January 23, 2012
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The International Monetary Fund announced today the creation of a new department focused on helping member states build capacity and develop their key economic and financial institutions. The new department will be formed by merging the IMF Institute and the Office of Technical Assistance Management, enabling stronger synergies between technical assistance and training to better reflect country priorities, facilitate fund raising, and benefit from economies of scale. The decision, which will entail no additional budget costs, follows a discussion by the Executive Board in November 2011 of a Report of the Task Force on the Fund’s Technical Assistance Strategy. It is expected that the new department will begin operating in May 2012.
“We appreciate the high value that member countries place on the technical assistance and training the Fund provides, and we intend to preserve and build on the strengths of both,” IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said. “This new department will allow us to improve our institutional development and capacity-building activities to help our members meet the economic challenges of a complex and fast-changing world,” Ms. Lagarde added.
The new department will be headed by Ms. Sharmini Coorey, who is currently Director of the IMF Institute (see Press Release No. 11/468).
The new department will be responsible for:
• Defining an institutional development and capacity-building strategy for the Fund—in consultation with other departments—and updating it over time in response to the evolving needs of Fund members.
• Coordinating the provision of technical assistance and training across departments, with the aim of ensuring that these activities are driven by member country demand, focused on the Fund’s core macro (economic and financial) mandate, and integrated with its surveillance and program responsibilities.
• Designing and delivering, in cooperation with other departments, training that reflects member countries’ and Fund staff’s needs.
• Enhancing partnerships with donors and other key stakeholders to underscore that the Fund is modernizing and increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of its institutional development and capacity-building activities. Designing and coordinating processes for evaluating the effectiveness of technical assistance and training will be important in this regard.
• Ensuring that the network of regional training and technical assistance centers is efficiently managed with a view to building a global network of capacity-building centers over the medium-term.
• Reporting to and seeking strategic guidance from the Board through periodic reviews of the Fund’s technical assistance and training.
