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Importance of infrastructure and procurement for sustainable development

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Importance of infrastructure and procurement for sustainable development

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Advocacy happens at all levels - both formally (through the relevant departments charged with such a role) and informally (through UNOPS personnel representing the organisation in their day to day activities engaging with the communities around them.

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Communication and advocacy are inherent within each other for UNOPS. If we only have a presence when we wish to advocate for change when it serves a purpose we will have no credibility. It is critical for UNOPS to develop, sustain and respond quickly with communication strategies and mechanisms for implementation of the strategy. We need to be constantly building relationships and supporting our key stakeholders through visible and robust communication strategies. When change is required we can leverage this presence to enable impact.

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UNOPS by delivering its project can help mandated UN agencies and partners to further the advocacy of the changes we need to see. For example by ensuring that our projects are inclusive and gender focused help promote advocacy for all beneficiaries of the project.

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There are main opportunities for UNOPS in advocacy, we just need to link this with our service offering and mandate: Project management, infrastructure, procurement, human resources and financial management.

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Advocating UN values through UNOPS mandate in procurement, Infrastructure and Project Management has been part of our regular communications. However, I believe there is a way we can do it better. UNOPS always act as a supporting arms of implementation where in fact it has the capacity to lead in advocating say... any of the SDGs.

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Right on! we can do much better in joining our advocacy through our communications, particularly at partnership liaison levels for and with country levels

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Right on! we can do much better in joining our advocacy through our communications, particularly at partnership liaison levels for and with country levels

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Both communication and advocacy needs to happen at all levels in UNOPS, and all UNOPS team members need to contribute, not just those of us who have 'Communications' in their job title.

We need to communicate what we do in our projects, and we need to advocate for the UN core values and principles, human rights, sustainability, integrity, transparency, equality, inclusion, and more!

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In very tactical terms, we need continuous advocacy for UNOPS to be seen and considered as operational solution by partners to deliver the changes they advocate for.

As the video postulates: Such advocacy (with inter alia the RC, UNCT, donors, governments, but also beneficiaries) relies principally on comms highlighting UNOPS' contributions through successful project implementation.

/Jan Klever

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UNOPS, through its communication strategies and platforms, advocates for UN core values and principles, human rights and international conventions. UNOPS is a key implemented of sustainable infrastructure, and should use its communication to advocate for sustainable procurement and infrastructure.

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UNOPS' impact through advocacy for sustainable development, peace and security, and human rights

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UNOPS' impact through advocacy for sustainable development, peace and security, and human rights

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Understanding that advocacy relies on communication to reach its goals, and that it means using different ways to influence decisions for lasting and positive changes,  UNOPS has a window to boost advocacy across the three core pillars of the UN of sustainable development, peace and security, and human rights based on examples of the value-added to partners and general public from UNOPS' work.

Joy Imbuye, CPH

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Advocacy happens at different levels, UNOPS advocacy takes place among all its team, wherever they are and using different tools and approach with different stakeholders.
Munier Mohammed

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Advocacy is one of the key tools that UNOPS, together with other humanitarian actors, must exercise to bring about the policy and behavioural changes necessary to achieve the 17 SDGs. UNOPS has a duty to promote the values and vision common to the UN system in order to actively and consistently contribute to sustainable human development.
Alfredo Lo Cicero

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Advocacy around our mandate and supporting our mission 

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Advocacy around our mandate and supporting our mission 

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The right place for advocacy is all of us. At different level, form different angle, and in a different way. All of us should advocate for decision making that is primarily linked to our mandate - sustainable, resilient and inclusive infrastructure and sustainable procurement. While not forgetting we are UN.

Marko Vujacic

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UNOPS as a UN operational service provider has advocacy in its DNA, we constantly strive to communicate and illustrate our added value through partner engagement and project delivery. Good results = the best advocacy

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Advocacy activities are vital for driving positive social, political, and environmental change, especially by raising awareness and influencing decision-makers.

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Yes I am familiar with advocacy. I think every role in every department in UNOPS is well-suited for advocacy because they all contribute to delivering the overall mandate of UNOPS.

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Advocacy: Communicating the right messages to engage community. 

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Advocacy: Communicating the right messages to engage community. 

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An appropriate advocacy strategy will serve UNOPS to amplify the organization's impact, raise awareness of critical issues, and ensure that projects align with global development goals and best practices. It will also help foster collaboration and partnerships with a diverse range of stakeholders to advance the organization's mission and contribute to sustainable development worldwide.

Particularly on SDGs, advocacy initiatives involve promoting awareness of the SDGs, facilitating their integration into project design, and showcasing the organization's contributions to specific SDGs.

Suzana Paz.

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We are advocating for UNOPS through our day-to-day work, through our interaction with partners, through implementation of the projects, etc. To advocate for UN/UNOPS norms, values, and principles to influence legislation and policy, we will need advocacy and communication tools and resources to be neutral, concise, precise, and context sensitive.
(Edriss Riffat)

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Every day we should be using our UN and UNOPS values and principals to advocate for why we are an implementing agency of the UN. This is especially true given that the same often does not apply reciprocally from partners, donors and beneficiaries. Our challenge is to keep up this advocacy

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Advocacy is important to influence policy development and to evidence the strategy. For example, information collected from the community affected by your chosen issue could be presented to those in power or used in your own policy creation.

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The main place for advocacy in UNOPS going is to "promote" the areas of impact focus, contribution goals and service lines, always combined with cross cutting dimensions like gender and social inclusion, and the three components of the triple planetary crisis and UN values. Simple as that. :-)

(Ingar Falck Olsen)

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Our organisational identity - as part of the UN - commits us to a set of values and strategic goals and priorities. As part of our day to day work we advocate for these values and convey how we enhance capacity to deliver results on the basis of adhering to these and promoting these values. rainer

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As UNOPS we should advocate for the UN principles in the first place. More specifically, UNOPS can advocate for sustainable infrastructure as a tool for development and for accelerating the SDGs.

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I have witnessed UNOPS advocacy for sustainable procurement, which starts with a. wealth of knowledge available within the organisation on the topic b. internal resources on call who can bring this knowledge to the table at short notice.  This is definitely UNOPS place for advocacy, as is advocacy for sustainable infrastructure, including energy efficiency and green energy. In the latter, our advocacy efforts are less mature in my view.

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UNOPS often has a unique perspective when it comes to embedding sustainability, resilience, and inclusiveness into our projects. The importance of this and the details of how to do it in practice are not well understood by our partners, who often need convincing. It is critical that we can convince them in order to maximise our SDG contributions.

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Advocacy is in the core of UNOPS work, as UNOPS promotes its own mandate as well as the UN mandate, policies and matters and seeks to influence decision-makers and public opinion

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Place of advocacy in UNOPS is in clarifying the value-add of UNOPS for all its partners as well as to the entire UN System and ensuring that we achieve our aspirations to be a reliable resource and an effective operational arm in achieving Sustainable Development Goals in all areas of our expertise ie Project Management, Infrastructure, Procurement and other Service Lines.

(Regina Carbonell)

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As UNOPS we are advocates of the UN mandate and we constantly walk the talk to bring positive change in peoples lives and the environment.

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Advocacy has a place at UNOPS because we should be influencing decisions that lead to positive and lasting changes where possible. This includes with UNCT, donors, and clients. (Sara Netzer)

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Adding to the description of Advocacy vs Communication...

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Adding to the description of Advocacy vs Communication...

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I would say communication is something that we as UNOPS do and drive better and better, we might not always reach those we want or have enough money to do what we feel would be a good communications plan.

But for advocacy, there is often little clarity about which activities are most effective for us. It encompasses a spectrum of disparate activities—everything from working with celebrities to raise the profile of an issue, to analyzing public spending.  And I think at UNOPS we could do more strategic work in how we drive advocacy activities and how different advocacy work relate to each other and at what stage these activities are most effective at moving the agenda forward.

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I believe most of UNOPS staff genuinely walk the talk on a daily basis. When we implement good projects (sustainable, gender sensitive, inclusive, cost effective etc etc), and then communicate about our projects and learn and adapt from mistakes this all adds up to advocacy - which in turn helps us do more, to help more people, i.e. influence the positive changes we want to see.

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We are obliged to use our voice to advocate for UN values. Many development actors talk about advocacy for specific policy objectives, and this is where UNOPS must be more cautious given our non-programmatic mandate.

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I believe that advocacy is extremely important for us as an UN entity, and it is our responsibility to do so. We need to uphold our values and principles in everything that we do, and we need to be skilled at doing and communicating it with our actions and communication tools, including formally, tailored to each audience. (Wagner Maxsen)

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Advocacy goes hand in hand with implementation

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Advocacy goes hand in hand with implementation

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That's what differentiates us from private secot. While we implement projects we are due to advocate on principles we promote through them, such as sustainable infrstructure or procurement.
Mariacarmen Colitti

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UNOPS can advocate even without having a mandate like UNICEF or WFP, we can advocate within UNCT for proven approaches that support the SDGs, advocate with donors, and others to ensure that our work is contributing to the SDGs. Sara, MMCO

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Advocacy is critical. We can always communicate about what we are doing. But advocacy goes a step ahead and build our value-add as a UN Organisation: how we influence partners (Governments, International/national organisations...) and share our lessons learnt so that better actions may be taken in future.

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In all what UNOPS does, be it infrastructure or procurement of goods, we must always advocate for equality to ensure that disadvantaged groups are not left behind. In designing infrastructure systems, we must advocate to decision makers to ensure that people of different ethnicity, gender and social class are represented.

Tetteh

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Maintaining a neutral voice and advocating for certain issues may seem counter-intuitive, but UNOPS can clearly advocate for broader principles such as promoting UN values, implementing fair policies, respecting human rights etc. In such a way, UNOPS can advocate for positive changes in policy-making, without losing its neutrality and still catering to the joint agreements with Member States.

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Advocate for climate resilient and sustainable infrastructure

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Advocate for climate resilient and sustainable infrastructure

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We are particularly well placed to advocate for climate positive approaches to infrastructure. It's important that we don't compromise on this. In certain contexts, for example, we work with governments who are anxious to complete important works - given the time pressure, green technologies/climate positive approaches might seem like a nice-to-have. UNOPS has an obligation, in my opinion, to advocate for their inclusion as an inextricable part of our ethos and to ensure that our internal systems are design to favour such approaches (e.g. design review). We can be more vocal in demonstrating to partners how alternative solutions pertinent to sustainability and resilience can be easily mobilised and represent value for money in the long term. (Elena Georgalla)

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As we are operating in the development sector, leveraging advocacy becomes paramount to drive positive change. By effectively utilizing our platform and resources, we can raise awareness about pressing development issues, mobilize global support, and influence policy decisions at local, national, and international levels. Through strategic communication, collaboration with stakeholders, and evidence-based research, UNOPS can amplify the voices of marginalized communities, highlight sustainable development goals, and catalyze action for equitable and inclusive development worldwide.

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On a project level we should be advocating for approaches related to our services lines that maximizes impact. for example advocating to partners to use UNOPS for sustainable procurement or inclusive infra.

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... what I mean here is that within the context of our work we can advocate for things (values, principles etc). In a project, within our communications with partners and stakeholders we can advocate for enivronmental proctection componenets to be included, for gender equality considerations.
We might not be an advocacy agecny ... but we are advocates for UN principles, norms, values and standards....
Marcus

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An effective advocacy would enable UNOPS and us all having one voice, speaking same language, passing common message and connect efforts at country, regional and global level promoting our commitment in raising awareness and contributing to the SDGs implementation. (simona sandor)

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Advocacy holds a crucial place within UNOPS, functioning as a dynamic force to advance its mission and objectives. By leveraging advocacy, UNOPS raises awareness about key issues such as sustainable development, infrastructure, and capacity building, mobilizing stakeholders and generating support. Through strategic advocacy efforts, UNOPS can influence policies, advocating for changes that align with its goals, and mobilize essential resources for its projects. This advocacy-driven approach enhances partnership engagement, attracts funding, and promotes the adoption of best practices in project management and sustainable development. By harnessing advocacy's power, UNOPS not only amplifies its impact but also contributes to global initiatives, making a lasting positive change on a larger scale. (Ana N. Belja)

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In my experience we are using advocacy skills each and every day. Not necessarily at the global level, but at an every day level:  advocating for improved Health and Safety on construction sites, advocating for inclusivity and improved gender parity, advocating for UN values and principles to be embedded in every aspect of our projects. Nick Gardner

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advocacy for me is to take a stand and speak up for others and to speak up for principles and values. This requires diplomatic skills, good understanding of oneself and others, courage, among other (sabine)

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advocacy for me is to take a stand and speak up for others and to speak up for principles and values. This requires diplomatic skills, good understanding of oneself and others, courage, among other (sabine)

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We all advocate for UN values and our vision of sustainable development

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We all advocate for UN values and our vision of sustainable development

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Even if we don't pay attention to the difference between communications and advocacy, our interactions with our partners and stakeholders aims to influence them towards an outcome that is relevant to UNOPS's vision. Every opportunity we have, we use existing tools to advocate. (Nora S.)

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UNOPS has a role to uphold and advocate for  UN values, principles and policies.  However we have the biggest influence through leading by example doing/delivering projects. We need to advocate for these principles to be mainstreamed into the projects that may come to us as business as usual.

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Advocacy and communications should be ingrained in everything we do at UNOPS

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Advocacy and communications should be ingrained in everything we do at UNOPS

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Not to repeat what other colleagues have stated, each of us is an ambassador of UNOPS. We communicate what we do, how we do it and advocate for solving issues that may not be visible to our stakeholders- daily. Our role is to communicate our achieved results clearly as we also advocate for influencing decisions and promote the UN values, aiming to help those most in need. These efforts position our organization and establish more trustworthy relationships with our beneficiaries, the partners we work with and stakeholders we serve. (Nora Sahatciu)

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We always support the values of the United Nations and promote these actively through our work. BUT....our advocay role is limited. We do not have the mandate, the political clout or the funding. There are specific areas such as infrastructure and procurement where it can be justified for us to take some space, but in general let the agencies with the mandate, the skills and the resources pursue this important role. We are an implemnetation agency. We should not be ashamed of this. We get things done. Nick George

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1. Advocacy: The video defines advocacy as using communications to influence for change. It emphasizes that advocacy is an umbrella term for various ways of influencing decisions that lead to positive and lasting changes.

2. Difference between advocacy and communications: The video explores how advocacy differs from communications. It states that communications primarily focuses on the flow of information to improve knowledge among the target audience. In contrast, advocacy is about influencing decisions and creating change.

3. Relationship between advocacy and communications: It explains that communications plays a crucial role in advocacy by helping reach its goals. It highlights that advocacy and communications often overlap and should be used together to reinforce each other, resulting in greater impact.

4. Role of communications: It mentions that communications also supports other institutional objectives, such as brand strengthening or resource mobilization.

Overall, the video emphasizes the importance of using communications in advocacy and the complementary nature of these two concepts.

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UNOPS is not a policy maker. It´s ability to advocate for large scale change is limited. However, it can advocate for the way in which a policy is implemented via our projects, and then in implementation, "walk the talk", which can then show sustainable procurement, infra, etc. is possible. We can also hold forums, have strategic partnerships, and pursue technical assistance projects in which our role as an advocate for the 2030 agenda and the SDGs can be stronger/have greater reach or impact. Catherine Withrow.

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I believe that Advocacy is profoundly anchored in UNOPS DNA as one of the UN's most important vehicle to materialize change. Advocacy is in what we do, but also how we do it. By "walking the walk" through successful project and programme implementations, we are strong advocates that UN values in practice (inclusive, sustainable, transparent, efficient,effective) not only are possible, but constitute a change for the better.

Beyond this, and in a highly connected world of information, it is also paramount to tell about what we are doing and how we are doing it: It is important to explain what sets us appart, how it can be replicated, what it brings and the changes it produces in societies, thus contributing to outcomes and impact.

William SG

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I think as an organization we have the responsability and opportunity to communication with intention. This means advocy is part of why were were created as a UN Organization. Our work should serve for goverment to make decisions that lead to positive and lasting changes. We communicate showcasing our results, but as change agents we can use communication to influence postive change to our member states. (Nathalie Teatin)

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We are not builders.... we build the future

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We are not builders.... we build the future

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I think that advocacy, despite technicalities, is a matter of our quotidianity work, because our approach for each problem which is asked us, has a comprehensive sense, for example we do not build infrastructures by a simple answer, at the moment of discuss with a partner about the project we advocate for gender, environmental, climate action issues, but also for other issues related to access to quality services, with equity, resilient that could lead to innovations in public policies in educations, health, transport, etc... (Roberto Carrillo Castillo)

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I have impression that UN entities sometimes forget that we have been created by Member States to deliver on their joint and agreed priorities. I had an opportunity to observe that sometimes UN entities advocate even on issues that are not agreed by Member States. So we have to be careful when we use term "advocacy". As a non-programatic agency UNOPS core job on this topic is to communicate transparently and based on facts. Once we are doing this consistently we are building trust between UNOPS and our partners and consequently we in fact advocate with them. Dragan Micic

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We have a role to advocate for our mandated areas

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We have a role to advocate for our mandated areas

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While it is true that UNOPS does not have sectoral mandate as many other UN agencies, we do have clear mandate in infrastructure and procurement. I believe that we can play a bigger role in advocating in these areas. We already advocate for sustainable, resilient and inclusive infrastructure, but we can probably do more, through which we can influence across different sectors (e.g. Water, Health, Education, etc) Noriko Kominami

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At UNOPS, advocacy can be utilized to drive the progress of our organization and our partners' objectives, champion our core values, enhance stakeholder awareness, and influence decision-makers. Advocacy should be exercised at all levels of the organization, as it is not the sole responsibility of an individual or  single unit but a shared responsibility for all of us.

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At UNOPS, advocacy can be utilized to drive the progress of our organization and our partners' objectives, champion our core values, enhance stakeholder awareness, and influence decision-makers. Advocacy should be exercised at all levels of the organization, as it is not the sole responsibility of an individual or  single unit but a shared responsibility for all of us.

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I wasn't familiar with the term, maybe because of language. But I am familiar with what it means, and I think there is a space for UNOPS. Not necessarily at political or public policy level, but being smart with our messages and making sure they get to the right people to take sound decisions on public investment in sustainability, climate action and gender and diversity at a practical level. (Nigel Muñoz)

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Advocacy as a synonymous of "merchandising" UN values?

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Advocacy as a synonymous of "merchandising" UN values?

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As all the colleagues who have already participated in this forum, we are quite familiar when we talk about advocacy. But I would like to make this question: what is the difference between merchandising and doing advocacy? One is selling products and the other values?
Communication is important in both of them, undoubtedly!
Why do not say that we are doing the merchandising of UN values?

Maria Salazar

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I am familiar with advocacy, which I think is key in making statements that aim at  impacting decision making for certain objective(s). Now we are advocating for a UNOPS that is focused on being part of the UN and driven by its contribution to achieving the SDGs. Raad.

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I'm familiar with advocacy and it entails so many aspects of communication and relationships, that a robust plan or structure must be drawn to make it effective. The place for advocacy in UNOPS must be all across the technical teams and the managing body. The contact with technical and managerial counterparts is parallel, and so the need that the communication from our side is coherent and consistent to have a deep impact. Besides, the communication with different stakeholders must also be sound, so that the advocacy effort is consistently well understood across different groups and our value added capabilities well perceived.

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I think UNOPS advocates for UN values and strategic approaches for sustainable development. Our policies, commitments, and requirements along with audience-focused communication are designed to show the UN core values and to highlight UNOPS comparative advantages to deliver sustainable results. Our quality assurance, effective stakeholder engagements, and sustainable procurement are among the advantages that UNOPS is offering and advocating.
(Khaldoon Mohammed)

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Advocacy in a previous organisation, I am familiar with advocacy. UNOPS advocates for the UN values of equality by commitment to gender, diversity and inclusion in our work force. Similarly, UNOPS has a GESI strategy that ensures that the needs of all gender and people living with disability are considered in our work.  Through the involvement of stakeholders in our project delivery via the Project Oversight Committees, UNOPS advocates for inclusive decision making and accountability and thereby influences our stakeholders to emulate the behaviour that UNOPS is modeling. Ifeoma Charles-Monwuba

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Advocacy is part of our DNA (Monica Sils)

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Advocacy is part of our DNA (Monica Sils)

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We are advocates of the UN mandate and in UNOPS we constantly must try to influence positive change.  We are advocates of the importance and the overall benefits, for example, of supporting projects that promote sustainable development goals, such as poverty eradication, quality education, clean water and sanitation, affordable and clean energy, etc .

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There is definitely a balance to be had between programmatic UN Agencies and UNOPS who are not sector specific. We should certainly advocate for professional approaches that allow projects and programmes to be executed in an optimal manner. We should also advocate and support UN values and norms. We do need to be careful not to allow our mandate to creep outwith our core functions. At this point in time UNOPS needs to stay in its swim lane (thinking of S3i..)

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I think this question generates relatively redundant answers. I can only restate what my colleagues already said, that UNOPS as an agency is advocating for the UN values and SDGs on one hand, and on the other, for the difference and impact that we are making throughout the world. And that all of the above are reflected and supported at individual level. (Marcia Taiachin)

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I am very familiar as I applied it in my daily work. It is essential to showcase what we do and, above all, to impact on decision making process with key public authorities and stakeholders. The place in UNOPS should be everywhere, meaning that not only at corporate level with a clear strategy and direction, but also embedded in personnel who deals with partners, financiers and beneficiaries to make a positive influence and change for the better. (Giuseppe Mancinelli)

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I am very familiar as I applied it in my daily work. It is essential to showcase what we do and, above all, to impact on decision making process with key public authorities and stakeholders. The place in UNOPS should be everywhere, meaning that not only at corporate level with a clear strategy and direction, but also embedded in personnel who deals with partners, financiers and beneficiaries to make a positive influence and change for the better. (Giuseppe Mancinelli)

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I´m quite familiar with advocacy. Despite, UNOPS does not do advocacy itself as part of a normative/programmatic mandate, we advocate for the UN values and principles as well as for the SDGs when we negotiate and design projects with our partners. For me advocating for the UN values and SDGs makes all the diffrenece between UNOPS and a private firm, being also part of the value added on what UNOPS delivers. (David Melo)

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Advocacy has a place in UNOPS particularly when it comes to advocating for the UN values, for peace and security and for the achievement of the SDGs. Even we are not defined as a normative or programmatic agency, we still have a role and a responsibility to advocate. In addition to fulfilling our role as a UN agency, we will also benefit from doing more advocacy in as much as we are able to connect the message to what we bring to it, i.e., our mission. (Sofia Goinhas)

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Advocacy has a place in UNOPS particularly when it comes to advocating for the UN values, for peace and security and for the achievement of the SDGs. Even we are not defined as a normative or programmatic agency, we still have a role and a responsibility to advocate. In addition to fulfilling our role as a UN agency, we will also benefit from doing more advocacy in as much as we are able to connect the message to what we bring to it, i.e., our mission. (Sofia Goinhas)

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I think we need to be careful here - "advocacy" is a term with a very specific meaning with in the UN development system - it is mostly associated with the activities of entities with a normative/programmatic mandate - i.e. not UNOPS (implementation role). While we do need a professional approach to, and practice of, communication, and need to be clear that we operate based on UN values, we should be very conscious when engaging in thematic advocacy. Not least because it may be perceived and mandate creep (depending on the topic).
(Julia L)

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UNOPS is already advocating UN values through its mandate in Procurement, Infrastructure, and Project Management.
Should these advocacy efforts change or refocus?. I think yes, and this is what the new Strategy Plan is trying to do, putting the SDGs at the core of what we do.
This new approach has to be supported by a calibrated strategic communication, to the wider spectrum of stakeholders, focusing on common interests for the development of sustainable partnerships.
(Ivan Henriquez P.)

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UNOPS should advocate for UN principles, norms, values and standards in all that it does

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UNOPS should advocate for UN principles, norms, values and standards in all that it does

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I think that advocating for- and upholding UN principles, norms, values and standards are par for the course for all UN organizations. But I also think that this is not the same as “advocacy” as seen in other UN organizations, which often entails undertaking specific advocacy activities, with targeted stakeholders and events, and having dedicated resources and possibly an organizational function or structure. For UNOPS, I think the former is a given, but the latter might not be suitable, in view of  the demand- and implementation based operating model.

/Markus Ors Lykke

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In addition to influencing decisions for lasting change, advocacy in UNOPS could:

1.              Help in representing the interests of stakeholders.

2.              Create awareness and relationships with potential partners that have interests in a common objective.

3.              Manage its reputation and public perception.

(Kirk Bayabos)