An Evaluation of the World Bank's Trust Fund Portfolio

CHAPTER 3THE RELEVANCE AND EFFECTIVENESS OF TRUST FUND SUPPORT FOR DEVELOPMENT3.47 Significant shortcomings in the effective deployment of trustfund resources stem from inconsistencies with core Paris DeclarationPrinciples of country ownership and alignment and donorcoordination (as well as a general weakness in managing for results asnoted above). This evaluation finds that the occurrence of thoseinconsistencies is heavily influenced by core trust fund structuralfeatures—notably whether they are single- or multicountry in scopeand single- or multidonor in their financing and governancearrangements.Single-countrytrust fundsdemonstratecountryownership morecommonly thanmulticountrytrust funds.COUNTRY OWNERSHIP3.48 Trust funds, like other sources of aid, work best when they aredesigned to ensure country ownership of aid-supported programsand modalities. For this to take place, resources need to be alignedwith country priorities and processes and deployed in ways thatreinforce or enhance country capacity to plan and implementdevelopment policies and programs. This evaluation finds that, forthe most part, Bank-managed single-country trust funds adhere tothis aid practice. In contrast, global funds that focus on specific issuesin multiple countries are not as good at fostering country ownership.3.49 There is not necessarily a match between the issue selected bythe donor and a particular country’s needs. When the donor hasearmarked the funds for particular countries, the use of the trust fundreflects the donors’ policy priorities and not necessarily recipientengagement. Also, when there is a fund that can be tapped byproposals, the funding availability is uncertain and cannot be factoredinto country budgeting and planning, as was found to be the casewith some trust-funded programs reviewed as part of the countrystudies and trust fund program assessments (and discussed further inchapter 4).3.50 The contribution to country capacity development is alsomixed, much as it is with all sources of aid. Some trust funds supportcapacity building as a core objective, for example, through support fortechnical assistance and global networks or forums. As noted above,the flexibility of support is appreciated by recipients, but otherwiseappears no more or less effective than capacity building funded inother ways. In contrast, where it is not a core objective, trust fundsupport for capacity building has tended to be weak. Notably,independent evaluations of specific global funds (such as EFA/FTIand the Global Fund) have reported that the assistance provided hasfocused more on the development of funding proposals than onbuilding the capacity needed for implementation. Moreover, trustfundedprograms that operate through their own implementationarrangements rather than through country systems tend to producelimited capacity-building gains. Also, in the specific case of the Global42