Given what you've learned so far about portfolios, what do you think are top 2 barriers for the development sector to shift to this way of working? by UNDP Innovation

Top 2 Barriers

undpinnovation — 2024-09-19 09:07:24 UTC

DEMO

DEMO

2024-09-23 09:53:13 UTC

1) political ability and willingness to break down institutional silos

2) financial vehicles to invest in a future solution that will change in scope

Top 2 barriers

2024-09-27 10:40:48 UTC

Breaking silos is not a one-man´s job, and it is not going to happen overnight --> is the shift process going to be fast?
In order for this to happen, the development sector needs to seriously and deeply engage (not in a tokenistic way) with decolonization of its practices

2024-09-27 11:03:36 UTC

Closed Mindsets
Capacities and skills specialised for the old way of working

2024-09-27 12:58:32 UTC

Mindsets, set ways of working and limited collaboration to tackle big problems holistically together. Dependence on short-sighted and siloed donor financing with limited political interest in tackling root causes.

2024-09-28 17:56:10 UTC

political buy in
long term commitment

Barriers

2024-09-28 19:36:15 UTC

a proven portfolio implementation strategy (how do we answer the question, "you can't manage what you can't measure.")
buy-in from the top-down and bottom-up

2024-09-29 06:02:28 UTC

Changing the mindset from:

planning everything to learning along the way
and
really working together, not just coordinating the work we do separately.

Top 2 barriers

2024-09-29 16:16:27 UTC

Human insecurity drives closed mindsets, sticking to old 'technical' comfort zones/silos/convictions (change and learning requires admitting that you were wrong)
Structural incentives driving siloed behaviours and short-termism

(Louise Agersnap, WHO Innovation Hub)

2 Barriers to adoption of portfolios are

2024-09-29 17:14:16 UTC

when compared to what most development workers have known across their careers, it is extremely challenging to attempt to move into much larger networks with higher levels of uncertainty, exponentially greater risks of miscommunication, misalignment, or misunderstanding, and less clear lines of accountability - especially when existing resource constraints mean that most do not have enough hours in the day to get done what we already have on our plates
successful examples of portfolio transformation have not yet hit home in a way that significantly shifts the needle, and it feels that there is still more push (compulsion) than pull (attraction)

2024-09-29 18:13:16 UTC

Mindsets and power structures

2024-09-29 18:30:49 UTC

A lack of good faith and political commitment on the part of all actors relevant to any given issue.
Resource constraints, e.g. funding and time, to shifting and ensuring necessary investments in organisations under constant external and internal pressure.

2024-09-29 18:37:34 UTC

Complex institutional settings - silos, competition, informal or non-state actors
Concerted political interest and will across scales

We need to combine abductive thinking to traditional inductive and deductive approaches to addressing problems.

2024-09-29 20:25:04 UTC

2024-09-29 20:40:54 UTC

(1) The institutional structures of the organizations we work in (UN, INGO, MDBs etc.) and the governments we work with are not aligned with the portfolio approach. Siloes mandates, competing interests, political buy-in. Organizational incentives need to realign.

(2) funding a portfolio is way more expensive than funding a project? also curious what happens when multiple interventions within a portfolio fail.

2024-09-29 20:59:57 UTC

Lack of vision and across the board buy in to guide portfolio approach
Challenges in working together – lack of incentives to do so

I come more from the humanitarian, or hum/dev nexus side. Here 1) short term funding models, and 2) institutional and industry culture would seem to be some of the key barriers

2024-09-30 05:22:51 UTC

2024-10-02 17:50:49 UTC

I got no experience in the development sector so can't really advise there. We ended up in portfolios coming from a different angle- we knew where we wanted to go and then, there were serious resource constraints, so anything better had to contribute to more than one thing or build on something else, so we didn't have project A and project B and wondered how to make more of that. We had project A and then wondered what type of project or activity B would be most impactful or meaningful. In my experience, 2 things are difficult in this approach: good portfolios are extremely diverse- problems are complex so to solve them, one needs an equally sophisticated approach (but immune system against cancer, that's also matching complexity with complexity)- and that's extremely demanding. Needs a lot of diverse expertise, learning, testing, getting this to go. And the other one is that one doesn't have and shouldn't own everything- sometimes it's enough to keep a tap on an important other project without being involved, or passing on ideas or contacts. It gets things done but it's terrible when it comes to getting credit for one's work.... (Bettina Ryll)

2024-12-09 02:24:51 UTC

1) Unlearn processes that were institutional before

2) Shared understanding of the portfolio approach beyond own institution (e.g. donors)