2008 Annual Report on Acting on Recommendations
This 2008 report analyzes various aspects of the available data to understand the focus of the recommendations.
Although efforts to manually track follow-up actions and recommendations of the Independent Evaluation Department (IED) evaluation reports stretch back to 1982, these efforts were intensified in 2006 and 2007. The objective of tracking the implementation of IED recommendations is to increase the use of evaluation findings in decision making. Inefficiencies in management's response and the manual tracking system resulted in an increased emphasis in 2008 on tracking responses to IED recommendations. The November 2008 Board Policy Paper on Review of the Independence and Effectiveness of Operations Evaluation Department concluded that a more rigorous system should be established for monitoring cumulative progress in taking action on IED recommendations. In 2009, a Management Action Record System (MARS) was established under the leadership of the Managing Director General's Office and with IED's support.
The automated MARS allows IED to input its recommendations after the circulation of a particular evaluation report. Subsequently, Management nominated focal points from implementing and operating departments include the relevant action plans and action completion target-dates in MARS. During implementation of the recommendations, the focal points can describe the progress made and any changes to the planned actions, and classify the status of recommendations. In the first quarter of each year starting in 2010, IED will validate the status of implementation and submit a report to the Development Effectiveness Committee in the second quarter.
This report, the 2008 Annual Report on Acting on Recommendations (ARAR), is a transition report that uses both the manual tracking system (up to 2007) and the more efficient automated MARS tracking system (2008 onward). The improved system will allow for a more systematic analysis of data when action plans are implemented, recorded, and validated; and it will also facilitate real-time monitoring of recommendations. However, the 2008 ARAR cannot yet reap the full benefits of the MARS. The action plans for all 2008 recommendations have been included in the database, but they have just begun to be implemented. The validation of these actions will be reported in the 2009 ARAR (to be circulated in 2010). This 2008 report analyzes various aspects of the available data to understand the focus of the recommendations (e.g., where they are directed, and why they have been accepted or not accepted). In addition, it discusses other ways to analyze the actions taken in the future and make suggestions for finetuning the MARS.
- Executive Summary
- Analysis of Outstanding Recommendations and Their Implementation
- Conclusions and Suggestions
- Management Response
- DEC Chair's Summary