The climate crisis, urban development, and digital transformation are complex challenges that call for a new way of working. This requires us to rethink how we design and manage interventions, how we operate, how we learn and what counts as success.
UNDP has embarked on this new path by leveraging portfolios as an integral part of our Strategic Plan 2022-2025. In the Eurasia region, we’ve been scoping, designing, and testing different ways of applying what we refer to as system portfolios. Spearheaded by our Country Offices in the region, this journey has so far resulted in:
Earlier this year the RBEC Innovation Team hosted a five-day, in-person portfolio design and management bootcamp. Facilitated together with colleagues from Country Offices and different regions, the portfolio bootcamp was one of our biggest training events so far, with more than 75 participants from 30 UNDP Regional and Country Offices.
The aim was to share current thinking and practices in applying systems thinking to portfolio development and management, enabling participants to gain a profound understanding of the practical application of portfolios in a development context.
Using a set of portfolio design tools and templates, participants designed their own portfolios as a way to learn about the design (and management) in a hands-on manner. Participants learned to use a number of methods and tools used in the portfolio process, including social listening, sensemaking, and MEL.
The portfolio bootcamp included sessions on the theory behind portfolios, group exercises, experiences from Country Offices spanning multiple regions, and expert inputs. The materials and exercises used in the bootcamp, including terminology and processes and developed by UNDP’s RBEC Innovation Team, draw from learnings and experiences with Chora Design and Agirre Lehendakaria Center.
Embracing a new way of thinking and doing is both exhilarating and challenging. We tried to document what worked and what didn’t to provide an even better learning experience to participants in future portfolio bootcamps.
Below we share three of the insights we gained from feedback surveys and reflection sessions, undertaken with the entire team of bootcamp designers and facilitators.
Moving from a largely project-based model to applying a portfolio approach extends beyond shifting from one methodology to another. It means transforming how we perceive, understand, and respond to (development) challenges.
Different from more linear approaches to problem-solving, portfolios require us to think beyond the obvious, making connections out of existing silos and working across sectors, thereby leveraging a variety of capabilities and resources. This shift can bring about feelings of discomfort and unease, adding a layer of emotional complexity to the experiences of participants when learning about portfolios.
Recognizing and empathizing with these emotions is crucial to creating a conducive environment for participants to effectively learn about the portfolio design and management process and build stronger connections as they learn and implement the methodology collectively.
As one participant shared during one of the end of the day reflection exercises: “Sometimes you just have to be OK with being uncomfortable, or put differently: ‘to not know’ sometimes is the way to go.”
There might be a bigger lesson to learn here: Feelings of discomfort can come from the changing identities and roles. As development professionals we are used to playing the roles of experts and solution providers. More and more we’re required to be explorers in uncertain contexts which impacts our professional identities, but also forces the organization to rethink and reconfigure the role it plays in the international development landscape, the services it offers, and the support it provides to partners across the globe. This involves understanding the intricacies of that shift as well as applying what the participants learned about complexity, systems and portfolios to navigate the changing context.
Therefore, the bootcamp not only focused on providing portfolio knowledge but also recognized the importance of community and peer support. It created an environment where participants could embrace discomfort and navigate transformative change together by sharing and reflecting as a cohort. This approach led to spill-over effects, fostering a portfolio community and helping participants gain the skills to be able to adapt in the evolving development landscape.
We’re aware of the importance of providing a meaningful context when teaching how to apply the portfolio approach. While theory, frameworks and concepts have their place, it’s equally essential to arm learners with practical tools, templates, and guidance to apply portfolio design and management effectively.
The bootcamp intertwined theory with hands-on exercises. Participants worked with tools and templates that UNDP teams have found effective for internal exercises and with partners. But to apply these tools and templates effectively, participants require a certain level of understanding about the specific geography, socio-cultural context and other relevant factors.
In the bootcamp, this was provided through sectoral themes including green transition, digital transformation, and the future of work. However, we found that exploring sectoral themes was not enough for participants to navigate their regional or national challenges and sometimes led to questions, confusion and difficulty in applying the portfolio approach effectively.
Using detailed case studies instead, ideally directly related to a geographic region and development challenge that the teams are working on, could be a better way to go in future trainings. This approach would provide a more relatable and comprehensible context, thus facilitating a better understanding and application of the tools and principles taught.
As trainers in applying portfolios, we constantly grapple with the delicate task of simplifying the explanations without compromising the integrity and accuracy of the approach. There’s an obvious need to ensure the comprehension of core ideas, but oversimplification can risk distorting these concepts, obscuring their inherent complexity and nuanced understanding. It is a difficult task to walk this tightrope – delivering just the right amount of explanation without straying into unnecessary complexities. As Albert Einstein famously said, “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.”
We also recognize the need for using new language around portfolio design and management (without simply repackaging existing concepts and ideas). Our comprehension of the world is shaped through words and narratives so the language we use profoundly influences how we act. Adapting our language is a crucial but often underestimated way of facilitating effective learning about the ways portfolios work.
Through events like the portfolio bootcamp, we’re trying to pave the way for UNDP colleagues to use portfolios in their work. Running these bootcamps, trainings and workshops isn’t easy though. They need careful planning to cover the nuances of the approach without overwhelming the participants. Following up on the bootcamp, we have recently launched the first prototype of an online course on portfolios to make learning for our colleagues easy to access and flexible. We look forward to sharing what we learned from running the course for the first cohort on our blog soon.
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