Table 2.6
Integration of Country and Regional Experience in Sector Strategies Survey question
Sector staff
Sector managers
Percent indicating to a substantial or very large extent The sector strategy reflects relevant country experience
46
The sector strategy reflects relevant regional experience
52
The sector strategy reflects regional and country experience
60 (18 of 30)
Source: IEG staff survey and IEG manager interviews.
SSPs to a substantial or very large extent in the portfolios of two-fifths of sector managers (Table 2.7). Most SSPs have little effect at the country level because they do not have any “teeth.” SSPs have to be customized at the regional and country level to make them operationally relevant. Sector managers noted that since countries are very different, CASs are selective in their use of SSP guidance. Under the country model, selectivity is to be expected in the CAS, and not all sector priorities can, or indeed, should be reflected in each CAS. However, the influence of SSPs on CASs remains indirect and limited. In one-fourth of the operations overseen by sector staff, CASs draw on the relevant SSP to a substantial or very large extent. This contrasts with the perception of other staff. One-tenth of network anchor staff—those closest to the preparation of SSPs—perceived their SSPs to be adopted into CASs to a substantial or greater extent. On the other end, two-fifths of staff based in country units—those closest to the preparation of CASs—thought they had incorporated SSPs to a substantial or greater extent. One survey respondent from an anchor unit in SDN summarized the experience of the majority: “Overall, it seems that CASs are not very well aligned with sector strategies. While it is understandable that they cannot be 100 percent aligned, it seems that many regional vice presidencies ignore particularly the importance of the sector strategy in its CASs.” The effect of sector strategies on lending operations is not much better. Thirty percent of staff said the operations on which they work (or in the country whose portfolio they oversee) drew on relevant SSPs. As one survey respondent from an SMU working on environment put it, “Bank priorities are often determined by donors. Country operations are often determined by the client . . . Only by fluke [do] country operations meet Bank priorities.”
32
The Matrix System at Work