An Evaluation of the World Bank's Trust Fund Portfolio

APPENDIX H: ORGANIZATIONAL ASPECTS OF TRUST FUNDSregarding specific VPU procedures for trust funds, including those for financial controls and clearance ofdocuments and reports.Within the VPUs, program managers and task team leaders are designated to manage, administer, andreport to donors on trust fund programs and individual trust funds, respectively. Program administratorsand task team leaders must be Bank staff in term or open-ended positions. Only staff who have taken theTrust Fund Learning and Accreditation Program and passed the accreditation exam are authorized tomanage trust fund programs and trust funds.Managers of programmatic trust funds administer grants or allocations in accordance with the terms andconditions set forth in the donor agreements. While they are not directly accountable for the expendituresthat are made from these grants, they are responsible for ensuring that there are appropriate controls inplace on fund usage, and that task team leaders assigned to manage them understand the terms andconditions of their usage. Program managers aim to ensure that the grants are closed on a timely basis andresidual funds disposed of in accordance with donor agreements.The task team leader is accountable for ensuring that the Bank’s fiduciary responsibilities are met withrespect to trust funds under his/her management. Specifically, the leader ensures sure that (a)trust fundproposals are consistent with donor agreements and program guidelines; (b) Bank-executed activitiesmeet their objectives; (c) recipient-executed activities are adequately supervised and implemented in linewith the terms and conditions of the administration and grant agreements; (d) the implementation of thetrust fund activities complies with applicable Bank policies and procedures; and (e) progress reportingand monitoring of the achievement of the trust fund outcomes and objectives are carried out. The taskteam leader is also charged with ensuring that corrective actions to address issues impedingimplementation progress are taken by the recipient, in the case of recipient-executed trust funds, and bythe Bank team for Bank-executed trust funds, to help meet the objectives of the trust fund activities.Table H.1. Most Business Processes Applied to free‐Standing Trust Funded Programs Differfrom Those Applied to IDA/IBRD OperationsIDA/IBRD operationsFree‐standing trust‐funded activities(other than cofinancing)Treatment in CAS Listed and linked to strategy Rarely listed or discussed aApprovalBy World Bank Executive Board,or delegated to Regional vicepresidentMost trust fund programs: A director signsadministration agreement with donorLarge or high‐profile trust funds: Senior managementreview (only 2 conducted so far b ); Board may discussRisk assessment New system ‘ORAF’ 20 CFP‐ managed trust funds: CFP quarterly reviewOther trust funds: presented in trust fund proposal, notmonitored thereafterTask planning Work program agreement Work program agreement in a minority of casesTask budgetingImplementationSupervision ReportingCountry director provides budgetto sector units in relation toassistance strategyImplementation SupervisionReport filed in Operations PortalCountry PortfolioPerformance Reviews Covered Not necessarily coveredSource: Partnership and Trust fund Intranet Site.a. Reference to country case studies.b. Interview with Michael Koch, September 21, 2010.Trust fund provides funds to task team leader and/oradministrative fee is provided to VPUGrant Reporting and Monitoring System Report filed inSAP (the Bank accounting system)120