Managing for Development Results at ADB

Results Matter December 2007

Summary of Main Findings on MfDR in 2006 COMPAS

Developing member countries’ demand for strengthening country capacity to manage for development results is increasing. Multilateral development banks (MDBs) are keen to respond to this growing demand and support the strengthening of capacity through a variety of means. MDBs have taken various approaches and steps to assess existing country capacity to identify capacity gaps to be addressed. The assessments are conducted as an integral part of the process of country strategy formulation (ADB, African Development Bank [AfDB]), or during the design of public sector management projects (World Bank [WB]), or under specific initiatives (Inter-American Development Bank [IADB]).

Results orientation is adopted in the country strategy process, but quality should be improved. MDBs monitor compliance with results features, either through country strategy quality-at-entry reviews carried out by Management (ADB), or via country strategy evaluations carried out by independent evaluation office (ADB, AfDB, IADB, WB). MDBs also take steps to ensure that results are achieved from the implementation of country strategies through country strategy completion reports (ADB, AfDB, WB) or independent evaluation (ADB, AfDB, IADB, WB). However, greater improvement in the quality of country strategies is needed.

Project performance and monitoring could be improved. All MDBs conduct periodic reviews of project quality-at-entry. Independent evaluation offices periodically review the quality of project design and monitoring framework (ADB and AfDB), and project evaluability (IADB). All MDBs have procedures for reporting on the results of their operations after completion and also for conducting independent ex-post evaluation. Significant room for improvement exists in project implementation, monitoring, and supervision.

Institutional learning from operational experience is not systematic. Various formal devices are in place to identify lessons and disseminate MfDR lessons to partner countries. Recommendations arising from independent evaluations do seem to influence the way MDBs conduct their business. Some MDBs have a formal mechanism to keep track of, and measure Management’s actual adoption of independent evaluation recommendation (ADB and WB). However, the actual degree of lesson utilization remains unclear and needs to be improved.

Source: Common Performance Assessment System (COMPAS 2006)

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