Opening remarks by Ms. Elena Tischenko, National Implementation Modality Orientation Training for Implementing Partners - 22, 23 June 2011

Good morning!  I am pleased to welcome all the participants to this important workshop.

It is my special pleasure to welcome participation of government counterparts from:
1) The Council for the Development of Cambodia
2) Ministry of Interior
3) Ministry of Women’s Affairs
4) Forestry Administration
5) Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
6) Ministry of Environment
7) Ministry of Planning
8) Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority
And colleagues from the UNDP Country Office,

This National Implementation Modality (NIM) Orientation training for our Implementing Partners comes very timely.  The Royal Government of Cambodia and UNDP agreed on the new five-year Country Programme and launched its implementation early this year.

The next five years, during which we will be implementing the new country programme, is also the time left before we reach the deadline for achieving Millennium Development Goals.  UNDP, as an organization, made its global commitment at the MDG Summit last September to focus on accelerating the MDG progress. Our country programme in Cambodia is fully behind this approach.  Accelerating of the achievement of concrete, measurable targets  require from all of us as implementing parties of the Country Programme, to deliver effective performance and to make sure that our intermediary and final results are achieved and sustained.

Today we gathered here to discuss National Implementation. For UNDP, throughout the decades of organizational history working in development and trying out different modalities for implementation, National Implementation emerged as a modality of choice in many countries. UNDP is committed to respect and support national ownership over development programmes, and National Implementation is the platform that facilitates national ownership.

There are different levels at which national implementation serves to support national ownership. At the strategic level, defining of the programme directions, making all the strategic decisions, adjusting the course of the programme, overseeing the achievement of results and use of resources, are part of national implementation. National Implementation provides all the necessary mechanisms for this, ranging from the Project Board to endorsement of financial reports. I am sure that in the course of this workshop you will discuss what those mechanisms are and how important it is to make sure that they are functioning well.

At the operational level, national implementation in UNDP-supported programmes offers the menu of possible options for funds disbursement and execution of operational tasks such as recruitment, procurement and others. In each individual case the distribution of operational tasks between the national partners and UNDP office can be calibrated in accordance with the actual level of implementation capacities, which are assessed at the start through the HACT exercise (Harmonized Approach to Cash Transfer).

Furthermore, even if the project starts with relatively low level of implementation capacity on the side of our partners, which UNDP will supplement with the support services, it is possible over time to change this distribution and move much more of the implementation function to the national partner. This flexibility is not only useful in making possible for UNDP programmes to collaborate with a diverse group of partners that have different levels of start-up capacities, but also to work together on building national implementation capacities in a very attentive and targeted manner.

It is in this context that today’s orientation training is being organized with the aim for all of us to achieve clarity and mutual understanding on:
    -  The role and responsibilities of UNDP, Government, and the Implementing Partners; and
    -  Project Management procedures under the National Implementation Modality

I hope that you will find the training sessions useful and enjoyable. As it often happens at such trainings we also hope that the informal networking between colleagues in project teams and partner organizations will help establish a continuing dialogue that will be maintained over time.

We start today with this training but it really is just a start. We will continue to engage with you and all our partners throughout the implementation of the projects and programmes. We will also be ready to keep improving and refining our approach to training and building implementation capacities and will welcome your feedback and suggestions at any point in the future.

I would also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the effort made by our Implementing Partners and UNDP colleagues in improving project management and oversight that has led to a significant improvement in the results of NIM/NGO Audit last year. We need to keep up these good standards in our operational performance.

Finally I would like to thank all the participants who joined us today for this orientation. It will be very important that when you return to your teams you share your understanding and knowledge, and the learning resources from this training, with your colleagues in the project team and the Ministries.   

Once again, it is my pleasure to warmly welcome you all to the training.  Hope you will find the training engaging and useful in the implementation of your respective programmes.