Results Management and Results
Measurement—Both Needed to Achieve
Development Outcomes
Ray C. Rist
The World Bank
Washington, D.C.
Successful Development Requires An
Effective and Efficient Public Sector
• But of course, easier said than done: Consider
just these six dimensions and their challenges
-
Strengthening/Reforming Existing
Administrative Systems
Building in Accountability
Providing Transparency
Delivering Fundamental Public Goods
Ensuring the Rule of Law
Allocating Resources Effectively
2
Results-Based Management Is A
Powerful Tool To Support The
Transformation of the Public Sector
1. Shifts from an input-activity-output focus
to a focus on the outcomes of public sector
actions and initiatives
2. Responds to elected officials and the
publics demands for accountability
3. Stresses knowledge and learning through
continuous improvements
3
4. Emphasizes effective resource allocations
5. Provides information to help answer the “so
what” question of intended government
actions
6. Also helps developing countries assess if
they are using their scarce resources most
appropriately
7. But recognize this is a political process with
technical dimensions – not vice versa
4
The Power of Measuring Results
• If you do not measure results, you can not tell
success from failure
• If you can not see success, you can not
reward it
• If you can not reward success, you are probably
rewarding failure
• If you can not see success, you can not learn from it
• If you can not recognize failure, you can not correct
it
• If you can demonstrate results, you can win
public support
5
But What’s Different About
This Type of Management?
• Traditional management focuses on
implementation
– This involves tracking inputs ($$, resources,
strategies), activities (what actually took place)
and outputs (the products or services produced)
– This approach focuses on monitoring how well a
project, program or policy is being implemented
– Often used to assess compliance with workplans
and budget
6
Results-Based Management
7
Ten Steps to Designing, Building and
Sustaining a Results-Based Monitoring and
Evaluation System
Selecting Key
Indicators to
Monitor
Outcomes
Conducting a
Readiness
Assessment
1
Planning for
Improvement
— Selecting
Results Targets
2
Agreeing on
Outcomes to
Monitor and
Evaluate
3
4
Baseline
Data on
Indicators—
Where Are
We Today?
5
The Role of
Evaluations
6
Monitoring
for Results
7
Using
Your
Findings
8
Reporting Your
Findings
9
10
Sustaining
the
M&E System
Within Your
Organization
8
Reasons to Do Results-Based M&E
• Provides crucial information about public sector
performance
• Provides a view over time on the status of a
project, program, or policy
• Promotes credibility and public confidence by
reporting on the results of programs
• Helps formulate and justify budget requests
• Identifies potentially promising programs
or practices
9
Reasons to Do
Results-Based M&E (cont.)
• Focuses attention on achieving outcomes
important to the organization and
its stakeholders
• Provides timely, frequent information to staff
• Helps establish key goals and objectives
• Permits managers to identify and take action to
correct weaknesses
• Supports a development agenda that is shifting
towards greater accountability
for aid lending
10
Moving to Results Based
Management is a Global Trend
• Governments are improve the efficiency
and effectiveness of service delivery by
increasing their accountability to their
citizens (citizens as clients)
• Governments are setting outcomes for
public sector programs with explicit
theories of change
• Governments are now monitoring
performance against these outcomes
11
Moving to Results Based
Management is a Global Trend
(cont’d)
• Governments are now evaluating why
outcomes are being achieved or not
• Managers are judged by their programs’
performance, not their control of inputs
• Governments are establishing links between
policy formulation, budget, and financial
management
12
International Experience
Evidence suggests ten key elements are
essential to making a transformation:
1. A clear mandate to do so
2. Presence of strong leadership at senior levels
of government
3. Building a system that produces reliable
information
4. Evident rationale and incentives for change
5. Links to budget/resource allocation processes
13
Key elements (continued)
6. Involvement of civil society
7. Pockets of innovation and use of pilots
8. Keep the system relatively simple and user
friendly
9. Explicit theories of change—clarity on
assumptions of attribution
10. Monitor both implementation progress and
results achievement.
14
Developing Countries Have Important
Challenges In Building and Using
Results-Based Management
1. Difficulties in defining goals and strategies
that link national, regional and local
governments by sector
2. Increasing weaknesses apparent in
government administrations further from the
center
3. Weak or no links between performance and a
public expenditure framework
15
Challenges (continued)
4. Weak or no incentives for Government
managers to change from wanting to control
inputs (whoever has the most toys wins!)
5. Government systems lack sufficient
administrative and organizational structures
to use M&E information for planning,
management, and resource allocation
decisions
6. Lack of capacity to design, create, and
maintain credible information systems
16
Fundamental questions (continued)
4. What management framework exists in
government to oversee introduction of M&E
system?
5. What has to happen for M&E information to be
linked to budget/resource allocation decisions?
6. Is M&E information being collected (inside or
outside of government) to assess government
performance on any dimensions?
7. What is existing capacity – both institutional and
technical?
17
Getting Started…
Some Policy Considerations
1. Single or multiple M&E systems
2. Piloting (Or not?)
3. Scope of introduction
- whole of government
- sector specific
4. Who is the champion and what is the level of
political capital available to expend
5. Managing expectations on what can be delivered
18