april 2012 gms meeting communique
Post on 22-Mar-2016
217 Views
Preview:
DESCRIPTION
TRANSCRIPT
The GMS Meeting is an important element of
our annual Business Heartbeat. The Execu-
tive Leadership Team and Directors from all
Divisions are convened twice yearly in or-
der to engage in establishing and under-
standing organizational strategy and vision,
deliberate how vision and strategy translate
into concrete operational plans and budgets,
and to engage in systematic reflection on
our progress towards achieving impact in
our programming . Each GMS meeting will
also ensure time to discuss and deliberate
the changing context in which we operate.
GMS April 2012 Global Management Strategy
Meeting
Bridget Snell & Jacob Kasell
1
The April 2012 GMS meeting took place at Oxfam America
headquarters on 25 – 26 April, 2012 and provided an oppor-
tunity for the senior leadership team, including regional lead-
ership, to come together over the course of a day and a half to
deliberate both operational and strategic issues of the agen-
cy. The first GMS session kicked off Oxfam America’s 2013
fiscal year, with Adrian DeDomenico presenting the Board-
approved budget, as well as cross-divisional planning and
budgeting commitments. The remaining time was devoted to
the Oxfam America Strategic Planning process, with partici-
pants engaging directly with OA’s President, Ray Offenheiser,
at this critical point in determining what the strategic goals
we should be committing ourselves to up to 2019.
The planning and budgeting processes are complete for all
divisions, offices and units. At this GMS, the senior leadership
team reviewed the commitments and deliverables to be
achieved in the coming year and prepared to fulfill operation-
al commitments.
Didier Jacobs and Jim Daniell set up the session by reviewing
the last OASP (2008 – 2012) and the subsequent operational
plans documented in the Beachhead process. They produced
a powerful summary of accomplishments made related to our
last strategic plans.
Adrian DeDomenico, Director of Business Planning and Anal-
ysis, reviewed the organizational budget that has been ap-
proved by the OA Board of Directors, and went into particu-
lar detail on Inter-Divisional Crosswalks, what budgetary
commitments were made, and what will be happening with
any unfunded budget areas.
Adrian DeDomenico’s presentation to the GMS can be found
on Padare.
Overall theme: Help poor rural communities gain
more secure access to food, land, water, and en-
ergy resources in the face of climate change and
other pressures on their natural environment.
4 program areas: Agriculture and trade; Climate
change; Humanitarian response and Extractive
industries
2 special initiatives: Aid effectiveness: US aid re-
form and Gender equality: internal goal
Internal Change goals: Commitment to make stra-
tegic plan for constituency-building and branding
and rounding the skills of program officers and
more flexible campaigners.
Revenues
Expenses: $72m – right on target
$52m in 2012 (actual: $39m – largely flat)
$13m restricted (actual: $30m vs. $21m)
Test Trailwalker, Direct TV, cause marketing,
canvassing
Operations
Online training (Oxfam University); Volunteer pro-
gram, Intranet (Padare) and Systems upgrades in
Finance, HR, IT (BI Project/Oracle)
Things Happen:
Financial crisis (impact on revenues + program
opportunity); Food price crisis; Haiti earthquake;
Obama election; Arab Spring
2
The participants had a number
of requests for next steps in the
budgeting process that are
meant to clarify various pro-
cesses and to guide future deci-
sions.
Request to Adrian DeDomeni-
co and Mark Krupp in Finance
to update the financial trend
analyses done in previous years
to clarify shifts in budget and
expenditures.
Note: The GMS participants are interested in continuing
to monitor shifts in the investment balance between long-
term programs and campaigns, regional vs. HQ, Boston vs.
DC, executive as a percentage of operations, etc.
Request by Stephanie Kurzina (RD) to Muthoni Muriu
(RPD) and Maliha Khan (LEAD) to document for the
ELT/GMS the 6 programs that have met 3-year bench-
marks (per the Beachhead Goal)
Request by Ray Offenheiser to Jim Daniell (COO) to ad-
dress the process by which we can manage appropriate
limits of governance in making agency commitments to OI
on underfunded mandates.
Request to Mike Delaney (HRD) to document and share with
the GMS participants what is necessary to achieve a 3.5 rank-
ing for OI Humanitarian Response.
April 2012 is approximately mid-way through the OA Strate-
gic Planning period, and a critical point for senior leadership,
especially senior regional leadership, to engage directly in the
process. During the last GMS retreat in October 2011, Ray
Offenheiser presented his Vision Paper to the GMS partici-
pants for feedback and commentary. Since then, the Execu-
tive Office (Didier Jacobs, advising) with the support of the
Consensus Building Institute (David Fairman, Lead Consult-
ant) have conducted a global staff consultation on the Vision
Paper, which will guide Oxfam America’s strategic direction
over the next five years.
In addition, an OASP Steering Committee has worked over the
past few months to draft eight priority goal areas for consid-
eration by the President.
The session began with a review of the OASP planning pro-
cess, and an acknowledgement that this process has been the
most inclusive and consultative of all the previous strategic
planning efforts. Ray also referenced the importance of such
strategic planning processes as being pivotal in moving the
organization forward and focusing us on concrete achieve-
ments such as building a campaign operation, and the launch-
ing of PSD and LEAD. He expected no less from this plan.
Clarification: unbudgeted FY’13 items are either cut or parked.
Cut items will not receive funding in FY ’13. They are dropped from plans.
Parked items will only receive funding contin-gent upon unspent funds from other units/areas or receipt of restricted funding in the coming fiscal year
Action to be taken: GMS Managers must com-municate to staff what has been cut; cut items will not be worked on; parked items may be worked on if funding becomes available.
3
Cross-divisional/functional groups were asked to discuss the following questions:
What is the essence of Ray’s comments in the first 4 pages?
What is the proposition behind each priority goal?
What is in the prioritized Internal Goal: Becom-ing a 21st Century NGO?
What is the recommended approach to address-
ing other strategic?
At the April 2012 GMS, participants were given a hot-off-the-
press memorandum from Ray outlining a refined vision for
OA’s strategic direction up to 2019. Within the memo, Ray
reiterates Oxfam America’s commitment to a rights-based
approach along with recommending a focus on three strate-
gic goals for the FY 2013-2019 period:
Stepping up our Humanitarian Capacity
Advancing Rural Resilience and Food Security
Active Citizenship in Pursuit of Effective Develop-
ment Investments
In addition to the three strategic areas of focus mentioned
above, Ray also added an internal goal:
Becoming a 21st Century Networked Organization
Participants were tasked with first making sense of Ray’s
proposition paper in cross-divisional groups.
Participants were asked to form groups depending on
their interest in a particular goal area and the initial level
of senior leadership excitement and interest in a goal area
was deduced by which groups had the most adherents.
Later on during the session, each of the goals was ranked
in terms of both energy around the goal and readiness of
the goal.
[Please note that ‘readiness’ was determined solely on the
basis of the goal itself, without looking at organizational,
budgetary or other constraints.]
A very dynamic case study session ensued for half a day dur-
ing which the senior leadership groups debated the meaning
of sections of the memo and Ray’s ultimate intent. The
groups also had direct access to Ray and the other ELT mem-
bers and therefore were able to gain clarification on different
elements of Ray’s proposition paper. Finally, the cross-
divisional groups were asked to specifically address Ray’s
upfront questions to the group:
Are the [three strategic goals] coherent as a set?
Are they the most judicious [relevant and impactful]
goals to take on to pursue our mission in the next six
years?
4
All groups agreed generally to Ray’s choice of the three stra-
tegic goal areas, and considered them coherent, potentially
impactful and relevant to our mission, and allowing us an
opportunity to set vision and align with OI.
At the same time, some groups identified that not all the goals
respond to some of the key trends identified in the earlier OA
Working Group process, including addressing the youth
boom and shifting demographics/face of poverty to the urban
and peri-urban areas.
In addition to the three strategic goal areas, many partici-
pants felt that the strategic plan was not giving the issue of
gender and women’s empowerment sufficient weight and
consideration in the memo. It was strongly felt that unless a
much greater emphasis was given through an explicit internal
change goal around gender, the strategic plan would not
reflect the values or the mission of the organi-
zation. A sub group of the GMS met
and made the following
proposition.
Clearly state gender justice and women’s rights as our meta-goal, at the top of our plan, stating clearly that unless we address gender issues in all our programs, we will never achieve our mission
Within each of the three external goals explicitly state gender justice, and the implications of that in terms of the measures of success in each of the goals related to gendered impact stated explicitly
Include as an internal goal, an explicit statement that our internal processes and staff competencies will reflect our external ambitions on promoting gender justice. We must walk the talk and hold ourselves ac-countable against this goal at all levels.
Create an investment fund, as suggested, that will be used towards supporting the gender internal change goal and gendered impacts.
5
Ray led a spirited discussion on how best to incorporate
this request into the OA-SP. He discussed similar initiates
he led while at Ford Foundation and lessoned learned from
his decades of experience working with women’s groups
around the world.
One issue he repeatedly stressed is that this effort must not
become a broad-based and administrative “check the box”
effort but that we make a clear commitment to real and
achievable goals with metrics in each program. While we all
support this effort, the proof will come if we continue to
build on the GMALI initiative and reinforce our program
designs with greater gender-lensed training and support.
Next, GMS participants were asked to refine the goal state-
ments Ray had presented in his memo to make winning and
winnable goals that can rally the organization to achieve
concrete results by 2019. Specifically, they were asked to
address the following questions in their process:
Why is this goal the most important in the upcoming strategic
period? Why is it the winning goal?
Following the plenary session, during which participants dis-
cussed the goals, a set of modifications were created and pre-
sented to the entire group. The next three pages summarize
the refined goal statements and articulated success indica-
tors.
You can also watch the four video presentations that capture
the agency’s senior leaders expressing their excitement
around the strategic goal areas and their interest in owning
the final strategic goals as a whole agency and not just within
specific units.
Enjoy.
6
We will transform the way NGOs, the private sector, the UN, and governments respond to humanitarian cri-
ses, moving toward prevention instead of response by building up local communities and governments so
that they are the first and best actors in prevention, preparedness and response.
INVEST NOW, SAVE LIVES, SAVE MONEY
Meet Oxfam International standards in fully local response to all Cat 3 emergencies
National governments, where we are managing affiliate, achieve high scores on Hyogo framework
(preparedness)
Growing network of learning and practice among Oxfam humanitarian partners
10% of US ODA global expenditures directed at Disaster Risk Reduction
5 Fortune 500 companies institute global policies and investments for prevention, preparedness and
response in countries where they are active
Positive changes in national level policy and investment to prevention, preparedness and direct re-
sponse for Cat 3 emergencies.
Specific changes in UN system, redirecting Humanitarian Response and funding flows toward local
investment and response.
Gendered analysis built into program and policy development
Need to bring out gender more
Need to bring out conflict agenda more, including women, peace, and security
Need to figure out how to “sell” this approach
Would require big scale-up of advocacy and capacity at country level
7
Women food producers and workers contribute significantly to national and global food security in just, resili-
ent, innovative, and transparent food systems by realizing their right to control resources, by gaining greater
value from their participation in a market economy, and by having voice and influence in national policy.
Material Well Being Changes:
Farmers and workers receive higher prices, wages, and other conditions improve.
Producing more in a risk reduced environment
Opportunity Structure Changes:
Improve the practices of major agri-business actors in targeted countries to the benefit of small food producers and workers
National government practices (both oversight and investment for small holders) is improved
Increased international and national investment in small holder agriculture
A stronger enabling environment and increased investment and support for women-led enterprises in targeted markets
Access to weather insurance
Access to financial services, affordable inputs and appropriate and innovative technical assistance
Easy access to timely and accurate market information
Improved laws on association.
Enhanced water and land rights
Social Relations Changes:
Measurable reduction in barriers to market participation
Large input producers experiment with sustainable input products/markets
Investment in Ag is targeted to rural woman producers
Aligned to support in-country food security executives (not just big ag for export)
Cultural practices shift in measurable ways to enhance women’s access and ownership of land and water resources.
Increase in number of women in leadership positions, elected and non-elected
National political platforms reflect small holder interests
What is OA connection to the overall OI strategy related to agriculture
What is OA’s strength vs. other affiliate’s strength?
Women at the center or as an indicator?
The extent to which we focus on production and yield or political economy and shifting the balance of rights
How to drill down from what is an overarching goal statement into a country specific level conversation
8
We support Oxfam’s aim to create a global movement for change to create and solidify the space for active
citizens to engage effective states and the private sector to secure and ensure their rights. In this space, citi-
zens routinely redress injustices on their terms and within their national context.
In the countries where we work, we will have supported the creation of 3 established, institutionalized spaces
that have directly shaped the national resource utilization and specific legislation on both non-renewable (EI)
and renewable resources (food, water, etc.) to address the rights of the most marginalized citizens, particu-
larly women.
That at least 10% of EI royalty payments are directed to agricultural initiatives for the most marginal-
ized, particularly women (target: $10B in the aggregate)
EI royalty payments be considered to fund climate change adaption for women farmers (target $1B)
10% of external aid flows are redirected towards renewable resource development for the most mar-
ginalized, particularly women (target $5B)
Right to Know, Right to Decide legislation establishes legally binding fora in 3 LAC countries, 3 ECO-
WAS, and 1 East African country
Even within closed or closing civil society space we are the go-to actor that focused on social and eco-
nomic rights. [What does this say about the political rights space?]
Partnered or developed much stronger budget monitoring systems and capability at the national
level
We have to invest in stronger national level advocacy
We have to invest in activist diplomatic skills particularly in private sector (economic) and gender
(gender policy analysis)
We have to be better at partnering with the right organizations
9
Marginalized citizens are able to direct their governments’ use of 5 major revenue flows in development: extractives
revenues, foreign aid, agricultural investments, corporate fines, and adaptation financing. Investment in pro-poor
development in 4 countries increases by 30% and are making progress towards new MDG goals.
In selected countries:
Marginalized citizens, especially women, have influenced local and national investment decisions in development.
All major oil and mining companies will fully disclose revenues and contracts for their projects, as re-quired by the SEC.
all bilateral aid agencies will make their operations conform to agreed aid effectiveness principles.
investments in agriculture by state and corporations support the viability of female farmers, entrepre-neurs and workers. (see rural poor goal)
Adaptation funding has increased, and government have made targeted investments in the resilience of vulnerable communities.
In southeast US, BP oil spill fines are directed to restoration of poor coastal communities.
Pre-requisites:
Investment in acquiring new competencies in fiscal transparency and monitoring (even if done through
partners)
Crafting appealing stories, putting human face, on this work
Building partnerships at global and national levels in transparency and accountability and for broader
social investments (health, education, etc)
Building expertise in corporate engagement at the regional and national levelResearch on major reve-
nue flows and current budget allocations by country, if feasible
Caveats and Reservations:
How to get our constituencies fired up about this?
What is our niche in a relatively crowded transparency/accountability field?
Funding? How much will it take and from where do we get it?
Important to continue to work on global norms because they are a critical tool
Beware of tough local politics
How does this work relate to Essential Services Campaign? Would new MDGs be the new measures?
10
The GMS participants registered their energy around each
goal twice in the OASP session. First they registered energy
by gravitating to the goal statements that they wished to
work on and improve. By the end of the session, all partici-
pants were asked to rate the 3 strategic goal areas in terms of
their energy around the issue and their sense of the goal read-
iness (was it a winnable goal in terms of focus and clarity of
what success would be in 2019). The cross-divisional and
functional ranking results of the ranking were as follows:
1. Active Citizenship 1. Humanitarian
2. Humanitarian 2. Active Citizenship
3. Rural Resiliency 3. Rural Resiliency
There was a high-level of energy in the group around Active Citizenship with 3
groups forming around the goal area/proposition in the first afternoon. By the
next day, some participants migrated to work on other goals, but the energy
level remained quite high throughout.
In terms of both energy and overall readiness of the goal statement and suc-
cess indicators, humanitarian capacity rated quite high.
It was acknowledged that while rural resiliency was not rated as high as the
others there may be strong potential to define a winning goal during the next
strategic period.
11
There will be a final meeting(s) of the OASP steering com-
mittee to make recommendations to Ray around goal state-
ments in May 2012.
Ray will hand the process over to Jim who will initiate the
operational planning process around the goals to define
concrete multi-year plans, budgets, organizational capacity,
and so forth.
This will further engage staff in
the OASP process. Ray and Jim
want to remind us that the goals
will be refined over the summer
using staff input, and taking into
consideration also the following
four inputs:
GMS participants’ input as
summarized above
OI’s goals, which are being
developed in parallel to ours
The fundraising campaign’s
feasibility study, which should
provide data as to the funda-
bility of both individual goals
and the whole set
Competitive analyses: for this
strategic planning cycle, we
decided not to make an over-
all competitive analysis of OA
as an organization as we did
during the beachhead exercise, but rather to analyze
the competition and define our niche more specifically
for each of our goals.
Ray acknowledged upfront that the Humanitarian goal
seems pretty clear. Rationale and comparative advantages
are there, even with the caveats mentioned. There is the
widest consensus that it is time for Oxfam to step up here.
It is the neatest, tightest and briefest of goal statements –
which indicates people understand it and are ready to move
on it.
In terms of the Rural Resiliency goal, Ray identified that we
still have work to do in this area. We do have competencies,
experience and some innovative programs in this area. But
we have to ask if our real competency is building yields and
productivity, or if the real opportunity is in the area of Ag,
Climate Change and Food Security and how to leverage these
spaces more effectively for small scale farmers and rural
women. What is the Food Security
and resilience challenge in differ-
ent contexts from Peru – with a
high bounty but unequal access
versus Ethiopia where we have low
yields and broad hunger? What
are the real issues at play and how
can we leverage development re-
sources to move on this issue. We
have a lot of goals on this issue,
which indicates a lack of clarity on
what we should work on. We
could work on any of this – what is
our place. Do we continue to work
mainly with small scale producers
or do we work in a more complex,
political space around how benefit
is distributed in an agricultural
economy and move key leverage
points. This may require some
new competencies.
Ray finished by pointing out that
there is some real creative energy
around the concept of Active Citi-
zenship. It seems to fit us and the comparative advantages
here are clear. We will need to continue to refine and bring
clarity to what we are delivering in the next period, and en-
sure that we are leveraging the lessons from some great work
in Extractive Industries and expand it to other areas and oth-
er development investment flows. He also sees that there
remains a clear space for us to work within the U.S. on overall
Aid Reform and the ability to leverage more effectively aid
flows out of the U.S. as part of this effort.
In summary, Ray reiterated the value of strategic planning.
This is the moment in our organizational life where we can
reinvent ourselves for this contemporary moment.
12
Program Theory of Change
$1 $16
“Investing in nurturing a happy goat costs you US$ 1 dollar. If you wait, and don’t address [a potential crisis] with
early warning systems you have a dead goat, which costs you US$16 dollars.”
-Mike Delaney as translated by Ken Mallette
Note: No Animals were harmed in the making of this communiqué.
top related