On 24 November 2010, the United Nations
Office for South-South Cooperation hosted a professional
workshop on the Web of Information for Development (WIDE) roster management software
at the Global South South
Development Expo 2010 in Geneva, Switzerland. Thirteen WIDE roster
managers from the UN system and across geographic regions participated in
the day and a half of activities.
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The workshop was intended to:
Foster knowledge
exchange among WIDE partners. The dialogue focused
on how WIDE partners can take advantage of the vast possibilities of the WIDE system
as a sustainable and efficient part of their business;
Showcase successful and innovating experiences
in roster management;
Discuss the WIDE
roster system
strategic directions
and strengthen WIDE
as a communication
tool.
In view of these objectives, the workshop was structured around a
strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and
threats (SWOT) analysis through which all participants provided
insights on their experiences with the WIDE system.
The workshop highlighted a number of innovative ways in which the WIDE roster platform
is being used by its diverse group of roster managers. In most cases, requests for
referrals should be sent to the Roster Manager, who is prepared to conduct the search
with the proper domain knowledge. Each
roster powered by WIDE has a
roster manager
in charge. WIDE provides
roster managers with different options for granting access
to their rosters. Few rosters provide public access, given the value and sensitivity
of the information.
Environment
and Energy Roster
The UNDP Environment and Energy Expert Roster provides
an excellent example
of an organization
that has taken its roster to the next level. The Roster not
only functions as a pool of selected experts as part of their efforts to strengthen
service delivery and execution capacity,
but it is also an intrinsic part of their
human resource strategies as all vacancy announcements for consultancies are disseminated
through the Roster, giving all experts in the Roster access to them.
Crisis Prevention and Recovery Roster
One of the main roles of
Bureau for Crisis
Prevention and
Recovery (BCPR) is to
provide strong support for UNDP
country offices
in the implementation and formulation of programmes in crisis and recovery contexts.
Adequate recourse capacity with the required technical aptitude in the short time frame
that crisis-related situations often demand is of
importance. BCPR has
therefore customized
its Roster, utilizing the Roster as a
human resource system, including
only UNDP staff with specific qualifications
who can be readily deployed in emergencies.
Established during the Indian Ocean
earthquake and tsunami
in 2004, it also proved
to be
very useful during the Haiti
crisis in 2010.
TIKA Talent Bank
The
Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency
(TIKA) has facilitated
its provision of Turkish technical expertise by developing a Turkish experts talent bank
in collaboration with UNDP for the Ministry of Agriculture
and furthered its
customization by developing
the roster in Turkish to broaden access
to it and increase
its utility.
UUN Common Consultant Roster, Bangkok
The Common Services Roster has exemplified the possibilities of WIDE to serve
as an effective communication tool, with
a focus on the transfer of knowledge by being
the only Roster that has created a network
involving multiple agencies. The Roster is comprised
of the best experts from all UN agencies based in Bangkok.
Regional Centre Cairo
The Arab States Expert Roster is part of the
UNOD management strategy for
the Arab States and their effort to strengthen South-South
cooperation and knowledge-sharing.
This Roster is tailored to function both at the regional and the country level for
different priority areas within UNDP.
The DPA Mediation Roster
The Mediation Support Roster, United Nations Department
of Political Affairs
(DPA) is comprised
of mediation experts
who have been selectively chosen to complement the headquarters-based Mediation Support Unit and Standby Team.
The Roster has come to be an inherent part of the menu of mediation support
sources. DPA offers mediation services regarding peacemaking, preventive diplomacy
and other settings as well as a wide range of tasks such as support, coordination
and assessments. The Roster and the WIDE platform benefit
from a flexible
structure which
facilitates the coordination of experts in an efficient and
timely manner
since the nature of the assignments demands quick
deployment.
Workshop Conclusions
The workshop was highly successful at accomplishing the outcomes
that it had set for
itself.
The detailed feedback provided by the workshop participants indicated that a vibrant
community of practice around the WIDE platform exists and was further solidified
by the activities of
this workshop. Most of the roster managers appreciated that this
tool was invaluable to their daily business and was not being provided by any other
institutional organ. The user community had significant feedback on both how the
software can be improved and how communication between its users can facilitate
more productive use.
The WIDE management team agreed to act this valuable feedback.