## _082614

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---

### Executive summary — introduction
- Summarizes IMF policies and practices for delivery of capacity development (CD) activities; updates the 2001 Policy Statement on IMF Technical Assistance and incorporates principles from the 2013 CD strategy paper and earlier Executive Board documents.
- Purpose: consolidate Board-endorsed guiding principles with Management-authorized policies and staff practices for CD delivery; intended audience includes IMF staff, Executive Directors and their staff, country authorities, and donors; serves as a reference for future reviews of IMF CD activities.
- Key contextual changes reflected:
  - Marked rise in CD delivery over the last decade.
  - Sharp expansion of donor financing.
  - More explicit attention to results—improved outcomes in member countries.
- Recent shift in focus:
  - Ramped up CD to countries with financial arrangements during the financial crisis to facilitate implementation of crisis-resolving measures.
  - As crisis recedes, emphasis shifts toward CD that strengthens policies and institutional frameworks to boost resiliency to shocks, while continuing development-focused CD for low-income countries, fragile, and small states.

### Mandate and objectives
- Legal basis: IMF Articles of Agreement; Article V, Section 2(b) allows providing, upon request, “financial and technical services” consistent with Article I; services are voluntary for both member and the Fund.
- Main objective: help member countries build strong institutions and boost skills to formulate and implement sound macroeconomic and financial policies.
- Complementarity: CD deepens dialogue between Fund and member country experts and complements surveillance and Fund-supported program policy discussions.
- Delivery modes:
  - TA: helps governments put in place or enhance effective institutions, legal frameworks, and policies to promote economic stability and growth; allows in-depth exchanges on policy design and implementation.
  - Training: strengthens officials’ skills to analyze economic developments and formulate/manage macroeconomic and financial policies; enhances Fund–authorities dialogue and facilitates peer-to-peer learning.
  - Synergies: many TA activities include training components and many training activities cover institutional design; increasingly combined delivery of TA and training is sought.

### Scope and modalities
- Core areas of competency for CD provision:
  - (i) macroeconomic policy framework and management;
  - (ii) balance of payment issues;
  - (iii) monetary policy and exchange rate policy;
  - (iv) financial stability frameworks;
  - (v) debt and asset liability management;
  - (vi) fiscal policy and institutional frameworks;
  - (vii) tax and expenditure policy;
  - (viii) revenue administration and public financial management;
  - (ix) macroeconomic and financial statistics;
  - (x) data dissemination standards; and
  - (xi) legislative frameworks (for the above).
- Demand-driven delivery:
  - CD activities are driven by member country demand; planning and implementation require full involvement and buy-in of recipient countries to ensure effectiveness and impact.
  - Implementation of past TA recommendations and changes in country circumstances can inform decisions to provide additional TA.
  - Country ownership can be enhanced by collaborative evaluation and monitoring of past and current TA activities.
- Integration with policy dialogue:
  - CD should be integrated with surveillance and Fund-supported program dialogues.
  - Policy dialogue helps identify where CD may be most useful (e.g., raising domestic revenue, adopting robust monetary policy frameworks, macroprudential measures).
  - CD can identify capacity constraints that affect policy options; TA reports’ detailed analysis (e.g., energy subsidy reform, debt management) can enrich Fund policy advice.
- Delivery and coordination:
  - The Fund delivers its own CD services—advice and training—and stands by services regardless of delivery mode, exercising quality control.
  - The Fund coordinates closely with other CD providers to avoid duplication and enhance complementarity, using mechanisms such as RTAC Steering Committees for information sharing and coordination.

### Governance
- Roles:
  - Executive Board: provides strategic direction and oversight through regular reviews of CD policies/activities and the budget process.
  - Management: conducts CD operations, approves individual CD requests from members, and establishes CD policies in some areas in consultation with the Board.
- Executive Board responsibilities and processes:
  - Receives information on key features of CD activities, implementation analysis, and evaluation information; takes decisions on policy changes and expresses broad priorities for the next three-to-five-year period.
  - As part of the annual budget process, provided information on CD outturn, planned CD financing, and CD delivery to inform views on multi-year CD priorities and integration with Fund-wide priorities.
  - Conclusions of Board reviews, this statement, and budget discussions give staff multi-year top-level guidance underpinning Fund CD activities.
- Management processes:
  - Translates Board strategic direction and overall budget into procedures and practices via an integrated Fund-wide priority-setting process, departmental accountability frameworks, and budget formulation.
  - Interdepartmental Committee on Capacity Building (CCB), chaired by a Deputy Managing Director, reviews CD priorities every fall in light of members’ demands and overall Fund priorities (IMFC communiqués, Board work programs, Management’s Key Goals). CCB conclusions feed into planning and budget discussions.
- CCB functions and planning:
  - ICD provides secretariat support; CCB reviews CD delivery against plans and RBM objectives; considers CD evaluation results and sets the future evaluation agenda; reviews fundraising activities and sets forward objectives; decides on allocation of the CD reserve including accommodation of urgent requests; addresses other issues from Board reviews and review experience.
  - Area departments, in consultation with CD departments, prepare annual regional strategy notes (RSNs) outlining short- and medium-term CD priorities for regions.
  - Based on RSNs, CD and area departments develop an annual resource allocation plan (RAP) detailing delivery by region, by country, by funding source, and by CD department.
- Delivery responsibility:
  - CD departments, RTACs, and RTCs are responsible for actual CD delivery; CD departments are responsible for quality control.

### Prioritization
- Necessity: prioritization is essential because Fund resources, even with donor support, cannot meet all country requests for CD services.
- Framework: allocation guided by country demand and Fund strategic priorities to allocate scarce resources across regions, countries, topics, and between short- and medium-term needs.
- Distinction of CD types:
  - “Curative CD”: mobilize quickly to respond to short-term crisis-related needs.
  - “Preventive CD”: help countries build sound institutions to boost resilience to shocks.
  - “Developmental CD”: sustain capacity development in member countries, particularly low-income countries, fragile, and small states.
- Principles underlying prioritization:
  - Institutional level: decisions on size and composition of CD relative to other Fund outputs are set through strategic planning; CCB provides guidance integrated into Fund-wide priority setting, departmental accountability, and budget formulation.
  - Country level: prioritization should reflect country demand; area departments and resident representatives play key roles in engaging countries and conveying demand to CD departments; CD departments also engage frequently with countries on needs.
- Oversight and translation to deliverables:
  - Prioritization is iterative, overseen by the CCB, reflecting membership views, individual members’ requests, and Board budget decisions.
  - RSNs and RAPs translate country demand, Fund priorities, and resource constraints into specific deliverables.

### Donor partnerships and funding
- Funding mix: CD activities are funded by both the Fund’s own resources and donor financing; the overall budget process considers Fund- and donor-financed CD together.
- Benefits of partnerships:
  - Allow the Fund to scale up CD delivery to meet increasing member demands, particularly in low-income and lower-middle-income countries.
  - Donors value the high quality and continuity of Fund CD and its consistency and complementarity with Fund surveillance and lending.
  - Partnerships promote Fund accountability for resources and results and allow donors to integrate Fund CD results with their programming and resource allocation.
- Imperfect substitutability:
  - Internal and external financing are not perfect substitutes; donor financing is affected by donors’ regional, topical, or vehicle preferences.
- Board-approved principles guiding funding decisions:
  - Fund’s role (cases for Fund financing): (i) in countries or on topics where donor funding is not available, including program cases; (ii) when a quick reaction is required; or (iii) when Fund expertise in particular areas needs to be maintained.
  - Donors’ role (cases for donor financing): (i) when donor interests are consistent with Fund priorities and objectives; and (ii) when sufficient space is available in the Fund’s budget to cover co-financing costs.
  - Additionality: donor financing should result in additional delivery of CD to members.
- Country contributions and mixed financing:
  - The Fund does not charge recipient countries for CD services.
  - In some cases, countries make voluntary contributions to finance CD services they receive.
  - Advanced or middle income countries may receive Fund-financed CD and CD financed by their own contributions to the Fund.
- New donor-financed initiatives:
  - Subject to interdepartmental review and management clearance to ensure alignment with institutional objectives and internal budget constraints and to provide assurances to donors that the Fund will be ready to use external financing.

### Delivery modalities
- Modalities at members’ request:
  - Multi-year CD programs to an individual member or group of countries (from headquarters or regional centers, TA or training);
  - Field assignment of experts for periods ranging from days to years;
  - Individual missions from headquarters;
  - Headquarter, regional, or national courses;
  - Peer-to-peer and technical workshops;
  - Discussions at Fund headquarters or remotely from headquarters.
- Integration: close integration of delivery modalities should be sought when feasible.

### Delivery of CD services — core guidelines
- Fund CD activities, regardless of mode of delivery, are planned with the full involvement of recipient countries’ authorities.
- Fund CD activities are subject to quality controls. Experts in the field have direct access to the wide expertise embedded in Fund staff. Their work is facilitated by strong quality control processes, including backstopping of experts and regular supervision by the relevant CD department and the review process.
- Experts work in consultation with area departments to develop an understanding of countries’ circumstances and offer appropriate advice. These processes also help to integrate TA more fully into the Fund’s analytical activities and policy dialogue.
- Fund CD is delivered by either staff or by external experts that are selected, contracted, and backstopped by the Fund. The Fund maintains a roster of experts with a proven track record and familiarity with international best practices in areas specific to the Fund’s CD activities.
- The Fund retains full control on selection of CD experts and content of CD advice, regardless of mode of delivery or source of financing.
- Fund CD represents advice or training that is of the highest quality, reflecting international best practices and complemented by the Fund’s analytical work.
- Fund CD is tailored to the country’s needs and reflective of its absorptive capacity, and it builds in a follow-up process to help ensure implementation and a sustainable impact.

### Synergies and delivery modes
- Continued efforts are expected to be made to harness synergies between the key types of CD (TA and training) and between Fund CD and surveillance and lending operations.
- Staff should seek to deliver TA and training as complementary products as they share similar goals (that is, strengthening human and institutional capacity to formulate and implement sound macroeconomic, financial, and structural policies).
- Staff is expected to use advances in information and communication technology, such as video conferences, online courses, and webinars, in order to expand CD delivery efficiently and sustain the interaction with member countries on CD needs and activities. These activities are expected to complement face-to-face CD.

### External dissemination
- Dissemination of CD information has several benefits:
  - (i) the membership (and the public at large) gains from a better understanding of best practices and the Fund’s experience in the provision of CD services;
  - (ii) coordination with donors and other CD providers is facilitated, which in turn eases the absorption of CD advice by countries and also prioritization of the Fund’s CD delivery;
  - (iii) governments, legislators, and taxpayers in donor countries can more easily account for the use of their funds.
- Fund policy now provides for wider dissemination of CD information, combined with safeguarding confidential information and the candor of Fund advice.
- The Staff Operational Guidelines on Dissemination of Technical Assistance Information spell out current procedures to enhance dissemination of CD information to various constituencies, including the recipient agency and other agencies within the recipient country, Executive Directors’ offices, Fund staff, World Bank staff, donors and other CD providers, as well as the general public.
- Dissemination of final TA advice to Executive Directors’ offices or to donors and other CD providers with legitimate interest requires consent of the TA recipient. This consent is obtained if the TA recipient explicitly provides it or if it does not object to dissemination within sixty days of the transmission of the final TA advice.
- The current guidelines also stipulate that publication of TA reports is encouraged.

### Monitoring and evaluation — objectives and framework
- Monitoring and evaluation is used to review CD activities to ensure accountability; to assess their relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, and impact; and to distill lessons on how to strengthen future activities.
- Regular reviews of TA advice or training content are expected to be an integral part of TA and training departments’ work processes.
- All monitoring and evaluation activities should seek input from recipient authorities to ensure that their views are fully taken into account.
- Staff should continue the process of developing a systematic approach to monitoring and evaluation. One key component of the approach is the RBM framework, which aims to systematize the tracking of outcomes using indicators and is expected to play an increasingly larger role in monitoring and evaluation.
- The RBM framework is expected to apply to all CD activities, whether internally or externally financed, ensure that staff and authorities remain focused on goals, and lay the foundation for evaluation.

### Evaluation instruments and cycles
- Evaluation instruments include:
  - (i) Fund-wide evaluations to assess overall policies and activities;
  - (ii) departmental evaluations to assess the impact of CD activities;
  - (iii) donor-mandated evaluations; and
  - (iv) evaluations by the Fund’s Independent Evaluation Office (IEO).
- Fund-wide evaluations: The Fund conducts policy review of CD activities every three to five years. Reviews should have backward- and forward-looking components:
  - Backward-looking component: consider the prioritization, funding, monitoring and evaluation, and delivery of CD as set out in this statement.
  - Forward-looking component: provide the opportunity to outline reforms to increase the impact of CD, with emphasis on making CD more effective and efficient while building on its strengths.
- CD department evaluations: Departments undertake self-evaluations of selected projects, guided by clear criteria for selection of relevant topics and using a common evaluation framework. Focus may be on country cases or thematic areas. Techniques may include surveys following training courses and technical assistance missions and visits to countries that are large recipients of CD services. These evaluations may be conducted by staff (self-evaluations) or by external experts (external evaluations).
- Donor-mandated evaluations: Evaluations of RTACs and topical trust funds are mandated and conducted by external evaluators usually midway through each arrangement’s five-year funding cycle. Evaluations are also conducted on other donor-financed projects.

*IMF POLICIES AND PRACTICES ON CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT — Excerpt*

### EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

### EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

### INTRODUCTION
- Summarizes IMF policies and practices for delivery of capacity development (CD) activities; updates the 2001 Policy Statement on IMF Technical Assistance and incorporates principles from the 2013 CD strategy paper and earlier Executive Board documents.1
- Purpose: consolidate Board-endorsed guiding principles with Management-authorized policies and staff practices for CD delivery; intended audience includes IMF staff, Executive Directors and their staff, country authorities, and donors; serves as a reference for future reviews of IMF CD activities.
- Key contextual changes reflected:
  - Marked rise in CD delivery over the last decade.
  - Sharp expansion of donor financing.
  - More explicit attention to results—improved outcomes in member countries.
- Recent shift in focus:
  - Ramped up CD to countries with financial arrangements during the financial crisis to facilitate implementation of crisis-resolving measures.
  - As crisis recedes, emphasis shifts toward CD that strengthens policies and institutional frameworks to boost resiliency to shocks, while continuing development-focused CD for low-income countries, fragile, and small states.

### MANDATE AND OBJECTIVES
- Legal basis: IMF Articles of Agreement; Article V, Section 2(b) allows providing, upon request, “financial and technical services” consistent with Article I; services are voluntary for both member and the Fund.2
- Main objective: help member countries build strong institutions and boost skills to formulate and implement sound macroeconomic and financial policies.
- Complementarity: CD deepens dialogue between Fund and member country experts and complements surveillance and Fund-supported program policy discussions.
- Delivery modes: two main means—TA and training.
  - TA: helps governments put in place or enhance effective institutions, legal frameworks, and policies to promote economic stability and growth; allows in-depth exchanges on policy design and implementation.
  - Training: strengthens officials’ skills to analyze economic developments and formulate/manage macroeconomic and financial policies; enhances Fund–authorities dialogue and facilitates peer-to-peer learning.
  - Synergies: many TA activities include training components and many training activities cover institutional design; increasingly combined delivery of TA and training is sought.

### SCOPE AND MODALITIES
- Core areas of competency for CD provision:
  - (i) macroeconomic policy framework and management;
  - (ii) balance of payment issues;
  - (iii) monetary policy and exchange rate policy;
  - (iv) financial stability frameworks;
  - (v) debt and asset liability management;
  - (vi) fiscal policy and institutional frameworks;
  - (vii) tax and expenditure policy;
  - (viii) revenue administration and public financial management;
  - (ix) macroeconomic and financial statistics;
  - (x) data dissemination standards; and
  - (xi) legislative frameworks (for the above).
- Demand-driven delivery:
  - CD activities are driven by member country demand; planning and implementation require full involvement and buy-in of recipient countries to ensure effectiveness and impact.
  - Implementation of past TA recommendations and changes in country circumstances can inform decisions to provide additional TA.
  - Country ownership can be enhanced by collaborative evaluation and monitoring of past and current TA activities.
- Integration with policy dialogue:
  - CD should be integrated with surveillance and Fund-supported program dialogues.
  - Policy dialogue helps identify where CD may be most useful (e.g., raising domestic revenue, adopting robust monetary policy frameworks, macroprudential measures).
  - CD can identify capacity constraints that affect policy options; TA reports’ detailed analysis (e.g., energy subsidy reform, debt management) can enrich Fund policy advice.
- Delivery and coordination:
  - The Fund delivers its own CD services—advice and training—and stands by services regardless of delivery mode, exercising quality control.3
  - The Fund coordinates closely with other CD providers to avoid duplication and enhance complementarity, using mechanisms such as RTAC Steering Committees for information sharing and coordination.

### GOVERNANCE
- Roles:
  - Executive Board: provides strategic direction and oversight through regular reviews of CD policies/activities and the budget process.
  - Management: conducts CD operations, approves individual CD requests from members, and establishes CD policies in some areas in consultation with the Board.
- Executive Board responsibilities and processes:
  - Receives information on key features of CD activities, implementation analysis, and evaluation information; takes decisions on policy changes and expresses broad priorities for the next three-to-five-year period.
  - As part of the annual budget process, provided information on CD outturn, planned CD financing, and CD delivery to inform views on multi-year CD priorities and integration with Fund-wide priorities.
  - Conclusions of Board reviews, this statement, and budget discussions give staff multi-year top-level guidance underpinning Fund CD activities.
- Management processes:
  - Translates Board strategic direction and overall budget into procedures and practices via an integrated Fund-wide priority-setting process, departmental accountability frameworks, and budget formulation.
  - Interdepartmental Committee on Capacity Building (CCB), chaired by a Deputy Managing Director, reviews CD priorities every fall in light of members’ demands and overall Fund priorities (IMFC communiqués, Board work programs, Management’s Key Goals). CCB conclusions feed into planning and budget discussions.
- CCB functions (ICD provides secretariat) and regular meetings address:
  - Review of CD delivery against plans and results-based management (RBM) objectives;
  - Consideration of CD evaluation results and setting the future evaluation agenda;
  - Review of fundraising activities and setting forward objectives;
  - Decisions on allocation of the CD reserve, including accommodation of urgent requests;
  - Other issues from Board reviews and review experience.
- Planning and allocation:
  - Area departments, in consultation with CD departments, prepare annual regional strategy notes (RSNs) outlining short- and medium-term CD priorities for regions.
  - Based on RSNs, CD and area departments develop an annual resource allocation plan (RAP) detailing delivery by region, by country, by funding source, and by CD department.
- Delivery responsibility:
  - CD departments, RTACs, and RTCs are responsible for actual CD delivery; CD departments are responsible for quality control.

### PRIORITIZATION
- Necessity: prioritization is essential because Fund resources, even with donor support, cannot meet all country requests for CD services.
- Framework: allocation guided by country demand and Fund strategic priorities to allocate scarce resources across regions, countries, topics, and between short- and medium-term needs.
- Distinction of CD types:
  - “Curative CD”: mobilize quickly to respond to short-term crisis-related needs.
  - “Preventive CD”: help countries build sound institutions to boost resilience to shocks.
  - “Developmental CD”: sustain capacity development in member countries, particularly low-income countries, fragile, and small states.
- Principles underlying prioritization:
  - Institutional level: decisions on size and composition of CD relative to other Fund outputs are set through strategic planning; CCB provides guidance integrated into Fund-wide priority setting, departmental accountability, and budget formulation.
  - Country level: prioritization should reflect country demand; area departments and resident representatives play key roles in engaging countries and conveying demand to CD departments; CD departments also engage frequently with countries on needs.
- Oversight and translation to deliverables:
  - Prioritization is iterative, overseen by the CCB, reflecting membership views, individual members’ requests, and Board budget decisions.
  - RSNs and RAPs translate country demand, Fund priorities, and resource constraints into specific deliverables.

### DONOR PARTNERSHIPS AND FUNDING
- Funding mix: CD activities are funded by both the Fund’s own resources and donor financing; the overall budget process considers Fund- and donor-financed CD together.
- Benefits of partnerships:
  - Allow the Fund to scale up CD delivery to meet increasing member demands, particularly in low-income and lower-middle-income countries.
  - Donors value the high quality and continuity of Fund CD and its consistency and complementarity with Fund surveillance and lending.
  - Partnerships promote Fund accountability for resources and results and allow donors to integrate Fund CD results with their programming and resource allocation.
- Imperfect substitutability:
  - Internal and external financing are not perfect substitutes; donor financing is affected by donors’ regional, topical, or vehicle preferences.
- Board-approved principles guiding funding decisions:
  - Fund’s role (cases for Fund financing): (i) in countries or on topics where donor funding is not available, including program cases; (ii) when a quick reaction is required; or (iii) when Fund expertise in particular areas needs to be maintained.
  - Donors’ role (cases for donor financing): (i) when donor interests are consistent with Fund priorities and objectives; and (ii) when sufficient space is available in the Fund’s budget to cover co-financing costs.
  - Additionality: donor financing should result in additional delivery of CD to members.
- Country contributions and mixed financing:
  - The Fund does not charge recipient countries for CD services.
  - In some cases, countries make voluntary contributions to finance CD services they receive.
  - Advanced or middle income countries may receive Fund-financed CD and CD financed by their own contributions to the Fund.
- New donor-financed initiatives:
  - Subject to interdepartmental review and management clearance to ensure alignment with institutional objectives and internal budget constraints and to provide assurances to donors that the Fund will be ready to use external financing.

### DELIVERY
- Modalities at members’ request:
  - Multi-year CD programs to an individual member or group of countries (from headquarters or regional centers, TA or training);
  - Field assignment of experts for periods ranging from days to years;
  - Individual missions from headquarters;
  - Headquarter, regional, or national courses;
  - Peer-to-peer and technical workshops;
  - Discussions at Fund headquarters or remotely from headquarters.
- Integration: close integration of delivery modalities should be sought when feasible.

*Prepared by the Institute for Capacity Development under the guidance of Dominique Desruelle; staff team led by Hali Edison and comprising Dimitre Milkov. August 26, 2014.*

### 28.      In general, the following guidelines should apply to the delivery of CD services:

### _082614 - 28.      In general, the following guidelines should apply to the delivery of CD services:

### Delivery of CD services — core guidelines
- Fund CD activities, regardless of mode of delivery, are planned with the full involvement of recipient countries’ authorities.
- Fund CD activities are subject to quality controls. Experts in the field have direct access to the wide expertise embedded in Fund staff. Their work is facilitated by strong quality control processes, including backstopping of experts and regular supervision by the relevant CD department and the review process.
- Experts work in consultation with area departments to develop an understanding of countries’ circumstances and offer appropriate advice. These processes also help to integrate TA more fully into the Fund’s analytical activities and policy dialogue.
- Fund CD is delivered by either staff or by external experts that are selected, contracted, and backstopped by the Fund. The Fund maintains a roster of experts with a proven track record and familiarity with international best practices in areas specific to the Fund’s CD activities.
- The Fund retains full control on selection of CD experts and content of CD advice, regardless of mode of delivery or source of financing.
- Fund CD represents advice or training that is of the highest quality, reflecting international best practices and complemented by the Fund’s analytical work.
- Fund CD is tailored to the country’s needs and reflective of its absorptive capacity, and it builds in a follow-up process to help ensure implementation and a sustainable impact.

### Synergies and delivery modes
- Continued efforts are expected to be made to harness synergies between the key types of CD (TA and training) and between Fund CD and surveillance and lending operations.
- Staff should seek to deliver TA and training as complementary products as they share similar goals (that is, strengthening human and institutional capacity to formulate and implement sound macroeconomic, financial, and structural policies).
- Staff is expected to use advances in information and communication technology, such as video conferences, online courses, and webinars, in order to expand CD delivery efficiently and sustain the interaction with member countries on CD needs and activities. These activities are expected to complement face-to-face CD.

### External dissemination
- Dissemination of CD information has several benefits: 
  - (i) the membership (and the public at large) gains from a better understanding of best practices and the Fund’s experience in the provision of CD services;
  - (ii) coordination with donors and other CD providers is facilitated, which in turn eases the absorption of CD advice by countries and also prioritization of the Fund’s CD delivery;
  - (iii) governments, legislators, and taxpayers in donor countries can more easily account for the use of their funds.
- Fund policy now provides for wider dissemination of CD information, combined with safeguarding confidential information and the candor of Fund advice.
- The Staff Operational Guidelines on Dissemination of Technical Assistance Information spell out current procedures to enhance dissemination of CD information to various constituencies, including the recipient agency and other agencies within the recipient country, Executive Directors’ offices, Fund staff, World Bank staff, donors and other CD providers, as well as the general public.
- Dissemination of final TA advice to Executive Directors’ offices or to donors and other CD providers with legitimate interest requires consent of the TA recipient. This consent is obtained if the TA recipient explicitly provides it or if it does not object to dissemination within sixty days of the transmission of the final TA advice.
- The current guidelines also stipulate that publication of TA reports is encouraged.

### Monitoring and evaluation — objectives and framework
- Monitoring and evaluation is used to review CD activities to ensure accountability; to assess their relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, and impact; and to distill lessons on how to strengthen future activities.
- Regular reviews of TA advice or training content are expected to be an integral part of TA and training departments’ work processes.
- All monitoring and evaluation activities should seek input from recipient authorities to ensure that their views are fully taken into account.
- Staff should continue the process of developing a systematic approach to monitoring and evaluation. One key component of the approach is the RBM framework, which aims to systematize the tracking of outcomes using indicators and is expected to play an increasingly larger role in monitoring and evaluation.
- The RBM framework is expected to apply to all CD activities, whether internally or externally financed, ensure that staff and authorities remain focused on goals, and lay the foundation for evaluation.

### Evaluation instruments and cycles
- Evaluation relies on a number of different instruments including:
  - (i) Fund-wide evaluations to assess overall policies and activities;
  - (ii) departmental evaluations to assess the impact of CD activities;
  - (iii) donor-mandated evaluations; and
  - (iv) evaluations by the Fund’s Independent Evaluation Office (IEO).
- Fund-wide evaluations: The Fund conducts policy review of CD activities every three to five years. Such a review should have backward- and forward-looking components:
  - Backward-looking component: consider the prioritization, funding, monitoring and evaluation, and delivery of CD as set out in this statement.
  - Forward-looking component: provide the opportunity to outline reforms to increase the impact of CD, with emphasis on making CD more effective and efficient while building on its strengths.
- CD department evaluations: Departments undertake self-evaluations of selected projects, guided by clear criteria for selection of relevant topics and using a common evaluation framework. Focus may be on country cases or thematic areas. Techniques may include surveys following training courses and technical assistance missions and visits to countries that are large recipients of CD services. These evaluations may be conducted by staff (self-evaluations) or by external experts (external evaluations).
- Donor-mandated evaluations: Evaluations of RTACs and topical trust funds are mandated and conducted by external evaluators usually midway through each arrangement’s five-year funding cycle. Evaluations are also conducted on other donor-financed projects.

*IMF POLICIES AND PRACTICES ON CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT — Excerpt*

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_Source: https://www.imf.org/-/media/websites/imf/imported-full-text-pdf/external/np/pp/eng/2014/_082614.pdf_