Finding 16. Innovation. In a work environment characterized by many interviewees as “very open to change”, UNDP promoted innovations at local level through the Accelerator Lab, participation in the global Deep Demonstration pilot initiative, and the application of systems and participatory approaches to project design. All of these initiatives are in early stages of development and are yet to show results. The intense efforts required at design phase may pose challenges for future applications. In the current programme cycle, UNDP promoted various innovation initiatives in line with the UNDP 2018-21 and 2022-2025 strategic plans, which committed to strategic innovation and digitization as enablers of development impact. The country office laid the methodological foundations for incorporating innovation into the design and implementation of projects, to address complex development challenges from a systems perspective, leveraging linkages across interventions to achieve broader goals. Early evidence of the application of new working methodologies came through the ‘Strengthening effective governance for the new political cycle in Bolivia’ project, which defined its outputs and outcomes through a process of co-creation under the leadership of end-users and the use of “sensemaking”. 50 The project, in its inception phase at the time of the evaluation, is based on a multidimensional ToC, involves experimentation and incorporates a conflict-sensitive action approach. Through the Accelerator Lab, the country office has been able to incorporate a three-pronged approach to project design consisting of solution-mapping, the exploration of data and stakeholder ecosystems, testing and experimentation. In the framework of the ‘Territorialization of the SDGs’ project, the Lab piloted the ‘Barrios Digitales’ (Digital Neighbourhoods) initiative in a neighbourhood of La Paz to enhance social cohesion through participatory and data-driven approaches, developing the basic digital skills of youth and low-income women with otherwise limited access to technology. In El Alto, in alliance with the waste management company TREBOL, the Lab’s ‘Urban Big Data’ initiative enabled the collection of key GPS data on routes, to enable implementation of machine learning solutions for the optimization of this public service. The ‘Deep demonstrations’ pilot, promoted through the UNDP Innovation Facility and with funds from Switzerland, Sweden and the City of Madrid, tested a new portfolio approach for future application by the Municipality of La Paz. The general perception of innovation efforts was positive, though the results of the different initiatives were still incipient, and interviews and documents acknowledged the challenges that innovation projects with portfolio approaches pose, in terms of the significant design efforts required, due to the participatory and iterative methodology. This makes resources and demonstrated results imperative, while the UNDP bureaucratic context can limit motivation for innovation and experimentation. Articulating these efforts and fostering internal communication will be key to optimizing the delivery of “traditional” results with innovation.
2.5 Overall programme implementation Finding 17. Strategic positioning. National institutions and international partners consider UNDP a strategic and neutral partner in the country, although recognition of its effectiveness and added value is uneven across its programme areas. While most UNDP work in the last programme cycle was driven by the need to respond to multiple emergencies, its programme offer in the areas of poverty reduction, socioeconomic resilience and natural resource management had limited scope and coherence.
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Understood as a process of extracting ideas, inducing collective learning and creating meaning from individual and collective experience.
Chapter 2. Findings
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