Evaluation of technical assistance to post-conflict countries-Mozambique and Rwanda

This evaluation of technical assistance (TA) in statistics covers two post-conflict countries, namely, Mozambique and Rwanda during the period 2000–08. The evaluation is based on missions to each country and relied on responses to questionnaires, desk reviews of available data, and discussions with country authorities, donors, data users, and national officials who participated in IMF courses in statistics.

The emerging lessons also provide a useful guide to future TA to non-English-speaking countries. These include:

• Both Mozambique and Rwanda were initially slow to absorb TA as they rebuilt their institutions following severe conflicts. New legal frameworks provided a basis to establish autonomous national statistical organizations (NSOs), which have enhanced awareness and mobilized resources to spearhead and sustain momentum for reforms
  
• The reform experience and the impact of TA in the various statistical areas differ significantly from Mozambique to Rwanda and even within each country. This reflects not only differences in the amount of TA delivery but also the legal and institutional legacies and resources available to the TA recipient statistical agencies
  
• Notwithstanding the gradual improvement in the effectiveness of TA and institutional statistical capacity, there is room for further progress. The key challenge is the availability of financial and human resources, particularly in NSOs and ministries of finance, to, among other things, generate the requisite source data to compile real sector and government finance statistics.
  
• Moreover, NSOs have had limited success in promoting national agency coordination and the General Data Dissemination System (GDDS) framework to compile and disseminate data. Data users concur that more efforts are still needed to promote public access to high-quality and timely data. The central banks’ greater access to resources has permitted better absorption and retention of TA in balance of payments and monetary and financial statistics
  
• The risks to further enhancement in the effectiveness of TA and its sustainability comprise mainly access to adequate medium-term resources. These risks would be minimized by integrating statistical activities into the countries’ poverty reduction strategy papers, which provide an operational framework for establishing and funding overall reform priorities. Mozambique has made the most progress in this respect, while Rwanda still has some way to go.