Impact case study database

NISMOD’s System-of-Systems (SoS) approach to cross-sectoral, long-term and resilient-oriented infrastructure planning has created a cascade of changes at two levels of governance. At the supranational level, the approach has transformed understandings, modelling capabilities and assessment approaches within UNOPS. This has allowed this organisation to offer better advice to multiple countries on how to plan for and invest in infrastructure development. This case study however focuses on Curaçao and Saint Lucia because these small island developing states have seen the most comprehensive changes in data availability, modelling capabilities, long-term infrastructure planning, and implementation of immediate interventions in infrastructures as a result of the ITRC/UNOPS collaboration.

Improving the understanding of infrastructure at UNOPS

The ITRC’s SoS approach [ R1] has resulted in new understandings of infrastructure within UNOPS, as a video on its website attests: “From working with ITRC we have come to understand that infrastructure is more than just physical assets. It includes knowledge, and the institutions involved in the planning and governance of those assets. Infrastructure exists as a highly linked interdependent system of systems across cities, regions and countries” [ E1]. UNOPS’ technical modelling capabilities have also improved, especially with the appointment of one of Hall’s researchers, Dr Thacker, as senior UNOPS/ ITRC Analyst to lead a team of 5 UNOPS-funded PhD students and postdocs, based in Oxford but working on NISMOD applications around the world.

UNOPS’ Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director has endorsed the culture change produced by the research by Hall and colleagues: “[o]ur collaboration with the University of Oxford has made a seminal contribution to taking forwards the thinking and positioning of UNOPS in relation to sustainable and resilient infrastructure. We have worked together to map out the relationship between infrastructure and the SDGs and have promoted the use of NISMOD widely within UNOPS ... I would describe this as being no less than a culture change within our organisation” [ E2, emphasis added]. During an interactive discussion following a UNOPS Executive Board meeting in late 2019, she explained that understanding the importance of infrastructure to attaining the SDGs and the costs involved (especially the long-term costs of poor decisions) [ R4] had caused UNOPS to work more systematically with academia and to adopt a scientific approach, stating that “the deep cooperation we have had with the University of Oxford and with Jim Hall has taken us a huge step forward in the thinking [of the UNOPS EBI strategy]” [ E3].

The changes are not only internal to UNOPS as the ITRC/UNOPS collaboration has helped to shift the relationship between UNOPS and the governments of the countries it serves. UNOPS’ stated goal is to help national governments develop capacity for long-term evidence-based planning, design and operations of infrastructure systems in order to enhance resilience to short-term shocks and robustness to long-term changes [ E1]. The organisation does this by encouraging the adoption of best practices, institutional structures and analytical tools. The embedding of NISMOD in UNOPS’ approach to national-level capacity building is recognised in the midterm review of the UNOPS strategic plan 2018-2021, published in July 2020 [ E4]. This document states that, “[t]hrough the [NISMOD-enabled] evidence-based infrastructure approach, UNOPS can enable governments to ‘spend better’ when investing in infrastructure” [ E4]. This approach, it continues, “can empower government partners to plan, deliver and manage their infrastructure systems and optimize the impact of their investments while keeping a sharp focus on sustainability and resilience” [ E4]. In a testimonial letter the UNOPS Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UNOPS adds that

“[t]hanks to our collaboration we [UNOPS] have progressed on our journey to becoming a proactive partner in the delivery of quality infrastructure. The methodologies and data embedded in the NISMOD tool have helped us to empower government partners to plan, deliver and manage their infrastructure systems and optimise the impact of their investments while keeping a sharp focus on sustainability and resilience. This has helped partner governments to establish a comprehensive and realistic understanding of future needs, and project gaps for an uncertain future, marked by population growth, urbanization and the effects of climate change” [UNOPS’ Under-Secretary-General, E2].

Improving infrastructure assessment and implementation in Curaçao

In 2016, the ITRC/UNOPS partnership began working with the Government of Curaçao to undertake a comprehensive assessment of Curaçao’s infrastructure needs. This analysis led to the creation of a detailed spatial infrastructure asset database for Curaçao and enhanced the island’s capabilities for cross-sectoral, long-term and resilient-oriented infrastructure assessment. Oxford ITRC researchers trained 15 senior civil servants and analysts from the Ministry of Traffic, Transportation and Urban Planning in the use of NISMOD and EBI. The ‘Evidence-Based Infrastructure: Curaçao’ [ E5] report was jointly released by the Curaçao Ministry of Traffic, Transportation and Urban Planning, UNOPS and the University of Oxford in May 2018. The report is the first ever long-term strategy for infrastructure provision in Curaçao. UNOPS’ Under-Secretary-General confirms that “[t]he report specified a set of priority actions, including improvements to waste water treatment and transport, which I am pleased to say are being taken up in practice, thus benefiting the 160,000 people of Curaçao” [ E2].

On 8-9 May 2018, the EBI recommendations, based on Oxford-led ITRC research, were presented at the Resilient Infrastructure Conference in Curaçao to delegates from many Caribbean island states. Curaçao’s Minister for Traffic, Transport and Urban Planning declared that:

“[o]ur infrastructure is vital for the functioning of Curaçao today and its future success. Therefore, it should be optimised, efficient and resilient. In that context, cross-sectoral long-term planning is essential for maximising the full potential of our island for the benefit of all its people… [ E6].

The Minister has subsequently reiterated the importance of the EBI approach:

“In 2016, we embarked on a journey of sustainable and resilient infrastructure planning using the Evidence-Based Infrastructure framework. We went on this journey with the help of UNOPS and ITRC, headed by the University of Oxford” [ E11]

The NISMOD-facilitated EBI analysis [ E2] has had two subsequent impacts. First, the Curaçao government produced and approved a Road Map for the Implementation of the SDGs in 2018. The Road Map document cites the EBI recommendations on road networks, wastewater management and community resilience: “The risk assessments performed by UNOPS [which draw on R3] are a good step towards improving community resilience, as they allow for determining which communities on the island are most vulnerable to risks. In addition, the implementation of social protection systems, safety nets and contingencies can strengthen community resilience” [ E7]. Second, the European Development Fund has endorsed the EBI analysis, using it to prioritise financial investments in infrastructure in Curaçao, which amounted to EUR16,950,000 in 2019 [ E2, E8].

Changes in infrastructure assessment and implementation extending to Saint Lucia

The government of Saint Lucia created the National Integrated Planning and Programme Unit (NIPP) within its Department of Finance to provide evidence-based assessments for national infrastructure planning across all government agencies in August 2018. In May of 2018 a delegation from Saint Lucia had attended the Resilient Infrastructure Conference in Curacao, and the Director of the NIPP confirms that it was this “first hand experience” of a successful intervention and “great interest in the EBI approach” that inspired an approach to the UNOPS office in Castries and subsequent commissioning of an EBI [ E9]. By December 2020, the UNOPS/ITRC team had trained 19 members of the NIPP and officials from key government departments in the use of an asset database and long-term planning model. The Director of the NIPP writes that the government of Saint Lucia consider the transfer of open-source modelling capabilities to local stakeholders of key importance, as previously they had to rely on for-profit consultants from overseas [ E9].

Collaborating with ITRC and UNOPS, the Saint Lucia NIPP has developed the National Infrastructure Assessment (NIA) [ E10]. This involved data collection and analysis of future infrastructure needs for energy, wastewater, water and solid waste services as well as analysis of climate change driven hazards to various infrastructure. It also involved long-term strategic planning and adaptation planning, and offered the Government specific guidance on how to plan and locate sustainable and resilient infrastructures. The NIA was launched on 7 October 2020 by the Prime Minister who, according to the Director of the NIPP, “was desirous of an outcome that was not simply a report but a roadmap that would lead to tangible solutions to the many problems facing the island’s national infrastructure systems …. The work of the Oxford led ITRC was well received and considered of great value as such an approach to infrastructure assessment had never been done in Saint Lucia or the English speaking Caribbean before” [ E9].

The NIA has entered the implementation phase. The Government has identified a priority set of infrastructure investments for which it was seeking funding in December 2020 [ E9]. In the short time since its launch, the NIA has had two immediate impacts. A plan has been developed to tackle solid waste challenges and loss of non-revenue water through a new wastewater treatment plant in Castries, the island’s capital. Together with Saint Lucia’s Disaster Management Organisation, the NIPP has begun to address flood-related vulnerabilities identified in the NIA, using data created during the NIA to identify evacuation routes in the event of flooding from storm surge or flash flooding. The Director of the NIPP affirms that:

“[t]he immediate changes have been the initiation of discussion on the definitive way forward with the current solid waste challenges and loss of non-revenue water. One of the most important aspects of the NIA that redefines our infrastructure agenda is the timeline associated with the long-term planning component- never before have we been able to decide when (the year) we need to increase our capacities across the 4 sectors analyzed. [drawing on R3 and R4]. Additionally, the National Emergency Management Organization has begun work with the NIPP Unit to assist with disaster risk and vulnerability” [ E9].

The impact of Hall’s research is set to continue with a new collaboration underway in Ghana (since August 2019) and an agreement to begin working in Jamaica (project scope decided in December 2020 and formally signed January 2021).