Managing for Results at the World Bank: Implications for Global Monitoring

1. Managing for Results at the World Bank:Implications for Global Monitoring Inter-agency workshop on global monitoring of policies and actions for achieving the MDGs and related outcomes June 19, 2003 Ellen Goldstein Operations Policy and Country Services

2. Structure of the Presentation • Results Agenda: Framework and Action Plan • How Does the World Bank Assess Its Performance? • What Are the Implications for Global Monitoring?

3. Results Agenda: Conceptual Framework • What do we mean by results? • Sustained improvement in development outcomes at the country level (e.g., families lifted out of poverty…). • How do we get better results? • Improve results by increasing management attention to them: • throughout the development cycle. • in countries—where results are achieved. • within the Bank—to be a more relevant and effective agency. • across agencies—to scale up impact through collective action.

4. Pillar I: Country Demand and Capacity to Manage for Results • Strengthen results focus of national strategies to reduce poverty. • Build demand within civil society to monitor results and increase government accountability. • Provide better integrated support for results-based approaches to public sector management. • Build national statistical capacity and monitoring and evaluation systems. • Sponsor research and share knowledge about what gets results

5. Pillar II: Bank Strategies, Instruments, Incentives and Reporting • Develop a results-based Country Assistance Strategy to better link country outcomes to Bank programming. • Clarify results frameworks underpinning sector strategies and enhance alignment with country and global programs. • Simplify project design and supervision to focus on outcome-oriented objectives and outcome monitoring. • Introduce results reporting into annual strategy and budget documents. • Adapt staff learning and incentives to encourage pursuit of sustainable results.

6. Pillar III: Global Partnership on Managing for Results • Stimulate broader international discussion via IDA Results Measurement System. • Co-sponsor Second Roundtable on Results to focus on managing for results at the country level (Nov. 2003). • Encourage harmonization of international results reporting to reduce burden on clients. • Identify data gaps and provide coordinated support for statistical capacity building. • Participate in collective design, supervision and evaluation in support of programmatic and sector-wide approaches.

7. How Does the World Bank Assess its Performance? • Two main elements • results: our contribution to development outcomes. • agency performance: behaviors that affect the quality of our contribution. • Historically assessed at the project level, through: • development outcome ratings. • Bank performance ratings. • A shift toward assessing our contribution to higher-level country outcomes will require: • increased country capacity to monitor development outcomes. • Bank assistance strategies that more explicitly link country outcomes to programming. • agreed standards and indicators of performance (e.g. quality of operations, partnership, promotion of country ownership).

8. Strengthen Country Capacity to Monitor Development Outcomes • Emphasize country-led monitoring and evaluation of national strategies, bringing data and measurement constraints to forefront of the development agenda. • Spur development of a global action plan to reduce reporting inefficiencies and build statistical capacity. • Clarify results frameworks within key Bank sector strategies and support national monitoring through portfolio. • Increase attention to statistical and monitoring and evaluation capacity in Bank’s country assistance strategies. • Adopt a sector-wide approach to statistical capacity building, supported through the StatCap lending program.

9. Mainstream a Results-Based Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) Key features: • a results framework linking • selected country outcomes from poverty reduction strategy or other strategy. • lower-level outcomes the Bank can influence directly. • appropriate mix of products and services to achieve selected outcomes. • assessment of Bank behaviors—still being developed… • greater attention to self- and independent evaluation of the CAS. Expected benefits: • greater selectivity and relevance of activities to country outcomes. • increased multi-sectoral solutions arising from results focus. • improved “evaluability” for better accountability and learning.

10. Introduce an Enhanced IDA Results Measurement System Key features: • Integral element of Bank-wide results agenda • Embodies Bank’s approach to assessing performance through two-tiered system that monitors: • aggregate country outcomes reflecting PRS priorities, MDG linkages and IDA activities. • IDA’s contribution to country outcomes through the results-based CAS. Expected benefits: • Increased focus on country outcomes and IDA’s effectiveness. • Adoption/adaptation by other MDB funds. • Increased client feedback on harmonization of results reporting and statistical capacity building.

11. Implications for Global Monitoring • Increased demand and capacity within countries to monitor outcomes of policies and action. • Improved assessment of World Bank’s contribution to outcomes through: • development of CAS-level monitoring and evaluation system. • CAS outcome ratings and sub-ratings. • Bank performance assessments. • greater results-focus of portfolio monitoring and evaluation and quality assessments. • Increased emphasis on the respective responsibilities of low-income countries to manage for results and of the IDA donors to support them in this endeavor.