CF Overview User Guide

In 2023, as part of the continuous improvements for the management of Cooperation Framework data within UNINFO, a new section has been added into the overall navigation. This new section is entitled “CF overview” and it provides a structured way for RCOs to manage the information related to the process of designing and preparing the Cooperation Framework (CF) from its inception to completion. This is separate from the actual framework content or Joint Work Plan (e.g. outputs, indicators, sub-outputs etc), and aims to consolidate all relevant information about managing the Cooperation Framework process into one place. This new feature will provide 3 key benefits for Heads of RCOs and Data Management Officers:

1. Enable progress tracking of the 10 key CF Roadmap milestones (design phase) required for the preparation of a new Cooperation Framework. This replaces the existing IMS monthly survey (survey B) which was used for this process. Customizable reports of the CF Roadmap process and status are available for the RCO, regional offices and headquarters.

2. Include the related Planning and Programming questions from the IMS annual programmatic and coordination survey (survey C), and indicate how these essential information points correspond to the management of the CF, and enable the answers to be gathered and provided in an up to date manner. This will save time and improve the completeness and reliability of the information.

3. The information in the “CF Overview” step will only need to be updated once per CF cycle, and validated once a year through the IMS annual programmatic and coordination survey.

This document serves as the user guide through this new section, and will show how the new features correspond to the Roadmap and related IMS annual questions.

Navigation

Roadmap

When you select the “Roadmap” tab, a table listing the 10 key milestones forming the Roadmap are displayed. From here, you will be able to get an overview of the progress of each milestone, with some helpful indications of what data is available or missing.

Status of each milestone:

1. Complete – this is when the planned dates and the actual dates have all been filled in, and the relevant supporting document for the country has also been added in.

2. Planned – if the planned dates are in the future, or in the middle of the planned dates but no actual dates have been provided yet

3. In progress - If the planned dates are provided, and the actual start date of the milestone is also provided but no actual end date yet

4. Dates missing – if the planned dates have not been entered

5. Expired – if the planned dates are in the past and no actual dates have been provided.

Editing a key milestone

Click the edit icon in each row of the table to edit a milestone’s details. A new window will be displayed with the milestone’s data. The “save milestone” button is at the bottom of the window.

Linking existing documents to the milestone from the documents library

If a document has already been uploaded to the documents library, it can be edited there to link it to the milestone. To do this, first find the document in the library and click the edit icon.

In the drop down "Select the Plan to link the document to", choose the relevant Cooperation Framework. Once this has been chosen, an extra drop down "Select the milestone from the plan to link" will be displayed, and the relevant milestone can be added. After saving the document, the CF milestone will display the linked document.

Additional questions in the milestone

Beneath the milestone form, there is an extra section displaying additional fields related to the milestone. These fields are for providing specific and required information about the milestone. These are questions normally asked during the IMS annual survey and are now displayed here for added clarity. You can provide the answers to these questions at any time, and during the standard IMS survey period in November to December, you will also be reminded to review them again.

Custom milestones

As part of the preparation of a CF, there may be additional tasks that need to be added that are relevant only for your country context. You can do this by clicking the “add milestone” button, found on the top left of the table of milestones.

A form will be displayed for you to enter in the extra Roadmap milestone name and dates, together with extra supporting fields as needed:

Once complete, you will be able to place the custom milestone in the desired position among the other required roadmap milestone.

Roadmap milestones – important points

For detailed information about the key milestones, please refer to the policy and guidelines about the preparation of the Cooperation Framework. In general, the planned and actual dates, the related document and the additional questions are the most important points of each milestone, and all of this information is required as part of the design process. They are used by DCO as part of the IMS survey for more in-depth analysis on the progress of CFs globally. In UNINFO, there are some special points specific to each milestone that are pointed out below.

Note that for the regional Cooperation Frameworks (e.g. Caribbean; Pacific), the milestones “4. Preparation of the CCA” and “10. Preparation for the UN resources Mobilization and partnerships strategy” will need to be completed for each RC country within the region.

C.1.1 – Roadmap Formulation

When all of the 10 key milestones have actual end date values (including this one), and the accompanying Roadmap document uploaded here, then this this milestone will be marked as completed.

C.1.2 – Evaluation of previous UNDAF/Cooperation Framework

Since this section is about the evaluation of previous UNDAF/CF, the dates and information displayed in the table are taken from the milestone of the previous CF. To make this clear, a line of text is displayed beneath the milestone. When you click on the edit icon of this row, it will take you to the relevant place in the previous UNDAF/CF to edit this information.

If you have accessed the evaluation milestone via the previous UNDAF/CF evaluation milestone row as displayed above, after saving the record, you will automatically be redirected back to the current plan.

Please note that when the time comes to provide the evaluation for the current plan in which you are in, this will be found in the “Evaluation” tab, which is the last of the tabs found beneath the main navigation bar.

If there is no previous UNDAF/CF plan for your country in UNINFO, then this milestone will not be displayed.

C.1.3 – Evaluation Management Response

This is similar to the Evaluation milestone, in that the information is taken from the previous CF/UNDAF and displayed in the table. Clicking on the edit icon will take you to the previous CF/UNDAF milestone where this information can be edited, and after saving the record you will be taken back to the current CF.

If there is no previous UNDAF/CF plan for your country in UNINFO, then this milestone will not be displayed.

C.1.4 – Preparation of the Common Country Analysis (CCA)

No special notes for this milestone.

C.1.5 – Preparation of the Cooperation Framework document

Note that in this milestone, you can upload the finalized but not yet signed version of the Cooperation Framework document (or equivalent document). However if you already have the signed version, and you do not have a non-signed version, you may upload it here as well as in milestone 8.

C.1.6 – Cooperation Framework Results Framework at outcome and output level developed

No special notes for this milestone.

C.1.7 – UNCT Configuration Exercise

The list of UN entities in each of the fields will be drawn from the list of entities registered to the Country in the RCO/UNCT composition area of UNINFO

C.1.8 – Signature of the Cooperation Framework Document

No special notes for this milestone.

C.1.9 – Preparation of the Multiyear Funding Framework in UN INFO

If the answer to the question “Please confirm if the MYFF has been endorsed by the UNCT” is yes, then the remaining questions in this section will be automatically filled based on the funding data provided in the actual Multiyear funding framework section of the Cooperation Framework.

C.1.10 – Preparation of UN resources mobilization and partnerships strategy

No special notes for this milestone.

Regrional Cooperation Frameworks (e.g. Caribbean; Pacific)

For the signatories in the regional plan, the question “Is the Entity a signatory to the Framework” is only asked once for each UN Entity. However, the follow on questions regarding the RC involvement and options for derivation of country level programming need to be answered for each RC that is part of the regional Cooperation Framework.

CF signatories

This tab is for managing the list of which UN Entities have signed up to the Cooperation Framework. The list displayed is taken from the UNCT composition section of the workspace. Each UN Entity from that list can then be further marked as a signatory to the CF as needed. In addition, extra information about the RC involvement and the derivation of the Entity’s country level programming can be added for each UN entity here.

To edit a UN Entity as a signatory, click on the edit icon at the right hand side of each row, and a new window will open up. If there are any UN entities that have not yet been specified as being or not being a signatory, the row will be highlighted in orange.

Please note that for 2023, all signatories must be reviewed to answer the question on the RC’s involvement in the derivation of the CPD, as the options last year are different to this year’s.

Regional Cooperation Frameworks (e.g. Caribbean, Pacific)

Cooperation Framework Implementation Phase

Milestones in the implementation phase tab will need to be updated annually where indicated, except for the “Governance Arrangements” section which may be updated annually if the user wishes to do so. Although these are displayed similarly to the “Roadmap milestones” in the previous tab, many of these milestones do not require planned and actual dates.

Note that for the regional Cooperation Frameworks (e.g. Caribbean; Pacific), the “Annual update to the CCA” and the “UN country results report” will need to be completed for each RC country within the region.

C.1.11 – Cooperation Framework Governance Arrangements

This section contains questions related to the governance arrangements as well as the Results Groups and Thematic groups.

C.1.12 – The annual update to the Common Country Analysis (CCA)

No special notes for this milestone.

C.1.13 – Annual Funding Framework

This section retrieves data from the sub-output funding section of the Cooperation Framework to automatically answer the questions from C.1.13.2 to C.1.13.9

Note that for the question C.1.13.7 “Do all sub-outputs include data on available resources”, all sub-output with contributing partner(s) must have available funding values for the year, then this answer will be set to “Yes”, otherwise the answer will be “No”.

For question C.1.13.6 “Do all relevant sub-outputs include data on the full cost of delivering the results (i.e. have required resources)”. In this case, all sub-outputs that do not have status “pipeline” must have a required funding value for the year, then the answer will be set to “Yes”, otherwise the answer will be “No”.

C.1.14 – Annual Performance Review

The “actual end date” will need to be filled in, to indicate that the review is complete and finalised.

C.1.15 – UN Country Results Report

This is the UNCT Results Report that you have uploaded to your Documents Library. Please ensure it’s the most up to date version and that it presents results for the year (or part of it). DCO must report to ECOSOC and the auditors whether the report is uploaded.

When the document is uploaded, the related IMS questions C.1.15.1 and C.1.15.1.1 will automatically be answered.

Evaluation phase

The evaluation tab is for the final phase of the Cooperation Framework, when information about the evaluation process needs to be carried out here. There are 2 milestones in this phase, the “Evaluation” and the “Management response”. The information entered here is used in the next CF as part of its Roadmap (design phase).