Catalog

	Table of Contents
p. 8 of 8 BACK | NEXT I. Introduction II. Background Information III. Operational Assessment IV. Benefits and Costs V. Conclusions

A Review of North American Representative Office

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V. Conclusions

A. Overall Assessment

32. NARO has successfully fulfilled its TOR in a cost-effective manner. It has demonstrated its utility and made significant contributions in a number of areas including:

• proactively carrying out the Bank's resource mobilization efforts;
• supporting the Canadian Government's outreach program through missions to the 12 provinces and territories;
• facilitating the exchange of information with other MFls; and
• developing good working relations with academia, development NGOs, and business/research groups in Canada and the United States.

33. The TOR have provided appropriate guidance for NARO's operations and no major changes are considered necessary. However, in recognition of the range of interest groups that interact with NARO and to reflect NARO's outreach approach, item (iii) of NARO's TOR will be adjusted from

(iii) Bank-Nongovernment Organization (NGO) Cooperation

to keep the Bank informed of the views, concerns and interests of the major NGOs (including the media, academia, and other interested parties) in respect of the Bank, and of initiatives that the Bank may need to take to influence as well as respond to them.

to the following:

(iii) Bank-Constituency Cooperation

to inform and respond to the North American constituencies (including academia, business associations, financial institutions, NGOs, media, research organizations, and other interest groups where appropriate and cost effective) on issues of common concern and interest; and

to keep the Bank informed of the views, concerns and interests of the North American constituencies, and of initiatives that the Bank may need to take to influence as well as respond to them.

34. NARO will continue to play an important role for the Bank in North America as the opportunity cost of no representation in donor countries remains very high. Official development assistance for the MFls remains under pressure and NARO is required to maintain/generate interest in the Bank and its resource mobilization initiatives. The Bank's government counterparts in North America are not capable of providing the same level of advocacy for the Bank as was possible in the past-NARO must continue to fill this gap through its outreach activities. Coordination requirements of the MFls are on the increase, an example being the various initiatives associated with resolving the currency crisis, and a Bank.. i contact point in Washington is needed. And the interest of North American constituencies in the Bank is increasing. As such, the Bank must have a presence in North America to inform and respond to the constituencies in a timely manner, and ensure that it is a participant, not a spectator, in events and decisions that could impact the Bank and its DMCs.

B. Improving NARO's Utility and Operational Effectiveness

35. The findings of the Working Group highlighted a number of initiatives that Management will adopt to further improve NARO's utility and operational effectiveness. These initiatives have minimal budgetary impact and are aimed at leveraging the Bank's outreach capacity. Some of the initiatives overarch all of the representative offices.

1. Consultations

36. As is the practice for resident missions, an annual joint consultation meeting will be organized for the representative offices at Headquarters. Annual joint consultations will enhance dialogue and coordination on common operating issues and raise the profile of representative offices within the Bank.

37. To improve staff awareness and understanding of the political and social dynamics in North America, NARO staff will arrange informal briefings/seminars covering the office's work program and topics of interest when they visit Headquarters. Missions visiting North America will contact NARO for a briefing on topical issues and to obtain background information on planned contacts. Similar arrangements will be adopted for the other representative offices.

2. NARO's Work Program

38. NARO will make the following adjustments to its work program focus:

• more attention will be devoted to engaging all interest groups using academia as the vehicle;
• outreach activities in the US will be increased outside the Washington area; and
• linkages will be strengthened with commercial cofinanciers and the media.

39. Closer linkages with Headquarters will be established in order to develop outreach themes/topics that can be used by NARO and the other representative offices, if appropriate. For example, interest in the currency crisis is very high in North America at this time. Part of NARO's work program will be built around explaining the currency crisis, its impact, and the Bank's response. The same topic with modifications can be discussed with all interests groups and will provide an opportunity to deliver a common, higher impact message to the constituency.

40. In its outreach activities, contact with groups/individuals is either on a onetime or recurring basis. In recognition of the different levels of interaction, NARO adopts a more systematic, multilevel approach for its outreach activities. When dealing with recurring contacts, this will require closer coordination with Headquarters to facilitate higher level, interactive dialogue.

3. Information Dissemination

41. Given the size of the North American constituency, quarterly newsletters will be prepared and circulated to help maintain/promote awareness and interest in the Bank. A newsletter will also provide a forum for publicizing important developments at Headquarters and within the Asian and Pacific Region. In cooperation with the Information Office, a newsletter will be structured around generic articles covering important Asian and Pacific/Bank developments as well as articles of specific interest to NARO's constituencies. This newsletter format will be cost effective as it will be adopted for use at the other representative offices.

42. To improve information dissemination, the Bank will prepare one-page information summaries covering its country/sector activities and key policy papers. These summaries can be distributed to interest groups and used as handouts for visitors to NARO. This will provide a cost-effective way of distributing information with applications across the Bank.

43. When appropriate, the Bank will make greater use of regional technical assistance to disseminate research findings in Bank member countries. The Bank's Emerging Asia seminars were very successful and similar outreach activities could be used to disseminate, for example, the findings of assistance relating to the currency crisis.

4. Leveraging Resources

44. NARO has expanded its outreach capacity by arranging informal policy and operational briefings for interest groups in Washington using visiting staff as resource speakers. The Bank will now encourage staff to extend missions (and, if possible, home leaves) for public speaking engagements. By extending a mission by one or two days to include a public speaking engagement, the Bank can greatly increase its ability to engage the North American constituencies for a small additional cost. This outreach activity will not be confined to Washington alone. With some forward planning, public speaking engagements can be arranged throughout Canada and the United States. To facilitate this activity, a Speakers' Bureau has been established by the Information Office to identify staff who are both interested in and capable of making public presentations.

45. With advances in telecommunications, NARO's physical presence in Washington will be further leveraged by establishing a videoconferencing link to Headquarters. With videoconferencing, the Bank can open up a whole new area of low-cost outreach opportunities. While there are time zone differences that will have to be considered, videoconferencing will provide Headquarters with the ability to hold, for example:

• press conferences with Washington-based news agencies and journalists;
• NGO briefings on project- or sector-specific issues;
• discussions with the Washington-based MFls; and
• initial recruitment interviews.

NARO's role as a telecommunications hub will also be enhanced with the introduction of a callback facility to lower the Bank's long-distance telephone charges from high-cost countries to Headquarters.

5. Administrative Arrangements

46. To facilitate interaction with the visiting public, NARO will be provided with additional administrative budget to:

• improve the office entryway and reception area;
• install bookcases and display units for the Bank's publications; and
• purchase a computer to provide visitors with access to the Bank's website.

Better record-keeping systems will also be introduced to organize information relating to NARO's outreach program, contracts established, visitors to the Office, and publications sold to facilitate development of performance indicators. Given current staff resource constraints, additional administrative budget will be provided to hire part-time contractual services. This funding will be used to:

• provide receptionist services;
• set up and maintain database systems relating to NARO's activities; and
• assist with the preparation of the newsletter.

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