The Matrix System at Work - Independent Evaluation Group - World ...

CHAPTER 2
THE STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT OF SECTOR AND COUNTRY PRIORITIES
and evaluation plan. More recent SSPs (particularly those prepared after FY08) have
attempted to include these elements, but even for those, the time horizon and
geographic reach are too large for realistic planning and implementation. In practice,
sector knowledge has to be customized by country teams to meet country needs and the
influence is indirect and implicit rather than explicit. The primary influence of SSPs on
future Bank activities comes from the participatory nature in which they are prepared
and the direct involvement of sector staff members who contribute to CAS
development. They need to be complemented by regional sector strategies to be
operationally relevant and implemented through the CAS. There is typically little or no
separate budget for implementation of sector strategies, unless they are able to mobilize
trust funds for implementation. One constraint is that until recently, most SSPs tended
to be prepared by sector staff in isolation from country units and other sectors 22 , hence
ownership has been largely limited to staff members of that sector. Furthermore, not all
sectors have an SSP and not all sectors have trust funds for implementation.
2.10 In most cases, the Bank was not able to fully implement its sector and
corporate strategies. A review of 10 recent IEG evaluations of the Bank’s performance
in individual sectors or subsectors found a substantial or high degree of
implementation in only three, as shown in Table 2.1. This reflects less on the
performance of sector staff and managers in the Regions, and more on the efficacy of
the strategy itself. Given the primacy of client demand in the design of country
programs, it is unreasonable to expect an unfunded global strategy to accurately predict
the needs of countries as far as a decade in advance. Table K.2 in Appendix K provides
greater detail on the implementation of each sector strategy.
Table 2.1. Assessment of the Degree of Implementation of Sector Strategies
Negligible (2) Modest (5) Substantial (3) High (0)
Gender (2010b)
Environment
(2008b)
Governance and anticorruption Agricultural productivity
(2011c)
(2011, rural development)
Information and communication Social safety nets
technology (2011d) (2011b, social protection)
Water (2010) Transport (2007)
Municipal management (2009,
urban)
Health, nutrition, and population
(2009c)
Source: IEG sector and thematic evaluations.
Note: Year represents year IEG evaluation was published; sector indicates the sector strategy if different than the topic of
the evaluation.
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