DFAT
December 2021 - May 2022
The Challenge
Australia has been a longstanding and significant supporter of the Australia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). In 2021, DFAT recognised the need to shift its investment in APEC from small project-based work to an approach guided by a holistic strategy with consistent measurement of outcomes from the investment.
The Solution
Strategic Development Group was engaged to prepare a Strategic Design Framework for Australia’s support to APEC. Our team undertook wide consultations with the APEC Secretariat, Australian Government departments and agencies, and stakeholders in other APEC economies. The team also considered and analysed previous DFAT-funded activities. On the basis of the consultation and analysis, our team prepared a new framework and recommended an approach to managing and measuring the effectiveness of DFAT’s funding.
The Outcome
DFAT accepted the Strategic Design Framework we prepared and adopted it as the guiding document for all DFAT aid investments in APEC. Key features of the framework include:
Encouragement of portfolio, multi-year activities, with no cap on project size
Principles and assessment criteria for project funding decisions
An Advisory Support Contractor to assist with project design, monitoring and evaluation, disability and inclusion analysis, and logistics
Resourcing for proactive development of a pipeline of projects
Renewed emphasis on effective whole-of-government collaboration
