Table 3. Procedures used by the joint office to share financial data

The Cabo Verde joint office local planning process operates across two levels. The ‘One UN Annual work Plan’ is prepared by the Resident Coordinator’s Office with contributions from all UNDAF participating agencies, resident and non-resident in the country, and signed with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In turn, the annual work plans of the three joint office agencies are prepared by the programme portfolios and signed with national implementing partners. The regional offices of each agency develop their planning processes separately using their existing platforms. Annex 11 presents the various planning tools used by the three agencies in the joint office.

The Cabo Verde joint office, which is the combination of three separate agencies into one United Nations office, lacks the systems for integrated financial information due to the lack of “jointness” or integration of the platforms of the three agencies. To overcome this challenge, the joint office uses the UNDP Atlas enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, which is also used by UNFPA, to consolidate the financial information (e.g. funds, projects, budget, expenditure, etc.) for all three agencies. Joint office financial data is overseen by the UNDP west Central Africa Regional Office (wCARO).

while UNDP and UNFPA use the Atlas ERP system, UNICEF uses the Virtual Integrated System of Information (VISION) ERP. This platform is not accessible to the joint office, and all funds received by the joint office for any of the three agencies is registered and managed in Atlas. However, due to the lack of interoperability between the UNICEF and UNDP/ UNFPA systems, staff must manually input information from one system to another, leaving room for error and lack of efficiency.55 The disjointed financial information system constitutes a challenge for the joint office planning and reporting functions, which could ultimately slow down decision-making.

According to its staff, the joint office employs a differentiated procedure to share financial data extracted from Atlas with the UNICEF and UNFPA wCAROs. The lack of harmonization between the three agencies’ systems calls for a solid administrative relationship and collaboration between the agencies and support from each agency’s headquarters and regional offices.

In terms of the financial data (budget and expenditure) by project and agency included in the ICCPE Project Table, UNDP extracted raw data from PowerBI. However, the data for some projects did not match the data extracted by the joint office from Atlas. Consequently, the Project Table data was provided by the joint office.

TABLE 3. Procedures used by the joint office to share financial data

UNICEF

(i) The Joint Office sends UNICEF wCARO an Excel template with Atlas information and signs quarterly Atlas combined delivery reports. UNICEF wCARO integrates the received data into their system.

(ii) The Finance and Admin Manager in wCARO, Dakar-Senegal is the UNICEF focal point who receives the financial data from the joint office. UNFPA

(i) The joint office sends UNFPA wCARO the Annual work Plan at the beginning of the year. The workplan is the disaggregation of the funds received for the year into the main activities for which the joint office will use UNFPA funds. After UNFPA receives the workplan, they register the amount as expenditure into their system. (ii)The wCARO International Operations Manager is the UNFPA focal point who receives the financial data from the Joint Office.

55 United Nations Development Operations Coordination Office (2016) Summary Brief on the Cabo Verde Joint Office Model.

UNDP, UNFPA and UNICEF share a single CCPD that serves as the primary unit of accountability to the Executive Boards of the three agencies. Although the CCPD includes a Joint Office Results and Resources Framework, the joint office lacks an integrated monitoring, evaluation and reporting system to effectively monitor and assess UNDP, UNFPA and UNICEF contributions to CCP outcomes and output indicators.

In terms of the CCP indicators in the Results and Resources Framework, the evaluation identified that: UNDP registers data on the CCP indicators into its Corporate Planning System; UNFPA reports data on the CCP indicators quarterly to the Strategic Information System platform, and this data is also included in their annual reports; and UNICEF reports data on the CCP indicators in their Results Assessment Module reports. This lack of harmonization between the agency systems creates discrepancies among the data reported by UNDP, UNFPA and UNICEF. The absence of a joint monitoring, evaluation and reporting system also requires additional staff efforts for data consolidation.

The evaluation of the UNDP, UNFPA and UNICEF Cabo Verde CCP for the previous period (2012-2016) also identified the lack of an integrated monitoring system and the absence of an M&E results-oriented system for the whole CCP. It recommended that the M&E system be strengthened, towards a holistic results-oriented system for the whole CCP.56 No progress has been made in addressing these issues, and the recommendation has not been implemented.

Regarding risk management, the joint office has carried out monitoring and mitigation activities for the risks identified for most projects. 14 of a total 23 projects have documented risks. The joint office uses Atlas, but not all projects identify or monitor risks in this system. UNFPA uses Atlas for project management, and also use SIS for planning, monitoring and reporting. UNICEF has instruments for risk monitoring, but they are not used by the joint office.

The joint office follows two different procurement procedures, depending on whether for a NIM or direct implementation modality (DIM) project. If the project is DIM, UNDP contracting guidelines are used, but national procedures are followed for NIM projects (the rules of the public procurement regulatory agency). In cases where national partners may have some difficulty (such as the procurement of vaccines or condoms) they can be supported by the joint office to enable a cheaper, faster process, with greater guarantees.

2.5.2 Joint office organization, accountability and risk management

Finding 18. The 2018 joint office change management process intended to accelerate the rationalization and streamlining of business processes to generate cost efficiencies and provide a structure aligned to the new CCP and government priorities. However, there was no change management process after delinking, and staff vacancies (especially for the resident and deputy representatives) put pressure on the normal functioning of the joint office, negatively impacting programme integration and long-term strategy.

The 2018 change management process intended to accelerate the rationalization and streamlining of operational costs, to pursue further efficiencies. The motivation of the new joint office reconfiguration was to create a structure aligned with the new CCP 2018-2022, the SDGs, and in response to political change. The new ruling party came with new ideas and tools, like PEDS. In other words, considering the new programme, new government and new national planning instruments, the joint office understood that it was a good

56 The 2016 Final Evaluation of the CCPD from UNDP, UNFPA and UNICEF Cabo Verde mentions: Conclusion #5: the Office does not have an M&E results-oriented system for the whole CCPD. There is no integrated monitoring system (each agency has its own), so the joint office has three different monitoring systems with different typologies and degrees of implementation (page 83); and

Recommendation #5: strengthen the M&E system, moving towards a holistic results-oriented system for the whole CCPD (page 88).