BRACE Programme Outcomes & Outputs

Organisational and institutional framework for the GoB counterpart institutions and stakeholders:

The TA continues to assist the GoB Secretary/Chief Foreign Aid (CFA), Planning and Development (P&DD) in its role as the Chair/Convenor/Coordinator of the Secretariat to the Strategy and Policy Dialogue Committee (SPDC) activities and the Local Government and Rural Development Department (LG&RDD) in its role as the main BRACE TA GoB counterpart. The TA has supported the GoB to set up and operationalize the SPDC and definition of its Terms of Reference (ToR) and continues to facilitate it in the performance of its core functions. The SPDC was notified on 1 March 2018, but it took over a year for the first SPDC meeting to be convened and so far, it has conducted three meetings and is required to meet at least twice a year.

Similarly, the Sector Coordination Committee (SCC) on Community-Driven Local Government and Rural development (CD-LG&RD) was Notified by the Planning and Development Department (P&DD) on 12th February, 2020. In so doing, the GoB has made a first and crucial step to design an innovative CD LG&RD Sector Policy and Sector Plan, that will guide devolved Local Government Budgets, Planning and Development Programme Implementation modalities. The SCC CDLG&RD has 4 Working Groups (WGs) which were Notified simultaneously with the SCC-CD-LGRD i.e. a) Legal/Institutional Framework; b) Public Finance (FM) and Public Financial Management (PFM) Context; c) Institutionalization of Community Institutions (CIs); and d) Capacity Building of Local Government Sector. The SCC and the Working groups have been fully constituted scheduled a series of meetings in pursuit of their specific Terms of Reference (ToR).

Sindh Exposure Visit by the Gob Delegation:

The TA organized a 4-day Sindh Exposure Visit, for a group of Balochistan BRACE Programme Stakeholders from 11 to 15 March, 2020 as a follow-up to a similar visit to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province in December 2019. The Government of Baluchistan (GoB) delegation comprising of 20 member including Members of the Provincial Assembly (MPAs), Senior Government Officials from the Local Government and Rural Development Department (LG&RDD), Social Welfare Department (SWD), Women Development Department (WDD), Finance Department (FD), Planning and Development Department (P&DD), BRACE IPs (BRSP, NRSP, RSPN) and the BRACE TA team. The Sindh Exposure visit provided to this group, the experiences and the lessons-learned from the EU-funded Sindh Union Council and Community Economic Strengthening Support (SUCCESS) programme. It is expected that the Sindh visit insights will provide direct and very relevant inputs for the GoB Stakeholders when they are designing the Balochistan CDLD systems

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Exposure Visit by the Gob Delegation:

In December 2019, the TA organized a three-days KPK Exposure Visit, for a group of 20 officials (GoB, RSP. and TA). The purpose was to enhance the understanding on the EUfunded Community Driven Local Development (CDLD) project and the CDLD policies implemented by the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (GoK), and to identify any lessons to be learned for inclusion in the design of the Balochistan Community-Driven Local Government & Rural Development (CD-LG&RD) Policy & Fiscal Framework – which is being developed by the GoB with support from the BRACE Programme. The KP Exposure visit provided to this group, the experiences and the lessons-learnt from the EUfunded KPK Community Driven Local Development (CD:D) programme. The KPK insights will provide direct and very relevant inputs for the GoB Stakeholders when they are designing the Balochistan CDLD systems.

District Coordination Induction Training Course:

The TA facilitated the complementarity and synergy between RSP and GoB systems through Supply Side and Demand Side drivers through the ongoing series of “District Coordination” training/capacity-building events. To build capacity at district level, in a structured manner, a three-days District Coordination Induction Training Course was held at the BRDA in Quetta, in December 2019, for a group of 57 District Stakeholders; 12 TA-DC/ADC, 18 District LG Staff, 18 Staff from the Dep. Commissioner’s Offices, and 9 Staff from the RSPs.

The training was aimed at strengthening their understanding of CD LG systems, and also aims to improve intra-district coordination between the District stakeholders. The Induction Course is the first of a series of five (5) District Coordination Capacity-building Training events to be held in future. The DC CB/Training these events will be held at the BRDA in Quetta, and as such this has a secondary effect of building the Capacity of the BRDA

Joint District Development Coordination (JDDC) meetings:

JDDC Meeting at District level Our TA District Coordinators and Assistant District Coordinators, based in the Deputy Commissioners’ Offices, play a key role in the reactivation of the Joint District Development Committee (JDDC) meetings as a platform for building stronger linkages between community institutions and Local Government authorities and social service providers.

District Coordination Capacity-Building AND Training

The District Coordination (DC) Training Course started in December 2019 with the DC Induction Course. The DC Course directly strengthens the capacity of the BRDA through the involvement of their staff in developing training modules and handouts, selection of trainers, resource persons and facilitators and limited renovation of the training facilities.

Conducting capacity assessment and developing the Capacity Building Plan for the BRDA:

BRACE TA will conduct a rapid capacity assessment and develop a BRDA capacity building plan that will address Institutional and Organisational Capacity Development and Staff Skills strengthening of the BRDA staff and the pool of internal and external lecturers and facilitators and resource persons.

Facilitating foreign trainings and exchange visits:

The Hague Academy for Local Government (The Netherlands) and BRACE TA will initiate a twinning arrangement between two institutions, aiming at developing the BRDA as a centre of excellence for innovative Community-Driven Local Government systems.

BRACE TA Exit Strategy:

BRACE TA Contributed to the IPs EXIT Strategy, which aims at establishing the right conditions and criteria, to ensure that Community Institutions are sustainable and can become mature partners in a GoB CD-LG&RD Policy Framework.

EU-Balochistan Cooperation Workshop on Improving Synergies and Complementarities:

The 2-days consultative Balochistan Synergies Workshop brought together multiple stakeholders (RSPs, GoB counterpart and cognate line departments, the EU, GIZ, UNDP) from 18-19 April, 2018 in Quetta. Its purpose was to identify, and build synergies among EU-funded initiatives in Balochistan, and to improve alignment to the Government of Balochistan (GoB) development priorities. The workshop was the first step in improving coordination and offered the opportunity for the participating organisations to hear first-hand, and for many for the first time, about other EU initiatives in the Province

Development of the Gender mainstreaming Strategy (GMS) and related activities:

The Gender Mainstreaming (GMS) assignment started in 2019 and resulted in key outputs such as: an updated GMS Strategy Document and GMS Action plans by each BRACE IPs and the selected GoB Counterparts (LGRDD P&DD, FD, WDDD and SWD) and stakeholders such as INGOs/NGOs.

Joint BRACE Communication and Visibility Strategy

A joint BRACE C&V Strategy was formulated to guide the Implementing partners (IPs) and the GoB (LGRDD) to come up with C&V Messages that contribute to the purpose and objectives of the BRACE programme.

Joint Gender Mainstreaming Strategy

A joint Gender Mainstreaming Strategy, to be applied by all Ips and selected GoB Departments (LGRDD, SWD, WDD, P&DD, and FD), Based on a to be adopted GMS Strategy the BRACE IPs and selected GoB Departments, are to identify and resource their GMS Action Plans.

The BRACE TA DC/ADC staff assisting the Washuk

Deputy Commissioner’s Office to distribute COVID-19 PPEs and humanitarian relief supplies in April, 2020 The COVID 19 Pandemics made even more clear how important mobilized communities are. The BRACE TA DC and ADC played a key role in facilitating and supporting the staff of DC/LGs/NGOs offices to effectively respond to the COVID-19 outbreak in the 9 districts where they are assigned.