United Nations Development Program:
Sensemaking for international development projects
Client: United Nations Development Program (UNDP)
Partners: Chôra Foundation
Sectors: International development
Services: Sensemaking, analysis, portfolio approach
Year: 2021
How might we strengthen the portfolio of dynamic development projects?
cirka cph teamed with Chôra Foundation to help the United Nations Development Program in Malawi to learn this. We supported a systemic approach to analysing dynamic interdependencies of development projects – and making that accessible in the daily operations of the local office.
For an organisation running several structural initiatives that interact in dynamic – often hard-to-predict – ways, the scale and timeline of operations required a novel approach to analysis.
It was key to help officers understand how the diversity of stakeholders could come to find themselves influenced by initiatives. This is why the multi-stakeholder trainings came in handy.
The UNDP teams particularly took to heart the archetype method, which allowed teams to precede stakeholder dynamics on the ground. Based on insights from the selected areas, archetypes represented the extremes of local interests and considerations, bringing stakeholder awareness and balancing them all the way into the planning room.
Most importantly, a self-managing process was introduced and practiced, that the UNDP teams implements in increasingly self-managing manner. This means driving results, without the need for external support – enabling us to move on to support other teams.
Want to know more?
Want to know more about this case? Contact partner Kai Paludan-Müller on +45 26 258 253.
You can also explore more case stories. To find out more about strategic initiatives by the UNDP and about Chôra Foundation visit their websites.
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