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How to note
A DFID practice paper
DECEMBER 2010
Finance & Corporate Performance Division
PUBLICATION NOTE: (added March 2011)
This How to Note was prepared as an internal document to guide DFID staff in the drafting of Operational Plans. It covers some sections of Operational Plans which are not being published because of their sensitive nature or because they are only meaningful for internal management purposes.
Preparing an Operational Plan
What is the purpose of an Operational Plan? Operational Plans should outline the role each unit plays in delivering the DFID Business Plan. The Operational Plans will collectively provide the necessary detail of how we will implement the Business Plan and enable the central aggregation, monitoring and management to ensure delivery.
DFID's Business Plan for 2011-15 has now been agreed by HM Treasury, Number 10 and the Cabinet Office. The Business Plan was published on 8 November 2010.
Operational Plans will be the single layer of planning across the organisation below the DFID Business Plan. They will translate the outcomes of the Spending Review 2010 as well as the Bilateral Aid Review (BAR), Multilateral Aid Review (MAR) and Humanitarian Emergency Response Review (HERR) processes, into plans that set out the operations of different units of DFID for the next four years.
Operational Plans should provide confidence to the unit and to management that financial and human resources are organised to deliver the results they have committed to, and that they have developed plans to implement DFID’s agendas on Value for Money, Evaluation and Transparency.
The plans are internal management tools, but some sections will be made available publicly (see below).
What is an operational unit? Director Generals are responsible for determining the appropriate level for operational planning in their Directorates.
For Country Programmes the operational unit is usually the country office (or regional programme). For International and Policy divisions the operational unit is the department. Corporate Performance Group is deemed to be a single operational unit. For the full list of operational units see Quest Document 2866154: List of units completing OPs by Directorate.
What should an Operational Plan include? The allocation process and the Reviews will provide units with the overall shape of their programme. Operational Plans will concisely set out:
Why the operational unit is important in delivering DFID’s objectives What the operational unit will deliver in terms of SRP actions and results (a summary will be provided in the body of the OP and a full Results Framework must be annexed) How the operational unit will deliver these results including summary resource requirements, contributions to DFID efficiency targets and business change objectives
More detail is provided later in this guidance. This guidance is not intended to cover all the planning processes that will be necessary to inform the Operational Plans: it focuses on what units need to include in their Operational Plans. Links will be provided where other relevant guidance exists to the planning processes that will inform the writing of the Operational Plan.
Operational Plans are not intended to be exhaustive and will not cover the full extent of all work undertaken by individual operational units. Appropriate planning and monitoring arrangements below the operational plan level should be determined by operational unit heads. Relevant processes should be proportionate and ensure a clear line of sight to the Operational Plan and DFID Business Plan.
What is the timetable for developing Operational Plans? Operational Plans must be signed-off and submitted by mid-February 2010. The process for obtaining sign-off for the Operational Plans will be determined by individual Directorates and will be communicated to operational units by their Director or DG.
After sign-off, there will be a process of central review both to ensure that the results sections are consistent with any aggregate statements of DFID delivery and that any derived reporting against the plan will help meet external reporting requirements. We will also need to ensure that the individual budget and workforce sections are within overall organisational constraints.
Quality assurance for the remaining sections (1, 2, 6-10) will primarily lie with the Directors/DG responsible for signing-off the OPs.
What is the process for consulting on Operational Plans? It is up to individual operational units to decide if and how to consult with other internal and external partners when developing its Plan. Country offices may wish to consult, for example, with partner governments and other key stakeholders.
Will Operational Plans be revised? In line with DFID’s own Business Plan, Operational Plans will be refreshed annually. We do not envisage full scale revision over the spending review period except where
Creating your Operational Plan
This How To Note provides guidance applicable to all units completing Operational Plans. The Operational Plan PowerPoint template is available at Quest Document Number 2854930: Operational Plan Template. Please contact the Aid Effectiveness and Value for Money Department if you have any queries.
Guidance on writing an Operational Plan
Operational Plans consist of 10 sections:
- Context Why p.
- Vision p.
- Structural Reform Plan actions p.
- Results What p.
- Delivery and Resources p.
- Delivering Value for Money p.
- Monitoring and Evaluation How p.
- Transparency p.
- Communications p.
- Risk p.
- Context (1 slide limit)
When drafting Sections 1 and 2 operational units should, where possible, avoid repeating general statements made in the Vision section from the overall DFID Business Plan. These sections are designed to say specifically how the unit fits into the wider organisation. We envisage that for the publicly available documents a standard introductory slide will be added providing an overview of DFID’s context and vision to aid stakeholder understanding, but this is not deemed necessary for internal purposes.
In section 1, a brief analysis of the context specific to the unit should be provided, with reference to supporting documents as necessary.
Points for inclusion as applicable:
Where units fits in the wider picture of DFID work, HMG engagement and activity (including FCO in-country), and what other donors are doing Evidence of need at an overview level (quality of the data describing context and background, which establishes the case for the programme) Partner country development priorities Regional dimension of engagement
Note: Analysis documents including, but not limited to, Country Governance Analysis and Fiduciary Risk Analysis, remain an essential part of country planning. For this round of operational planning, country offices are not automatically required to complete new analysis documents, but should draw on evidence in their existing analysis documents. However, responsibility to ensure analysis and information is adequate lies with the country office and where there has been a significant change
- addressing the causes and effects of conflict and fragility (the central lens for all engagement), and:
- supporting inclusive political settlements and processes
- developing core state functions
- responding to public expectations.
All fragile and conflict affected states need to take account of the SDSR process and the forthcoming HMG Strategy on Building Stability Overseas. For NSC priority countries in particular OPs will have to be fully consistent with HMG joint strategies.
On girls and women , units should consider the Structural Reform Plan Commitment to ‘Lead international action to improve the lives of girls and women’ and the new gender strategic vision being developed around four areas (‘pillars’): Direct assets for girls and women; Delaying first pregnancy; Getting girls through secondary school; and Preventing violence against girls and women.
They should provide a strong narrative on how the lives of girls and women will be significantly improved and sustainably transformed in each of the pillars’ results areas. In doing so they should explain how the unit will develop strategic interventions that target girls and women directly, support the building of evidence on girls and women, mainstream gender across programmes and ensure all interventions related to girls and women are linked across the four pillars/work areas.
Interventions should be informed by the most recent gender and social exclusion analysis and the specific enabling environment. For further guidance please see Quest Document 2866229 OP guidance on Delivering Results for Girls and Women.
On climate change units should provide a short narrative in their vision outlining how the interventions are ‘climate smart’ and contribute to delivering low carbon climate resilient growth.
What we will stop doing
Provide a brief summary of current programmes or activities that will cease during the lifetime of the plan.
- Structural Reform Plan actions
Please list in the template table provided the Structural Reform Plan (SRP) actions that you are either directly responsible for, or contribute directly to.
The DFID SRP Tracker available on Insight contains a list of all Senior Responsible Officers which should help determine those actions for which each unit is responsible. The template also request units to identify direct contributions to SRP actions. For example, some SRP actions may specify that new programmes are to be developed across a number of units, generally country offices. In which
case, all relevant country offices or other operational units should include reference to their specific contribution in the Operational Plan.
A list of all SRP actions can also be found in the DFID Business Plan.
- Results (2 slide limit)
DFID is committed to embedding a strong results culture across the organisation and encouraging our partners to do the same. This means getting better at defining what we want to achieve and monitoring and evaluating what we do.
Headline results
In conjunction with sections 2 and 3 this section should provide management with an overview of your programme of work and intended results.
The Headline Results section of your OP should set out a small number of headline results (maximum of eight) that cover a wide cross-section of your portfolio and best capture your programme in summary. Each unit has the freedom to determine the most appropriate results for them to include here: the template allows for both quantitative and qualitative results to be included. All headline results should be drawn from the full results framework and be underpinned by clear methodologies and metadata.
The type of results you select should be relevant for your particular work area but aligned with DFID’s overall Business Plan and objectives. For example we would expect country offices to select results that are based on their accepted results offers, drawing where possible from the list of impact indicators in the DFID Business Plan. International and Policy divisions may wish to select results which more directly address their influencing work, except where their work clearly contributes to delivery of development outcomes or outputs. Corporate Performance Group results are likely to relate to improvements in operational efficiency.
Units are encouraged to use the following two sets of indicators (where appropriate) when populating Operational Plans, and to discuss any issues relating to the set of recommended indicators with pillar leads throughout this process. Units should draw on the underpinning technical guidance for these sets of indicators, which will be posted on our TeamSite when available.
DFID Business Plan indicators Operational Plan recommended indicators
Where it is not appropriate to use the indicators identified above, the following guidance on standard/suggested indicators may be useful:
Standard indicators Suggested indicator toolkit
At this stage of the planning cycle it may be difficult to provide firm estimates of overall expected results from joint programmes (indeed most DFID only initiatives will be subject to full investment appraisal). Your expected results at this stage should thus seek to strike the appropriate balance between overall ambition and current level of programme certainty.
Useful Resources:
Interim Guidance on Measuring and Managing for Results in Fragile and Conflict-Affected States How To Note: Guidance on using the revised Logical Framework How To Note: Standard indicators DFID Briefing on the Results Chain
Evidence supporting results
This section should provide a brief overview of the feasibility and realism of proposed results referencing the underlying theories of change and strength of evidence underpinning core assumptions.
Reference should be made to sources of evidence and how evidence generated elsewhere was utilised.
The plan should set out in which pillars the evidence base is strong, and where there is insufficient evidence to support core assumptions.
The content of this section should inform the content of Section 7 on Monitoring and Evaluation. Work to address weaknesses in the evidence base should not be set out here but in section 7.
VFM rationale
Units should outline the VFM considerations taken into account in determining high level priorities in terms of results expected to be achieved and associated risk in delivery. Value for Money considerations for specific interventions should be considered as part of the Business Case process and therefore not included here.
Work to embed and improve VFM over the period of the OP should be addressed in Section 6 rather than covered here.
- Delivery and Resources (5 slide limit)
Overview
The first slide should be used to provide an overview of the unit’s structure, design and means to deliver its programme.
The mechanisms, procedures and partnerships by which the OP will be delivered should be set out and accounted for. According to unit and context, this should include reference to partners within DFID, OGD partners, as well as all national and donor counterparts in country.
The following should be addressed in this section: What do you expect the main delivery routes for the OP to be and what is the rationale behind this choice? What other non-delivery partners do you anticipate working with, to what ends and why? Where you envisage working with multilateral organisations, please set out how you will mitigate against any risks identified in the published MAR assessments.
To inform this section, units may wish to refer to the following information: How to Provide Technical Cooperation Personnel (How to Note) Implementing DFID’s strengthened approach to Budget Support – Technical Note Budget Support Refresh (detailed Proposal – submission)* Budget Support Reform (TMG submission)*
For Country Offices, the three partnership commitments for conditionality should be the basis on which to make judgements about whether to align with a particular partner government’s priorities and whether to use their systems for aid disbursement. These are: commitment to poverty reduction human rights and other international obligations strengthening financial management and accountability
Workforce Planning (1 slide) Process for identifying changing organisational and workforce needs
Output 1 (as an integral part of the Operational Planning exercise): Narrative on changes to organisational design and workforce needs (including sufficient indicative material change to the type and number of staff).
Output 2 (in February after Operational Plans are approved) Completed workforce planning template detailing projected workforce needs for year 1& 2.
- Analysis of changing deliverables and activities
- Organisational design
- Identifying changing workforce needs
4.Identifying strategies for managing workforce change
- Detailed workforce planning
Please use table provided in template to set out a breakdown of efficiency savings over the lifetime of the Operational Plan. Where FTE is not applicable, please enter N/A in the relevant cell.
The commissioning letter sent to units setting out their allocations will contain further details on efficiency targets.
- Delivering Value for Money (1 slide)
All units need to consider how to embed and improve VFM in the delivery of their activities and objectives: it is recommended that they develop a full VFM strategy to do so. This does not have to be developed in the same timeframe as your OP, but if possible you should set out here a date by which this will be completed.
Value for Money rationale relating to the programme set out in this Operational Plan should be covered in Section 4.
This section should provide top messages/highlights of the unit’s VFM strategy and action points for 2011-2015. Where a unit already has a VFM Strategy/Action Plan in place, a summary should be provided here. It should not be included in full.
First a brief analysis of key challenges (both anticipated and existing) to improving/embedding VFM analysis specifically should be provided.
Key actions to meet these challenges and improve VFM analysis in the future should then be set out, together with target dates and, where applicable, the relevant individual/team responsible for implementation. These should be clearly defined, concrete and tangible actions, rather than broad statements of ambition which will be difficult to measure progress against. As applicable, they should cover work with partners (multilaterals, NGOs, partner country governments etc) on VFM.
Departments in the International Divisions may want to highlight in this section any particularly important cost, results or wider VFM issues relevant to the multilaterals in question, or any key monitoring processes to be put in place to track results, costs, etc. in this multilateral.
In framing their strategy and action points units should consider as applicable:
What skills, systems and structures need to be in place or improved to further embed VFM in the unit. How VFM will be addressed when managing Operating Costs. How VFM will be addressed at various stages of project cycle management when managing programme funds, for example:
- At the design stage
- Through procurement
- At approval stage, including quality assurance arrangements
- Throughout implementation and reviews
To assist in drafting this section, examples of VFM Strategies/Action Plans can be found on the Operational Planning teamsite.
- Monitoring and Evaluation (1 slide)
Monitoring
Formal refreshes of the Operational Plans will take place annually, in line with the expected annual review of the DFID Business Plan. In addition to this, monitoring against the Operational Plan and the Results Framework should be an ongoing feature of the unit’s work.
In your Operational Plan you should set out:
How you will monitor progress against your Operational Plan and Results Framework Who will be involved in monitoring When this will take place What action will result from monitoring and what will be produced (reports, updates etc)
The full detail of data sources (and indicators derived from them) together with milestones and targets should be contained in your full results framework.
Evaluation
Some units may wish to develop a fuller evaluation plan, in which case this should not be provided here but key points provided together with a reference.
You should consult with EvD pre-approval.
Please note: for units seeking firmer guidance from EvD on how to make choices about what to evaluate and the overall level to aim for on, this will be available by end December 2010.
This section should cover:
What evaluations you currently have underway What evaluations you are planning In each year of the operational plan what proportion of your budget you envisage being subject to independent evaluation. Whether you anticipate needing a full time or shared evaluation post Actions to address shortcomings in terms of skills needed for the embedding evaluation agenda (assessing evidence, designing monitoring frameworks,
accessible and promoting feedback, and leading the transparency agenda internationally, including by encouraging for full transparency in CSOs and multilaterals that we fund; donors; and partner countries. This includes a commitment to publish summaries of Country Operational Plans in relevant local languages.
You can find more information on the commitments under the UK Aid Transparency Guarantee here.
Units should outline what actions they will undertake to ensure DFID meets its commitments of the UK Aid Transparency Guarantee, and as appropriate cover the below points:
Ensuring information we publish is of high quality and in plain English (all units). This could include putting in place management incentives for information quality assurance. For relevant units, state the local languages information will be provided in. Encouraging our partners to be more transparent (applicable to all units which directly interact with other donors, CSOs, multilaterals and partner countries) Enabling access to information and feedback from beneficiaries. This could be from a corporate perspective or cover country level efforts to make comprehensive and timely aid information available to partner governments and the public, and support the capacity of local actors to use information to hold decision makers to account. What further information and datasets the unit will make available, beyond that required in the UK Aid Transparency Guarantee.
- Communications (1 slide)
When used effectively, communications can help achieve SRP commitments and support the Department in demonstrating value for money and delivering on the transparency agenda. Your communications planning should include an overview of why/what you are communicating – and an outline of your approach for doing this.
Communications should have the underpinning consideration of how to demonstrate value for money and make information accessible to citizens of developing countries and the UK.
You should speak with your DFID communications specialist (strategic communications) to get further guidance on completing this section. Some of the areas to consider are:
Communication Objectives:
- Separate to policy/operational objectives – they should focus on what you want to achieve by communicating your work. Key Audiences:
- Who do you want to communicate with, and equally importantly who wants to communicate with you. Where possible be specific - in-country, UK, stakeholders, etc. Messages and Content:
- What are the broad messages you are trying to communicate?
- Are any ‘types’ of content more effective for doing this – E.g. case studies? And if so, how are you ensuring these are being captured? Communications approach/activities:
- What communication activities will you mainly undertake? E.g. social marketing for development, communicating results to the UK public, stakeholder engagement, etc.
- How are you using branding (UKaid) in your communications? Timeline:
- Key milestones with communications potential. Programme design (regional specific):
- How will communications be incorporated into your local programme design and delivery at various stages? Evaluation:
- How you will build the effectiveness of communications into your overall evaluation? Risks:
- What are the communication/reputational risks and how you will manage/ mitigate these?
- Risk (1 slide)
As you develop your Operational Plan you should identify and assess key risks to the achievement of your objectives and consider what you can do to mitigate these risks.
General guidance on risk management principles can be found in MoneySight under Audit, Risk and Assurance – click here to view.
Risk is defined as uncertainty, whether positive or negative, that will affect the outcome of an activity or intervention. The term “management of risk “incorporates all the activities required to identify and control the exposure to risk that may have an impact on the achievement of DFID’s business objectives.
It is a priority to use risk management techniques to support decision making in DFID and help determine optimum use of resources. Risk should be clearly linked to achieving objectives and results. The level of risk taken should be appropriate to the degree of impact that can be achieved and within tolerances set by Management Board.
Low
Rare, may occur in exceptional circumstances. No or little experience for a similar failure;
Less than 5%
Table 2: Impact of risk if it occurs
Grade of Impact Description Interpretation
High
May cause key objectives to fail. Very significant impact on organisational goals. Legal or regulatory implications. Significant reputational impact.
Significant impact on MDGs. Significant impact on country programme. Significant impact on staff safety Financial implications exceed £40m
Medium/High
Major effect. Risk factor may lead to significant delays or non achievement of objectives.
Impact on country level objectives/ programme. Financial implications.
Medium
Moderate effect. Risk factor may lead to delays or increase in cost.
Considerable impact for programme/project. Financial implications
Low/Medium
Some impact of the risk, fairly minor. Some impact for programme/project Financial implications
Low
Fairly insignificant , may lead to a tolerable delay in the achievement of objectives or minor reduction in Quality/Quantity/ and/or an increase in cost.
Financial implications
Further useful resources:
For fragile and conflict-affected countries, the Fragility and Development Team/CHASE can provide further guidance, including advice and information on specific areas under the four objectives of the PBSB framework. Contact the Fragility and Development Team. Please also see the Interim Guidance on Measuring and Managing for Results in Fragile and Conflict-Affected States which is available on the Fragility and Development Policy Hub, where you’ll also find further guidance on service delivery and political settlements in fragile and conflict-affected countries. For guidance on empowerment and accountability units should refer to the internal online resource which will be available from the beginning of January via the following link: http://dfidblogs/innovations/
