In addition to UNDEF’s already existing procedures and practices, grantees should be encouraged to build deeper synergies between project components for coherence, and trust among participants and stakeholders through the application of specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound (SMART) criteria for their and partners’ activities. This is especially critical for projects in which grantees provide capacity development opportunities and sub-grants to local partners around project cycle management. This can alleviate risks related to potential delays in proposed timeframes, without compromising the overall timeline of the project and its objective.