Partnership for Sustainable Plock

UNDP Poland

Karolina Mzyk

STANDARD INITIATIVE TEMPLATE (1/7): CONTEXT

Soon after formulation of the new development agenda, in July2003, the municipality and the local business partners, PKN ORLEN[2] and the Plock subsidiary of the LEVI STRAUSS[3], decided to establish a local fund which supports realization of the sustainable vision of Plock. The Fund, with initial value of 1,1 mln PLN in 2003 (ca 285 thousand USD) and 1,3 mln PLN in 2004 (ca 330 thousand USD) provides small financial donations to local non-governmental organizations for activities which aim to implement targets from the new sustainable development agenda. In November 2003, Levi Strauss joined the partnership and contributed 50,000 USD towards the Fund.

Determining local vision

of development

` The collaboration between the partners of the Grant Fund for Plock[1] was initiated in October 2002 while participating in the community-consulted round-table review of the development strategy for the city of Plock facilitated by the UNDP in Poland. This extensive consultations process formed a local network of people from the local government, business and civil society partners, which re-defined core competencies and qualities in the economic, ecological and socio-cultural sectors of Plock in the new local development agenda. During a series of 8 public meetings, participants themselves determined their vision of development, based on their economic and research activities, their traditions and their qualifications. The exercise brought various actors together, some for the first time, and thus encouraged them to develop new abilities and discover their potential in collective action.

1] Plock is a city of 130,000 occupants with long history of petrochemicals and textile industries located in central Poland.[2] Polski Koncern Naftowy ORLEN (PKN ORLEN) is a Polish joint-stock company, who is the main manufacturer of petrochemicals/gasoline in Poland. The Company is gradually but methodically changing its profile from production to trade.[3] Levi Strauss, one of the leading clothing lines in Poland, whose manufacturing facility is located in Płock. contributed 50,000 USD to the Grant Fund.

Local development

fund to finance realization

of the vision

Description of initiative:

STANDARD INITIATIVE TEMPLATE (2/7): NAME OF INITIATIVE

Partners UNDP

Location:

Municipality

Role

Benefits

Main contacts for further informationEmail/phone

Tomasz Kolczynski

Strategic decisions, Deputy Mayor RoleName Organization

Plock municipality tomaszkolczynski@plock.ump.pl

Orlen Levi Strauss

Overall timing:

Jaroslaw Cholodecki

Strategic decisions/CSR ManagerOrlenjaroslaw.cholodecki@orlen.pl;

jaroslaw.cholodecki@undp.org

Karolina Mzyk Project coordinatorUNDP karolina.mzyk@undp.org

Building Sustainable Plock: Grant scheme for local NGO

Plock, Poland

April 02-March 05

Brokering/convening

Administrator of the Fund for the first 1,5 years

Set up transparent mechanisms for Fund management thereafter

Financial contribution ($327k)

The company managers involved in rolling out the Fund

Financial contribution ($277k)

Local authorities involved into setting up/managing the Fund

Financial contribution ($50k)

The company managers involved in rolling out the Fund

Implementation of social inclusion strategy

Promoting Type 2 partnerships for Sustainable Development;

Resource mobilisation

Focused investment

NGO as strong partner in basic public goods provision

Improved transparency in public money expenditure

Enhanced reputation

Saving on transaction costs in corporate giving

Increased benefits for Orlen employees through improved welfare provision

Enhanced reputation

In line with the global CSR strategy

Joanna Kaczmarska Levi Strauss Strategic decisions/ HR Manager JKaczmarska@LEVI.com

STANDARD INITIATIVE TEMPLATE (3/7) - IMPACT ASSESSMENT

Indices/measurement methods to be used

Objectives and expected target/output

Overall objective of initiative:

Pilot a well functioning model of partnership between businesses, civil society and the government

Results achieved

Distribution of $577k as small grants to local NGO for projects that support local sustainable development strategy

Improved institutional capacity and accountability of NGOs

3 new initiatives ( partnership to improve education opportunities for young people, Technological Park for SME development, International Training Centre for local authorities in SD management )

Pilot of well functioning model of community budget for NGO development

Annual renewal of donations from the companies and the municipality

Number of new donors that increase the Fund’s financial value

Number of favourable articles in media

Number of applications submitted by NGO

At the end first year, all the partners decided to renew thier contribution to the Fund

No new donors in 2004

8 articles/programmes in national and 86 in local media

106 applications

Number of training sessions for NGO

Number of projects/% of total value that received financial donation from the Fund

Number of projects awarded by the Fund that also implement the local SD strategy

Number of new partnership initiatives undertaken by partners in support of SD of Plock

64 projects/ 70%

64

6 one day sessions

Key acti-vities

End pro-ducts

Definition of governance structure of the Fund;

Definition of application criteria;

Definition of rules for monitoring and evaluation of NGO perfomance;

Hired local project coordinator.

2 grants editions;

Assessment of NGO performance by an external reviewer;

Internally review the mechanism purpose and structure

SustainabilityConcept design –establishment of the Grant Fund

Execution of the pilot round of donations

Consolidation

Agreed scope and timeframe for pilot roll out;

Selection;

Training sessions for NGO;

Building close relations with

media;

Mobilizing new business partners;

Discussions on administration structure after UNDP exit;

Exploring opportunities for other parntership projects;

STANDARD INITIATIVE TEMPLATE (4/7) - MAIN PHASES AND ACTIVITIES

Action plan with clear understanding of roles and and responsbilities;

Human and resources and infrastructure in place

Gain hi-level alignment with partners from the private and public sectors

The Fund up and running; Agreement on institutional strcuture beyond march 05;

2 new partnership projects in preparation

Timing 3 months 4 months 9 months 6 months

Respon-sibilities/involvement

UNDP reponsible for overall coordination and expertise on NGO development;

All partners discuss ideas and reach consensus on solutions

UNDP responsible for managing the pilot; partners involved in strategic decision taking, external communication

Gradually UNDP involvment dimnishes; partners assume responsbility for decisions .

UNDP facilitate workshops and meetings to discuss future legal/organisational arrangements for the partners and offers various scenarios

STANDARD INITIATIVE TEMPLATE (5/7) - ACTION REFLECTION/ LESSONS LEARNT

Final decision regarding distribution of funds to NGO is taken by Steering Committee – 5 representatives of local community leaders who enjoy trust of Plock citizens. Their engagement is important because they give local context/knowledge to the initiative and lend their credibility to the project. However because members of the Steering Committee are also actively engaged in NGO movement, concerns associated to their impartiality were raised among the Plock community (3 negative articles in media, created ‘unhealthy’ informal climate around the Fund). UNDP and donors recognized it would be harmful for the Committee members to be excluded from the grant scheme, as their activities are valuable to the general welfare of the City. UNDP chose to play a role of a broker and facilitated discussions, including the Fund’s donors, media, NGO community to manage expectations of donors who were inclined towards ‘controlling’ model and on the other side autonomy of the initiative favoured by NGO sector. The process of public mediation and negotiation itself turned out to be extremely important because not only that the wider NGO community and the Steering Community reached consensus but also the Fund itself received huge attention from media and contributed to deepening of buy-in from the business donors. Public debate resulted in a greater understanding of ownership of the Fund by the Plock community.

Involving local leaders – Steering Committee to decide on grants distribution

Summary of key success factors and key risks

Details/implicationsIssue

Key risksKey success factorsUNDP adopted role of an ‘internal broker’ – consulting/facilitating ideas and solutions, to win deeper commitment of partners to work in collaboration which reaches beyond resource mobilisation. The initiative was enriched with diversity of experiences and skills ( managerial, policy, good knowledge of community problems), and contributed to ensuring buy-in and thus sustainability. In this exercise, UNDP draws from its in-house skills on partnership building and maintaining.

Sustainability of the initiative could be imperiled if no full consensus on institutionalisation of the initiative after UNDP exit

Change in political landscape and no support from senior management of partner organizations

STANDARD INITIATIVE TEMPLATE (6/7) – INTERNAL IMPLICATIONS

Internal linkages with other UNDP/UN initiativesName of initiative Linkage

The project in Plock has resulted from UNDP engagement as a coordinator/ convener of the local Global Compact network. The initiative provided framework for relationship building with Orlen and also other companies.

Project coordinator responsible for overall project implementation; knows NGO sector well, good skills experience in partnership building, project management and networking/relationship building skills. Project coordinator is supported by programme coordinator on issues related to UNDP rules on PM, intellectual base.

Project assistant supports the coordinator in i) daily contact with NGO, ii) administrative tasks, ii) evaluation and monitoring of NGO perfomance

Support required within UNDPName of unit/person Detailed requirement

Governance team:

1 Project coordinator

1 Project associate

1 Programme coordinator

Operations:

Processing payments

Decision-making during initiative roll-outKey decisions Detailed requirement

Project managment and administration

All decisions related to Fund’s functioning (purpose/structure/rules)

Distribution of funds to NGO

Project coordinator who closely works with other members of UNDP team

Strategic decisions taken by the project partners (Project Commission), ultimate decision-making authority which comprises of donors and UNDP

Final decisions awarding NGO taken by an independent body (Steering Committee) that consists of Plock community leaders

Global Compact

Replication: Grant scheme in Ostrow Wielkopolski

Replication of the Plock model of Grants scheme for NGO development

Partnerships for local SD Replication of the Plock cross sector partnership Forum in 9 other cities in Poland

STANDARD INITIATIVE TEMPLATE (7/7) – FUNDING AND COST STRUCTURE

Cost category

Amount USD

Small grants

Sources of fundsTRAC

CSA

TOTAL FUNDS

4 000

640 000

644 000

577 000

Administration fee for UNDP (4%)

26 000

Administration of Fund 6%:41 000

Human resources (project assistant)

Travel

Communication

Local consultants (evaluation/monitoring/review)

25 000

3 000

4 000

9 000