By Elsie Too

The hangar area within the Aden Adde International Airport compound was buzzing with activity during the fourth quarter of 2024 as the government worked around the clock to finalize Somalia’s 2025–2029 National Transformation Plan (NTP), a blueprint to propel the country’s promising future. I accompanied the Deputy Resident Representative – Programmes and colleagues for a gallery walk of the National Transformation Plan (NTP) labs, where we were taken through the fine details of the forward-looking plan. It was elaborate, well-coordinated, and truly inspirational.

Even before joining UNDP, I knew the organization worked with government by aligning its work with national priorities. However, this season taught me something deeper - that strategic planning calendars are deliberately set with an overlap between a government’s strategic plan and UN country program documents, which coincide with the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF).

The plan took shape and was centered around four pillars: 1) Transformational Governance, 2) Sustainable Economic Transformation, 3) Social and Human Capital Transformation, and 4) Environment and Climate Resilience. These would become the north stars guiding UN agencies’ programme documents and the next Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF 2026–2030).

Internally, as part of our preparation of the new Country Programme Document (CPD 2026-2030), we had already developed a timeline, aligned with the corporate deadline, targeting the second regular Executive Board session of 2025. The language of CPD formulation was new to me, but I knew being part of this strategic process from the outset would be an invaluable learning experience. Under my supervisor’s guidance, I began by creating a shared folder and uploading key reference documents necessary for the process. The journey ahead was a sprint with a hard deadline for a draft CPD by April 2025.

Simultaneously, we worked with the innovation hub to apply systems thinking and design a portfolio approach to our CPD. My role was to organize and facilitate two virtual workshops - the Statement of Intent and the Theory of Change. The ICT team ensured seamless technology setup, while the Innovation Hub’s interactive tools made the sessions engaging and dynamic. Developing a portfolio-centric CPD required a mindset shift; though the formulation process is largely programmatic, operations teams were equally engaged in the reflective discussions that unpacked Somalia’s key challenges, our comparative advantage, and the vision for change over the next five years. Listening to national colleagues share insights into the country’s realities was eye-opening on many fronts.

By February, my daily steps averaged 10,000 as we conducted stakeholder consultations across regions. The exercise was designed to engage Somali counterparts extensively in the process. The in-country mission demanded thorough preparation before the consultant’s arrival, tasks that often went beyond regular working hours. I created an online Excel tracker for selected sites and, together with area office teams, we populated it with planned bilateral and group sessions. This phase demanded multiple administrative and coordination tasks, from obtaining security clearances and booking conference rooms to facilitating movement and adjusting to last-minute changes. Colleagues brought in their government counterparts, private sector actors, youth and women’s groups, and people with disabilities — a true embodiment of leaving no one behind. Despite the challenges, we navigated the season successfully.

We were initially on track with our timeline, but this had to change as strategic processes led by the UN Country Team, including the Common Country Analysis (CCA) and formulation of the UNSDCF outcomes, were still underway. Since CPD outcomes are typically drawn verbatim from the UNSDCF, we had to realign our timeline. This adjustment gave us some breathing space, shifting our target to an end-of-July draft and aiming for the first regular Executive Board session of 2026.

As the UNCT-led processes unfolded, we held multiple sessions as the M&E working group, guided by my supervisor to shape the CPD results framework through a shared Excel sheet. The draft CPD gradually took form, structured around two main pathways aligned with the first two NTP pillars. We spent significant time defining indicators, establishing baselines, and revising those that lacked sufficient data. By mid-July, we had a solid draft ready for corporate review. What followed was an intense back-and-forth season of responding to queries, adjusting sections as needed and creating multiple iterations of the document. As we moved through the various stages via multiple email exchanges, presentations, internal feedback, government engagement and endorsement, I deeply appreciated the consultant’s technical expertise, my supervisor’s steady guidance, and the leadership of the senior management team.

As we await the final stages and eventual approval of the 2026–2030 CPD during the February Board session, I feel grateful and honored to be part of this journey together with a diverse group of national and international colleagues at UNDP Somalia, and other UN agencies, representatives from the government ministries, civil society organizations, and the private sector. 

This is the true power of everyone.