Dr. Ray Rist, Advisor to the World

Bank and President of IDEAS shared his experiences on the Sri

Lankan MfDR initiative. The partici-pants visited the Greater Kandy

Water Supply Project to get first-hand experience on Aid effective-

ness and MfDR.

The country pres-entations on MfDR

made by Viet Nam, Bangaladesh, Tajiki-

stan, Afganistan, Indonesia, Lao

PDR, Nepal, Paki-stan, Peoples Re-

public of China, Malaysia, USA,

Singapore and Afri-can CoP- MfDR

were a valuable learning experience

for the participants.

The CoPs virtual learning network

continues to serve as a Forum for peer learning and

effectively facilitates on-line discus-sions and the exchange of ideas.

The Annual Meeting also provided the space for sharing good practices

on MfDR among Asia Pacific Coun-tries. The ADB support in the

South– to -South exchange was commended as a very successful

initiative by everyone.

All presentations and papers sub-mitted for the Annual Meeting, as

well as online discussions that took place prior to the event, are avail-

able online at the CoP- MfDR web site : http://cop-mfdr.adb.org.

The Asia Pacific CoP-MfDR Annual

Meeting was held in Colombo, Sri

Lanka from 11 -14 November 2008. It

was co-hosted by the Ministry of Plan

Implementation (MPI) and the Asian

Development Bank (ADB).

Sri Lanka was selected as the venue

for this meeting based on the need to

learn Sri Lanka’s MfDR practices. The

Ministry of Plan Implementation (MPI)

together with the Results Management

Unit of the Asian Development Bank,

(ADB) and the Sri Lanka Resident

Mission of the ADB jointly coordi-

nated the meeting.

The CoP MfDR was formed in March 2006 under the auspices of the ADB

to provide development opportunities for practitioners in member countries

in the region to exchange expertise on results management and address prac-

tical issues.

A total of 36 CoP members partici-

pated in the November meeting. Of

them 25 were from 15 Developing

member countries (Afganistan, Ban-

galadesh, Peoples Republic of China,

India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia,

Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore,

Mongolia, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan and Viet

Nam), 7 from regional and global

development partners consisting of

Center on Integrated Rural Develop-

ment for Asia and the Pacific, Civil

Services College of Singapore, Asia

Finance and Development Centre in

Shanghai PRC, International Develop-

ment Evaluation Association (IDEAS),

Synergy International System in the

USA , African CoP- MfDR and the

ADB.

The Minister of Plan Implementation

Hon. P. Dayaratne made the opening

address while the Secretary Ministry

of Plan Implementation Mrs. Dhara

Wijayatilake addressed the Forum on

the MfDR initiatives in Sri Lanka. Mr.

Richard Vokes, Country Director, Sri

Lanka Resident Mission ADB too

addressed the participants. Mr.Bruce

Purdue, Head of ADB’s Results Man-

agement Unit briefed participants on

the High Level Forum on Aid Effec-

tiveness.

The Sri Lankan experiences in institu-

tionalizing MfDR at the National

Level, Results Management in Health

the Sector, Results Monitoring in

Community Development and the

Results Based Information and Pov-

erty Mapping Approach were pre-

sented and discussed at the Forum.

Asia Pacific Community of Practice

Meets in Sri Lanka

I N S I D E T H I S

I S S U E :

Accra Agenda

for Action for

Accelerating

Aid Effective-

ness

2

Progress Re-

port - MfDR

3

Project Cycle

Management

for DAs

3

What is a CoP?

Resources

4

4

M I N I S T R Y O F

P L A N

I M P L E M E N T A T I O N Results Focus D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 8 V O L U M E 1 I S S U E 4

Managing for

Development

Results

(MfDR)

Key Features

Clarity of goals

and objectives

Results linked to

planning and

resource alloca-

tion

Key Performance

Indicators to

focus on results

Beneficiary par-

ticipation

A system for

measuring per-

formance and

results

Promotes a

learning culture

V O L U M E 1 I S S U E 4

Delegates to the Asia Pacific MfDR meeting in

Colombo, 11-14 November 2008

P A G E 2

Accra Agenda for Action to Accelerate Aid Effectiveness The Paris Declaration on Aid

Effectiveness (PD) endorsed in March 2005 is a landmark international Agreement aimed at improving the quality

of aid and its impact on devel-opment.

It lays out a road-map of practical commitments or-

ganized around five key principles namely Country

ownership, Align-ment with coun-try’s systems and

procedures, Har-monization of do-nor actions, Man-

aging for result and Mutual accountabil-ity.

The Third High Level Forum

(HLF3) held in Accra, Ghana from 2-4 September, 2008 reviewed the progress on the implementation of the PD

based on the evidence col-lected by the monitoring sur-vey and the evaluations con-

ducted in Partner countries and donors. The findings of the monitoring and evaluation

evidences helped to identify the high impact actions re-quired to accelerate aid effec-

tiveness in partner countries. The Accra Agenda for Action

(AAA) adopted in Accra on 4 September, 2008 by more than 100 Ministers and Heads

of Agencies from developing and donor countries reflects the international commitment

to support reforms required to accelerate the effective use of foreign aid to achieve de-

velopment effectiveness. Sri

Lanka also endorsed the AAA and strongly believes that the implementation of PD Principles and AAA will contribute to im-

prove aid and development effec-tiveness.

The Sri Lankan delegation led by Mrs. Dhara Wi-

jayatilake, Secre-tary, Ministry of Plan Implementa-

tion presented Sri Lanka’s Poster on Man-

aging for Devel-opment Results (MfDR) and ac-

tively contrib-uted to Roundta-ble 4 on MfDR .

Sri Lanka’s case study on MfDR

was highlighted in the OECD Sourcebook for its leadership on MfDR in the region.

The key points agreed in the AAA are set out below.

Predictability: Donors agreed to provide 3-5 year forward information of their planned aid

to Partner countries to enable them to develop Medium Term Budget Frameworks.

Use of country systems: Partner country systems such as Public

Financial Management, Procure-ment and Monitoring and Evalua-tion Systems will be used to de-

liver and manage aid as the first option rather than donor sys-tems.

Conditionality: Donors will switch from prescriptive condi-tions to mutually agreed condi-

tions based on the partner

country’s national develop-ment strategies. Untying of aid: Donors will

share their plans to further untie their aid with a view to increase aid’s value for

money.

Capacity development: Capacity development will be

demand - driven and the responsibility of the develop-ing countries with donors

playing a supportive role. The Ministry of Plan Imple-

mentation in close collabora-tion with the Ministry of Fi-nance and Planning and other

stakeholders will develop its localized country based ac-tion plan by end 2008 to ac-celerate the implementation

R E S U L T S F O C U S

Five Key Principles

on which AAA is

based

Country ownership;

Alignment with

country’s systems

and procedures;

Harmonization of

donor actions;

Managing for results

and Mutual

accountability.

of PD principles and AAA.

Aid fragmentation: Donors agreed to reduce fragmentation of aid by improving country led

division -of -labour with a view to reduce transaction cost.

Managing for results: Devel-oping countries agreed to insti-

utionalize results management prac-tices in the plan-

ning, budgeting and monitoring and evaluation systems

with a view to im-prove performance accountability and

transparency. Do-nors agreed to support country -

led- evaluations of policy perform-ance.

MPI will

under-

take the

second

phase of

the PD

evaluation in 2011 to assess the

results and achievements of the

aid effectiveness reform initia-

tives.

Ms Dhara Wi-

jayatilake, Secre-

tary MPI and Mr.

V. Sivagnanasothy

Director General,

FABM, at the Ac-

cra High Level Fo-

rum, presenting

Sri Lanka’s Poster

at the “Market

Place for Ideas”

Progress Report: MfDR Where are we now?

P A G E 3 V O L U M E 1 I S S U E 4

Project monitoring and evaluation

capacities of Development Assistants

attached to MPI and working in Divi-

sional Secretariats in selected dis-

tricts received a boost this year.

This year MPI held a total of ten

two-day progress review meetings

and training workshops in the Ham-

bantota, Galle, Kandy and Colombo

districts.

Participants learnt project cycle man-

agement, monitoring and evaluation

and results based management.

They are now able to present key

ideas on the subject while some

participants have identified projects

for evaluation while continuing to

monitor progress of projects at the

divisional and district secretariat

levels,

Another important outcome is

greater recognition by their supervi-

sors of the contribution made by

the DA’s which is observed through

increased workloads and added

responsibility assigned to them.

MPI monitors the progress of

trained staff through reviewing their

quarterly work plans regularly.

Thus far, the greatest challenge faced by the participating Minis-

tries has been the collection of baseline data. Even when data is available through government

records maintained at District

level, practical issues exist which make data gathering, difficult. Another challenge faced by Ministries is the

shortage of human and finan-cial resources to support measurement.

Project Cycle Management for DAs

Managing for Development Results has so far been introduced to 35 Minis-

tries in three phases. Phases 1, 2 and 3 have included 5, 12 and 18 Min-

istries respectively bringing the total number of Minis-tries implementing MfDR

to 35. These Ministries have now

completed defining goals, developing Key Perform-ance Indicators (KPIs) and setting annual targets to

complete their Agency Re-sults Frameworks (ARF) and the Agency Score Cards

(ASC). ARF’s and ASC’s of these 25 Ministries are now available on the MPI website

at www.mpi.gov.lk. These Ministries will be ex-

pected to report bi annually on target achievement. MPI will continue to monitor scores of

these Ministries to ascertain the status of target achievement.

Several goals and targets may have to be scaled down if resources earmarked in the capital budget does not ma-

terialize or staff vacancies are not filled.

RESULTS

The results or changes have been small but significant.

The Ministry of Social Ser-vices and Social Welfare has made its 2009 Financial Plan

based its Results Framework.

MORE MINISTRIES

Next year 2009, will see the

programme being imple-mented in a smaller number of the remaining Ministries

with greater emphasis placed on follow up and progress monitoring. Support to re-

sults measurement in the Ministries that are already engaged in the programme

will also be provided.

A regional training workshop session

An MfDR stakeholder workshop organized by the

Ministry of Trade

What is a CoP?

Our Mission

“To function as the

National Focal Point for

monitoring and

evaluation of all

government development

programmes, projects

and policies to ensure

results and achievement

of development

objectives”

Ministry of Plan

Implementation

Central Bank Building

Tower 5 , Level 12

Colombo 1

Sri Lanka

Phone: 94 11 2477997

Fax: 94 1124234275

Website: :http://www.mpi.gov.lk/

Sourcebook on Emerging Good Practice in Manag-

ing for Development

Results MfDR) is a valuable resource

which provides solution-oriented examples of MfDR in

action for practitioners at many levels and in many contexts. By

focusing on observable and rep-licable interventions, the Source-

book aims to increase the un-derstanding of MfDR and illus-

trate how many stakeholders are effectively implementing MfDR principles for greater

development effectiveness. www.mfdr.org/ -

Resource Center - Man-

aging for Development Results (MfDR) -

ADB.org

The MfDR Resoruce Centre

provides a better understanding of MfDR concepts and proceses.

It contains links to MfDR sites in the Asian region hosting agency

results frameworks; it also dis-cusses case studies

OECD Source Book for Emerging Good Prac-

tices in Managing for De-velopment Results

Provides examples of how differ-

ent groups in different circum-

stances have applied the princi-

ples of managing for results and

addressed the challenges that

arose.

P A G E 4

Communities of Practice are

formed by groups of people who share common interests and wish

to learn how to improve skills in the area of their choice through

regular interaction with people who share the same goal.

A growing number of people and

organizations both nationally and internationally are turning to

communities of practice to facili-tate the exchange of information,

share data and learn from each other’s experiences in a manner

that would not be possible if they were working alone in an envi-

ronment restricted by time and space.

The Ministry of

Plan Implementa-tion is pleased to

announce the for-mation of a MfDR

Community of Practice (CoP—

MfDR) as a key to improving per-

formance and sus-taining results measurement in

the public sector.

The CoP –MfDR ( Sri Lanka) will assist members overcome the

challenges organizations are likely to face in managing for develop-

ment results.

The CoP—MfDR provides a plat-form to exchange experiences

among practitioners to develop and

expand their capacity to manage for development results.

The Sri Lanka CoP MfDR will have

the following features:

Face to face events to enable peer learning

Resource Library on MfDR

MfDR newsletter

Community Norms: The CoP has norms or accepted behaviours that members need to

follow when communicating with each other through face to face

events or other ways.

The success of the network and the

usefulness of the information will de-

pend on the mem-bers themselves. The

authenticity and credibility of the

information provided is owned by the

member who pro-vides the information

Who should participate:

Participation is open to members who are registered with the CoP

while registration is open to anyone interested in MfDR. The steering

committee members of line Minis-tries are members by default.

Line Ministry officials at an MfDR workshop

To join the CoP—

MfDR (Sri Lanka) please visit the MPI

website at

http://

www.mpi.gov.lk/

CoP-MfDR.html