Publication: Operationalizing the Science of Delivery Agenda to Enhance Development Results
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Date
2015-10
ISSN
Published
2015-10
Author(s)
Abstract
The clear development gains achieved in recent decades should not deflect
attention from the scale and type of challenges that remain. The strategies
largely responsible for these initial gains have been technical reforms promoting
economic growth and logistical systems supplying basic inputs. Today,
strategies are needed that focus on enhancing the quality of implementation—
for example, ensuring learning and not just building schools and enrolling
students. This concern now spans numerous domains of professional practice
(especially health) and has entered World Bank discussions framed as the
“science of delivery.”
At the World Bank, the Global Delivery Initiative (GDI) is an operational
manifestation and extension of these ideas. To date, the GDI has prepared a
number of different case studies across numerous sectors on ways in which
innovative teams solve particular problems during project implementation.
On the basis of the initial case studies, the authors outline five key principles
of how high-quality implementation occurs and invite others to add to this
growing storehouse of knowledge. Specifically, task teams are encouraged to
develop “live” case studies by and for their staff, documenting how, in real
time, implementation challenges are being met. Projects must “learn” more
rapidly and systematically how to solve the myriad range of complex
implementation challenges they inevitably encounter, since most of these
(by definition) cannot be anticipated ex ante. Delivery challenges of this kind
will only intensify in the coming years as citizens demand effective responses
to ever-more complex—and contentious—policy domains, such as justice,
regulation, and taxation.
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Citation
“Gonzalez Asis, Maria; Woolcock, Michael. 2015. Operationalizing the Science of Delivery Agenda to Enhance Development Results. © Washington, DC: World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/23226 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”