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p. 13 of 25 BACK | NEXT Introduction Background The need for change Practices of other multilateral development banks The World Bank The Inter-American Development Bank The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development The African Development Bank Policy framework Organizational and resource issues Recommendation

Resident Mission Policy : Practices of other multilateral development banks

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The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

EBRD has resident offices in all 26 of its DMCs plus a number of satellite offices in the Russian Federation. EBRD's operational priorities for the medium term¹⁵ (i) state that developments in the operational environment and EBRD’s business focus reinforce the importance of a local presence, and (ii) conclude that the role of resident offices should be strengthened and staff based in headquarters should spend more time in the field. EBRD views resident office functions in two broad ways: representative (or interface) and operational. Representative functions are clearly more easily performed locally: country knowledge, building relationships, communications, and external relations. Operational functions include marketing, country strategy, project execution, and operating environment assessment. These can be done at resident offices that have a critical mass of business. EBRD is currently reviewing further delegation to resident offices. Issues being examined include the division of labor between resident offices and headquarters, the location of country directors, international and local staff increases, field office assignment terms, and staffing balances. However, the country-focused approach is becoming the norm, with more country directors relocating to the field and with increased decision-making and advisory responsibilities for operational functions. As of December 1998, EBRD has approximately 240 (21 percent) of 1,120 total staff in its resident offices; this included 100 (15 percent) of its 670 total professional staff.

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