Projects may require new ways of working internally and in a coordinated fashion between departments. If the set-up of public private partnerships is chosen as part of the strategy, it will require thinking through the staffing necessary to manage these relationships. If departments may be executing more than one project, staff will have to think through the staffing and the capacities necessary to do this.
The CDS team will work with the mayor’s office, the human resource department and other departments to finalise an organisational (change) strategy that will define the modalities of the work to be done. The strategy will define the need for any change necessary, involving for instance, departmental restructuring, re-engineering or retrenching. Whatever change necessary will be supported by capacity building activities. This is an ongoing process requiring detailing and refinement over time.
See the section below for an example of an organisational change strategy, including a matrix organisation and task teams as applied to the Kosovo strategic spatial planning initiative.
Example of organisational change strategy:
During the Kosovo strategic planning process, the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning (MESP) received support in the set-up of an organisation called the Institute for Spatial Planning (ISP), which was tasked within the ministry with preparation of the strategic spatial plan for Kosovo, as well as provision of support to the municipalities in the preparation of their plans. The consultant hired by UN-Habitat to develop the organisation strategy, looked at the shorter-term requirements of preparing the plan, as well as the long-term capacities needed during the implementation of the plan. The proposed strategy was discussed at length within the MESP and with staff of various ministries. One key element of the strategy over the shorter term, was engaging external partners in the preparation of the plan, also in areas in which the ISP did not yet have the capacity.
The consultant also aided in writing the job descriptions for the ISP, and developed a long-term capacity building strategy to aid the new staff in preparing the plan.
As the ISP was a new organisation, starting with multi-disciplinary but limited staff, it was set up as a matrix organisation. Staff were assigned to do different tasks during the different phases of the process, they were combined in teams to do the work. This was a very effective way of improving on communication and coordination. The ISP hired in other forms of support at various times of the process and as the need arose.
The CDS will require institutions for monitoring and feedback of the CDS implementation process. The city should think this through at this point.
This might require, for instance, the set up a monitoring body or committee (MC), whose responsibility is to monitor project activities in a transparent manner.
One option is that the SC and the CDS team take over this task. The benefit of this is that they have been involved in the setting up of the process and do not require much time to prepare and orient themselves. The possible drawback of this option is that they may have developed a bias over the preparation period, and therefore might not be objective during the M & E process. This can be overcome by commissioning an external evaluation.
A number of stakeholders will have taken a key interest and role in the process to date. The MC will set up a participatory system for monitoring the implementation of the CDS. This will maintain (and formalise) the engagement of stakeholders in the execution phases and ensure that they have a voice. This will also provide the opportunity for these stakeholders to engage in a critical discussion on strategy implementation. See phase 4.2 for more on community based M & E.
The mayor and city council will have to formalise these procedures for periodic review and assessment.
Output of this sub-phase: An organisational development and/ or change strategy worked out in detail, including capacity building activities, and an institution assigned to be responsible for monitoring and evaluation.
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