Internal and External Assessment of the United Nations in Egypt

1. Internal and External Assessment of the United Nations in Egypt UNDAF Strategic Prioritization Retreat – Sunday 26 February

2. Background • Launched mid July till 15 September 2010 • Send via e-mail to UN Country Team, Development Partners Group, Government officials, others, … • This is not a scientific research but a guidance to the UN Country Team and its partners to define the UN’s comparative advantage and capacity • In addition useful elements for a UN internal and external communication and partnership strategy • Nonetheless, it has its limits: • Participation limited to 140 individual opinions • Survey is not the same as an in-depth interview • Disclaimer: throughout the presentation when mentioned Government, Donor or UN it should be understood as the consolidated responses from individuals, not as official statements by the different institutions

3. Who participated in the survey? Government : 12% Donors: 12% UN HoA: 8% UN Staff: 60% Civil Society : 1.5% Media: 1% Other: 5.5% • * Other: UN Staff (consultants, project staff, …) 140 persons

4. Perception on the United Nations Egypt Conclusion: a. UN is a valued partner for the majority of the respondents; b. resp. are familiar with the UN (except a small minority) * Aggregated results similar for all stakeholders

5. On which aspects of development do you perceive the UN System in Egypt to be active today (select all that apply)?

6. On which aspects of development do you perceive the UN System in Egypt to be active today (select all that apply)? TOP 15 only

7. What kind of interventions is the UN currently focusing on and should the UN be focusing in 5-10 years' time in Egypt? (all survey) • Conclusion: • General trend for more advisory and advocacy services • Less programme management

8. What kind of interventions is the UN currently focusing on and should the UN be focusing in 5-10 years' time in Egypt? (GOVERNMENT) • Conclusion: • More advisory and advocacy services • Less programme management • Less research

9. What kind of interventions is the UN currently focusing on and should the UN be focusing in 5-10 years' time in Egypt?(DONORS) • Conclusion: • More focus advisory and advocacy services • Perception with donors is that UN is currently focused on programme management (more than 40% of our time) • Less programme management and research

10. What kind of interventions is the UN currently focusing on and should the UN be focusing in 5-10 years' time in Egypt? (HoA) • Conclusion: • More advocacy and even a little bit more programme management however the extent to which this is required is very minimal

11. What kind of interventions is the UN currently focusing on and should the UN be focusing in 5-10 years' time in Egypt? (UN STAFF) • Conclusion: • More focus advisory and advocacy services • Less programme management • Slightly more research

12. Conclusion ?

13. Conclusion • All stakeholders see the future support focusing towards • MORE advisory (both technical and policy) services • MORE advocacy role, especially media and to a lesser extent on the programme side • LESS programme management • UN is expected to focus on upstream policy advisory and advocacy activities in the future, which includes capacity building

14. Is the UN able to fulfill their anticipated future role? +60% of the respondents don’t think or doubt that the UN currently has the right skills to fulfill their anticipated role +60% of the respondents don’t think or doubt that the UN currently has the right capacities to fulfill their anticipated role

15. What is missing for the UN to enable to play its anticipated role? Note: this can be too little or too much

16. Government Donors UN Staff HoA What are the 3 greatest strengths the UN faces in implementing its activities successfully? management system increased gov. engagement in dev. coop. situation analysis/ increased donor harmonization The UN has excellent technical capacity and resources; good people; working in the right areas (good prioritization of issues) More funding from the UN part would help implement its activities successfully political influence esp. in support of state for realization of HR obligations/ technical assistance and guidance role/ ability to mobilize resources globally (information-sharing, know-how, etc.) Capacity, Fund Giving credit to donors funding its activities. Presence in the country impartiality a major strength, plus access to south-south knowledge Global character of expertise available for UN credibility, strong partnerships (with Government and other counterparts and amongst the UN family and other multilaterals/ bilaterals) knowledge, technical skills, experience Government and counterparts support and trust; staff skills; proved expertise Strong partnerships (with Government and other counterparts and amongst the UN family and other multilaterals/ bilaterals) Neutrality and trustworthiness UN remains very credible to the government and citizens Common Framework. Good collaboration spirit. Effective existing programmes Political leverage Visibility Capacity For Policy Dialogue Strengths: Neutrality, access to global knowledge, technical capacity Diverse technical expertise presence of skills credibility with government,

17. Government Donors UN Staff HoA What are the 3 greatest obstacles the UN faces in implementing its activities successfully? financial point lack of national ownership/ different development agendas of donors More technical expertise needed for the technical assistance The UN could do more convening and leveraging of their position to bring people together on key issues insufficient funding weak external communication acts far from the real Egyptian context too much paper work and bureaucracy delaying actions/progress strong cumbersome bureaucracy Fragmentation and dispersed project type activities, lack of join action on critical issues weak institutional memory Capacity to partner with the Government Limited Resources. Capacity. Not always proactive Limited Resources. Capacity. Not always Proactive low capacity of some local partners; budgetary constraints competition amongst agencies and individuals rather than objective or result-focus budget restraints lack of staff skills - weak capacity of staff to conduct advocacy and scale-up The increasing levels of bureaucracy represent a huge threat to the UN reputation and its ability to really deliver tangible results. Weaknesses: Poor resources, not enough policy advocacy orientation, not acting as one (no coordination) lack of capacity of partners, especially GOE and civil society implementing partners lack of coordination more emphasis on direct implementation is wrong

18. Government Donors UN Staff HoA How do current organizational structures help progress in working together? streamlining processes UN can do better to "deliver as one" The GOE organization structure is the main factor behind progress in working together Know how, presentations and support with other development Partners role of Residence Coordinator and his office has positive impact joint programming on specific areas; overall UNDAF UNCT and other UN WG are good tools facilitating joint UN effort on a country level Joint programmes assist to coordinate work of UN agencies and build on relevant strengths sourcing of best practices globally Convening power (in relation to partners) Well functionning UNCT. DPG. High level contacts with the Government UNDAF has the potential of integrating, coordinating and streamlining efforts and activities knowledge reservoir (in relation to both partners and government) Existing platforms such as UNCT, DPG, DPG Thematic Groups. Although they have to be strengthened and Government/National clear priorities should guide their work UN is respected and appreciated

19. Government Donors UN Staff HoA How do current organizational structures hinder progress in working together? weak middle management structure on government side/different donor operation systems Political Context. UN agencies have different administrative and financial procedures hampering smooth implementation of jointly funded activities. Absence of government (substantive) coordinating/planning body weakens capacity for interagency coordination Weak coordination at the government level. conflict of interest between UN agencies, conflict of operations between UN Agencies process and procedures lack of one budgetary framework complicated and inaccurate financial management, cumbersome bureaucracy, competition among UN agencies Parters in different organizations more concerned with credit and visibility versus real tangible outcomes/ impact Limited knowledge sharing. organizational structures need to be improved at all levels There is a huge disconnect between agencies HQs and their field offices and major admin barriers among UN agencies. non functional donor groups; inefficient inter-ministerial committees; inconsistent job profiling among UN agencies; lack of clarity on structures/roles and responsibilities Lack of qualified staff (both UN and gov.) Overlapping mandates sometimes Lack of communication lack of coordination, duplication of efforts, caliber of coordination team

20. Government Donors UN Staff HoA How do the UN agency’s policies, processes and procedures help progress in working together? shared vision and goals; specific MoUs; staff regulations HQ do not always held the Country based agency accountable on issues of joint activities, coordination in order to promote DAO. The diplomacy of the UN representatives in dealing with the donors and the government, with different interests, is excellent in helping working together. The UN procedure of gathering donors, GOE reps and other development partners together is an excellent process in working together. The UN is in a good position to bring people together and could leverage this more UNDAF. Regular UNCT meetings. Strong Guidelines. transparency Joint programming policies are facilitating working together UNCT and other UN WG are good tools facilitating joint UN effort on a country level technical language amongst agencies is often similar, coordination meetings are very useful, coordination procedures work rather well joint programming leads to more coordinated efforts Joint programmes are very useful but only real motive is resources. Costs to agencies, especially at preparation stage is too high. Process and procedures conflict with actual implementation realities. Long procedures through NY for procurement over 100,000US$ There are several new tools and processes which help to harmonize work processes and procedures so it is much less of a problem than previously The UNDAF as a ref framework for UN assistance; Paris Declaration for aid effectiveness as a reference for harmonization; UNCT as a structure for info sharing and coordination common principles and basis

21. Government Donors UN Staff HoA How do the UN agency’s policies, processes and procedures hinder progress in working together? local management Again, heavy controls, bureaucracy and political accommodations threaten the UN ability to deliver. HQ does not hold agencies accountable for extent to which they cooperate with each other Differences of administrative procedures hinder progress in working together rigid financial and budgetary procedures Focus on mandate. Different strategic objectives. Different procedure Donor obligations with individual UN agencies reporting on joint programming, heavy processes Not enough resources, yet no encouragement for joint operations. bureaucratic procedures and hierarchies that cause major delays in implementation Time consuming, at time over-complicated, laces too many restrictions on small scale activities Agency specific work plans lack of information about other agencies projects and work Administrative processes are very different, financial rules are very different, coordination processes take a long time Heavy bureaucracy

22. Government Donors UN Staff HoA What attitudes and behaviors help progress in working together ? Development Partners Group/ Harmonization of different donors in key areas un management systems Going ahead with not enough consensus among donors and/or stakeholders People want to collaborate and work together; good people with excellent experience commitment to UN goals; team work; shared vision Integrity; Commitment; Professionalism openness to other agencies approaches, team spirit long experience of working in Egypt and with various counterparts the pursuit of a clearly identified common goal will usually help. it is therefore important to identify 'like-minded' partners. partners who feel impact is the most important outcome have a positive behavior to working together. Fostering creativity, innovation and true implementation willingness to work in a team, willingness to listen, openness more joint programming; events/venues for joint collaboration (e.g. UN Day, Sailing on the Nile for MDGs promotion; etc.) attitude of advisory role in line with government priorities, needs based programming High level commitment is there but HQ accountability does not include accountability on working with other agencies so we are dependent on good attitude of agency heads and staff. interactive - supportive - neutral & objective commitment and dedication Current UNCT has the right attitude and are try their best to coordinate and work together, but HQ incentive system and performance assessment system do not reward working together in a clear and unambiguous manner Pro activeness in sharing knowledge. Recognition of other roles and contribution.

23. Government Donors UN Staff HoA What attitudes and behaviors hinder progress in working together ? political will of reform willingness/ different development agendas of donors legislations and management are the main problems GOE tends to work donors separately which makes it difficult to leverage experience and resources Staff too territorial about their agency- should be more focused on the results. Still is a strong attitude of furthering agency's mandate rather than the development priorities of the country competition, lack of transparency, bureaucracy sticking to mandates Careerism; Narrow perspective; Low sense of duty Over political accents hinder progress tremendously besides the lack of incentives and consequences for under performing! Unwillingness of UN staff to share knowledge or work together The search for attribution. Drive for individual or agency results. Non recognition of others role. Fighting over limited resources of donors ignoring the others agencies work competitiveness amongst organizations rather than capitalizing on the strengths of each competition for resources and visibility; organizational ego-centrism; politics with the government 1) Inflexibility and poor adaptation to changing circumstances; 2) lack of coordination; 3) entitlement and discrimination individualism, competition certain coordination focal points are incompetent lack of collective results orientation In appropriate utilization of resources - UN can't advocate rightly for programs lack of ownership - resistance to change - tendency to not share information

24. An Attempt to a Summary (the positives) • UN in Egypt is considered a valuable partner and is appreciated for its role in the development of Egypt as a neutral and trustworthy broker and builder of partnerships with and amongst other stakeholders (government and DPs in particular) • It is also appreciated for its knowledge and technical expertise through its global presence (best practices – stimulating South-South Cooperation) and access to other stakeholders • The UN has been working in a more coordinated way which is appreciated by all stakeholders however much more should be and can be done • There seems to be willingness in the UN to work better together (Deliver as One) and increase joint programming • UN coordination mechanisms are generally appreciated to bring the UN together as well as to bring the DPs and the Government together

25. An Attempt to a Summary (the negatives) • UN in Egypt is seen a very bureaucratic and rather slow mechanism • The skills of the current UN might not be in relation to the anticipated role of the UN • The full potential of working together has not been achieved because of lack of mutual understanding between the UN Agencies and protection the self interest of the agency above the interest of the UN (and often above the national priorities – pushing mandates) • Also HQ regulations are preventing working together at the country level • There is no incentive for agency staff to work together (lack of accountability – f.e. in staff assessments) • Coordination with and within the government is suboptimal

26. Conclusion ?

27. PART 2

28. In which of the challenges outlined in the SA does the UN have a major role to play? Where should the UN focus on in the next 5 years? • Sorted on very important role (highest % to smallest %):

29. In which of the challenges outlined in the SA does the UN have a major role to play? Where should the UN focus on in the next 5 years? • Sorted on very important role (highest % to smallest %) ONLY TOP 15:

30. In which of the challenges outlined in the SA does the UN have a major role to play? Where should the UN focus on in the next 5 years? • Sorted on very important role (highest % to smallest %) ONLY TOP 15 FOR THE GOVERNMENT:

31. In which of the challenges outlined in the SA does the UN have a major role to play? Where should the UN focus on in the next 5 years? • Sorted on very important role (highest % to smallest %) ONLY TOP 15 FOR THE DONORS:

32. In which of the challenges outlined in the SA does the UN have a major role to play? Where should the UN focus on in the next 5 years? • Sorted on very important role (highest % to smallest %) ONLY TOP 15 HoA ONLY:

33. In which of the challenges outlined in the SA does the UN have a major role to play? Where should the UN focus on in the next 5 years? • Sorted on very important role (highest % to smallest %) ONLY TOP 15 UN STAFF ONLY:

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35. Government UN HoA UN Staff Donors Any other comments lots of money are being spent on useless conferences, publications, and researchers, with no impact. It is much better to spend more of the activities that benefit the poor Inform staff regularly with other UN country programme We should look at a complete partnership with government UN agencies are in turmoil to gain funds from donors this will hinder their cooperation endeavor to implement a joint programme there is only one way forward - collaboration between all developmental actors and strengthening national and local capacities to take on responsibility supported by international community The coming five years are crucial transition for Egypt, given the political and socio-economic challenges Egypt is currently facing. There is good opportunity for the UN system to play instrumental role while redefining that for more effective and efficient assistance. Promotion of policies and programs that enhance human rights and social protection should be adequately profiled as core elements of the UN assistance. The development of focused UNDAF, well prioritized and aligned with national priorities with the full endorsement and ownership of the government is pre-requisite for successful and impactful assistance by the UN system. In the meantime, internal improvements on the coordination of UN system to better deliver as one is a must. UN Staff should be well prepared to the new roles to play. The UN works for people as per its constitution, UN does not work for the best interest of the government, but usually complements its work. Government priorities should be part of UN's priority and should not be all of it With enough resources and a clear division of competencies the UN would be in a better position to act as one and fulfill its mandate. I think the main role of UN is to pressure for the respect of human rights and social dialogue in Egypt

36. United Nations Egypt 1191 Cornich El Nil World Trade Centre Boulac Cairo PO Box 982 Tel.: (202) 578 4840 Fax: (202) 578 4847 www.un.org.eg