staff7. Sharon Alfred Office Manager Diploma in Business Studies P1 Gross (1) June-04 Apr.09 - Mar.12
8. Lufingo Mwamakamba
Protocol and Networking Officer Masters in Health Promotion and Public Health
P1 Gross (1) August-05 Feb.08 - Mar.11
9. Samuel Manda Finance Officer Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting
P1 Gross (1) June-07 Jul.08 - Jun.09
10. Getrude Chanakira Finance Officer CIS Part B P1 Gross (1) June-09 Jun.09 - May.10Staff Members - No Longer with FANRPAN11. Douglas Merrey Director of Research PhD Anthropology Jul. 06 - Dec. 0812. Fred Kalibwani Project Officer Masters in Development Studies Jun. 05 - Sep. 0613. Sizwile Sibindi Finance Officer National Diploma in Accountancy Aug. 08 - May 09
Organizational Management -3-
Adequacy of staffing levels at Regional Secretariat
Project managers (and some consultants) assigned dual roles project and thematic portfolio management
Some staff multi-tasked and overworked Quality assurance of technical reports/research
outputs needs more attention Outsourcing of research and some project
management tasks to members of the Network keeps the network productively engaged in FANRPAN activities
Organizational Management -4-Adequacy of staffing levels at Node Secretariat levelAdequate skills for voiceRather weak in operational research, capacity building and sometimes financial managementFANRPAN activities usually not the core function
Except where mandates are similar (e.g., ACF Zambia) No dedicated staff for FANRPAN activities
Node secretariats not self-financed but donor dependent Staff funded through short-term projects
Generally not able to attract and retain top talent Skills upgrading done in-house – tied to projects (CISANET had 3
of 5 project staff on 2-year MSc courses) – lost time Some nodes rely on volunteers – but only as short-term solution
Organizational Management -5-Quality of Financial Management SystemsGrowing portfolio: 10 projects, annual spending of USD 1.5m (position at Sept 2009)Efficient project reporting through computerized accounting system and own reporting formatAdequate segregation of duties – good practiceDue diligence done on Node hosting institution prior to grant award – FANRPAN support pre-conditioned on clean audit – good practiceRegular production of monthly management accounts that are discussed in monthly meetingsQuarterly financial reports produced & shared with the Board
Organizational Management -6- Up-to-date annual audited accounts presented to
Board and AGM Limited tenure of contract for external auditors –
good practice USAID – long-standing funding partner is satisfied Auditors raised concerns on liquidity constraint
Working capital reserve considered too low Predictable long-term funding commitment from the
network and from donors is needed
Organizational Management -7- Financial management capacity not even at node
level – Real – Life Example: No financial policies, and weak enforcement Use of manual accounting system No real strategic plan to guide the organisation Board meetings not regular Board too busy to follow-up Secretariat AGA not regular (lack of funding, dependency on one
donor for the event?)
Organizational Management -8-Quality of M&E Systems Main instrument is the Partner Institutional Viability
Assessment (PIVA) Introduced in 2005 Monitors capacity building outcomes in relation to organizational
development of Regional Secretariat and Nodes Indicators: governance, operations and management, human
resources development, financial management and service delivery, and external relations and advocacy
Baseline established in August 2005, update done in August 2007, next update was planned for 2009
Results have been used to inform decisions on the capacity building project Significant progress in governance and financial management Slower progress in human resources development and service delivery
Organizational Management -8- No holistic RBM, need to define first results framework at
Strategy level, then develop strategy to achieve the results (strategic plan), then medium term programme of action (business plan) and specific activities (projects) to generate the outputs, outcomes and impacts identified at the strategic level
No logframe for Business Plan No M&E framework for Business Plan No baseline situation for Business Plan - except for
indicators tracked through individual projects (PIVA) M&E is project-based, results frameworks are at project
level, no mechanism to see the full picture of results Focus on projects leads to focus on outputs and less on
outcomes and impacts
Holistic RBMModel
Yes
Partly
No
No
Partly
Partly
Partly
Partly
Organizational Management -9-
Treatment of cross-cutting issues Cross-cutting issues to some extent being
addressed directly through specific projects WARM - gender issues HVI project - HIV and AIDS issues Several projects - climate change, water, biofuels and
biosafety No explicit policies on treatment of cross-cutting
issues In-house capacity to mainstream cross-cutting
issues to be strengthened
Summary of Organizational Management
Overall Rating: “B” - Consolidating
Issues of concern/Recommendations:Inability to recruit senior staff – thematic programme directors:
need joint financing strategy for core activitiesMobilization of longer term funding so as to enable issuance of longer term staff contractsRecruit more staff at node level
full-time research and capacity building coordinators
Summary of Organizational Management
Strengthen financial management at node level Recruit seed expertise at Regional Secretariat
and node levels to coordinate the SDC project activities
Develop results framework for FANRPAN Strategic Plan, logframe for Business Plan
Align projects with corporate results framework In-house capacity building on mainstreaming
cross-cutting issues
Programme and Project Management -1-
Programme Reporting FANRPAN has adequate capacity to generate the
technical and financial reports (USAID and CTA) Reporting for new projects will require additional
staff Core-funding support needed to recruit Director of
Finance
Programme and Project Management -2-Inter-institutional links 50 MoUs already signed (as of Sept 2009) with
technical and funding partners RECs (1) Nodes (13) Regional/international universities (10) CG System (6) Host governments (2) Federations of farmer unions (2) NGOs, research foundations, other (17)
FANRPAN benefiting greatly from expertise, learnings and financial and material support from these networks
SADC not yet signed MoU
Summary of Programme and Project Management
Overall Rating: “B” Consolidating
Issues of concern/Recommendations: MoU with SADC
Board to take this issue up and engage SADC at the highest level
FANRPAN to intensify its visibility Nodes to sell FANRPAN activities at national level Secretariat to hold organize special briefing sessions
with SADC Secretariat
Milestones
Summary of Main Achievements
Call for FANRPAN by FANR Ministers 1994 Formal registration achieved 2003 Relocation of Secretariat and revamping of
organizational systems (2005) Node Common Visioning meetings start (2006) FANRPAN Website modernized (2006) Agreement signed with COMESA and FARA
(2007)
Summary of Main Achievements Strategic Plan Revised and Business Plan
Launched (2007) FANRPAN Constitution Reviewed (2007) Accounting procedures manual developed and
aligns with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (2007)
FANRPAN launches staff recruitment drive to consolidate establishment (2007)
Summary of Main Achievements Pastel Multi-currency System introduced
(2008) FANRPAN introduces Partners’ Meeting
(2008) FANRPAN introduces Annual Food
Security Policy Leadership Award (2008)**
Summary of Main Achievements
Summary of Main Achievements
Summary of Main Achievements
Struggles
Summary of Challenges
Main one is Co-funding
THE REST CAN BE OVERCOME!!
Thank You!