Guidance note: Joint Resource
Mobilization
[“Resource Mobilization is the ability of the UN System to acquire
resources and to mobilize people towards the furtherance of the
goal of supporting national governments to achieve the MDGs.”]
NOTE:
1.
This tool/guidance has been developed by the Global Change Management Support
Team under the guidance of the Inter-Agency Task Team for Change Management. It has not
been tested at the country level and there are no examples of its application from any country
office at this time.
2.
RCO and UNCT to develop Joint Resource Mobilization Strategy.
September 2008
Table of Contents
1
2
3
4
5
Background Joint Resource Mobilization ...............................................................4
Step 2: Visioning ....................................................................................................6
Step 3: Develop strategic framework......................................................................7
3.1
Resource mobilization strategy ................................................................................... 7
3.2
Approach for the development a Resource Mobilization strategy ................................ 9
3.3
Underlying principles of the resource mobilization strategy ....................................... 15
Step 4: Identify Change Requirement: Funding mechanisms ...................................
4.1
Parallel funding mechanism ..........................................................................................
4.2
Pooled funding mechanisms ........................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.3
Pass through funding mechanism ................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
Step 5: Develop work plan for implementation .....................................................19
5.1
Resource Mobilization Plan....................................................................................... 19
5.2
Managing the donor relations .................................................................................... 20
iii
1
Background Joint Resource Mobilization
In the previous steps you have been able to develop your vision on UN Coherence, Effectiveness, and
Relevance (CER) and a strategic framework outlining the high level outcomes for CER (step 3). The
results are captured in the Integrated Programme and Operations Startegy that provides the strategic
roadmap for the UNs programmes and Business Operations in the coming five years. However, before
you can start implementation you need to ensure sufficient resources are available to cover the
expenditures required to implement the activities in the IPOS.
In many cases the contributions available to the UN System at country level are insufficient to provide
resources for all the activities in the work plan, leaving you with two options: either reduce the number
of activities, or engage in resource mobilization activities to raise the level of available resources to
cover this resource gap. The extent to which you need to mobilize additional resources depends on the
resource gap. The resource gap is the difference between the required resources (as identified by the
UN IPOS) and the available resources, including regular and extra-budgetary resources.
This guidance note will support you in preparing a joint resource mobilization strategy. It will help you to
develop and present a convincing business case to establish partnerships that will help you mobilize
resources to ensure adequate support covering all activities articulated in the UN IPOS. The guidance
note aimed at supporting a joint resource mobilization effort, whereas the UN agencies work together
to mobilize resources on behalf of their common strategic framework, the UN IPOS, rather than each
agency mobilizing resources on their own behalf. If developed and implemented properly, this joint
resource mobilization should lead to a drastic reduction in transaction costs for both partner and UN;
Using the input from the stakeholder analysis, stakeholders are mobilized in support of an integrated UN
strategy rather than individual agencies strategies, significantly reducing the parallel resource
mobilization efforts and competition for resources and increasing the ability for the UN as a system to
coordinate and align its efforts and the resource allocation to these efforts. Further reduction in
transaction costs can be realized through integrated reporting by the UN System to donors on
expenditures (ref existing guidelines “Explanatory Note on Harmonized Financial Reporting to Donors in
Joint Programmes”).
In order to manage the resources mobilized the UNCT can decide to establish a Common Budgetary
Framework. The common budgetary framework outlines the resource requirements and resource gaps,
fund allocation criteria, description of the fund management type, and responsibilities and authorities
associated with funds management. For further details, please refer to the guidance note on the
Common Budgetary Framework
The different activities supporting the development of the Joint Resource Mobilization Strategy and
various mechanisms for management of funds, including Multi-Donor Trust Funds are tied to the
different steps of the Change Management Approach for UN CER, ultimately culminating in the Joint
Resource Mobilization strategy document and the supporting partner specific Resource Mobilization
(work) plan:
Step 1: Vision for Joint Resource Mobilization
Step 2: Prioritize and set outcomes
Step 3: Design of the Joint Resource Mobilization Strategy
Step 5: Developing partner specific work plans for resource mobilization
2
Step 1: Initiate and Mobilize
In the Visioning phase the UNCT articulates their high level vision regarding joint resource mobilization
and the degree to which these joint efforts would be used to supplement agency based resources
available for the implementation of the UN IPOS. The visioning usually is part of a facilitated UNCT
strategic retreat that is focussed on UN visioning around the different streams of the UN IPOS, which
includes the articulation of a UNCT vision regarding the use and deployment of a Joint Resource
Mobilization.
Articulating a UNCT vision on Joint resource Mobilization does not happen in isolation. In reality this is
part of a broader visioning exercise that focuses on articulation of a UN vision on the role of the UN
from a programme and Business Operations perspective. The articulation of a vision on joint Resource
Mobilization and the establishment of a fund management mechanism is part of, and in some cases
derives from, this broader visioning exercise and provides the basis for the development of the UN IPOS.
This change management approach to UN CER includes a guidance note on the development of the UN
Coherence Paper which provides further details on the visioning for the joint resource mobilization
strategy, as part of the broader vision of the UN System at country level. In addition to this guidance
note the UN System through its support mechanisms at central and regional levels, including Staff
College, usually supports visioning efforts, including the vision underpinning the joint resource
mobilization efforts, by providing political, technical and financial resources to facilitate UNCT strategic
prioritization.
3
Step 3: Develop strategic framework
In step 3 you will design your Joint Resource Mobilization strategy, leveraging the UNCT position
on Joint Resource Mobilization from Step 1: Initiate and Mobilize. The Joint Resource
Mobilization Strategy will allow you to identify the available funding and the funding gap, and
subsequently develop a joint resource mobilizations strategy, supported by partner specific
resource mobilization proposals.
There are some prerequisites that have to be in place before you design your Joint Resource
Mobilization strategy:

You have developed your UN IPOS, including the results matrices for the programme work
stream (UNDAF or common programming tool) and the different Business Operations work
streams. The results matrices provide critical details that provide the basis for the resources
required for the implementation of the UN IPOS, and subsequently are critical for
determining the resource gap.
You have established the resource requirements for each of the strategic priorities
(outcomes), outputs and activities articulated in the UN IPOS results matrices. The resource
requirements are normally part of the results matrix.

3.1 Resource mobilization strategy
The resource mobilization strategy developed in this step serves several purposes:





Integrated way of mobilizing resources in support of the UN IPOS (reflecting UN
Programmes and UN Business Operations), which is aimed to help governments to realize
the MDG’s at country level.
Reduces duplication and focuses of resource mobilization efforts of the different UN
agencies at country level
Increases the probability of realizing the IPOS by ensuring adequate resources are raised
in a structured manner
Reduces transaction costs to partners due to streamlined interaction with the UN agencies
Enhances alignment with partner priorities and agenda’s as it identifies specific added
value of UN country level strategies vis-à-vis the donor agenda and continued alignment
between partner and UN strategic priorities.
The UN IPOS consists of six work streams that may require funding in varying degrees:
1. UN Programmes (UNDAF or common programming tool)
2. Common Services and harmonised business practises
3. Common Premises, where applicable
4. Joint Communication
5. Joint Resource Mobilization
6. Common Budgetary Framework
And one additional set of activities requiring funding:
7. Change activities required to deliver the outcomes in the first five work streams efficiently
and effectively. The change activities are activities designed to identify and implement
the change requirements required for the UN organization to ensure optimal delivery
against the outcomes of the UN IPOS. The funding requirements supporting the change
activities need to be added to the resource mobilization once they have been finalized at
the end of Step 4: Identifying the change requirement.
Usually, UNDAF or common programme related funds make up a substantial amount of the
funding required of the IPOS, the remaining funding requirement being accounted for by the
outcomes/activities relating to Business Operations and the Change Effort.
Each of these work streams mentioned above is supported by results matrixes, including the
resource requirements needed to realize the outcomes and outputs articulated in the results
matrices1. This resource mobilization guidance will provide guidance on the mobilization of
resources required to cover the resource gap (e.g. the gap in resources after regular budget and
non regular resources have been used) to implement the unfunded part of the UN IPOS. This joint
Resource Mobilization guidance is therefore complementary to individual agency resource
mobilization efforts.
The following graph illustrates the context of the resource mobilization effort:
Note that the Common Premises does not have a results matrix per se, but the proposal for the Common Premises includes
costing estimates for the realization of the Common Premises.
It is important to ensure the joint resource mobilization and the agency based resource mobilization
efforts are complementary rather than overlapping, so it is useful to ask UNCT members to validate the
resource gap and resource mobilization efforts to avoid overlap and duplication with the joint efforts.
3.2 Approach for the development a Resource Mobilization strategy
The approach to resource mobilization covers five activities ultimately leading to a joint resource
mobilization strategy, supported by a partner specific resource mobilization (work) plans tied to the
funding gap of the UN IPOS:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Analyze the resource gap
Analyze external environment
Match potential donors with unfunded outcomes in the UN IPOS
Prioritize potential partners
Develop Resource Mobilization strategy document
The graph below reflects this approach to resource mobilization:
3.2.1 Analyze the resource gap
The first thing to do is to establish the extent of the resource gap, e.g. the amount of resources
that you need to mobilize. The basis for this activity is the results matrix of the UN IPOS which
outlines the resource requirements needed to realize the results and outcomes articulated in
the IPOS. In order to establish the resource gap you need to offset the resource requirement per
outcome/output against the resources available per outcome/output. The result is a mapping
of resource availability per outcome/output in your work plan. This in turn will provide you with
information what areas of the work plan would require additional efforts in resource
mobilization
There are three main funding sources that UN agencies can use to fund outcomes and activities
in the IPOS:
1. Regular Budget UN Agencies: funds provided to an agency based on the relevant agencies
country programmes, usually received from agency HQ.
2. Non regular resources UN Agencies: funds mobilized in addition to regular budget by
agencies, usually directly received from a donor or other partner tied to a specific
programme or project, including funding received from Thematic Funds such as the global
Fund for HIV and AIDS and Global Environmental Fund (GEV).
3. IPOS Gap Funding: After mapping regular budget and extra budgetary resources to the
activities in the IPOS, it is possible you still have unfunded outcomes or activities in the UN
IPOS. Your resource mobilization efforts will largely focus on mobilizing resources to cover
this funding gap. As such, the unfunded outcomes in the UN IPOS provide the focus for your
resource mobilization efforts.
Result:
1. List of required and available resources and the resource gap, per UN IPOS outcome/
output.
How to do it
1. The UN IPOS results matrix has the estimated resource requirements for both the
programme and business operations outcomes and outputs. This establishes your
anticipated resource requirement.
2. Each Agency should indicate to which outcomes/outputs in the UN IPOS it plans to channel
its regular budget and non regular funding. This establishes your actual resource availability.
The indications should preferable be based on hard pipeline resources, e.g. resources with a
high probability of being made available by the donor.
The majority of the funding associated with the UN IPOS will be UN programme related
funding, tied to UNDAF or common programme outcomes. The results matrix of the UNDAF
or common programming tool is therefore a useful starting point to get the estimated
required and available resource requirement for programme outcomes and outputs.
3. To calculate the resource gap per outcome, output and activity in the UN IPOS, subtract
your actual resource availability from your anticipated resource requirement per activity.
Note that it is a matter of choice how much detail you wish to have in your analysis of the
resource gap: depending on the available time, information and anticipated partner need for
detail when mobilizing resources, you can decide to base the resource requirement on activities
in the work plan. On the other hand, if less detail is needed, you can stay at the outcome and/or
output level when estimating the resource gap. For further elaboration on this difference
between outcomes, outputs and activities please refer to the guidance note on results based
work planning.
Please refer to this Excel template for a more detailed example of a template for mapping the
required and available resources for the outcomes and activities in your working plan for
change.
3.2.2 Analyze external environment
You have already prepared a stakeholder analysis in Step 1: Initiation and Mobilization, which
provided you with an overview of the partners who are active at the country level and their
main development priorities.
The results of the stakeholder analysis from Step 1, together with the estimates of the resource
gap from the previous activity, will provide a basis that will help to prepare and focus your
resource mobilization efforts by mapping the different partners at the country level and their
key priority development areas:
 Who are the relevant stakeholder, including government, development partners (both
represented and non-represented partners) and other partners such as NGO’s and civil
society at the country level?
 What are their development priorities and agendas for the specific country?
 Which of these partners is positioned to be a value adding partner for cooperation with the
UN System, given their financial and technical resources that can be made available at the
country level?
Result:
1. Prepared list of relevant partners
2. Prepared list of stakeholder development priorities
How to do it
In Step 1: Initiation and Mobilization you have prepared a stakeholder analysis that will provide
you with an overview of the national partners and their development agenda and priorities.
3.2.3 Match potential donors to unfunded outcomes in the UN IPOS
During the positioning activities, you match the unfunded outcomes in the work plan (results
activity 1) to the different partners priorities, based on the analysis of donor priorities and
partners development agenda in the recipient country (results activity 2).
Linking the partners’ priorities to UN activities will provide the foundation and focus for your
arguments for cooperation between the donor and the UN system. A critical component at this
stage is the development partner’s perceptions of UN performance and comparative advantage.
In Step 1: Initiation and Mobilization you have prepared a UN comparative advantage analysis as
part of the preparatory analysis for the visioning exercise. The results of the UN Comparative
Advantage analysis in Step 2 will provide useful input regarding the UN system’s Comparative
advantage
The results of this matching exercise will allow you to develop a partner specific overview of
outcomes that are part of both the UN and the partner’s development strategy. It is on these
outcomes/activities that your resource mobilisation efforts with a particular donor will focus on.
Result:
1. Matched UN strategic outcomes with different partners strategic outcomes: “Long List” of
potential partnerships
How to do it
1. Take the overview of outcomes from the work plan that is currently not or only partially
resourced, e.g. those outcomes that have a funding gap, as a starting point.
2. Match the unfunded outcomes in the UN IPOS to the corresponding outcomes in the
partner’s strategic framework. This overview should highlight the niche areas you will be
targeting for cooperation. The result will be a list of partners that share the strategic focus
areas of the UN system, with a focus on unfunded outcomes.
3. As you will be analyzing a number of partners, it is recommended to match potential
partners only at the outcome level. In the next step, once you have identified the key
partners, you will deepen this activity to include a detailed matching between the UN
system and the partner at the output and/or activity level2. However, given the labor
intense nature of this analysis, you would prefer to only do this detailed analysis for those
2
Note that matching at the activity level is very labor intensive and should be undertaken only when there
is a specific need for it.
potential partners that are more likely to be open for a partnership around a common
strategic outcome.
These linkages between the partners and the UN system’s strategic framework form the
common ground based upon which a partnership can possibly be established. If no match can
be established, there is likely little common ground between the UNs strategic outcomes and
the partners’ development strategies and it is therefore unlikely that a partnership between the
UN and the partner would yield any added value to either.
Note: Partners country programmes are likely to focus mainly on programmatic interventions.
To get a sense of their willingness to fund business operations or change initiatives for specific
business operations that benefit the partners programmes or operation as well, it is useful to
either include all unfunded outcomes (e.g. programme and business operations outcomes) them
all in the overview to see how the partner reacts to the initiatives, or to do some up front
analysis to see what their positioning is, for example through an informal meeting.
The graph below reflects the process:
EXAMPLE
UN Business Plan
IPOS
Partner Development Strategy
Work stream 1: UN Programme outcomes (UNDAF based)
Governance: Enhanced
women’s representation in
parliament
Food Security: Stimulated use
of productivity enhancing
farming methods
Partner A
Partner B
Work streams 2-5: Business Operations outcomes
Workstream 2: UN Common
Services: Joint Procurement
mechanism established for
Office supplies
Workstream 3: UN Common
Premises: UN agencies colocated in Common Premises
Cross agency funding UNCT
Government
Please refer to this Excel template as a tool for mapping the unfunded UN strategic outcomes
against potential partners strategic focus.
3.2.4 Prioritize potential partners
In the previous activity you have mapped the UN strategic outcomes against the partners’
strategic outcomes, resulting in a list of potential partners for each unfunded outcome in the UN
IPOS. Because of various reasons, some potential partners could add more value then others.
Prioritization of partners is a key element to your Resource Mobilization Strategy to ensure the
highest impact for the time you will spend on your approach to partners.
Result:
1. Identified key partners, “shortlist” of most relevant potential partners
How to do it
Identifying and prioritizing these key partners is somewhat subjective and can be based on a
wide range of criteria based on what makes a partner “key”. Below some elements that could
support you in this decision:





The financial or technical resources a partner has at its disposal at the country level
Good existing working relationship with the partner
Preferred partner by government
High number of outcomes the UN and the partner have in common (number of matches
made)
Other comparative advantages of the partner such as technical expertise, access to political
networks, track record etc.
Complete the matrix below to prioritize your partners.
The stakeholder assessment results from step 1 can also support you when prioritizing partners.
Ideally you want to have one or more preferred partner for each unfunded outcome in the
working plan for change. In reality however, it may be harder to secure resources for some
outcomes than for others, based on the number of partners in the country and their agenda.
3.2.5 Develop Resource Mobilization strategy document
Now that you have a reduced set of key potential partners, you have all the inputs required to
develop the joint resource mobilization strategy in support of the UN IPOS.
The Resource Mobilization strategy uses the results of the stakeholder assessment and the
results of the previous steps (3.2.1 to 3.2.4) to provide an overview of the strategic goals of the
UN system, the resource gaps and how the UN system can add value to partners by identifying
and pursuing common goals.
More specifically, a resource mobilization strategy consists of the following sections:
1. Background: National priorities and IPOS, possibly including analysis resource trends at the
country level
2. Works streams of the Business , including the main outcomes/outputs for each work
streams, as articulated in the Business
3. Resource requirements and resource gap for each of the strategic outcome/output areas
4. Key partners at the country level for each outcome/output area
5. UN system value proposition for each outcome/output for each key partner
6. Key principles for the Joint Resource Mobilization of the UN System
7. Governance structure for the fund management mechanism (ref step 4: Identify
organizational change: Design fund management mechanism)
8. Monitoring and Evaluation mechanism for the fund management mechanism (ref step 8:
Monitoring and Evaluation)
9. Risks and rewards of the joint resource mobilization strategy
How to do it
1. Take the list of unfunded UN strategic outcomes (result 3.2.1: Analyzing the resource gap)
2. Take the high level matching between the donor and the unfunded UN strategic outcomes,
resulting from the previous activity (result 3.2.3: positioning UN strategic outcomes)
3. For each of the unfunded UN system strategic outcomes, specify the different outputs that
together realize that strategic outcome (the UN IPOS will provide you with this information)
4. List for each unfunded UN strategic outcome/outputs and the resource requirements
needed to realize it (e.g. the resource gap)
5. Develop the value proposition: Specify for each of the matched strategic outcomes how the
UN outputs contribute to the realization of the partners strategic outcome (e.g. what added
value do the UN outputs/activities have for the partner)
6. Outline potential rewards and risks of your RM Strategy in order to reap rewards and
mitigate risks. Refer to the risk management guidance in step 5 for further details how to
identify and manage risks.
This resource mobilization strategy will be the basis for your resource mobilization work plan in
Step 5: Develop implementation plan.
Please click on the following link for a template that you can use and adapt when developing your
joint resource mobilization strategy
3.3 Underlying principles of the resource mobilization strategy
In order to design and implement a joint resource mobilization strategy, you need to discuss and
agree on a number of underlying principles. Securing such an agreement from the very beginning
will ensure application of agreed principles during the implementation stage.
The key areas, which would require an agreement of participating UN organizations on main
principles to be followed, as well as some examples of such principles, include:
3.3.1 Principles of a joint resource mobilization strategy
Pursuing strategic focus:
 Being the partner of the Government, the UN will mobilize resources for the country, and
not for the UN;
 Decisions on key resource mobilization and allocation targets will be guided by strategic
priorities defined by the UN and its national partners – the UN needs to balance multiple
priorities without creating competition for resources.
 To ensure focus on national priorities and allow the maximum flexibility in planning and
funds allocation, multi-year and un-earmarked donor contributions will be encouraged as
much as possible. (If this is not possible, the level of acceptable earmarking should be
decided upon by the participating UN organizations. Nevertheless, the proportion of
earmarked funding should be minimized.)
 Resource mobilization efforts will primarily focus on securing funds for coherent and
relatively large programmes that offer the prospect of longer-term impact than for smaller
individual projects, which are often time limited.
Maintaining trust:
 All participating UN organizations will be equally responsible for building trust in the quality
of the UN deliverables, including analysis, policy advice, product lines, as well as the capacity
to build networks and deliver results.
 All participating UN organizations will equally contribute to the establishment of close and
professional working relations with donors based on credibility and transparency. Donors
should be approached in a spirit of transparency, openness and dialogue.
 A partnership culture, that includes networking and knowledge management with an
outward, client-oriented mentality, will be preserved at all levels in all participating UN
organizations.
 Partnerships will be established beyond financial agreements, which also means reciprocity
in relationship – be a source of knowledge and information for partners at any time, even if
information is not related to the UNs core operations.
 Interests and concerns of all participating UN organizations will be respected and treated in
a fair and transparent manner.
Managing expectations:


To ensure delivery of results, it is essential for all participating UN organizations to have
clear understanding of their individual and collective roles and responsibilities from the very
beginning.
Accountabilities of various participating UN organizations should be fostered through
results-based management, whereby an organization ensures that its processes, products
and services contribute to the achievement of desired results
Communication and information sharing:
 The participating UN organizations will be regularly informed on any resource mobilization
initiative and subsequent results. To make this possible, the participating UN organizations
will provide regular information to their partner agencies through a centralized mechanism
to be created with the agreement of the participating UN organizations.
 Staying abreast of donor interests and needs is key to successful resource mobilization.
Through a centralized mechanism, where donor mapping and update of donor profiles will
be kept, the organizations should continuously update their intelligence on donor interests
and information needs.
 Quality and timely information is imperative to resource mobilization. Proposals, donor
reports and human-touch stories will support these efforts. Information needs vary widely –
from the very technical for some partners to the impact that US $100 can have, for
individual donors. Such peculiarities should always be taken into account.
Reviewing the results:
 A successful and sustained resource mobilization effort greatly depends on having a strong
monitoring and evaluation system in place. This is important for ensuring that the flows of
committed and disbursed funds are tracked with accuracy and speed.
 Honest and transparent evaluation of the uses of funds and their impact in related areas is
also crucial in maintaining the credibility of the entire effort and trust of the current and
future donors.
 A strong financial monitoring and evaluation system for resource mobilization also means
equitable access to information by all participating UN organizations.
3.3.2 Good Practices for developing your joint resource mobilization
Resource Mobilization (PRM) Strategies have a tendency to be overly general. Only a few are specific,
operational and action oriented, but here are some tips to ensure that your PRM Strategy is more
concrete:

Don’t reinvent the wheel: Utilize the analytical work your team has conducted as part of your
external and internal assessments in order to reflect these elements in your PRM Strategy.

Process, Process, Process: The process of developing a PRM Strategy is just as important as the
product itself. Using a participatory approach, i.e. involving the entire CO staff, results in a high
degree of ownership, and thinking / brainstorming together can lead to a common appreciation
of partnerships throughout the CO team.

Be specific: It is not enough to tell how much money you aim for, describing the country context
and the projects in the pipeline, and to mention that partners are needed and which partners
could be potential future counterparts. Because partnerships are a part of the solution, it is
necessary to be concrete on how you will strengthen the partnerships.

Keep it fresh: PRM Strategies can quickly get out-dated and redundant. It is important to revisit
and revise your strategy on a regular basis – especially when you formulate a new Country
Programme – to ensure that your strategy stays relevant and on target.
Be Cautious not to repeat these Common Mistakes:

The PRM Strategy failed to keep up with the changing strategic direction of the Country
Programme after it was aligned to the priorities of the new PRSP.

The strategic objectives laid out in the PRM Strategy are not based on sound external and
internal analysis. For example:
o
o
o
While identifying donor fatigue, the PRM Strategy failed to adequately predict the
drastic decrease in commitments from bilateral donors to the country.
The PRM Strategy overstated the potential of certain donors to fund UNDP projects and
under-stated the groundwork required to mobilize resources from the private sector.
The PRM Strategy did not properly assess the amount of work related to the agreed
projects and therefore negotiated inadequate cost-recovery.
4
Step 5: Develop work plan for implementation
4.1 Resource Mobilization Plan
The resource plan is a detailed work plan that will guide the implementation of your joint
resource mobilization strategy.
4.1.1 Develop resource mobilization plan
Once you have drafted your Joint Resource Mobilization strategy made a decision on which fund
management option to manage the resources mobilized, one activity remains before engaging
the actual donor and that is the develop your detailed resource mobilization plan. Step 5 also
features more generic guidance on Development of a Results Based Implementation Plan.
Drawing on the resource gap analysis, the analysis of external working environment and the
identification of your key partners you are ready to develop a partner specific resource
mobilization (work) plan that is based on the specific synergies between the UN development
agenda and the partners’ development agenda. The detailed analysis supporting the
development of the Resource Mobilization Strategy in Step 3 can be sued now to develop a
partner specific, detailed resource mobilization plan that will allow the UN to engage the
partner in specific niches where we share strategic direction and focus with the key partner.
Results:
1. Detailed matching of UN and key partner agenda
2. Partner specific resource mobilization presentation
3. Partner specific resource mobilization plan
How to
1. For each potential partner, combine the matched strategic outcomes relevant to this
partner in one partner overview. This is the main focus of your partner specific resource
mobilization strategy.
2. Translate the different resource mobilization proposals for one specific partner into for
example a PowerPoint presentation or a word partnership proposal that can be discussed
with the partner.
3. Prepare a resource mobilization work plan: For each partner, create time-bound,
measurable targets linked to the various elements of your partner specific Resource
Mobilization Strategy.
4. Develop partner specific presentations
Please refer to this Excel template as a more detailed example of a template for creating donor
specific resource mobilization sheet.
4.1.2
Engaging potential partners
Now that your Joint Resource Mobilization Strategy and your Resource (work) Plan are in place
you are ready to engage the potential partners:
Results
1. Key partners engaged
2. Proposal developed and signed
How to
There are different ways to engage your partners once you have developed your partner specific
resource mobilization plans,


One on one meetings with key donors
Joint donor meeting
Your choice would depend on various factors including:


the number of partners (it may be more efficient to have a joint donor meeting if the
number of partners is large)
the extent of the difference is weight of one or more partners vis-à-vis the others (if there is
a broad common basis between the UN and one or more donor (e.g. large number of
outcomes they share, it may be more effective to have one on one meetings.
Once both the UN and the potential partner agree to a partnership, develop the partnership
proposal / costed project plan. The format of this plan depends to a large extent on the
specific requirements from and agreements with the partner. Part of the proposal is a
Standard Administrative Arrangement (SAA) and a Memorandum of Understanding that
form the legal basis for the agreement.
4.2 Managing the donor relations
Now that you have successfully developed and implemented your Resource Mobilization
Strategy and tuned the communication message to the donor, it is important to foster a
proactive approach to managing ongoing donor relationships in order to promote long term
partnership relations between the UN system and the donor, based on added value to each
others development agenda. This section offers practical suggestions for the promotion of good
practices in your donor relations management approach.
Resource mobilization is not a one off activity, but rather involved an ongoing effort to nurture
the relation between our partner and ourselves. Maintaining an accurate understanding of the
up-to-date situation in your country’s development context and knowing the demand from
partners, will uncover opportunities to be negotiated at the country level, including long term
partner relationships, funding arrangements and identification of other (extra budgetary)
resource opportunities.
4.2.1 Fostering trust between the UN System and your partners through fulfillment of
obligations
Assuring that partners are aware of the UN system’s progress in delivering on its commitments
is an integral component of ongoing donor relations. Accurate and timely reporting builds
possibilities for future partnerships. Such an approach allows for the UNCT to review the
realization, relevance, timeliness and quality of outcomes while fostering transparency and
building trust between you and your partners, hence promoting sustained relations over time.
 Different partners have varying M&E and Reporting prerequisites and templates, which
greatly affect the resources needed to meet these requirements.
 When initially engaging with the donor, assure that you get a sense of these requirements
and whether you are in the position to meet them, given all of your reporting obligations,
and if not, what investments are necessary.
 Having this discussion early on, allows you the opportunity to promote the use of a standard
template for reporting, which ensures uniformity in data collection and limits transaction
costs, which are all benefits to the donor.
For more direct and elaborate guidance on Monitoring & Evaluation as well as Reporting, please
defer to Part 7: Monitoring and Evaluation of the Toolkit.
4.2.2 A win-win approach to ongoing management of donor relations
 Establish a partnership culture at all levels that includes networking and knowledge
management with an outward, client-oriented mentality.
This is an area where the non-profit sector may very well take a good lesson from the private
sector. Managing your donor relationships from a client-oriented viewpoint fosters clientsatisfaction, which in turn allows you to maximize your partnership opportunities. Ensuring that
you are a solid discussion partner for your partners would necessitate that you stay abreast of
ongoing policy discussions in your donor’s country, so that you may better gauge national
development priorities. You may accomplish this easily, for example, by scouting through donor
country newspapers, publically available parliamentary / government communiqués and
agendas, and the wealth of information available on the internet.
However, in order to assure that this approach is sustainable for you, consider integrating
systemic mechanisms for anticipating long term donor needs by conducting periodic assessment
of donor needs and priorities.
 Continue to build on strong personal relationships with not only partners and government
officials, but also with key local development players in civil society and the private sector;
prominent figures, intellectuals, academics and community leaders.
An all inclusive approach will assure that you stay abreast of the most pressing national needs,
which in turn is a valuable input to your ongoing development efforts. Additionally, taking the
opportunity to share the information with prospective or current partners is an added value to
the relationship and positions you well as an attractive counterpart to your partners.
 Establish partnerships beyond cost-sharing arrangements, which promote reciprocity in the
relationship as well as build trust in the level of analysis, policy advice, product lines, and
capacity to build networks and to deliver.
In all of your activities, be open to opportunities and strategically maximizing the benefits from
all of your efforts. For example, knowing the agenda and focus of your key partners allows you
to draw on UN System in-country expertise in order to highlight how UN development efforts as
well as current funding address those key issues. This may be accomplished in a case study, for
example. While not a requirement in the formal relationship, such an approach, nevertheless,
would showcase the UN system’ s outreach in a key donor interest area, potentially opening up
possibilities of further partnerships, and hence expended funding.
Like you, your partners have their own sets of partners to answer to and issues to focus on such
as National priorities. By doing a stellar job at showcasing your added value and building
comfort around how the UN System is delivering on funds, you are being a positive and
welcome input to the messages that the partners themselves have to deliver to their partners.
This example of a win-win approach, positions you to help your partners, help you!
 Successfully use communication opportunities that promote support for innovative ideas. The
media and public opinion can be very powerful lobbies to transform pilot initiatives into
national projects.
Assure that you are maximizing on the UN System’s brand and success in-country by capitalizing
on your relationship with the media to further promote UN development initiatives, always
highlighting the donor whose funds made your work possible. This approach, for example,
disseminates information on the ground, promoting the significance of the UN as well as the
partner(s) who funded your efforts.
4.2.3 Anticipating long term donor needs
We explored approaches to the analysis of your partners in the national context prior to
mobilizing resources earlier on in this section of this Guidance Note.
It is critical for the sustainability of your partnership building efforts and subsequent resource
mobilization activities that you consider how to systematically engrain such ongoing analysis, as
it will and should affect your development agenda.
One natural moment to reassess donor needs, for example, is the annual UNDAF review. This is
an opportune moment as any consequences due to shifts in donor interests and priorities may
be addressed and instilled in the UNDAF or common programming tool at that moment.
However, there are many options for instilling stakeholder needs reviews into a systematic
methodology, as based on your country’s context, the types of partners you are working with as
well as the working culture of your UNCT. As such, the UNCT is in a good position to brainstorm
the most effective methods that will work for you.