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Preparatory Assistance for National Registration and Identification System (PANRIS)

Project ID: 00088986

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United Nations Development Programme Malawi

Preparatory Assistance

for

National Registration and Identification System

(PANRIS)

PROGRESS REPORT

01 JUNE 2015 TO 31 JANUARY 2016

CP Output: Governance SWAP, national investment & capacity development plan; Strategic and capacity development plans for Parliament, Ombudsman, MHRC and MEC.

Project Specific Outcome:

Provide preparatory international technical assistance and support to the National Registration Bureau (NRB) to prepare a detailed plan and preliminary steps for the implementation of a National Registration and Identification System (NRIS).

Output(s): Comprehensive planning and documentation is prepared in collaboration with NRB and MEC to formulate an approach to national registration in Malawi and an institutional baseline is established for NRB.

Project Location(s): Lilongwe, Malawi

Project Donor(s): Irish Aid



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Table of Contents

1. Executive Summary ...................................................................................................................... 3

2. Implementation Progress ............................................................................................................ 5

Output 1. ........................................................................................................................................... 5

3. Challenges ................................................................................................................................... 15

4. Future Plans ................................................................................................................................ 16

5. Financial Section ........................................................................................................................ 16

Table 1: Funding Overview and Expenditure Status ................................................................ 17

Annex 1. Operational Plan .................................................................................................................... 18

Annex 2. Revised Output and Budget ................................................................................................... 21



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1. Executive Summary

In this reporting period of June, 2015 to January, 2016 the Project has made significant strides in

supporting the National Registration Bureau (NRB) towards the design and implementation of a

National Identification and Registration System (NRIS). The process has evolved with the deployment

of an international consultant in August 2015, to support the development and roll-out of a

Government funded Proof of Concept to be conducted by the end of Q2, 2016. In close consultation

with NRB and MEC, and drawing on consultative meetings, the Project has developed detailed

operational plans for the roll out of a NRIS, including risk logs, draft budgets (operational and

institutional), as well as assessing, advising and providing recommendations on ICT infrastructure

and systems. The Project has also made progress with the NRB to reformulate its institutional

structure and staffing requirements to be commensurate with maintaining a continuous registration

system from 2018 onwards, after a mass registration of nine million persons in 2017.

The Project has also directly supported the NRB with the development of technical specifications for

the procurement of equipment and services to support the Proof of Concept event, closely

monitoring its progress and liaising with Government on the funding requirements. The work of the

Project has also been informed by close consultations with other actors supporting the NRB on its

mandate for Civic Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS), such as, UNICEF, CDC and Plan

International. The development of the NRIS plans has also taken into account other parallel

initiatives, such as, the planned conduct of the census in 2018, the One Stop Service Centers being

piloted by the World Bank Group, and the efforts towards a Unified Beneficiary Register being

pursued under the Local Development Fund (LDF).

The Project has made cost-savings in the period that has led to a no-cost extension request from the

donor, Irish Aid, which will permit for ongoing assistance to the end of June, 2016. This no-cost

extension will enable the ongoing delivery of critical technical assistance to the NRB, while also

allowing for the refinement of the NRIS operational plans, budgets and risks – informed by the

outcomes of the Proof of Concept event. Based on preliminary resource mobilization efforts with

donors and Government, the progress and outcome of the Proof of Concept will also provide a

platform for enhancing resource mobilization that will support the full NRIS operation, based on a

Project Document that is evolving in parallel to other developments.

Brief Background

The Initiation Plan was developed in response to a formal request from Malawi’s NRB for support in

formulating a process of biometric national registration. The Initiation Plan is aimed at funding key

activities and the recruitment of experts to assist and inform the development of a full Project

Document to implement a proposed NRIS as a joint endeavour between the NRB and the Malawi

Electoral Commission. The Initiation Plan allows for the preparation of detailed operational planning,

ICT assessment, risk analysis, institutional capacity analysis and financial audit, and estimate budget

preparation as well as recommended partnering arrangements to inform national and international

actors of the key parameters involved in the initiative.



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Rationale

Under UNDP’s Malawi Electoral Cycle Support (MECS) Project an assessment of Malawi’s voter

registration system was conducted in late 2014. The principal recommendation of the assessment

was a solution to introduce a multi-purpose national identity card using biometric technologies from

which the voters’ register could be extracted. The implementation of the system was recommended

to be undertaken as a joint initiative between the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) and the

National Registration Bureau (NRB), and was broadly endorsed by national and international actors.

Technical assistance was rendered to the NRB and MEC through the MECS Project to develop a high-

level Concept of Operations for the registration exercise. However, mindful of prior failed attempts

in Malawi to develop such a system, preliminary discussions and capacity analysis highlighted the

need for targeted international technical assistance to the NRB as the principal duty bearer for the

system and to assist in the detailed formulation of the process. An Initiation Plan was identified as

the most suitable means to recruit additional expertise to complement the MECS Project’s existing

assistance, to specifically profile and undertake detailed planning and documentation with the NRB

to support a full Project Document around the implementation of a National Registration and

Identification System (NRIS).

Objective

The objective of the Project is to deliver international technical assistance and support to the NRB to

enable detailed planning, assessments and recommendations on the optimal approach to undertake

a biometric NRIS in Malawi.

Beneficiaries, Stakeholders, Implementing Arrangements

The NRB of the Ministry of Home Affairs and Internal Security is the primary institutional beneficiary

of the Project. The outputs of the Project will also inform national (governmental and non-

governmental) and international (development partners and international NGOs) stakeholders on

the process. The Project is implemented under UNDP’s Direct Implementation Modality (DIM).



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2. Implementation Progress

Output 1.

Comprehensive planning and documentation is prepared in collaboration with NRB and MEC to

formulate an approach to national registration in Malawi and an institutional baseline is established

for NRB.

Background

Preliminary discussions on a NRIS Concept of Operations (ConOps) highlighted the need for

assistance to the NRB to undertake the necessary analysis and planning required to elaborate a

feasible and sustainable operational plan. Under the Project, UNDP has worked closely with the NRB,

MEC and other assistance service providers engaged with the NRB to develop detailed plans and

associated analysis to cover three principal phases of NRIS:

a. A GoM funded and procurement led Proof of Concept (PoC) to establish the infrastructure

and capacities necessary to register up to 5,000 persons by mid-2016, and pilot registrations

to be undertaken in Q3 and Q4 of 2016;

b. A joint GoM and Development Partner (DP) funded and UNDP procurement led operation to

conduct mass registration in the course of 2017 for up to 9 million persons; and

c. Establishing a continuous registration process in 2018 that uses joint NRB/UNDP

implementation over the course of that year, while transitioning to a full NRB driven process

from 2019 onwards.

Activity 1: “Provide Technical Assistance to the NRB and MEC to develop Detailed Planning and

Documentation”

Progress for Activity 1.1: “International Consultant is recruited to Provide Technical Expertise to

NRB and MEC in the Development of Detailed Planning and Associated Documentation

Consultant Recruitment. A highly qualified international consultant, Mr. Frik Olivier, was recruited

and deployed in mid-August to provide technical assistance to the NRB. The deployment of the

consultant was delayed pending his completion of his existing assignment in Sierra Leone. The

Consultant has been deployed to work from the offices of the NRB to work in close collaboration

with their staff and to interact with other GoM ministries and representatives.

Detailed Operational Plan. A detailed operational plan covering the process through the PoC, mass

registration and continuous registration has been developed in Microsoft Project, to allow ease of

progress tracking, milestones and sequencing. The planning has been developed around six core

outputs that address the three phases, and will provide the basis of a full Project Document to

support the operation. Figure 1 below reflects the summary timelines and sequence of these

outputs over the period 2016 and 2017, while the associated detailed operational plan with activity



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results is attached as Annex 1. The 2018 period will depend heavily on the outcomes of the

preceding phases and therefore, while a draft is in place, it is not included in this report.

Figure 1. Summary of Operation Plan (2016-2017)

ICT Assessment and Requirements. An Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

assessment was conducted of the NRB and associated GoM infrastructure necessary to support the

NRIS. The assessment found that while the NRB had minimalistic infrastructure in place, several

aspects could benefit from integration with existing GoM systems and other initiatives. As a result, a

recommendation was presented to the NRB that the national datacentre for NRIS should be

embedded in the GoM E-Government facility, which already possesses the necessary power,

environment and security features. This recommendation was adopted and endorsed by the NRB,

removing the need for the establishment and renovation of a separate physical site. A secondary

benefit of the choice of the E-Government facility is the evolving fibre optic backbone being

deployed throughout most of the country by the GoM, China and World Bank Group, which routes

directly to the E-Government facility and therefore provides a data backbone for the

decentralisation of the NRIS, while also interconnecting with the Capitol Hill Government Wide

Access Network (GWAN) that will permit for physically distant equipment to be interlinked via

network.

The ICT assessment also considered the hardware, software and staff capacity of the NRB, and how

these issues could be addressed in the operational plan. The PoC exercise (being funded by GoM)

integrated the procurement of servers and software necessary for the operation of the central

national registry database, as well as the procurement of card printers that will support a workload

of 500,000 cards per year from 2018 onwards. The UNDP consultant is developing the software

required for the collection of individual’s information, as well as the database system that will be the

national registry. In this regard, several technical meetings with ICT staff of various GoM institutions

have been held to draw upon lessons learned from elsewhere in Government, as well as to sensitise

these representatives to the ICT architecture and applications being employed for the NRIS. The

capacity of NRB ICT staff is partially addressed (for hardware maintenance and networking by E-

Government staff), however, the capacity for in-house software development and database

administration and management is non-existent. Requirements for in-house software and database



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management have therefore been included into the proposed NRB staffing requirements and

revised organigram.

Finally, the ICT assessment also included consideration of the existing infrastructure and systems

that have developed as part of the NRB’s Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS, also known as

registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages). The CRVS ICT system has been developed principally by

Baobab Health Trust (BHT) with funding from the US Centre for Disease Control (CDC) and is a state

of ongoing development and roll out. At the datacentre level the NRIS and CRVS systems can be

made interoperable to exchange data. However, the BHT solution is unique and presently not

integrated with the GWAN or E-Government systems. Discussions with the NRB and CRVS solution

providers (CDC, BHT, UNICEF, Plan International) are ongoing to find an optimal approach to ensure

that the systems are as optimally integrated and ultimately, sustainable by the NRB.

Risk Assessment. As part of the Projects activities, consultations were conducted with a range of

national and international stakeholders to identify and rate risks for the NRIS initiative, drawing from

the risk categories initially identified in the AFRICORE assessment report. The detailed risk matrix

identifies individual risks are categorised as operational, financial or political and are framed under

the following major themes: Strategic, Constitutional and Legal, Technical, Operational and, External.

The risk matrix is being considered as a living document and will be reviewed and updated in the

course of the PoC to reflect on lessons extracted from that process. The top line summary risks

identified for the NRIS operation are detailed below in Table 1, where the maximum risk score

possible is 625.

Table 1. Top Line Risks

Type Risk Issue Description Score Mitigation

Financial Funding

availability

Funding gaps will

critically

undermine the

operational

process and

confidence of

stakeholders in the

delivery of the

process.

500 National and international funding

commitments to the project will

need to be committed by Q2, 2016.

Contribution schedules to a multi-

donor trust fund will enable

national and international

contributions to be unified as a

single financial resource with

predictable funding levels.

Operational Resources Inadequately

skilled personnel

pose a pivotal risk

to the undertaking.

378 A capacity needs assessment

should be performed and its results

factored into a skills development

plan, which should be integrated

into the project plan.

Operational Non-

Malawians

acquiring an

Because of the

absence of a

national ID card

361 The planning team and the key

stakeholders should agree on

stringent measures for registration



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ID Card

illegally

and database in

Malawi and the

porous borders

with neighbouring

states, the risk of

granting non-

Malawians

citizenship is quite

high.

and allow for adjudication.

Operational The time

factor

Time is the most

critical resource for

the successful

implementation of

the project. Non-

adherence to

project timelines,

especially at the

outset, poses the

greatest risk.

340 The planning phase should be

commissioned within the proposed

project timeline.

Amongst other things, the project

plan should provide a detailed

project timeline schedule and the

consequences of time slippages.

The plan should be shared widely

with all key stakeholders to

broaden awareness on timelines,

as well as the contingency plan of

BVR

Operational Procurement

timelines

and/or

procurement

legal

disputes.

Due to the

complexity of the

project, its size,

and significance,

the procurement

processes may take

an inordinate

amount of time or

simply lead to legal

disputes that could

completely derail

the project.

320 The primary stakeholders should

ensure that the management of

the procurement process is above

board and credible to avoid any

potential fallouts and legal disputes

adversely affecting the success of

the project.

Operational Technical

Competence

Limited technology

knowledge and

experience

available to carry

out a project of this

size and

complexity.

304 Introduce international expertise

for capacity development, skills,

and knowledge transfer.



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Financial Resources The proposed

project will require

substantial

financial resources.

Non- availability of

dedicated funding

will scupper the

project.

300 The planning team should propose

an affordable financial plan. Once

allocated the requisite budget

should be ring-fenced.

Operational Data

protection

laws

Lack of data

protection laws is a

critical gap and risk

in the current

legislative

framework.

256 The legal reform task team should

be mandated to expedite the

introduction of relevant data

protection laws.

Operational Network

Connectivity

Limited and

unstable network

connectivity

infrastructure in

general.

256 Develop requirements

specifications for suitable

technology that will be able to

operate both online and offline.

Conduct a product selection

process.

Operational Environment

factors

The weather

conditions in the

country are a

critical factor that

affects the pattern

and levels of

participation of

citizens in a

national database

exercise. If

undertaken during

the rainy season

the levels of

participation of the

citizenry would be

poor.

252 The planning team should draw

from experiences of MEC on the

effects of inclement weather on

the participation of citizens.

The project plan should consider

the climatic seasons, and provide

contingency plans for a rainy day.

Provisional Budgeting. Based on the operational plan, the total NRIS Project budget is detailed at

US$49,538,093 for the period 2016 to 2018. Table 2 below shows a summary costing over the

relevant years. (A detailed budget breakdown including indicators, baselines, targets, and activities is

available upon request). The budget is based upon a solution that would use a card design that

includes a micro-chip, which is the recommended technology for such solutions.



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Table 2. NRIS Project Budget

Year

Output 2016 2017 2018 Total

Output: 9.5 Million Citizens (age 16 and

above) Issued with National ID

$6,981,050 $29,667,500 $ - $36,648,550

Output: Legal acts, regulations,

procedures harmonised

$10,000 $100,000 $ - $110,000

Output: Institutional Development

$401,200 $ 2,237,400 $240,000 $ 2,878,600

Output: Civic education developed and

implemented

$635,000 $ 205,000 $50,000 $ 890,000

Output: NRIS reviewed and future

development plan drafted

$ 100,000 $56,000 $56,000 $ 212,000

Output: Well managed and coordinated

implementation of the NRIS Project

$889,974 $1,293,948 $915,948 $3,099,870

Project Sub Total $9,017,224 $33,559,848 $1,261,948 $43,839,020

Support for Unforeseen Gaps (5%) $450,861 $1,677,992 $63,097 $2,191,951

General Management Service Fees $721,378 $2,684,788 $100,956 $ 3,507,122

Project Total $10,189,463 $37,922,628 $1,426,001 $49,538,093

The budget of the Project will be adjusted with more up to date prices after the PoC procurement

process. Furthermore, it is possible that the Biometric Registration Kits and the cost of ID Card

production may go down because of economies of scale.

Financial Proposal. UNDP prepared a Funding Proposal in December 2015 that was circulated to DPs

and GoM for review and comment. A dedicated meeting of partners was held to review and discuss

the proposal, as well as follow-up meetings with some DPs that were unable to attend (DFID and

Japan). The purpose of the proposal was to establish a baseline from which DPs and GoM could react

to the cost of the operation, and advise on funding feasibility. Estimated DP funding arising from the

exercise highlighted that DPs may be able to contribute US$21-$25 million. UNDP is presently

working with the Ministry of Home Affairs and Internal Security to seek an estimate of GoM funding,

and to draw together GoM and DPs for a joint discussion. At the outset, however, it appears

necessary that GoM will need to contribute at least US$10 million in 2016, while most DP funds will

only become available in 2017.

Due to the initial funding picture, UNDP is exploring various alternatives to reduce costs. Some

options include different manufacturing processes, different materials, or dropping the microchip

completely. The chip will provide the best security and anti-forging properties, but most importantly,



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it will provide GoM, NGO’s, and Development Partners with the e-Wallet solution (where the card is

able to carry a secure line of credit and debit). That said, the option without a microchip in the card

may reduce the budget to approximately US$38,017,912.00. Although, these prices may still vary as

the PoC reveals latest prices, duration of capture, and durability and practicalities of equipment.

Finally, these decisions will have a strong bearing on the annualised operational cost of the system,

which has therefore been deferred pending the outcome of deliberations.

NRB and MEC Memorandum of Understanding. A collaborative approach between NRB and MEC

has been agreed upon but is not yet formalised as a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU),

although a baseline document has been drafted by UNDP for the purpose. In discussions with NRB

and MEC, while close collaborative planning and experience sharing has been undertaken, the

particulars of an operational MoU will be best defined by the experience of the PoC to see where

and how the respective institutions can collaborate on the NRIS.

Progress for Activity 1.2: “Provide Professional Exposure to Key NRB and MEC staff to issues of

Electronic Identity”

The Project sent members of the MEC (Director of ICT), NRB (Director of Bureau) and UNDP (Deputy

Resident Representative of Programmes) to the ID4Africa forum event in Tanzania over 2 – 4 June,

2015. The event constituted the Annual Pan-African Forum & Exposition on digital identity (eID) and

its applications for driving socio-economic development in Africa. It was “The 1st Government Forum

on Electronic Identity in Africa”, and was hosted by the National Identification Authority (NIDA) of

the Tanzanian Ministry of Home Affairs in Dar es Salaam.

The event brought together representatives of four key stakeholder groups in the identity space in

Africa: the identity authorities and users, international development agencies, solution providers

and domain experts. The convergence of these four stakeholders in a focused forum created a

unique opportunity for the Malawian delegation to network and exchange ideas and experience. The

NRB and MEC provided a report and briefing to the Technical Committee on their participation, as

well as key issues that they identified as being relevant for Malawi’s proposed NRIS.

Activity 2: “Establish NRB Institutional Capacity Baselines”

Progress for Activity 2.1: “International Consultant is recruited to conduct an Institutional Capacity

Assessment of NRB for Staffing and Capacity to support NRIS”

The current organizational chart of the NRB is functional for a small-scale operation and is dated in

terms of the functional skills required to support a modern NRIS. Illustratively, the current staffing

contains a “Fingerprint Officer”, who not long ago, was needed when fingerprinting was done using

paper and physical files. With today’s technologies, however, fingerprints and photos are digitally

captured in the field by Registration Officers using computers. The software is then designed to

upload the data and central servers to “classify” and do biometric analysis. It is true that humans are

still needed to adjudicate all duplicates found and distinguish between technical duplicates

(accidental done by operators), relocation duplicates (citizens ignorant of rules and register again to

reflect their current location after a job relocation or similar), and fraudulent cases (a person tries to



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assume another identity). However, the relevant skills and placement of the function within the

institution require modification for the role.

UNDP conducted in-depth discussions with the NRB and their CRVS partners to map the current

organisational chart and projected staffing and functional requirements for the introduction and

operation of the NRIS and CRVS. In particular, addressing the requirements of operations, logistics

and ICT, which do not exist under the current structure, as well as the need for decentralised staff to

sustain a continuous registration process with nationally distributed points of registration. The

Project has also sought to impress upon the GoM that a secondment/redeployment from around the

civil service is not considered a suitable staffing solution. On one hand, the skills and capacities being

sought are often not available and need to be developed in-situ with capacity development. The

prospect of investing in seconded staff that may be recalled to their home ministry is therefore a

liability for the sustainable capacity of the NRB. On the other hand, there is a concern that the staff

that might be released would not be the best performers available. As such, the recommendation

for filling the vacancies and new positions would be to recruit new staff, provide these with

specialised training and put in place measures to facilitate their retention with NRB.

Finally, the Project has stressed to GoM and NRB that the revised staffing table and recruitment of

staff needs to occur by early 2017, to allow for the Project to develop their capacity and expose

them to the systems being introduced over the course of 2017 and then to parallel their work with

internationals in the course of 2018. To ensure budgetary resources for the recruitment process, a

budget of positions has been developed that foresees an increase in Operational Recurrent

Transaction (ORT) staff budget from MWK53,544,560 to MWK409,313,708 to accommodate an

increase from 87 staff to 363. Table 3 below summarizes the proposed revised staffing.

Table 3. NRB Staffing

Level From To From (MWK) To (MWK) From (USD) To (USD)

HQ Staff 29 71 MWK72,878,280 MWK 138,627,836 $145,757 $277,256

District Staff 58 112 MWK80,666,280 MWK 146,673,072 $161,333 $293,346

CSC Staff - 180 MWK - MWK 124,012,800 $- $248,026

Total 87 363 MWK 53,544,560 MWK 409,313,708 $307,089 $818,627

Difference 276 MWK255,769,148.00 $511,538.30

Percentage 417% 267% 267%

Progress for Activity 2.2: “Service Provider is retained to conduct a Financial Audit of NRB”

KPMG Malawi was retained under a contract to conduct a micro-assessment of the NRB in

December, 2015. The findings of the assessment rated the NRB as “Moderate Risk” across a risk

scale of Low, Moderate, Significant and High. Based on the outcomes and baseline of this



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assessment, UNDP has prepared terms of reference for a second assessment that will assess the

“Change Management” capacity of NRB to meet the expected requirements of operating and

maintaining the systems for the NRIS and CRVS. The assessment will focus on key gaps and key

management personnel, and recommend a sequence in which to develop key capacities. This second

assessment is scheduled to be carried out in Q1, 2016.

Activity 3: “Support Technical Meetings and Stakeholder Consultations to support NRB/MEC

Development of Plans and Documents, as well as Transparent Discussions and National

Ownership”

Progress for Activity 3.1: “Support the Convening of Fortnightly Meetings between MEC and NRB”

The Project has supported ten meetings between NRB and MEC to work jointly on key planning

issues. Initially, these meetings drew together a discussion chaired by the NRB Director and MEC

Deputy CEO(Ops) along with technical staff. The discussions were beneficial in terms of sharing

experiences, but were noted to have limited impact on follow-up actions. As such, subsequent

meetings included and were chaired by the Chief Director of NRB and MEC Commissioner Tembo to

ensure that agreed actions were pursued. The relocation of the NRB from its offices at Petroda

House to the Vice President’s building on Capitol Hill, however, caused a delay of from October to

November, 2015 while the NRB staff relocated and resettled into their new location.

Progress for Activity 3.2: “Support the Convening of Stakeholder Meetings”

As the development of the NRIS has progressed, the Project has supported stakeholder meetings as

a co-convener and technical assistance provider to gain consensus from stakeholders on key issues.

Stakeholders engaged have included: the Public Sector Reform Commission, e-Government, CDC,

Baobab Health Trust, Plan International, UNICEF, UNFPA, Development Partners and the World Bank

Group. Stakeholders have been convened: to inform and discuss the short, medium, and long term

plans for NRIS; to gather information as to how the NRB plans could potentially benefit stakeholders;

to identify synergies with other processes; and, to report back on progress. UNDP and NRB have also

conducted technical consultations with stakeholders to discuss the following topics:

Adoption of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Standards and Guidelines for machine readable cards, which was accepted.

Co-location of the NRIS server farm into the e-Government GWAN facility, which was accepted.

Adoption and implementation of the recommendation to advertise in two newspapers the data to be collected under NRIS, and to solicit inputs from the general public. (Notably, the NRB received no submissions).

Proposed adoption of an algorithm for generating the unique National ID Number for each person registered in the NRIS. This recommendation has been generally accepted but has not been officially confirmed.



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Inclusion of the unique National ID number for birth certificates. Recommendation proposed and broadly accepted, as well as supported by CRVS service providers, although not yet officially confirmed.

Co-presentation of Funding Proposal to Development Partners in mid-December, 2015.

The Project has also been heavily engaged with NRB and ODPP on the procurement process for the

PoC equipment and services. The UNDP Consultant has participated as a technical resource for the

NRB’s Internal Procurement Committee (IPC) throughout the process, assisting in the Expression of

Interest (EoI) evaluation (25 vendors responded), as well as the subsequent Request for Proposal

evaluation of three proposals, received from five potential vendors identified through the EoI

exercise. Technical specifications were adopted and accepted, however, a recommendation for the

RFQ to cluster equipment into separate lots to allow for specialised vendors to bid was not accepted.

Activity 4: Project is Effectively Managed and Supported

Progress for Activity 4.1: “Ensure Project is Effectively Supported”

The Project has been managed and administered through the UNDP Country Office, becoming a

standing agenda item of update under the Malawi Electoral Cycle Support Project Steering and

Technical committees. The UNDP Chief Technical Advisor (CTA) and Consultant have also provided

regular oral briefings to Irish Aid staff to discuss progress and developments. UNDP has also engaged

high level representatives from the Ministry, NRB, ODPP and Vice President’s Office, as required, to

advocate for key steps and progress in the procurement exercise. The UNDP Resident

Representative has also been engaged in several of these discussions to impress the importance of

the process.

Substantive progress has been made in relation to the Proof of Concept roll out, with field

operations expected to be conducted in late April/early May. An assessment of the budget in

January, identified that sufficient funds were available to continue the Project under a no-cost

extension. Some savings were achieved due to the delayed deployment of the Consultant, while

other activities were achieved under budget, such as, the mission to the ID4Africa event, audit

contract costs and MEC-NRB meetings. Accordingly, a request for a no-cost extension until the end

of June, 2016 was sought from Irish Aid with a revised work plan and associated budget (attached as

Annex 2).

Against the target indicators for the output the project has achieved the following: a detailed

operational plan, ICT assessment, estimated budget and risk assessment have been produced. Eight

meetings between NRB and MEC have been supported through the Project, while joint Task Teams

for operations and public information have been formed and also met. As well, NRB and MEC have

been present in three TC meetings and two Steering Committee meetings. A baseline financial

micro-assessment of the NRB has been conducted, with plans in pipeline under the no-cost

extension to conduct a further change management audit. Meanwhile, a baseline on the staffing

chart and functional composition has been undertaken and a projected revised organigram

produced.



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3. Challenges

The financial constraints broadly faced by Government has impacted on the NRB’s certainty of

funding for the Proof of Concept despite the commitment of the Ministry of Finance to provide

MWK1.6 billion for the exercise. Exacerbating this concern has been the dramatically falling

value of the Kwacha, where its FOREX value has fallen propitiously. Concern over GoM funding

has also impacted on the confidence of DPs that GoM is fully committed to the exercise.

The weak technical capacity of the NRB in operations, logistics and ICT has presented a

significant challenge for the planning and development of systems with which they are

unfamiliar. In particular, the issue of scalability – being able to project the impact of processes

undertaken with a few thousand people to their effect when applied to millions of people – is an

area of continual focus for technical assistance being rendered.

The possibility of Malawi pursuing a NRIS with a Chinese company and funding via a soft loan has

been a recurring source of confusion. A proposal was tabled to the NRB in early/mid 2015 but

was withdrawn. While the inactive status of the proposal was confirmed with the Vice President

and senior Ministry and Bureau staff, and communicated to DPs, the concern has been

periodically resurrected due to misleading media reporting on various deals between the GoM

and China.

The GoM funded procurement process for the Proof of Concept exercise has required close

monitoring and assistance. UNDP has impressed that compliance with the Procurement Act is

the relevant benchmark for the process, and that it is being closely scrutinized by DPs as a

measure of confidence in the process. These efforts aside, the GoM led procurement process

has proceeded slowly against initial benchmarks, due to approval bottlenecks.

UNDP has made several efforts to coordinate its work with various service providers that are

assisting the NRB with their CRVS mandate. These providers have not been well coordinated in

their assistance to the NRB, and appear to hold a variety of opinions on the best way forward

that have yet to consolidate into a single and focused approach for CRVS.

Initial budget estimates for the full implementation of the NRIS over three years stands at

approximately US$50 million. In consideration of the upcoming census in 2018 as well as the

elections in 2019, if the window of 2017 is missed for mass registration, the next realistic

opportunity for the exercise would be in 2020. Initial estimates for donor funding are in the

order of US$25 million, while GoM is yet to give a firm indication on its funding feasibility. In any

successful scenario, the GoM will need to fund approximately US$10 million in 2016, as most

donor funding will only be available from 2017 onward. Further, with the expansion of staffing of

the NRB, the GoM will also need to significantly increase the annual Operational Recurring

Transaction (ORT) costs for NRB through the main budget.



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4. Future Plans

In the period from 01 February to 30 June, 2016 the Project will focus on the following tasks:

Maintain international technical assistance on national registration to the Vice President’s

Office, Ministry of Home Affairs and NRB throughout the period, including the roll out of the PoC

exercise:

o Refine specifications of software and hardware requirements, develop, test and install

software for the central national database and registration kit application.

o Assist the NRB in the contract management of the service provider retained for the PoC

phase of work.

o Assist in refining the PoC operational plan.

o Assist in defining the PoC public information campaign.

o Assist the NRB in developing the PoC assessment framework, capture and analysis of data.

o Refine the overall NRIS operational plan based on the analysis of the PoC.

o Refine the risk assessment based on the PoC experience.

o Refine the ICT assessment.

o Refine the NRIS operational budget based on the PoC.

Conduct field monitoring and provide technical support to the implementation of the POC.

Advise and assist the NRB in restructuring its staffing organisation:

o Provide technical assistance to finalise the staffing structure.

o Recruit a national consultant to assist in drafting terms of reference for the staffing chart.

o Assist the NRB in developing a revised ORT budget that considers the new staffing

requirements.

Maintain support to the convening of MEC and NRB technical meetings, multi-stakeholder

meetings and select engagement in value-adding international events.

Develop a capacity building plan for change management priorities:

o Contract a service provider to undertake a “Change Management” systems analysis and

recommend a sequence of priorities for implementing a new structure.

Advocate and support GoM and donors on funding for the NRIS Project

Finalise the Project Document (narrative and budget) based on experience and information

gained through the PoC.

Contract a service provider to provide a website and corporate email service for the NRB to

assist in public information and awareness of the NRIS and CRVS.

5. Financial Section

All financial data presented in this report is provisional. From UNDP Bureau of Management/Office

of Finance and Administration, an annual certified financial statement as of 31 December will be

submitted every year no later than 30 June of the following year.



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Table 1: Funding Overview and Expenditure Status

CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED DATE RECEIVED EURO RATE USD

IRELAND Jun-15 100,000.00 0.918 108,932.46

Jul-15 200,000.00 0.915 218,579.23

TOTAL CONTRIBUTIONS 300,000.00 327,511.69

Project activities*

Revised budget for

project period June

2015 - June 2016*

Expenditure June

2015 - 31 January

2016

Commitment as of

31 January 2016

Balance as of 31

January 2016

1. Provide international

technical assistance for the

development of a

comprehensive NRIS system

203,250.00 97,634.00 94,210.00 11,406.00

2. Establish NRB institutional

capacity baselines and

strengthen institutional

capacity to manage NRIS

33,500.00 2,500.00 14,500.00 16,500.00

3. Support Technical meetings

and stakeholder consultations 55,500.00 2,470.00 - 53,030.00

4. Project is effectively

managed and supported 11,002.00 - - 11,002.00

General Management Service

Fees**** 24,260.00 8,208.32 16,051.68

TOTAL 327,512.00 110,812.32 108,710.00 107,989.68

NOTE:

Name/Description of activities updated to be in line with 2016 work plan and revised budget

Revised budget as proposed in the request for no-cost extension, dated 28th January 2016.

Prepared by Anne-Thora Vardoy-Mutale, Programme Analyst

Budget in project document is USD 331,857. Contribution from Irish Aid is USD 327,512.00, with

difference owing to fluctuating exchange rates

UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME, FINANCIAL REPORT* FOR THE PERIOD JUNE 2015 - 31 JANUARY 2016

FOR THE PREPARATORY ASSISTANCE TO NATIONAL REGISTRATION AND IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM (NRIS)

PROJECT ID : 00088986



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Annex 1. Operational Plan



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Annex 2. Revised Output and Budget

Preparatory assistance for National Registration and Identification System (NRIS) for Malawi

Implementation Period: 01 June, 2015 to 30 June, 2016

Output Item

Duration /Quantity

Unit Price

Total Price (US$)

1.1 Detailed NRIS operational plan International Expert 10.5

months 19,000 199,500

1.2 Critical assessment of ICT infrastructure requirements

No additional costs, covered under 1.1

1.3 Risk assessment for the NRIS project implementation (operational stages)


1.4 Estimate budget for NRIS and annualized ongoing costs


1.5 Financial systems audit of NRB Consulting services 2 8,500 8,500

1.6 NRB – MEC joint consultations & meetings

Consultations / meetings 17 1,000 17,000

1.7 Multi-stakeholder consultations Consultations / meetings (1 every 2 months +1)

5 3,500 17,500

1.8 Institutional capacity assessment of NRB

Organizational Expert 1 month 10,000 10,000

1.9 Professional exposure (1NRB, 1MEC, 1 UNDP)

International travel to ID4Africa 3 person 7,000 21,000

1.10 Registration software development for Proof of Concept


1.11 Expert assistance on PoC Contract Management


1.12 Field monitoring and technical support of Proof of Concept

Field Monitoring 15 days 250 3,750

1.13 NRB Website and Email Service Service provider contract 2 years 15,000 15,000

1.14 Miscellaneous costs Communication costs, travel, laptop, printer, software, consumables, etc.

1 11,002 11,002

Total Programmable 303,252

GMS 8% 24,260

TOTAL 327,512*