The Bank should develop and implement a plan to ensure the institutional sustainability of the community-driven development programs through which large volumes of investments have been channeled within FCS. This could involve either more systematic linkages between CDD programs and local government organizations, or the development of an alternative time-bound plan for financial and institutional sustainability of CDD programs. abc
Community-driven development (CDD) programs have been a major feature of Bank assistance to FCS and have been effective in providing essential short-term development assistance to local communities. However, these programs have not evolved over time and institutional sustainability has not received adequate attention. In FCS these programs are still projectized and not joined up with local government, and do not receive regular fiscal transfers. Nor has the Bank instituted alternate financing and governance mechanisms to ensure their viability beyond the life of the projects supporting them. As a result, their institutional sustainability is questionable.
WB: Agree. Management agrees that there is need to strengthen the link between community based development (CDD) and local governance structures. However, in many FCS, local governments and the national/sub-national systems necessary for sustainable service delivery at community level often do not exist.
While working to build government capacity, the Bank focuses increasingly on helping local communities and citizen-beneficiaries become effective stakeholders for poverty reduction.
Thus, Management commitment to this recommendation is limited to making sure that the Bank's approach to sustainability will include more knowledge generation and learning on reinforcing state-citizen linkages and durable structural connections between local government institutions (where they exist) and CDD operations.
Action 4: Enable staff to better link CDD operations to local governance development to enhance sustainability.
Indicator: Learning developed on CDD sustainability issues.
Baseline: No systemic learning for staff exists on what works to support sustainability of CDD programs.
Target: A CDD Institutionalization Study will examine these issues for FCS as well as non-FCS countries to provide lessons on sustainability issues.
Timeline: FY15.
[This action will have to be confirmed following the introduction of Global Practices].
Action completed during the last fiscal year. No update for this fiscal year.
IEG acknowledges that considerable work has been done in the Bank over the past 12 months in regard to institutional sustainability and integration with government programs and other development interventions. In particular, IEG is aware of and has been involved in discussions and presentations on the work in Afghanistan and Mindanao. In addition, the CDD Institutionalization Study examining the lessons that have come out of various global CDD programs is a useful resource and provides both a detailed and easily accessible set of lessons for how programs respond to the governance and legislative structures for where they have been applied.
The CDD community of practice remains active in communicating lessons and ideas as evidenced in the range of South-South exchanges, the discussions on Syria and the launch of the CDD newsletter. IEG understands and acknowledges that CDD will continue to play an important role in FCV countries, and the recommendation in the report was very specific in wanting a clear strategy from management on how they would manage the transition of these programs over time into government systems (where they exist and where appropriate). Thus, while the actions are now complete, IEG looks forward to seeing how the CDD portfolio responds to this challenge in both existing and future projects.
In keeping with the commitment to generate knowledge and learning to reinforce state-citizen linkages and more durable structural connections between local government institutions (where existent) and CDD operations, the CDD GSG supported five specific actions this past FY:
(i) a south-south exchange between 5 FCV countries with CDD operations (Afghanistan, Kenya, Mindanao (Philippines), Myanmar, and Nepal) and the Korean Development Institute to learn of the ways in which the Korean government's rural development movement (Saemaul Undung) helped move the country out of post-war poverty
(ii) finalization of a set of just-in-time TA support activities assisting several FCV CDD operations (in Cote d'Ivoire, DRC, Somalia, and South Sudan) that included guidelines for local government institutions in Mogadishu to strengthen citizen engagement and participation in development planning and implementation
(iii) facilitation of a round-table discussion on Syria reconstruction that shared lessons with civil society representatives and development partners on CDD operations in Afghanistan, Yemen, and Iraq
(iv) launching a bi-monthly e-newsletter series that covered CDD and FCV and
(v) leading the preparation of the $500 million Afghanistan "Citizen Charter" IPF that aims to more closely link the country's successful national CDD operation (the National Solidarity Program) to complementary service providers from other sectors of Government.
Going forward, budgets allowing, the GSG is looking to expand formal analytical work and learning with both internal and with external partners (including with the CCSA), and dialogue with task teams aimed at expanding and enhancing work on CDD in FCV contexts (including a focus on displaced populations) for the coming FY.
The specific deliverable from the MAR is: "A CDD Institutionalization Study will examine these issues for FCS as well as non-FCS countries to provide lessons on sustainability issues". The link to this study, completed in FY'15, is here: http://globalpractices.worldbank.org/gsg/CDD/Pages/SitePages/CDD%20Inst…
The CDD GSG and Community of Practice continues to support: "&hellip more knowledge generation and learning on reinforcing state-citizen linkages and durable structural connections between local government institutions (where they exist) and CDD operations" as was committed to by Management in the original response to the relevant recommendations in the respective report. This is what we have been reporting on consistently (and beyond what is strictly called for in the Action Table for item 303-01). In relation, and in response to IEG's most recent questions for additional information, please note:
The Korea South-South exchange visit involved Government staff from CDD operations and oversight ministries from the 5 target countries (Afghanistan, Nepal, Myanmar, Philippines (Mindanao), and Kenya)
- The TA activities, particularly in Somalia and Cote d'Ivoire, were directly relevant to fostering linkages between local or national government structures and the CDD/community based support activities (details for Somalia were provided in the original text)
- The newsletter shares cases of programs and staff who are working directly with CDD operations that are closely aligned, or building the linkages with, Government structures
While Community-driven development programs have been effective in FCS to provide essential short-term development assistance to local communities to finance public goods and services, IEG found evidence in itsâ country case studies that these CDD programs did not evolve over time. The evaluation found that in a number of case study countries, second and third phase CDD programs lacked strategies for institutional sustainability and integration with both government programs and other development interventions. At the global level, benchmark CDD programs have evolved over time to complement government service delivery and resource distribution. IEG found this to be missing in the CDD programs encountered in the evaluation. Without greater clarity around how the CDD model should evolve in FCS over time and through the various stages of recovery/maturity, there is concern its sustainability as a viable development approach is threatened. The CDD Secretariat has substantially responded to IEG's recommendation by collating cases and creating a platform for dialogue - that extensively includes FCS - about the challenges of CDD in such contexts and efforts to integrate these programs into mainstream Government functions and services. IEG looks forward to learning how this platform is enhancing operational approaches to better link CDD to local governance development and to foster greater sustainability of the development outcomes sought through the various interventions in the FCS context.
In FY '15 the CDD Cluster and GSG carried out three specific tasks related to this IEG recommendation and Management commitment for action: (i) a piece of AAA that assessed and compiled 11 country case studies (including 3 current or previous FCS per the IEG report), with relevant laws, policies, and regulations, where CDD operations have influenced or are closely linked to national systems, (ii) a conference of practitioners and task teams of CDD operations in 13 client Governments (of which 5 are categorized as currently or previously FCS, and 4 experience sub-national conflicts or fragility) in EAP and SAR, which focused specifically on mainstreaming CDD operations into Government systems and programs, and (iii) a conference of practitioners and task teams of CDD operations in FCV contexts in the Africa region (including clients and task teams members from 7 current or previous FCS countries, and 3 more with sub-national conflicts) to discuss both the challenges of CDD in such contexts and efforts to integrate these programs into mainstream Government functions and services. The AAA work is linked here: The AAA, institutional Study:
External: http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/communitydrivendevelopment/publicatio…
Internal: http://globalpractices.worldbank.org/gsg/CDD/Pages/SitePages/CDD%20Inst…
The summary reports from the two conferences, which in total involved almost 170 client government representatives and task team members, are linked here: ... Cebu conference summary:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/9gyku03qfesi6h7/Cebu%20Conference%20Summary%2…
Africa conference summary:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ahlmjfbh23wd99u/CDD%20Nairobi%20conference%20…