The World Bank Group should develop a more realistic medium- to long-term framework for inclusive growth and jobs in FCS and ensure synergies and collaboration across the three Bank Group institutions. Such an approach should be based on sound country diagnostics of conflict and fragility drivers, and should address the main constraints and opportunities for job creation, including the role of the private sector. It should systematically explore linkages and synergies among Bank Group activities for job creation in order to accelerate progress toward the Bank Group's strategic goals of poverty reduction and shared prosperity.abc
The 2011 World Development Report (WDR) identified jobs as one of the priority areas to break the cycles of violence in FCS however, Bank group support has not been effective particularly in creating long-term jobs in FCS. Direct World Bank support for job creation has been primarily in the form of short-term jobs through CDD, DDR (demobilization, disarmament, and reintegration), and public works programs and microfinance programs. Employment in agriculture, which absorbs 50-80 percent of the FCS workforce, has received inadequate attention, and the potential for leveraging natural resources management and migration toward job creation remains untapped.
World Bank Group support was not clearly prioritized and sequenced around a focused medium- to long-term agenda specifically on jobs and growth. It did not systematically develop the linkages and synergies across World Bank Group entities and activities for effective engagement by the World Bank Group in FCS. The Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) found that a lack of Bank Group coordination in critical areas, such as linkages between education, skills development, infrastructure, and private sector development, weakened its effectiveness in achieving the Bank Group's poverty reduction objectives. Many FCS lacked adequate analysis of the conflict and fragility drivers and of the constraints and opportunities for the private sector. When analyses were available, it was often not utilized by staff from other Bank Group entities.
WBG: Agree. Management agrees with the report findings about the centrality of private sector growth and jobs creation for development in FCS. It also agrees that WBG Management should strengthen collaboration across the organization and promote systematic linkages and synergies to enhance growth and job creation in FCS.
The new Cross Cutting Solutions Area on Fragility, Conflict, and Violence will further strengthen the efforts in the FCS context. Additionally, with the creation of a new Cross Cutting Solutions Area on Jobs, Management has signaled a serious commitment to WBG-wide action to support job growth globally, including in FCS. Finally, Management continues to promote concrete Joint Business Plans in individual sectors between the World Bank, IFC, and MIGA to focus on policy action and investments that accelerate growth, a prerequisite to shared prosperity.
Action 6A: Undertake analytical and pilot work on job creation in FCSs, including roll out of a âjob diagnostic toolâ.
Indicator: Diagnostic work and pilot on job creation undertaken.
Baseline: Not existing.
Target: Diagnosis and piloting through the new tool undertaken and evaluated.
Timeline: FY17.
[The actions and indicators will be reviewed by the Jobs Cross-Cutting Solutions Area once it is fully operational]
Action 6B: Establish a strategic framework for job creation in FCS as part of the new WBG-wide Cross Cutting Solutions Area on Jobs.
Indicator: FCS-specific strategic framework for job creation developed.
Baseline: No strategy exists on job creation in FCS.
Target: Strategic framework for job creation in FCS is developed, and adopted.
Timeline: FY16.
IEG takes note of the modest incremental activities in response to this recommendation in FY17 as indicated in the management update, building on the momentum generated in the previous fiscal year. IEG rates implementation of this action as substantial. IEG looks forward to future updates on progress in the systematic adoption of the strategic jobs framework and evidence on influencing the design of country programs.
Action 6A. The 'jobs diagnostics' of Afghanistan, DRC and Sierra Leone have been completed end of FY17, fully completing the IDA17 commitment. The Jobs group's team is evaluating the role of JDs in FCV contexts, to adapt the diagnostic to the recent experience.
Action 6B. The integrated strategic framework for employment creation finalized in November 2016, has been disseminated to country teams. Two pilot countries are ongoing: integrated Jobs strategy for Iraq and for West Bank and Gaza.
IEG recognizes the accelerated attention to diagnostic and analytical work related to jobs in FCV reported by management for FY16. This included piloting a diagnostic tool for jobs for three countries and the ongoing work on the stocktaking of employment and peacebuilding. In FY16, the Bank Group also initiated work on a strategic framework for employment creation in FCV, which was finalized in FY17. It is, however, too early to assess the adoption and results of this analytical work. There is no evidence as yet that the these diagnostic tools have been widely adopted and the jobs framework has led to changes in country strategies and the design of programs and projects - resulting, for instance, in more holistic approaches to inclusive growth and jobs and the systematic use of linkages among interventions in different sectors.
As noted in last years' Update, the actions in response to the IEG recommendation are framed narrowly and lack links across sectors and institutions. As the MAR Action indicates that actions and indicators would be reviewed once the Jobs CCSA is fully operational, now is an opportune time to revisit this MAR item to identify possible additional actions to more fully reflect the scope of the recommendation. More effective support to this agenda would require complementary and sequenced interventions in areas such as human capital development, private sector development, access to basic infrastructure, natural resource management, and agriculture. Given the cross cutting nature of this agenda, the actions in response to this recommendation should reflect the inputs and views from stakeholders beyond the FCV CCSA and the Jobs group.
In FY16, the Bank has continued the roll out of pilot Jobs Diagnostics in FCS, with a completed Jobs Diagnostic for Cote d'Ivoire, and Diagnostics for Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kosovo, and Sierra Leone under way for delivery in FY17 (commitment 6A). T
The Bank is leading a multi-agency stocktaking analysis of "Employment and Peacebuilding Programs" (WBG-UNDP-UNPBSO-ILO), to be completed in FY17, and continues to support impact evaluations of FCS jobs programs through DEC-DIME.
Under its second call for proposals in FY16, the Jobs MDTF has approved support for jobs pilots and deepening the jobs lens on existing or pipeline projects in a number of FCS countries, including Afghanistan, Cote d'Ivoire, Haiti, and Liberia. In Lebanon, the Jobs Group has delivered value chain analyses to inform further engagement. The Jobs Group is also providing operational support to innovative jobs programs in Lebanon and in the West Bank and Gaza. (ii)
In FY16, the Bank has prepared an integrated framework for employment creation in FCV, for approval in FY17 (commitment 6B). The strategic framework aims to improve the support the WBG can offer to expand job opportunities across the range of FCV contexts. In particular, it aims to better integrate interventions for more jobs and better livelihoods across sectors, and to enable more ambitious support. As a direct application, and as part of the background work to IDA18, the Bank has sharpened the focus of the agenda on jobs and shared growth in FCV.
Jobs diagnostics (JDs):
- Attached are the documents of the three Cô te D'Ivoire/Rwanda/Kosovo JDs finalized
- The team is working on Afghanistan, DRC, Sierra Leone, and Pakistan
- Looking ahead on Jobs diagnostics, the team is reevaluating the role of JDs in FCV contexts. New alternative data sources for fragile states are being considered in view of the limitations of the firm census data and such considerations will be discussed in the IDA 17 stock take report.
Jobs in FCV integrated framework:
Here is the link to the finalized and published piece - Integrated Framework for Jobs in Fragile and Conflict Situations
http://wbdocs.worldbank.org/wbdocs/drl/objectId/090224b0845f815d
Looking ahead: the integrated framework will be disseminated to country teams, and it will inform integrated approaches to employment creation in FCV in two pilot countries. It also calls for a cross-cutting agenda for action - including mainstreaming across sectors, the application of a 'jobs and fragility' lens, as well as to collect and implement operational lessons from the WBG's engagement, with particular emphasis on support to domestic private sector jobs.
IEG acknowledges that progress has been made in developing and piloting a diagnostic tool (not attached to the Management Action Record and therefore not reviewed by IEG), and in launching analytical work. However, it is too early to assess the intended outcomes of these activities: more holistic approaches to inclusive growth and jobs at the level of country strategies and design of country programs and specific interventions - based on rigorous diagnostic of constraints and enablers of growth and employment.
Overall, the actions in response to the recommendation are framed too narrowly and lack cross sectoral and institutional links and ownership. Support to inclusive growth and jobs was identified by the IEG evaluation as an area of main importance for FCS countries, requiring attention through a strategic and effective framework taking account of linkages and synergies among different interventions and sectors. This involves complementary and sequenced interventions in areas including human capital development, private sector, access to basic infrastructure, natural resource management, and agriculture. Given the cross cutting nature of this agenda, the actions in response to this recommendation should be broadened enriched by including the perspectives of additional World Bank Group institutions and practices beyond the Jobs CCSA.
The actions and indicators have been reviewed by the Jobs Cross-Cutting Solutions Area.
(i) Undertake analytical and pilot work on job creation in FCSs, including roll out of a "job diagnostic tool":
In FY15, a new multi-sectoral "jobs diagnostic tool" was designed integrating in one single framework all main dimensions of employment creation (macro-trends, transformations, labor demand and supply). The tool is being piloted in Afghanistan and Cote d'Ivoire. In FY16, the diagnostic tool will be rolled out in Sierra Leone, Kosovo and Myanmar.
In FY15 the Jobs and FCV CCSAs have launched multi-practice and multi-agencies analytical work on "jobs and conflict" to address key research gaps. The Jobs CCSA has established under the Jobs Umbrella TF relevant windows to finance analysis and piloting (see in particular the "Jobs and Conflict", and 'Youth and Conflict" windows). In FY15, in partnership with DEC-DIME (and I2E), the Bank has launched a series of impact evaluations on 'Jobs and productive opportunities" programs. In FY16, the Bank will lead a multi-agency stocktaking analysis of "Employment and Peacebuilding Programs" (WBG-UNDP-UNPBSO-ILO).
(ii) Establish a strategic framework for job creation in FCS as part of the new WBG-wide Cross Cutting Solutions Area on Jobs.
In FY15, a white paper on Employment Creation and Conflict has been produced. Based on the analytical and piloting work underway, the WBG will produce an Issues Note on Strategies for Employment Creation in Fragile and Conflict Affected Situations. The note will account for the multi-faceted challenges on employment creation, including detailed elaboration of short-term versus long-term trade-offs.