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

CHAPTER 2
THE STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT OF SECTOR AND COUNTRY PRIORITIES
particular climate change) and governance, fall into this category and have acquired
increasing importance in country operations. In others, such as gender, the degree of
corporate priority is perceived to be lower, in spite of special funding and action
plans. These are seen as externally driven and have less traction in the Bank. This is
manifested in the data on thematic coding which reveals that the theme of gender
(along with social development) was identified by 18 percent of lending operations
approved in FY07-10 compared to 24 percent for environment and 79 percent for
public sector governance.
2.43 Second, the effect of sector strategies on CASs and country operations
depends on the extent to which they attempt to break from previous Bank
strategies and practices. When the strategy changes arose from operational
knowledge and country experiences, such as the criticism of big dams, the changes
were easier to implement. But major changes encounter more resistance because of
entrenched practice among staff. As one sector director put it, “the last thing I want
to do is sell some snake oil when I’m in a changing relationship with [a major
partner] on its way to becoming a middle-income country.”
2.44 Third, the impact of sector strategies on CASs and Bank operations is lower
for middle-income countries than it is for lower-income countries. Bank strategies
for middle-income countries often include specific references to the importance of
flexibility in country programs and of responding to specific client demands.
Interviews with regional sector managers emphasized this aspect, particularly in
Latin America and the Caribbean, but this is increasingly apparent in East Asia and
Pacific, Europe and Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, and South Asia
as well.
INCORPORATION OF GLOBAL AND REGIONAL ISSUES IN COUNTRY STRATEGIES
2.45 While alignment of country and sector strategies was one of the original
aims of the 1997 reforms, GPGs and regional issues have emerged as additional
priorities that are somewhat distinct from sector priorities. Some SSPs also include
consideration of relevant global issues; more recently GPGs have taken on a life of
their own leading to the preparation of corporate strategies, such as those on
governance and anticorruption or climate change. Their integration into the country
program poses new challenges.
2.46 Global and regional issues are not easy to address under the Bank’s
country-driven model. Public goods are undersupplied by markets because those
who provide them do not capture all of the benefits but bear all the costs.
Government intervention is justified to overcome such market failure. However, the
problem is much more acute with GPGs, whose potential benefits are inherently
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