Opm report Template version 5

4.2Policy support

In light of the recently approved ENSSB II, MGCAS has increased its capacity to steer the policy process, including medium-term policy development and coordination with other ministries and entities (e.g. INGC). MGCAS has also initiated a short-term immediate window of policy review (April to June 2016). DFID could capitalise on these opportunities by engaging directly with MGCAS and INAS providing support in two critical policy areas: policy advocacy on key issues (graduation/complementary services, PMT and DRM) and programme rescheduling.

4.2.1Informing the discourse and shifting the narrative

DFID policy advocacy could inform key programme concepts, which currently are not benefiting from international and regional experience. Greater familiarity with the realities of regional programming relating to PWPs in each of the three areas could lead to a positive adjustment of the policy discourse and increase the likelihood of programme success. This process of advocacy in the areas of graduation/complementary activities, PMT and DRM would draw on the research outlined below. This support would promote critical thinking on programme design choices and influence policy and programme redesign and could be achieved through workshops, conferences, study tours, etc.

4.2.1.1Graduation/complementary activities

There is a need to refresh the discourse on the role of PASP in graduation and the implications of the complementary activities required to achieve this, taking into account the realities and achievements of graduation in the context of PWPs regionally, the key constraints and drivers of graduation, and the appropriateness and feasibility of this model in the Mozambican context. The aim of this component would be to reorient programme objectives and inputs in order to promote positive outcomes with the limited financial and human resources available.

DFID could promote a critical engagement with the graduation model in the context of the PASP and Mozambique. In particular, it could promote and discuss the implicit theory of change underlying graduation expectations and its relevance in the Mozambican context, drawing on current analysis by the World Bank and Fundacion Capital in Mozambique, and also on evidence of graduation and challenges in complementary service provision to promote graduation from Rwanda, Ethiopia and South Africa (McCord and Slater, 2015).

This promotion of critical reflection is necessary since INAS does not have the capacity or skills to perform the integrated rural development functions (e.g. skills development, access to capital, promotion of income-generating opportunities, promotion of access to markets, etc.) required in a complementary services approach. There is a need to shift the discourse to linking PASP beneficiaries to other service providers with the mandate and skills for the range of interventions listed in the complementary services component of the PASP rather than trying to provide them directly within the PASP.

The advocacy engagement should thus focus on:

Promotion of awareness of international and regional experience and prerequisites for graduation to increase the realism of expectations;

Promotion of discussion of appropriateness of INAS intervention in graduation-related activities given INAS’s mandate, skills and capacity; and

Promotion of an alternative strategy of linking INAS beneficiaries to other service providers.

A review of graduation performance in the PASP to date, and consideration of the regional and international experience, could inform the necessary reprogramming in this sector (see also the research outlined in section 5.3 below).

4.2.1.2PMT

As PMT roll-out is to be phased, and has not yet taken place throughout the programme, there is an opportunity to ensure that the approach is fully adapted to the Mozambican reality. In order to achieve this there is a need to promote a greater understanding of the subjectivity of PMT, its limitations and its costs (social as well as economic) as well as benefits, and to support a critical review of targeting outcomes. Such a considered approach would enable design modifications for optimal performance to take place and ensure that MGCAS and INAS decisions on PMT design and roll-out are optimal for the context.

This advocacy will draw on outputs from the research into PMT performance outlined in section 5.3.3 below.

4.2.1.3DRM

The ENSSB II gives INAS, and in particular PASP, a role in emergency response. However, the potential role of PASP in disaster risk reduction needs to be established in line with the capacity constraints outlined above. Given uncertainty about the role of the PASP in DRM and the institutional capacity limitations of PASP, there is a need to identify a feasible and delimited role in line with capacity. DFID should promote a reorientation of the discourse that entails PASP playing a role in relation to slow onset disasters in areas where the programme is operational, with a suggested focus on extending the employment period in drought years.

The conditions required for PASP to contribute to resilience are outlined in section 3. Given the constraints outlined above, the main impact is currently through the wage – if the level is adequate and payments are frequent, predictable and regular. PASP does not have the administrative capacity to extend provision rapidly in response to disasters, but can potentially play a role in responding to slow onset disasters, by shifting or extending the period of employment provision and thus wage, as is currently being trialled in some districts of Gaza province. Focusing on this feasible option, excluding more ambitious but less feasible roles for PASP in DRM, and developing appropriate protocols to facilitate implementation would be key. The main areas where advocacy from DFID would be required is in developing a limited but practical role for PASP, focusing on:

The development of guidelines for PASP engagement in slow onset emergencies;

Mechanisms for additional financing to extend rather than shift the period of employment protocols for programme expansion; and

Promoting formal district-level coordination with other service providers (e.g. INGC, international non-governmental organisations, WFP, etc.) to prevent programme duplication and inefficiencies.

4.2.2Phasing and sequencing

Moving ahead with the programme-wide PMT roll-out and ‘Inclusive PASP’, as well as providing complementary services within PASP, could compromise all INAS core programme delivery given the limited availability of PASP administrative resources and personnel and the negative spill-over effect PASP implementation has on resources attached to the delivery of other INAS programmes. PASP is already reliant on ‘piggy backing’ on resources allocated for other INAS programmes, and the simultaneous rolling out of ambitious additional programme components alongside programme expansion would have a serious negative impact on overall programme performance, particularly given the absence of basic systems (most critically electronic payments and the MIS).

There is a need to revise the policy and ensure the rephasing (i.e. slowing) of the schedule for introducing additional programme components, until key systems are operational and basic programme performance is assured.

To this end, DFID should promote a review of programme performance and the implications for policy scheduling. DFID could engage in advocacy for a review of the schedule or the roll-out of programme ‘add ons’ and highlight the risks of increasing programme complexity before the consolidation of basic provision and the completion of research into performance in key policy areas. Specifically, DFID should propose the rescheduling of the complementary services component, the PMT and the ‘Inclusive PASP’.