Achieving better governance has been a central problem for development. When public services are not delivered as intended, reform action becomes necessary and that involves deliberate activities to change laws, structures, and processes to improve public sector performance and benefit public service users.
... See More + The key challenge is that changes in the design of the institution or its procedures do not necessarily translate into immediate changes in the behavior of relevant actors. A central problem of public sector reform is ensuring that changes in laws and policies also prompts changes in the way that people work, so that service delivery improves. There is no one-size-fits-all approach ensuring that change happens the desirable way; however, experiences from the field suggest that a useful combination of political economy analysis with change management tools can help to maximize positive impacts. Different contexts will require different approaches to change management, and therefore political economy analysis can be used productively to design a targeted change management strategy that builds on existing strengths and opportunities. Greater integration of political economy analysis into change management assessments has been helpful in deepening understanding of attitudes to change within these particular contexts. This has allowed more effective leveraging of the opportunities for reform through the more systematic tailoring of change management strategies to different sets of issues emerging among particular groups of actors. Cambodia and Indonesia, the case studies presented in the paper, help to illustrate this.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS8265 DEC 06, 2017
The World Bank Group maintained strong support for developing countries over the past year as the organization focused on delivering results more quickly, increasing its relevance for its clients and partners, and bringing global solutions to local challenges.
... See More + The World Bank Group leveraged its strengths, expertise, and resources to help countries and other partners make a real impact on development by driving economic growth, promoting inclusiveness, and ensuring sustainability. In 2015, the World Bank Group committed nearly 60 billion dollars in loans, grants, equity investments, and guarantees to its members and private businesses. Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency's (MIGA) mission is to support economic growth, reduce poverty, and improve people’s lives. In order to achieve this, the agency needs a clear understanding of the development outcomes of the projects it supports. MIGA’s Development Effectiveness Indicator system (DEIS) collects a common set of indicators from clients to demonstrate results across all projects: volume of investment catalyzed, direct employment, taxes paid, and value of locally procured goods. It also measures sector-specific indicators.This report highlights of development results expected from projects supported by MIGA guarantees signed in fiscal year 2015. MIGA continues to be most active in our top strategic priority areas, the poorest and the higher-risk countries, and mobilizes substantial additional capacity for clients and governments by supporting innovative projects and partnering with public and private insurance providers.
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Why does development progress in some places but not others? Very often, the distinguishing factor is not a lack of financial resources or of knowledge about the right technical solution.
... See More + Governments may decide to allocate agricultural services to their core supporters or to key swing voters and to deny them to others, thereby reducing the incentive for farmers to seek increases in productivity. Social health insurance benefits may be extended ahead of elections, but removed once elections have taken place. At the same time, political incentives play a powerful role not only in frustrating development efforts, but also in shaping opportunities for change. Often, there are various stakeholders-within government, in the private sector, and in civil society-who want to change what government does for the better. However, in many situations, advice based on technically optimal solutions is not that helpful for potential reformers because such solutions may not be politically feasible nor may even backfire and have unintended negative consequences. The general problem that political incentives are frequently at odds with a technocratic approach to development has long been recognized. Politicians prefer policies and seek institutional changes that support their current needs, including exigencies such as horse trading when negotiating over policies with other powerful stakeholders or designing intergovernmental relations with a view to maintaining some form of centralized control, rather than optimizing service delivery. At the same time, the interests of politicians can also broadly converge with development objectives, such as seeking to deliver growth, jobs, or social protection benefits as a way to secure legitimacy or reelection. This book is a result from a systematic effort at taking stock of what the World Bank has learned from its efforts to mainstream Political Economy Analysis (PEA). The effort included an open invitation to staff members active in the area to submit their work for presentation and discussion at a 2012 review conference. The goal was to identify work that was strong analytically and that provided practical recommendations that resulted in action. The book is thus intended to illustrate (and reflect on) what the Bank has been able to achieve in this area so far and to help others learn more about how PEA perspectives can be effectively integrated into development approaches.
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