## ppea2024015

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### The New Normal for CD Delivery — Key Findings
- Blended CD (mix of virtual, in-person, peer-to-peer (PTP), synchronous, and asynchronous delivery) is the emerging standard post-COVID-19.
- Early experience:
  - Blended delivery used by all CDDs; experiments include asynchronous foundational courses before synchronous advanced training and/or TA.
  - Anecdotal evidence: high satisfaction by country authorities; greater virtual TA engagement enabled more continuous engagement, wider participation, and expanded coverage of previously underserved countries.
  - Peer-to-peer engagements gained momentum, especially in RCDCs, supported by collaboration between RTCs and RTACs.
- Limits of virtual delivery:
  - Resource and access constraints: time zone stresses, authorities’ availability, network connectivity, and institutional constraints (e.g., sharing confidential files electronically).
  - Limitations more acute in low-income countries (LICs) and fragile and conflict-affected states (FCS).
  - In-person delivery retains unique benefits for relationship building and eliciting sensitive information.

### Delivery Modalities and Recent Trends (FY2020–FY2023)
- Rapid shift to virtual:
  - Virtual delivery adopted from Q2 2020 through FY2022.
  - Virtual delivery was the only viable channel during travel restrictions.
- Convergence to a new normal in FY2023:
  - In-person delivery accounted for about 70 percent of all CD activities at the end of FY2023.
  - Virtual delivery declined from close to 100 percent to less than 20 percent at end of FY2023.
  - Hybrid CD activities accounted for over 10 percent of all activities (likely undercounted).
- IMF 2023 training catalogue:
  - 85 courses in a classroom setting.
  - 87 massive open online courses (MOOCs) covering 16 workstreams, delivered by six departments.
  - 285 microlearning videos available on YouTube.
- IMF Online Courses participation and delivery (FY22 vs FY23):
  - Government Officials participants: FY22 = 9,423; FY23 = 9,169
  - General Public participants: FY22 = 5,765; FY23 = 6,327
  - New Courses delivered: FY22 = 27; FY23 = 22
  - Reruns delivered: FY22 = 81; FY23 = 113

### Programmatic, Blended, and RCDC-enabled Delivery
- Shift toward programmatic CD: well-sequenced TA and training over multi-year periods, aligned with surveillance and lending, evaluated via RBM.
- RCDC adaptations:
  - Peer-to-peer learning, blended cohorts via RTCs and RTACs, tailored programmatic CD in FCS, and blended TA in emerging markets.
  - By end-FY2023, around 44 percent of direct CD delivery was through the global RCDC network (11 RTACs, 5 RTCs, and one CD office in Thailand).
  - RCDCs serve 165 countries and territories and 79 percent of IMF membership; about 80 percent of resident experts deliver CD from RCDCs.
- Benefits of blended CD:
  - More frequent, innovative interactions; potential cost-effectiveness via reuse and maintenance of online content; inclusion of remote experts; improved sequencing of TA and training.
- Challenges of blended CD:
  - Workload management, governance, costing models for remote/hybrid activities, quality reporting and monitoring of continuous short-duration engagements.

### Microlearning, MOOCs, and Training Innovations
- Microlearning channel:
  - Over 15,000 subscribers; initial repurposed videos, followed by dedicated microlearning content.
  - Pilot: “Public Debt Management 101 Series” — 3–4 minute on-demand videos targeted at LICs; integrated into MCM TA and training.
- MCM and STA online course scale:
  - MTDSx on EdX trained over 3,000 learners, including almost 1,500 government officials.
  - STA online curriculum: eight online courses to date with over 11,000 participants—over half from low- and lower-middle income countries (LLMICs); one in six active participants from FCS.
  - STA plans four new online courses by end-FY2025.
- Blended course evidence:
  - Blended training (asynchronous + synchronous) yielded higher participant satisfaction and preliminary evidence of greater learning gains and reach.
  - ICD pilot: first blended FPP at HQ in October 2023 for 42 global participants.
- Pedagogy (example: Financial Development and Financial Inclusion course plan):
  - Week 1 virtual (synchronous/asynchronous) with daily assessments; Week 2 in-person case studies and presentations.
  - Participation: 23 participants from 15 Sub-Saharan African countries; overall rating: 4.5/5; learning gains: 25 percentage points; instructors’ discussion rating: 4.6/5.

### Measurement, M&E, and RBM — Findings and Recommendations
- State of M&E:
  - RBM built into CD design for over a decade; formal RBM Governance Framework expanded in 2020; CDMAP rolled out in 2022.
  - CDMAP links CD spending and project characteristics to RBM data, improving internal reporting and analysis.
  - 30 evaluations completed since 2018 Review (25 external; 5 internal).
- Gaps and issues:
  - Evaluations skew toward external donor-driven work and process/compliance focus; limited capacity to assess long-term impact.
  - RBM currently focused on project-level outcomes; higher-level impact-level results (including macroeconomic linkages) are underdeveloped.
  - Data gaps in RBM and inconsistent evaluation dissemination; internal evaluations less widely shared.
- Empirical findings from RBM/CDMAP analyses:
  - Dataset: 2,870 projects and 15,370 milestones (2001–2023) used for log frame analysis.
  - From CDMAP project-level econometric analysis (1,124 projects in execution across regions and workstreams in 150 countries): positive association between better CD outcomes and CD spending; institutional quality (regulatory quality); projects implemented by RCDCs; and project maturity.
  - ICD synchronous training learning gains (FY19–FY23): standard target = 15 percent increase; most participants surpassed target; learning gains higher for in-person than virtual courses.
  - Predictors of transfer and usefulness (Synchronous Training Survey follow-up 2015–2021; Annex VI):
    - Significant positive enablers include: opinion about INS, FCS country status, job responsibilities requiring use, sufficient knowledge from training, manager support.
    - Significant negative associations include: higher income grouping (Income coded 1=LIDC, 2=EMDV, 3=ADV), lower learning gain, job responsibilities not aligned with training, lack of time to apply training.
- Recommendations:
  - Increase internal, learning-focused evaluations and broaden scope to assess long-term impact.
  - Develop strategic results frameworks at workstream level to aggregate outcomes, include macroeconomic indicators, and support CD-surveillance integration.
  - Strengthen country ownership through explicit authority endorsement of RBM log frames and regular review of log frames across project lifecycles.
  - Improve RBM data quality, compliance in CDMAP data entry, and formal mechanisms to harvest and apply evaluation learnings (e.g., regular reporting to CCB).

### Evidence on Effectiveness and Impact
- Evaluations summary:
  - Impact and Sustainability rated “modest to good” overall; thematic funds and programmatic, sequenced activities tend to perform better.
  - Key factors enhancing impact: TA within surveillance or lending context; training sequenced with TA; RCDC/field presence; building ownership at correct institutional levels; frequent follow-up; reducing expert turnover.
- Econometric results (Propensity Score Matching and dynamic analyses):
  - LIDCs receiving intensive CD in statistical areas achieved larger, statistically significant increases in World Bank Statistical Capacity Indicator.
  - LIDCs receiving intensive CD in tax policy and revenue administration achieved larger, statistically significant increases in tax-to-GDP ratio.
  - Chami, Darkey and Williams (2021): CD interventions increase tax-to-GDP ratio with significant long-run impact—greatest impact accruing to LICs.
  - Preliminary results suggest CD improved VAT revenues-to-GDP ratio: ratio increases by about one percent for a 10 percent increase in the volume of CD (preliminary).
- Sub-Saharan Africa findings:
  - Long-term programmatic CD correlated with positive revenue results over multi-year cycles; short-term revenue administration CD less likely to deliver large short-term tax-to-GDP improvements.

### RCDC Model, Coverage, and Funding Issues
- RCDC footprint and scale:
  - By end-FY2023: RCDCs accounted for around 44 percent of direct CD delivery; RCDCs cover 165 countries and territories and 79 percent of IMF membership; serve 88 percent of EMMIE; cover 42 FCS, 34 SDS, and 59 LIDCs.
- Funding structure and vulnerabilities:
  - Donor contributions represent between 30 and 90 percent of external funding for 12 RCDCs (10 RTACs, SARTTAC, ATI); external funding constitutes 93 percent on average for these 12 centers.
  - In FY2023, about half of the Fund’s external funding for CD came from four partners: Japan, the EU, Switzerland, and Germany.
  - Liquidity: half of funding vehicles have liquidity positions covering at least 12 months of expected expenditures in cash and an additional eight months when considering signed contribution agreements.
  - Upcoming fundraising pressures: FY2024 fundraising asks for four RCDCs ~ almost $200million; FY2025 asks for six RCDCs ~ more than $224 million (excluding CICDC and ATI).
- Policy proposals for RCDCs:
  - Recognize RCDCs as integral Fund field offices and consider IMF01 funding to support overhead/admin costs while external funds focus on delivery.
  - Diversify and consolidate funding (umbrella funds; thematic fund consolidation) and consider moving from phased five-year cycles to rolling plans aligned with medium-term workplans.
  - Frame RCDCs as delivery platforms to allow funding from multiple vehicles and increase cross-funding and staffing flexibility.
  - Periodically reassess RCDC coverage, size, and location every five years.

### RTCs/RTACs, Coordination, and Field Presence Proposals
- Modalities shares in FY2023:
  - Duty station-based work: 21%
  - Field-based work: 48%
  - Interactive learning and workshops: 29%
  - Peer-to-peer engagement: 2%
- Coordination issues:
  - Need deeper integration of HQ, RTC, and RTAC programs; improved selection of participants for RTC/RTAC courses tied to ongoing TA; sharing of good practices.
  - Proposal to develop an RCDC Playbook to harmonize roles, curricula, and good practices; consider AD point-person to reflect regional training needs.
- Field presence:
  - Consider pilots deploying HQ staff in the field to improve proximity efficiencies; ensure governance, HR, and budget implications are assessed.
  - Enhance backstopping and integration of LTXs with CDDs and ADs; harmonize LTX management and performance practices across departments.

### Human Resources, Staffing, and SCS Support
- SCS contribution and composition:
  - Around 30 percent of total time recorded to CD in FY23 was by SCS employees; one-third of SCS supporting CD are on contractual appointments.
  - Around 135 locally engaged employees in RCDCs perform critical administrative and RBM functions.
- Specialist Economists (SEs) and Fungible Economists (FMs):
  - SE separations average [10] percent per year (figure bracketed as in source).
  - Grade distribution: share of SE individual contributors at A14 is 80 percent; share of FM individual contributors at A14 is 50 percent; share of management positions FMs 31 percent; SEs 21 percent.
- HR challenges:
  - Decentralized governance for field-based staff, fragmented contract administration (PeopleSoft, Workday, TIMS, CDMAP), and inconsistent SCS job-family definitions.
  - High share (~40 percent) of SCS contractual appointments in CD departments causing turnover and continuity issues.
- Ongoing HR measures:
  - Broaden RCDC leadership opportunities to SEs; allow regional advisor assignments while remaining on staff.
  - Locally engaged employees review and standardization (contracts, job descriptions, APR process, salary adjustments, leave, medical benefits).
  - Career mobility forums, Talent Inventory expansion, and harmonization of SCS grade bands.

### Policy Actions and Pilot Recommendations (Condensed)
- Overarching aim: modernize CD delivery to enhance agility, impact, and integration with surveillance and lending.
- Key policy proposals:
  - Make programmatic, multi-year, blended CD the standard where feasible; maintain one-off activities for agility.
  - Tailor modality choices to country circumstances; follow three guiding principles: flexibility, country-driven decisions, and principles-based modality selection.
  - Strengthen IT capabilities of field offices and coordinate with development partners to upgrade recipients’ IT.
  - Recalibrate training curriculum: online foundational modules; in-person for advanced/specialized training; cohort selection and semi-structured curricula linking to country TA.
  - Improve support systems and processes: align budget, CDMAP, expert contracting (consider concurrent contracts), participant management, and technology solutions (e.g., CDMAP and FITS).
  - Pilot blended CD delivery in select CDDs/workstreams to evaluate sequencing, impact, RBM metrics, IT needs, resource implications, and implications for RCDCs/RTCs.
- M&E and evaluation actions:
  - Increase internal evaluations and broaden scope; develop strategic evaluation program with learning focus.
  - Establish formal mechanisms to incorporate evaluation findings into strategy and resource allocation (regular CCB reporting).
  - Use RBM and CDMAP data for econometric and programmatic assessments; expand RBM to capture higher-level macroeconomic impacts.

*Source: ppea2024015 - CD STRATEGY REVIEW—BACKGROUND PAPERS (excerpts).*

### 1. The New Normal for Other CD Providers ______________________________________________ 12

### 1. The New Normal for Other CD Providers

### Overview
- The Fund’s CD delivery modalities continue to evolve to a new normal in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The new normal is characterized by a mix of different modalities of CD delivery (defined hereinafter as blended CD) that allows tailoring TA and training to member countries to optimize impact and reach.
- Convergence toward a blend of virtual, in-person, peer-to-peer (PTP), synchronous, and asynchronous CD delivery modalities has:
  - engendered an increase in engagements with member countries;
  - provided foundations for a more programmatic approach to CD delivery by the Fund’s CD departments (CDDs) in close coordination with area departments (ADs);
  - emphasized achievement of well-defined CD objectives with a well-sequenced series of TA activities and training over a longer program period, and evaluation through a Results-Based Management (RBM) framework.

### Early Experience and Assessment
- Early experience with blended CD has been positive:
  - Blended delivery has been used by all CDDs, including experimental approaches where foundational training courses are delivered asynchronously to a cohort prior to more advanced synchronous training and/or TA.
  - Anecdotal evidence suggests high satisfaction by country authorities and points to the need to continue investing in this approach.
  - Greater virtual engagement for TA has allowed more continuous engagement with authorities, wider participation of both Fund staff and authorities, greater integration with surveillance and lending activities, and expanded coverage of some previously underserved countries with travel limitations.
  - Peer-to-peer engagements have gained momentum, particularly in regional CD centers (RCDCs), and are supported by greater collaboration between regional training centers (RTCs) and regional technical assistance centers (RTACs).

### Limitations of Virtual CD Delivery
- Virtual CD delivery has resource and access limitations:
  - Resource demands associated with virtual CD delivery across different time zones.
  - Authorities’ availability and in-country accessibility constraints (e.g., network connectivity).
  - Institutional constraints (e.g., sharing confidential working files electronically).
  - These limitations are more evident in low-income countries (LICs) and fragile and conflict-affected states (FCS).
- In-person delivery retains unique benefits:
  - Positive impact on relationship building and personal engagement of CD recipients that is hard to emulate virtually.

### Budgetary and Resourcing Implications
- Further development of blended CD is essential for the Fund to modernize CD delivery.
- The budgetary implications of the proposed adjustments will be borne over time:
  - Financial support from partners is already financing the shift to the new normal; availability of funds will determine the speed of transition.
  - Additional resources may be necessary to develop foundational online and blended courses and to align systems/processes to the new normal to support planning, management, and reporting of hybrid and blended delivery.
  - More frequent engagements and wider virtual participation of staff and experts may increase costs.
  - Savings might be generated over time from cost-effective delivery, including lower travel costs.
  - It is too early to quantify overall budgetary implications.

### Key Proposed Actions
- A programmatic approach to CD should become the standard for the Fund’s CD engagements where possible, with one-off activities remaining essential in specific circumstances to support agility and responsiveness to country needs.
- Tailor choices over CD delivery modalities to member countries’ circumstances and requirements, harnessing the full potential of blended CD delivery modalities where feasible.
- Address requirements for effective virtual/hybrid/face-to-face delivery, including by seeking ways to optimize impact and reach at the design stage.
- Review the training curriculum to better align to the needs of a programmatic CD delivery, with a blend of online foundational modules and more advanced in-person courses or country-tailored TA.
- Align internal support systems/processes to blended CD activities, including the budget, Capacity Development Management and Administration Program (CDMAP), expert contracting, and IT support.

### Introduction and Context
- Prior to 2020, the Fund’s CD delivery modalities were predominantly face-to-face, with the great majority of CD activities delivered in person either in member countries or at headquarters (HQ).
- A few departments (notably FAD, ICD, and MCM) had started experimenting with hybrid and virtual TA, but these represented a small share of total CD activities pre-2020.
- Online training made up almost a third of the Fund’s training program in the three years prior to the pandemic.
- Delivery modalities varied between HQ-based TA and training, and field-based delivery through RTCs and RTACs. The share of CD activities delivered through RCDCs was on the rise as more RTCs and RTACs became operational over the last two decades.

*Source: ppea2024015 - 1. The New Normal for Other CD Providers (March 4, 2024).*

### 8.      The COVID-19 pandemic forced all face-to-face CD delivery activities to turn virtual.

### 8.      The COVID-19 pandemic forced all face-to-face CD delivery activities to turn virtual.

### Rapid shift to virtual delivery (FY2020–FY2022)
- Following the onset of the pandemic, the Fund moved quickly in the second quarter of 2020 to virtual delivery.
- Virtual delivery continued to be the main delivery modality throughout FY2022.
- Challenges observed:
  - Significant time zone differences for HQ-based staff working on countries in other regions.
  - Poor IT infrastructure in low-income economies and FCS, making virtual delivery cumbersome or less effective.
- Virtual delivery was the only available channel to continue supporting member countries’ CD priorities during travel restrictions.

### Convergence to a "new normal" (FY2023)
- After lifting COVID-related travel restrictions in early 2022, CD delivery modalities converged to a new normal in FY2023:
  - In-person delivery gradually resumed and accounted for about 70 percent of all CD activities at the end of FY2023.
  - Virtual delivery declined from close to 100 percent to less than 20 percent at end of FY2023.
  - Hybrid CD activities continued to rise, accounting for over 10 percent of all activities.
- Caveat: hybrid activities are likely undercounted because virtual interactions before/after in-person events often went unrecorded.

### Programmatic and blended approaches
- Delivery has shifted toward a more programmatic approach using well-sequenced TA activities and training to achieve medium-term CD objectives.
- Departments delivering TA increasingly use virtual or hybrid engagements for short-term interactions before and after in-person activities, facilitating continuous engagement and coordination with ADs.
- Integration of asynchronous foundational learning modules (online training material, including video content) into TA delivery has begun in collaboration with ICD.

### RCDC adaptations and regional modalities
- RCDCs adapted CD delivery using:
  - Peer-to-peer learning in analytical areas and TA delivery.
  - Blended courses and cohort training via RTCs and RTACs.
  - Tailored programmatic CD in FCS.
  - Blended TA delivery in emerging markets.
  - Regional notes to strengthen peer-to-peer learning and good practices.
- Result: strengthened impact and reach; well received by RCDC member countries.

### Online courses, participation, and blended training evidence
- Fund 2023 training catalogue:
  - 85 courses offered in a classroom setting.
  - 87 massive open online courses (MOOCs).
  - MOOCs covered 16 workstreams and were delivered by six departments in one or multiple runs per year.
  - 285 microlearning videos are available on YouTube.
- Observations:
  - Delivery of online courses increased in FY2023 (mainly more reruns), while the number of participants remained broadly constant, indicating continued strong demand.
- Participation and delivery statistics (FY22 vs FY23):
  - Successful Participation in IMF Online Courses (Number of Participants):
    - Government Officials: FY22 = 9,423; FY23 = 9,169
    - General Public: FY22 = 5,765; FY23 = 6,327
  - Delivery of IMF Online Courses (Number of Courses):
    - New Courses: FY22 = 27; FY23 = 22
    - Reruns: FY22 = 81; FY23 = 113
- Blended training (asynchronous + synchronous components) has yielded higher participant satisfaction and preliminary evidence of greater learning gains and reach.

### Integration with surveillance and when in-person matters
- Virtual engagements facilitate participation of CD experts in Article IV Consultation discussions and program engagements; desk economists can more easily join virtual CD activities.
- In-person delivery remains beneficial when:
  - Internet connectivity is poor (e.g., in FCS).
  - Time differences from HQ are large (e.g., Asia).
  - Building trust and eliciting sensitive information during initial project kick-offs.
  - Conducting activities that require longer engagement or intensive networking.
- Virtual delivery is especially useful for follow-ups, frequent check-ins, and ad-hoc assistance between in-person/hybrid engagements.

### Other CD providers' experiences
- Banque de France (BdF), European Commission (EC) with Eurostat, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and World Bank (WB) report similar post-pandemic patterns:
  - Resumption of in-person delivery mixed with extensive use of virtual and hybrid modalities.
  - Experimentation with blended (synchronous and asynchronous) modalities.
  - Key persistent trends identified:
    1. Virtual/hybrid modalities are essential going forward.
    2. Blended engagements (mix of virtual, hybrid, in-person; synchronous/asynchronous) are expected to be common.
    3. Drivers of modality choice include relative cost savings; profile and complexity of engagement; networking externalities.
    4. No CD topics are universally pre-assigned to virtual or in-person; context matters (connectivity, time zones).
    5. Leveraging virtual modalities requires substantial investment in IT skills and infrastructure.
- Distinctions with Fund CD: local footprint and decentralized structure of IDB/WB give them different leeway and experimentation capacity; some counterparts don’t face the same global time zone constraints.

### Path forward — Proposals to modernize CD delivery
- Overarching aim: modernize Fund CD delivery to enhance agility, deepen impact, and better integrate with surveillance and lending.

Proposal I: Enhance Programmatic Approach
- Make programmatic CD the standard where possible: multi-year, well-sequenced, aligned to surveillance and lending, leveraging blended modalities (virtual + in-person; synchronous + asynchronous).
- Maintain stand-alone training and one-off TA where agility is required.

Proposal II: Foster Flexibility in Delivery Modalities
- Tailor modality choice to phase, purpose, resources, and country circumstances.
- Three guiding principles for modality selection:
  - Flexibility for short-term and refinement over time.
  - Country needs, preferences, and circumstances should drive modality.
  - Principles-based (not rules-based) decision making to allow tailoring.

Proposal III: Strengthen IT Capabilities of Field Offices
- Identify and address prerequisites for effective virtual/hybrid/face-to-face delivery, tailored to country circumstances and CD purpose.
- Strengthen or upgrade IT capabilities and conference room facilities of Fund field offices to support hybrid/virtual delivery and PTP engagements.
- Coordinate with development partners to upgrade recipient institutions’ IT capabilities.

Proposal IV: Periodically Recalibrate the Training Curriculum
- Reassess and redesign the training curriculum to align with blended CD:
  - Emphasize online courses for foundational training; reserve in-person for advanced/specialized training.
  - Review online courses to ensure relevance and currency.
  - Consider more focused cohort selection and semi-structured curricula leading to customized country-specific engagements.

Proposal V: Further Improve Support Systems and Processes
- Ensure supporting systems/processes are adaptable to multiple modalities.
- Streamline processes for categorizing and tracking CD delivery; improve project manager support and training.
- Allow budget flexibility to shift modalities during execution.
- Consider redesign of expert contracts (e.g., concurrent contracts).
- Adapt participant management for cohort-driven in-person courses.
- Develop technology solutions supporting CD (e.g., CDMAP and Fund Integrated Training Solution (FITS) in planning/scoping).
- Clarify treatment of HQ staff time spent conducting virtual CD activities outside Fund business hours.

### Pilot and evaluation
- Recommend running a pilot in select CDDs and workstreams to:
  - Systematically develop, document, and evaluate programmatic, sequenced, blended CD tailored to country circumstances.
  - Test sequencing variations (start with asynchronous/virtual foundational modules then in-person advanced training vs initial in-person followed by virtual follow-up).
  - Inform assessment of implications for:
    - Expertise design and development of blended engagements.
    - How TA and training activities are captured in CDMAP and reporting of ad-hoc virtual activities.
    - IT systems needed at HQ, field offices, and recipient institutions (links to Proposals III and V).
    - Development of foundational courses and cohort-based training (Proposal IV).
    - Impact on RCDC and RTC work programs and potential integration (Proposal IV).
    - Resource implications for funding, skills, and staffing.
- Measure pilot effectiveness using the Fund’s RBM tool, comparing blended modalities against traditional approaches to identify the most effective modality blends under different circumstances.

*Source: ppea2024015 - 8.      The COVID-19 pandemic forced all face-to-face CD delivery activities to turn virtual.*

### 25.       The proposals are likely to have budgetary implications, which will evolve over time.

### ppea2024015 - 25.       The proposals are likely to have budgetary implications, which will evolve over time.

### Budgetary implications and timing
- The proposals are likely to have budgetary implications, which will evolve over time.
- Financial support from partners is already financing the shift to the new normal; the availability of funds will determine the speed of the transition.
- Additional financial support may be necessary for CDDs to:
  - develop more foundational online and blended courses in collaboration with the Institute for Capacity Development Department (ICD), and
  - align systems/processes to the new normal to better support the planning, management, and reporting of hybrid and blended delivery.
- Despite upfront implementation cost, potential cost dynamics:
  - Savings might be generated over time, since reuse and maintenance of online courses is likely more cost-effective than repeated in-person delivery of the same learning content.
  - Some share of TA delivery is likely to remain virtual, with potential savings on travel.
  - Maintaining more frequent engagements with authorities and including a wider range of staff and experts may add to the cost.
- At this stage it is too early to quantify the overall budgetary implications.

### CD delivery modalities and classifications
- CD components (as integrated into CDMAP) are:
  - CD Delivery
  - Management and Administration
  - Analytics and Development
- CD delivery comprises:
  - Direct CD Delivery and CD backstopping (backstopping assumed delivered only from the duty station).
- Delivery modalities (as defined) include:
  - duty station-based work (DS)
  - field-based work (FB)
  - resident advisor
  - interactive learning and workshop (IL)
  - online learning (OL)
  - peer-to-peer learning (PTP)
- Mode classifications:
  - In-person: All activities with ‘Field-based work’ (FB) modality.
  - Virtual: Activities with ‘Duty Station-based work,’ ‘Interactive Learning and workshops,’ and ‘Peer-to-peer engagement’ modalities (with ‘Virtual’ toggle on in CDMAP).
  - Hybrid: Combined in-person and virtual delivery of CD activities (FB, IL, PP) and combined virtual and in-person/on-site participation.
- Timing classifications:
  - Synchronous learning: Real-time, in-person or virtually, with live interaction (examples include classroom training, Webex live session, webinars, group instant messaging (WhatsApp)).
  - Asynchronous learning: Self-paced within a timeframe; interaction not in real time (examples include reading, watching recorded lectures, emails, announcements in Moodle). Asynchronous is equivalent to the online learning CD modality.

### Blended CD delivery: purpose, benefits, and challenges
- Definition and purpose:
  - Blended CD delivery supports country reform outcomes using a systematic methodology to decide the optimal delivery approach for CD programs, projects, and activities.
  - It uses a flexible combination of remote, in-person, and blended engagements and can combine synchronous and asynchronous delivery.
- Benefits and practical advantages:
  - Allows more frequent and innovative interactions.
  - Can be more cost-effective in some instances.
  - Can enable more effective delivery by including additional experts remotely.
  - Helps prioritize and sequence CD activities in multi-year programs and achieve the right balance and combination of TA and training.
  - Can ensure the right people are involved at the right time and in the optimum modality—achieving cost efficiency and supporting diversity and inclusion objectives.
- Challenges and operational issues:
  - Workload management, governance and oversight, and documenting and administering CD become more complex.
  - Staff must balance longer and overlapping engagements and inclusion of more stakeholders, adding complexity.
  - Current costing models for remote and hybrid activities are lacking where standard cost assumptions may not exist or may not be accurate.
  - Blending CD approaches creates challenges for quality reporting and monitoring of remote short-duration continuous engagement activities.
  - FAD is developing governance and reporting mechanisms and better knowledge management tools; a post-implementation review of its new CD delivery approach is scheduled for FY2025.

### Departmental experiences and examples
- Fiscal Affairs Department (FAD):
  - FAD’s new CD strategy for FY23–FY27 adopts a country-centered approach and a blended CD delivery model.
  - Examples of early successes:
    - Sri Lanka: remote CD activity provided real-time support to the Inland Revenue Department, enabled by prior in-country diagnostics and smooth internet connectivity.
    - Southeast Europe: multi-country hybrid training that included virtual presentations and in-person meetings to discuss the PFM reform agenda and internal procedures.
    - Maldives: hybrid TA activity to formulate a medium-term revenue strategy, balancing in-person engagement with a short-term expert (STX) joining remotely from Europe.
  - FAD schedules a post-implementation review for FY2025.
- Institute for Capacity Development (ICD):
  - Pandemic-driven innovation led to blended and modular approaches.
  - By October 2023, ICD collaborated with RTCs and experimented with three courses in a blended format: Monetary Policy Analysis and Forecasting (MPAF) with STI, Financial Development and Financial Inclusion (FDFI) with ATI, and Financial Programming and Policies (FPP) with the Joint Vienna Institute (JVI).
  - First blended FPP at HQ was delivered in October 2023 for 42 global participants; insights from this pilot will inform future HQ course deliveries.
  - ICD’s online learning program adopts a flexible, modular approach; example: the Virtual Training to Advance Revenue Administration (VITARA) series is a suite of 14 focused, self-contained modules.
  - Blended courses may take more upfront time and effort to create, but content can be reused, reducing future delivery costs; blended delivery can also help ensure consistent participant understanding prior to TA activities.

*Source: ppea2024015*

### 11.      Microlearning. The suite of microlearning videos on the IMF Institute Learning Channel has

### Microlearning and CD delivery innovations

### Microlearning: IMF Institute Learning Channel and pilot use case
- The suite of microlearning videos on the IMF Institute Learning Channel has been very successful at delivering “bite-size” learning to over 15,000 subscribers.
- During the first two years of the microlearning channel, videos were primarily repurposed from online courses.
- ICD started producing dedicated microlearning videos more aligned with specific needs.
- Pilot: “Public Debt Management 101 Series”:
  - Two microlearning playlists targeted at LICs with low capacity and limited knowledge of core concepts in debt management.
  - Playlists are a series of 3–4 minute on-demand videos organized by theme and complexity.
  - These playlists have been extremely successful and will be used in a blended fashion by MCM in TA and training.
- MCM piloting microlearning videos on debt management:
  - Videos focus on core concepts (objectives of debt management, importance of debt management transparency, basic bond algebra, time value of money).
  - Each video is three to four minutes long and designed for easy access on different devices.
  - Additional videos will be developed with a focus on basic skills for debt managers in LICs and FCS.

### Online courses, MOOCs, and scale
- MCM:
  - MTDSx online course (developed with the World Bank and funded by the Debt Management Facility) is available on the EdX platform in English and French and has trained over 3,000 learners, including almost 1,500 government officials.
  - “Debt Management, Debt Reporting, and Investor Relations” course piloted in-person in January 2020 and anticipated to be completed in FY2024.
  - New online courses planned on local currency bond market development and implementing a debt management strategy through annual borrowing plans.
- STA:
  - In FY2020, STA launched a new structured online learning curriculum.
  - To date, eight online courses, produced with financing from the Data For Decisions Fund, have attracted over      11, 000 participants—with over half from low- and lower-middle income countries (LLMICs)—and with one in six active participants from FCS.
  - Four new online courses (producer price index, residential property price index, monetary and financial statistics, institutional sector accounts) are planned for delivery by end-FY2025.
  - STA’s online learning has provided content for the YouTube IMF Institute Learning Channel; video clips on statistical topics and promotional content represent almost half of the available videos on the channel.

### Blended learning and face-to-face improvements
- Improving face-to-face delivery:
  - Leveraging active learning strategies, improving and updating course materials, and creating better cohesion between instructors will improve learning engagement and outcomes.
  - ICD has guidance material for facilitators and will undertake additional efforts to enhance face-to-face training.
- Needs analyses:
  - ICD aims to incorporate a needs analyses phase into course design to ensure training is targeted and relevant.
  - ICD is designing a needs analyses pilot workshop for a set of courses to determine effective forms of training delivery.
- Blended learning at STA:
  - Blended courses combine asynchronous self-paced online foundational content with synchronous sessions for application via case studies and breakout groups.
  - During FY2022–FY2023, STA delivered 17 blended interactive and learning regional workshops across 3 workstreams: external sector, government finance, and national accounts.
  - Four blended learning workshops are planned for FY2024.
  - Blended design requires up-front resource investment but is less resource intensive for re-runs and more cost-effective over time.

### Integration of training with Technical Assistance (TA)
- Closer involvement in TA:
  - Training is an important component of TA; ICD sees opportunities for stronger integration between training and TA.
  - ICD can play an increasing role in training design and delivery where repeated training topics, high TA-recipient attrition, or foundational concept gaps exist.
- Monitoring and evaluation:
  - Given the growing number of CD delivery modalities, ICD will continue working with CDDs to use evidence-based and data-driven recommendations to inform and improve CD design in the context of the existing RBM Framework.

### Legal Department (LEG): tailored modalities and regional networks
- LEG uses the full set of delivery modalities: field-based work, desk-based work, interactive learning, and PTP workshops.
- LEG adopts tailored approaches when choosing CD engagement type and mode (in-person, virtual, hybrid, blended).
- LEG pursued a mixture of virtual and in-person CD engagements; CD delivery is based on a combination of HQ and STX delivery, primarily implemented through in-person and hybrid TA activities blended with desk work and training.
- Diagnostic TA sequencing during the pandemic moved from full remote mode to virtual scoping followed by hybrid activities (examples: Sudan and Mali; Zambia and Mauritania).
- Greater use of regional capacity and networks:
  - Planned spending for PTP activities grew from roughly 15 percent of planned multi-country spending to 20 percent of planned spending when comparing 2022 vs. 2023.
- LEG increasingly leverages regional training and peer-to-peer learning (examples: core anti-corruption course “Confronting Corruption: Legal, Organizational, and Strategic Approaches” to be offered in CCAMTAC and CARTAC).
- LEG tailors CD modalities to recipient circumstances (internet connectivity, time-zone logistics, capacity constraints), with special consideration for FCS.
  - Example: Mozambique, Solomon Islands, and Cameroon received flexible tailored LEG CD to strengthen capacity of supreme audit institutions to audit COVID-19 expenditure.

### Modalities usage and observed shares
- LEG:
  - Field-based work accounted for more than half of planned spending for single-country CD in 2023.
  - Interactive learning and PTP engagement accounted for nearly 70 percent of multi-country planned spending.
- MCM:
  - Hybrid and virtual CD deliveries in MCM accounted for over 20 percent each of all CD activities toward the end of FY2023, while in-person CD delivery accounted for more than half of all CD delivery.
- STA:
  - As STA staff re-engage authorities in-person in FY2024, the share of CD activities delivered remotely is expected to be low.
  - Combination of in-person and virtual delivery is expected to increase for multiyear projects.
  - STA observed increased virtual engagements with authorities before and after in-person CD delivery; these engagements are likely under-recorded.

### STA integration of TA and training on GFS/PSDS (Annex II Box 1) — selected outcomes
- Integrated TA and training advantages:
  - Training targeted to issues directly relevant to the statistics-compiling agency.
  - More staff trained compared to regional workshops.
  - Reach may extend beyond data compilers to source data providers, policy data users, and management.
- Selected country cases:
  - Burkina Faso (July 2023): Strengthened capacity of GFS compilers; activity trained more than 50 representatives from the local Court of Auditors, civil society, and the GFS Committee.
  - Cambodia (April 2023): GFS and PSDS activity included a two-day GFS workshop attended by key source data providers and data users (General Department of National Treasury, General Department of the Budget, National Bank of Cambodia).
  - Iraq (May 2023): Offsite activity provided training on PSDS and TA on GFS; participants compiled a quarterly PSDS for 2021; the workshop received the highest overall satisfaction rating (a 5.0 score).
- Strengthening national compilers’ capabilities fosters a more programmatic approach with progress continuing beyond direct CD activity.

*Prepared from the IMF CD Strategy Review—Background Papers (sections on Microlearning, ICD, LEG, MCM, and STA).*

### Annex III. RCDC Case Studies of the New Normal

### Annex III. RCDC Case Studies of the New Normal

### Overview
- Innovation in delivery sustained and enhanced field-based CD delivery throughout the pandemic and beyond.
- Characteristics of the new modes of engagement:
  - Combination of virtual and in-person engagements.
  - Pooling of resources across regions.
  - New vehicles for peer-to-peer learning and promoting regional networks.
  - Tailored approaches in FCS (fragile and conflict-affected states).

### A. Examples from Africa Regional Technical Assistance Center—West (AFW2)
- Tailored mix of virtual, hybrid, and in-person activities:
  - Monthly follow-up with senior executives in tax administration.
  - Hybrid activity to help Sierra Leone develop their three-year Strategic Plan and Medium-Term Revenue Strategy with a team of experts—some in-country, some virtual.
  - Hybrid activity on Risk Management and Effective Use of Third-Party Data in Liberia where the first part was delivered virtually to optimize time on the ground.
- Interregional hybrid or virtual workshops:
  - Jointly organized by the three English-speaking RCDCs in Sub-Saharan Africa (AFE, AFS, and AFW2).
  - Covered topics such as Forecasting and Policy Analysis Systems (FPAS), FX Policy and Operations, and Digital Money.
  - Deeper collaboration with regional institutions such as WAIFEM and MEFMI.
- Advantages reported:
  - Greater inclusivity (including an increased share of female participants).
  - Cost-effectiveness.
  - Enhanced peer-to-peer learning and networks: e.g., after an interregional workshop on Performance-Based Budgeting (PBB), several countries visited AFE and AFS to benchmark their systems.

### B. Examples from CCAMTAC
- Peer-to-peer learning in analytical areas:
  - Demand for bilateral TA in advanced modelling exceeds CCAMTAC’s resources.
  - Following a three-day virtual workshop organized by CCAMTAC, ICD, and MCM, CCAMTAC launched a Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) modeling club with a strong peer-to-peer learning element.
  - Club activities and features:
    - Organized by CCAMTAC’s macroeconomic advisor.
    - Brings together teams from the CCAMTAC region to develop and implement DSGE models in policy institutions.
    - Goal for 2022–2023: develop a very basic DSGE model.
    - Meets virtually every two months.
    - Hosted regional and international speakers from within the region and the IMF.
    - Selected IMF staff taught participants how to introduce energy commodities to DSGE models, presented the Model for Integrated Policy Analysis, and introduced participants to machine learning and its use in empirical estimation.
    - An in-person event is tentatively scheduled for next year.
- Blended cohort-training and fostering collaboration between RTCs and RTACs:
  - CCAMTAC and JVI launching a joint blended macroeconomic cohort training for 30 young officials from CCAMTAC countries and Moldova.
  - Training structure:
    - Two online segments and two two-week face-to-face workshops (one in Almaty and one in Vienna).
    - Estimated 150 hours of training over an eight-month period.
  - Objectives:
    - Provide junior officials with comprehensive understanding of macroeconomic analysis, the business cycle, diagnosing internal and external imbalances, and economic policies.
    - Develop a strong peer network across the region.
- Strengthening TA with small-group peer-to-peer learning:
  - First PTP engagement in banking supervision and regulation held at CCAMTAC in Almaty brought three jurisdictions together.
  - Participants: supervisors from Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia.
  - Three-day engagement covered licensing practices, Basel Core Principles related to licensing, assessments of significant ownership, background checks, and assessing fitness and probity of the board and management.

### C. Examples from METAC
- Programmatic CD approach in fragile contexts (Yemen):
  - Since 2022, METAC supported the Yemeni Ministry of Finance (MoF) in strengthening expenditure control under a programmatic approach.
  - Outputs and steps:
    - Assisted MoF in defining workflows and producing a first version of the “Commitment Control Manual,” finalized at end-2022.
    - Provided training and later tested new procedures with three pilot entities (Customs Agency, Ministry of Public Works, University of Aden/Ministry of Higher Education).
    - In spring 2023, assisted MoF in preparing an Excel-based tool to facilitate communication among line ministries.
    - Contributed to an FAD-led Hackathon event in Amman where a prototype of a communication tool for the exchange of financial information was developed.
    - With support from development partners, work continued in FY2024 to bring the Hackathon IT prototype to scale.
  - Programmatic objective: MoF leading the key reform to bring the rate of spending in line with available resources—three pilot entities; roll-out of commitment control process planned for mid-2023.
- Blended delivery of Supervisory Review Process (SRP) CD to Bank Al Maghrib (BAM):
  - METAC developed the SRP methodology with BAM through a series of virtual and in-person activities.
  - Timeline and milestones:
    - Project started in June 2021 with a presentation of the European Supervisory Mechanism methodology.
    - July 2022: METAC reviewed the draft SRP methodology and proposed a three-phase rating assessment process.
    - A comprehensive SRP manual was developed and a pilot test was conducted.
    - METAC provided training to BAM’s supervisors and proposed recommendations to enhance implementation.
  - Outcome: BAM was the first METAC member country to implement SRP.
- Offsite activities for high-risk-location member countries:
  - METAC has been holding TA activities in offsite locations since 2014 to ensure continuity of CD delivery to countries with weak security or ongoing armed conflict.
  - In FY16, METAC’s Steering Committee approved that METAC bears the travel cost of up to six officials to reduce participation constraints.
  - Observations:
    - A large share of METAC’s CD is delivered offsite due to many member states being classified as high-risk-location and/or subject to conflict.
    - Offsite CD delivery involves higher security-related costs and increased administrative burden.
    - Flexibility in the choice of activity location, duration, and number of participants is crucial to reap full benefits.
- Regional notes to disseminate lessons and good practices:
  - Purpose:
    - Summarize results and key takeaways of regional workshops and/or surveys.
    - Present CD experiences and recommendations.
    - Can be drafted in cooperation with development partners and/or CD users in member countries.
  - Example: METAC’s regional note on Delivering PFM Capacity Development in Fragile and Conflict-Affected States documents emerging lessons and examples of tangible results.

- Success Story—Bank Al Maghrib SRP Methodology
  - Success Factors:
    - Timely introduction of CD
    - Tailored CD (proportionality)
    - Active engagement of the team
    - Strong commitment from management
    - Selection of the right experts
    - Benefit of hybrid mode

### D. Conclusion
- An expanded toolbox of CD delivery modalities is helping provide more inclusive, cost-effective, and potentially more impactful CD to members.
- Peer-to-peer learning is gaining traction given increasingly complex issues and resource constraints.
- Virtual and asynchronous delivery sustained CD during the pandemic and are part of the new normal, but limits exist:
  - In low capacity and fragile contexts, members express a strong preference for in-person engagements.
- Best CD delivery solutions will:
  - Make full use of the expanding set of innovative modalities.
  - Maintain flexibility in their application.

*Prepared by Eva Jenkner (AFW2), Norbert Funke (CCAMTAC), Holger Floerkemeier, and Anastasia Janzer-Araji (both METAC).*

### Annex IV. Figure 3. Financial Development and Financial Inclusion Course Plan

### Annex IV. Figure 3. Financial Development and Financial Inclusion Course Plan

### Course structure
- Week 1 (virtual—synchronous and asynchronous):
  - Each day had two cycles of asynchronous and synchronous engagement.
  - Asynchronous learning: participants asked to learn on their own for no more than 45 minutes at a time.
  - Synchronous engagement: virtual instructor-led sessions of about the same length that dove deeper into topics and included highly interactive, participant-driven discussions of real-world issues.
  - At the end of each day, all participants were required to attempt an assessment.
- Week 2 (in-person):
  - Participants worked on one case study each day.
  - Case studies led to debates, experience sharing, and solutioning.
  - Followed by peer presentations assessed on content, presentation, individual contribution, and teamwork.
  - Program culminated in a scored post-course assessment.

### Pedagogical approaches — what worked
- Flipped classroom:
  - Basic concepts taught through asynchronous training material before in-person training.
  - Instructor-led time used for case studies, hands-on practice, and experience sharing.
- Scaffolding:
  - Self-paced learning scaffolded with virtual instructor-led sessions where content was extended to more country-specific discussions.
- Participant engagement strategies:
  - Daily assessments and social pressure used as a commitment device.
  - Successful completion of Week 1 required to attend Week 2; participation in Week 2 conditioned on three criteria:
    - (i) Completing the daily assessments;
    - (ii) Ensuring attendance of at least 80 percent during the virtual sessions; and
    - (iii) Ensuring active participation.
  - Creating social presence by enabling regular engagement with instructors and peers even in the asynchronous portion.
- Systematic reinforcement of key concepts through:
  - (1) Synchronous/virtual interactions with instructors;
  - (2) Daily assessments; and
  - (3) Week 2 discussions and final presentations.

### Evaluation highlights and key statistics
- Participation:
  - Twenty-three participants from 15 Sub-Saharan African countries attended the course.
- Engagement and reception:
  - Instructors noted a uniquely high level of engagement and high-quality classroom discussions during both weeks.
  - Overall rating: 4.5/5.
  - Significant learning gains based on pre- and post-test: 25 percentage points.
  - Participants rated instructors’ activity in encouraging discussion: 4.6/5.
  - Participants found course materials relevant and praised instructors' knowledge.

### Areas for improvement (identified)
- Week 2 discussions required greater flexibility from instructors, requiring greater familiarity with the material and experience working in these areas.
- FDFIx materials used in Week 1 were useful but need updating and ultimately more tailored material will need to be developed.
- Logistical issues to consider: time differences, connectivity issues, and work demands encroaching on participants' time and focus.

### Subsequent iterations and planned developments
- A modified version of the blended course was offered twice subsequently: once at AFS and once at the Joint Vienna Institute; for both, the first week was in-person due to preexisting logistical decisions, but the self-study asynchronous week with synchronous discussions format was mirrored and instructors were present in the room.
- Decision taken to experiment further by creating a streamlined and focused standalone MOOC to provide the introductory material; access to an in-person synchronous component would be opened only to those who have successfully completed the MOOC.
- FDFI 2.0 is planned to launch in October 2024.

*Source: Author’s representation.*

### 3.      Going forward, the Fund should continue to improve its M&E, including through

### ppea2024015 - 3.      Going forward, the Fund should continue to improve its M&E, including through

### Key findings and context
- The quality of evaluations has seen significant improvement over the years, though there remains room for improvement.
- At present, there is scope to improve long-term impact assessment of Fund CD—especially given the focus of external evaluations (Annex III).
- The 2022 IEO evaluation notes a lack of strategic planning for evaluations due to a bottom-up approach to identifying topics in evaluation exercises.
- The program of evaluations should be developed with strategic considerations, including addressing learning gaps and enhancing synergies between internal and external evaluations.
- Strengthening country engagement in the design and implementation of CD interventions can boost ownership by recipient countries.
- The RBM framework is currently focused on project-level CD outcomes and can be enhanced by developing impact-level results, including macroeconomic variables, across topical areas of work streams.

### Key Proposed Actions
- Increase internal evaluations and broaden their scope.
- Create formal channels for incorporating monitoring and evaluation results into strategy development.
- Require explicit agreement with country authorities on targeted results and resource commitments for programmatic CD.
- Develop strategic frameworks for articulating and tracking results above project level.

### Introduction and purpose of the paper
- The 2022 IEO evaluation reaffirmed Fund CD is relevant, effective, and valued by members.
- The paper builds on the 2022 IEO evaluation, providing additional context and analysis to highlight progress since the 2018 CD Strategy Review.
- The paper contains two sections: (1) assessment of the state of M&E in the Fund, highlighting progress since the 2018 CD Strategy Review and areas for further strengthening; and (2) issues on CD Tailoring, Effectiveness, and Impact, leveraging evaluation findings and econometric analysis that use Result-Based Management (RBM) data.

### The State of M&E at the Fund
- The Fund’s M&E framework for CD includes internal and external evaluations, RBM, assessment of training, and other tools such as annual progress reports.
- RBM provides immediate self-assessment information; pre- and post-training testing and surveys provide learner progress information; evaluations provide in-depth assessment across a longer time horizon.
- The 2022 IEO evaluation described the Fund’s M&E as a “wide-ranging multipronged M&E framework” that is flexible and tailored to the Fund’s focus on CD.
- The updated RBM policy and the rollout of the Capacity Development Management and Administration Program (CDMAP) in 2022 introduced a formal mechanism requiring area department involvement from the start of a project.
- Project managers lead design of targeted results and milestones but must obtain endorsement from area department country teams before project execution.
- Internal data dashboards have increased availability and frequency of M&E data and made it easier for area departments to access a wide range of CD data.
- Risk assessment practices leveraging country team insights support CD delivery and inform surveillance; further development of risk assessment practices is needed to fully support CD and surveillance integration.

### Evaluations: design, balance, and gaps
- The Common Evaluation Framework (established in 2017 and updated in 2020) governs design and execution of evaluations of Fund CD and mandates the use of RBM data as key information sources.
- Evaluations are planned on a rolling three-year basis and the workplan is approved by the Committee on Capacity Building (CCB).
- 30 evaluations were completed since the 2018 Review of the Fund’s Capacity Development Strategy, of which 25 were external and five were internal (Figure 1).
- External evaluations are often donor requirements, are more numerous, and are executed by independent firms; they tend to be more focused on process and “compliance with donors’ requirements” than on broader lessons learned.
- Internal evaluations are fewer but offer greater flexibility to align scope to strategic institutional needs and typically focus more on learning gaps and lessons to inform future CD.
- The IEO found limited capacity to assess long-term impact of Fund CD through evaluations alone, given the focus of external evaluations.
- There is a need to increase the share of internal evaluations and broaden their scope to better assess long-term impact and strategic issues.
- The 2020 update to the Framework emphasized learning-focused evaluations, but practice has not fully caught up; evaluations should avoid a compliance-based approach and cultivate opportunities for introspection and learning.
- There is a need for formal mechanisms to discuss and operationalize evaluation findings; regular reporting to the CCB of recent evaluation recommendations and staff’s proposed responses would support an outcome-oriented culture and inform strategic resource allocation and project design.
- Effective communication and dissemination of evaluation findings are key; external evaluations tend to be disseminated more widely than internal evaluations.
- As evaluation efforts mature, AI tools could be harnessed to query the volume of evaluation findings using pattern recognition of natural language to inform project design and CD prioritization.

### Results-Based Management (RBM)
- The Fund has implemented RBM for over a decade; a formal RBM Governance Framework took shape in 2017 and was revised in 2020 to expand coverage to all CD delivery work.
- RBM is now systematically built into CD design and management and the quality and volume of RBM data have improved.
- CDMAP's introduction has facilitated compliance with the RBM Governance Framework and aided production of higher quality, more complete RBM data that can be easily accessed for project management, portfolio management, and strategic decision making.
- With CDMAP, data on CD spending and project characteristics can be linked to RBM data, enabling more robust internal reporting and analyses.
- The 2022 IEO evaluation highlighted significant progress in RBM since the 2018 review, but remaining data gaps persist.
- Country-focus is encoded in the RBM catalog: objectives and outcomes reflect the CD recipient’s perspective, and projects cannot be designed unless there is documented demand for CD from the recipient tracked in CDMAP.
- The RBM policy requires authority involvement in project design and management; the concept of a project was redefined in the revised RBM Governance Framework and CDMAP to reinforce a country-focused mindset.
- As a result, more projects (in the case of technical assistance) are defined with a single-country focus, driven by specific demand submitted by country authorities, and result frameworks are streamlined to realistically achievable medium-term objectives.

### Measures to enhance tailoring, effectiveness, and impact
- Evaluation and staff analysis highlight measures that can further enhance tailoring, effectiveness, and impact of Fund CD, including:
  - Strengthen institutional ownership of CD among beneficiary countries.
  - Tailor CD to low-capacity countries.
  - Improve integration of TA with training as well as CD and surveillance.
  - Maintain steady field presence in design and delivery—including leveraging RCDCs and local or regional expertise.

*Source: ppea2024015 — CD STRATEGY REVIEW—BACKGROUND PAPERS (excerpts).*

### 21.      Still, there is need to further strengthen country ownership of targeted results through

### ppea2024015 - 21.      Still, there is need to further strengthen country ownership of targeted results through

### Country ownership and Results-Based Management (RBM)
- Recipient country ownership of targeted results is an enduring challenge for organizations implementing RBM; OECD found recipient country ownership among the enduring challenges faced by many organizations implementing RBM for projects.
- IEO evaluation of the Fund acknowledges significant progress but notes room for improvement.
- Staff proposal to strengthen ownership:
  - Seek authorities’ commitment before commencing a project.
  - Authorities explicitly endorse the RBM log frame for programmatic CD projects as part of the design or initial implementation phase.
  - Conduct regular review of the log frame through the project lifecycle.
  - Early buy-in intended to safeguard appropriate tailoring of CD and reinforce ownership throughout the project life cycle.

### Strategic focus of the results framework
- Current RBM focus:
  - Focused on project-level results across functional workstreams with varying degrees of consistency.
  - Has not evolved to articulate higher-level outcomes and impacts (for example, macroeconomic variables), which is important for CD-surveillance integration.
- Existing higher-level strategic result frameworks:
  - Constructed ad hoc in the context of large externally funded vehicles (thematic trust funds) mainly to meet funding vehicle requirements.
- Recommendation:
  - Develop a strategic results framework at the level of workstreams to:
    - Build higher-level outcomes, including macroeconomic linkages.
    - Ensure consistency across workstreams.
    - Enable aggregation of results across regions and/or across projects (e.g., for a given workstream and group of countries).
    - Provide relevant and robust data for evaluations, particularly for gauging long-term impact of CD.

### Evaluation of training activities — overview and methods
- Expansion of training modalities:
  - Traditional classroom learning initially; asynchronous online learning added in 2013, which has since trained over 160,000 learners.
  - Pandemic response added synchronous virtual and hybrid modes.
  - Staff explored “blended” modalities to leverage comparative advantages.
- Evaluation methods applied:
  - Course design includes learning objectives and expected skills/knowledge.
  - Initial post-course surveys capture participant perceptions of usefulness and effectiveness.
  - Follow-up surveys for ICD training assess degree to which knowledge/skills are applied on the job, including questionnaire on frequency of newly learned tasks (knowledge transfer).
  - Pre- and post-course tests to evaluate baseline knowledge and learning gained; difference between post- and pre-course test scores determines training effectiveness.
  - Evaluations are conducted course-by-course and currently only administered on a subset of Fund courses.
- Recommendation:
  - Extend the formal approach of evaluating results of training and learning programs (currently applies to a subset of courses) to all training.
  - Use rich evaluation data more fully to evaluate curricula and adjust delivery modalities.
  - Periodic outreach to directors in charge of training in member countries to gather information on training design, traction, and impact.

### Tailoring, effectiveness, and impact of CD — evidence base
- Analysis draws on:
  - Findings from 30 evaluations (25 external, 5 internal) reviewing CD implementation between 2013 and 2023.
  - Internal RBM data and staff reports/internal documents.

### Is Fund CD tailored? — evaluation findings
- General finding:
  - Recipient authorities generally perceive Fund CD reflects their needs and priorities (IEO evaluation).
- Tailoring mechanisms:
  - Country and regional strategies inform CD prioritization.
  - Tailoring could be further expanded to include institutional-level considerations, increase ownership, and deepen country engagement.
  - IEO noted limited involvement of authorities in formulation of CD country strategies and lack of clarity on how departments assess absorptive capacity.
- Institutional constraints that affect tailoring (identified in external evaluations):
  - Staff turnover.
  - Absence of effective knowledge transfer mechanisms.
  - Inadequate funding for optimal operations.
  - Lack of coordination among government agencies.
  - Bureaucratic oversight and procedural challenges.
  - Shifting management priorities.
  - Authorities’ access to reliable internet and electricity.
- Recommendations from evaluations:
  - Move from ‘CD delivery’ to a ‘change management’ approach—incorporate change management tools and systemic analysis of beneficiary institutional capacity.
  - Train CD project managers in concrete change management methodologies (D4D recommendation).
  - Support governments in better communicating reforms to build consensus and commitment across political cycles (MNRW recommendation).
- Value of local and peer-to-peer engagement:
  - Field-based staff and local experts improve tailoring, sustainability, and knowledge sharing (e.g., RMTF, D4D, AFC).
  - Peer-to-peer training and workshops effective in promoting recipient ownership on cross-cutting issues like gender and climate.

### Is Fund CD tailored? — RBM data analysis findings
- RBM log frame analysis (2001–2023):
  - Dataset: 2,870 projects and 15,370 milestones.
  - Findings:
    - Projects supporting LIDC CD recipients incorporate more milestones per outcome on average than those supporting AE recipients, allowing for more step-by-step engagement.
    - Projects supporting LIDCs tend to be designed with longer durations.
  - Note: Number of projects ranges reported: AEs 1–25, EMMIEs 14–417, LIDCs 3–381.

- Text mining of CD Country Strategy Notes (CSNs) FY17–FY23:
  - Sample: 155 CD-CSNs covering 2017–2023 (confidential/Strictly Confidential omitted).
  - Keywords searched included: absorption, absorptive capacity, absorptive, capacity absorption, understaffing, understaffed, understaff, human resource constraints, human resources, low capacity, limited capacity, lack of capacity, staff turnover, staff availability, staff resources, ownership, commitment, political support, political will, political commitment, buy-in/buy in, political appetite.
  - Regional production of CSNs: 85 by AFR, 3 by APD, 6 by EUR, 46 by MCD, 15 by WHD.
  - Countries categorized as FCS if they appeared on the FY15, 18, 19 and 23 FCS lists.
  - Results:
    - Recipient commitment and absorptive capacity are being considered in more than 50 percent of CSNs.
    - CSNs for Fragile and Conflict State (FCS) were more likely to discuss these topics.
  - Specific chart values reported:
    - Coverage of CD Recipient Commitment: Mentioned 68, Not Mentioned 32 (in percent of total CD-CSNs).
    - Coverage of Absorption Capacity: Mentioned 59, Not Mentioned 41 (in percent of total CD-CSNs).

### Is Fund CD effective? — evaluation findings
- General evaluation conclusions:
  - Fund CD is effective in improving recipient capacity; often rigorous, practical, timely, reform-oriented, and superior to CD of other development partners in Fund expertise areas.
  - RCDCs and field presence with local expertise positively impact effectiveness; lack of local expertise, frequent expert turnover, and long gaps between rotations hurt continuity.
  - Training is most valuable when linked to TA reforms; one-off training or workshops are less effective.
  - For FCS, in-person training, while more costly, considered more effective for knowledge transfer.
- Value-for-money (VfM) findings:
  - Some evidence CD provides good VfM:
    - TA provides good VfM when local context knowledge and local/regional experts applied.
    - Training provides good VfM given low cost across broad portfolios.
  - VfM assessment challenges:
    - Concept of VfM is not easy to define and metrics are difficult to obtain.
    - Evaluators use diverse methodologies; no standard approach prescribed by the Fund.

### Is Fund CD effective? — RBM econometric analysis findings
- Analysis using CDMAP data covering 1,124 projects in execution across Fund CD regions and workstreams in 150 countries:
  - Positive associations found between better CD outcomes and:
    - CD spending.
    - Institutional quality (regulatory quality).
    - Projects implemented by RCDCs.
    - Project maturity (projects nearer completion more likely to attain target outcomes).
  - Implications:
    - Increased spending often translates into larger and longer projects—suggesting longer-term and more involved CD delivery might be prioritized over one-off interventions to achieve better results.
    - Regulatory quality measure indicates existing institutional capacity is positively associated with probability of achieving targeted CD outcomes—highlighting need for tailoring to lowest capacity recipients (e.g., FCS).
    - RCDC involvement corroborates evaluation findings on importance of field presence and local expertise.
    - Projects nearer completion have higher likelihood of attaining target outcomes; results of early-stage projects should be interpreted with care.
  - Methodological note:
    - Lartey and Mensah, forthcoming adopt Bassanetti (2021)’s strategy to estimate a probit model and an ordered probit model using CDMAP data.
    - CDMAP dataset is nascent and has some limitations; results broadly align with recent work (Presbitero, 2016; Caselli and Presbitero, 2021; Bassanetti, 2021).

### Is Fund CD effective? — regional and center-specific findings
- CARTAC (Caribbean regional TA center) correlation analysis:
  - Anecdotal evidence suggests more intensive CD (resource days executed) may be associated with better average outcome results across CARTAC member countries (January 2017–June 2023).
  - Positive association influenced by outliers, underscoring challenges in assessing VfM.

### Training data analysis — participant perceptions and learning gains
- Post-training survey results (ICD synchronous courses, Calendar Year 2015–2021):
  - Approximately 90 percent of respondents found knowledge and skills learned useful or very useful for their jobs.
  - Participants from low-income and FCS countries reported higher levels of knowledge transfer to professional environments compared to participants from higher income countries, more pronounced for in-person participants.
  - Participants from FCS countries and IMF program countries more likely to utilize their knowledge in collaboration with the Fund.
- Online/asynchronous survey results:
  - 90 percent agreed or strongly agreed course(s) allowed them to apply new methodology, tools, or technologies to their work.
  - 95 percent agreed or strongly agreed the online course(s) helped them carry out their work more effectively.
- Ongoing engagement:
  - Number of IMF courses taken prior to an evaluated event consistently predicted better performance (importance of ongoing engagement).
- ICD synchronous training learning gains (FY19–FY23):
  - Learning gains observed for both in-person and virtual participants; higher for in-person courses.
  - Standard target for learning gains is a 15 percent increase, which most participants surpassed.
  - Econometric findings on learning gains:
    - Modality, length of training, and recipient characteristics associated with learning gains.
    - Learning gains lower for virtual courses—less severe for introductory courses than for intermediate and advanced courses.
    - Participants of longer courses and those who attended more than one course saw larger learning gains.
    - Participants from lower income countries and with lower levels of education saw smaller learning gains.
    - Learning gains generally smaller for introductory courses (likely targeting lower-capacity participants) than intermediate and advanced courses.
  - Implications:
    - Prioritize virtual training for foundational topics; prioritize in-person or longer modalities for specialized/advanced content and lower-capacity participants.

*International Monetary Fund — CD STRATEGY REVIEW—BACKGROUND PAPERS (excerpts from source content)*

### 39.      Evaluations show Fund CD is generally impactful, and further highlight factors that

### 39.      Evaluations show Fund CD is generally impactful, and further highlight factors that enhance impact.

### Evaluation findings on impact and sustainability
- Overall ratings:
  - Impact and Sustainability of CD rated “modest to good”, with higher ratings primarily in internal evaluations and external evaluations focused on thematic funds.
  - Thematic funds tend to focus on fewer workstreams and sequenced interrelated activities compared to regional vehicles.
- Factors enhancing impact:
  - TA provided in the context of surveillance or program: TA activities tend to be prioritized, recipient commitment is easier to attain, and resource availability is more likely to sustain reforms (see AFS evaluation).
  - Training is more impactful when provided in the context of on-going CD efforts and properly sequenced to support specific reforms.
  - Cross-workstream collaboration in RCDCs and a harmonized, integrated approach to CD design enhances impact.
  - Building ownership and commitment among authorities by engaging recipients at the right institutional levels improves impact (see AFC evaluation).
  - Frequent and timely follow-up interactions help create and maintain momentum.
  - Designing CD to help recipients maintain reforms in the longer-term through integrated, well-sequenced CD is more impactful than delivering independent one-off activities.
  - Improving continuity of the Fund CD team and reducing expert turnover supports relationship building and ownership.

### Econometric analysis findings
- Methodology and scope:
  - Analysis used Propensity Score Matching techniques comparing countries receiving intensive CD—defined by volume provided above the median of the sample—with broadly similar countries that did not.
  - Focused on main IMF CD workstreams in statistical, fiscal, and financial areas and their impact on macro-level outcome indicators.
  - Analysis limited to LIDCs to reduce heterogeneity and concentrates on around a half of IMF CD delivery.
- Key results:
  - LIDCs with intensive CD in:
    - (a) statistical areas achieved on average larger and statistically significant increases in the Statistical Capacity Indicator (from the World Bank Statistical Performance Indicators database reflecting statistical methodology, source data, and periodicity and timeliness).
    - (b) tax policy and revenue administration achieved on average larger and statistically significant increases in the tax-to-GDP ratio.
  - Preliminary results for intensive CD in financial supervision and crisis management, macroprudential policies, and systemic risk analysis point to sounder financial stability indicators (capital adequacy ratios and, to a lesser extent, NPL ratios) than comparable countries with less intensive or no CD; results are preliminary due to significant data limitations for LIDCs.
- Revenue-focused dynamic analysis:
  - Further econometric analysis (study by Chami, Darkey and Williams (2021) using annual data for 115 countries and dynamic CS-ARDL specifications) finds CD interventions increase tax-to-GDP ratio, with a significant impact in the long run.
  - CD increases tax revenue with the greatest impact accruing to LICs.
  - CD and the tax ratio may diverge in the short run owing to shocks or institutional factors but tend to converge over time, reflecting time needed to build institutional capacity.
  - Types of taxes impacted: preliminary results suggest CD improved VAT revenues-to-GDP ratio such that the ratio, on average, increases by about one percent for a 10 percent increase in the volume of CD.

### RBM data and correlation analysis findings (Sub-Saharan Africa focus)
- Long-term CD in Sub-Saharan African countries:
  - Correlation analysis indicates positive impact of long-term CD.
  - Revenue administration CD support in the short term is unlikely to deliver large improvements in tax-to-GDP ratio; over the longer-term, programmatic multi-year, multi-modality CD should yield positive impact, especially after two or three programmatic cycles.
- Empirical associations (from CDPORT completed projects 2013–2019 covering 12 AFR countries with 449 revenue administration completed CD projects with outcome ratings):
  - Positive association between CD support and tax on income- and capital gains-to-GDP across different groups of AFR countries.
  - Positive but weak association between CD support and overall tax-to-GDP ratio.
  - No association between CD support and taxes on goods and services except for middle-income countries.
  - Positive correlation between stronger institutions and tax-to-GDP ratio is consistent with other IMF work (IMF, 2023).

### Lessons and implications for CD design and delivery
- Lessons from evaluations and econometric/RBM analyses:
  - Strengthen institutional ownership of CD among beneficiary countries through early and deeper engagement of authorities.
  - Maintain steady field presence in design and delivery by leveraging RCDCs and local/regional expertise.
  - Tailor CD to low-capacity countries recognizing longer time horizons to build capacity.
  - Improve integration of TA with training and enhance CD-surveillance integration.
  - Adopt programmatic, multi-year, sequenced CD approaches rather than one-off activities to achieve longer-term impacts.
  - Reduce expert turnover to improve continuity and ownership.

### Conclusions and recommended improvements
- M&E progress and remaining gaps:
  - The Fund’s M&E has evolved since the 2018 CD strategy review (Framework update, RBM Governance Framework revision, CDMAP implementation), improving CD-surveillance integration and country team access to CD data.
  - Room for improvement exists in data quality, strategic focus of RBM, and evaluation planning.
- Specific recommendations:
  - Strengthen country engagement in developing results frameworks to enhance ownership—engage authorities in project design and agree explicitly on targeted results.
  - Improve RBM data quality and increase compliance in RBM data entry and maintenance.
  - Develop strategic results frameworks that articulate higher-level indicators for assessing macroeconomic and long-term impacts aligned with surveillance objectives.
  - Adopt a more strategic planning of evaluations, including increasing internal evaluations and broadening their scope to address longer-term strategic questions.
  - Establish formal mechanisms to harvest and use evaluation learnings to inform project design, CD prioritization, and decision making; increase systematic dissemination of evaluation findings (including to the Board).
  - Use evaluation recommendations and staff responses to inform CCB discussions.

### Annex I — RBM risk assessment and CD-surveillance integration (high-level)
- Risk assessment practice:
  - Risk categories assessed: (a) political support; (b) management support and technical staff commitment; (c) resource adequacy; (d) external/climate conditions; and (e) other risks.
  - Risks assessed on a four-point scale: low, medium, high, and very high for impact and probability.
  - RBM policy requires risk assessment and mitigation planning at project start and at least once annually; CDMAP makes completion of risk assessment and mitigation fields a requirement.
  - RBM Dashboard includes a data quality report highlighting gaps in risk assessments.
- Observed data and practice gaps:
  - Risk assessments may be incomplete, insufficiently detailed, or not tailored to country context.
  - Examples of weaknesses from Africa-region reviews include generic/vague descriptions and mitigation measures lacking specificity on institutions, stakeholders, or whether resource constraints are capital or human capacity related.
- Recommendation:
  - Project managers should continue to strengthen collaboration with country teams to develop more complete, detailed, and country-tailored risk assessments; Fund should identify change management initiatives and additional resources required to strengthen CD area department and country authority focus and collaboration on risks and mitigation strategies.

### Annex II — Analysis of evaluations reviewed
- Scope and coverage:
  - 30 evaluations reviewed covering FY2013–FY2023 on average (average evaluation period ~ four years; all evaluations conducted between FY2018–FY2023).
  - Evaluation types: 5 internal evaluations and 25 external evaluations.
  - External evaluations breakdown: 11 for Regional Capacity Development Center (RCDC), 11 for Thematic Funds (TF), and 3 for bilateral accounts.
  - Four external evaluations correspond to new subaccounts created around 2017 (FSSF, D4D, MNRW, and SARTTAC).
  - External evaluations included assessments of COVID-19 pandemic impacts and IMF response in CD implementation.

*Source: ppea2024015 - 39.      Evaluations show Fund CD is generally impactful, and further highlight factors that enhance impact.*

### Annex II. Table 2. Summary of DAC Ratings per Subaccount Type

### Annex II. Table 2. Summary of DAC Ratings per Subaccount Type

### Key summary findings
- Source: Staff analysis based on 30 Evaluations of CD activities from 2013–2023.
- Ratings (DAC criteria): Relevance, Coherence, Effectiveness, Efficiency, Impact, Sustainability.
- Overall average ratings by subaccount type:
  - RCDC: Relevance 3.7; Coherence 3.2; Effectiveness 2.9; Efficiency 2.8; Impact 2.4; Sustainability 2.6
  - TF: Relevance 3.5; Coherence 3.2; Effectiveness 2.9; Efficiency 3.0; Impact 2.7; Sustainability 2.5
  - Bilateral: Relevance 3.1; Coherence n/a; Effectiveness 2.9; Efficiency 2.6; Impact 2.5; Sustainability 2.4
  - Internal: Relevance 4; Coherence n/a; Effectiveness 3.5; Efficiency 2.8; Impact 2.8; Sustainability 2.8

### Notes on coverage and methodology
- Includes comparable qualitative assessments, heath map, or 4-points metrics.
- Coherence was added to the DAC criteria recently and therefore is not covered by evaluations that ended prior 2021.
- Only one evaluation included comparable rating heat map for DAC criteria assessments, the evaluations for MCD: Debt Management.

*Source: Staff analysis based on 30 Evaluations of CD activities from 2013–2023.*

---

### Annex II. Table 3. DAC Scores per RCDC, TF, and Bilateral Evaluations (External evaluations of CD conducted between FY2018–FY2023)

### Selected subaccount-level DAC scores (Relevance, Coherence, Effectiveness, Efficiency, Impact, Sustainability)
- RCDC AFC III: 3.7; 3.7; 2.5; 2.5; 2.2; 2.4
- RCDC AFW IV: 3.7; 3.8; 2.8; 2.5; 1.9; 2.3
- RCDC AFS II: 3.6; 3.0; 2.8; 2.7; 2.1; 2.2
- RCDC SARTTAC I: 3.5; 2.4; 2.6; 2.2; 2.0; 2.5
- RCDC CARTAC: 3.8; N/a; 2.9; 2.8; 2.6; 2.3
- RCDC PTAC: 3.6; N/a; 3.4; 2.8; N/a; 2.8
- RCDC METAC IV: 3.7; N/a; 2.8; 2.6; 2.5; 2.2
- RCDC AFRITAC East IV: 3.8; N/a; 3.1; 3.4; 3.1; 3.1
- RCDC AFW2 II: 3.5; N/a; 3.0; 2.5; N/a; 2.5
- RCDC CAPATAC-DR: 3.8; N/a; 3.5; 3.5; 2.5; 3.0
- RCDC ATI: 3.8; N/a; NA; 3.6; N/a; 3.2

- TF TADAT II: 3.2; 3.4; 3.5; 3.5; 3.1; 3.1
- TF TADAT I: Unclear; N/a; Unclear; Unclear; Unclear; Unclear
- TF MNRW I: 3.4; 3.1; 3.5; 2.6; 2.3; 2.2
- TF RMTF II: 4.0; 3.0; 2.5; 3.0; 2.0; 2.0
- TF D4D Fund I: 3.3; 2.8; 2.8; 3.3; 2.3; 2.3
- TF SEE II: 3.6; 3.1; 2.5; 2.3; 2.3; 2.3
- TF FSSF I: 3.9; 3.9; 3.0; n/a; 2.9; 3.0
- TF AML/CFT II: 3.5; n/a; 2.7; 3.2; 3.0; 2.0
- TF Somalia Country Fund: 3.5; n/a; 2.9; 3.3; 3.5; 3.0
- TF DMF II: High; n/a; Moderate; Moderate; n/a; Moderate
- TF FIRST: n/a; n/a; n/a; n/a; n/a; n/a

- Bilateral Netherlands: Excellent; n/a; Good; Good; Modest to good; Modest to good
- Bilateral SECO: 3.1; n/a; 3.0; 2.5; 2.4; 2.6
- Bilateral JSA: 2.2; n/a; 2.7; 2.3; n/a; 2.0

*Source: Staff analysis based on 30 Evaluations of CD activities from 2013–2023.*

---

### Annex III. Comparing Internal and External Evaluations

### Requirement and timing
- Internal Evaluations:
  - Requirement: Not required.
- External Evaluations:
  - Mandatory for 90% of the externally financed subaccounts, as stated in the terms and conditions of each subaccount.
  - Required to start 40 months after the phase has started.
  - Must be conducted by an independent evaluator.

### Scope of the assessment
- Internal Evaluations:
  - May review several TA activities under a few linked workstreams.
  - Emphasized lessons learned up front.
  - Made fewer recommendations, no specific limit required.
- External Evaluations:
  - Traditionally reviews all workstreams within a subaccount. A few recent pilots have narrowed the scope.
  - Recent evaluations increasingly emphasize lessons learnt over ratings per DAC criteria, but a focus on ratings persists.
  - Must include at least 10 recommendations.

### Evaluation period covered
- Internal Evaluations: 4–10 years.
- External Evaluations: 3–4 years.

### Quality assurance mechanism
- Internal Evaluations: No consistently structured or required review.
- External Evaluations: Overseen by an inter-departmental review committees known as Evaluation Sub-Committee (ESC) established for each evaluation.

### Dissemination of findings
- Internal Evaluations:
  - Limited. No historical repository of internal evaluations exists, but recent evaluations are published in the IMF Intranet.
  - Only two out of five internal evaluations were accessible to staff on the intranet, due to security classifications.
  - Some evaluations are disseminated through departmental seminars.
- External Evaluations:
  - Extensive and external dissemination through:
    - Online publication of the main report, in the respective subaccount webpage (almost all).
    - Partner’s Connect (site with information and data on CD efforts financed by donor-partners) (all).
    - IMF Intranet publication (all).
    - Presentation to donor-partners during the Steering Committee Meetings (all).

### Purpose and follow-up mechanisms
- Accountability:
  - Internal: Meet their reporting and accountability goals to the department that commissions it.
  - External: Largely meet their reporting and accountability goals to donor-partners.
- Systemic response mechanism:
  - Internal: No information was found.
  - External: Includes an IMF Response and an Action Plan, which facilitate the follow up of the Evaluation’s recommendations over time. The Actual Plan informs the design of the subsequent Program Document (PD) and may also become an Annex to the PD.
- CD design and learning:
  - Internal: No formal mechanisms are in place to know the extent to which evaluation enhances learning across CD activities, but lessons learned from evaluations may influence the future design.
  - External: No formal mechanisms are in place to know the extent to which evaluations enhance learning across CD activities, but the lessons learned may influence the future design of the CD being evaluated and may also permeate more broadly.

*Notes: The 2018 CD Strategy Review recommended to establish a systemic response mechanism.*

---

### Annex IV. MOPAN Findings: Organizations Learning from and Applying Evaluation Findings

### High-level observation
- Most organizations reviewed by MOPAN (assessments published in 2021 and 2022) struggle to learn from and systematically use evaluation findings to support decision making and project design.

### Organization-specific findings (selected)
- Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria:
  - Organization’s culture of learning needs strengthening and steps to strengthen approach to learning from evaluations have only recently been endorsed.
  - Evaluation results are not consistently shared internally or externally, particularly at the country level.
- United Nations Environment Programme:
  - Internal mechanisms and incentives exist to feed evaluation lessons into new strategic plans and projects.
  - A repository of evaluations and their recommendations is available online and publicly accessible.
  - In practice, project evaluation findings are not informing design of new operations.
- African Development Bank:
  - Lessons learnt are not systematically incorporated during new project design.
- United Nations Children’s Fund:
  - Accountability mechanisms to ensure that evaluation recommendations are tracked exist, but mechanisms for systematic learning and application of evaluation findings to program design are not in place.
- International Labour Organization:
  - Vehicles exist to integrate lessons learnt into corporate strategies but not during individual project design.
  - Evaluation reports and performance data are disseminated to stakeholders.
- United Nations Development Programme:
  - Lessons from evaluations are not systematically integrated or applied, though currently taking steps to develop processes and products to improve this.
  - Organization’s culture of learning (especially from failure) needs strengthening.
- United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs:
  - Mechanism for tracking evaluation follow-up actions and recommendations is in place.
  - No requirement to demonstrate how lessons from past interventions are applied when designing new projects.

*Source: MOPAN assessments (https://www.mopaonline.org/assessments/).*

---

### Annex V. The Fund’s RBM Framework

### Design and components
- RBM policy and implementation within the Fund are aligned with RBM best practices and principles.
- Foundational component: logical framework (log frame).
- The Fund’s RBM policy requires all CD projects to develop a project log frame(s).
- Log frame structure includes: high-level objectives, medium-term outcomes, indicators to measure outcome achievement, and milestones.
- Ratings are part of the log frame and are updated throughout a project’s lifecycle to provide an overall numerical assessment of results.

### Strengths and tailoring
- The RBM system is well designed to meet the Fund’s unique needs and address the challenge of assessing capacity development improvements.
- The Fund tailored its RBM to fit its mandate and focus, harnessing lessons and best practices from the development community.
- The Fund’s RBM system is centered solely on CD, recognizing the greater difficulty of measuring CD results compared to more quantifiable outcomes in other sectors.
- The log frame mixes standardized and custom elements:
  - Objectives, outcomes, and indicators are standardized in a catalog to allow comparison across projects.
  - Milestones are custom designed for each project to support tailoring and project management.
- Indicator baselines and targets:
  - Baseline: the value of an indicator before CD delivery.
  - Target: the desired value after CD delivery is completed and successful.
  - Progress is measured by comparing indicator values during implementation or at project end to baseline and target.

### Impact on CD practice
- RBM has led to a growing focus on results:
  - Revision of RBM Governance Framework and launch of CDMAP shifted delivery toward medium-term results and away from mission- and output-focused delivery.
  - 2022 IEO evaluation noted that RBM strengthened the results-orientation of CD delivery.
- The Fund’s RBM policy focuses solely on project results rather than tracking inputs and outputs.

---

### Annex VI. Synchronous Training Survey Results (Follow-up Survey Results: 2015–2021)

### Sample and data sources
- Sample: all participants who undertook ICD training between 2015 and 2022, with a minimum one-year interval since survey completion.
- Source: IMF Participant and Applicant Tracking System, Follow-up Survey (2018, 2020, 2022), and staff estimates.

### Key survey constructs and scales
- Delivery modes compared: IP (In-person) and V (Virtual).
- Variables and scales:
  - Transfer (Amount of time spent at work applying knowledge from training): Scale 1-4: 1) None; 2) Less than 30%; 3) 30%-60%; 4) more than 60%.
  - Usefulness (Rating of knowledge and skills acquired through training): Scale 1-4: 1) Not useful; 2) Somewhat useful; 3) Useful; 4) Very useful.
  - Confidence (Confidence about applying knowledge to work): Scale 1-4: 1) Strongly Disagree; 2) Disagree; 3) Agree; 4) Strongly Agree.
  - Value (Rating of the training as a worthwhile investment in career): Scale 1-4: 1) Strongly Disagree; 2) Disagree; 3) Agree; 4) Strongly agree.
- Legend for statistical significance: * p<.05 ; ** p<.01 ; *** p<.001

### Predictors of transfer of knowledge (Annex VI. Table 1; N 2329; r2_a 0.155 and 0.143)
- Variables with statistically significant positive association (Enablers model):
  - Opinion about INS (1-5): 0.080***
  - FCS country (FCS=1): 0.147**
  - Number of completed Non-OL courses: 0.028*
  - Enablers: Job responsibilities require: 0.418***
  - Enablers: Sufficient knowledge from training: 0.211***
  - Enablers: Support from managers: 0.100**
  - Enablers: Already had customized tools: 0.175**
- Variables with statistically significant negative association (Barriers model):
  - Income (1=LIDC, 2=EMDV, 3=ADV): -0.127***
  - Learning gain (0-1): -0.438***
  - Barriers: Job responsibilities NOT aligned with training: -0.575***
  - Barriers: No time/opportunity to apply training: -0.209***

### Predictors of rating of training usefulness (Annex VI. Table 2; N 2341; r2_a 0.191 and 0.16)
- Variables with statistically significant positive association (Enablers model):
  - Opinion about INS (1-5): 0.154***
  - Number of completed Non-OL courses: 0.030**
  - Enablers: Job responsibilities require: 0.392***
  - Enablers: Sufficient knowledge from training: 0.285***
  - Enablers: Support from managers: 0.069*
  - Enablers: Time/resources to apply training: 0.088**
- Variables with statistically significant negative association (Barriers model):
  - Income (1=LIDC, 2=EMDV, 3=ADV): -0.104***
  - Barriers: Job responsibilities NOT aligned with training: -0.524***
  - Barriers: No time/opportunity to apply training: -0.249***
  - Barriers: Tools are difficult to customize: -0.135**

### Additional summary metrics presented graphically (figures)
- Group differences by delivery method, FCS status, gender, and outcome variables (Transfer, Usefulness, Confidence, Value) are presented in Annex VI. Figure 1.
- Course level impact on knowledge transfer and opinion about the Institute shown in Annex VI. Figure 2 (Scale 1–4 and Scale 1–5 means and standard deviations; n=5407 for course-level; n=3257 for opinion by income level).

*Source: IMF Participant and Applicant Tracking System, Follow-up Survey (2018, 2020, 2022), and staff estimates.*

---

### Annex VII. The Propensity Score Matching Technique

### Purpose and rationale
- PSM is an estimation technique that addresses selection bias and unobservable characteristics in impact evaluation analysis where the intervention was not randomly assigned.
- In randomized control trials, treatment assignment is random and difference-in-differences estimates the impact. When random assignment is not feasible (as in CD interventions), PSM approximates a random experiment.

### Method and application
- PSM generates propensity scores estimating the probability of being treated and matches treated units to control units by proximity of propensity scores.
- A matched set pairs one treated unit with one control unit with similar propensity scores.
- After matching, a difference-in-differences technique is applied to estimate the impact of the intervention.
- In the context of intensive CD, PSM minimizes biases associated with selection of countries into CD interventions, isolating the effect of CD on the outcome variable from other factors.

### Limitations and caveats
- Estimated impact may still be biased because construction of the control group depends on which predictors exert greater influence in estimating treatment probabilities.
- Results should be considered with caution.

### Sources cited for PSM methodology
- Imai, K. and Van Dyk, D.A. (2004). Causal Inference with General Treatment Regimes: Generalizing the Propensity Score. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 99 (467), 854-866.
- Lunceford, J.K. and Davidian, M. (2004). Stratification and weighting via the propensity score in estimation of causal treatment effects. A comparative study. Statistical Methods, 23(19), 2937–2960.
- Shaikh, A. M. Simonsen, M. Vydacil, E.J. and Yildiz, N. (2009). A Specification Test for the Propensity Score Using Its Distribution Conditional on Participation. Journal of Econometrics, 151 (1), 33-46.

*Source: CD STRATEGY REVIEW—BACKGROUND PAPERS (excerpts provided in source content).*

### References

### ppea2024015 - References

### Overview
- Purpose: Consider recommendation of the IEO Evaluation of the IMF and Capacity Development to “leverage further the advantages of Regional Capacity Development Centers (RCDC) and put them on a sustainable footing.”
- Key contextual points:
  - The IEO assessed that the RCDC model and the field-based CD delivery have become a cornerstone of the Fund’s CD delivery and is highly appreciated by the membership for its effective results and efficient delivery.
  - Management’s Implementation Plan (MIP) highlights RCDCs as critical to the Fund’s CD delivery, providing a strong field presence and ensuring tailored and responsive support to members.
  - The Fragile and Conflict States (FCS) Strategy recognizes the critical role of field presence in strengthening CD delivery and increases the number of field-based CD experts as part of its implementation.
- Strategic focus: Proposals aim to entrench RCDCs as the field offices of Fund CD delivery and reinforce their mandate, governance (including clarifying respective roles of HQ and RCDCs), and funding stability.

### Key Proposed Actions (summary)
- (1) Recognize RCDCs as integral part of the Fund structure responsible for field-based delivery of CD with IMF funding support for their sustainability. Several options can be considered in this regard to strengthen funding sustainability.
- (2) Increase funding flexibility by diversifying gradually RCDC external funding sources.
- (3) Reflect on RCDC’s coverage, relative size, and location every five years as part of CD Strategy Reviews, and as needed, seek further studies to support strategic decision-making.
- (4) Retain area department leadership of RTACs and ICD leadership of RTCs and clarify role of steering committees empowering CD recipient and donor ownership, engagement, and coordination.
- (5) Develop an RCDC Playbook to provide guidelines and good practices to:
  - Facilitate closer integration between RTCs and RTAC curricula.
  - Harmonize roles and responsibilities and existing good practices across RTACs.
  - Seek ways to increase delivery from the field to bolster CD effectiveness and distill best practices from proposed pilots of deploying Fund staff in the field in a variety of CD-related roles.
  - Ensure effective integration of field staff funded by non-RCDC vehicles.

### Evidence on effectiveness and scale
- The RCDC model is described as working well and highly appreciated by CD users in member countries and development partners.
- By end FY2023:
  - Around 44 percent of direct CD delivery (excluding management, administration, and analytics) was through the global network of RCDCs.
  - RCDCs (11 RTACs, 5 RTCs, and one CD office in Thailand) together serve 165 countries and territories and 79 percent of the IMF membership.
  - About 80 percent of resident experts deliver CD from RCDCs, making them chief part of the Fund’s field presence.
  - Most FCS: 42 countries; SDS: 34 countries; LIDCs: 59 countries are covered by RCDCs.
  - RCDCs serve 88 percent of the emerging market and middle-income economies (EMMIE).
  - EMMIE countries not covered by RCDCs (all in the Western Hemisphere): Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
- Evaluations and econometric analysis of results-based management (RBM) data indicate projects with at least some activities supported by RCDCs are more likely to have higher outcome ratings.

### Coverage, gaps, and periodic assessment
- Coverage characteristics:
  - RCDCs developed organically over the years driven by availability of external funding, producing geographical overlaps and gaps.
  - Geographical coverage by RTCs is more extensive than that for RTACs in general.
- Regional observations:
  - Gaps exist but HQ and other donor-funded CD programs, including thematic trust funds with global coverage, have often covered demand; staff noted availability of other sources of CD in all regions except for South America.
  - South America: need for an RCDC, particularly for training, has become more pronounced. Current alternatives (CARTAC and CAPTAC-DR multi-country courses; CEMLA; ASBA) cover only part of the CD spectrum; donor interest and member country resources have been limited.
- Modalities:
  - Virtual and hybrid modalities can support under-served geographical areas/topics and make foundational training available online; they are not a substitute for in-person delivery.
- Proposed periodic process:
  - Reflect on RCDC’s coverage, relative size, and location every five years, and as needed seek further studies to support strategic decision-making.
  - Follow-on working group (WHD, CDDs, OBP, and ICD) to assess medium-term training and TA demand in Latin America if pursued, build an indicative budget, and explore alternative financing sources and donor interest for CCB and management consideration.
  - Leverage virtual and hybrid modalities of CD delivery to support under-served regions/countries.

### Mandate, synergies, and modalities of RCDCs
- Formal delineation:
  - RTACs: predominantly deliver TA.
  - RTCs: predominantly provide training (foundational training, macro, specialized webinars).
- Practical practice:
  - Most RCDCs already provide both TA and training.
  - RTACs provide significant specialized and targeted training embedded in TA and a few IMF Institute courses.
  - Some RTCs add a relatively small but growing number of macroeconomic frameworks TA projects.
  - SARTTAC was designed explicitly as an integrated center covering training and TA.
- Integration note:
  - RCDCs employ/integrate in their delivery of CD all modalities as needed. The network, based on organic growth, will likely continue to develop when regional CD needs arise and funding is available.

*Source: ppea2024015 - References*

### 19. The effectiveness of RTCs and RTACs could be enhanced through more systematic

### 19. The effectiveness of RTCs and RTACs could be enhanced through more systematic

### Coordination and integration of programs and modalities
- Synergies between HQ, RTC and RTAC programs can be improved within regions through prioritization and well-coordinated project design weaving them together as part of tailoring CD to members’ needs.
- Regular interaction between HQ and RCDC teams on CD progress and challenges could help enhance the traction and commitment by the authorities, and their effective use of CD advice.
- The Fund is making some strides in improving coordination of the curriculums of RTCs with RTACs (e.g., joint training programs between METAC and CEF, and CCAMTAC and JVI); however, there is more space for closer and centralized coordination, which could be led by the area departments (ADs).
- For training courses, RTACs and RTCs can coordinate more to improve selection of participants, particularly members of the core/technical groups working in ongoing TA projects.
- There is a need for sharing existing good practices to help harmonize approaches.

Proposed actions (coordination)
- Deepen integration with HQ and coordination of RTC and RTAC work programs to improve synergies in CD delivery.
- Develop an RCDC Playbook to provide good practices to facilitate closer integration with HQ, and between RTCs and RTACs curricula; enable systematic year-round interaction among CDDs, ADs, Resident Representatives (RRs), and RCDCs; clearly define roles and responsibilities; and support closer integration in developing the work program and related budgets.
- Consider a point person position or role in AD’s senior leadership team to provide greater input by ADs and reflect regional training needs.

### Modalities, virtual delivery, and peer-to-peer learning
- CD delivery by modality in FY2023 (share of total CD delivery):
  - Duty station-based work: 21%
  - Field-based work: 48%
  - Interactive learning and workshops: 29%
  - Peer-to-peer engagement: 2%
- The pandemic highlighted the potential for blending CD modalities, reaching larger audiences with online offerings, and enhancing integration of CD with surveillance and lending through AD participation in CD activities and experts in surveillance and programs.
- Use of virtual modalities could significantly enhance RTC and RTAC collaboration, accessibility, and integration of training programs.
- RTCs are enhancing peer-to-peer learning globally through webinars (for example, finance series and climate series by ATI) and could bring in country examples from different regions.

### Field presence, HQ support, and pilots
Findings
- Delivery support from HQ will be necessary for new workstreams or topics until more field expertise is developed in areas such as climate and digitalization.
- There may be a business case for deploying Fund HQ staff in the field to support effective delivery due to efficiencies related to proximity and flexibility when justified by the volume of field delivery in a given workstream.
- Coordination with CD delivery departments (CDDs) at HQ is required to maintain consistency of advice and quality control and complementarities with other donor-funded programs.
- Any increase in field-based staff would need to ensure close coordination with RCDCs through ADs and other relevant departments.
- Moving strategic HQ functions (backstopping and managerial positions) to the field would have implications for budget, HR model, and the division of responsibilities between CD and AD staff in the field; such moves should be piloted institutionally and closely integrated with RCDCs and ADs.

Proposed actions (field/HQ)
- Distill best practices from an institutional pilot of deploying Fund staff in the field to enhance efficiencies through proximity and agility, especially in regions with large time differences from HQ (e.g., APD, AFR, and MCD).
- Ensure implications related to governance structure and HR are carefully considered and pilots are evaluated (possible role for the CCB).

### Governance of RCDCs (structure, challenges, and norms)
Findings
- RCDCs are Fund offices established without separate legal personality and follow IMF policies and procedures.
- The governance structure aims to promote accountability, member country ownership, and coordination with partners: Steering Committee (SC) members provide strategic guidance and endorse workplans and budgets; directors manage RCDC offices and operations in coordination with ADs and CDDs; ADs set strategic priorities for countries; and CDDs set sectoral work plans and backstop CD delivery.
- RCDCs are considered by membership as field extensions of the Fund but staffing and operational funding are not fully harmonized with HQ CD delivery.
- RTCs have more autonomy than RTACs because RTACs generally operate in a matrix management structure; exceptions include SARTTAC and ATI.
- Directors’ job expectations span strategic management and operational management, including hiring, day-to-day staff management, budget management, financial controls, relationship building, fundraising, reporting and RBM adherence, steering committee planning, and regional CD strategies.

Challenges in the RTAC governance model
- Fragmentation of funding sources and reporting due to increasing placements of LTXs financed by thematic vehicles with different reporting requirements.
- Differing backstopper and LTX management practices across CDDs; need to clarify the role of the backstopper and harmonize minimum guidance across departments.
- Differing departmental processes on LTX performance assessments and RTAC director involvement in recruiting staff and evaluating LTXs.
- SC composition and meeting format could be enhanced to support more active engagement and coordination; inclusion of key CD providers in the region (currently invited as observers), central bank and ministry of finance management, and streamlining for donors could be considered.
- Work pressures on RTAC directors can be alleviated by introducing deputy director positions (when justified) and greater harmonization of CDD practices in HQ.

Proposed actions (governance)
- Enable RTACs to move more towards becoming delivery offices that can be supported by different funding sources rather than regional funding mechanisms.
- For LTXs stationed in RTACs but funded by other funding vehicles, ensure governance arrangements make their work coordinated and integrated and funding vehicles accountable to members and donor partners.
- Harmonize roles and responsibilities and emphasize best practices to:
  - Clarify the relationship between RTAC directors and LTXs and better define roles and responsibilities to facilitate systematic year-round interaction among HQ departments, RCDCs, LTXs, and ResReps.
  - Enhance the role of the backstopper in relevant CDD divisions to integrate LTXs’ CD delivery better into surveillance work (all field-based CD delivery needs to be back-stopped by CDDs).
  - Further facilitate integration by ADs’ participation in key CD missions (as warranted) and training virtually, and by considering field-based staff (LTXs) consultation in key program or surveillance missions as warranted.
  - Harmonize CDDs’ performance management and recruitment practices, including clarifying and enforcing the role (and involvement) of RCDC directors.
- Pursue a more systematic approach for SC meetings to yield further stakeholder engagement and coordination, including making LTXs full participants in the SC irrespective of their funding and integrating their work into SC reports.

### Funding sustainability and delivery-platform framing
Findings on funding models and exposure
- RCDCs have different funding models: most RTACs combine external donors, member countries, and the Fund’s own resources; RTCs vary (some fully funded by host countries such as CEF and CICDC; others multi-donor such as SARTTAC and ATI).
- JVI is unique: around 60 percent of courses are organized and funded by the IMF, with the remainder organized by Austria and other training partners.
- Donor partner contributions represent between 30 and 90 percent of external funding for the 12 RCDCs—10 RTACs, SARTTAC, and ATI; for these 12 centers alone, external funding constitutes 93 percent on average.
- In FY2023, about half of the Fund’s external funding for CD came from the Fund’s four largest partners—Japan, the EU, Switzerland, and Germany—both in terms of annual paid contributions and new signed agreements.
- Commitments from member countries play an important role in some RCDCs (e.g., SARTTAC, CCAMTAC).

Liquidity and fundraising
- The IMF’s Framework Administrative Account for Selected Fund Activities (SFA) account at the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) holds a sizeable contribution from partners, providing a buffer under the Fund’s upfront financing model.
- Half of the funding vehicles (12) have liquidity positions covering at least 12 months of expected expenditures in cash and an additional eight when considering signed contribution agreements; this covers short-term liquidity for over 85 percent of the funding vehicles.
- Five-year funding cycles introduce uncertainty due to on-off fundraising patterns and non-alignment with partners’ shorter development aid budget cycles, but the phased model also provides clarity of long-term needs and helps secure multi-year commitments.
- Funding pressure: In FY2024, four RCDCs (AFC, AFS, PFTAC, and SARTTAC) have started new phases, leading to an additional fundraising ask of almost $200million.
- In FY2025, six RCDCs will start a new phase leading to an additional fundraising ask of more than $224 million (excluding CICDC and ATI).

Co-located and cross-funded experts (LTXs)
- RCDC delivery is aided by co-located and cross-funded experts financed by sources other than the RCDC, creating financing flexibility.
- Currently, there are 171 Fund LTXs in the field; 119 of those are funded by RCDCs.
- Sixteen LTXs located in RCDCs have been funded by other sources, ten of which were placed in AFRITACs, and three more are planned or under consideration.
- Greater coherence and clarity about governance and accountability are needed for allocation of CD to various vehicles and countries of coverage for co-located LTXs.

Proposed actions (funding and delivery model)
- Frame RCDCs as delivery platforms rather than funding vehicles for a particular region to serve members more effectively and enable funding from multiple vehicles.
- Diversify the RCDC funding model to improve sustainability, while recognizing potential short-term impacts on fundraising.
- Build on umbrella funding arrangements (examples in the text include new EU umbrella fund, AFRITAC funding from Germany and Switzerland, FCDO umbrella agreement (SIMF), and umbrella funding from China and Korea) to allocate resources more efficiently in line with needs.
- Consider implications for indirect budgetary costs and additional support resources required for administering field staff and other field office payments when increasing field presence.

*CD STRATEGY REVIEW—BACKGROUND PAPERS — INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND*

### 35. Moving towards greater use of thematic funds and other sources in RCDCs would

### 35. Moving towards greater use of thematic funds and other sources in RCDCs would

### Key findings on administrative challenges and trade-offs
- Retiring RTACs as funding vehicles would: (a) complicate channeling member contributions, which are a strong commitment of recipients’ ownership of Fund CD; and (b) shift CD budgets currently arranged around regional priorities towards thematic priorities, and they would no longer be centrally managed. This will require close collaboration between CDDs and ADs as part of the prioritization process via the CCB.
- Any shift from regional funding vehicles towards vertical thematic funds has administrative difficulties and potential impact on fundraising, including adverse effects given that some large donors have clear regional preferences.
- “Co-located” refers to LTX who report to HQ, are located at RCDCs, and are funded by thematic trust funds or other non-RCDC resources. “Cross-funded” refers to RCDC LTX that are funded by transferring resources from thematic trust funds or other non-RCDC resources to a RCDC.

### Current utilization of Fund resources and RCDC role
- Currently, only two percent of the Fund-financed overall CD delivery spending is being utilized to sustain RCDCs, compared to 20 percent used on other CD delivery in FY23.
- The RCDC network should be recognized as an integral element of the Fund’s CD structure and funding arrangements should support their sustainability. RCDCs should be viewed as IMF field offices responsible for field delivery of CD.

### Proposed actions and policy recommendations
- Use IMF01 funding to help support RCDCs as Fund field offices:
  - Consider continuing to deploy more IMF01 funding for RCDCs to promote stability and predictability of their funding structure, building on the approach taken during the recent budget augmentation.
  - Rationale: highlights the importance of CD alongside surveillance and lending; external funding would focus on CD delivery while the Fund covers overhead and administrative costs of the centers.
  - Constraints: Given the flat budget environment and existing budget constraints, identifying such resources through internal reprioritization will be challenging.
  - Operational suggestion: consider using some of the current IMF01 CD budget envelope in RCDCs primarily focusing on key vulnerabilities in specific centers where the donor base is less strong for direct delivery and operational costs.
  - Pros: Relatively uncomplicated as reallocation could happen as part of the CD prioritization process.
  - Cons: This would reduce fungibility and availability of IMF01 resources to fill gaps, including in HQ CD. There are challenges related to moving HQ spending, which is mainly on personnel, to the field, and this would also need to tie to reforms to the employment framework.
- Gradually increase flexibility of funding and planning, ingraining RCDCs more as delivery centers than funding mechanisms:
  - Make the regional funding vehicles continuous rather than phased, moving away from a rigid five-year planning and funding cycle to a rolling plan schedule aligned with the three-year medium-term workplan, without compromising the Fund’s multi-year prefunding model (e.g., by formulating prefunding goals spanning a number of years, which provide a rolling fundraising “ask”).
  - Consolidate thematic funds and move increasingly to umbrella funds to cover CD delivery by CDDs and RCDCs. Current efforts should be continued to further integrate existing and future funding vehicles with RCDC work programs and budgets (e.g., Fiscal Fund and EU umbrella fund for RTACs in AFR also covering ATI).
  - Continue to explore all external funding sources and effective ways to leverage regional priorities of donors.
  - Consider an ultimate endpoint of a transition from regional to vertical trust funds as the main sources of RCDC financing, acknowledging that this will take time. To smoothen the transition and counter adverse fundraising impacts, further consolidation of regional trust funds could be considered in the interim as part of the transition.

### Cross-funding and staffing implications
- Increasingly, cross-funding between vehicles better uses overall available liquidity and makes external funding more flexible.
- Current RCDC staffing and advisory funding facts:
  - 15 long-term advisors located in RCDCs are funded by other sources, 9 of which are placed in AFRITACs.
  - About half of the advisers were funded by the COVID-19 Crisis Capacity Development Initiative (CCCDI).
  - Subject focus of these advisers: Four advisors focus on debt issues, three on AML/CFT, three on tax administration, and two on macro-fiscal issues.
  - There is one advisor each on resilience, resource mobilization, and customs administration.
  - In addition, another advisor on debt management to be financed by Japan Technical Assistance Sub-Account (JSA) is scheduled to start this fiscal year in SARTTAC and three more advisors are under consideration.

*Source: Excerpt from CD Strategy Review — Background Papers (pp. 97–106) — IMF staff calculations and internal analysis.*

### 4.      CD management and administration also relies on SCS staff and contractuals.

### 4.      CD management and administration also relies on SCS staff and contractuals.

### Staff composition and roles in CD management and administration
- Economist staff, both specialists and FMs, including as directors of RCDCs, manage the corporate function and delivery of CD.
- Around 30 percent of total time recorded to CD in FY23 was by SCS employees.
- One-third of the SCS workforce supporting CD are on contractual appointments.
- Key SCS job families contributing to CD management and administration include:
  - TA officers (around 75 percent are staff with the remainder on contractual appointments).
  - Project officers.
  - Office analysts and coordinators representing budget, information and knowledge management, data management, finance, instructional design, language service and administrative job families.
- For SCS staff supporting CD, there are opportunities to rotate departments, consistent with the fungibility of their skills.

### Field-based employees and local staff
- There are around 135 locally engaged employees in RCDCs.
- Local employees perform project and course administration, budget management and finance; results-based management and office administration.
- A range of contractual arrangements exist for locally engaged employees (e.g., tenure).
- Locally engaged employees provide critical continuity for field CD operations given regular turnover of international staff in RCDCs.

### Specialist Economists (SEs) and Fungible Economists (FMs)
- SEs typically join as midcareer hires; since 2018, mid-career FM and SE hires were broadly similar (except 2021 due to crisis hiring of FMs).
- Separations of SEs average [10] percent per year and tend to be higher than that of FMs.
- 2022 Staff Engagement Survey shows SEs have a strong intention to remain with the Fund, similar to FMs.
- Grade distribution differences:
  - The share of SE individual contributors at A14 is 80 percent.
  - The share of FM individual contributors at A14 is 50 percent.
  - Share of management positions: FMs 31 percent; SEs 21 percent.
- Career progression and mobility:
  - SE progression to B-level is job-specific rather than via broader Review Committee competitive lists required for FMs.
  - A15 and B-level opportunities for SEs are open to competition to FMs, but not vice versa.
  - There has been an increase in the share of A15 positions in recent years.
  - Around 30 specialist economists took the mid-career panel and were re-classified as FMs between 2013 and 2023.
- Field assignments and residency:
  - Specialist field positions are predominantly occupied by contractual long-term experts.
  - A limited number of slots have recently become available for SEs and FMs to execute field roles while remaining on staff, with an annual cap reflective of budget constraints.
  - Resident representative posts are only available to fungible economists.
  - For hard to fill postings, ADs can recruit specialists on mobility assignment programs or temporary swap arrangements.
  - Most RCDC director positions are filled by FMs, though open advertisements have sometimes led to specialists being selected.

### HR model, governance challenges, and specialized career stream employees
- HR model for field-based employment is decentralized; decisions are at funding department level (area departments for local RCDC employees, ICD for local RTC employees, functional departments for LTXs).
- Decentralization has created governance challenges and operational risks:
  - Processing of LTX contracts involves four systems (PeopleSoft, Workday, TIMS, and CDMAP) and eight teams, with multiple handovers and lacking defined procedures.
  - Contracts linked to roles, locations, and funding sources cause administrative complications when LTXs change roles.
  - LTX administration and support vary across CD departments; HRD has taken actions to improve recruitment workflows and responsibilities, but further buttressing of the LTX framework is needed.
  - Decentralized governance for short-term experts could be improved, as observed by the Office of Internal Audit (IMF, 2018d).
- SCS-specific issues:
  - 2022 Engagement Survey revealed SCS staff concerns about lack of promotion and mobility opportunities.
  - CD-related SCS positions are categorized and graded differently, impeding inter-departmental mobility.
  - There are more than 25 SCS job families; some grade bands and titles are misaligned across SCS job families.
  - Around 40 percent of SCS employees in CD departments are on contractual appointments, creating turnover and continuity challenges.
- Job Family Career Framework (JFCF) outcomes:
  - Career Playbooks launched in 2020 feature 10 job functions and 34 job families.
  - Some job families (e.g., Budget and Resource Management) were well defined; work on the TA officer (TAO) family did not get completed.

### Work underway to address HR issues and strengthen CD staffing
- Broad initiatives under the broader HR strategy (initiated in 2017) include performance management, career development, workforce planning, talent sourcing and recruitment, including for SEs.
- Specific initiatives:
  - Broadening RCDC leadership opportunities:
    - ADs encouraged to open RCDC management vacancies for SEs and to include language in announcements indicating positions are open to fungible and specialist economists and that specialists will return to home departments at the end of assignment.
  - Buttressing career path for CD staff under existing framework:
    - HRD is working with departments to use existing flexibility to create management positions for SEs.
    - Review and Senior Review Committees now explicitly recognize CD in talent review and personnel decision processes.
  - Enabling mobility of FMs and SEs to deliver CD in the field:
    - 2019 policy change allowed staff assigned as Regional Advisors in RCDCs or RTCs to remain in staff appointments (no similar change then for bilateral resident advisor assignments).
    - After the 2019 change, a total of 16 staff (including a number of FMs) took on regional advisor assignments in RCDCs, and three staff were selected as resident advisors and took on LTX appointments.
    - A proposal is under consideration to extend the policy to staff taking up resident advisor assignments in bi-lateral arrangements, with departments managing staff return within flat budget envelopes.
  - Locally engaged employees review (FY2024 work plan) to systemize and harmonize field-based local employee processes, including:
    - Standardizing contract templates and providing guidance on contract duration.
    - Developing clear job descriptions with corresponding competencies for all positions in the field, and implementing an APR process for local employees.
    - Providing virtual English language training, increasing awareness of online training, and expanding virtual soft skills training.
    - Performing an assessment to set consistent salary adjustment practices (merit increases, hyperinflation) across field offices.
    - Performing assessment to align sick leave policy (no. of days from 12 to 15) with HQ practices.
    - Assessing costs and benefits of enhancing the Medical Benefits Plan for local employees and reviewing potential enhancements to Fund insurance policies for local employees (life insurance, accidental death and dismemberment insurance, and short-term and long-term disability insurance).
  - Career development and mobility for SCS:
    - SCS departments, supported by HRD, are creating a career mobility and development forum and a platform to post opportunities and facilitate information sharing.
    - HRD will start work on harmonizing grade bands across SCS job families.
    - Plans to hold SCS Mobility Forums/Fairs and ask departments to advertise MAP/SWAP/stretch assignment opportunities and have staff register interest for matching (with HRD guidance).
  - Skills and experiences inventory:
    - HRD plans to expand the Talent Inventory to include crisis and CD experiences.
    - Currently experiences in LIC and FCS countries are in the database; macro financial experiences and parameters are being defined for capture, aggregation, and reporting.
    - CD departments are supplementing this work with their own initiatives.

### Longer-term priorities and expected outcomes
- Full implementation of the outlined measures should enhance the HR environment for CD staff.
- Longer-term priorities remain, notably actions relating to field-based experts and enhancing the status of CD work within institutional culture; the main CDSR paper contains further proposals.

### Box 1 — 2012–2015 Technical Track Pilot (summary)
- Launched on a pilot basis in 2012 following a 2011 working group recommendation to support non-managerial intellectual leadership roles.
- Purpose: allow exceptionally qualified individual contributors to advance to grades A15–B2 in a non-managerial technical track.
- Key features:
  - Targeted framework for exceptionally qualified individual contributors with external reputation and high expertise.
  - Required an established institutional business need for the specialization.
  - Rigorous selection process with Review Committee involvement.
  - Small scale: up to 10 individuals progressed beyond grade A14 based on needs, expertise, performance, and external recognition.
  - Budget neutrality constraints: A14 and A15 positions needed upgrading for selection; positions reverted to previous grade if incumbent left.
- Evaluation after three years: reported successes but narrow scope and limited capacity (only 10 positions) hindered broader impact; concluded that a dual career track would need broader scope while maintaining controls to avoid grade inflation and wage bill impact.

*International Monetary Fund — CD STRATEGY REVIEW—BACKROUND PAPERS*

### Box 2. The TA Officer Job Family

### Box 2. The TA Officer Job Family

### TAO roles and job-family mapping
- TAO roles exist in two job families: budget and resource management, and talent acquisition and management. There is some overlap in functions across the two job families.
- Twenty-four TAOs are mapped to the budget and resource management job family across FAD, ICD, LEG, MCM, and STA, of which 13 are at A13–A14.
- Nine TAOs mapped to the talent acquisition and management job family span grades A9–12 in MCM and LEG.
- Contractual TAOs perform a mix of responsibilities based around the TAO roles described above and represent around a quarter of total TAOs spread across CD departments.

### Functional differences and responsibilities
- TAOs mapped to budget and resource management (notably several more senior positions in ICD) perform roles in:
  - developing and managing the Fund’s donor work, including fundraising activities;
  - coordinating outreach with external partners and donors;
  - managing respective accounts (“trust fund” functions as described in source).
- Other TAOs in ICD and the head departments perform a non-uniform set of responsibilities that span:
  - project management;
  - budget/program development and monitoring;
  - workplan implementation;
  - expert hiring.
- TAOs in the talent acquisition and management family coordinate:
  - selection, recruitment, and contract management of experts;
  - provision of HR and operational guidance on Fund policies and procedures, including on the recruitment and retention of LTXs.
- In some CD-providing departments, selection/recruitment and contract management functions are undertaken by TAOs and coordinators in the budget and resource management family.

### Organizational evolution and causes of heterogeneity
- The non-uniform set of responsibilities reflects:
  - somewhat organic evolution of the TAO group due to increased CD delivery and administration by functional departments;
  - devolution, over about a decade, of short-term and long-term expert hiring and related activities from HRD to departments (mostly functional TA).
- Heterogeneity across departments in classification and grading indicates a need to clarify and systematize SCS job families; this issue extends beyond CD work and encompasses a range of SCS roles.

### Staffing pipeline and role definition opportunities
- In the CD area, there is scope to define the support level role in the administrative streams, which could provide an effective pipeline for officer-level positions linked to CD work.

### TA Officer Grade Structure
- TA Officer Grade Structure (January 2024) is recorded in Workday (as noted in source).

*Source: IMF — Box 2. The TA Officer Job Family (as provided in the supplied content).*

### 21.      Close alignment of CD assistance with country priorities is by far the most frequently

### 21.      Close alignment of CD assistance with country priorities is by far the most frequently cited measure for increasing the impact of CD

### Key findings on improving CD impact
- Over 40 percent indicated that close alignment of CD assistance with country priorities would be the most useful step CD providers could take to improve their CD activities related to economic and financial policy.
- Other frequently cited measures to increase CD impact:
  - Increasing the volume of CD delivery.
  - Ensuring high quality of expertise provided through CD.
  - Improving donor coordination.
  - Incorporating more opportunities for knowledge exchange among counterparts in lower-middle income countries on their policy initiatives and experience with CD assistance.

### External Advisory Group (EAG) feedback
- EAG identified Fund strengths:
  - Deep access to key government institutions.
  - High-quality CD.
  - Ability to source trainers from other reputable institutions.
- EAG recommendations to improve CD effectiveness:
  - Be mindful of the wider ecosystem for policy formulation and implementation, including engagements with academia and the media.
  - Leverage the Fund’s ability to provide ongoing support in a systematic manner.
  - Increase engagement with non-governmental stakeholders.
  - Make training more effective by:
    - Leveraging online training to increase enrollment and participant flexibility.
    - Incorporating more theoretical and econometric aspects into material.
    - Tailoring courses to recipients.
- Role in new priority areas:
  - Suggest clarifying whether the Fund should be a primary producer or a user of knowledge in new priority areas.
  - No specific area was identified where the Fund should do less CD.
  - Coordination with other organizations is recommended on newer priorities (e.g., gender, climate, digitalization) to avoid overlap and duplication.
  - Apply a macro-criticality test and tailor CD delivery to ensure effectiveness for newer priorities.
  - The Fund is well positioned to be a primary producer of knowledge on digitalization.
  - For climate or gender, the Fund should embed these topics through core areas of competence and leverage work done by other development partners who are primary producers of knowledge.
  - Emphasize the Fund’s core mandate, incorporating new priority areas when they reach the level of macro-criticality.

### External Advisory Group — composition and purpose
- Formed to complement the 2023 CD Strategy Review (CDSR) and offer independent perspective and insights on Fund CD.
- Consisted of four members selected for their knowledge of CD and the Fund, diverse experience, regional, and professional backgrounds.
- Provided feedback on issues raised in the 2023 CDSR, particularly regarding progress made since 2018 and the direction of travel.

### Views of development and CD partners — survey results and themes
- General consensus: Fund CD adds most value in traditional core areas of Fund expertise, notably:
  - Macroeconomic analysis and forecasting.
  - Public financial management.
  - Domestic revenue mobilization.
  - Cash and debt management.
  - Monetary policies.
  - Financial sector regulation and supervision.
  - Good governance.
  - Stronger statistical capacity.
  - Legal underpinning for reforms.
- Partners’ stance on new priorities:
  - Welcome engagement by the Fund in new priorities such as digitalization (e.g., central bank digital currency), climate, fragile and conflict-afflicted states (FCS), and gender issues.
  - Some respondents valued advice on geoeconomic fragmentation, Article IV reports, and FSAP as highly valuable, highlighting complementarity between CD, surveillance, and lending.
- Partner suggestions for departmental emphases:
  - Fiscal Affairs Department (FAD): greater emphasis on public investment management and “greening” FM.
  - Monetary and Capital Markets Department (MCM): greater emphasis on financial supervision capacities and central bank communications.
- Tailoring and context:
  - Strong encouragement for more tailoring to country context, especially for FCS where need is high but traction is hard to achieve.

### Development partners’ engagement and coordination
- Development partners often diversify and complement engagement with the Fund by working with other CD providers in similar topical areas; many have bilateral CD arrangements.
- Notable partner organizations supporting CD: World Bank, other multilateral development banks, OECD, BIS, UN agencies, AFI, IEF, and private development consulting companies.
- Partners appreciated:
  - IMF diagnostic tools for setting the stage for CD engagements.
  - Increased role of e-learning tools to complement CD delivery.
- Preferences and cautions:
  - Preference for umbrella thematic CD funds (e.g., Global Public Finance Partnership (GPFP)) over long-term advisors, but caution against over-harmonizing CD financing vehicles that reduce specialization or support for new CD ventures.
  - Favor further enhancement of the hybrid delivery model that emerged post-pandemic.
  - Expect increased demand for CD and diagnostics on governance, fiscal transparency, and debt management in a post-pandemic and higher-for-longer interest rate environment.
  - Desire clearer linkages between topical CD (e.g., tax administration) and broader developmental objectives in LICs and FCS.
  - Support for a network of global partnerships to minimize over-dependence on a small number of external financing sources and for a more sustainable funding model.

### Partner views on coordination and dissemination
- General support for Fund’s CD coordination practices with established development partners; room for improvement in coordination with other CD providers.
- Positive practices:
  - Regular face-to-face briefing sessions by the Fund’s CD mission chief are highly appreciated.
  - Resident representatives and RCDCs are valuable coordination mechanisms.
- Suggested improvements:
  - More active information sharing to avoid duplication and better calibrate CD delivery by other providers.
  - Preparation of best practice notes to highlight successful coordination cases for scaling (example referenced: Haiti case in Overview Paper).
  - More active engagement with existing coordination mechanisms (e.g., Platform for Collaboration on Tax).
  - Use of RCDCs and resident representatives to improve regional coordination and peer-to-peer discussions.
  - Flexibility in coordination mechanisms to respond to local context; in absence of resident representatives, experts in RCDCs can assist area departments.

### Integration, monitoring, and delivery modalities
- Strong support for:
  - More integrated, flexible, and tailored assistance to increase traction and impact.
  - Coordination and engagement with both traditional partners (World Bank) and non-traditional partners (Civil Society Organizations).
  - Integration of CD with surveillance and lending to ensure alignment with country priorities and local contexts.
  - Continuous monitoring of demand for training to calibrate courses to changing policy environments.
  - Greater leverage of the Fund’s training alumni network and a networking platform to sustain training gains.
  - Regular monitoring and evaluation of CD delivery, and growth in quality and coverage of results-based management data to demonstrate progress.

### Outreach consultations with global and regional partners
- Consultations with WB, European Union, and regional development banks (ADB, AfDB, IDB, EBRD) emphasized Fund comparative advantages:
  - Strategic high-level technical advice based on diagnostics and assessments.
  - Complementarity where partners (e.g., WB, ADB) can provide more intensive implementation assistance linked to their projects or lending programs.
- Division of labor:
  - Clearer coordination on monetary and financial sector CD (e.g., joint diagnostics like FSAPs).
  - Greater overlap in select fiscal/new priority areas (e.g., climate) including funding overlaps, prompting efforts to better coordinate (e.g., digital/cross-border transactions).
- Field presence (RCDCs and Resident Representatives) significantly aids collaboration and coordination.

### IMF CD departments — Public Financial Management (FAD) summary
- PFM CD objectives and scope:
  - Focus on sound budget institutions to support formulation and implementation of fiscal policy.
  - Topics include macro-fiscal management and forecasting, fiscal risk management, budget planning and preparation, public investment management, budget execution, cash and debt management, and accounting and fiscal reporting.
  - Support for digitalizing PFM processes and tools, developing PFM reform plans, revamping institutional arrangements, and strengthening legal frameworks and organizational restructuring.
  - Overarching objectives: make budget formulation more strategic and policy oriented, strengthen budget execution, improve public investment efficiency, enhance fiscal risk analysis and management, and improve fiscal reporting reliability and transparency.
  - Emerging topics receiving greater share of FAD’s CD work: climate change, gender, and digitalization of PFM.
- Expenditure policy CD includes wage bill management, fuel subsidy reforms, pensions, public finances for education and health policies, social protection, expenditure reviews, and SDG costing, plus training for ministries of finance as part of medium-term engagements.
- Presence of other development partners in PFM CD:
  - Fund’s share assessed to be relatively higher in macro-fiscal issues and policies, PFM strategies and action plans, fiscal risks, and core PFM functions (budget preparation and execution, treasury and cash management, accounting, and reporting).
  - FAD provides substantial support on public investment issues, especially budgeting of public investments; share of Fund CD on expenditure policy is highest in AFR region, which is systematically prioritized.
- Other CD providers’ geographic clustering and active actors:
  - AFR (FCS and highly indebted LICs): World Bank, EU, GIZ, AfDB, France (AFD and Expertise France), USAID, DFID, Norway, Sweden, UNDP, UNICEF.
  - EUR (Southeast and East European countries): EC, SECO, Netherlands, Finland, World Bank, OECD Sigma, EBRD, local EC offices.
  - APD: World Bank, ADB.
  - MCD: World Bank, EU, USAID, GIZ, ADB, SECO, France.
  - World Bank is a main other provider on expenditure policy globally; IADB active in WHD.

*Italic: IMF — CD STRATEGY REVIEW — BACKGROUND PAPERS (excerpt).*

### 39.      There is scope for both overlaps and complementarities with other development

### 39.      There is scope for both overlaps and complementarities with other development partners in the PFM CD space.

### PFM overlaps and complementarities
- Most likely areas of overlap: budget preparation, state-owned enterprise (SOE) governance and oversight, internal controls, accounting, and fiscal reporting.
- Complementarities with good coordination:
  - FAD provides comprehensive assessment of a country’s PFM/Public Investment Management (PIM), while other partners focus on implementation of identified reforms at the institutional level.
  - FAD builds capacity in the ministry of finance while other partners provide CD to sectoral ministries or subnational governments.
  - Cooperation works well on the development of PFM strategies and action plans.
  - Other providers work on essential elements typically excluded from the Fund’s scope of CD on PFM (e.g., procurement or audit).
  - Other development partners sometimes finance either the Fund’s CD activities or PFM infrastructure and tools.

### Comparative advantages of Fund PFM CD (paragraph 40)
- Strategic focus on macro-critical issues and a system-wide view of reform needs.
- Strong linkages to surveillance and lending and high credibility with the authorities.
- Introduces modern PFM practices, often based on its own analytical work.
- Relies on a strong knowledge base, with experts drawn from all regions and strong quality assurance through sizeable in-house expertise.
- Focus on core PFM functions and expenditure policy sub-topics (i.e., wage bill management, fuel subsidy reform, sustainable development goal costing, as well as pensions, social protection and public finances for education and health policy) that bolstered credibility with country authorities, particularly in the LICs.
- Commitment to flexibility and diversity of CD delivery modalities and financing.

### Key approaches to coordination and collaboration in PFM (paragraph 41)
- Regular interactions, joint work, and information sharing (virtual or in-person) to share CD objectives, conclusions, recommendations, and to coordinate follow-up activities.
- Joint delivery examples: Public Investment Management Assessment (PIMA) and the Climate Module of PIMA (C-PIMA) with the World Bank.
- Collaboration examples: debt management, GovTech and digitalization of public finance with the World Bank; gender budgeting with UN Women.
- Country-level success case: PFM strategy and action plan for the Democratic Republic of the Congo as a joint effort of the authorities, the IMF, the World Bank, and other development partners.
- Coordination challenges:
  - Divergence in agendas and horizons of engagement of different development partners.
  - Overlaps and conflicting recommendations when similar CD requests are channeled to more than one provider despite absorptive capacity limits.

### Domestic Revenue Mobilization (DRM) — scope and integration (paragraphs 42–45)
- DRM includes CD on tax policy and revenue administration with complementary CD on tax law design and drafting by LEG.
- Integrated workstreams: tax policy, revenue administration (tax and customs), and tax law to support tax system reform.
- Tax policy CD: identifying and analyzing revenue and economic implications of policy options, measures to change the tax mix for equity and efficiency objectives.
- Revenue administration CD: strengthening tax and customs administration capacity—raising compliance, implementing tax policies, adopting governance and strategic management frameworks, modernizing core operational functions.
- Legal CD: drafting laws and regulations in all areas of taxation, often during joint FAD/LEG CD activities.
- Fund’s share: significant share of global CD delivery in the DRM workstream.
- Other dominant providers in specific areas:
  - OECD: aspects of international taxation.
  - World Customs Organization (WCO): customs administration operations.
- Other providers expanding DRM CD footprint: ECD’s G20 Inclusive Framework, UNDP (new DRM program), ADB, African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF); bilateral CD also common.
- Customs administration CD by other providers largely focused on trade modernization and illicit trade connected to organized crime and terrorism; the Fund increasingly links its customs CD to DRM objectives.
- FAD’s CD strategy for FY  –FY27 envisages further steps to adapt CD delivery by encouraging further integration with area department work and making the CD delivery model more flexible, tailored and agile, including customization to the country context.
- Coordination mechanisms:
  - Other partners often look to the Fund to take the lead on coordination.
  - Platform for Collaboration on Tax (PCT) serves as an exchange tool among the IMF, the World Bank, the UN, and the OECD.
  - Country-level coordination via coordination groups and CD debriefings.
  - FAD engagement with international and regional organizations developed global DRM tools—Tax Administration Diagnosis Assessment Tool (TADAT), International Survey on Revenue Administration (ISORA) and Virtual Training to Advance Revenue Administration (VITARA)—with OECD, CIAT, and IOTA.
  - Coordination with development banks often facilitates financing for recommended reforms (examples: World Bank support for ITAS in Sierra Leone and Liberia; AfDB support in Zimbabwe).

### DRM coordination challenges (paragraph 46)
- Expansion of DRM CD after the Addis Ababa Action Agenda created a highly competitive space with a growing number of providers, increasing coordination complexity.
- Large CD providers often have no central CD monitoring function, making stable partnerships difficult.
- Full picture of all providers’ activities is not always visible despite the PCT’s online integrated platform providing a regular snapshot of the four participants’ work in DRM CD.

### Climate CD (paragraphs 47–51)
- Fund provides climate CD via mitigation support, PFM, and macro-fiscal analysis.
- Tools and models used: Climate Policy Assessment Tool (CPAT); Vehicle Feebates Model; Border Carbon Adjustment Model; Fossil Fuel Subsidy Database; nationally determined contribution (NDC) conversions; Climate Macroeconomic Assessment Programs (CMAP); Green PFM framework; climate module of PIMA (C-PIMA).
- Other Fund departments (e.g., MCM, STA) also provide climate-related CD.
- Climate considerations are integral to core CD workstreams:
  - Tax policy advice often integrates environmental and climate mitigation objectives.
  - Adjusting excises to reflect externality costs of fossil fuel consumption.
  - Carbon taxation of direct greenhouse gas emissions as part of fiscal regimes for fossil extraction to encourage technology shifts and less emitting fossil fuels.
  - Increasing demand for advice on tax policy regimes for minerals critical for the energy transition.
- Fund’s role:
  - Leading role in analytics and country analysis, increasingly so in mitigation policies.
  - Substantial provider in climate PIM/PFM CD among development partners.
  - CPAT and CMAP are joint World Bank-IMF products.
- Other providers:
  - Regional development banks have strong in-country presence and can accompany implementation of PFM/PIM reforms related to climate.
- Comparative advantage: analytical strength and integration of Fund CD with other operations, including the recently established RST.
- Coordination needs:
  - Critical to avoid inconsistent advice on key climate areas.
  - Joint analytic work and model development are good practices.
  - World Bank participation in PIMA/C-PIMA missions helps ensure common understanding of PFM/PIM weaknesses and facilitates reform strategy and action plan development.
  - Country-level coordination is most effective for on-the-ground CD implementation (e.g., environmental tax reforms, fiscal regime for natural resource extraction).

### Central Bank Operations CD (MCM) (paragraphs 52–54)
- Focus areas: domestic market operations, central bank governance, and foreign exchange operations and market development.
  - Domestic market operations CD: monetary policy implementation and operations, emergency liquidity assistance, collateral frameworks, money market development.
  - Central bank governance CD: governance and operational risk management, currency issuance and management, central bank accounting, transparency code.
  - Foreign exchange operations CD: reserves management, central bank foreign exchange operations, foreign exchange market development.
- Complementary CD in collaboration with MCM and/or LEG: central bank legislation reform, digital money and CBDC, financial market infrastructure, climate policy and collateral frameworks.
- Other providers (complementary, often thematic or regional):
  - Deutsche Bundesbank: training courses for central bankers worldwide.
  - BIS: CD on reserves management.
  - Bank of England: CD on monetary operations.
  - OGResearch: boutique consulting on monetary policy analysis and operations.
  - US Treasury.
  - Riksbank, Norges Bank, World Bank.
  - FrontClear: money market development in sub-Sahara Africa.
  - Regional institutions (e.g., MEFMI): training in reserves management and financial sector development.
- Fund’s comparative advantages:
  - Network and depth of expertise and in-house tools.
  - Broad scope of experts and a pool of high-quality external experts, including current central bank and supervisory staff.
  - Agile response to CD demand and facilitation of coordination via joint workshops.
  - Cross-country information from the Fund’s internal database feeds CD design.

### Financial Sector Supervision and Regulation (MCM) (paragraphs 55–59)
- Fund CD focuses on prudential regulation and supervision across banking, insurance, and securities markets.
- CD informed by Fund participation in international standard-setting bodies and on new developments (fintech, cybersecurity, climate-related financial risks).
- Programmatic, longer-horizon approach driven by country demand.
- Specific CD areas include:
  - Basel II and Basel III implementation.
  - Risk-based supervision (RBS).
  - International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) 9 (expected credit losses).
  - Cyber security and operational resilience.
  - Fintech (e-money, open banking, crypto-assets, stablecoins, peer-to-peer lending).
  - Regulation and supervision of securities intermediaries.
  - Insurance regulation and supervision (IFRS 17).
  - Governance diagnostic assessments (GDA) in sequence with other CD engagements.
- Comparative advantages:
  - Global membership, close links with international financial standard setters, and staff expertise.
  - Multi-faceted relationships through surveillance, lending, CD, FSAP and FSSR assessments.
  - Participation in FSB and sectoral standard setters and technical working groups.
  - Conducts implementation assessments via four core principles in FSAPs (Basel Core Principles, IAIS, IOSCO, IADI).
- CD delivery strengths:
  - Diagnostic tools and programmatic approach coordinated with area department country teams and guided by Financial Sector Stability Review (FSSR).
  - FSSRs include diagnostic reviews, CD roadmaps, workplans, and follow-up projects tailored to recipient country needs.
- Other providers in this workstream:
  - World Bank, Toronto Center, US Treasury’s Office of Technical Assistance (OTA), Financial Stability Institute of the BIS.
  - Toronto Center and OTA predominantly provide foundational training in bank supervision; their CD activities are limited in volume and country coverage.
  - World Bank CD ranges from placing bank supervision experts in countries to technical assistance but is limited by donor funding availability.
  - BIS provides foundational training with free access to LIC authorities.
  - Complementarity: World Bank focuses on financial market development and can support market infrastructure financing and development.
- Collaboration examples and challenges:
  - Coordination with the World Bank and BIS (e.g., FSSR missions coordinated with the World Bank produce TA workplans for complementarity).
  - Co-organized international conference with the U.S. Federal Reserve Board and the World Bank for more than 30 years targeting mid-level supervisors.
  - Fund and BIS co-organize a bi-annual symposium on TA for TA providers, recipients, and donors.
  - Challenges: availability of experts to meet spikes in CD demand in fast-growing areas (non-bank financial intermediation, fintech, cyber risk); collaboration with the World Bank could benefit from further formalization.

*Source: ppea2024015 - 39.*

### 60.      The Fund actively participates in the policy dialogue and delivers CD on digital money.

### 60.      The Fund actively participates in the policy dialogue and delivers CD on digital money.

### Digital money: scope and Fund engagement
- Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) is one of the key areas of engagement with specialized advice and technical support offered on CBDC feasibility assessment, design, pilot testing, implementation, and supervision.
- The Fund also assists member country authorities with adoption of other forms of digital money (e.g., e-money and stablecoins).
- Related financial market infrastructure work includes advising on setting up an instant payment system and opening access to payment systems for non-bank payment service providers.
- The Fund supports drafting of national payments strategies and applicable regulations, and developing payment supervisory and oversight frameworks.
- The Fund has developed an approach to regulation of unbacked crypto assets or stablecoins (IMF, 2023b and 2022b).

### Delivery landscape and comparative positioning
- For traditional digital money (such as e-money) and related FMIs, share of CD delivery is approximately equally split between the Fund and the World Bank, creating potential for overlap.
- World Bank is more active in working with the FCS, particularly on infrastructure development projects which the World Bank can finance to some extent.
- The Fund focuses more on countries’ CD requests on assessing macro-financial implications of issuing CBDC or adopting other types of digital money.
- Other institutions engaged: BIS (does not directly serve LICs), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) (assistance in select Asian countries), ADB (supporting regional explorations with some Pacific states).
- Comparative advantages of the Fund’s CD in this area:
  - Broad membership and experience with assessment of macro-financial implication of digital money.
  - Traditional involvement in development of international standards for FMIs.
  - Role as the assessor of countries’ financial sectors through FSAPs.
  - Ability to quickly build in-house expertise on digital money adoption.
  - Through conducting FSAPs in advanced economies, the Fund channels experiences from advanced economies to emerging markets, developing economies, and LICs.

### Coordination needs and practices
- There is a growing need for coordination of CD in digital money, including an international forum to share experiences and lessons across a wide array of policy implications.
- Growing list of joint CBDC CD deliveries with the World Bank (example cases cited: Morocco and Haiti).
- BIS representatives participated in the Sub-Saharan Africa regional conference on CBDC and crypto assets.
- Reliance on information coordination may be insufficient given large numbers of country CD requests.
- Proposes a coordination mechanism for institutions to list bilateral engagement and share views regarding CD traction to minimize overlap and focus efforts on countries most in need or with higher chance of achieving objectives, in particular in the case of FCS.

### Real Sector Statistics (STA): focus and delivery
- Fund CD focuses on improving the methodological framework and compilation practices for datasets, underpinned by manuals and compilation guides produced in collaboration with other international agencies.
- Covered areas: national accounts (quarterly GDP, annual GDP, financial accounts and balance sheets by institutional sector, and high-frequency indicators of economic activity), consumer price index, producer price index, residential property price index, commercial property price index, and export-import price indices.
- Intensive training program mostly delivered through RCDCs and in collaboration with national statistical agencies.
- Upcoming updates of international statistical standards for national accounts will call for CD on data gaps for surveillance and policy analysis in wellbeing and sustainability, digitalization, climate change, and informal economy.
- The Fund is a key provider of CD in real sector statistics both in terms of range of topics and number of countries served.
- The Fund’s TA in real sector statistics is geared towards methodological framework and compilation techniques; other agencies’ CD often complements with source data development (household and economic surveys, business registers).
- Coordination on Big Data use will be necessary; IMF STA is preparing training on the use of Big Data for macroeconomic statistics, to be led by IMF Big Data Center of Excellence to be established by STA in FY2025.
- Comparative advantages:
  - Integration of CD with methodological development.
  - STA membership in ISWGNA, IWGPS, and Governing Board of ICP facilitates collaboration with Eurostat, OECD, UN Statistics Division, ILO, and World Bank.
  - Availability of external financing (notably Data for Decisions (D4D) Fund) provides agility and responsiveness to increasing CD demands.
- Coordination challenges:
  - Resource constraints on national statistical agencies and CD providers make coordination important.
  - Fund’s long-term experts in the field promote coordination with the World Bank and others to prevent overburdening national agencies and avoid duplication.
  - Recent formalized coordination mechanism with the World Bank allows the Fund to review World Bank project concepts and work programs and maintain lists of contact points and regular HQ-level meetings.
  - The Fund could take a more active role in designing household budget surveys given their importance for national accounts and CPI weighting.

### External Sector Statistics (STA): scope, modalities, and advantage
- ESS CD helps member countries produce reliable and timely data for macroeconomic policymaking; scope includes Balance of Payments and cross-border position data (IIP statistics, QEDS, Reserve Template, Coordinated Direct Investment Survey, Coordinated Portfolio Investment Survey data, and other ESS datasets with enhanced granularity).
- ESS TA addresses data gaps, sound methodology, and legal and institutional constraints (e.g., promoting legal basis for production and dissemination, ensuring resource availability, knowledge sharing, inter-institutional source data provision).
- Delivery modalities:
  - Agile approach combining technical assistance and blended training (synchronous and asynchronous).
  - Training supplements lectures with customized compilation exercises using participants’ own country data.
  - Intensive training mostly delivered through RCDCs.
  - ESS CD delivery is enhanced by multilateral (e.g., Data for Decisions (D4D) Fund) and bilateral external financing (e.g., Japan Technical Assistance Sub-Account and others).
- Comparative advantages:
  - The Fund is the sole or a primary author of the Balance of Payments Manual (BPM) and related compilation guides and templates (Remittances Compilation Guide, External Debt Guide, Guidelines for the Reserve Asset Template).
  - Contributor to Manual on Statistics of International Trade in Services and helps establish data standards on foreign direct investment.
  - While the Fund is the sole provider of comprehensive ESS CD, coordination occurs with other CD providers on specific issues—World Bank on QEDS and UNCTAD on Trade CD.
  - Long-term experts in the field promote coordination and complementarity.
- Methodological collaboration:
  - STA leads IMF Committee on Balance of Payments Statistics advising on methodological revisions and endorsing collection of new data to address ESS gaps.
  - Collaboration with BIS, ECB, European Commission-Eurostat, OECD, UNCTAD, UN Statistics Division, and World Bank is essential for BPM6 update to ensure IMF data needs (digitalization, climate, well-being, external sustainability, informal economy) are addressed.
  - Fund will provide CD to support members in adopting new standards and producing relevant data for IMF surveillance and lending.

### Financial and Fiscal Law (LEG): coverage and comparative advantage
- Fund CD focuses on legal policy, design and drafting of legal frameworks for central banks, financial institutions and markets, fiscal policies and institutions.
- Delivery modes: standalone CD or in support of IMF-supported programs; often coordinated closely with MCM or FAD; complemented by training targeting senior lawyers in central banks, ministries of finance, supervisory agencies, tax authorities, and supreme audit institutions.
- Financial law CD covers:
  - Monetary and macroprudential legal frameworks.
  - Financial sector regulation, supervision, resolution, and safety net.
  - LEG advice on central bank governance, mandate, autonomy, transparency, payment system, issuance of CBDC, emergency liquidity assistance frameworks.
  - Legal topics related to regulation and supervision of financial institutions (with emphasis on banks), deposit guarantee schemes, and resolution regimes.
- Fiscal law CD covers tax frameworks and PFM legal frameworks:
  - Taxation expertise: income and profit taxation, VAT/GST, customs and excise, environmental taxation, tax administration and procedures, international taxation including trade-related issues, tax law frameworks for specific sectors (natural resources, financial sector, securities and capital markets).
  - PFM legal CD: constitutional issues, legal/regulatory frameworks to promote fiscal and debt sustainability, transparency, and sound public finances; includes budget process foundations, fiscal responsibility frameworks, public debt management (PDM), public investment management, SOEs, and sovereign wealth funds.
- Comparative advantages:
  - Role in global policy agenda development (central banking, tax, banking and bank resolution legal frameworks, PFM/PDM frameworks).
  - Breadth and depth of LEG expertise unique in areas such as central bank legal framework reform and tax law reform.
  - Ability to provide integrated legal advice and CD integration with Fund surveillance and lending.
- Other providers and complementarity:
  - World Bank (legal reform related to banking and bank resolution, public debt management, SOEs, PPPs, public investment, and certain aspects of international tax law reform).
  - ADB and EBRD provide overlapping legal CD (financial sector legal framework, PPPs, corporate governance).
  - Country authorities sometimes provide TA on overlapping topics (examples: PFTAC country exchanges, EU “twinning” for acquis communautaire).
  - Complementarity arises when legal advice supports policy recommendations from other institutions, differs in subject matter, or is coordinated internationally on standards and good practices.
- Coordination practices:
  - LEG participates in the work of the OECD and collaborates with World Bank on public debt management reforms and with OECD, UN, UNIDROIT, BCBS, and FSB.
  - Internal collaboration within the Fund is well-established; external coordination could benefit from better formalization, especially in countries receiving multiple CD sources.

### Governance and Anti-Corruption (LEG): scope and trends
- Fund CD focuses on governance diagnostic assessments (GD), direct CD on anti-corruption/rule of law, and regional training.
- Governance diagnostics provide holistic assessment of corruption and map recommendations to address corruption vulnerabilities.
- Direct CD engagements support drafting anti-corruption legislation and regulations, building institutional frameworks focused on asset declaration, conflict of interest, anti-corruption agencies, and strengthening judicial integrity.
- Regional training delivered through regional training centers.
- COVID-19 response: country-tailored CD on emergency spending safeguards, including publishing beneficial ownership information for procurement and undertaking ex-post audits.
- Scope is narrowly defined by Fund mandate: primarily focused on macro-critical weaknesses and associated corruption vulnerabilities in fiscal governance, financial sector oversight, central bank governance and operations, rule of law (contract enforcement and protection of property rights), and AML/CFT.
- Delivery of governance and anti-corruption CD has increased consistently in recent years, reflecting Fund’s comparative advantages in priority areas and close integration of CD with surveillance and lending.
- Governance Diagnostics increasingly set strategic baselines for CD engagements.

*IMF publication excerpt: ppea2024015 - 60–79.*

### 80.      Several other CD providers operate in this area, including international and regional

### 80. Several other CD providers operate in this area, including international and regional organizations, government aid agencies, and non-governmental organizations.

### Other CD providers and their roles
- International organizations with broader mandates supporting governance and anti-corruption: World Bank; UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC); Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD); United Nations Development Program (UNDP); International Development Law Organization (IDLO).
- Targeted governance CD providers: International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI).
- Regional organizations focusing on their membership constituencies: EU; Council of Europe; OSCE; Association of South-Eastern Asian Nations Parties Against Corruption (ASEAN-PAC); regional development banks (ADB, EBRD, and IADB).
- National government aid agencies active in this workstream: USAID (USA); GIZ (Germany); NORAD (Norway); Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (UK); SDC (Switzerland); SIDA (Sweden); JICA (Japan).
- NGOs that implement governance and anti-corruption projects with donor funding: Basel Institute of Governance; American Bar Association; International Bar Association; CEELI Institute; Development Alternatives Incorporated; Creative Associates International; others.

### Coordination and collaboration with other partners (paras 81–85, 91–93)
- Fragmented CD landscape creates potential for occasional overlap in CD activities.
- The Fund’s convening power has been instrumental to ensure productive collaboration.
- Typical division of tasks: Fund assists members in developing regulatory and institutional frameworks; other providers (World Bank, UNDP, EU, Council of Europe) provide trainings, communication support, and provision of software and hardware for implementation.
- Institutional-level partnerships: Fund has joined forces with World Bank, UNODC, EU, OECD, and INTOSAI to ensure CD activities benefit from their analysis, reports, and advice—especially on public procurement, SOEs, implementation of safeguards in emergency financing scenarios, anti-corruption, and the rule of law.
- Operational-level collaboration: coordination with regional multilateral development banks and other development partners enables close coordination of CD efforts, gathering of inputs for surveillance, and contributes to successful reform implementation.
- Coordination challenges: information sharing barriers due to data privacy or security concerns; divergent priorities and approaches among providers; resource constraints.
- Suggested coordination mechanisms: regular meetings, joint planning sessions, and effective information sharing with relevant entities.
- In the next five years, work should continue on making coordination more systematic, including through further leveraging the Fund’s increasing field presence.

### AML/CFT (LEG) — Fund CD activities and comparative advantages (paras 82–85)
- Scope of Fund CD in AML/CFT:
  - Technical assistance (TA), training, and knowledge sharing tailored to country needs.
  - Focus areas: enhancing effectiveness of AML/CFT frameworks; improving understanding of ML/TF risks; strengthening capacity of supervisors of financial and non-financial sectors (e.g., lawyers, accountants); enhancing governance and capacity of financial intelligence units; using AML/CFT measures to support fight against proceeds of corruption and tax crimes; analyzing and mitigating cross-border illicit financial flows; bolstering international cooperation.
- Fund’s comparative advantages in AML/CFT CD:
  - Employs staff with specialized AML/CFT CD expertise and uses an interdisciplinary approach.
  - Near-universal membership provides a global perspective and reach.
  - Close integration with surveillance and lending informs policy dialogue and highlights macroeconomic implications of financial crimes.
  - Strong partnerships with Financial Action Task Force (FATF), World Bank, United Nations, and Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units facilitate coordination of global AML/CFT efforts.
- Complementary roles of other organizations:
  - FATF: sets global AML/CFT standards and provides training through regional bodies and its Busan training center; collaborates closely with the Fund.
  - World Bank: integrates AML/CFT CD into development programs, focusing on legal and regulatory framework strengthening aligned with poverty reduction goals.
  - UNODC: offers CD and supports implementation of international conventions against organized crime; jointly conducts training programs with the Fund.
  - Regional development banks (Asian, African, and Inter-American Development Banks): provide financial resources and technical assistance regionally.
  - Private sector: Deloitte, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, and various consultancies provide specialized AML/CFT CD, consulting services, and technological solutions; assist in mutual evaluation preparations and addressing identified deficiencies.
- Engagement and coordination modalities:
  - Coordination through multilateral and bilateral meetings at FATF and its regional bodies' plenaries and events.
  - Ongoing dialogue during the Fund's lending programs, Article IV, and FSAP consultations.
  - Fund works closely with FATF on standard setting and mutual evaluation.
  - Good practices on effectiveness of CFT policies developed with UNODC, UN Counter Terrorism Executive Directorate, Europol, and FATF inputs are detailed in a recent IMF publication (IMF, 2023a).
- Persistent coordination challenges: information sharing barriers, divergent priorities and approaches, resource constraints; IMF focuses on clear coordination mechanisms to overcome them.

### Macroeconomic Training and TA (ICD) — scope, comparative advantages, and coordination (paras 86–89)
- ICD activities and core curriculum:
  - Macroeconomics training accounts for about half of total CD delivery by the Fund’s ICD.
  - Core curriculum includes: Financial Programming and Policies (FPP); Macroeconomic Diagnostics (MDS); Fiscal Policy Analysis (FPA); Fiscal Frameworks (FF); Fiscal Sustainability (FS); Model-Based Monetary Policy Analysis and Forecasting (MPAF); Monetary and Fiscal Policy Analysis with DSGE Models (DSGE); Macroeconometric Forecasting and Analysis (MFA); Monetary Policy (MP); Exchange Rate Policy (ERP); Managing Capital Flows: Macroeconomic Analysis and Policies (MCF).
  - TA supports development of models and tools for structured macroeconomic forecasting and policy analysis and integration into decision-making of recipient institutions.
  - MCM also provides some CD related to modeling, forecasting and policy analysis.
- The Fund’s role globally:
  - Fund accounts for a substantial share of macroeconomic training globally; this share is somewhat higher in emerging economies than in developing countries.
  - Fund provides a range of tools of varying sophistication facilitating increased tailoring, ownership, and absorption.
  - Slight tilt toward more sophisticated tools reflects Fund specialization; foundational frameworks are also offered by World Bank, regional development banks, and some bilateral partners.
- Collaboration examples and potential:
  - Bilateral development partners, including central bank networks, can offer flexible and tailored support highlighting scope for collaboration.
  - Examples of collaboration: SECO assistance to the Ministry of Economy of Uzbekistan; IADB assistance to the MoF of the Dominican Republic.
- Comparative advantage:
  - Fund’s comparative advantages stem from quality of CD and integration with surveillance.
  - Only the World Bank can offer similar high-quality tools, but the Fund’s experience and capacity to tailor assistance to country needs remains strong.
- Coordination challenges:
  - Successful coordination has generally occurred, but obstacles include confidentiality clauses with recipients, lack of flexibility in TORs once approved, and insufficient appreciation of cooperation benefits among CD providers.

### Conclusions and key messages (paras 90–93)
- Fund CD focus: closely linked with mandate to promote macro-financial stability and economic sustainability.
- Footprint and demand:
  - Fund has a relatively modest footprint relative to total global CD support, but demand is strong and impact is appreciated.
- Unique comparative advantages:
  - Integration with surveillance and lending; convening power; expertise in core areas; agenda-setting role valued by other CD providers.
- Importance of coordination:
  - Collaboration and coordination with other development partners is critical to increase efficiency and impact of Fund CD, including in new priority areas.
  - Effective coordination helps avoid overlap and duplication, ensures additionality, and enables the Fund to maintain and adjust the boundaries of its CD engagements vis-à-vis other providers.
  - Fund’s CD and area departments dedicate substantial efforts to coordination, collaboration, and cooperation across workstreams, with varying levels of success.
  - Recommendation: continue work over the next five years to make coordination more systematic and leverage expanding field presence.

*Source: ppea2024015 (paragraphs 80–93).*

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_Source: https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/pp/2024/english/ppea2024015.pdf_