UNDP Belize’s lack of human resources contributes to weak M&E performance. The Management Support Associate serves as M&E focal point, in addition to roles as the talent development manager, the ICT focal point and the People 2030 champion, and ongoing duties to support management. For the Global Fund programme, the M&E officer position was vacant from April-December 2016, and again vacant after May 2018. UNDP did not recruit to fill the vacancy and did not include a M&E Officer position for the 2019-2021 Global Fund cycle due to limited funding (it was merged with the Manager position). In the CPD period, CO staff have received some capacity-building, including onsite and virtual training from Regional M&E Specialist, regional M&E workshops, and sessions organized by the UNCT. Knowledge management is primarily project-driven. There is no filing system for data and documentation in the country office, nor is there any systematic or structured mechanism within the country office for capturing and sharing knowledge and lessons learned across the thematic portfolios. Without such a system, the country office has lost knowledge and risks documentation gaps at the time of staff turnover. This has been demonstrated by the experience of this ICPR. Information gaps of the Governance portfolio – where staff turnover has been significant – had to be filled in by interviewing previous staff.
4. RECOMMENDATIONS AND MANAGEMENT RESPONSE Recommendation 1. Building on its strategic positioning and close partnership with the Government on the environment portfolio, UNDP Belize should continue to consolidate its work in this area, as well as strengthen its offerings to support inclusive growth and accountable institutions. UNDP should continue its support in strengthening national data management systems and mainstreaming SDGs in national planning. UNDP has achieved important results in the environment portfolio and should continue consolidating its efforts in this critical area for a SIDS like Belize. At the same time, UNDP should explore opportunities to strengthen its positioning and offerings to support inclusive growth and accountable institutions, in close consultation with the newly elected Government. Potential working areas include supporting the Government in the implementation of UNCAC second cycle assessment, justice sector reform, youth empowerment, MSMEs, and migration. With the new Government taking office and the current national sustainable development strategy – the GSDS – coming to the end of its cycle, UNDP should support the Government in reviewing its SDG progress and in developing the new GSDS. UNDP should also build on its experience supporting data collection and management in environment and citizen security, to continue strengthening the national statistical system and building national data and statistical capacity in sectors where data availability, technology and/or management are weak. UNDP should explore how to leverage the expertise of the Global Policy Network to support these efforts in Belize. Management response: Fully accepted
Key action(s)
Completion date
Responsible unit(s)
1.1 During the CPD development, the country office will focus on its
October 2021
UNDP Management
Comments
Tracking* Status Initiated
19
