Support to International Economic Relations Department (IERD) of FMF Objectives     The Objective of this grant is to strengthen IERD institutional capacity for portfolio management and coordination at federal level, of key importance in promoting developmental effectiveness of externally funded projects Components COMPONENT: Assessment and strengthening of Coordination and M&E             capacity of IERD    The Component will undertake a functional analysis of the IERD with focus on the workflows and responsibilities, review electronic systems currently in use, assess the capacity for carrying coordinating and M&E functions in the Department and make recommendations for improving the operational efficiency.  The functional review would also include a visit of selected senior IERD staff to a similar and good practice unit in a comparable developing country. The Component will also support a Training Needs Assessment for staff of IERD, 70% of which are new following recent staff movement conducted by the Office of the Head of Service. Based on the outcome of the Training needs assessment, recommendations would be made on training programmes that would enable IER staff to effectively fulfill their roles as desk officers for sectors throughout the cycle of operations in the Country portfolio Outcome  Improved workflows, reduced processing bottlenecks and enhanced capacity of IERD staff to provide effective coordination at federal level 1.1   ACTIVITY: Undertake a functional analysis of IERD  A review will be carried out to determine the optimum administrative and organizational structures and staffing needs based on the objectives of IERD. Structures will be clarified, as will capacity needed. With the technical assistance of an international and local consultant/ consultancy firm this assessment will   (1) identify functional responsibilities and internal workflows within IERD, between IERD and 3 sector Ministries and between IERD and selected PIUs including response time for interactions within IERD, between IERD and 3 sector ministries, and between IERD and PIUs,  with a specific focus on portfolio implementation support including from the strategic perspective.  (ii) conduct Training Needs Assessment for staff of IERD to effectively carry out coordination and M&E functions on donor assisted projects; and  (iii)  Review electronic systems currently in use at IERD. 1.1.1   ,,OUTPUT: Diagnostic study and administrative and organizational manual  # Part one: Functional Review Report  #Part two: Training Needs Assessment report including recommendations on training programs.  # Part Three: Report detailing recommendation of electronic systems currently in use at IERD with an assessment and recommendations for system compatibility and assessment of integration options (IT report); and # Part Four: Administrative and Organizational Manual (the Manual should build on the findings of the Functional Review Report, TNA and IT report). 2  COMPONENT: Development of Tools for portfolio management, monitoring and reporting at national level The quality of IERD reporting on projects and their progress suffers from the lack of standardized reporting format, absence of a standardized monitoring template and the lack of centralized data base on externally funded projects.  The lack of these tools also impacts the capacity of the IERD for effective monitoring and evaluation, including exercising its coordinating role and providing effective implementation support to line ministries and PIUs. This component will result in three major outputs: (i) a monitoring template, (ii) standardized reporting format and a (iii) web based data base on externally funded projects. 2.1   ACTIVITY: Develop Portfolio Management Tools  Monitoring template will be developed, reflecting reporting needs of the IERD, focusing on, among others, projects' alignment with the national developmental strategies/objectives and intended results.  So to enhance the quality of IERD reporting, a standardized reporting format will be developed, of critical importance for capturing same kind of information for all projects. The monitoring format will be used by IERD in its periodic monitoring exercise while the reporting format will be used by PIUs to provide monitoring data to IERD. OUTPUT: Monitoring template and standardized reporting format. 2.2   ACTIVITY: Setting up a  central web-based system for data collection and reporting  The data base would be developed, with a view of facilitating analysis and reporting on projects' implementation and progress in achieving targeted results.  The data base would be on-line based, and publicly available.  It would be designed in such a way so to allow feedback from civil society organizations on projects.  Provided the pilot phase is successfully implemented, options for scale-up and additional funding should be explored with other donors.  Selected staff will be trained to enter data in the data base, while all staff will be trained to use the data base.  Additionally, guidance material and procedural manual will be produced and disseminated. 2.2.1   ,,OUTPUT: Central web-based system established and Guidance material and procedural manual for central web-based system disseminated 3. COMPONENT: Capacity Building for IERD staff  70 percent of IERD staff is new, as explained by the recent staff rotation across federal ministries. Majority of them has limited or no knowledge of multilaterals and bilateral, the way those process their projects, of project cycle management concepts in genearl, and of project coordination and implementation support. As such, they need to be trained for effective and efficient performance of their duties.   Additionally, the rapid assessment showed that IERD staff is heavily occupied with day-to-day management tasks which don't leave enough time for strategic planning and oversight of the necessary processes. Increased efficiency of IERD staff, as reflected by shorter turn-around time, no delays in submission of the Government comments on World Bank ICR, and reduced time needed by IERD staff to draft Subsidiary Credit Agreement for WB projects. 3.1   ACTIVITY: Capacity Strengthening of IERD and selected staff from 3 line ministries This activity would finance training in (i) writing and IT skills, and (ii) project cycle management, with specific emphasis on monitoring and evaluation.  The training will be informed by the Training Needs Analysis Report.  The writing training will focus on report writing skills. IT training is expected to cover basic IT skills. Project Cycle Management training will use World Bank Projects as case studies. As a part of the training, the staff will be required to do impact assessment of selected WB projects, as well as be trained on how to monitor projects' alignment with national strategies, disbursement performance, and work plan implementation progress. The training will be in form of workshops and on-the-job training. 3.1.1   ,,OUTPUT:  50 staff of IERD and Sector Ministries trained. 4. COMPONENT: Grant Audit   The Grant will be audited twice during the life of the program, in accordance with IDF Guidelines.   Grant is financially well-managed, in compliance with FM guidelines. 4.1   ACTIVITY: Undertake three audits   The grant will be audited thrice during its lifetime. 4.1.1   ,,OUTPUT: Three audit reports 1. INDICATOR  Percentage of desk Officers in IERD with clear TOR and work programme Base Value: TOR and Work programme only available for Heads of Division      Date: 11/24/2009 Target: Generic job descriptions developed for all job functions within IERD.     Date: 11/31/2012 2. INDICATOR  Quality of Annual Portfolio Performance report Annual portfolio performance report of IERD has no Project level progress and results information      Date: 11/24/2009 Annual portfolio performance report of IERD contains information on progress in achieving results for at least 60% of the externally funded projects.      Date: 11/31/2012 3. INDICATOR  Proportion of donor assisted projects reported on the  central web-based system on an annual basis Nil (no central web-based system)      Date: 11/24/2009  ,, 60% of the Donor funded project data are reported on the central Web based Database system      Date: 11/10/2012 The objective of this IDF grant is to strengthen the operational efficiency of IERD of FMF in monitoring the implementation and results of externally funded projects at federal level, with a view of supporting improved decision making and planning and allocation of resources at the federal level.