Catalog

	Table of Contents
p. 21 of 34 BACK | NEXT Executive Summary Introduction Good governance defined The elements of good governance The Bank’s concern with governance quality The Bank’s approach to governance issues Promoting the elements of good governance in Bank operations Building governance capacity Public sector Management Public enterprise management and reform Public financial management Civil service reform Participatory development processes Legal frameworks Information openness The Bank’s modalities for enhancing governance in DMCs Resource implications Reporting arrangements

Governance: Sound Development Management : Promoting the elements of good governance in Bank operations : Building governance capacity

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Public sector management

The Bank’s bread-and-butter business has been—and is—assisting the public sector in DMCs. As such, the Bank has always taken a major interest in the ability of public sector agencies (line ministries and departments, as well as project executing agencies) to manage their affairs. This includes not only the capacity to design and execute programs and projects effectively, but also, more broadly, to formulate and implement policies, plan operations, and monitor feedback—in short, the capability to anticipate, enhance, and manage change.

Right from the start, therefore, lending to the public sector has been accompanied by TA for institutional strengthening. Progressing from the provision of ad hoc advisory inputs (attached to loans or otherwise), the Bank shifted to more focused, long-term support to specific DMC institutions, often in the context of repeat loans. Moving on, the Bank is now undertaking a strategic approach to capacity-building activities. These will become an important element of country strategies and will be reflected accordingly in country assistance plans. To this end, the Bank’s economic and sector work will seek to identify underlying weaknesses and suggest remedial measures.²⁴ As always, the primary responsibility for developing institutional and organizational capacity rests with the DMCs themselves, but the Bank has—and will continue to have—a substantial role to play in assisting their efforts in this regard. Box 1 describes a recent example of the Bank’s strategic approach to capacity building.

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