The plan will seek to enhance the productivity of the Institute’s human resources, by strengthening the human talent, and by professionalizing and formalizing processes to select, assign, upgrade, train, certify and provide incentives to staff, as well as to increase professional commitment. The model will also require IICA to build its current team into an efficient structure that will be capable of executing the value proposition, demonstrating high standards of quality, greater commitment and a strong capacity to “sell services” that will position IICA in the technical sphere (relevance) and will expand its portfolio of externally funded projects. Training should be integrated into the work schedule.
The plan has three objectives: a) to capitalize on the training and prior experience of staff, aiming for a high level of specialization in the scientific and technical spheres of the cooperation agendas; b) to align the conceptual, methodological and instrumental approaches that the Institute will prioritize in its technical cooperation agenda, translating training into concrete, integrated and cohesive applications for the specialized, internal teams and networks; and c) to certify technical and jobs skills, as a mechanism to formalize and evaluate knowledge, skills, abilities and performance, with a view to improving individual professional credentials to facilitate upward mobility within the organization or external professional competitiveness, thereby enhancing the overall technical positioning of IICA.
Implementation will call for specific roles to be assigned at all levels—functional areas, units, work groups and individual staff—who will encounter substantial changes in procedures and protocols that must be utilized and adapted to work routines. At the leadership level, the three divisions of the Institute (DTC, DCS and DIREXI) will play a fundamental role in implementing the six strategies.
At the operational level, all IICA units will be instrumental in implementing the model, in keeping with the roadmap presented in the virtual staff meeting. The role of the technical staff will be critical to developing a cooperation agenda that is relevant and up to date. The critical role of the technical-administrative areas will be to boost corporate productivity, for an agenda of greater demands or relationships; to increase political, diplomatic and technical relevance; and to expand the project portfolio. We have already begun to create multi-disciplinary teams in a bid to generate constructive ideas and to tackle the challenges of institutional transformation.
Based on an analysis of administrative, technical and job competencies, and bearing in mind the certification and upgrading of human talent, training activities will be designed in the following areas:
✓ Scientific and technical issues required to develop and execute technical cooperation services.
✓ Fundamental aspects related to institutional structure—regulatory and organizational—and with respect to international law and international relations.
✓ Business skills in the areas of delivery of cooperation services, identification of demands, pre-investment, project formulation, positioning of the institutional brand (technical advertising and marketing), costing and budgeting.
The Director General, with the support of the Directors and the work teams that will be established.
The process to strengthen the business model will not change the current organic structure of the Institute, as it will focus on increasing and complementing strategic planning activities that are already underway. However, it will also aim to transform internal governance, as well as IICA’s external relationships and positioning. Once the Institute has advanced sufficiently in this process, it will have developed a new organizational culture that will enable it to achieve the necessary flexibility, resilience and responsiveness to adjust current structures, with a view to increasing relevance and productivity and improving its external relationships.
Innovation is part of the Institute’s DNA. The business model is a value proposition that is closely linked to the broader concept of innovation, through which IICA is aiming to increase its visibility and to expand its portfolio of technical cooperation actions. To this end, the model incorporates the criteria of professionalization, modernization and the application of theories, methodologies and instruments for corporate development, particularly systemic and organizational cybernetic approaches.
The implementation of the business model will result in early gains and then will be instituted in stages, until successful completion, which will become evident in the final quarter of 2020. It should be fully implemented in 2021.
The first phase of the process (January – July 2020) was based on previous analyses and using the different strategic planning instruments of the Institute. The second phase of implementation will take place from August to December, a period in which the mechanisms will be structured and the work teams that will be tasked with carrying out each of the actions in the strengthening process will be established. The final phase will take place during 2021, with a view to achieving significant and effective results.
Yes, we must continue to operate in a virtual circle: implementing the Medium-term Plan and the business model strategies and increasing the effectiveness and productivity of our operations, in keeping with the proposed roadmap. This will call on us to provide cooperation services of the highest quality as part of a targeted agenda and to utilize this dynamic to identify, negotiate and formalize new externally funded projects.
We will work on two operational fronts. On the one hand, we will change the corporate culture and practices in line with new protocols and management rules; and will align objectives, approaches and instruments; integrate and manage teams; establish value chains with clearly identified internal and external clients; apply communication mechanisms and utilize all the strategies arising from collective efforts to strengthen the institution. On the second front, we will be compelled to bolster our technical and professional competence, which will require additional effort.
The business model arose because of the Administration’s interest in enhancing the Institute’s transformation into IICA 4.0: a targeted, innovative, relevant and sustainable institution. The Member States have stated that they want the Institute to increase its capacity to respond to national, regional and hemispheric needs. They are our partners in this process, as they should be able to recognize the improvements in the cooperation services that we offer, in line with Resolution IICA/CE/Res. 660 of the Executive Committee on 21 July “Support for IICA’s institutional transformation process”.
The strategy to strengthen the business model takes into account the pivotal role of Member States, which will participate in processes to formulate, reformulate and tailor national agendas, as well as in discussions on and the development of regional and hemispheric agendas that will determine the priorities for the strategies to develop a new financial architecture.
The basic concepts of the business model are:
a. Innovation: a novel change in a product, process or organizational structure, or in a marketing strategy, institutional development or social practice, for the purpose of improving the achievement of goals or the fulfilment of objectives.
b. Clients: There are three types: a) suppliers who are seeking channels to transfer and disseminate their knowledge products, among them, research centers, technology developers, universities and specialist bodies; b) beneficiary customers that require innovation solutions, for example, civil society organizations, public institutions, production or business organizations; and c) clients who drive or support innovation processes, including, multilateral banks, donors, foundations and committees that support development.
c. Competitors: a group of actors that offer services that are comparable to those offered by the Institute.
d. Value proposition: an innovation platform for the development of the agriculture sector and rural well-being, which combines the knowledge management and the innovative solutions that clients demand.