When and How to Use GBS

1
When and How to Use GBS

• Rebecca Carter, Stephen Lister
• 9 May 2006

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Overview of presentation

• Recommendations based on evaluation findings
• Context (when/where)
• Where has PGBS been (successfully) used?
• Where could PGBS be used?
• Design (how)
• How has PGBS been (successfully) used?
• How should PGBS be used?

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Where has PGBS been used?

• Country contexts
• range of country contexts covered by study
  countries
• political, economic and administrative background
  and performance
• public finance management (PFM) standards
• entry decisions not based on standard (e.g. PFM)
  benchmarks
• importance of governmentdonor trust, plus
  confidence in reform progress
• importance of macro-economic and fiscal discipline

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Where can PGBS be used?

• Most relevant in aid-dependent countries (but cf.
  Vietnam..)
• Not directly explored by this evaluation
• federal states / sub-national level
• fragile states
• Not a simple yes/no decision, importance of
• design
• scale
• persistence and learning
• More on design issues ......

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How has PGBS been used?

• Always part of aid instrument portfolio
  (aggregate and for individual donors)
• Always linked to national poverty reduction
  strategy
• Always a core of PFM concerns
• Selectivity in sector/reform focus (overload)
• Spectrum of general/sector-focused GBS
  instruments
• (but no standard evolutionary sequence)
• Different approaches in linking results to
  disbursements

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How should PGBS be used?

• Incremental approach, country-specific design
• Explicit attention to best fit of aid instruments
  (at donor, national, sector level)
• PFM core
• cf. OECD DAC good practices for GBS, extend to
  sector-focused instruments
• Longer term approaches, trust, mutual
  accountability
• Manage risks, build (donor) public understanding

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Thank You