Evaluation of Diplomacy, Trade and Development Coherence in the Latin American and Caribbean Region - Management Response and Action Plan

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Recommendation 1. Improve the strategic planning process across diplomacy, trade, and development.

The following actions could be considered:

Management response:

NGM concurs with this recommendation.

N-branch is undertaking a number of internal planning exercises designed to provide more strategic guidance at the regional and sub-regional level across all business lines.

These tools will help to: 1) identify, communicate, and advocate for Canadian diplomatic, trade, and development regional/sub-regional objectives; 2) identify nexus points for engagement and leveraging expertise across business lines; 3) enhance coherence in policy and program delivery at the regional and sub-regional level; and 4) present a unified vision and voice for bilateral relations.

N-branch will aim to have priorities developed, endorsed, and in a position to be actioned in time to support Canadian participation at the OAS General Assembly (Spring 2021) and at the Summit of the Americas (second half of 2021 TBC).

Action plan:

A number of sub-regional strategies are currently being developed. Work is underway to map out Canada’s current engagement in the LAC region.

This mapping exercise will allow for the identification of gaps, help inform future engagement in the region, and ensure a unified vision for Canada’s engagement in LAC. The priorities identified in the sub-regional strategies could feed into regional cross-stream objectives.

These processes will involve collaboration between staff working on diplomacy, trade, and development in order to ensure a unified vision for each sub-region and LAC as a whole.

These exercises will also support the development of a clear and unified voice for Canada in LAC and in sub-regions across all business lines, including through the potential development of external communications tools.

Lead and timeline:

Leads: NGM, NLD, NDD, NDS

Timelines: by April 2021

Recommendation 2. Implement formal cross-stream communication mechanisms to increase understanding of the roles and responsibilities across business lines, and to leverage diplomacy, trade, and development expertise.

Formal mechanisms could include:

Management response:

NGM concurs with this recommendation.

N-branch is undertaking a number of internal planning exercises designed to provide more strategic guidance at the regional and sub-regional level across all business lines. These will be disseminated and reinforced internally to ensure that staff and management at all levels are aware of those cross-stream objectives.

LIMA is piloting a development coherence approach connected to various planning tools (including Strategia) and better integration into mission and country planning.

Branch management has been reviewing the organizational structure for the past 18 months, informed by outreach with missions and in parallel to the coherence evaluation conducted by PRE. The purpose of this review was to help address structural issues raised in this evaluation report.

Action plan:

Ongoing development of sub-regional strategic planning documents and mapping of Canada’s impact in LAC will take cross-stream collaboration into account.

These tools will be developed in collaboration with staff working in all three business lines. The process will help ensure that common objectives are elaborated, and that the associated roles and responsibilities across streams, are properly understood by all staff. 

Develop plans for N-branch re-organization to foster better coherence

These plans will seek to address coherence issues raised in this evaluation report, including incorporating more effective cross-stream collaboration into the revised organizational structure. 

Lead and timeline:

Leads: NGM/NGD-NND/NNB, NLD, NDD, NMD

Timelines: Full implementation by August 2022, with approximately 90% expected by August 2021

Recommendation 3. Review the current organizational structure to streamline the complexity that impedes coherence of diplomacy, trade, and development and implement models that promote cross-stream coherence.

Review of the structure could consider:

Management response:

NGM concurs with this recommendation.

Branch management has been reviewing the organizational structure for the past 18 months, informed by outreach with missions and in parallel to the coherence evaluation conducted by PRE. The purpose was to help address coherence issues raised in this evaluation report. It is focused on how enhanced coherence across streams can improve policy development and program delivery.

In line with the findings of this evaluation, branch management is reviewing how resources and responsibilities at missions can be restructured to enhance line of sight for Heads of Mission across all three business lines and improve reporting and decision making at Headquarters.

The review aims to harness best practices on communications, planning, and operations developed in the North America context and expand them to LAC.

Action plan:

A number of sub-regional strategies are currently being developed. Work is underway to map out Canada’s current engagement in the LAC region.

These plans will seek to address coherence issues raised in this evaluation report, including incorporating more effective cross-stream collaboration into the revised organizational structure. 

Lead and timeline:

Leads: NGM, NGD, NLD, NDD

Timeline: Full implementation by August 2022, with approximately 90% expected by August 2021

(NMD/Geographic Coordination will be excluded from the review process because it provides support to all Geographic Branches.)

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