Statement of Intent 2009-2012

Assessing Organisational Health and Capability

In order to deliver the foreign and trade policy, development and consular outcomes sought by Government, the Ministry needs:

• pro-active diplomacy backed up by a strategically oriented, professional, dedicated, properly resourced diplomatic service including experts in specialist areas such as international law, trade policy and trade disputes, international negotiations, security issues and foreign languages
• development and consular experts and dedicated systems to provide professional advice and manage and deliver effective services, programmes and projects
• a network of overseas posts in key locations from which to operate and build influence over time
• modern, secure and effective knowledge management and information communications systems and processes
• well-directed whole-of-government coordination mechanisms to leverage opportunities, mitigate risks, exploit the synergies and multiply the impacts of all New Zealand government agencies’ efforts offshore
• effective communication and stakeholder engagement at home and abroad
• efficient management of human and capital resources and tradecraft tools to enable sustained pursuit of New Zealand’s interests at all times.

The risks from neglecting any of these areas are identified in the preceding risk framework.

The Ministry’s total assets for pursuing the Government’s business offshore are shown in Annex 1.  The Ministry’s policy units, and the corporate services units that provide the infrastructure and manage and support the people, networks, systems and assets that enable the Ministry to conduct its core business, are shown in the organisation chart in Annex 2. 

Management Priorities

This section shows how work on our capability will help us to deliver the Government’s priorities.

What are we seeking to achieve?

Having the right people (capability) doing the right things (aligned with Government priorities), the right way (efficient), making a difference (effective) and delivering value for money.

We will continue to focus on:

Our planning and performance

• planning and delivering outputs that are tightly aligned with the Government’s priorities.

Our people

• recruiting, training and retaining staff who are committed, highly skilled, flexible and able to work productively in foreign cultures, have a thorough grasp of the New Zealand policy-making environment, and are focused on delivering results for New Zealand
• continuing to train and maintain a cadre of specialist professional expertise in key areas such as international law and trade negotiations.

Our physical and financial resources

• managing our resources in ways that achieve value for money and reduce costs wherever possible
• maintaining a network of overseas posts in the locations where they will be most effective
• having modern, secure infrastructure, systems and processes to enable front-line staff to operate effectively in pursuit of the Government’s objectives, and support other agencies in their work offshore.

Our processes and systems

• developing more efficient work practices, underpinned by appropriate training, tools and governance arrangements, so that our policy analysis, development and implementation draws more solidly on existing experience in a timely way.

Our public diplomacy

• having the skills and knowledge to craft and present targeted and effective messages about New Zealand positions and priorities to influence key overseas decision-makers.

Our partners

• leading the network of NZ Inc agencies to ensure more effective coordination, coherence and operational synergy in pursuing the Government’s priorities offshore
• building and maintaining cooperative working relationships with key agencies, organisations and individuals to help us represent New Zealand positions and priorities more effectively offshore.

What will we do to achieve this?

Our planning and performance

• We will strengthen the Ministry’s evaluation capability and processes, while maintaining strong planning and performance measurement systems.

Our people

• We will continue to retain and attract skilled staff by supporting career development and building leadership capability.
• We will ensure all staff receive appropriate training to deliver their functions and services and acquire the skills essential to a professional career service. 
• As part of our ongoing focus on developing staff competencies and skill sets, we will undertake a review of our Learning and Development programmes over this period.  We will also complete an analysis and modelling of our Corporate Services career structure to ensure it is targeted to provide staff who can manage our overseas posts and support NZ Inc effectively.

Our physical and financial resources

We will manage our resources in ways that achieve value for money and reduce costs wherever possible by continuously improving the way we currently work and being innovative in our thinking on how we might work in the future.

During 2009/10 our main initiatives will be to:

• continue with the implementation of our 2006 Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Strategy, specifically:
  • rolling out desktop internet, mobile computing, access to the intranet and a new document management system to posts
  • implement a new global infrastructure which, in addition to providing benefits to the Ministry, will provide the opportunity for improved sharing of information and systems amongst agencies co-located with the Ministry offshore
• explore the possibility of MFAT assuming the role of global network provider for co-located agencies to ensure cost-effective service provision
• update our 2005 Property Management Strategy and:
  • continue to roll out open plan office accommodation at posts to achieve good modern, flexible work-space design and maximise space utilisation
  • implement a new Property Management Information System to improve capital asset management.

Our processes and systems

We will begin implementation of our 2008 Knowledge Management strategy and make it easier for staff to get things done by:

• making it easy to access existing knowledge through implementation of an electronic document and records management system and enterprise search
• streamlining corporate and policy business processes
• providing an intranet within which staff can collaborate and find and contribute to Ministry knowledge and information.

Our public diplomacy

• We will embed communications planning in unit operational planning and assist managers with implementation and delivery of key messages offshore.

Our partners

• We will review, in consultation with our NZ Inc partners, the modes of operating offshore and New Zealand’s offshore footprint to ensure that resources are aligned with Government priorities and that the Government receives value for money from the use of offshore resources.

How will we demonstrate success in achieving this?

The following are measures of our health and capability and the key management priorities above:

Area	Activity	Indicators and Measures
Our planning and performance	Strengthen MFAT’s evaluation capability and processes	At least one substantive evaluation completed by 30 June 2010
	Plans and outputs tightly aligned with the Government’s priorities	Satisfactory feedback from Ministers on quality of outputs
Our people	Recruit and retain high calibre staff	Staff turnover and average time to fill vacancies remain within public sector norms
	Maintain investment in our people	One percent of budget invested in training
Our physical and financial resources	Resources well managed	External audit and central agency reporting indicates MFAT is operating in accordance with good public sector practice.
	Maintain $450 million property portfolio	Five percent of value of buildings and fit-outs spent on maintenance
Our processes and systems	Develop more collaborative systems, processes, and tools for sharing knowledge and working more efficiently	By the end of 2009/10, we will have improved the way we utilise and manage existing KM tools and prepared a new enterprise content management structure to apply new KM tools
Our public diplomacy	Upgrade Ministry’s ability to influence key overseas decision-makers outside government about New Zealand’s priorities and positions	Feedback from managers that communications planning has assisted them achieve their objectives
Our partners	Lead reviews of NZ Inc and New Zealand’s offshore footprint	Reviews’ recommendations accepted by Ministers

Additional NZAID-specific management priorities

Over the life of this Statement of Intent, NZAID will need to deliver the planned growth in ODA to $600 million by 2012/13, and the 2009 change in focus in the programme.  Recognising it takes time to adjust the programme balance, given forward commitments, the NZAID management priorities are as follows.

Re-focusing the programme

• Consistency between ODA and foreign policy outcomes evident in the overall ODA programme
• Increased percentage of ODA that is deployed for sustainable economic development including infrastructure, transport (including aviation), tourism, trade, private sector development, youth employment 
• Increased proportion of ODA to the Pacific
• Relationships with partner countries with clear development objectives, focus on results and mutual accountability
• Working closely working with Australia and other donors, including on joint initiatives
• Demonstrable larger more comprehensive initiatives that have bigger front-end impacts.

Improving effectiveness, efficiency and accountability

• Quality of development interventions lifted
• Full implementation of the strengthened performance framework (Activity Completion Report process running well, evaluations published, programme stock-takes and annual reports used effectively)
• Improved monitoring, review and evaluation
• Better utilisation of lessons learned and follow up of evaluations
• Strengthened processes for evaluating and monitoring value for money
• An annual report on development programme effectiveness, to be produced for the first time in late 2010 (covering 2009/10).

Consolidating organisational structures and processes

• Revised structure for executive decision-making that provides leadership appropriate to strategic and management demands
• Organisational reconfiguration that allows successful management of the growing ODA programme
• Implementation of a new Activity Planning Framework and other process improvements that strengthen quality control and quality assurance processes
• Strengthened control environment leading to financial and contract management rated good or higher.

In addition to monitoring implementation of the management priorities listed above, NZAID uses the following measures of its health and capability, including its capacity to engage with partners:

Indicators and measures	Degree of NZAID responsibility for progress	Current status
Staff turnover and average time to fill vacancies remain within public sector norms	High	Yes
External audit and central agency reporting indicates NZAID is operating in accordance with good public sector practice	High	Office of the Auditor General found in its audit for 2007/08 that NZAID had “moved quickly to put in place a wide range of initiatives to address the issues raised in the last audit.  As a result the issues in Wellington have been largely addressed and NZAID is making very good progress in addressing the issues in overseas posts.  NZAID has done well to get where they are in less than a year”
Policies and programme strategies are up to date and/or finalised in accord with the NZAID Five Year Strategy or other agreed timelines	Medium	Eight of the nine policies identified in the Five Year Strategy to be completed by 2009/10 have been completed.  A programme framework, defining the 33 programmes that need strategies, was finalised in 2008.  Currently there are 15 programme strategies on the NZAID website
Satisfactory feedback from Ministers on quality of outputs	High	Yes
Satisfactory feedback from partners on policy and programmes and NZAID commitments under mutual accountability frameworks	Medium	Yes.  More detail will be provided in the Ministry’s Annual Report
Surveys show that the public generally understands and supports New Zealand’s ODA programme	Low	A study in July 2007 found interest in overseas aid the same as in 2004, with two thirds of New Zealanders expressing some interest and 13 percent very interested. Thirty-four percent know “a fair amount” or “a lot” about overseas aid.   Seventy-six percent approve of the Government providing overseas aid
Satisfactory feedback from partners on quality of NZAID engagement	Medium	Yes, but little systematic data currently available
NZAID operating within its desired values and cultural principles	High	Yes

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