Presentation to DevCom Working Group Meeting
Paris, 6 February 2009
Peter da Costa
OECD Consultant
peter.dacosta@gmail.com
MANAGING FOR
AND COMMUNICATING
RESULTS

Road Map…
 Results being taken seriously
 Communicating for and about
Results
 Common Cause
 Key Challenges
 Defining Results
 Way Forward

Results being taken seriously…
 Growing emphasis on managing for
results
 Growing recognition of
communication
 Evidence it can make aid more
effective
 Ministries & agencies acting
accordingly

Still some way to go…
 Effective ways to communicate
results not yet found
 Challenge is threefold:
 Coming up with communicable results
 Ensuring they are well disseminated
 Embedding communication as key
tool for delivering more effective aid

Communicating about results (1)
 ‘Corporate communication’
 Aimed at communicating that aid is
working
 Seeks to strengthen accountability
to publics & parliament
 Generally directed at external
stakeholders

Communicating about results (2)
 Most agency communicators have
this in their mandate
 Pressure on emerging donors with
rising budgets
 Wide variance across OECD
countries
 Different opportunity structures

Communicating for results (1)
 ‘Communication for
Development’ or ‘Strategic
Communication’
 Tool as well as process for
effective aid delivery
 Works throughout program cycle
 Internal & external dimensions

Communicating for results (2)
 1/3 integrate communication in dev.
projects/programs
 10% have formal communication
strategy
 Management dispersed & ad hoc
 C4D works where staff see its direct
impact

Setting of goals,
agreeing on targets and
strategies
Communicating Feedback
FOR results
Feedback
Allocation of Monitoring and
available resources Evaluation
Service Communicating
Communicating Delivery / ABOUT results
FOR results Results
Reporting to
the Public

Common Cause…
 MfDR & Communication linked
 Both use evidence to convey
progress
 Attribution is key to both
 Collaboration to date limited
 DevCom & JV MfDR seeking to
bring about a shift

Key Challenges (1)
 Multiplicity of aid modalities
 Results culture underdeveloped
 Data not easily available
 Trust deficit between publics & govts
 Institutional resistance to communication
 Resources insufficient
 Technical reports often inaccessible
 Communication seen as cost, not benefit

Key Challenges (2)
 Communication seen as ‘downstream’
 Departments could collaborate better
 Communication seen as added work
 Gap between HQ & field offices
 Partner capacity impacts results info
 Multiple reporting impacts partners
 Comm about results remains donor-driven
 Communicators not part of JV MfDRCoPs

Defining results(1)
 Lack of common understanding
 Results = output, outcome or impact
 Medium, long-term hard to nail down
 Focus on reporting inputs & outputs
 Communicators need:
 Quantitative results - numbers
 Qualitative results - stories
 Neither is mutually exclusive

Defining results(2)
 Quantitative information templates
 Identifying success stories
 Supply-demand, upstream-downstream
 Communication incentives for RBM?
 Mutual learning
 ‘Virtuous circle’
 Make the case

Way Forward: Key Principles
 Use full range of available tools
 View communication as ‘upstream’
 Emphasise common ground
 Storytelling key, attribution
residual,
 Focus on donor publics & partner
country citizens

Way Forward: Success Factors
 Senior management
commitment
 Clear mandate = funding +
impact
 Right incentives for sharing
results info

What can Bilateral Donors do?
 Improve quality of stats, evidence
 Ensure demand orientation
 Keep objectives measurable &
communicable
 Make communication staff priority
 Strengthen networking, mutual
learning

What can Multilateral Donors do?
 Communicate development
as global public good
 Invest in developing good
practice
 Develop unified accounting
framework

What can Partner Countries do?
 Ensure strong ownership by
putting in place the
foundations
 Accra provides momentum
 Strengthen domestic
accountability mechanisms

What can Communicators do?
 Recognise complexity of MfDR/RBM
 Be pragmatic – start with the believers
 Strike balance between qual & quant
 Engage at high level, convince politicians first,
support internal champions
 Build took-kits & story templates
 Provide funding, awards for results stories
 Use evidence base to lobby for staff acceptance
 Be honest, credible in managing public
expectations
 User credible third parties to get message out

What can Aid Managers do?
 Involve communicators in
producing annual results
reports
 Design templates that help tell
results stories
 Provide increased budgetary
support to communication

What can Evaluators do?
 Communication evaluation an
emerging field
 Look for ways to forge synergy
 Integrate communication
tools, processes, indicators in
results measurement
frameworks

Presentation to DevCom Working Group Meeting
Paris, 6 February 2009
Peter da Costa
OECD Consultant
peter.dacosta@gmail.com
THANK YOU!