Every UNICEF staff member who has survived the turn of the millennium knows the basics of results-based-management (RBM). Whether or not you ever opened the UNICEF Programme Policy and Procedure Manual (PPPM), you eyeballed the diagrams of programme cycles, heard colleagues conniving with each other about conceptual and logical frameworks, and possibly debated indicators long after the bar at the workshop venue had closed for the night.
I do not care a thing about terminology or the fine print, but I know that everyone has his or her own strategy to achieve some result. Except for the Russians who seem to have disregarded about every facet of results based management that ever made its way into mainstream thinking.
To start with, the analysis of the situation was faulty and not based on evidence. António Guterres now confirmed that Russia has different views about the situation in the Ukraine than other member states, which I suspect was the case even before the war started.
The planned results of the intervention were not clearly stated. Most important, results should be agreed with the intended beneficiaries. Planning should be a consultative exercise. For sure there would have been different strategies to achieve a commonly agreed result.
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To start with, the analysis of the situation was faulty and not based on evidence. António Guterres now confirmed that Russia has different views about the situation in the Ukraine than other member states, which I suspect was the case even before the war started.
The planned results of the intervention were not clearly stated. Most important, results should be agreed with the intended beneficiaries. Planning should be a consultative exercise. For sure there would have been different strategies to achieve a commonly agreed result.
The intervention was based on wrong assumptions. In RBM, it is good practice to test your assumption. The original UNICEF guidance specifically warned against so-called ‘killer-assumptions’. I also haven’t seen what could amount to a plausible theory of change, or an explanation of what needs to happen so that people across the globe can live in peace.
There has been no independent monitoring, which would assess whether operations progress as planned, and – more important – whether any unintended side effects may materialize. It would also ensure that you stop digging when you are already in a hole.
I could go on for a long while. For example, we usually throw in many more things, such as gender considerations or the human rights based approach or – if the latter is too complicated – a simple reference to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
I conclude that the present Russian leadership needs to sign up for a refresher course in RBM. As I was looking for relevant material, I came across the RBM guide drawn up recently by our sister agency UNFPA. The guidance follows the so-called Jellyfish Model.
As I studied it, everything fell into place. Everyone has Jellyfish in their head.
There has been no independent monitoring, which would assess whether operations progress as planned, and – more important – whether any unintended side effects may materialize. It would also ensure that you stop digging when you are already in a hole.
I could go on for a long while. For example, we usually throw in many more things, such as gender considerations or the human rights based approach or – if the latter is too complicated – a simple reference to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
I conclude that the present Russian leadership needs to sign up for a refresher course in RBM. As I was looking for relevant material, I came across the RBM guide drawn up recently by our sister agency UNFPA. The guidance follows the so-called Jellyfish Model.
As I studied it, everything fell into place. Everyone has Jellyfish in their head.
What a pity the Management Excellence Exercise was not informed along these lines - which might have improved the outcome.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! Your succinct yet hard hitting article on the jellyfish analogy (borrowed from UNFPA) is brilliantly written! You’ve managed to convincingly convey your angst and passion to arouse the thinking of the readers.
ReplyDeleteThanks Detlef for this, however, surely, the issue is more basic than methodology/approach like RBM and other management tropes. As we all know and have seen in our careers, it is possible to do apply efficient/effective management methods to pursue very anti human ends. Hence, the issue is more why Putin morphed over the years -- hint there -- from a strong man ( yes, this is purposive) to now a very closed and paranoid but cunning person who detests what he attacks as western values. His bete noir issues seem to be gender equality ( if I am not wrong, then spousal abuse is no longer a crime in the Russian Federation; LGBTQ rights -- he and those around him abhor these as going against the grain of Russian cultural values; Freedom of speech - which to him seems to be construed as treason. So, its his value system that has become problematic not his methodologies. Also, interesting to note that people like Marine Le Pen, the Trumps, Republican activists all find the social values that Putin espouses to be attractive and useful. So here we are in the 21st C facing off revanchist fantasies in the European space, meanwhile Afghanistan is left to teeter on its own and Xi takes notes on this to optimize his revanchist dream of a reunification based on political fantasy. Already some folks are thinking of what can be done in the event of greater hostilities -- not surviving nuclear war but the chaos and unrest that may hit societies -- all the militias and their travellers will be on the prowl. But I digress...
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