volunteers in a cost effective way maintaining priorities around identifying the “right” volunteer 4.2. Activity implementation and sustainability 4.2.1 VSA delivered on many intended Activity outputs 10, 18, 24, 45-47, 49, 65, 71-73, 77, 83-85 3, 7, 24, 33, 47, 54 sustain efforts in sourcing assignments contributing to desired long-term success further monitor Activity outputs such as capacity building efforts as consistently and widely as possible 4.2.2 VSA volunteer achievements are varied, assignment specific, and consistently contribute at the individual and organisation capability levels and in some cases at the community or industry levels 32, 33, 37, 39, 40, 49, 54, 56, 57, 62, 65, 66, 69, 71, 73, 77, 80, 85 11, 37, 40, 47, 61 create further opportunities for VSA staff and volunteers to learn from assignment achievements consider ways in which successes can be replicated 4.2.3 Volunteers ‘owned’ assignments more than partner organisations 26, 37, 43, 47, 53, 55, 57, 58, 71, 80, 81 65, 77, 81 assignments should focus on overarching development goals supported via operational practices increase partner organisations monitoring and reporting of successes according to development objectives 4.2.4 Some assignment benefits persist after assignments end, and building local knowledge and 18, 23, 26, 30, 40, 43, 47, 50, 53, 56, 59, 61, 52, 67, 71, 72, 74, 76, 80, 98, 101 40, 50, 57, 60, 65, 74, 78, 80, 99, 100 continue to consider locally-available capabilities when determining what assignment services or knowledge to provide
appreciation of assignment benefits support this success consider enhancing collaborative discussion and agreement on perceived assignment benefits to foster shared understanding and collective buy-in enhance collaborative contractual and relationship engagement between programme managers, volunteers, partner organisations and counterparts to agree benefits of assignment contributions increase emphasis on measurement of how assignment benefits continue after an assignment ends to encourage continued capacity building 4.2.5 Partner organisations’ dependence on VSA volunteers as supplementation remains a risk, and there is scope for improvements to better manage this risk 40, 52, 55, 57, 58, 60, 65, 71, 72, 78, 80 23 continue to focus on robust assignment management practices and engagement between programme managers and partner organisations in-country 4.2.6 Partner organisations considered VSA and volunteer support under the Activity as a pivotal and positive contributor to their organisations’ development 54, 63, 65, 71-73, 77, 79, 80 -- continue efforts focused on local ownership and strategic management to ensure volunteer inputs targeting organisational development are sustained foster continued support of a range of partnerships to bolster focused short-term assignment outcomes concentrate efforts on the measurement and assessment of
4.3.4 The value of the current Activity’s focus on achieving a stated number of volunteer months is not appropriate and appears to negatively affect VSA’s financial planning 20-25, 25, 28, 82-85, 88 -- investigate alternative, more meaningful cost outputs and/or different funding allocation models agree annual outputs collaboratively and clearly state these agreements in future GFA agreements 4.3.5 Strengthened and more transparent VSA governance, management, programme and administrative systems have increased efficiencies in delivery of the Activity with further opportunities for improvement 2, 5, 11, 18, 20, 23, 24, 29, 31, 41, 42, 44, 53, 56, 60, 70, 79, 81, 83, 93 -- continue focus on capacity building using three-level approach to support effective and sustainable assignment outcomes continue investigation of suitable strategic stakeholders continue to strengthen volunteer orientation and engagement continue to improve assignment management in-country continue focus on and review of global development role 4.3.6 Volunteers considered strong relationships as positive, and resourcing and counterpart challenges as negative aspects of their assignment experiences 37, 41, 43-45, 46, 48, 49, 55-57, 58, 86 -- continue emphasis on and resourcing of in-country staff to deepen partnerships develop further opportunities for volunteers’ shared learning to occur
4.3.7 Although Activity resources help to achieve a number of development outcomes, there is scope to further improve how the relationship between agreed resource allocation and these achievements is captured 32, 39, 40, 47, 49, 56, 57, 62, 65, 66, 69, 77, 80 -- develop a specific VFM definition and key indicators for reporting and evaluation for future GFAs specific to volunteer programming further strengthen performance monitoring and reporting to better capture and reflect how different programme components contribute to Activity successes 4.3.8 Future value of Activity results will be derived from a continued mixed-assignment approach across the three development sectors within a funding framework that is flexible enough to meet changing needs and priorities 41, 43, 46, 47, 52, 53, 57, 60, 83-85 -- develop a specific VFM definition and key indicators for reporting and evaluation for future GFAs specific to volunteer programming further articulate differences in objectives and volunteer capability for short- versus long-term assignments to further assist resourcing priorities targeting objectives consider adopting clear VFM indicators in Activity results management framework