CARE Bangladesh

Program Quality Unit

Vision and Roles

June 2009

Contacts:

Kazi Eliza Islam, Program Impact and Evaluation Coordinator,

Mehrul Islam, Director, Program Quality,

Introduction

CARE Bangladesh’s strategic plan for 2002-2006 set the organization towards a rights based approach. Over time this led to a focus on poorer and more marginalized populations that most development actors do not reach. It also led to an emphasis on social and political analysis to understand the underlying causes of poverty and marginalization.

The strategic plan for 2007-2011 followed on from previous one, but is far more ambitious in what it attempts to achieve. In this plan CARE Bangladesh has framed a new mission statement with greater emphasis on the voices of poor and marginalized; using our grassroots experience to build knowledge, and influencing public opinion, development practice and policy. The new strategic plan also highlights CARE’s intent to contribute to exponential impact. This has led to the articulation of a strategic direction around building a learning culture, and another on building organizational relevance.

The focus on deeper impact and building a learning culture along with findings from the Strategic Impact Inquiry on women’s empowerment led to the construction of a strategic programming framework within a program approach. CARE Bangladesh constructed four long term programs called impact statements, each focused on a broad population group, called the impact group. These impact groups are overlapping, with the most marginalized women and girls at the center. The choice of these four impact groups represents CARE Bangladesh’s journey since 2001 towards greater impact on the lives of poorer and more marginalized groups, and to address the underlying causes of poverty and marginalization.

The Program Quality Unit was created in 2006 to support the operationalization of the CARE Bangladesh’s Strategic Direction 3 # Building a learning culture in its Long-Range Strategic Plan (LRSP), 2007 – 2011 as stated above.In broad terms, the vision of the Program Quality Unit can be expressed as:

Since the creation of the PQ unit, it’s have been evolving over the time. The recent changes in reorganization of structures as related to the Program Shift and our long term commitments in building our organizational relevance and a learning culture has also been changed and which will incorporate country office communications, and oversight of the social development unit.

The Program Quality Unit envisages a change process towards becoming a knowledge-driven organization and will thus contribute to CARE making improvements in the following areas:

1. CARE BANGLADESH STRATEGIC PLAN MONITORING

  • Follow up on activities related to CARE Bangladesh learning lab action plan
  • Facilitate conversations with COMAT on progresses against various elements of the Strategic plan
  • Ensure that various strategies and thematic lessons are incorporated in proposal design

2. CO-ORDIANTION OF THE IMPACT STATEMENT DEVELOPMENT

CARE Bangladesh is in the process of developing four long term programs known as impact statements. It has formed 4 groups to lead the process of development and finalize the discussion papers. PQU plays significant role to coordinate and facilitate the groups and ensure progress towards development.

  • Coordinating the Impact Statement Groups
  • Coordinating the preparation and review of impact statement discussion papers
  • Collating staff input into conceptual development of the impact statements

3. DEVELOPMENT AND OPERATIONALIZATION OF THE COUNTY OFFICE MEASURMENT AND LEARNING SYSTEM

In order to shift to the program approach, CARE-B has identified "developing and operationalizing country office level Impact measurement and learning (IM&L) system" as one of the 8 work streams. PQU is leading this process of developing IM&L in collaboration with IS groups and relevant staff members from various projects (persons involved in M&E activities).

  • Developing the Country Office Measurement and Learning System (including design for regions)
  • Building the capacity of relevant staff members within projects to link project M&E with CO level IML system
  • Development of operational guidelines for populating and using the COML
  • Guiding the use of the Ubora Program Initiative Questionnaire for learning within CARE B

4. UBORA AND PROGRAM DATA COLLECTION TOOL

One of the major responsibilities of PQU to lead and coordinate the process of UBORA (Global Organizational Performance Measurement system) implementation at CO level and contribute in developing in Program data collection tool led by CARE USA.

  • Orientation on UBORA overview at CBHQ as well as field office level
  • Orientation on UBORA data collection tools for relevant staff members involve in the process of data collection
  • Ensure periodic data collection and reporting to CARE USA as per UBORA guideline
  • Conduct program quality indicators survey, analysis, compilation and reporting using UBORA Program Quality Initiative questionnaire
  • Provide feedback to CARE USA on developing Program data collection tools

5. PROMOTING A LEARING CULTURE

The PQ unit will facilitate process, will encourage supportive behavior and provide guidance around tool and methodologies to promote reflective practices and learning across the organization. More specifically the task would involve:

  • Providing guidance for periodic reflection within project and regional teams
  • Facilitating and introducing staff to diverse forms of learning (formal and informal)
  • Creating safe spaces for staff to confidentially discuss in small groups the changes or lack of changes in their environment from current set of ‘unhelpful’ behaviors to desired behaviors. (This particularly seeks to address the ‘double reality’ going on in CARE-BD).
  • Creating ‘informal learning’ spaces (beg. in HQ)
  • Guidance and ‘strong message’ to FOMTs, ROMTs, and other regular meetings to create more space for reflection and exchange of ideas (use PMCT as feedback loop)
  • Guide and support staff with tools and methodologies for learning

6. INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF SOCIAL ANYLYISIS, TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES AND CAPACITY BUILDINGON SOCIAL ANALYSIS

Overall, the Social Development Team will be responsible to provide strategic guidance and support to conduct social and political analysis (excluding write up and documentation) and support capacity building on these issues across CARE Bangladesh projects. More specifically the team will be responsible to perform the following tasks which are as follows:

  • Building skills and institutional routines for rights based development programming across projects, in particular, supporting social and political analysis.
  • Sharing learning on Methods, Tools and Concepts including orientation on methodologies and Tools
  • Providing support for collective action, local leadership, and social change
  • Mainstreaming participatory development within the Union Parishad (mainstreaming the approach)
  • Building a cohort of staff within CARE Bangladesh (and beyond) with enhanced facilitation and social analysis skills, that serve as a core team for continued deepening of knowledge on social and political change processes

7. INSTITUTIONALIZING GOOD PRACTICES IN KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT INCLUDING INORMATION MANAGEMENT

The PQ unit will establish a central depository so that all important documents are available for use and consistently used across to facilitate uptake of lessons learned on consistent basis; enable timely use of information by CARE staff at different levels; enable CARE to respond to external demands for information easily.

The task would include the followings:

  • Maintaining central program files (with key contract documents, project reports, case studies, evaluations)
  • Providing guidance to projects on electronic file structures and storage on I drive
  • Support to projects on systematization of storage of monitoring information
  • Guidance to projects (and follow up) for maintenance of key bibliographies related to impact statements and projects
  • Maintenance of resource center
  • Facilitation of informal learning events, including support to field offices
  • Setting up an innovative and interactive resource support centre
  • Technological support to promoting learning

7. COMMUNICATINS (INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL)

The program quality unit will provide strategic guidance and oversight the activities of the communication team to ensure consistent and coherent messaging both internally and externally. More specifically the tasks of the communication team involves

  • Website management
  • Guidance and support for human interest story and case story development
  • Developing Impact Statement communications products (internal – Bangla)
  • Developing Impact Statement communications products (external)
  • Publishing quarterly newsletters (objective to deepen understanding of the program shift)
  • Coordinating liaison with key media connections
  • Organization of CARE Bangladesh photograph library
  • Organize and provide guidance for production of videos
  • Developing a set of ‘knowledge products’ for different purposes for mostly external audiences
  • Introduces and demonstrates the use of non-conventional methods to communicate internally (not just from the Unit to others but amongst CARE staff); for group process or conducting meetings; for presenting printed matter

8. NEW PROEJECT START UP

The PQ unit in collaboration with the program development unit will ensure alignment of program strategy with long term strategic programming framework. The actual task would include:

  • Ensure that the program developments are in alignment with CARE Bangladesh long term programming framework
  • Ensure that various strategies and thematic lessons are incorporated in proposal design
  • Ensure that the advocacy agenda is development in way that support CO strategic programming framework
  • To consistently make the link between reflective practice / learning culture with design processes

9. REGIONAL PROGRM DEVELOPMENT

The PQ team in collaboration with the program development unit support regional program development processes. The task would include:

  • Planning and resourcing ($ and people) the creation of common program resources
  • Clarifying the program evolution agenda in regional offices (in coordination with regional teams)
  • Supporting the use of regional measurement and learning systems
  • Supporting conversations related to pipeline development for regions
  • Supporting processes related to regional advocacy

11. CAPACITY BUILING AND ORIENTATION ON PROGRAM QUALITY ISSUES

The PQ unit will work very closely with HR department to identify core competencies for p-shift and how to nurture them including developing a good orientation package which will reflect long term strategic framework discussions and orientation.

12. SOURCING QUALITY OF CONSULTANT SUPPORT

The PQ unit will support program to ensure identification and recruitment of good quality consultant so get high quality outputs. The actual task would include:

  • Providing guidance on the preparation of clear terms of reference for consultants
  • Maintenance of a database of consultants who could contribute to the program quality and program development agenda at CARE B

It is important to note that, the program quality unit envisages a change process in CARE Bangladesh towards becoming a knowledge driven organization and will thus contribute to each and every project for CARE Bangladesh.