Instiglio’s Displacement Practice

The project is implemented by Instiglio in Colombia, Ecuador, Ethiopia, and Uganda. It began in October 2022 and is currently ongoing.

The initiative is helping stakeholders address program barriers and enhance program impact and efficiency by working with stakeholders to design and employ results-based solutions. These include for instance, designing financial incentives in program delivery to focus on better results achievement for specific populations, building capacity within government entities to manage RBF instruments, and training those responsible for program implementation for displaced people in the application of results-based approaches.

The Displacement Practice is looking to strengthen governments’ focus on outcomes and cost-effectiveness in service delivery for refugees and migrants, with the aim of improving their livelihoods and inclusion in host communities.

Main activities of the Good Practice

Host countries encounter various challenges in ensuring the effectiveness of refugee programs. One challenge arises from the provision of public services to populations which may have limited familiarity with the hosting government processes and may not always be registered. This situation can pose difficulties for governments in coordinating with service providers, monitoring outcomes, and establishing accountability for the services extended to displaced individuals, especially populations such as women or children. Instiglio's Displacement Practice offers support to overcome programmatic barriers, enhance program delivery, and ultimately improve the lives of displaced individuals. The initiative collaborates with government actors, providing practical support to proactive government officials and partners involved in social program delivery. By partnering with governments, the initiative aims to work with those actors best positioned to address program barriers, including poor results measurement, lack of flexibility in program delivery, and poor transparency. The main activities are to:

1. Provide technical assistance to government actors and service providers to adopt results-based approaches that can improve program impact.
2. Generate, gather, and share knowledge on best practices to facilitate the adoption and funding of the most impactful programs, which, in turn, help to reach greater numbers of those in need.
3. Design incentive-based instruments to sharpen the focus on desired program results.
4. Conduct results-based financing workshops, that build capacity to manage results-based instruments and improve performance management systems.
5. Design financial incentives to assure program fidelity during project scale to new geographies and populations.

Dedicated donor money to fund the project helped facilitate its implementation.

Partners involved

• Conrad N. Hilton Foundation
• Universidad de Los Andes
• Medellin Mayor’s Office
• Fundación de las Americas (FUDELA)
• Santo Domingo Foundation
• Office of the Prime Minister in Uganda
• USAID Local Health System Sustainability

What challenges were encountered in delivering the project and how were they overcome?

Challenges

• Often, the legal and financial teams of the program implementers need support in building capacity and streamlining the contracting process for results-based programming, particularly when adjusting the financial structures of existing programs.
• Engaging government partners and other stakeholders in different contexts necessitates adaptable approaches considering their distinct service delivery methods for refugees.
• Scaling interventions while preserving fidelity to the original model, typically developed through controlled experiments, poses a significant challenge.
• Introducing results-based approaches to partners unfamiliar with the concept requires a mindset shift and hands-on capacity building, which could be met with resistance from organizational leaders.

How they were overcome

• Providing support and addressing potential delays and challenges associated with financial adjustments ensured a smooth contracting process and the necessary capacity for successful implementation.
• Engaging government partners involved – employing different approaches tailored to each specific actor, supported by research and iteration, and focused on the characteristics and needs of each actor – to ensure flexibility.
• Aligning incentives with outputs identified in impact evaluations ensured a strong link between activities and improved outcomes, maintaining high fidelity during the program scale-up.
• Partners were provided with timely technical assistance and support to understand the benefits of RBF for their projects, facilitating the transition to a long-lasting performance culture.

Results of the Good Practice

• Institutionalize outcomes mindsets and reshape performance standards for government and other actors dedicated to improving the livelihoods of displaced individuals, including foundations, implementers, and multilateral organizations.
• Support the city of Medellin in enhancing the capabilities of beneficiaries in the Emergency Program through the design and implementation of a Performance-Based Contract.
• Design a Results-Based Financing (RBF) component to scale up the Semillas de Apego program at Universidad de los Andes.
• Design a Results-Based Financing mechanism to incentivize childcare centers to deliver better services for vulnerable populations, including Venezuelan migrants, in the FUDELA’s Aprendiendo Desde Niños program in Ecuador.
• Provide technical support to the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) to strengthen the functionality and utilization of its integrated refugee data system – the Uganda Refugee Response Monitoring System (URRMS).
• Building interest among a multitude of additional partners that possess the potential to contribute in improving spending cost-effectiveness in the refugee space.

In what way does the good practice meet one or more of the four objectives of the Global Compact on Refugees?

Objective 1: Ease the pressures on host countries

Improved program cost-effectiveness eases the pressure on host countries by reducing the financial burden that migration puts on low- and middle-income countries and maximizing the benefits it brings.

Next steps

The long-term vision of the initiative aims to expand to more countries (i.e., beyond the initial four countries of Colombia, Ecuador, Ethiopia, and Uganda), sectors of import for displaced people (i.e., wider focus outside initial priorities of livelihoods and early childhood education), and many more actors working in this space.

Are there areas in which support would be required to continue and/or scale up your good practice?

Instiglio seeks scale partners to fund our technical assistance services and benefit other governments and implementers to orient their programs more strongly towards results that improve refugees' lives.