Download Report - Independent Evaluation Group - World Bank

5Improving BankManagement andInternal IncentivesLong before the Bank’s 1993 water Strategy and policy were published,many staff believed that the lending and nonlending initiativesof the water sector should focus primarily on policies to improve waterservice delivery operations. 1 Task managers knew that adding a multisectoralwater resources management dimension to a lending operation wouldgreatly complicate it, especially when resources allocated to deliveryoperations were already too low and decreasing. The consensus of staff wasthat water-scarce countries needed special attention—otherwise, resourcemanagement should be evaluated (perhaps through a nonlending program)when the viability of water investment was at risk.The challenge was to design a Bank implementationstrategy based on processes and proceduresthat were cost- and resource-effective.Resolving this challenge became important becausepolicy and strategy formulation had includedwidespread participation, coordination,and dialogue with other donors and NGOs. Onegroup of leading NGOs, supportive of the Bank’swater Strategy, was concerned that the Bankwould not be able to deliver on its promises ofaction. 2Thus alerted, management agreed that theBank’s capacities and abilities to implement theStrategy would have to be reviewed and substantiallyincreased if the policy objectives wereto be effectively addressed. But three issuesclouded management’s perception of the problem.First, the demand-led approach made it difficultto define resource requirements. Second,the Bank was then expanding its environmentand social sector staff. And third, the Bank wasaggressively trying to cut overhead costs.While some uncoordinated action was takento assess the resources required, the implementationplan agreed to when the Strategywas presented to the Board was never preparedin detail, and thus never institutionalized. So,adoption has been voluntary, depending onwhether operational units have the interest—ormore important, the resources—to give attentionto water resource management.Advisory staff in the Bank did translate the conceptualframework into practical implementationguidelines for client countries. But the joint37