The World Bank’s Economic and Sector Work and Technical Assistance, FY00-06
Economic and sector work (ESW) and non-lending technical assistance (TA) are two of the analytical and advisory services (AAA) through which the Bank provides knowledge support to its client countries. The objectives of ESW are to inform lending, i...
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| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2012
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2008/09/11621513/world-banks-economic-sector-work-technical-assistance-fy00-06 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/10590 |
| Summary: | Economic and sector work (ESW) and
non-lending technical assistance (TA) are two of the
analytical and advisory services (AAA) through which the
Bank provides knowledge support to its client countries. The
objectives of ESW are to inform lending, inform government
policy, build client capacity, stimulate public debate, and
influence the development community. The objectives of TA
are to assist in policy implementation, strengthen
institutions, and facilitate knowledge exchange. ESW and TA
are an essential part of the Bank's engagement with its
clients it spent $910 million (or 26 percent of its spending
on country services) on these products during FY00-06. The
majority of ESW and TA met their objectives at least to an
average extent during FY00-06, although there were
substantial differences across countries and tasks. ESW and
TA of higher technical quality were clearly more effective
in meeting their objectives. Close collaboration with
clients from task initiation through the formulation of
recommendations was important for ESW and TA to be
effective, whether clients were involved in the production
of the task or not. Sustained follow-up after the completion
of the tasks was important for effectiveness. Whether
clients requested the tasks did not matter for
effectiveness, although all tasks needed to be tailored to
client needs and interests to be effective. ESW and TA were
less effective in countries where government capacity was
lower. Clients in middle-income countries prefer non-lending
to lending services, and clients in all countries prefer TA
over ESW. |
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