Agency Approaches to Managing for Development Results

1
Agency Approaches to Managing for Development
Results

• Why Results?
• What Results?
• Key Challenges, lessons learnt
• Core principles and draft action plan

2
Why Do We Need a Results Agenda?

• So that partner countries and cooperation
  partners can learn what is likely to lead to
  better results, and adapt strategies to improve
  our development effectiveness
• So that citizens can hold governments accountable
  for delivering results
• To enable key stakeholders to understand the
  contributions of cooperation agencies, thereby
  building support for development
• So that we broaden our focus on results beyond
  the project level to reflect our country business
  model and global programs

3
What Do We Mean by Results?

• Sustained improvements in development outcomes
  at the country level
• Families lifted out of poverty
• Improved literacy
• Increased youth employment
• Greater child survival

4
Whose Results?

• Monterrey agreement results are delivered in
  country by Governments
• Cooperation partners contribute to country led
  results.

5
Challenges/Lessons Learnt (1)

• Aligning with partner countries own priorities,
  objectives and results
• PRS targets may be over-stated
• Focus on high-level outcomes that remain constant
  overtime (MDGs, PRS outcomes)
• Agreeing limited set of proxy indicators at the
  right level, measurable and country owned.

6
Challenges/Lessons Learnt (2)

• Attribution and aggregation
• Fungibility of aid
• Complexity of credible logic-mapping quality
  assured
• Respecting country ownership with need to be able
  to aggregate results within countries and across
  regions
• Time lag between interventions and impact on
  outcomes

7
Challenges/Lessons Learnt (3)

• Simplicity/Complexity
• Harmonize agency demands for results information
  to avoid over-burdening country systems
• Fewer high quality indicators that are credible
  and rigorous
• Danger of focusing on what is easy to measure
  rather than what needs to be measured

8
Challenges/Lessons Learnt (4)

• Data quality
• Strengthen partners countries own systems rather
  than establishing parallel systems
• Lack of donor coordination in country to support
  strengthening of ME systems
• Poor quality of international data bases and time
  lag

9
Challenges/Lessons Learnt (5)

• Budget issues
• Application of RBM to resource allocation
• Dangers of managing by results penalizing poor
  performance without adequate analysis of
  under-lying factors

10
Internal Bilateral Agency Concerns (1)

• Coherent approach between different Government
  ministries
• Establishing meaningful targets for global
  actions such as policy coherence
• Harmonising approach with other implementing
  agencies, such as NGOs, Academics etc.
• Retaining public support for development when
  attribution is weakened and results shared

11
Internal Bilateral Agency Concerns (2)

• Top level leadership essential for embedding
• Significant training demands
• Shift to focus on outcomes can create tension
  with sector specialists
• Ensuring timely reporting to meet accountability
  requirements
• Distinguishing between accounting for development
  effectiveness and organisational effectiveness.

12
Core Principles (1)

• Rome declaration
• Start from partner countries priorities,
  objectives and results
• Coordinated approach at all levels
• Strengthen partner countries capacity to measure,
  monitor and manage for results.

13
Core Principles (2)

• Focus on results at all stages from planning
  through implementation to completion
• Align programming, monitoring and evaluation with
  agreed country owned results framework
• Keep it simple!
• Manage for not by results
• Use RBM for learning and evidence based policy
  making.

14
Last Words

• Dont over complicate it
• Beware of the process becoming and end in itself!
• Focus on actions that will make a difference to
  progress in poverty reduction
• Remember the Monterrey principles whose Results!