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Box 1. Overall key factors contributing to and hindering success
Standard Chartered Bank. This was for the production and distribution of 40,000 masks to vulnerable small-scale businesses and traders, most of whom were women. Masks were produced by women tailors to cushion the negative socioeconomic impacts of COVID-19 on small-scale businesses.
This experience of trying to promote innovation in an emergency context helped identify some key corporate challenges which were shared with headquarters, such as the difficulty in purchasing equipment due to global supply chain disruptions as a result of lockdowns; slow procurement and slow processing of financial payments; and the lack of a framework for engaging with local start-ups to produce prototypes. COVID-19 was unprecedented, and UNDP’s bureaucratic processes made work very challenging.
The box below is a summary of factors common to all areas of the work of UNDP in Zambia. Additional key factors contributing to and hindering success have been highlighted under each portfolio.
Factors contributing to success
1. Perceived UNDP neutrality and trust
2. Multi-stakeholder engagement, including proactive engagement of traditional community leadership in rural areas
3. Strategic partnerships to deliver beyond
UNDP capacity and resources
4. Attention to empowering marginalized and vulnerable populations such as women
5. Training and building of local capacity
6. Integrated design approach
7. Access to experts from around the globe for capacity strengthening and policy advice
8. Connection and facilitation of international development financing, especially vertical health and environment funds
Factors hindering results
1. Delayed release of funds
2. Occasional re-allocation of funds without proper prior consultation with partners
3. Civil society engagements have limited scope and depth
4. Leadership, resources and direction shifts
5. Lack of methods in project design to measure/assess the effectiveness of the capacity building initiatives
6. Inadequate indicators to assess performance
7. Interest in more global knowledge-sharing from partners
8. Challenging development financing environment, need to expand beyond traditional UNDP partners
