Managing for development results: a focus on Africa

Strong and effective institutions are fundamental to achieving sustainable development outcomes in Africa. Effort to achieve ownership, a key aspect of every development intervention,  is often lacking in African contexts. This publication provides concrete approaches to overcoming the issue through participatory processes and capacity building. Organisations across Africa are increasingly using Managing for Development Results (MfDR) concepts in implementing their programs. The document is intended for stakeholders interested in improving results in Africa. It uses six case studies as a snapshot of the transformative work on MfDR in Africa and can be useful to citizens, parliament members, and people in the private sector, in academia and in donor agencies.

The document states that MfDR encompasses the following five areas:

• leadership
• monitoring and evaluation
• accountability and partnerships
• planning and budgeting
• statistical capacity.
  

The publication says these areas combine to ensure that managers are using evidence to make decisions and development stakeholders are able to keep track of progress. This ensures that governments shift from delivering outputs, to generating real outcomes. It advises that MfDR has to be adapted to the country context through linking strategies to results. There must be flexibility and innovativeness in applying these methods to achieve results on the ground, to show value for the funds spent by governments.

The document points out the following challenges and common patterns many countries face:

• Public administrations face difficulties in recruiting and keeping well-qualified people in their staff, putting pressure on governments to define incentives to motivate staff and provide them with the needed training.
• MfDR champions are required to advocate a shift in that direction and challenge the status quo.
  
• Several years and resources have to be invested to build effective MfDR systems and show results.
  

To overcome these challenges, the document gives the following tips:

• Mobilising staff at all levels and empowering them to act on the overall vision, not only the technical aspects, is required to bring about real change in any organisation.
• Leaders and high level managers should advocate for change at the highest levels of public administration, often with the support of elected political office holders.
• Managers are accountable for results, but the civil servants must also understand why they are asked to deliver and report on achievements.