ICRR 10894 Report Number : ICRR10894 ICR Review Operations Evaluation Department 1. Project Data: Date Posted : 07/02/2001 PROJ ID : P001810 Appraisal Actual Project Name : Leg & Pub Sec. Capacity Project Costs 17.5 12.73 US$M ) (US$M) Country : Mozambique Loan/ US$M ) 15.5 Loan /Credit (US$M) 12.27 Sector (s): Board: PS - Law and Cofinancing 10.0 NA justice (53%), Central US$M ) (US$M) government administration (47%) L/C Number : C2437 Board Approval 93 FY) (FY) Partners involved : Swedish Intl Dev Agency, Closing Date 06/30/1999 06/30/2000 Govt of Norway, Swiss Dev Corp Prepared by : Reviewed by : Group Manager : Group : Yvonne D. Jones Anwar M. Shah Ruben Lamdany OEDCR 2. Project Objectives and Components a. Objectives To build and to maintain capacity in key public institutions and skill areas by expanding the supply of well -trained senior planners, policy analysts, managers, and technicians and by enhancing pay and other incentives and conditions of employment for senior civil servants . b. Components (a) Strengthening legal institutions and training . The objective of this component was to create a group of competent lawyers capable of designing and implementing a sophisticated legal and regulatory framework underpinning a market-oriented system. The component provided financing to build a corps of lawyers, paralegals, judges, and court officers to ensure the proper administration of justice . Activities financed included training for judges and lawyers, the design of automated legal information systems, and development of basic legal institutions .(US$ 9.05 million) (b) Strengthening public sector management through civil service reform and training of civil servants . The objective of this component was to support Government efforts to improve public sector management through civil service reform and the training of civil servants . This component focused on establishing a planning unit in the Ministry of State Administration (MAE), expanding the personnel management system to all ministries of the Government, strengthening the functioning of the MAE, and financing for a Management Strengthening Fund (civil service staff and retention fund) and in emerging NGOs. (US$ 3.68 million) c. Comments on Project Cost, Financing and Dates The project used only 73 percent of the funds provided through the Credit . The legal component totaled 126 percent of its appraisal estimate, while the public sector management component totaled 57 percent of appraisal estimates . Three million dollars in project financing designated for the Management Strengthening Fund were cancelled at the midterm review (component b). Due to difficulties in securing counterpart funds from the Government, IDA lifted the requirement for counterpart funding, limiting the Government's contribution to providing project staff and administrative support. The public sector management component also experienced more implementation difficulties than the legal component, thus using far fewer funds than had been estimated at appraisal . Those changes account for the reduction in project cost . The project Closing Date was extended by one year to permit introduction of a new civil service career and remuneration system and to complete work on its computerization . 3. Achievement of Relevant Objectives: (a) Legal Component. Training objectives were substantially achieved . (i) Training for lawyers and judges and improvement in the quality and efficiency of legal services was largely accomplished . The project trained 70 new judges and retrained 50 existing judges. At least two judges are present in each province, where there were previously none. And each district court now has a judge . The number of trained staff in the Attorney General's office increased from two to seven senior attorneys, a qualified attorney in each provincial capital, and training for attorneys in the districts. (ii) The Administrative Tribunal now has 70 trained jurists, support staff, and equipment . Before the project it existed on paper only . Now it provides the services required by statute . (iii) The Faculty of Law at Edoardo Mondlane University has been strengthened through the overseas training of 9 tenured faculty and short-term, overseas training for 10 others. Student intake in the Faculty has increased . Graduates have increased from 9 per year to 90 per year. (iv) The objective of better dissemination of the law through the design of automated legal information systems, upgrading of the resources and operation of law libraries, as well as through seminars and preparing legal materials was also substantially achieved . The project supported the creation of a legal database containing all of the laws published in the Boletim da Republica . The Faculty of Law benefited from substantial increases in the number of textbooks and reference books . The library of the Supreme Court has also been improved . A system for inter-library loans between the different law libraries was developed . Law Faculty professors provided sponsored seminars in provincial capitals and a system of free legal clinics for individuals and small business was established . (b) Public Administration and Management. (i) A public sector reform workshop and two anti -corruption seminars were attended by representatives of the legislative and administrative branches of government, as well as representatives of civil society . (ii) Support for the reform of personnel management at central and provincial levels . A single, comprehensive database of all civil servants and their position, with a system for keeping it updated . The civil service classification system was streamlined and career streams introduced, permitting promotions that reward in -service training, experience, and good performance . A new simplified remuneration system, based on a minimum wage, has been introduced. It includes a significant decompression of wages . Individuals inadequately qualified for their positions have been identified and targeted for re -training or other appropriate actions . These actions were financed, not only by the Bank, but also by SIDA . The improvements described above have set the stage for the next phase of civil service reform, e.g. including a review of civil service wages which are currently not competitive with the private sector. (iii) Support for the Dept. of Finance and Administration in the MAE, including scholarships . Under the project the department was computerized, databases developed, and staff trained so as to manage the ministry's assets and do basic financial management. In-service staff training was financed, as well as four scholarships for first degree training in France and in Brazil. Most training was for staff in the provincial offices of MAE and for the human resources staff of other ministries, notably the education ministry . Six hundred individuals received training . The Ministry's Administrative Directorate also benefited from training and equipment purchases . This support fed into the on-going reformation and simplification of administrative processes . This sub-component financed training for 45 inspectors in other ministries under the tutelage of MAE . It also financed a small, local cost fund for provincial directorates to support decentralized personnel management . This was the only fund for which provincial directorates were given exclusive discretion and for which they had to use appropriate accounting and reporting methods. 4. Significant Outcomes/Impacts: Legal Component. Training objectives were substantially achieved . Information resource strengthening goals were largely met. Service delivery objectives were partially met . Judicial institutions were strengthened, but remain weak . Medium term sustainability of the training and institutional benefits will depend upon the Government's ability to retain qualified personnel. The prospects for that retention are not strong, given the outcome of the public management component of the project. Public Sector Administration and Management Reform . The framework produced by the public sector reform workshop and the anti -corruption seminars has helped the Government to articulate its policies and has served as a framework for all other public sector reform activities . The creation of the civil service database, with update capacity, the streamlined civil service classification system, and the simplified remuneration system were real achievements, opening the way for more substantial public sector reform. Provincial training for MAE staff was useful . 5. Significant Shortcomings (including non-compliance with safeguard policies): General Observations. The two project components were too loosely linked and it had no monitoring and evaluation system . Project objectives were too ambitious and too broadly defined and the project overestimated the implementing capacity of the project agencies. Legal Component. The development of a long-term strategy, accompanied by an action plan, to strengthen the legal profession and the judiciary were dropped when the Working Group for the implementation of the legal component was reduced to a coordinating body with no decision making powers over the five legal mini -components. The Ministry of Justice was to take the lead in implementing the component, but it lacked the capacity to do so . Although many attorneys were trained for the Office of the Attorney General, the office of itself remains weak and largely ineffective, in part due to the dismissal of the Attorney General and six assistant attorneys general, after allegations of corruption . The Center for Judicial Studies was not created . Salaries for staff of legal institutions remain much lower than private sector salaries. Public Administration and Management Component . At effectiveness, GOM technical managers at the technical level had not bought into the project strategy . Funds were not used to open new avenues nor for strategic changes in the existing situation . A planning unit in the MAE was abolished shortly after it was established . The institution created in its stead served only as a think tank and completed only a small number of tasks for which it was responsible . Bachelor's and master's degree training for MAE staff was not adequately targeted to individuals who were likely to make the greatest impact on the MAE and the larger civil service . The management strengthening fund to support management improvements in the civil service and in NGO professional organizations was never created . The Bank severely overestimated the Government's capacity in this area. The salary incentive fund mechanism to top up the salaries of civil servants did not function well . The Bank refused to finance the salary incentive fund for civil servants when the Government unilaterally expanded the beneficiaries from 2,600 to 4,400. As a result, neither of the bilateral donors who had been willing to finance the fund agreed to replenish it, until it had been made sustainable . Thus, the major issue of how to use salary incentives, among others, to retain experienced civil servants, was not fully addressed . 6. Ratings : ICR OED Review Reason for Disagreement /Comments Outcome : Satisfactory Moderately Satisfactory While some project objectives were accomplished, starting from a very low base, many other objectives were only partially accomplished or are not evaluable. Institutional Dev .: Modest Modest Sustainability : Likely Non-evaluable A major objective of the project was to train a large number of Mozambicans in legal and public sector management skills and to improve the incentives for and conditions of employment in the public sector. Given the weaknesses described above, it is impossible to know if those individuals who were trained will stay in the public service or not. For example, there is no discussion of whether individuals who received training are required to spend some period of time in the civil service before leaving for the private sector. Some serious issues remain to be resolved in a second stage reform effort: lack of competitive wages, large numbers of unqualified personnel, and the decentralization of the management of the civil service. Bank Performance : Satisfactory Satisfactory Quality at entry was rated unsatisfactory by QAG, partly because of the breadth of its objectives, the lack of an adequate monitoring system, and an underestimation of the project's supervision needs. The project was modified significantly to accommodate factors which were not taken into account during preparation, and these changes helped to narrow project focus onto institutional strengthening and training activities. A midterm review helped to restructure the project and to raise its profile within Government, so that implementation of each component subsequently improved. Supervision intensity, both formal and informal, was increased. The Bank's communication with the borrower improved and it showed more flexibility to adapt the project to the implementing agencies' evolving needs . Borrower Perf .: Unsatisfactory Unsatisfactory Quality of ICR : Satisfactory NOTE: NOTE ICR rating values flagged with ' * ' don't comply with OP/BP 13.55, but are listed for completeness. 7. Lessons of Broad Applicability: 1. The objectives of the project were too broadly defined and too ambitious, given the Government's capacity to implement change. 2. Like many other projects focussed on institution building, this project did not provide adequate measures to determine the extent of its impact on the institutions assisted . 3. When implementation capacity is scarce, the Bank should develop the required skills during project preparation . It should ensure that dedicated project personnel are identified and mobilized . 3. In a post-conflict situation, a clear distinction should be made between activities which are primarily emergency and those which are longer term institution building, providing each type of activity with the appropriate financial and human resources. 4. Capacity building projects should be designed within a long term framework . 5. A legal sector reform program should focus on establishing a leadership role for and building capacity within the Ministry of Justice (or other appropriate institution) to increase the likelihood of successful reform . 6. Salary incentive funds are inherently politically sensitive and difficult to implement . They should be used only in the context of a comprehensive civil service reform program where agreement with the Government on the goals and use of the fund have been firmly established before project implementation . 8. Assessment Recommended? Yes No Why? This was an innovative project in a difficult country . It helped to set the scene for further lending in public sector and legal reform. It would be useful to know if it had an impact over the longer term . 9. Comments on Quality of ICR: The ICR is very frank about the weaknesses of project design and the problems on the Bank side and on the Government side during implementation. The analysis is quite thoughtful; the lessons drawn from project design and implementation are pertinent. But the data to support the conclusions is thin . The absence of data is in part due to the lack of a clear monitoring and evaluation system in the project .