An Independent Review of World Bank Support to ... - DAG Ethiopia

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Design of operations4.15 On the whole, the design of capacity building interventions has been inadequate.The weakness in design has been mainly due to: (i) shortcomings in the scope and qualityof analysis of capacity constraints and capacity building needs, (ii) disagreementsbetween the Bank and Government on the measures to be taken, and (iii) lack ofcoordination with other donors. In the roads sector, Bank operations have outlinedspecific capacity building activities to be supported. In the Road Rehabilitation Project(RRP) these were well designed with the exception of the activities in financialmanagement. In the RSDPSP, institutional changes were well-aligned duringnegotiations, based on an institutional restructuring plan agreed with the Government,and organizational change was addressed to a limited extent, though the main componentfunded by the Bank (Roads Inspectorate Unit) lacked government ownership.4.16 In contrast, the design of capacity building measures in the education and healthsector development programs have been weak due partly to insufficient diagnostic workand partly to the Government’s decision to address capacity constraints as they appearedin implementation and in this way “learn by doing.” In particular, the Governmentrejected any substantial TA inputs for the education and health SDPs. The Bank’s relatedsupport operations do not define any capacity building components other than thoseestablished for the program as a whole. Capacity building activities to be fundedspecifically from Bank resources would be defined as-you-go. This design feature madethe Bank support flexible, but also entirely dependent on the overall design of therespective SDPs, which were not strong in terms of capacity building elements.4.17 In public financial management, design problems have resulted fromdisagreements with the Government on measures required and the lack of capacity needsassessments—notably of constraints to capacity at entry of executing institutions—leading to overly ambitious objectives and unrealistic implementation timeframes in theTA operations such as CSRCB and CBDSD. Also, design of the two SAL operations,ERSC and ESAC, lacked government ownership.4.18 The recent PRSC I has, however, learned from these problems and adopted a newapproach based on implementation of actions prior to Bank approval of support. Also,the recently approved PSCAP, to be coordinated by the new Ministry of CapacityBuilding (MCB), has introduced a new approach which relies on a flexible demanddrivenfunding mechanism to be managed by the Ministry of Finance and EconomicDevelopment and integrated with the country’s inter-governmental financial transferarrangements. But the technical content of the program remains to be filled in. Capacitybuilding interventions were supposed to be prototyped and piloted under the CBDSD,which has not taken off. Regional capacity building plans for the initial stage appearsuperficial. The countrywide capacity needs assessment, which will assess capacity atentry (a critical issue for emerging regions and remote woredas), is taking place afterBank approval of the operation. Also, officials in many of the project’s beneficiaryorganizations do not fully understand the role of the MCB and the correspondingRegional Bureaus for Capacity Building, and how they should link with thesecoordinating bodies in policy and operational matters (other than in requesting funds). A16
esource strong and flexible financial framework for implementation of the Government’sNCBP has been created, but much preparatory work remains to be done prior todisbursement in order to ensure effectiveness and efficiency of the operation. 134.19 Both the PSCAP and the 2003 CAS have been prepared in parallel, but lack anapproach to dealing with capacity at entry problems. While sectors and organizations willbe competing for funding with one another, limited existing capacity may make some ofthem unable to develop competitive proposals for capacity building under a demanddriven approach, unless they receive targeted upfront assistance.Effectiveness4.20 Criteria: The assessment of effectiveness of capacity building interventionsincludes the following elements: (i) capacity building achievements against objectiveswhere specified, and (ii) indicators of sector performance during the period.Overall assessment4.21 The overall achievement of capacity building objectives in Ethiopia is rated asmarginally satisfactory. Achievement of the Bank’s operational capacity buildingobjectives has been rated satisfactory in the roads sector (see Box 4.1), with the exceptionof the Roads Inspectorate Unit. It is rated marginally satisfactory in public financialmanagement, education and health. Only in roads has capacity building support beeneffective on all three dimensions of institutional, organizational, and human resourcecapacity. In the education and health sectors support has been effective primarily at thehuman resource level, whereas in public financial management the support has beeneffective primarily on the level of institutional change. The capacity building objectivesof Bank projects are detailed in Annexes C and D.13 Recognizing this, the PAD refers to the operations as a ‘learning-by-doing’ process with needs to reviseplans continuously over the initial 2-3 years.17
Page 1 and 2: An Independent Review of World Bank
Page 3 and 4: Annex D: Capacity Building Objectiv
Page 5 and 6: PEMPERPFPPIUPPDPRSPPRSCPSCAPPSMPSRR
Page 9 and 10: 1. IntroductionObjectives1.1 This s
Page 11 and 12: 2. Country ContextPolitical Develop
Page 13 and 14: complete state transformation (incl
Page 15 and 16: provide policy direction, coordinat
Page 17 and 18: 3. Bank Assistance Strategy and Cap
Page 19 and 20: 3.7 The program of lending operatio
Page 21 and 22: 4. Assessment of Bank Support to Ca
Page 23: organizational aspects of capacity.
Page 27 and 28: identification of capacity constrai
Page 29 and 30: government procurement systems unde
Page 31 and 32: Table 4.4: Service Improvements in
Page 33 and 34: Delivery of Support4.43 Value for M
Page 35 and 36: YearTable 4.5: Commitments for Capa
Page 37 and 38: instruments themselves. However, TA
Page 39 and 40: and its reluctance to accept TA inp
Page 41 and 42: 6. Conclusions6.1 The Bank’s cont
Page 43 and 44: late. TA staff can perform several
Page 45 and 46: Annex A: List of IntervieweesGovern
Page 47 and 48: Annex B: Documents and Projects Rev
Page 49 and 50: ProjectRSDP SupportProjectEconomicR
Page 51 and 52: ProjectEDUCATIONSeventhEducationPro
Page 53 and 54: ProjectESDP IICapacityBuildingCateg
Page 55 and 56: ProjectCapacityBuildingCategoryInst
Page 57 and 58: ProjectCapacityBuildingCategoryObje
Page 59 and 60: ProjectCapacity BuildingCategoryObj
Page 61 and 62: Project Details Timing Institutions
Page 63: Annex E: OED Ratings on Completed P

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