The document summarizes the first day of a three-day Operations Management Team retreat in Rubavu, Rwanda. Approximately 40 UN operations staff members discussed challenges over the past UNDAF cycle and began drafting a strategic plan to support the upcoming UNDAP cycle. Janvier Wussinu, Deputy Country-Director of UNDP, spoke in fluent Kinyarwanda to welcome participants. The group discussed elements of effective meetings like setting a clear agenda and actively participating. They also established ground rules for the retreat before ending the first day.

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Empowered
Lives.
Resilient
Nations.
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Amakuru ki i Rubavu?
OMT Special Retreat on One UN Business Operations Strategy
Internal Newsflash, 24-27 March 2013
Editorial Quick message from
Amakuru ki i Rubavu? Literally means Mr. Anders Voigt the
“What are the news in Rubavu?”. This is a
special newsflash produced by UNDP
Facilitator
Communications Office as a means of
internal One UN communications during the “At the end of this retreat, I
Operations Management Team’s 25th-27th expect: 1) Each participant to
March 2013 Retreat. This is a unique
have a joint understanding of
opportunity for Operations Team to recap
and openly discuss with RC’s presence on what role the Operations Team
the challenges and lessons learnt over the plays in support to the One UN-
past UNDAF cycle and to make a roadmap in Rwanda; and 2) For the OMT to
support to the One UN Programme Team and draft a Strategic Plan which
UNDAP process. The first issue covers the
first day of the retreat. articulates this joint
understanding of the role of
Enjoy! Operations and how they will
perform it.”
After the rain…
Our jaws literally
dropped on the
ground….!
When in the middle of
introductions, Janvier
Wussinu, the Deputy
Country-Director in charge
of Operations at UNDP,
stood up and started to
An approximate 40 One UN operations staff
speak in articulate
members arrived in Rubavu in the
Kinyarwanda without an
afternoon of 24th March 2013, to participate
accent! “ Mwiriwe mwese!
in a three-day Operations Management
Team Retreat. We arrived in Rubavu after nishimiye kuba hano
the rain, and the weather and the namwe! Ndi Janvier…”
environment promise to be agreeable.
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2. This
is a unique opportunity to complain
and appreciate …
The work done by the Operations Team! Rajesh Kayastha,
the Chief Operations at UNICEF reminded us that the main
objectives of the retreat are to: 1) Review the challenges
and lessons learnt over the past UNDAF cycle; 2) To
understand better the UNDAP process from programme
side; 3) To identify operational support for the upcoming
UNDAP cycle; 4) To finalize OMT Strategic Plan based on
the new UNDAP cycle; and 5) To produce an annual OMT
Work Plan in support to the UNDAP cycle.
How to Organize
Effective Meetings
Janvier suggested an exercise,
which illustrated the dos and
don’ts during a meeting. From
this exercise, the participants
defined the most important
elements of an effective
meeting among which: to set a
clear agenda of the meeting and
to clearly specify the objective
of the meeting; to focus on the
topic of discussion; to respect the schedule of the meeting
(i.e. to come on time and start on time); to listen to each
other and have respect for each other’s feedback; to
actively participate during the discussions; to focus on
finding a solution; to prepare the logistics of the meeting
(i.e. food, water, microphones, etc.); to set ground rules; to
take the minutes; and to give constructive
recommendations.
The Ground Rules during the
retreat
-­‐ Punctuality
-­‐ Mobile phones set on silent and to get out in
case there is a need to respond to urgent calls
-­‐ No multiple meetings
-­‐ No surfing on the internet during sessions
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End of Day 1…
Anders closed the first day’s meeting by
inviting all the participants to share
dinner. He also reminded them that Day
2’s sessions will start at 8.00 a.m. on 25th
February
Quick memory game: Who is
who? 1
2
3
1. During Day 1 who has been
nicknamed the interrupter and
why?
2. Of these 3 women in the picture
to the right: 1) who works for
UNWOMEN; 2) Whose name is
Marcianne?
Replies:
1. Rajesh,
because
he
was
given
the
role
of
the
interrupter
during
Janvier’s
exercise
on
effective
meetings,
a
role
which
he
played
brilliantly
and
which
got
him
that
nickname
2. 1=3,
Evelyn
is
the
HR
and
Operations
Manager,
a.i.
at
UNWomen
and
2=1
Marcianne
works
at
UNICEF
as
surveillance
Assistant
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