Publication:
Institutions Taking Root : Building State Capacity in Challenging Contexts

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Files in English
English PDF (14.72 MB)
7,889 downloads
Published
2014-09-09
ISSN
Date
2014-09-10
Abstract
Building and operating successful public institutions is a perennial and long-term challenge for governments, which is compounded by the volatile conditions found in fragile settings. Yet some government agencies do manage to take root and achieve success in delivering results earning legitimacy and forging resilience in otherwise challenging contexts. Drawing on mixed-method empirical research carried out on nine public agencies in Lao PDR, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, and Timor Leste, this volume identifies the shared causal mechanisms underpinning institutional success in fragile states by examining the inner workings of these institutions, along with the external operational environment and sociopolitical context in which they exist. Successful institutions share and deploy a common repertoire of internal and external operational strategies. In addition they connect this micro-institutional repertoire to the macro-sociopolitical context along three discernible pathways to institutional success. Institutional development is a heavily contextual, dynamic, and non-linear process but certain actionable lessons emerge for policy-makiers and development partners.
Link to Data Set
Citation
Barma, Naazneen H.; Huybens, Elisabeth; Vinuela, Lorena. Barma, Naazneen H.; Huybens, Elizabeth; Viñuela, Lorena, editors. 2014. Institutions Taking Root : Building State Capacity in Challenging Contexts. New Frontiers of Social Policy;. © http://hdl.handle.net/10986/20030 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
Associated URLs
Associated content
Report Series
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Publication
    Do Performance Agreements Help Improve Service Delivery?
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-07) Zoratto, Laura; Vinuela, Lorena
    A growing number of states and municipalities in Brazil rely on results-based management, and many other local and state governments are considering adopting the practice. This paper examines the experiences of the Brazilian states that have implemented results agreements linked to variable pay. The analysis compares current with pre-intervention outcomes in the education, health, and security sectors. The changes are examined in relation to regional trends to determine whether the improvements depart in meaningful ways from the overall trend. In addition, a truncated time-series cross-section model is used to control for several additional factors influencing service delivery outcomes. The results suggest that, at least in the short and medium term, the implementation of results agreements is associated with significant and positive changes in outcomes in the security and education sectors. On average, states using team-level targets and performance-related pay have 15 fewer homicides per 100,000 inhabitants than those that do not, all else equal. Similarly, states that have introduced performance agreements and a bonus for teachers and school staff have improved their Basic Education Development Index score for public secondary schools by 0.3 additional points compared with the scores of states with similar characteristics. The conclusions are in line with the findings of in-depth impact evaluations and case study work in the education and security sectors (Bruns, Evans and Luque 2011, Milagres de Assis 2012). The paper does not analyze unit or team level data, which would be necessary to draw more rigorous conclusions about how results-based interventions affect the behavior of civil servants and outcomes over time. Therefore, the results should be interpreted with caution, as some of the assumptions behind the models cannot be examined with the available data.
  • Publication
    Linking Individual, Organizational, and Institutional Capacity Building to Results
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2006-12) Vinod, Thomas
    Achieving rapid development calls for improved capacity in the public and private sectors to support development policies and projects. The World Bank recognizes that capacity building is a long-term process requiring a systemic approach. That is why many Bank projects in Africa and elsewhere include capacity development activities. But three drawbacks have limited the effectiveness of these efforts: many operations do not -- but need to -- take an integrated view of solutions involving the individual, organizational, and institutional contexts; individual, organizational, and institutional links vary greatly across sectors -- not addressing these differences has led to less effective capacity building; and capacity goals as they relate to this understanding of the individual, organizational, and institutional aspects have not been explicit. This Capacity Brief discusses and illustrates the importance of integrating capacity-building efforts at all three levels, and addressing differences among sectors in their integration, while setting forth explicit capacity goals and monitoring and evaluating progress toward them.
  • Publication
    Strengthening Inclusive Ownership through Capacity Development
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-08) Balbo Di Vinadio, Tommaso; Sinha, Priyanka; Sachdeva, Paramjit
    Ownership of development goals and priorities by local stakeholders is widely viewed as a critical factor impacting development effectiveness and achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The 2008 Accra Agenda for Action identifies the concept as one of inclusive ownership, involving parliaments, local authorities and civil society organizations (CSOs), as well as governments. The importance and challenges of building such broad-based ownership across society were a key discussion topic at the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in November 2011 at Busan. This study aims to generate deeper operational knowledge on what can be done to foster inclusive ownership; its initial findings were presented at Busan. This study involves a retrospective review of a small sample of cases. From these cases it is possible to demonstrate that inclusive ownership, when considered in terms of the operational dimensions examined in the study, can improve as a result of strategic capacity development efforts. It also shows how using an analytic lens such as the CDRF, in particular for the assessment of intermediate results of capacity development, helps to deconstruct the change process in a given case and suggest some operational lessons. Further learning is warranted on how inclusive ownership can be fostered through the design and delivery of capacity development initiatives. Collaboration among and across global communities concerned with ownership and capacity development would enable this work to draw on wider development experiences and generate deeper knowledge on how capacity development can support transformative change.
  • Publication
    Project to Enhance Capacity in Social Accountability : On the Local Cambodian Capacity Building Institute
    (Washington, DC, 2010-06-28) World Bank
    The World Bank is financing a program that would enhance the capacity of civil society in Cambodia to promote good governance through social accountability. Reforms have been undertaken in different parts of the world through the practice of social accountability led by civil society actors. The program aims to catalyze a process of learning from the different experiences from other countries as well as from initiatives in Cambodia in order to respond to the challenge identified by the Royal Government of Cambodia in its Rectangular Strategy 2004 good governance is a pre-condition to economic development. The program is designed to enhance and strengthen the practice of social accountability in preparation for the Demand for Good Governance Project (DFGG) of the Royal Government of Cambodia supported by the World Bank. The World Bank Program to Enhance Capacity for Social Accountability (PECSA) aims to assist the people of Cambodia in strengthening governance by expanding social accountability practices through:Enhancing civil society organizations capacity in the use of social accountability tools, adapting international social accountability practices to the Cambodian context, providing sub grants to develop and pilot social accountability practicesPECSA will provide resources for the following program components, training, mentoring and awareness raising, action learning and tool development. A network of social accountability practitioners and a resource center, and monitoring and evaluation as a learning process
  • Publication
    Decentralized Service Delivery for the Poor
    (Washington, DC, 2006-08) World Bank
    This report on the decentralized service delivery for the poor is structured in two volumes. Volume one is a cross-sectoral report, the core report. The first part includes the program and performance overview which describes the programs (including their poverty goals) and their process of decentralization, the overview of expenditures, the access of the poor to these services, and the evidence on the quality of services. The second part of the core report is on the institutional dimensions of decentralized service delivery which includes the World Development Report (WDR) 2004-type framework of accountability, adapted to the situation in Mexico. Volume two contains the sectoral pieces. For this report-the third phase of a programmatic series of studies on poverty in Mexico-Mexico's social cabinet requested that the Bank analyze service delivery of a specific list of programs that are essential to the government's development strategy in the context of decentralization. The elements of the government's strategy considered here-basic education, health care for the population without social security coverage, local social infrastructure, and local rural development-all aim directly or indirectly to reduce poverty. Both social and economic services shape the opportunities of poor people. Social services contribute to human capital formation and risk management, while economic services shape access to markets. The analysis presented in this report does not pretend to be exhaustive of decentralized service delivery for the poor. Important areas for future research include the following: (i) analysis of the compliance of the law or of the detail regulations in programs; (ii) systematic comparisons of state interventions in the sectors analyzed in this report; (iii) analysis of the implications and requirements to implement per capita funding in health and education, and freedom to choose providers; and (iv) systematic compilation of information at the state and municipal level on the performance of the programs.

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

  • Publication
    Argentina Country Climate and Development Report
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-11) World Bank Group
    The Argentina Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) explores opportunities and identifies trade-offs for aligning Argentina’s growth and poverty reduction policies with its commitments on, and its ability to withstand, climate change. It assesses how the country can: reduce its vulnerability to climate shocks through targeted public and private investments and adequation of social protection. The report also shows how Argentina can seize the benefits of a global decarbonization path to sustain a more robust economic growth through further development of Argentina’s potential for renewable energy, energy efficiency actions, the lithium value chain, as well as climate-smart agriculture (and land use) options. Given Argentina’s context, this CCDR focuses on win-win policies and investments, which have large co-benefits or can contribute to raising the country’s growth while helping to adapt the economy, also considering how human capital actions can accompany a just transition.
  • Publication
    World Development Report 2006
    (Washington, DC, 2005) World Bank
    This year’s Word Development Report (WDR), the twenty-eighth, looks at the role of equity in the development process. It defines equity in terms of two basic principles. The first is equal opportunities: that a person’s chances in life should be determined by his or her talents and efforts, rather than by pre-determined circumstances such as race, gender, social or family background. The second principle is the avoidance of extreme deprivation in outcomes, particularly in health, education and consumption levels. This principle thus includes the objective of poverty reduction. The report’s main message is that, in the long run, the pursuit of equity and the pursuit of economic prosperity are complementary. In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Development Indicators 2005‹an appendix of economic and social data for over 200 countries. This Report offers practical insights for policymakers, executives, scholars, and all those with an interest in economic development.
  • Publication
    Morocco Economic Update, Winter 2025
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-04-03) World Bank
    Despite the drought causing a modest deceleration of overall GDP growth to 3.2 percent, the Moroccan economy has exhibited some encouraging trends in 2024. Non-agricultural growth has accelerated to an estimated 3.8 percent, driven by a revitalized industrial sector and a rebound in gross capital formation. Inflation has dropped below 1 percent, allowing Bank al-Maghrib to begin easing its monetary policy. While rural labor markets remain depressed, the economy has added close to 162,000 jobs in urban areas. Morocco’s external position remains strong overall, with a moderate current account deficit largely financed by growing foreign direct investment inflows, underpinned by solid investor confidence indicators. Despite significant spending pressures, the debt-to-GDP ratio is slowly declining.
  • Publication
    Lebanon Economic Monitor, Fall 2022
    (Washington, DC, 2022-11) World Bank
    The economy continues to contract, albeit at a somewhat slower pace. Public finances improved in 2021, but only because spending collapsed faster than revenue generation. Testament to the continued atrophy of Lebanon’s economy, the Lebanese Pound continues to depreciate sharply. The sharp deterioration in the currency continues to drive surging inflation, in triple digits since July 2020, impacting the poor and vulnerable the most. An unprecedented institutional vacuum will likely further delay any agreement on crisis resolution and much needed reforms; this includes prior actions as part of the April 2022 International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff-level agreement (SLA). Divergent views among key stakeholders on how to distribute the financial losses remains the main bottleneck for reaching an agreement on a comprehensive reform agenda. Lebanon needs to urgently adopt a domestic, equitable, and comprehensive solution that is predicated on: (i) addressing upfront the balance sheet impairments, (ii) restoring liquidity, and (iii) adhering to sound global practices of bail-in solutions based on a hierarchy of creditors (starting with banks’ shareholders) that protects small depositors.
  • Publication
    Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21) Luna-Bazaldua, Diego; Levin, Victoria; Liberman, Julia; Gala, Priyal Mukesh
    This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.