2018 MOTION 3 -
Growth and Evolution and Operational Complementarity between the OCs
MOTION
MSF is evolving and growing in an uncontrolled way that does not allow us to use our resources in the best possible way to help those whom we serve, namely our patients and communities. We have to change our attitudes in order to bring positive and meaningful change to our strategic thinking in the future.
In 2019 Operational Centres will align the timing of their Strategic Plans. We call on all OCs (both Boards and Executives) to include a written commitment within each Strategic Plan to state the principle behind any intended growth, to analyse the potential risks of this growth and to outline the mitigations that will be put in place to avert these risks.
We would also expect all OCs to incorporate their principled decisions on growth into their annual reporting and approval processes.
The association recognizes recent progress made to improve operational collaboration between OC’s, however it is felt that there is still too much operational overlap, especially at field level, which deviates resources from unmet needs. In order to avoid unnecessary growth within each OC we expect to see, within the Strategic Plans, and reporting and approval processes, clear evidence of synergies, sharing of ideas and closer working collaborations between OCs, therefore strengthening Operational Complementarity.
The aim of this motion is to increase the effectiveness of MSF as a medical humanitarian organization.
MSF Nordic and MSF Southern Africa
BACKGROUND AND EXPLANATION
In recent years MSF has grown and evolved in an unplanned and uncontrolled way. This growth has been fuelled by our drive to meet the humanitarian imperative that is at the core of our identity. We must continue to meet this imperative in the future. However, the growth has put enormous strain on our resources, in many ways compromising our ability to effectively discharge our duty to our beneficiaries.
For example, we have entered cycles of “boom and bust” whereby some years we have more money than we can spend whilst in others we have to restrict our spending; we have had chronic and disruptive shortages of HR to support our missions, thereby compromising the quantity and, more importantly, quality of our services. In part in order to mitigate these issues, we have also increased our associative footprint, which in turn drives increased pressure to grow.
This attitude of uncontrolled and unplanned growth has to be better managed, with both the executive and associative taking responsibility to lead MSF into a more stable future.
See “Position Paper on the Growth and Evolution of MSF, April 2018” by the Growth Discussion Group.
FEEDBACK (Final draft)
The implementation of the motion is on-going. The aim was to have statements on how each OC will grow included in the time aligned strategic plans for 2020-2023.
Below is a summary of how the executives interpret the asks of the motion which is currently being incorporated into the strategic planning process;
- In order to guide our operational priorities, the OCB group has identified the following principles to guide the strategic planning process:
- To increase the impact of our medical humanitarian operations
- Reactive to emergencies
- Quality in continuum of care
- Patient centred; Connected to communities
- Project at centre
- Negotiate with tact; Ability to work in conflict
- Be diverse – global workforce & decision-makers
- This will be achieved through:
- Field-Recentralisation (increased autonomy and responsibility at field level)
- Operational Hubs (ops support/mentoring, technical support, emergency response)
- Transversal expertise (evaluation, research, mentoring, innovation)
- Global mobile workforce
- Communities of Practice
- By ensuring:
- 15% of the operational budget to be allocated to emergencies
- More long-term planning at project-level (move from ARO1 to MYRO2)
- Focus on selected priorities for medical humanitarian action according to the revised prospects
- HQ growth to not be higher than operational growth
The executive (OCB Board, January 2019) committed to write a section on growth in the Strategic Plan, outlining the intended growth, risks and mitigations of these risks.
Complementarity:
There are several initiatives that started or under process that goes in line with the spirit on the the motion asks.
Ongoing initiatives at field level to strengthen working collaborations between OCB and other OCs and create synergies include the following:
- Mozambique: The coordination of OCB and OCG in Maputo is since last year co-located. This initiative has largely been driven by the field, in order to stimulate synergies and closer working collaborations.
- South Sudan: One person has just been appointed for an interim position of 3 months in Juba to map out how support functions for the 5 OCs present in the country can be rationalized and optimized.
- Pakistan: The coordination offices of OCB and OCP in Islamabad are currently exploring how relevant support services can be shared between the two OCs in order to adapt more efficiently to the changing operational reality in the country.
- Supply: Efforts for regional logistic supply (Nairobi branch office, Johannesburg, Rio). This point is an OCB focus but is believed to serve the complementarity in the future.
- OCBA: Ongoing discussions with other OC’s (OCBA) on how to go about the collaboration and synergies, sharing experiences and ideas in terms of centralization and recentralization.
- Accountability: including mapping of OCB’s operational footprint with the ambition to reach a closer inter-OC collaboration
Way forward:
If the strategic plan will include a statement on how OCB will grow, then the motion will be completed and work on responsible growth can be conducted through normal governance channels. However, if this is not achieved by 2020 when the strategic plan is to start, then it will be important to make a decision how/if to follow this motion further.
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