Introduction 

As part of the revised Social and Environmental Standards (SES) (which come into effect on 1 January 2021), UNDP has prepared an implementation strategy to ensure strengthened institutional arrangements and capacities. ​

Building on lessons learned from the last five years, the Learning and Communication Strategy describes the objectives, principles, approach, and resources required to ensure scaled-up and sustained investment in SES learning and communications. ​

With a corporate commitment to investing in continuous learning and implementation capacities, UNDP aims to enter a new phase of embedding the SES in the way we manage and implement our programming.

Objectives

• Enable UNDP staff to progressively understand and implement UNDP's SES as an integral and fully embedded component of effective programme and project management, applying a principled and risk-informed approach.
• Raise awareness among all relevant stakeholders of the value and purpose of the SES.
• Create and/or strengthen the capacities of implementing partners.

Principles

• Targeted Learning: Based on clarified roles and responsibilities, the strategy aims to provide targeted communications and learning opportunities that are relevant and timely for different audiences.
• Practical Learning: Learning will be focused on implementation rather than compliance, providing practical and applied skills. It will go beyond the policies and strengthen risk identification, data collection and informed decision-making. Further training will be adapted to respond to specific challenges in the regional and/or country context and emphasize risk mitigation efforts throughout the project cycle.
• Continuous/Progressive Learning: Opportunities will focus on enabling a "learning journey" for staff to build a foundation and continue to grow and deepen their capacity, rather than infrequent and one-off trainings.
• Experiential Learning: Focus will be on learning by doing and learning through real-life lessons learned and experiences, sharing models of success as well as learning from failures.
• Shared Learning: The strategy aims to facilitate more peer-to-peer learning and knowledge exchange.
• Accessible Learning: Bite-size learning available for users when they need it and in multiple languages, to tailor their own learning journey.

Approach

Based on the above principles, the approach for the Learning and Communications Strategy is focused on reaching those responsible for implementation as a priority. Therefore, this strategy identifies key target groups based on their roles and responsibilities at all levels to build a critical mass of SES expertise and shift away from reliance on a very small HQ SES team to deliver the necessary trainings and learning resources.