Develop quality assurance procedures for food crisis response programs that mitigate the potential adverse effects of speedy preparation and implementation. Specifically, the Bank needs to:
(a) strengthen ex-ante quality assurance oversight for food crisis response programs prepared under accelerated preparation procedures. Such oversight would ensure, inter alia, better alignment between the design of operations and the Bank's food crisis-related policy advice at times of spiking food, fuel, and fertilizer import prices, particularly with respect to taxes, tariffs, subsidies, and their targeting, considering the country contexts.
(b) ensure that food crisis response components, processed as restructured projects, additional or supplemental finance, include appropriate monitoring and evaluation arrangements and
(c) require specific reporting on the crisis response components of restructured, additional or supplemental finance projects in implementation status reports, implementation completion reports and other project reports.
Bank quality assurance procedures for food crisis response programs. The Bank's fast processing of crisis response operations exacted a cost in terms of design quality, implementation, and results in some emergency operations suggesting that additional oversight was needed over the standard quality assurance procedures. In some food crisis response operations, the Bank acquiesced with, or supported, policies and actions that were inconsistent with its own food crisis-related policy advice or that were not aligned with the country context. For example, in many countries, tariffs and taxes on staple foods were low to begin with and rate reductions did little to help vulnerable groups while aggravating the fiscal situation and threatening other government programs. In input subsidy operations, the underlying policy rationale was to stimulate a supply response to mitigate the adverse effects of input and food price increases, but the targeting was not consistently conducive to maximum supply response. The presence of other constraints (such as limited supply of quality seeds) was not always taken into consideration. Furthermore, the coverage of input subsidy operations was often too small to generate a significant supply response at the national level.
Where additional or supplemental finance instruments were used, the monitoring and evaluation arrangements, and the reporting on implementation and results did not consistently cover the food crisis response components of the project, limiting the potential for remedial steps and hindering impact assessment.
Original Response: Agreed: While management agrees with the specific recommendations for strengthening quality assurance, it does not agree with the premise laid out in the "Findings" under column one that "fast processing of crisis response operations exacted a cost in terms of design quality, implementation, and results." In particular, management finds nothing in the evaluation to suggest that GFRP's specific "fast track procedures" per se, as opposed to rapid preparation, contributed to quality issues. Rather the answer must lie in other factors operating since 2008 common to GFRP and the regular portfolio.
a) Management agrees that the design of food crisis response programs prepared under accelerated preparation procedures needs to be aligned with Bank policy advice applicable to the country, temporal, and sectoral context. Management will consider how to optimize exante quality assurance oversight for food crisis response programs prepared under accelerated procedures.
b) Management will strive to include specific monitoring and evaluation measures targeted to additional and supplemental funding that are appropriate for the project development objectives of that additional or supplementary funding, and that allow assessment of the separate contribution of that supplemental or additional financing.
c) Management recognizes the need to have separate results reporting for additional or supplemental financing, especially when different funding sources are involved.
Action 2A: Develop updated guidelines for handling food price spike emergencies, incorporating feedback from regional TTLs and food price management lessons learned from the now-ended GFRP, a changing World context for food prices, and the availability at the World Bank of new mainstreamed crisis response instruments (such as the IDA Crisis Response Window). Disseminate guidelines among appropriate staff in the regions, and update periodically as new information becomes available.
Indicator: Updated guidelines for dealing with food price spikes.
Baseline: The GFRP Framework Document of 2008 and PREMâs new Food Price Monitoring Tool.
Target: Guidelines delivered and posted on the intranet, extended to regions in a series of workshops, and updated periodically as needed.
Timeline: End FY15
Action 2B: Reflect in OPCS guidance on additional financing (i) the need to update the indicators in the results framework, and (ii) the need to report on progress on these indicators in ISRs. In true crisis situations, the emphasis will necessarily be on facilitating the most effective monitoring, but the guidance will also discuss very basic approaches to indicators for evaluation under different contexts. Recipient Executed Trust fund (RETF) operations above $5 million that support Investment Project Financing activities are expected to follow the same policy and procedure requirements in place for IBRD/IDA operations. The guidance available to staff on Additional Financing and Monitoring and Evaluation also apply to RETFs.
Indicator: Guidance prepared.
Baseline: Current guidance in each Region on standard project M&E.
Target: Guidance delivered and feedback sought from regions, posted on the intranet, and updated periodically as needed.
Timeline: Completed
In addition to the OPCS's guidelines update on restructured projects and additional finance, there has been further progress in the Bank's handling of food price spike emergencies. A Global Crisis Response Platform (GCRP) Paper was endorsed by the Board in September 2016. The GCRP paper has drawn lessons from the IEG's Crisis Response Reports. This platform brings the Bank Group crisis-related mechanisms, instruments, and products under the umbrella of the GCRP, including the food price spike emergencies. The GCRP's main value added will be to provide scaled up, systematic and better coordinated support for managing and mitigating current and future crises, across the spectrum of risks and vulnerabilities facing the developing countries.
As indicated in the previous MAR, action ref: 2B (OPCS guidelines on additional financing) has been completed. On action ref: 2A (updated guidelines for handling food price spike emergencies). A Global Crisis Response Platform (GCRP) Board paper was endorsed in September 2016 that brings the World Bank Group crisis-related mechanisms, instruments, and products under the umbrella of the GCRP, including for food price shocks. There has since been work underway to operationalize the GCRP. The work on the guidelines was subsumed into this broader process, including initial development of a food insecurity monitoring and action protocol that drew on the work undertaken on updating the initial GFRP guidelines, to ensure clearer alignment with broader efforts on the GCRP. This includes inputs on definitions of a crisis (and in this context, food price relates crises), monitoring tools, measuring phases of countries food insecurity status, possible (policy and investment) actions to be triggered in each phase to prevent escalation of crises, and implementation modalities. This draws on lessons from GFRP and integrates our efforts into the broader institutional focus on operationalizing the GCRP and associated products, rather than having a stand-alone revised GFRP-related guideline.
There has been some further progress in preparing guidelines to (a) strengthen ex-ante quality assurance for food crisis response programs (b) ensure that restructured projects and additional finance include appropriate monitoring and evaluation and (c) require specific reporting on crisis response components. The implementation of Global Food Crisis Response Program (GFRP) Multi-Donor Trust Fund has been extended from end-2015 until end-2018, to encompass the El Nino Response. Bank management will incorporate the early lessons from the handling of this new severe weather crisis into ongoing guideline preparation work. Therefore, work on the guidelines has not yet been completed, but they should be finalized and disseminated to operational staff in FY17. Management has already revised the guidelines on restructured projects and additional financing to include appropriate monitoring and evaluation.
As indicated in the previous MAR, in response to the recommendations: (a) management committed to develop updated guidelines for handling food price spike emergencies, incorporating feedback from regional task team leaders and food price management lessons learned from the Global Food Price Crisis Response Program (GFRP), a changing World context for food prices, and the availability at the World Bank of new mainstreamed crisis response instruments (such as the IDA Crisis Response Window). Once completed the guidelines will be disseminated among appropriate staff in the regions. Work is underway on preparing the guidelines, which will be informed also by the recently completed ICRs. Moreover, it should be noted that the GFRP Multi-donor Trust Fund has recently been extended end-2018 to encompass the El Nino Response. We believe that the early lessons from the handling of this new severe weather crisis will be relevant also in shaping the guidelines. The scope of the guidelines includes coverage of lessons from recent food price crises, policy and investment response options, and good practices on how to implement the response. (b) Examples of indicators for monitoring and evaluation will be included in the updated guidelines and (c) as indicated in the previous MAR, this action (OPCS guidelines on additional financing) has been completed.
There has been progress in preparing guidelines to (a) strengthen ex-ante quality assurance for food crisis response programs (b) ensure that restructured projects and additional finance include appropriate monitoring and evaluation and (c) require specific reporting on crisis response components. Due to a few ongoing operations financed by the Global Food Crisis Response Program (GFRP) Multi-Donor Trust Fund, work on the guidelines has not completed yet. The trust fund is scheduled to close at the end of December 2015. The guidelines should be completed and disseminated to operational staff in fiscal year 2016.
As indicated in the previous MAR, in response to the recommendations: (a) management committed to develop updated guidelines for handling food price spike emergencies, incorporating feedback from regional task team leaders and food price management lessons learned from the Global Food Price Crisis Response Program (GFRP), a changing World context for food prices, and the availability at the World Bank of new mainstreamed crisis response instruments (such as the IDA Crisis Response Window). Once completed the guidelines will be disseminated among appropriate staff in the regions. While work has started on preparing the guidelines, there are still GFRP projects being implemented under the GFRP Multi-donor Trust Fund. The Trust Fund is scheduled to close at the end of December 2015. As a result, work on the guidelines is planned to be completed in FY16, following closure of all GRFP Trust Funds. The guidelines intend to cover recent food price crises, when an emergency response is needed, policy response options, and how to implement the response. (b) Indicators for monitoring and evaluation will be included in the updated guidelines and (c) as indicated in the previous MAR, this action (OPCS guidelines on additional financing) has been completed.
There has been progress in preparing guidelines to (i) strengthen ex-ante quality assurance for food crisis response programs (ii) ensure that restructured projects and additional finance include appropriate M&E and(iii) require specific reporting on the crisis response components. The guidelines need to be disseminated to operational staff in the regions in fiscal 2015.
In response to the recommendations: (a) management committed to develop updated guidelines for handling food price spike emergencies, incorporating feedback from regional task team leaders and food price management lessons learned from the now-ended Global Food Price Crisis Response Program (GFRP), a changing World context for food prices, and the availability at the World Bank of new mainstreamed crisis response instruments (such as the IDA Crisis Response Window). The guidelines will be disseminated among appropriate staff in the regions. Work has started on preparing the guidelines, being developed as a knowledge product (P152213). The current outline covers recent food price crises, when an emergency response is needed, policy response options, and how to implement the response, (b) indicators for monitoring and evaluation will be included in the updated guidelines and (c) as specific reporting requirements on additional and supplemental financing projects extend beyond GFRP specific projects to all additional and suplemental financing projects, it is a broader Bank operational issue. In this respect the recently developed OPCS guidance on additional financing highlights (i) the need to update the indicators in the results framework, and (ii) the need to report on progress on these indicators in ISRs. In true crisis situations, the emphasis will necessarily be on facilitating the most effective monitoring, but the OPCS guidance also discusses very basic approaches to indicators for evaluation under different contexts. Recipient Executed Trust Fund (RETF) operations above $5 million that support Investment Project Financing activities are expected to follow the same policies and procedures in place for IBRD/IDA operations. The guidance available to staff on Additional Financing and Monitoring and Evaluation also apply to RETFs. This action (guidelines on additional financing) has been completed.