Regional workshop "Integrated policies and policy coherence for SDGs" for the Caribbean SIDS
The proposed workshop on “Integrated policies and policy coherence for the SDGs”, targeting both policy-makers and senior planning officers is designed in partnership by the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) Division for Public Institutions and Digital Governance (DPIDG), and the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), leveraging the three partners’ respective technical expertise. The workshop will also include a training of trainer component to enable participants to further transfer the acquired knowledge and skills. It will be held in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, on 13-15 November 2019.
The national development planning landscape in the Caribbean small island developing States (SIDS) is eclectic, ranging from countries that have no autonomous planning agencies and no long-term development plans to those that have a long history of development planning. Except for a few, a common challenge for these countries is the use of evidence-based processes to inform national development planning. With the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the SDGs, a new emphasis is placed on how policy coherence and better integrated planning mechanisms can help countries strengthen their planning processes, develop holistic development frameworks reflecting global, regional and special commitments, such as the SAMOA Pathway for SIDS, and achieve their national development objectives in a more effective, efficient, equitable and sustainable way.
While there is a general awareness around the value of policy coherence, there is often insufficient understanding and lacking ownership with regard to the changes that are needed to improve a systems perspective and holistic planning, the required level of stakeholder engagement, inter-institutional collaboration, sound M&E and statistical systems, analytical capacity as well as financing and budgeting. System thinking provides useful tools to equip policy-makers, planning officers and other stakeholders with a lens necessary to analyse problems and design and advocate for solutions and responses in a way conducive to integrated planning and decision-making. It is broadly leveraged in different forms and with different terminologies in most approaches and models developed by UN and other organizations[1] in support of SDG planning. There is therefore much value in strengthening the knowledge and skills of Caribbean SIDS at various levels of development planning to leverage system analysis and approaches in their work based on concrete examples of interconnections between different areas. Those countries yet unfamiliar with any integrated planning methodologies could benefit from concrete examples of the methodologies developed in the area of integrated planning.
[1] For example, the tools proposed under the MAPS Acceleration component draws on key system thinking concepts. The Millennium Institute uses system dynamics to build its quantitative model of interactions between various SDG areas.
The overall objectives of the workshop are:
- to raise awareness and strengthen demand from and advocacy by policy-makers of the participating countries in favour of systemic approaches to planning and decision-making;
- to strengthen the capacities of senior technical and planning officials to evaluate the relevance of different methodologies and tools , and discuss possible adaptation to national contexts;
- to enable the transfer of knowledge and acquired skills to provide policy leadership, individual coaching or training for national stakeholders on the basics of system thinking, holistic decision-making and integrated institutional arrangement for the 2030 Agenda and its SDGs.
At the end of the workshops, participants will be better positioned to:
- Define key building blocks of any holistic, integrated planning and policy coherence framework;
- Map and engage effectively with key stakeholders in the national priority-setting process;
- Apply elements of systems thinking to assess intersectoral interactions, identify nationally relevant “leverage points” (or “accelerators”) and build interaction maps;
- Describe possible approaches to developing coherent policy options across sectors and designing a consultative process to develop an integrated strategy;
- Provide examples of tools and methods used by other SIDS for integrated planning and policy coherence;
- Conduct institutional readiness assessment against SDG requirements.
In addition, participants will:
- Develop an individual action plan to incorporate relevant knowledge in their professional context;
- Be able to either provide policy leadership, train other stakeholders, or coach their colleagues on the development of integrated policies.
The workshop will be organized in 10 sessions, including 5 substantive modules and 5 supporting modules:
Opening and introduction
During the opening session, the training organizers will introduce the workshop objectives, conduct a round of introductions, and invite participants to share their expectations of the workshop. An anonymous ex-ante assessment will have been carried out to establish a baseline level of knowledge of the workshop participants.
Module: A holistic approach to policy coherence: key building blocks
This module will provide an overview of how policy coherence can be mainstreamed throughout the key building blocks of a holistic, integrated planning and policy coherence framework, covering policy cycle stages such as planning, budgeting and M&E. It will also touch upon institutional aspects both in a cross-cutting manner and as a standalone objective related to participation, inclusion and effective governance.
Module: Governance and stakeholders’ engagement and capacities to implement the SDGs
Understanding existing institutional dynamics and promoting governance structures supportive of SDG implementation is critical to ensuring the commitment and realization of what has been planned. Building ownership is only possible with a high-quality stakeholder involvement, A strong political commitment and the existence of policy coordination mechanisms that can resolve conflicts or inconsistencies between policies and political interests. The Module will aim to address these aspects, create an enabling environment for participatory work and provide further foundation for subsequent modules.
This module will also feature case studies from selected participating countries.
Module: Enhancing policy design capacity through system thinking and analysis
A short introduction to systems dynamics adapted for decision-makers will provide an analytical framework and tools that will be used for analysing national situations, examining the interlinkages and identifying greatest leverage points. Case studies will be developed around participating countries. This will be followed by basics of participatory policy design explained through the exercises.
Module: Evaluating policy options for coherence and developing integrated national strategies
This module provides a framework for translating the outcomes of the analysis undertaken during the previous two modules to identify coherent policy options and build an integrated national strategy drawing on UNDESA methodology.
This module will also feature case studies from selected participating countries, as well as examples of other tools and methods that have been used in the region.
Module: Assessing governance and institutional capacities for policy coherence and integration
This module will deal with how institutions and governance influence policy coherence. The SDGs call for an unprecedented level of policy integration and cross-governmental coordination and collaboration. Collaborative decision-making and institutions that can work across portfolio boundaries is required. Institutions are an integral part of the SDGs, on par with the other goals, and governance capacity needs to be strengthened, starting with the institutions, processes and attitudes which refers to the politics of policy coherence. The module will also preview how institutional aspects can be mainstreamed and promote coherence across the key stages of planning, budgeting and M&E.
In Focus: Integrated policy design in practice
This module will feature a final activity that will provide an opportunity for participants to apply some of the new concepts as part of an analysis and reflect on this experience. The session will also feature a debriefing and discussion on the final activity and on the key elements from the previous modules.
Facilitation
This short module will aim to enable participants to better transfer the acquired knowledge through individual coaching of their team members and colleagues or presentations, interventions or facilitation of national workshops or events which they may be leading. It will bring participants up to speed on the principles applied in the area of adult learning and touch upon recent trends in impactful presentations and facilitation techniques applicable in the context of adult learning and executive training as well as an overall understanding of principles applied in the area of adult learning. It will also include a short introduction in training design and evaluation of the effectiveness of training activities.
Action planning
The programme will close with a final module during which participants will take stock of the actions each one has planned for himself/herself under each of the previous steps, and if applicable joint actions. They will then have an opportunity to revisit them, modify and add additional actions if necessary. Those participants who have identified joint follow-up actions with other colleagues will have an opportunity to take stock and review those. By the end of the exercise, they will have a set of realistic actionable points they plan to implement at the individual level in their professional context.
Workshop evaluation
At the end of the workshop, participants will be invited to complete two types of questionnaires: a feedback questionnaire and a post-ante assessment. This will provide needed information on the relevance and effectiveness of the workshop in the immediate run.
Prior to the workshops, a needs assessment will be carried out to tailor the design of the workshop to the participating countries’ needs and invite countries to express their interest for sharing case studies.
The workshops will use a combination of techniques selected on the basis of learning objectives such as interactive presentations and discussions, group work, scenario-based activities, hands-on exercises, as well as case studies and knowledge sharing between countries.
The methodology will include individual action planning techniques to enable participants to relate the acquired knowledge to their working requirements and plan how they can apply it in their professional context. It will also provide a small session with an introduction to a few facilitation techniques and adult learning principles.
During the workshop, Levels 1 and 2 of Kirkpatrick model will be used to evaluate the relevance and effectiveness of the workshop (perception-based feedback from participants at the end and a comparison between the results of the assessment to be taken by participants before and at the end of the workshop).
The workshop is designed for Caribbean SIDS representing a range of long-term development planning experience, from non-existent to well established. More specifically, 2 participants per country including one policy-maker and one senior technical and/or planning official, will be invited to the workshop. The organizers will ensure, to the extent possible, a gender-balanced representation at the workshop.