"Making use of political economy analysis and local knowledge: Involve local experts, partners and local think tanks extensively in knowledge services to help understand better the political economy of reform, bridge the gap between international good practices and local conditions, enhance the applicability of the recommendations, and build local capacity to achieve longer-term impact. Stay engaged with client, know the local context, and strengthen implementation by mobilizing international expertise in a timely fashion. Involve local partners in monitoring and evaluation. When appropriate, engage a broad range of stakeholders to help support the reform agenda and maintain the focus on key policy issues in the public domain. Encourage emerging knowledge hubs to follow approaches along these lines."
"Most tasks referred to the local policy context. Those that achieved results probed more deeply into the local context, used local expertise more often than those that did not achieve results, and formulated actionable recommendations to fit local administrative and political economy constraints. Understanding the political economy of reform and using local expertise can enhance the impact of the Bank's knowledge services. Local partners or hubs can also play a critical role in conveying relevant country context considerations."
Original Response: Agreed: "WB: Implementation of this recommendation is already underway. We agree that consideration of political economy issues are critical and we have initiated consultation around how to strengthen this aspect of our work. Already, as part of the recent improvements to strengthen client and results orientation, we are requiring task teams to explicitly outline the risks they see to the achievement of targeted objectives for a knowledge activity, and client adoption of recommendations. Teams will be asked to identify risks related to design of the knowledge activity/engagement, in line with the approach used for lending services, and within the strategic context of the Bank's country engagement through the CAS/CPS. Guidance and learning material to support staff are being developed. Going forward, a question will be included in the CFI to help monitor the use of local institutions and civil society. The Bank will also strengthen its approach to improved learning from operations (based on case studies and toolkits). Steps will also be taken to promote shorter learning loops by linking IEG lessons to the project management portal. This will better support teams to analyze the context of specific Bank engagements to be able to adapt and adjust in a more flexible and timely manner. Recently, a mandatory task team leader (TTL) accreditation program has been launched using experiential and casebased learning as well as on-the-job learning to strengthen staff capacity in results-focused project design, implementation, and client engagement"
Action 2A. Introduction and implementation of Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD), during the preparation of country partnerships, to identify the most critical constraints to solutions of country development challenges, including through the use of political economy analysis.
Indicator: a) Concept note for Country Partnership Frameworks (CPF) and SCD developed b) CPF/SCD operational.
Baseline: No SCD exists
Target: SCD introduced and implemented/applied.
Timeline: a) FY14, b) FY15
Action 2B. Build Staff awareness on involving local partners in the KAS training.
Indicator: Case studies and toolkit developed for Staff training programs.
Baseline: Not existing.
Target: Action implemented.
Timeline: FY15
Judged against the limited actions identified by Bank Management for this recommendation, IEG rates it high. SCDs have been introduced and are being implemented, and guidance and training programs have address staff awareness on involving local partners in the KAS.
Action 2A was implemented and is fully operational. As of end-FY17, a total of 62 SCDs have been completed and are publicly available. A new Fundamentals of Bank Operations module on ASA was launched in FY17 that discusses participatory approaches to design, implementation and dissemination. The Operational Core Curriculum eLearning module on AAA was revised to cover ASA, and also highlights participatory approaches. The Global Delivery Initiative learning program and case studies are also strongly focused on client engagement training and case studies continue to be delivered to and with an expanding roster of partners within and beyond the Bank.
The Bank has increasingly recognized the importance of political economy issues, local knowledge, and participatory approaches (with the latter also proposed to be highlighted in the OCC e-learning module on ASA). Governance and political economy issues are analyzed and addressed in SCDs and CPFs, but at different levels of intensity (measures proposed to address governance and capacity constraints are not always commensurate with identified shortcomings).
Action 2A was implemented and is operational, as noted last year by IEG. In FY15, 33 SCDs completed their decision review and 29 SCDs were made available to the public. In FY16, a further 11 SCDs completed the decision review and 12 more were made publicly available.
Further implantation of 2B is detailed below.
A new Fundamentals of Bank Operations module on ASA is being launched in FY17.Q1 that discusses participatory approaches to design, implementation and dissemination. The Operational Core Curriculum eLearning module on AAA is being revised to cover ASA, and will also highlight participatory approaches. The Global Delivery Initiative learning program and case studies are also strongly focused on client engagement.
2B: Guidelines envisaged for FY15 under action plan not yet developed, and therefore not possible to build staff awareness on involving local partners. This will be part of the new instrument, ASA, to be introduced in second half of FY16.
Action 2A was implemented and is operational, as noted last year by IEG. Further implantation of 2B is detailed below.
Action 2B: In FY15, Senior Management decided to roll out a new instrument, Advisory Services and Analytics (ASA), to strategically group knowledge engagements with external clients. ASA groups all current ESW, TA, TE, IE and PA products, which are designed for external clients. In the second half of FY16, ASA will be rolled out as a single instrument, and its guidelines will refer to how to engage with clients and local partners. This content will be provided in ASA training materials as well.
2A has been implemented and is operational. 2B: Bank still needs to build staff awareness on involving local partners.
Action 2A.
a) Concept note for Country Partnership Frameworks (CPF) and SCD was developed in FY14.
b) CPF/SCD operational in FY15
Action 2B.
No progress has been achieved yet in building Staff awareness on involving local partners in the KAS training.